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from the New York Times

December 29, 2011

The Joy of Quiet

By PICO IYER

ABOUT a year ago, I flew to Singapore to join the writer Malcolm Gladwell, the fashion designer Marc Ecko and the graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister in addressing a group of advertising people on “Marketing to the Child of Tomorrow.” Soon after I arrived, the chief executive of the agency that had invited us took me aside. What he was most interested in, he began — I braced myself for mention of some next-generation stealth campaign — was stillness.

A few months later, I read an interview with the perennially cutting-edge designer Philippe Starck. What allowed him to remain so consistently ahead of the curve? “I never read any magazines or watch TV,” he said, perhaps a little hyperbolically. “Nor do I go to cocktail parties, dinners or anything like that.” He lived outside conventional ideas, he implied, because “I live alone mostly, in the middle of nowhere.”

Around the same time, I noticed that those who part with $2,285 a night to stay in a cliff-top room at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur pay partly for the privilege of not having a TV in their rooms; the future of travel, I’m reliably told, lies in “black-hole resorts,” which charge high prices precisely because you can’t get online in their rooms.

Has it really come to this?

In barely one generation we’ve moved from exulting in the time-saving devices that have so expanded our lives to trying to get away from them — often in order to make more time. The more ways we have to connect, the more many of us seem desperate to unplug. Like teenagers, we appear to have gone from knowing nothing about the world to knowing too much all but overnight.

Internet rescue camps in South Korea and China try to save kids addicted to the screen.

Writer friends of mine pay good money to get the Freedom software that enables them to disable (for up to eight hours) the very Internet connections that seemed so emancipating not long ago. Even Intel (of all companies) experimented in 2007 with conferring four uninterrupted hours of quiet time every Tuesday morning on 300 engineers and managers. (The average office worker today, researchers have found, enjoys no more than three minutes at a time at his or her desk without interruption.) During this period the workers were not allowed to use the phone or send e-mail, but simply had the chance to clear their heads and to hear themselves think. A majority of Intel’s trial group recommended that the policy be extended to others.

THE average American spends at least eight and a half hours a day in front of a screen, Nicholas Carr notes in his eye-opening book “The Shallows,” in part because the number of hours American adults spent online doubled between 2005 and 2009 (and the number of hours spent in front of a TV screen, often simultaneously, is also steadily increasing).

The average American teenager sends or receives 75 text messages a day, though one girl in Sacramento managed to handle an average of 10,000 every 24 hours for a month. Since luxury, as any economist will tell you, is a function of scarcity, the children of tomorrow, I heard myself tell the marketers in Singapore, will crave nothing more than freedom, if only for a short while, from all the blinking machines, streaming videos and scrolling headlines that leave them feeling empty and too full all at once.

The urgency of slowing down — to find the time and space to think — is nothing new, of course, and wiser souls have always reminded us that the more attention we pay to the moment, the less time and energy we have to place it in some larger context. “Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for our miseries,” the French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, “and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.” He also famously remarked that all of man’s problems come from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

When telegraphs and trains brought in the idea that convenience was more important than content — and speedier means could make up for unimproved ends — Henry David Thoreau reminded us that “the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages.” Even half a century ago, Marshall McLuhan, who came closer than most to seeing what was coming, warned, “When things come at you very fast, naturally you lose touch with yourself.” Thomas Merton struck a chord with millions, by not just noting that “Man was made for the highest activity, which is, in fact, his rest,” but by also acting on it, and stepping out of the rat race and into a Cistercian cloister.

Yet few of those voices can be heard these days, precisely because “breaking news” is coming through (perpetually) on CNN and Debbie is just posting images of her summer vacation and the phone is ringing. We barely have enough time to see how little time we have (most Web pages, researchers find, are visited for 10 seconds or less). And the more that floods in on us (the Kardashians, Obamacare, “Dancing with the Stars”), the less of ourselves we have to give to every snippet. All we notice is that the distinctions that used to guide and steady us — between Sunday and Monday, public and private, here and there — are gone.

We have more and more ways to communicate, as Thoreau noted, but less and less to say. Partly because we’re so busy communicating. And — as he might also have said — we’re rushing to meet so many deadlines that we hardly register that what we need most are lifelines.

