SLA Baseball Holds onto 2nd Place w/ 8-5 Win Over King

Jeff Schwartz pitched strong to start the game, holding King to just one run and striking out five in three innings. The "Schwartzenegger's" efficiency on the mound normally would have meant he could have gone deeper into the game, but with three to play this week he was pulled to ensure his availability for critical match ups on Wednesday and Friday.

The transition to Ethan "Beiber" Reese was seamless as he also went three strong innings striking out three and yielding just one run. In the meantime, SLA's offense consistently put runners on base with sharp singles and a slew of doubles by T.J. Nicolella, Ian McClendon and Marshall Johnston. Five different pitchers were used, as well as two catchers who came in for Brandon Williams and John Desalis, both of which were on the DL for the game. Ethan Reese and Marshall Johnston played solid behind the plate and kept King's runners honest on the bases. Considering neither had regularly played the position prior, their performance displayed the depth of SLA, which has attributed their success to an all around team effort game-in, game-out. For the second game in a row, Ian McClendon made gorgeous diving stops at short stop to rob the opponent of sure fire extra bases, and T.J Nicolella was as solid as ever at first base.

SLA broke it open in the 5th with 5 runs when Blase Biello chopped a bases loaded single up the middle and drove in 2 runs. most notably marked by Andre Serrano's much anticipated return to the team. Serrano went 3-4, stole 3 bases, and scored 2 runs. Heading into the seventh and final inning SLA needed to switch pitchers again even though Reese had only thrown 34 pitches due to PIAA rules that determine a pitcher's eligibility based off number of innings they appear in. King scrapped together a few runs to make it a game, but with runners on second and third and one out Ian McClendon took the mound with the task of throwing gas to save the game. After smoking two pitches past their #5 hitter his third offering was ripped back to the mound and he quickly tossed to Jhonas Dunakin at third for the force out and Jhonas chased down a confused runner who was already out on the force and tossed to Isaac Adlowitz for the final out at second.

Standout Stars of the Game honors go to Blase Biello for his bases-loaded 2RBI single to break it open, and to pitchers Jeff Schwartz and Ethan Reese for 6 strong innings in which they held King to 2 runs on 5 hits and struck out a combined 8 batters. Of further mention is the much anticipated return of Andre Serrano, who received All-Public Honors in SLA's inaugural season in 2010. In his first start back, Serrano went 3-4 with 3 singles, 3 stolen bases, 2 runs scored, and 1 RBI.

With the win, SLA remains goes to 5-2 on the season, and remains in a tie for 2nd place with Strawberry Mansion. Their next game in a battle for one of three playoff spots in a division of 12 teams is on Wednesday vs Del-Val Charter (4-1).

By Innings: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7   R   H  E 
SLA (5-2)      0  1  1  1  5  0  0    8   12  3
King (1-5)     1  0  0  0  1  0  3    5    9  0

Click HERE for a full look at the PIAA Divisional Standings for 2011 Season

Speak up. Someone cares.

The world is a place that we the people live in and is full of problems. For this project we were to pick a topic based on a worldly issues that we’d like to discuss.

 

My topic focuses in on teen suicide and depression because it is the leading cause of death. As you grow up, sometimes you hit unexpected events in your life that you can’t handle. Bullying, because of weight, looks, clothing, and or sex, is the main cause of suicide and depression. Even though I haven’t been through the act of bullying myself, I know someone who has.

 

When the act of suicide is successful its usually not the first time it was attempted, in fact researchers have found that plans for suicide are made by 1 in 6 teenagers. 20% of teenagers have thought about suicide itself even if they weren’t actually going to commit it. Depression is not only caused by bullying, but also by relationship problems, deaths with family and friends, stress for school, parental abuse or divorce. These struggles can cause angry emotional and physical abuse to themselves, sadness, loneliness, and lack of energy.

 

I wonder what others did who didn’t commit suicide to better themselves and help get through their’ deep state of sadness. I wonder if those who did commit suicide reached out to others for help or even had someone to talk to discuss their’ issues with.

