Struck By Lightning

  
    I'm currently reading the book Struck By Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal by: Chris Colfer. It's about a teenage boy names Carson Phillips who's struggling through his last year of high school in the small town of Clover. He lives with his depressed single mother and has a strong relationship with his grandma who is living in a senior citizens home. You can say that he's messed up but honestly, he's just like every other teenager in the world: the world is out to get him. Through out the book, Carson makes side notes that hint at how much he dislikes the people around him and where he is in his life. He wants to be an editor for the New York Times when he's older and has a plan to get there, but it includes getting into Northwestern University. 

     While explaining why he hates his town and can't wait to graduate, he says “You don’t get to pick where you’re from, but you always have control of where you’re going.” I think that what he's saying is really true. He's saying that if you don't like where you are (where you've been brought up) you should follow your dreams and go where you feel like you belong. To him, that's Northwestern and he'll do anything to get in. He also says “...because a life without meaning, without drive or focus, without dreams or goals, isn't a life worth living.” Carson is saying that if you don't have any dreams or goals to pursue as you grow up, your life is boring. I think that the reason why he's saying this is because  he feels that his dreams are so important to him and he's trying to inspire others to pursue their's. 

Romeo and Juliet: Rushed into Love?

     In ELA we're reading the book Romeo and Juliet by: William Shakespeare as a class. The story is  about two teenagers from rival families (Romeo: a Montague and Juliet: a Capulet.) The two end up falling into a forbidden love which leads to them killing themselves in a terrible misunderstanding. Through out what we have read so far, there are a lot of hints into parents trying to control their children's lives. 
  
    Right after the first scene, Juliet's promised lover Paris asks Juliet's father for his blessing. Paris is a matured man in his twenties yet Juliet is barely 14. All her mother and father want her to do is marry Paris but it's clear she's only agreeing with them to make peace. She doesn't want to disobey her parents with the fear of starting a fight. Juliet's parents are pushing Paris on her because they know that they won't have control of what she does with her life for much longer but every time her mother asks about him, Juliet doesn't sound quite as amused. In 1.3.102 Lady Capulet says "Speak briefly. Can you like of Paris' love?" and Juliet replies "I'll look to like, if looking liking move. But no more deep with I endart mine eye Than your consent gives strength to make it fly." What Juliet means is that she will try to like Paris but only to the extent of what her mothers permission allows. She doesn't want to like him, but she's doing what ever it takes to make her mother and father happy with her. 

    When Paris is asking for Capulet's blessing to propose to his daughter, he says "Younger than she are happy mothers made."  He's trying to persuade him to say yes so he brings up the point that girls younger than Juliet get married and are happy. Capulet replies "And too soon marred are those so early made. Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she. She’s the hopeful lady of my earth. But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart. My will to her consent is but a part. An she agreed within her scope of choice, Lies my consent and fair according voice." He's saying that girls as young as Juliet who get married grow up too fast yet he's still granting permission. He says "My will to her consent is but a part" which means he's giving him permission to try to win her over, but he will have to win her heart himself. 

     So the question is: should teenagers parents be able to rush them into love as they do in the story of "Romeo and Juliet."? In class, we shared our opinions and a lot of people said that it wasn't right what Juliet's parents are doing to her. They've promised her love to a man who's many years older than her without asking her opinion. I think the reason that they've done this is because they know that if they don't move quick enough, she might fall for another boy who they don't approve of. The reason why Juliet fell for Romeo so quickly is because he's her age and she was looking for an escape from her parents and Paris' decision. Romeo was looking for a way to forget about Rosaline, a girl who he loved just to find out that she didn't feel the same way. They were both in similar situations so they could relate to each other and help each other. 

Cell Phone Tracking: Appropriate or Atrocious?

   On November 16th, 2011 a student of Southern State Community College in Sardina, Ohio was kidnapped by a man. Although she couldn't see where she was being taken to, one call to 911 saved her life.   The police department was able to track her cellphone signals using GPS. Being able to track cell phones can be useful to the Government to help keep track of terrorist issues and drug dealings. In the article Are You Being Tracked?  by: Patricia Smith she says "police say tracking is a valuable weapon in emergencies like child abduction and suicide calls." I see stories about families who have lost a child to a kidnapper and just the thought of being able to help reunite is amazing. "It's pretty valuable simply because there are so many people who have cell phones" says Roxann Ryan (criminal analysis with Iowas state intelligence branch. Almost every teen has a cell phone as do adults which makes tracking people so much easier.
       
    Don't be fooled though, if you need to send out a signal to the persons phone, you need the approval of the company. Congress is considering bills to restrict cell phone tracking usage because it violated the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures." The reason why Congress is considering this idea is because during the time the Amendments were written, there wasn't technology like there is today and there is no way that the Framers could imagine cell phones or GPS. "A judge can require police to get a warrant before obtaining cell phone records" Smith says. Even though it's important for police to gather all the information, it's still a violation of the Fourth Amendment. "After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, President George W. Bush authorized the government to eavesdrop on phone calls and monitor the e-mails of terrorism suspects without obtaining warrants" Smith also says. It's understandable because obviously if they're a suspect, they aren't going to want the Government poking around in their business.

   Honestly, I think that the fact that the Government could go through someones cell phone records is creepy. I understand that it may be helpful to the situation, it's a violation of the rights of the person. One thing that was going through my mind while reading this article is: if there are so many requirements for being able to get into someones phone records, why does the Government use it as a device? If congress is looking to change the Amendments to protect the people, then why does the Government allow warrants? Some things people want to keep private and I understand that, but I think is they really had something to hide they would figure out a way to block signals to their technology. In conclusion, I think that although it's helpful for the Governments investigations, it's a violation of our rights as a human and should not be allowed.