So what to do? The central paradox of the machines that have made our lives so much brighter, quicker, longer and healthier is that they cannot teach us how to make the best use of them; the information revolution came without an instruction manual. All the data in the world cannot teach us how to sift through data; images don’t show us how to process images. The only way to do justice to our onscreen lives is by summoning exactly the emotional and moral clarity that can’t be found on any screen.

MAYBE that’s why more and more people I know, even if they have no religious commitment, seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation, or tai chi; these aren’t New Age fads so much as ways to connect with what could be called the wisdom of old age. Two journalist friends of mine observe an “Internet sabbath” every week, turning off their online connections from Friday night to Monday morning, so as to try to revive those ancient customs known as family meals and conversation. Finding myself at breakfast with a group of lawyers in Oxford four months ago, I noticed that all their talk was of sailing — or riding or bridge: anything that would allow them to get out of radio contact for a few hours.

Other friends try to go on long walks every Sunday, or to “forget” their cellphones at home. A series of tests in recent years has shown, Mr. Carr points out, that after spending time in quiet rural settings, subjects “exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory and generally improved cognition. Their brains become both calmer and sharper.” More than that, empathy, as well as deep thought, depends (as neuroscientists like Antonio Damasio have found) on neural processes that are “inherently slow.” The very ones our high-speed lives have little time for.

In my own case, I turn to eccentric and often extreme measures to try to keep my sanity and ensure that I have time to do nothing at all (which is the only time when I can see what I should be doing the rest of the time). I’ve yet to use a cellphone and I’ve never Tweeted or entered Facebook. I try not to go online till my day’s writing is finished, and I moved from Manhattan to rural Japan in part so I could more easily survive for long stretches entirely on foot, and every trip to the movies would be an event.

None of this is a matter of principle or asceticism; it’s just pure selfishness. Nothing makes me feel better — calmer, clearer and happier — than being in one place, absorbed in a book, a conversation, a piece of music. It’s actually something deeper than mere happiness: it’s joy, which the monk David Steindl-Rast describes as “that kind of happiness that doesn’t depend on what happens.”

It’s vital, of course, to stay in touch with the world, and to know what’s going on; I took pains this past year to make separate trips to Jerusalem and Hyderabad and Oman and St. Petersburg, to rural Arkansas and Thailand and the stricken nuclear plant in Fukushima and Dubai. But it’s only by having some distance from the world that you can see it whole, and understand what you should be doing with it.

For more than 20 years, therefore, I’ve been going several times a year — often for no longer than three days — to a Benedictine hermitage, 40 minutes down the road, as it happens, from the Post Ranch Inn. I don’t attend services when I’m there, and I’ve never meditated, there or anywhere; I just take walks and read and lose myself in the stillness, recalling that it’s only by stepping briefly away from my wife and bosses and friends that I’ll have anything useful to bring to them. The last time I was in the hermitage, three months ago, I happened to pass, on the monastery road, a youngish-looking man with a 3-year-old around his shoulders.

“You’re Pico, aren’t you?” the man said, and introduced himself as Larry; we’d met, I gathered, 19 years before, when he’d been living in the cloister as an assistant to one of the monks.

“What are you doing now?” I asked.

“I work for MTV. Down in L.A.”

We smiled. No words were necessary.

“I try to bring my kids here as often as I can,” he went on, as he looked out at the great blue expanse of the Pacific on one side of us, the high, brown hills of the Central Coast on the other. “My oldest son” — he pointed at a 7-year-old running along the deserted, radiant mountain road in front of his mother — “this is his third time.”

The child of tomorrow, I realized, may actually be ahead of us, in terms of sensing not what’s new, but what’s essential.

​​In order to communicate my issue and the message I want to spread, I specifically have to aim my efforts at my senator, my house representative, and my mayor in order for them to support my cause. Most of my effort and actions have come from EarthJustice, and their movement against fracking. Their goal is to find out a different route and their belief is that there is always a different approach other than fracking. They say that they are basically "Earth's good lawyer" and aim toward a better future for the Earth. They also have many other campaigns, not just fracking. The site has a whole page dedicated to giving you some ways and steps that you can take if you want to play a role. I've subrscibed to their site ever since the lobbying project started, and I get any new information and news on fracking. EarthJustice gave me many options in joining the movement against fracking. I've done the many things that EarthJustice has advocated for me to do. On their website, they even provide a citizen a tip guide and the appropriate steps you as a citizen can take.