 

I plan to do a lot more research about depression and suicide and talk to my loved one who has attempted suicide to share her feelings with. No one should have to go through this so you speak up because someone cares.

 

For more info visit:

http://www.teensuicide.us/articles6.html

http://www.teendepression.org/related/teen-suicide-statistics/

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/depression_teen.htm

E1 Tarea 03/05/11

1) 3 fotos más de comida

2) Responde a las preguntas abajo (below)


A. Name the food you see in Segmento 1.


B. Respuestas Breves

1)    ¿En qué trabaja Martín (el papá)?

2)    ¿En qué trabaja Carmen (la hermana en medio)?

3)    ¿Dónde trabaja Maribel (la hermana menor)?

4)    ¿Dónde trabaja Leticia (la hermana mayor)?

5)    ¿Quién es Yolanda? ¿Cómo es su personalidad?

6)    ¿Quién es Hortensia?

7)    ¿Quién es Jeff?

8)    ¿Quién prepara toda la comida en la casa?

9)    ¿Quién quiere hacer ejercicio con Martín?


C. Cierto o Falso

1)    Martín no puede saber (taste) nada.

2)    Gómez es un buen amigo de Martín.

3)    El entrenedor (coach) de beísbol es alto, guapo y delgado.

4)    Leticia da clases de arte.

5)    Andy está interesado en Maribel. Maribel está interesada también.

6)    Leticia es musulmana (muslim).

E1 Ahorita 03/05/11

Responde en un "stickie" o en un documento de Word. No publiques tus respuestas.

A. Take out your conjugation packet. Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb.

  1. Mis profesores no                                      (hablar) mucho español.
  2. Martín nunca                                      (correr).
  3. Yo                                       (vivir) en Puerto Rico.
  4. Nosotros a veces                                    (hacer) ejercicio.

B. Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb. VERBOS de BOTA:

  1. Mi novio no                                      (jugar) muchos deportes pero es bien artístico.
  2. Delesha siempre                                      (dormir) en todas sus clases.
  3. Yo                                       (poder) ir de compras contigo.
  4. Nosotros no                                      (entender) nada.

 

C. -GO verbs (have –go in the yo form)

  1. Yo                                      (hacer) la tarea después de mis clases.
  2. Yo no                  (tener) ni idea.
  3. Yo                                      (salir) con mi novia todos los fines de semana.
  4. Yo no                  (traer) nada.

Stressed

I'm so stressed about everything that I don't even know what to do. I'm on the edge right now don't know what to do or where to turn. Someone help me please I feel like I'm drowning. Help me get back on track of things, I free like I'm losing everything that I've worked for. I want to get up, I need to get up, I have to get up before its to late......

The Jasmine Revolution

    This is the first of five blog posts in a project called "You and the World." In this project we will be choosing a current topic or issue that we care about. Along with writing blogs, we will be debating over other people's issues, and writing a speech.

    I have chosen the revolts in the Middle East as my topic, because I think that it is one of the more important events of our time. It seems similar to the countries of Europe overthrowing their monarchies.

    The revolutions are called the Sidi Bouzid Revolt, or the Jasmine Revolution. It started in Tunisia when a street vender named Mohammed Buazizi set himself on fire, in a demonstration against the treatment he received from the government after they confiscated his scale, which he needed to support his family. this led to a series of protests that resulted in the Tunisian Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stepping down from a post he held for 34 years. This eventually led to a similar series of protests in Egypt that led to their leader Hosni Mubarak stepping down, and an ongoing rebellion in Libya. I believe this is incredibly important, because for the first time, the people in the middle east are refusing to put up with the oppression they have lived with for so long. In interesting thing about these protests is that most of the protesters are very young, and it makes me wonder if our generation will continue to rebel against the things they see as wrong, like what has happened in the middle east.

    What I wonder about is whether or not this will lead to protests in other countries, and whether these protests (if they do happen) will be more or less peaceful, or a rebellion like in Libya.