The Future of Us

      I recently read the book The Future of Us by Jay Asher. It's about a girl named Emma and her best friend Josh living in 1996. Emma got a computer from her father who divorced her mom and is still trying to bribe her with presents. Josh brings over an American Online CD-ROM to download on the computer but when it downloads and she creates an e-mail address, something else happens: she logs into Facebook. Facebook wasn't created until 8 years later but that's because she's online as her 30 year old self. As Emma and Josh go through their profiles, friends, and relationship status, they can predict the future. Emma's future drastically changes through out their "facebook experience" because of things that she does, so my question is: "if you knew what your future held, would you change it if you could?"

      Emma doesn't like her future so she does things that she doesn't normally do to change it.

Americano

   One of my favorite songs is Americano written by Paul Blair, Stefani Germanotta, and Fernando Garibay and sung by Lady Gaga. As a big fan of her music and her personality, this song stood out to me because of its meaning. Gaga is a woman who feels strongly about fighting for human rights. She once said “You have to be unique, and different, and shine in your own way.” If you listen through any of her songs and really think about them, you realize that she doesn't just care about making money, she really cares about her fans. In her song Americano, she mentions a lot of different problems in the world. The first line of the song is "I met a girl in East L.A." The first situation is her meeting a girl in East L.A. which a highly populated Hispanic neighborhood in California. As she's singing,  she's telling the love story between her and this Spanish girl. She sings "If you love me we can marry on the west coast. On a Wednesday en el verano en agosto" when I first saw the lyrics I thought about why she was being really specific on the date and as I researched a little, I figured out that Prop 8 was overturned in California on Wednesday August 4th. Another hint to a gay rights theme is when she sings "In the mountains, las campanas están sonando. Todos los chicos y los chicos están besando" Which means In the mountains, the bells are ringing. All boys and boys are kissing in Spanish. Because of all of the hints about gay rights in this song, I can tell how strongly Lady Gaga feels about them.

   Another theme that I think Lady Gaga had in her song was Arizona immigration laws. The reason being because towards the end she says "Don't you try to catch me, don't you try to catch me. No, no, no, no don't you try to catch me. Living on the edge of the law." In April of 2010 a law was passed in Alabama to allow law enforcement agencies to require officers to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. I think that another reason besides the fact of the East L.A. hint that she's speaking spanish in parts of the song represents the immigrants (gay people and people not American) trying to fight for the rights that they have as humans but the government doesn't understand them because they don't speak their language. She even says "I don't speak your, I don't speak your language oh no." The thing I really love about Lady Gagas songs is that they have a lot of hidden messages and meanings.

   The reason that this is one of my favorite songs is because human rights and equality is a subject that I feel strongly about. As you can tell in a lot of my blog posts, I feel like no matter who you fall in love with, where you come from, or what you look like, you should be treated the same as everyone around you. If you were at a restaurant and you were from a different country than where you were, would you be angry if you weren't served as fast as the natives of the country were? What I like about Lady Gagas songs is that although some of them might sound funny or up beat, if you look at the lyrics and unpack what she's trying to say, you can really understand her beliefs. In a way I think that her songs are really persuasive because when someone gets a song in their head and can't get it out, it's usually because it's catchy and I think that's what most music artists aim for. If someone hears that person singing that song, then they will most likely go home and play it for themselves. When that happens with Lady Gagas songs, such as an inpowering one like Americano, a message is being spread to people and it's getting them to listen. 

   Another thing that I like about this song is that it packs in a lot of sort of hidden facts such as the prop 8 one. Some people might think that it was just a date that rhymed but if you know the song and have it memorized, then you have that date in history in your head. Also, she sings "We fell in love, but not in court" which meant that when they fell in love, it was before prop 8 went into effect. They couldn't officially be in an open and healthy relationship and eventually get married. Although it's not a true story, it's still a way to get a point across. Don't you just love a good love story? 

Fight for Your Right

    In the article Lady Gaga Vows To Make Bullying Illegal by Laura Hibbard, she talks about how Lady Gaga feels about kids being bullied. "Jamey Rodemeyer, 14 yrs old, took his life because of bullying. Bullying must become illegal. It is a hate crime" is what Lady Gaga tweeted when she watched the haunting video "It Gets better, I Promise!" posted on YouTube by Fourteen year old Jamey Rodemeyer. Jamey took his own life because he was harassed at school for being gay. Rodemeyer was a big fan of gaga and that's why she was so involved. The weekend before his crushing suicide, Jamey posted on his Facebook lyrics to lady Gagas song "The Queen" "Don't forget me when I come crying to heaven's door."

    I think that by writing this article, the author wants the reader to feel informed but also sorrowed. The author wants the reader to know about this topic in hope that people will feel like they can help. By adding quotes the author informs the reader with an educated source. Hibbard includes mostly tweets from Lady Gaga instead of quotes from an actual interview. I also think that by writing this article, Hibbard wanted to inform the readers on this incident to give them something to think about every time they see someone getting bullying or embarrassed. Maybe if readers were more informed about stories such as Jamey's, they would feel more guilty about making fun of people for their sexual orientation. 

    When I read the Facebook status of Rodemeyer I thought about how this happens to kids every day. A lot of my friends post statuses of lyrics on their Facebook's but I don't always think about them meaning anything. Usually when I post lyrics to a song on Facebook it's because I like the song and I want to share it with people, not based on my emotions. Maybe if people payed a little more attention to their friends whether it's through text message, Facebook status or Tweets then they could talk to their friends and resolve the problem before it gets any worse. Although I think that their friends should pay more attention to them, maybe they shouldn't be posting 'hints' to their feelings on the internet. It conclusion, if you see someone at school or outside of school getting bullied, they should stand up for them or tell a trusted adult.