 As for me, I have done extensive research and attempted a few of the possible options provided to me.

-  EarthJustice urged citizens to build up alliances and demonstrate public support; get people power. On their website, EarthJustice asked members and non-members to sign a petition against fracking. The first thing I did was sign the public petition that would be aimed specifically at Tom Corbett and I even proceeded to share it on Facebook and Email. A great step is to spread the word, and I have shared it several times. Basically since many people are on Facebook a lot, a great way to spread the word would be through there. I also prepare to send out an email to all SLA students to sign the petition and join the movement in this easy, quick, simple way that may have a large impact. 




 - I wasn't going to stop there. Instead of doing only what was provided to me on the website, I also made a petition of my own directed against fracking, and when the break is over, I prepare to get friends, family, and SLA to sign it. The more petitions, and the more people that sign it, the merrier. I even went on to go online and find many other petitions that I could sign such as Food&WaterWatch and many others.


- Also, I plan to call my senators about the movement and leave a message. I plan on covering the main points I want to convey, and many people have suggested using a script so that there are not many ums and uhs, so I have started writing the script. On top of that, you can use email, and that would be a good way to use the script to my advantage and ask people to send an email with the script pasted in. Also contacting my senator Christine Tartaglione would be a great idea on my part, so I found a website that I could contact her, put in my words/concerns, and hopefully get an answer I want to hear.



 

In conclusion, my aim is to use petitions, emails, phone calls, and much more to convey the message. I may not have that much power, but in groups that power multiplies, and hopefully I can get many to join the cause and hopefully play a part. There are also many other ways that can get involved, and hopefully in time I can pursue those other actions.

Constitutional question:  Did the Supreme Court intend the Locomotive Inspection Act to preempt all state-law tort claims?

Facts of the case:

George Corson worked for almost 30 years for Railroad Friction Products as a mechanic repairing locomotives in a railroad maintenance facility.  During this time, he was routinely exposed to asbestos dust, which has long been known to be carcinogenic.  In 2005, he was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer, the only known cause of which is asbestos.  He filed a lawsuit against Railroad Friction Products in a Pennsylvania court, raising several state-law tort claims against the manufacturers and distributors of the asbestos-containing locomotive products.  Corson claimed that the products were defective and he had never been properly warned about the asbestos.  He died two years after his diagnosis.

In 1911, Congress passed the Boiler Inspection Act, which over time has involved into the Locomotive Inspection Act in place currently.  The Locomotive Inspection Act addresses matters of safety and liability concerning trains and railroads.

In 1926, the Supreme Court ruled on Napier v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad that the Boiler Inspection Act did preempt state laws.

Arguments before the court:

            Railroad Friction Products argues that the Locomotive Inspection Act was supposed to preempt state laws, and Pennsylvania’s laws are intruding on a field that Congress has reserved for federal regulation.  Kurns contends that Congress did not clearly intend to preempt state laws, and that in any case, the LIA only addresses locomotives “in use” on railroad lines, not locomotives at maintenance facilities.  Furthermore, she argues, if the LIA did preempt state laws, workers like Corson would have no way to seek justice.

Prediction:

            I predict that the court will rule that the LIA does preempt state laws.  They have ruled this way in the past, and from the transcripts I read, it seems that most of the people involved seem to think agree that the LIA preempts state laws.  In fact, it might not be possible for RFP to comply with both state and federal laws, and when there is such a conflict, it seems natural for federal laws to “beat” state laws.

It took me a while to choose what decision-makers I was going to contact.  I was originally considering Mayor Michael Nutter, but I decided that he didn’t have enough direct influence over something like school lunches and he probably had more pressing concerns anyway.  I also considered Governor Tom Corbett, but again, he had little to do directly with the issue of school lunches.  The same went for Anna Verna, who was both my city council district representative and city council president, because she has a history of supporting education.  However, she has just retired and been replaced by Darrell Clarke.  I looked at the members of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission and found that of the four members listed, only one, Lorene Cary, seemed to have had actual involvement on a personal level with Philadelphia students.  I briefly considered contacting her but decided she had too little involvement with food and not enough decision-making power on her own.  I also found a woman named Joan Nachmani, director of the school district's Nutrition Education Program.  Sadly her work is concerned with educating people about proper eating, not implementing new ways of making healthy food more accessible.

