article # 9 of

A Separate Peace?

By Kayla Webley / Milwaukee

I read the article A Separate Peace? by Kayla Webley in the week of October 25 issue of times magazine. This article talks about the idea of giving gsblt  (gay,straight,bi-sexual,lesbian,transgender) a safe learning environment where a large majority of people are different and they aren't afraid to show it .This article it talks about how there is a school in Milwaukee that a lot of bullied kids around the nation are transferring too from their home school because they are different but a large majority of these kids are gsblt .The author gives examples for both sides on whether or not these schools are a good idea. The parents of these bullied students of course don’t want to send them back to the place where they get hurt a daily basis.so the mother of a child who was being bullied founded the alliance school. But is this school a good idea? Sooner or later they are going to have to face the world and be judged for being different. That is one argument given by the parents and people who would have to pay since it is a charter school. There is a large ratio of kids being bullied in schools across the nation and is putting the kids in a different school the best idea or are they just running away and letting the bullies win.

          When i read this article i was trying to stay unbiased and look at the idea from everyone's perspective and not just of a student who was bullied most of their high school life. When i first started reading I thought why should this group get their own school what makes them so special. But then I remembered being bullied it was horrible I don't know if i would have stayed at my school if there had been an alternative. I think most people at some point in their high school career get bullied for one thing or another. I don't think the best idea is to lock away all the kids that get bullied. I think a better option would be to teach that earlier on in life that it is okay to be different. But until schools and the communities can achieve this goal of using the golden rule treat everyone the way you want to be treated .This school is a good idea because it gives these students a safe place to learn and grow as a person and be able to better handle to bullying when they leave high school. One thing I thought was interesting was how at the very end of the article we take a look a gay boy named Dylan’s life and how now although he is being home schooled he attends dances with his boyfriend where he say the parents rather than other students are the trash talkers "it seems like my generation is getting over it”. I agree with this I think as new generation are born and come to the age of schooling that they are more open to gslbt I think this is because the older generation’s ways are becoming old school as they age and retire. I just hope these ideas mature and further with incoming students.

article # 8

Why America must revive its middle class

    By Jeffery D. Sachs

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2095573,00.html

In the article “Why America Must Revive Its Middle Class” by Jeffery D Sachs in the Time’s magazine of the October 10 2011 issue .Sachs talks about an idea on how to fix the government and make America prosper. The economy is making the rich richer and is making the middle class dwindle away, because of this happening the politics of this country are also going to the rich giving the less advantage little to any say in to what is going to happen with our government. This same situation happened not long ago when Harding, Coolidge and hoover were in office. They lowered labor standards and the minimum wage. These ideas were railed against in the great depression by franklin D. Roosevelt .How did we get here is a question a lot of people are asking themselves. Well let’s look at what we have done.  Lots of companies have sent work abroad and didn’t think of the consequences that would have on the economy. In the 1970 the US dollar lost its value, gas and food prices increased very rapidly. Even though all of these bad things were happening Reagan decided it was the governments fault instead of all the competition the US was getting from foreign markets .So Reagan cut taxes and reduced government programs. Although America has enjoyed the workings of Chinese products we are going to suffer because of that now .With the middle class losing their jobs to foreign workers .When Obama took office he didn’t think of treating the long term affect rather a short a temporary shock he called for tax cuts and spending increases he hoped by 2010 the economy would bounce back to normal .Sine he took office thing have not gotten any better the economy has actually become worse .Recently at a press conference Obama called for another short push .The message that a lot of the economy got is that congress and the white house are going to continue with the bush’s idea of tax cuts to 2012.this is the same idea the government has had for about thirty years and this is just making the economy worse and worse .Sachs says that “the republicans fail to understand that businesses are investing abroad not because of taxes but because higher wages in the U.S are not sufficiently matched by higher skills as they are in say Germany or Sweden .We are to put it bluntly uncompetitive in many industrial sectors. “When you look at other countries we are the country with lowest paying taxes yet we have the worst economy .The way to fix this is to stop arguing about increase taxes for the rich but rather on a long term basis of where the US economy is heading.

When I read this article it really made me think that if our government has been using the same idea for around thirty years and things just keep getting worse, why don’t they try to come up with a better idea. You would think that would be common sense your first idea didn’t work so try another one. When Sachs talked about how a lot of the rich people in the us are behind gates and there money is in outsourced country making money and they are doing just fine because they are the people who own the top companies that are making money on foreign ground they don’t care what happens as long they keep making money to love their lavish life styles. I think that is just sick. They get to sit in their mansions while a large percent of Americans today are barely making is and are scared they won’t be able to feed their kids tomorrow. I think Americans have become so selfish just thinking of ourselves we need to get back to help thy neighbor when in need rather than ignoring your neighbors when they need help .I’m not just talking about your neighbors across the street but the people who live here in America we need to take care of our own people before we can give millions away to help other countries.