    What I will explore in my next blog post is the protests in Egypt, and what factors caused the protests to be successful in Egypt and Tunisia.


Bibliography:

 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011405084.html

 - http://www.iar-gwu.org/node/257

Embryo's Gift To Mankind

This You And The World Project is to inform our peers into many world issues they may not know of that interest us. ​My project is going to be about how stem cells can be used to get rid of a great number of diseases and may be a breakthrough into cloning technology. Stem cells affect everyone because for now it can cure a few diseases and it is believed that it can cure many more. In order to get stem cells they have to take embryonic cells and other adult stem cells found in many different tissues. I have learned that stem cell research can already cure certain types os cancer like leukemia, Alzheimer and a few other diseases and it is still being researched for more benefits.Also i know that Stem cell research is frowned upon for the simple reason that is is like playing god because you can give many people a second chance by curing certain diseases and defects. Other than that there is no cons about stem cell research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cells

Bullying Can Lead to Horrible Things

     ​Over the years the world has been hearing about the deaths of innocent children and mostly teen. The people didn't doe because of an accident... they killed themselves. "What could make a person want to end their lives when they have so much to live for?' is one question that people immediately think of when they read the stories in the paper or see it on the news. Bullying can lead to many horrible things, it can make people do the unthinkable. I am interested in teen suicide and bullying because when I was in middle school I used to get bullied every day. I would come home and cry for hours because I felt so bad about myself, in my room I used to have to tell myself the good things in life I had to live for. Such as my family, my friends at church, sports teams and girl scouts. This would've lead up to suicide if I didn't have those things to live for.

     Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 years of age. Mostly because in the ages of 15-24 there might be a lot or even too much pressure/stress on that one person, with college and high school its hard to keep up. Bullying can also be a part of teen suicide, when somebody pushes someone to the edge to make themselves feel better it can result in suicidal attempts of actual suicide. There was a case where a teenage girl was interested in this boy, one day he sent her a message. She was so excited, after a week or so they were talking more frequently to each other than to their friends and family. He asked her out on a date and never showed up. The girl found out that it wasn't really the boy she liked it was a mother and daughter who lived down the street from her. That is when she decided to kill herself, and she did. Bullying and cyber bullying are a big part of teen suicide.
    
     I wonder if before the teen killed themselves, if the parents or friends saw anything off about the teen's behavior. I wonder if most of teen suicide is caused because of mostly teen suicide or stress. On the next blog I will be talking about the statistics of teen suicide and in what sates it happens most or if a certain gender commits suicide more.

Cites I went to:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/suicide.html

http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/patientcare/healthcare_services/mental_health/mental_health_about/children/suicide/Pages/index.aspx

http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=teen+suicide&srchst=cse

Marijuana, a Path to Crime Reduction or Not

Ever since I learned about the affects of marijuana I immediately wanted to know more. In the sixth grade I was taught what it was in a classroom. I was taught that it was a bad and it should never be used. But there are facts and proof that show the exact opposite. In the Netherlands marijuana is tolerated and in result only 9.5% of young adults which is about 6.4 million people(ages 15-34) use it. In the United States where marijuana is only legal in some states for medicinal purposes has a consumption rate of 41.7% (according to http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/druguse/)  which is about 128.5 million people. 

These facts are interesting, in one place it is acceptable to smoke marijuana and have a less rate of consumption and in the other it is illegal and has a higher rate of consumption. The mission for the Dutch government is to 1) To prevent recreational drug user and treat the recreational drug users 2) To reduce harm to users  3) To diminish public nuisance by drug users (the disturbance of public order and safety) 4) To combat the production and trafficking of recreational drugs. In the United State we have something called the war on drugs. Which was issued by Richard Nixon in 1971, this created the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency). According to the U.S.  Bureau of Justice Statistics crime rates have sky rocketed ever since the war on drugs was declared. The job the DEA has is to reduce drug trafficking from the source, from the border, and inside the country. They also enforce drug policies that have been placed by the U.S., State, and Local governments which outlaw marijuana and other drugs/narcotics.
 