            In the end, I chose four people to contact: Don Schwarz, the Philadelphia City Health Commisioner; Leroy Nunery, the acting superintendent of the Philadelphia school district; Wayne T. Grasela, the senior vice president of the school district’s Division of Food Services; and Darrell Clarke, the new president of city council.  Don Schwarz does hold a powerful position, yet he is also directly involved with the health of Philadelphians.  Given that Philadelphia’s child obesity rate is 40%—twice the national rate—I’m sure he is interested in ways to combat child obesity.  Leroy Nunery has of course a great say in what schools do, and while he may be less concerned with child obesity, there is ample evidence that a healthy diet improves academic performance, which I think would interest him.  Wayne T. Grasela is perhaps the least powerful but most directly relevant of the people I am contacting.  Looking at the web page for the Division of Food Services, it is clear that efforts have already been made to improve school lunches.  School breakfast, lunch and after-school dinner menus for the month of January are even downloadable from the site.  In my letter to him, I begin by applauding the steps that have already been taken before urging him to continue supporting healthier school lunches.  Darrell Clarke doesn't have much involvement with the school district directly, but city council does pass legislation regarding all of Philadelphia, so I think it would be good to have him support healthier school lunches.

            Of course, it isn’t enough to be one person asking for something, so I’ve created a Facebook group called Philadelphia Students for Improved School Lunches to spread the message and urge other people to contact decision-makers about improving school lunches.  I know that there are many people who would support healthier school lunches, but I haven't been able to find other groups that push directly for better school lunches, only things like banning soda or vending machines.  On the group page, I have also made available for download some Keynote slides for parents to present at PTA meetings, and shirts that say “Good Students Eat Good Food” available for purchase.  With the profits from the shirts I can purchase more shirts to distribute for free to school district employees, which they can wear to show support for improved school lunches.

            Finally, I have written to Don Sapatkin, a health writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, suggesting that he do a piece on the state of Philadelphia school lunches.  Such an article would be fantastic for drawing more attention to the issue of school lunches.  I am waiting to hear back from him.  If he declines to do such an article, I have notes prepared to write my own op-ed piece that I can try to get published.

1. What is the status of your issue at the legislature? 

Pennsylvania cell phone/texting news: A ban on text messaging while driving has been approved by Gov. Tom Corbett and takes effect in early March

How many elected officials have indicated support for your issue?

Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, R-Bucks, Rep. Thomas Killion, State Rep. Josh Shapiro, Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland,

 Is there public support behind it, with good media attention?

8 in 10 drivers support some type of cell phone usage restriction.

• The majority of respondents say they are supportive of laws restricting any type of cell phone use while driving.
• 80 percent respondents support a ban on text messaging while driving.
• 80 percent of respondents support a ban on e-mailing while driving.
• Two thirds (67 percent) of respondents say they are supportive of laws restricting phone calls while driving.

 Who are your opponents, and how much power do they have? 

While the National Transportation Safety Board thinks states should ban all driver use of cellphones and other portable electronic devices, except in emergencies, auto club AAA isn't fully backing that proposal.

Cell phone and texting laws

HAND-HELD CELLPHONES: Nine states, as well as Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands, prohibit all drivers from using handheld cell phones will driving. Except for Maryland, any officer may cite a driver for using a handheld cell phone without any other traffic offense taking place in the other eight states.
NOVICE DRIVERS: 30 states and Washington, D.C., ban all cell phone use by novice drivers.
SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS: Bus drivers in 19 states and Washington, D.C., may not use a cell phone when passengers are present.
TEXT MESSAGING: 35 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam ban text messaging for all drivers. In all but three of those states, officers may cite a driver for texting without any other traffice offense taking place.
S.D.: No laws specific to cell phone use or texting.
Sources: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, State Highway Safety Offices

4. Who can you influence? I can influence my house hold and the people who are around me that drive

9TH GRADE HAS BEEN THE BEST YEAR OF MY SCHOOLING.
LOVE SLA.

With immigration being one of the least important problems in the US at the moment, it will be a little difficult to have anything done about illegal immigrants. Getting the government to actually do something productive about immigration would take lots of people to make it at the top of the priorities list. In order to change the minds of the decision makers in regards to immigration amnesty, I must contact bigger organizations that already have some sort of connection with the government. If the organizations isn’t big enough, it won’t have that much of an effect because chances are that there don’t have much of a connection with the government, which makes them as powerless as myself.

