another current event

In the hunting state of Wisconsin, senators voted Tuesday June 9th to pass a bill allowing children of ten years of age or older to hunt with a rifle, but are required to be accompanied by a parent/guardian with a license to hunt, thats within arms reach at all times, and may only carry one firearm. One opposing side states that it will be beneficial to a child's skill to begin learning the survival needs of hunting, fishing, and trapping at an early age. The other opposing side states that the bill is practically asking for a fatal accident to occur, and it is risking the lives of the child and parent teaching the child to use a firearm at a young age. As much as I believe that children/teenagers should be able to do whatever they want under their parents permission/consent, I also believe that in some cases there needs to be legal restrictions and guidelines when it comes to such a public sport such as hunting. Yes many people will oppose thing bill because it allows a ten year old to fire a weapon, but it is obviously up to the parents to decide whether to take their child hunting or not. A parent would not put their child in such a situation if they weren't sure they were safe.

current event

On Wednesday June 3rd, New Hampshire became the 6th state to legalize same-sex marriage. The state legislature agreed to include changes protecting religious institutions from being forced to marry gay couples, meaning they may deny the marriage. The bill was signed after the House voted 198-176 and the Senate voted 12-10. The only other states that allow same-sex marriages are Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine. The legislature of New Hampshire wants to let gays know that they are being treated equally. Although conservatives will probably attempt to repeal the bill, it will certainly not be easy.

summer 2009

As high school is ending (in two days) and graduation is coming up (in nine days!) everyone has already started planning for the summer. What are my plans? First of all, beach week right after graduation will be AMAZING! Not only being with friends for a week, but getting away from home for a week! But, while trying to avoid getting a real job, I have been asked by a close friend to babysit every morning during the week, from 8 to 12. I do not despise babysitting, it can just be an exhausting, terrible, and sometimes boring thing to do. I have babysat the same two kids for the last 7 years, and I guess since their family has spoiled me SO much, it's just not the same babysitting anyone else. But this summer I think I will enjoy babysitting the little boy, plus it beats getting a real job. And as much as I dread waking up before ten o'clock, it will be beneficial waking up before 8 so I won't feel like I'm wasting my summer days. Plus I can sleep any other time I want!

prom? not for me

This past weekend was FINALLY time for Prom 2009. *Fortunately, I did not even attempt to attend prom. Dances and dressing up like an expensive barbie was never my thing. Although I went last year after being forced into going, paying for a ridiculous limo and changing dates last minute, I still did not enjoy myself. Coincidentally, my cousin's wedding was on the same day as prom. Not that wedding's are my thing either...we avoid weddings if all possible! Personally, I thought the wedding was boring and strange. The reception however was much better! Without going into too much detail, my family certainly knows how to party and dance til the sun comes up. As much as I do not like weddings, I am able to put my spitefulness aside and just have a good time with a large, southern group of people who I do not get to see often. I wouldn't trade them for the world!

life outside of school

Aside from my own health problems, my godfather, who happened to live next door to me, was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago. I have never known anyone in my life to have cancer, so this was my first experience. The process was long and hard with surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation, but he had SO much support from SO many people. At last, he had beat the cancer and thought the worst parts were over. Until last year in 2008 he became severely sick with an infection in his lungs, caused from the radiation. He continued his physical therapy but soon after the start of 2009, he began having weekly operations to clean out his lungs. For more than two months, he went into Reston Hospital early every Thursday morning to have the surgery. Only once did he come home a Thursday evening but other weeks he would stay a few days in the hospital or even through the weekend. Every time he came home, I was there with other family members, waiting to start my nursely tasks. It was so important to keep everything sanitary and in order, since we had to personally give him a series of IV's and medication every four to six hours. A few nurses from the hospital trained my godbrother, my godmother, and myself how to use the IV's and a machine that was cleaning out the infection in his lungs through tubes in his back and chest. The machine never worked right and beeped every five to fifteen minutes claiming there was a leak in the tubes or the container was full, which was false 99% of the time. Once we figured out a time schedule, we each took different 6 hours shifts a day to stay awake, reset the machine every few minutes, and give my godfather his two IV's which last an hour, sometimes two hours. Since my godbrother had work every day, and my godmother was constantly running on empty, I volunteered to take the night shifts, mostly on weekends but sometimes during the week. Once my two other godbrothers and one godsister were able to make more frequent trips up here, the work balanced out and we all began to get more sleep. A month or so ago, my godfather went into the hospital for his last big surgery which was sort of a relief for us all. The surgery was successful at first, but each week the doctors advised him to stay in the hospital in ICU, and eventually things took a turn for the worst. The infection in his lungs had returned and he got even more sick with pneumonia. As he got worse, the doctors did everything they could including performing a tracheotomy, but were not able to get rid of the disease. They could only keep him heavily sedated on pain medication and he needed a breathing ventilator to breath. The worst part was, he could not speak for himself and it was heartbreaking for all of us to see him so uncomfortably sedated. A few weeks ago, my godfamily came together to make the biggest decision ever, whether to keep him on the ventilator or not. On Thursday May 28th at 4 pm, they proceeded to take my godfather off the ventilator and finally give him peace and comfort. Unfortunately, this has been the worst experience in my entire life and I will never forget having such a wonderful man as a father-figure in my life. RIP

