Black Friday: Is It really in the Sprit of Giving?

Black Friday Marred By Violence

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/29/black-friday-violence_n_4360899.html#slide=3167088

by: Huffington Post

PLN By: Miss. Bergen Schmidt

In the article, Black Friday Marred By Violence, the author talks about the insanity of black Friday shopping. She/he includes examples by violent black Friday attacks on people. Things like shooting, stabbing, punching, and whole lot more things that aren't right. The author posted videos on the page of a black Friday at Walmart. A man literally tackles a bunch of women for a television. Talk about Christmas sprit.

Seriously People? It's Christmas shopping. Stabbing someone for a stupid television is beyond me. People need to calm down. The Thursday night before black Friday, Target was opening at 8:00. My Mom had to go get a deal on a gift for my sister. When we got there I had to walk around with my sister and stall her so she wouldn't see the gift. While we were trying to dig through a heap of pajamas', a man shoved a shopping cart into my little sister and then just kept going. But other than that people were pretty polite. Watching the news later the next day I found out fights were going on before people even entered the stores in different states. Have people forgot the spirit of giving? Have people forgot how to be kind and polite. It is Christmas for crying out loud. No gift is worth hurting others. Not even the biggest deal.

Surfer Girls (PLN)

Surfer Girls Rock!

by: Cynthia Krueger 

http://www.theinertia.com/business-media/surfer-girls-rock/

In the article, "Surfer Girls Rock", the author talked about how girl surfers are seen as sexy, models rather than competitive athletes. She said even though rising stars like Sally Fitzgibbons, Alana Blanchard, and Coco Ho are completely up to par with the men (if not better), they're measured up more by their bodies rather than their athletic abilities'. Sponsors for women's surfing may provide an opportunity for competition, but also focus on their body and use their athletes as models'. The author claims that pro male surfers can look far less than pleasing. The author also says it seems to be an unwritten rule that for a women (pro surfers) to be sponsored, she must be eye-candy: pretty, preferably blond, and hot in a bikini.

Here's my thought. It is true. Most of these girls do end up modeling for Men's Health and ESPN but I don't think it's actually true that to gain a sponsor you have to be "hot". I think most of these girls are very pretty but I don't think that sponsors choose them based off of their looks. All of these girls are amazing at surfing and most surfers are blond most likely because they're in the sun all the time. I know that when I spend alot of time at the beach, my hair gets bleached to an almost white color. But I can also see were the author is coming from. Recently, Alana Blanchard posed naked for ESPN. I don't really think thats ok. I honestly don't like when girls do things like that because it almost labels a bad name on women. Still she's a very, very good surfer and I highly doubt she was chosen based off of looks. She was famous when she was still a teenager. All in all though, I don't think sponsors choose the girls based on their looks but more as their ability as a surfer. These girls compete against Kelly Slater for crying out loud so I highly doubt that they're chosen for their looks. They're just plain good at surfing.

by: Bergen Schmidt <3

Find a Good Frog!

Find a Good Frog
Author: Delia Motavalli

PLN Author: Bergen~Alexis Schmidt

Click Here For Delia's Essay!

Throughout this article, freshman, Delia Motavalli, describes her life as reading fairy tales and dreaming of becoming the next Cinderella but toward the middle of the article, her point of view is changed by her mom while sitting in their Honda on a rainy afternoon. Her mom had been arguing with her father earlier that day and told her daughter, “Don’t spend your life looking for Prince Charming. Instead find yourself a really good frog.” Motavalli claims to have found this statement kind of disheartening and didn’t exactly understand the meaning of this statement. But as she grew older she realized what her mom was really saying; you can’t expect everything to be perfect.

This girl really has a good point. Trust me I would know. I have NEVER had a boyfriend. I mean I know that's not a bad thing. I am only a freshman in high school but still. You can barely ever speak to a girl who hasn't had a boyfriend. I feel like my entire life I literally watch all my friends with their boyfriends and wonder why I don’t have a boyfriend. I always wondered if I'm not pretty enough, smart enough, cool enough but I'm pretty sure after reading this article, I’m one of those girls who believes too heavily in that “Cinderella” story book romance. As Motavalli says, “It’s so easy to be picky. You can find the one tiny thing that’s wrong, and that one tiny thing is what you can’t get your mind off of.” and she’s so right. It is easy to pick out the imperfections and I’m not just talking about boys; I'm talking about life. Sometimes you’ll turn your nose up at little imperfections when you really need to think of it this way. Life isn't this perfect fairytale and imperfections make us human. I almost think it would be creepy if some buff, shirtless, flowy haired boy came riding up on a white horse. Its just so perfect its scary. So back to Motavelli’s point, we are truly just waiting for our frog prince even with all the imperfections. No one will ever be perfect and if you spend your life waiting for perfect, you will be lonely. ~Bergen-Alexis Schmidt <3

Beauty without Bunnies

Animal Testing 101
by PETAhttp://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animal-testing-101.aspx

In this article, the author talks about the pain and torture animals have to suffer when living in labs. These labs are so people can test the effects of chemicals on helpless bunnies and rats. Even common favorites such as Este` Lauder  test on hopeless, young creatures who just want a pain free life in the wild. They do such painful things to these poor little guys! An example from the article was burning the cornea of a rabbits eyeball! How painful!