I plan to email a few organizations that I think are well acquainted with the government and explain to them why I think they should keep pushing the members of the government to put immigration amnesty as one of the top priorities on their list. One of the organizations I will be contacting about this issue is the National Immigration Forum. I chose them because, looking at their website, I see that they are very well on top of the status of all things surrounding immigration. They have information about the senate, the President, debates, and so much more. If the information hey give me is sufficient, which I’m confidant that it will be, they will be the only organization I will contact.

Through working with this organization we could put together events and spread the word to allow an immigration amnesty day for the illegal immigrants already here. We can help bring awareness to more communities because it seems as though nobody really cares about this issue. People who have immigrants in their families will be the easiest target because they could have family members who are illegal in the country and would like them to be legal citizens.

I called this organization and they didn’t answer. I guess I’ll have to try another one.

     This part of our project is the communication part. Where we reach out to an official so we can get our ideas out there and try to change our topic or lobby our voice. For my communication part i chose to write a letter to an editor, my person isn't exactly an editor but I'm sure he can get the word out there and make sure what I have to say is taking into consideration. He is the City Hall bureau chief Mike Dunn of KYW radio.

       Dear Mike Dunn,
                   Hello, My name is De'Lesha Jackson and I am a senior at Science Leadership Academy. I am trying to represent the 50-60% of young people who are not involved in the flash mobbing groups of Philadelphia. We don't think it is fair that everyone groups us together and that we have to suffer the consequence of those who didn't know how to behave. Once Mayor Nutter realizes that not every group of young people are flash mobbing then he can show everyone else. 
Mayor Nutter has made it so different age groups should have different curfew hours in certain parts of the city. But he hasn't gave any thought into the young people that just want to have fun and not hurt anyone. But he does agree that what they are doing is ridiculous. He wants equality and a safe environment for every one just like me but I feel as though his votes on this thing are not fair to every one. When reading this I hope you will have a realization of what I am saying and that you can help us to change this.
Thank you,

De'Lesha Jackson


I think this letter would be really effective, but more effective if I met him and took a group a young people who aren't involved in flash mobbing with me to help make my point known so that he can not only read but see the visual of what I am talking about. So I would try to get in contact with him to set up a meeting with him maybe even be on the radio so more people can witness this. It will be hard to get in touch with him but once I do I feel as though it would be easy after that I would just have to take the right people to help with the meeting and wonder what they will ask and be prepared to respond.

I would say that when spring comes around my issue of legislation, the cleaning of Philadelphia parks will be good. Despite the hard times that the economy is going through, people really love their parks and the beauty that it brings to the city. There are forums that people can find and add in their two bits to the issue. Mayor Nutter has put in place last year the "unlitter us" campaign to encourage people to clean up the city and the parks. There are also other groups that are dedicated to helping make parks look great and they have brought a mass amount of support and volunteers to the cause.

The only Philadelphia city council members that would be needed to make any bill to help the environment go smoother would be, Councilman O'Neill, Councilwoman Miller, Councilwoman Blackwell, and Councilwoman Krajewski. Those council people are not members of the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and may cause a protest about the distribution of money, though if it comes to a vote, there will be something done to improve parks and make Philly move forward because the majority of the city council plus the mayor is in support for the cleaning of Philadelphia parks.

As far as I know, no one else is working on the topic to make sure that Philadelphia parks are clean. I believe that I could influence some people in my school but there are already a lot of people who would love to see parks be pretty. The time frame for this would have to be in the nicer weather, around April or May would probably be the earliest of starting time frames before when anything will start moving.

The way that I thought about communicating with my organization and legislation members is to first contact them by phone and explain what it is i'm trying to do and then from there contact the organization directly and ask them what different things they are doing not just overall but in the city of Philadelphia. I have also decided a good way to get my point across is to post things on social media sites that have connections with the organization like Twitter and Facebook and use these mediums to allow people a chance to hear my message and what it is I would like to see changed through my work, an example of a post would look something like this

"Childhood obesity can lead to many lifelong illnesses like diabetes and heart disease but when so many schools are taking after school sports programs out of schools because of funding it only leaves kids with inadequate freedom to enjoy themselves and have fun. Through the play60 movement and the initiative to get children to play at least 60 minutes a day we can have this changed and reversed for the better"

This is a example of what one social media site post might look like, keeping in mind that I want to have the organization play60 named so that people can reference and see exactly what it is that they are doing.