When prohibition came to affect in 1920 it created a black market for alcohol which made crime rates go up.If crime rates go up than there are more people in prison. More people in prison means more prisons built and more money spent to hire staff and basic necessities. Marijuana has been fought against ever since the proposal Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act in 1935 which was intended to safe guard ane regulate all narcotics including marijuana. Haven't we learned our lesson during prohibition?  Marijuana has more than just one purpose, it has another. It is a safe eco friendly alternative to paper. You can make paper from hemp which is from marijuana. It will can reduce CO2 emissions because it take less machinery and energy to cut marijuana than paper. It also gives the world more oxygen because of more trees being built which means habitats and more national parks. There are so much more facts and evidence that proves my point. You can't ignore these facts, you just can't.

School District Budget Cuts: Cutting the Future

The Philadelphia School District budget cuts are devastating to public schools in Philadelphia. To Governor Tom Corbett (pictured below) these cuts may just be moving money from one place to another, but to us, the students of Philadelphia, they means lost teachers, supplies, our education and our future. At this point, the budget cuts will happen, and that's a given. That being said, there is still more we can do. We can all work hard to educate ourselves on the topic of budget cuts, and we can make efforts to change the budget cuts much less severe. There will be losses, but we should all do our part to try to minimize them. I've recently been doing some research myself. 

So far, I have discovered that 12% of all teaching positions might be cut, and at this point almost 400 teachers and planning on either retiring or resigning before next year. Although this is not the most teachers that retired in history, it is still a large amount. I, personally think that these budget cuts are a terrible idea. As you can see, it will have serious detrimental effects on the School District of Philadelphia, and part of the money he is taking from the School District he is using for prisons. 

Prisons are used for holding criminals, as we all know. What many of us may not realize is that a large cause of crime is due to an inability to get an education or go to school. While it is not the sole reason, it is still a huge factor and so, essentially, Corbett is building prisons for the future criminals: the students who's education he is taking away today. I wonder if our efforts to make the budget cuts less severe, such as going to Harrisburg and talking to senators, will have any effect on the end result of the cuts. Next time, I hope to research more about the severity of the budget cuts, and the effect it is having.

Governor




http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20110503_Nearly_400_Phila__teachers_plan_to_leave_as_school_year_ends.html

http://www.thenotebook.org/

Government and Budget Crisis

The government are now heading through a midlife crisis that is affecting all american's in the most harmful ways and affecting there citizen's lives and money. This is a hard time for people that are suffering because they do not have enough money to pay for things such as houses because prices have gone up, Gas for cars because they have to pay more and more to iraq in order to use and take oil from them and deport it over to the U.S for us too use.


My issue is the economy and how it is affecting the people in the U.S very badly, i am interested in this topic because it is the #1 story going on in the U.S, everyday you hear people say that the gasoline prices have gone up $0.11 and continues to go up, but that is not the only story out. There are stories that the U.S might have to cut off sports in the U.S because of the budget so that means that come 2012 me might no longer have any sports to watch, and that would mean that the men and women playing the sports will have no job and will go into debt with there houses and bills. 


I have discovered that this has been the first time the economy has gone bad since the year of the Great Depression in 1930, and not only the economy is affecting the U.S but it is also affecting people around the world such as in China, Mexico, Etc. 


I wonder what things the government are attempting or planning to change and do in order to try and make the economy better than it is, and if there is any ways possible to improve the economy. I also wonder why don't the government help the people in poverty and help them get jobs and homes to live in. My next move is to find out percentages and the amount of people in poverty from one year and how it has changed during a time period, if it has increased or decreased after a long time period. 

Poverty In America Oh My!

For our English project we are doing a project called "You and The World", we basically had to pick a topic and research about it. I picked Poverty.

I chose Poverty, as my topic because I think everyone deserves to have a shelter, food and the need assets to life. But many of us don't have them all. The main question is why? So I am here trying to figure that out for myself but for also the people who care.

