Re: Bloggers

This is in response to Amanda's post about Bloggers and her opinion on them. I would definitely agree that I was not excited about having to keep a blog. To be honest I still don't really like it mainly because I, for the most part, like to keep my opinions to myself. But as for blogging in general I'd have to say that I'm a little biased. This is mainly because I think most of the people who are bloggers are the people who really like their opinion to be heard and are, generally, very opinionated. Blogs have become an outlet for people to either express their outlandish opinions or share every detail about their “sad” lives and have to some degree made this more of a social norm. At least this is what I have stereotyped the majority of bloggers to be. Though I can definitely agree with Amanda that there are some bloggers out there who have some really interesting things to say. I think blogs can also be a good thing if you’re going on a trip and you want to keep your family and friends updated. This is probably the only circumstance (plus for a grade) that I would write a blog.

Why spawning is optional, Re: Abstinence

This is in response to Tyler's response (http://trauber1.blogspot.com/) to Jordan's blog about abstinence. In it Tyler mentioned how in his middle school students had to take care of eggs as an assignment to learn about having children. This reminded me of a girl I knew in high school who told me that in health classes at her school everyone was required to take care of some sort of computerized baby for a week. You had to feed and walk and rock the baby, and all of this was monitored on a computer chip inside the baby. Every baby cried different amounts (you were lucky if you didn't get the "crack" baby that cried every two minutes) and students would have to try to get it to stop crying just like you would a normal child. If they didn't do all of this, or if they left baby unattended the teacher would know from the computer chip and you could fail. The chips could also detect if you shook the baby too hard and ultimately gave it Shaken Baby Syndrome. If this assignment was in fact to give kids some insight into what parenting is like then my response is I do not need a crying, shitting piece of plastic to tell me that I'm going to be an awful mother, especially as a senior in high school. Or if the idea was to scare kids into always having safe sex then they're ultimately stunting the grades and social lives of those who are making responsible decisions.

Re: Heat in the Dorms

This is in response to Adam's post about the dorms being excessively hot (http://abuzzweekly.blogspot.com/). I have also found time and time again that at night I'm overheated. My solution to this is to not only open my window but to turn on a fan, that's eight hours of electricity and gas being wasted and like Adam said this is not exactly congruent with the things that Ithaca stands for. First semester I was in the Freshman sustainability seminar. We had people come and speak to us most Friday's about various things and one of those times the speaker spoke about this topic. She said that Ithaca decides on set temperatures, basically, in order to maximize monetary savings. She also asked that we not open our windows if we feel the temperature is set too high because that's wasting energy. In this instance the reality is that the same amount of energy is being used whether or not the window is open because they have a fixed thermostat. So rather than wasting energy from heating and cooling at the same time the school should make some sort of system where the people who are actually living in the dorms experiencing the heat have some say in the temperature.

"When Monogomy becomes Monotomy"

After the recent Elliot Spitzer scandal there has been talk of a day reserved for unfaithfulness. It's called 'Mistress Day' and is apparently the day that Spitzer's rendezvous with his high-end call girl (who happens to be from my county) took place. It's "celebrated" the day before Valentine's Day so that your mistress can still get the love and attention, the latter perhaps being a more appropriate adjective, that the holiday highlights. This allows the adulterers to so kindly reserve the next day for sloppy seconds with their girlfriends and wives. The Hallmark equivalent behind this day is a website called Ashleymadison.com. It's an agency like match.com but caters exclusively to people who are either looking to find someone that they can cheat on their spouse with or are single and looking for someone tied-down that they can freely fool around with. With 2 million registered members Ashley Madison proclaims itself as the best place to start if you're looking for someone other than your partner to fulfill unmet needs. It also states that their "role is to keep [cheaters] from taking unnecessary risks while they explore the feelings that got them to our website to begin with". This is yet another perfect example of how every day seems to be one more step towards rewriting this country's manifesto to read "We stand primarily for making a profit regardless of consequences or ethics".

Re: RA Crossing the Line

This is in response to something Amanda said in her post about an RA who sexually assaulted a student last year (http://amry-amandas.blogspot.com/). I don't know much about the particular case she wrote about and perhaps in this instance it wasn't followed through on for a reason but I have to disagree on the attitude of "what's done is done" particularly when the topic is regarding sexual assault. So often victims of abuse or sexual assault are never brought to justice because they never speak up because they falsely hold that notion, that such unfortunate events cannot be undone and nothing can be done about what has happened to them. In the U.S. only 16% of all rapes and sexual assaults are reported. That is because today there is a stigma on reporting things like this but it is important for everyone to know that something can be done about what's been done.

Faith Based Preferences?

The Faith Based and Community Initiative is a program President Bush created seven years ago. It is a "comprehensive effort to enlist, equip, enable, empower, and expand the work of faith-based and other community organizations." Federal funding is provided to quality non-profit faith based community service programs. Created to protect the religious liberty of those served by faith-based providers, the program ensures that programs do not have to sacrifice their mission to participate. The Establishment Clause of the first amendment states, basically, that no religion shall be preferred by the government and religion vs. no religion should not be preferred either. In the past few decades arguments over this clause have caused prayer to be taken out of graduation ceremonies and funding withdrawn from religious schools. Bush therefore believes that religious programs are being discriminated against and this is his reaction to that. In fact religious schools have equal opportunity at receiving funding , the only restriction is that the money does not go towards things like bibles. I feel that this program instills the idea that our government prefers religious programs and instead should be awarding funding based on an entirely different platform. With an equal opportunity at funding as opposed to being targeted for it I feel this would do a much better job of upholding the intentions of the constitution.