article #7

Why the Breakfast Most Americans Will Eat Today Is a Corporate Scam

 AlterNet / By Anneli Rufus

http://www.alternet.org/food/152260/why_the_breakfast_most_americans_will_eat_today_is_a_corporate_scam

     

In the article "Why the Breakfast Most Americans Will Eat Today Is a Corporate Scam" by  Anneli Rufus of alternative media.org anneli talks about how what we eat in the morning all got started by the media. The breakfast every one eats today was a production of the people who wanted a meatless anti-aphrodisiac breakfasts. The idea for the meat less breakfast came from a man named John Kellogg, he was Michigan's Seventh-Day Adventist surgeon and anti-masturbation activist. John’s brother developed the cold cereal Kellogg corn flakes by sweetening them which john hadn't thought of. He marketed the sweetened cereals to the kids instead of the health conscious parents any longer. Before the cereal breakfast food there was a 4000 calorie breakfast consisting of protein-rich eggs, sausages, ham and bacon with pancakes and bread. This was the ideal meal for the farmer who didn't get to eat again until he got back from the fields. The breakfast was the first thing to change. After the breakfast and what people ate change the type of jobs changed, people were no longer working hard in the fields all day long but rather in the factory's .A lot of the foods we eat today we think are healthy because the media says so and the way they market the food but in reality a lot of the foods are just junk food in disguise 

     This article really made me think about what I eat and why. Why do I eat cereal for breakfast because the media tells us it’s good for us and why would they lie to make money. Society needs to think about why they are doing certain thing and where they got the idea from. When I was reading this I was amazed at how much power the media has over us without us even realizing what is going on and how the thought of drinking orange juice and having a bowl of cereal is good for you’ve never questioned the idea of how come we don't have steak and potatoes for breakfast I’ve just always thought of those as dinner foods. I think it’s kind of funny that the man to come up with a non- meat breakfast is the same man who is still recognized today by the cereal brand. The media scams people so easily .I think people need to do more research before they decide they are just going to switch to something because the media says it’s better for you.

   

Article # 6

Getting to know You and Me
By Chana Schoenberger

 In the book writers response pg 95 -97

   I read the short story “Getting to Know You and Me” by Chana Schoenberger in the book writers response . In this story the author talks about an experience she had while in high school. Chana was approached by the diversity committee, which sponsors the assemblies to increase religious awareness, to help with the presentation about the Jewish holiday of Passover. When she was 16 she was one of the 20 students who spent 5 weeks with the National Science Foundation Young Scholars Program. The 20 students quickly became close friends. There were 8 different religious backgrounds that were represented within this group, including Jewish, Roman Catholic, Hindu, Methodist, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Lutheran and Muslim. Although they were some of the smartest students in school, they were very unaware of other cultures around them. One girl asked another girl if she was Mormon because she had 9 brothers and sisters. The girl replied “no, I dress normal”. Her friends were curious about Judaism and asked her all sorts of questions about it. Her roommate asked her “how come if Jesus was a Jew, Jews aren’t Christian”. This is just one of the problems that came from growing up in a small town where most people were the same religion without much diversity. She was asked if they still practiced animal sacrifices by a girl from a small town in Minnesota. She laughed and said “no, this is the 20th century”. Although no one was being purposely rude she got the feeling she was representing the whole Jewish community. She realized that a lot of the people would go back thinking that all Jewish people were just like her. Although the students were very ignorant of the cultures, the worst was their biology professor who took them on a field trip to the EPA field site. As he was telling them about the project he was working on, he said he wouldn’t want them to get “jewed”. She couldn’t believe what she heard, the most educated man had made an anti-Semitic remark. She decided she was going to say something, but changed her mind and didn’t go through with it. What scared her the most was that she never met a vicious anti-Semite who was purposely trying to be prejudiced. A lot of people don’t understand what it means to be different and they approach it as if it is a bad thing. After she returned from her trip she planned on applying for the diversity committee to tell the whole school about her culture and her tradition. The experience has made her see how important it is to celebrate her heritage.
   When I read this story it made me think of myself and how I used to see different cultures. I feel I can relate to some of the other students who were ignorant of the other religions. One day I realized I was being prejudiced towards other cultures and wanted to change. So from then on I have taken many steps to change my views. The first step is I am in International Club with many different culture and ethnic backgrounds. I am also taking a class on multi-cultural awareness. Both of them have really pushed me out of my comfort zone and has made me more accepting of people’s differences.Recently I went to a presentation and realized I was not the only one that was ignorant of other cultures. I got a lot of my questions answered about culture.Although i don't have any special religion or culture like Chana in the story. I still want to continue to learn about different cultures around the world I liked the quote"If there weren't so much ignorance about each other people's backgrounds,would people still hate each other as badly as they do now"I belive this is an interesting thing to think about. A lot of wars are started because people are not tolerant and don't understand the differences of other cultures.I think that if you want to hate another culture its your choice but know all the facts before you decide to hate a whole group of people.