Poverty - is the lack of basic human needs, such as food, water, shelter, clothes, education and health care. There are three types of poverty:

* Poverty

* Absolute Poverty
Destitution

* Relative Poverty 
The condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within society or country compared to the worldwide averages. 

 

More than 1.7 billion people suffer from Absolute Poverty. Not everyone sees poverty as a problem in the world but more as a lifestyle they chose themselves to live. On a given night an estimated 672,00 people experiment homelessness. Meaning 22 out of every 10,000 people are homeless. 42% of those 672,000 are unsheltered. 58% live in shelters. 37% of the homeless people are in family units. 63% are individual adults. The rate goes up every year.

 

I wonder why people don’t take an action and help them. Why is it that it takes a killing or robbery for people to pay attention to what is going on un the world? Is the poverty rate different for different races?

 

For my next blog I will talk about the level of education and what poverty endures. So stay tuned!

These websites are great for information!


These websites are a great source!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq1.htm#use

Gay Rights


​​

   Gay rights has been an issue since 1924.  I’ve seen shows with a gay person being bullied or beat up because of there sexuality. I thought that Gay rights would be a great topic for me to blog about. I’ve discovered a lot of websites about Gay Rights , mostly about marriages , and organizations. I wanted to learn more about the gay rights and what gay/lesbians and even trans gender teens go through.


   I wonder why people have hatred for people who are attracted to the same sex. How does that bother other people? There are probably a lot of topics about gay rights , but it seems to be that there are a lot of websites about the organizations for gay rights , and same sex marriages. I honestly want to focus on how Gays are treated by people who dislike Gays. I wonder if this will go on for the rest of our lives , can we prevent from Gays getting hurt because of there sexuality?


Tags: English 9, Dunn, You and the World

The life of a Pregnant Teen.

    We are the World is a project that was created from 9th graders at Science Leadership Academy. Each student chose 1 issue that is an world world wide issue. Our assignment is to share our topic with others. The topic vary from child abuse to gangs in the army.
    My issue is teen pregnancy. This topic interests me because teen pregnancy doesn't just affect one or two people but families and communities. People are so judgmental in the world, I want to get deeper into what the pregnant teen or a couple true feelings are really about.
    To truly collect research about teen pregnancies, I watched many episodes of Teen Mom or 16 and Pregnant. In these two shows they explained and shown the real side of a teen pregnancy, not showing the fault of a couple. I learned that not only is it a fault of being  pregnant but it could also be a blessing. It gives the couple great opportunity and new chances to start over.
    My research only shows so much in that it is too much to share about teen pregnancy. It doesn't show what happens after 8 months after the child's born. I want to collect hands on research, such as interviewing the couple or mother, just to find out what really happens and not just what happens in Hollywood's view. I wonder what happens to a family after a couple of years?
    I'm hoping to interview families that's been through a teen pregnancy, to find the true meaning of what's happening in the household. To allow people's voices to be heard, not just from Hollywood's perspective.


To research more blogs on Teen Pregnancy's. Click Here

HIV=AIDS fact or fraud!

Hello world, my name is Tyanna Pleasant, I am 15 years old, and I am a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. My issue is about HIV/AIDS; the reason why is I have a friend who just died from AIDS and it was very upsetting. I wanted to explore more about what HIV/AIDS is and how to prevent it so I can spread my knowledge around to my friends and family members.

So far in my research I learned a lot about my topic. I learned that AIDS (Acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the final stage of HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus). Scientists first recognized HIV/AIDS in 1981 in two homosexual men, one in Los Angeles and he other in New York. The two men had pneumonia and rare skin tumors called Kaposi's sarcomas. Soon this disease was recongnized all over the United Sates, Western Europe, and Africa. In 1983 scientists described the cause of AIDS, which is HIV, which is an increase in low CD4 cell count.