Re: britney

This is in response to the posts about celebrities like Britney Spears having an affect on young girls sexualities. While I agree with what was said I do feel that some of pop culture can have negative affects, in particular one line of dolls that has been outselling Barbie dolls since their release... Bratz Dolls. With their luscious lips and low cut, midriff bearing tops MGA Entertainment Inc. is successfully breeding prostitots by the billions. Any doll whether it's a G.I. Joe or an American Girl is a figure that is envied and looked up to by its owner. By visiting the "be-bratz" website the message these roll models are sending is very clear. In a meet the Bratz section Jade responds to fave book with "I prefer fashion mags", Chloe says that "right now" she's a vegetarian, Dana is always on her computer, Sharidan's favorite class is Home Ec, Sasha is "not afraid of confrontation, she knows who she is, what she wants and how to get it" and Pheobe's shoppin' style is out of the way boutiques. What the dolls are providing for girls is more than entertainment but a lesson that physical appearance and consumerism lead to being sexy and also to success. Its distorting kid's values of their property and their body. The "sex sells" marketing tactic probably will be here for a long time but shame on the businesses for applying this scheme to young girls. It can only get worse, in fact a company created a line of underwear called "Little Miss Naughty" and marketed thongs and padded bras to children under ten years old. It would be really nice to think that we could rely on the parents to protect their children from such companies but the success of the Bratz dolls leaves me fearing that the world is going to be left in the hands of Sharidans and Sashas whose functioning extends no further than lip glossing and texting.

"Patriotism" or Narcissism?

The topic of this blog came to me the other day in class when Ryan was sharing his topic for his paper. I believe he said something like consumerism can be considered patriotism. This is a belief that many Americans blindly hold. When George W. Bush was asked by representatives from several third world countries to "consider reducing consumption habits" in the U.S he replied "the American way of life is not up for negotiation". But what Bush and Americans should take in to consideration is that consumption surpasses the effects of any efforts to save water and energy in the home. It is also second only to overpopulation in top contributers to ecological decline. Shopping habits in the U.S and the manufacturing, transporting marketing etc. involved cause such great ecological destruction that every dollar towards consumption is attributed to 720 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. Americans are fooled every day into believing the lies of advertising, the significance of trends, and the notion that consumerism fulfills a way of life. We need to consider taking down such beliefs and refocusing our pride.

Re: Valentine's Day

This post is in response to Tyler's post involving Valentine's Day. First of all I don't think I've ever met a girl who said that Valentine's Day was their favorite holiday or that it brought them closer to their lover. Second to say "most women in this material world" suggests you think they enjoy the holiday not because it brings them closer to their lovers at all but because on this day their lover potentially showers them with gifts. To say that women have expectations of their "lovers" on this day is quite the generalization. In fact most of the girls I know on campus that are in a relationship had expectations no greater that dinner out, many didn't do anything at all. As for the supposed fifty percent of the male population that is wallowing in self pity I say wallow all you want but hating Valentine's day is just displacing your anger. My point here is simple - for the single guy or girl Valentine's Day is another day and there is no reason to be anything less than indifferent about it.

Security on Campus

Recently Ithaca College has been promoting a safer campus. They send us e-mails about not letting strangers into our buildings or leaving the doors propped open so anyone could just walk right in. Right after this recent surge of safety warnings, there was some unannounced construction done to my building. They replaced all of the doors, and during the time of construction my building had no doors, and no one watching who was entering the building. Not only that, but I was woken up at 8 in the morning. I think that it is wrong to not inform residence of dorms of construction going on. It may affect our sleep schedule and safety habits, and just because we aren't living in apartments or private residences doesn't mean we can be disregarded.

Fractions, As Obsolete as Roman Numerals?

A mathematics professor at The University of Pennsylvania believes that fractions "have had their day". He feels, not only, that they are a useless practice but that in teaching them they do more harm than good. He believes that because some students find difficulty in learning fractions they lose confidence and give up on math. There will always be students who give up on math, just like there will always be students who just aren't good at it. But if we are to revoke the teaching of something because we can simply compute it by tapping a few buttons and, here's the deal breaker, not using our brains at all instead teaches our children (math-apt and not) to always be relying on outside resources. Coming from a student who struggled with fractions more than most of her peers I can tell you that the only reason kids continue to believe that fractions are hard or unnecessary is because theres an easier way. DeTurck, the professor, suggests that fractions not be removed completely but postponed until after calculus is learned. Perhaps the problem isn't that kids cannot grasp their importance rather it's just not being taught to do so. A child may be able to compute something on a calculator to get a result of 13.7 but does that child understand that that means 13 plus seven tenths? Fractions are a stepping stone to decimals and calculus, not the other way around.

Wireless on Campus

Colleges and Universities are updating their campuses all over the world by installing blanket wireless internet systems. Here on Ithaca's campus the only places you can access a wireless internet is the pub, the library, and park. In my dorm building (and many other residential buildings) we did not have a lounge all first semester, and still don't. Lounges gives you the option of working on your computer, in your building, in a room other than your bedroom. But we have been stripped of that right all year and wireless would allow students to work anywhere on campus and anywhere in your dorm building where you can bring your computer into a friends room. Also there would be many advantages to have wireless in more academic buildings. In lecture classes where lots of students bring their laptops to class this would be particularly beneficial. I think this a change that Ithaca College should make in the very near future.