high school

So I'm pretty sure my high school career has been entirely different than anyone elses. Not saying that everyone elses is the same, but mine has just been uniquely different. Finding out in middle school that I had major health problems within my ovaries and also in my thyroid, didn't seem too life-impacting til high school started. My freshman year was pretty simple, but during my sophomore year, I missed almost half the school days because I became so severely sick. Going into junior year I held my head high and didn't let anything hold me back. Until near the end of the year I became sick once again, but stuck it out as much as I could. Then, senior year came...just when I never thought I'd make it, I was sooo excited to finally be in my last year of grade school! Knowing that it wouldn't be a breeze, I was prepared for anything and everything. Once again, my health took a turn for the worst and I missed school at least once a week. I only know of ONE week when I completed an entire five days of school. Never once was I not determined to get something done, or strive for good grades. My teachers always worked with me to accomplish everything and I couldn't be more thankful for that. My GPAs every year were 3.6, 3.0, 3.4 and this year....probably isn't as good as previously. But at least senior year is over!!

Editorial

The Washington Post was recently visited by multi billionaire Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, whose wife, Melinda Gates, is actually on the board of directions for the Post. Gates is interested in improving high school teaching and increasing high school graduates, by funding through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has spent about $4 billion. Statistics show that only 71% of kids graduate from high school within four years, but only 58% of Hispanics and 55% of African Americans do so. Since there is an increasing number of children born in poverty, whom are not given substancial education, the Gates' focus is on giving every child a chance in a proper environment with qualified teachers. A big problem is there are many teachers who are low-level-qualified for teaching, and there could be better suited people for the job. Why put a childs education in the hands of a teacher who isn't qualified for his/her best? I can say, if I wanted to be a teacher more than anything, but didn't think I was 100% upmost educated, then I wouldn't take on the job yet. Another comment I have on this topic, is I understand the poverty rates are going up, but it's also not entirely fair to only focus on those people. I think every single child should have equal education regardless, and even in areas that have higher graduate rates than other areas should be benefitted also. I think Bill Gates indefinitely has enough money to give, and he should just donate a fixed amount of money to every school, or even county, in every state. That'd be nice =]

Editorial

An editorial from the Washington Post discusses the "oxymoronic" effect of food safety which has been practiced by the government insufficiently since back in 2006. Over the last few years, there have been contamination and salmonella breakouts in foods such as peanuts, peppers, tomatoes, and spinach. Although the government has said it will be taken care of, nothing has been done until now when President Obama created a Food Safety Working Group - "to upgrade our food safety laws for the 21st century." Most of the time, companies are warned when a federal inspection will be conducted, only sometimes they are scheduled randomly. At those random inspections, companies fail to rid of unsanitary conditions such as rat droppings, and dead rodents or bugs. With Obama's new group, there will be an increased number of federal inspectors and frequent random visits in nearly 150,000 food facilities across the country. When companies don't clean up after themselves and take care of their work places properly, it's a huge hazard to everyone. There need to be laws regarding what happens to companies/factories with contaminated food, and all that food should be recalled with consequences. Congress is certain to work as sufficiently as they can to confirm the candidates for the positions of the Food Safety Working Group and begin progress of cleaning up the food factories in the United States.

Editorial

The editorial I read about is written by Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post and is entitled "A Daring Test Case for Marriage." The article is about the ever-so-controversial topic of gay marriage and which laws are defined as "unconstitutional." Barack Obama as President urged the full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages. Recently a lawsuit was filed in Boston, Massachusetts by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) against the DOMA, challenging its constitutionality and arguing that Congress has traditionally deferred to states in regulating marriage. Marcus states that the lawsuit is at once restrained and daring, and its claims are inevitable, obvious, and potentially revolutionary. It presents a major legal debacle for the Obama administration. For the most part, gay rights groups have avoided federal courts in recent years, but this time it seemed almost unavoidable. The resolution of this case is unknown as to which the degree of guarentees of due process and equal pretection extended to gay rights. I think they are taking a great risk going to the government about their rights, but its good that they feel confident enough to defend themselves. The decision of the courts will be life changeing, either good or bad, for those of the GLAD, but I truly doubt it's success. By all means, members of the GLAD should have the freedom to do whatever they want within their personal lives, and the government should have nothing to do with it, but I wish them luck.

Editorial

The editorial I chose from the Washington Post is entitled "Who You Calling Socialist?" and is written by Harold Meyerson. The article is about how President Barack Obama and the government is turning the United States into a socialist economy. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equality for all individuals, with a fair or egalitarian method of compensation -Wikipedia. The reason Amercans believe we may be turning into socialists is because of some of the ridiculous programs and ideas in President Obama's Stimulus Plan. Why are Americans wanting to avoid socialism? Because we want to yield against such progressive reforms such as free universal education, minimum wage or tighter financial regulations. Even through all the accusations, when polling the political landscape, there was a surprise absence of advocates of socialism. But conservatives once criticized President Roosevelt of being a socialist and now they are accusing President Obama. Although it may seem our government is leading towards socialism, I really don't think we will become such.