I wonder if there is any way to stop this disease from spreading and if there is a cure or something to stop it from expanding in their bodies for the ones who have HIV/AIDS. Also, if there are any symptoms that you would have that may give you an idea that you have HIV/AIDS in the beginning stages. Next, I want to go more into detail about HIV and what is it, how does it grow, maybe even what does the cell look like inside of you.

Screen shot 2011-05-03 at 9.19.21 AM
Screen shot 2011-05-03 at 9.19.21 AM
Screen shot 2011-05-03 at 9.20.19 AM
Screen shot 2011-05-03 at 9.20.19 AM

School budget cuts are real, and they're happening now

     During these next few weeks I'll be blogging about the budget cut happening across the district, how they'll effect our school, and what we should do about it. I want to stay informed, and you can too by keeping up with this blog.
     Next year 16% of school district employees will be laid off. The school district won't be offering trans-passes for the students who use SEPTA to get to school in the morning. And on top of that kindergarten will be a half day program in many district schools.
     Why are these services, the most basic things a district should offer being cut? There are certainly other ineffective programs that should be cut before all this.
     The budget cuts aren't all due to the huge deficit in the district budget, the blame can also be laid on the shoulders of Governor Corbett who has proposed a 1.1 billion dollar cut from schools to help fund state prisons. Should this stand? Can we let Corbett get away with cutting school programs to fund prisons? Doing this will fill prisons with drop outs who don't stay in school due to those cuts.
I encourage you to spread the word about this issue, to save the education of the Philadelphia youth.
cartoon-4_11
cartoon-4_11

Property vs. Humanity

Throughout the 4th quarter of English 1 we will be researching about things that interest us the most. You and the World is our project where we take everyday issues that many people don't have much background information about or just put it aside and make it less of a deal than it really is. These issues that we choose are revealed with its affects toward the world. Although, the topic that we are researching should regard our curiosity in order to successfully complete this assignment without us having a monotonous feeling towards it. 

Therefore, for my issue there will be talk about Sex Slave Trade. Until about a month ago, I didn't have knowledge of the existence of Sex Slave Trade. In my opinion few people are informed about this issue because it is a true event where many young women are getting and have been traumatized mentally, physically, and emotionally throughout the years.

In Islamic culture men started a practice in the years of the war in Quran. This practice consisted of women who were treated as if they were property. This was similar to slavery except for there was a twist to it. Women were forced to have sexual relations with their “masters” and eventually had to marry them against their will. Sadly this was considered to be legal in the Islamic culture and was brought out to different cultures and parts of the world. This topic is a more severe version of human trafficking, which is an exploitation of young women. The men had to work in dangerous conditions while the women worked in sex industries.

After learning most of this information, many questions come to my mind. Although, one major concern comes to mind. Is this happening in America at the moment and if so in what parts of the U.S.? Next, I feel like that is a concept that I will consider researching as well as were are parts in the world where the Sex Slave Trade is most common. 


Bibliography-
 http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/women_slaves.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_slavery  
http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/women_in_islam3.htm

An introduction to Individualism

It may seem that the term individualism isn't even an important issue in the world. We are constantly shadowed and boxed in by current things like politics, war, school, work, and all residing topics in the daily news. It's almost as if we live in a box, walls stop us from thinking beyond the scene, so we often get trapped in our own daily lives, trying to make ends meet, and basically spend all of our time trying to do things to become functioning members of society.

Individualism is the philosophical, and political belief of the worth of the individual and their desires are more important than what society, family, or institutions expect of them. Individualism is basically about not dealing with humans as numbers, and allowing them to exercise rights to provide for themselves and live their lives freely. The belief is a very narrow, straight to the root theory of how the human race should survive, because the entire philosophy is tied with government, and economy. I believe it is a huge issue in the world because in many parts of the world people are not allowed to exercise the right to pursue themselves. It is directly theorized that laws, family, society, government, religion, class,sex, race, traditional institutions (such as school, churches, etc.), and other concepts fence people in from true freedom.