For this portion of lobbying Ms. Julia Boyer & I have teamed up to organise 3 things. 
A petition, fundraise, and a protest. So far we have collected several signatures for our petition. We have planned to send the list of signatures directly to Governor Corbett in order for him to jump on board and support us with every Anti-Fracking move we make. 

We also plan to sell Buttons, T-Shirts, Bumper Stickers, etc. in order to promote the protest and have other citizens on board with the Anti-Fracking movement as well. And We also plan to especially inform people who are not aware of what may occur with their drinking water.

As far as the Protest goes, we plan to take a bus trip to rally in Harrisburg in order to get Gov. Corbett's attention so he can know how serious we are about this matter. 

All of these move combined should gather awareness within the media, which would help us to get other supporters.

​The most effective and efficient way to maintain people's attention and to make a change is by stepping in by making people realizes what they will have to deal with! One of the bigger idea that I have for this arrangement is to get down and dirty! 
How?
1. Block off all of biker lanes
2. Stop bikers from biking
3. Take up all of the bike paths
Bikers need to see and realize all of the possibility that will take away their rights to remain moving and biking in a safe and efficient condition. By stoping bikers from biking, they will soon to realize how important it is to have a bike lane and continue to bike without any disruption. 

70% of all citizen own a certain source of social network and anyone can get connected to one way or another. It'd be one interesting and quick idea to pass on the words by using social media. Many attentions will be grabbed by and many minds will be seeking into by the facts as well as the words passing on by the quickest method. I will be using my personal social network as well as connecting friends and family to spread the words for everyone to get involve! 

I will do what it takes to keep out  Philadelphia Bikers alive and moving! 

​ In recent weeks, net neutrality has become a huge issue thanks to the recent hearings on the Stop Piracy Online Act (SOPA). The act would have horrific consequences for the internet. As Adam Savage of Mythbusters put it, "SOPA could destroy the internet as we know it", and he'd be right. SOPA would effectively remove free speech from the internet by blocking websites that have any copyrighted content on them (youtube, facebook, tumblr etc). In the previous weeks Congress has been having hearings on SOPA discussing it, and it's quite concerning how well it's doing. 

Rick Kinard

English 12: Sexuality & Society in Literature

Quarter 2 BM-Research Design

Plan of Action How-To

 

 

Thesis: The environment that one grows up in has an affect on one’s sexual orientation.

 

What thesis-related questions to study? 

•   

•  What is sexual orientation?

•  How is sexual orientation determined?

•  Can one change their sexual orientation? Why/why not?

•  Is homosexuality a mental disorder ?

•  Is homosexuality passed down through genetics 

•  What causes homosexuality?

 

 

 

 

 

What data might be relevant to collect? (link to sources in your AB in this section, if applicable)

•   

•  Statistic/survey linking child abuse and sexuality

•  Statistic/survey linking sexuality of parents and children

•  Statistic/survey linking homosexuality sexuality of identical twins

•  Research done on brain function of homosexuals

•  Research done on genetic of homosexuals compared to heterosexual 

•  Research done on the causes of sexual orientation

 

 

 

How would I analyze the results?

 

I believe the environment and lifestyle one lives has a impact on their sexual orientation. If the from the data about brain functions show that homosexuals and a health heterosexual are similar, it will rule of the possibility of homosexuality being considered mental illness. If the research on genetics and the statistic/survey linking sexuality of parents and children show it now genetic, I can rule out the argument of it being a disorder passed down for parent to child. If the statistic/survey of homosexuality sexuality and identical twins don’t seem to show any trends it cans also rule out the genetics argument because identical twins has very similar biological make ups.

 

Boeree, George. "General Psychology Sexual Orientation." Sexual Orientation. N/A, N/A. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/sexualorientation.html>.

 

This article is about biology and genetic and how a people behaviors are based off of them. It states that men with less testosterone tend to look and act somewhat more like women, and women with more testosterone than other women tend to look and act somewhat more like men. It also go on to say there is no direct link from testosterone to homosexuality. The helps support my topic because even though the genetic the genetic structure of a person my have some effect on a person’s sexual behavior it isn’t the cause of homosexuality.