So far, I've discovered the definition of individualism. I knew that individualism had to be tied into some form of anarchy, so that was certified.  I am on the constant expedition on how I will start my paper. Will I start from the smaller part of the spectrum or the lower and grow out. I've realized that the entire project will mainly result in decomposition of capitalism, democracy, and political systems in general, and obviously point towards anarchy.

My next steps are to do tons of more research and plan everything, even though I think I have a plan. My goal in this assignment is not to criminalize everything outside of my topic but to compare it enough so maybe people can realize that it is some sort of issue.

Cites:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/286303/individualism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualism

Really Though?

Homeless people.

How many have to come up to me in the morning and ask me for change before they realize that I barely have enough change for myself?

Come on now.

Don't you see me paying for my fruit salad in pennies?

lmao.

This is what if feels like living paycheck to paycheck.

SMH

Disaster From Mother Nature

Tuscaloosa-Alabama-tornado-photos-300x225
This is how the tornado looked like when it was hitting in Alabama.


During the past years many Natural disasters has happen but the world became as one and helped each other out. The latest Natural disasters that has happen was the tornado that had hit Tuscaloosa, Al and the places around. It wen close to the south of Philadelphia but didn't do as much damage as it did in Alabama. There were 312 tornado's that occurred during 24 hours. That is a lot of tornado's for that little time limit. The amount of people killed was around 340 but i can't say the exact number since more people couldn't have been injured and died today so this is just a estimation. One thing i wonder about is how do people prepare for tornado's. Do they hide in a corner or under a table? Well I'll be back later so we can get on the topic about the earthquake that had hit japan.


                                       By Eric Loth


Materialism

Hi, My name is Isabela and i'm a freshman at SLA. 

over the next couple of weeks I will be involved in a project with my english class where we study a world issue that interests us personally. I chose materialism because I wanted to choose something that I could relate to personally. When I was younger, I had a disease called vitiligo. Vitiligo is a disease where your pigment cells begins to loose their melatonin which is what gives it coloring. This disease tends to be caused by depression, and sometimes genetics. It is not contagious. I got vitiligo the summer that my parents got divorced, I was about 9 years old. I had it for around 4 years, and it completely changed my view on materialism, people, and myself. I grew up thinking that what society told you to like and care about was what really mattered. I felt hideous because half of my face had turned white right as I was reaching my teen years. That year I learned a lot about materialism, and a lot about myself. I learned that some people choose their friends based on their looks, and based on what they wear. I spent about 3 years hating myself for not looking the way everyone else did, and all I wanted was to change. I tried dying my hair, wearing makeup, and it all just made me feel worse. Eventually I stopped caring so much, and I started accepting myself the way I was, around then it started to go away. I was lucky that my vitiligo went away, because most people who get it have it for life. What I took from that experience was that no one should be able to tell me what to look like, what to dress like, how to do my hair, or how to decorate my room. None of these things can bring me real pleasure and joy.
What i've learned so far about materialism is that it makes people unhappy. The reason people go shopping, or get haircuts is because they think it is going to add on to who they are. They do these things to appear certain ways and to emphasize who they are. I think that it's okay to dress to express yourself, but often times people are just trying to appear certain ways by dressing the way they do. They think that clothing and makeup and hairstyles will bring them popularity, or make them seem certain ways to certain people. This can be true, but no matter what, material things can't bring anyone real happiness. People who splurge and buy when their anxious or depressed or stressed feel a brief and temporary relief, but it comes back and they feel like no matter what they can never get enough. I read an article on a college experiment that showed that people felt happier spending money on material experiences like going to a concert or the movie theatre than spending it on an object or a piece of clothing. 
For my next blog entry I would like to look more into why people turn to material things to feel better, and how stereotypes influence the material world. I would also like to look more at material trends over the years and if advertisement for it can cause people to want to loose or gain weight, or do certain things they normally wouldn't.



RESOURCES I USED:

http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/01/experiences-beat-possessions-why.php http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/health/08iht-snmat.html  



Child abuse Hurts a lot!

The project I'm doing is for my 9th grade English class. The project is called "You and the world". In this project I get to talk about thing that people don't really know about. Everyone should know about a few thing that is going on around the world even if it not about them.

My issue that is happening around the world is "Child abuse". I picked this topic because it a topic that is talked about a lot but people just don't care about that much.


From the research I had found and had learned that there are many different types of child abuse like physical abuse, child sex abuse (CSA), psychological/emotional abuse, and neglect.

For a child with a history of neglect or physical abuse they have a very high risk to have psychiatric problem, or disorganized attachment. The hardest to define from is psychological/emotional abuse this kind of abuse. This type of abuse can make a child blame themselves for a that is going on around him/her, and also feel unloved.

Children that are being physically abuse are very likely to have a lot of bone fractures, and also may have high risks of getting cancer. Physically abuse could be stopped if people that see it happen would tell the cops or if the child  would go and tells. Sometime the child will not tell because they might be to scare of what would happen if he/she told someone.

Sexually abuse (CSA) is a type of child abuse in which an adult or someone older takes a kid for sexual stimulation. Types of CSA or sexual abuse  are when someone ask or pressure a child to do sexual actives, having sexual contact with a child, making a child make child pornography.

This makes me ask: Why? Why do adult or older people do this type of things to a child? Why is it that they would even think about this in the first place?


I'm looking for more information about what I was just talking about and if I can also find out about the question I have.

Sadness is upon us all but what about the kids of today and tomorrow? Is this the world I know or is it the world you made. You may be sad and in pain but what about the kids? You hurt them a lot and by many different ways. You hurt them physically and emotionally. So what about the kids? Are you going to hurt them more? So what about all of us will you stand there and not say a thing? What about US? 

Bibliography:
http://dreamcatchersforabusedchildren.com/abuse/emotional-abuse/

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.vote29.com/newmyblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/6ezs1t3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.vote29.com/newmyblog/archives/18658&usg=__4r8ttE76p2JpN-1t8AMKzgsbzrw=&h=537&w=480&sz=61&hl=en&start=10&zoom=1&tbnid=e5fAMiXFKsK1oM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=118&ei=x1neTa61DMrDgQfjjvnYCg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dit%2Bshouldnt%2Bhurt%2Bto%2Bbe%2Ba%2Bkid%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DY8G%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D968%26bih%3D585%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj256/tater11_1989/Stuff/Stop_Child_Abuse_by_ronalhene-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.myspace.com/mothersagainstchildabuse&usg=__OP9J421U9qVd2fHOlStoszRdllA=&h=300&w=300&sz=18&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=ofMaSF2Dlo1xtM:&tbnh=147&tbnw=150&ei=PVreTbWsGoTVgAegxpXzCg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dverbal%2Bchild%2Babuse%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DSAH%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D968%26bih%3D585%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=278&vpy=76&dur=561&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=142&ty=137&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&biw=968&bih=585
images-3
images-3
images-6
images-6
images-7
images-7
images-4
images-4

How do you think the animals are feeling?

For this project you and the World we are picking an issue that is happening in the world that you are interested in researching and learning more about. The issue I am doing is animal abuse. The reason I am doing this is because I love animals. My opinion about this is that I will not eat them or hurt them and its wrong that other people do.

 

Animals should be treated just like a person, You wouldn’t want anyone hurting you well around the world there are people abusing animals and its wrong. Cruelty to animals should be a crime in all states. The use of animals for testing in laboratories has recently become an issue. Some things that are happening are Killing, injures, neglect, or cruel mistreatment.

 

I wonder what the people are thinking when they are doing all these things to animals. What’s going through there minds? Also why are they doing it? Are there a lot of people out there trying to stop it?  How do you think the animal feels? Next I am going to look at different organizations that are trying to stop it and read about different animals and what there stories are.

 

Bibliography:

http://definitions.uslegal.com/c/cruelty-to-animals/?puslf=gl+defi+Cruelty+To+Animals+Law&gclid=CISD79iXyqgCFUiK4AodFjJipA