 

Goldstein, Dora. "Biological basis of sexual orientation." stanford.edu. Stanford University, 03/10/95. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://news.stanford.edu/pr/95/950310Arc5328.html>.

 

This article’s information is mainly on puberty. Is stated a week before and after birth, testosterone has an irreversible organizing effect on the body and brain of males. If the hormone is absent during this period, the individuals’ anatomy and behavior never can become wholly male. Also, that during puberty males gets a surge of testosterone, which activates their male sexual development and behavior. This gives some hints that testosterone levels affect sexual behavior. This source and be use to support both nature and nurture arguments.

Hidalgo, Hilda. "Sexual Orientation." healthy minds. american psychological association, N/A. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://www.healthyminds.org/More-Info-For/GayLesbianBisexuals.asp&xgt;.

 

This document give some basic information of what sexual orientation is. It also lists some cause that is believed to effect ones sexuality. It states homosexuality was believed to be the result of troubled experiences or environment, and it is not a form of mental illness .The information I receive for this document I can use to introduce my topic and give general information on sexual orientation and how ones environment is believe to effect it.

 

Johnson, Ryan. "Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture." AllPsych Online. N/A, 4/30/03. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://allpsych.com/journal/homosexuality.html>.

There are statics identical twins in this document. I can use this because identical twins have very similar biological structures. If the both of them are the same sexual orientation there is a chance that the biological build has a part to play in their sexual orientation. If the studies show that identical twins have the same sexual orientation this could prove my idea wrong

 

Jones, Michael. "Nature vs. Nurture Debates Over Sexuality." Change.org. N/A, 10/05/08. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://news.change.org/stories/nature-vs-nurture-debates-over-sexuality>.

This article suggests that both the nature and the nurture have valid evidence on what can affect a child’s sexual orientation. It says proven Research suggests that the homosexual orientation is in place very early in the life cycle, possibly even before birth. Its also that suggest that nurture could be a cause homosexuality. Some causes are estranged relationships between gay children and their parents, allowing male children to play with dolls, not forming healthy same-sex bonds with peers as a toddler, and sexual abuse at a young age. 

 

Swidey, Niel. "What Makes People Gay?." Boston.com. Boston Global, 08/14/05. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/08/14/what_makes_people_gay/>.

 

In this document there is information on childhood gender nonconformity. It is a child not being comfortable in his or her own body. In this one of a pair of twins is showing signs of childhood gender nonconformity. In this situation the mother is open minded and what’s her children to have freedom of expression and allow the behavior.  

 

Van Buskirk, James E. "Nature And Causes Of Homosexuality (Book)." Library Journal 106.21 (1981): 2321. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.

 

These articles talk about one environment and sexuality. It says that a family of homosexuals it is more likely for a child to come out homosexual. It also states that some events and/or relationship with parents can influence a child's sexuality. This directly contributes to my idea that one environment influence ones sexuality.  

 

"sexual orientation and homosexuality." psychology.org. Australian psychological society, N/A. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://www.psychology.org.au/publications/tip_sheets/orientation/>.

 

This article rules out a popular belief that homosexuality is a choice. It states that ones sexual orientation is determined at a young age before there is any kind of sexual act. It shows how some were not comfortable with their homosexuality and tried to change it. In the end their homosexuality didn’t go away. I can use this to kill the argument that sexual orientation is choice when in the end leaves the arguments that it is either nurture or nature.

Issue: In a criminal case, is a court required to exclude eyewitness identification evidence whenever the identification was made under the circumstances that make the identification unreliable because they tend to suggest that the defendant was responsible for the crime, or only when  the police are responsible for the circumstances that make the identification unreliable.

Basically in this case Barion Perry, the guy who is being prosecuted for breaking into someone's car. The thing that is making this case so difficult is because the person who saw him do it, could not identify him what so ever. When the cops put him in a line up she had no clue who it was.  To me she pretty much  took a wild guess  there perry came out. The information  being used in this case isn't reliable information because they are not sure  if the police were their or not. The eyewitness was not sure  if perry was the person or not and they are trying to say that the police were there but then again they are now going to have to put the case on hold because the they don't have enough evidence.