This article frustrated me sooooooo much. Poor animals. What if they kept us in labs and burned our eyeballs or cut off pieces of our skin just to throw some chemical on it. They don't deserve that treatment. They deserve to be loved or be free. They never did anything to us. Also, who has the heart that can injure innocent creatures. I mean come on people. Its also been proven that you can buy chemically reactive paper slips that react the same a bunny or rat. Heres the difference, there no longer putting things in pain. Why can't people just realize that even though there just little rabbits and "gross" rat doesn't mean they're not hurting the little guys. I mean its just one of those pick on someone your own size kinda situations. Another thing that just makes me cry is how they make fur coats. I mean heres all these old, wealthy, women thinking there all glamorous and gorgeous when technically they're anything but. The animals are smashed into cages and they step on their faces and skin their fur. So whenever I seen someone old lady wearing her billion dollar coat I want to puke. I think it's' absolutely sick. They're practically wearing the words "animal killer" on their sleeve.

Teenage Brains-Its' Complicated

Whats Wrong with the Teenage Mind?
by: Alison Gopnik
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203806504577181351486558984
In the article, "What's Wrong with the Teenage Mind", the author describes all the so called issues that teenager's these days have. Gopnik describes teen brains as mysterious; Leading teenager's to do uncalled for things like, getting in drunken car accidents, getting pregnant, and dropping out of college. After stating how crazy weird the teen mind is, the author goes on to tell the reader that this generation may just be even smarter then ones before this generation. Apparently, this generation's IQ has majorly increased.

I kind of feel as if this article was blaming us, as teenager's for being loopy and weird.  We can't help that we just want to do it all. Or as the article said,"experience every thrill."It seemed like they were blaming us for undergoing puberty. It bothered me how the author wanted to shape and change us. I mean come on. We didn't choose to be teenagers. Of course there are some teenagers who do things they shouldn't but not all teenagers are rouge. The one thing that seriously ticked me off though was when the author said,"Contemporary adolescents and pre-adolescents often don't do much of anything except go to school. Even the paper route and baby-sitting job have largely disappeared."
Ok first of all the author much live in Antarctica were there are absolutely no babies because baby-sitting hasn't disappeared. Most of my friends and I babysit at least once every week to two weeks. Second of all we do not just go to school. If your anything like most teenagers, you play loads of hours of sports a week, have heaps of homework, chores to do, and who doesn't want time to hang out with friends. I feel like the author was not the average teenager when she was little because she totally doesn't understand this generation. I wonder why the author would say we don't do anything. Maybe she never played sports or did her homework.

They Cannot Stop Me

Title: They cannot stop me

"Death Did Not want to Kill Me"

http://abcnews.go.com/International/malala-yousafzai-death-kill/story?id=20489800

By TERI WHITCRAFT and MURIEL PEARSON

A year ago, 15 year Malala Yousafzai was taking the average bus ride home from school when something awful occurred. A man with a beard and a gun stopped the bus asking, " Who is Malala?". The man shot 3 shots.The brave school girl had been shot in the head by the Taliban (A terrorist  organization). The young girl was shot for nothing more then stating all girls have a right to education. "In some parts of the world, students are going to school every day. It's their normal life," Yousafzai says, "But in other part of the world, we are starving for education ... it's like a precious gift. It's like a diamond.". 

This article really got to me. To risk your life for an education is astonishing. When Yousafzai spoke about students like me going to school like its nothing; there are people like her out there "starving for education". This made me think about all the days when I wake up in the morning and dread having to drag myself to school. People (especially young girls) are dyeing for my job. This article really made me realize how lucky I am to have to go to school. Yousafzai tells reporters that on the day she was shot, all her friends faces were covered except for hers.  "At that time, I was not worried about myself. I wanted to live my life as I want. ". I think that this is EXTREMELY brave. Not only was she standing for herself but for girls around the world, banned from education. For government to ban girls from education is  ridiculous. They don't understand how important an education really is; to everyone. Not just men. I think Yousafzai is one of the bravest girls I have ever heard of. Girls in her city were told by men they were worthless. Girls schools constantly destroyed. Some girls even had acid thrown into there faces. Yet she stood above it all. Malala told reporter, Diane Sawyer, " They cannot stop me. I will get my education wether it is at home, at school, or anywhere." She is a true hero, creating an international symbol of courage and hope. I defiantly feel lucky. Lucky that I am safe. Lucky that I am able to freely attend school. And lucky that I can live my life as I want. Malala has started a chain of girls just like her who won't be stopped. Who will fights for freedom and safety. I believe with courage and bravery, they will change the world. One step at a time. 

A Vision Of Students Today (PLN)

A Vision of Students today

by: Micheal Wesch      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

In the video, A Vision of Students today by: Michael Wesch, Wesch shows students in a college class holding up posters they wrote about their view point on school, how they learn, and different changes that have occurred over the years in classrooms. The video begins with the camera man exploring a college classroom. As the camera man walks around the room, they show various questions written on the furniture and walls. As it leads into the video the college students begin to share their questions and/or answers.

In the beginning of the video, it shows a wall with the words "If these walls could talk what would they say?" written on it. As the students begin to raise their posters, it's almost as if they are answering these questions. Or if you will, speaking for the walls. One of the girls' raised her poster which read: "I will read 8 books this year, 2300 web pages, and 1281 Facebook profiles.". I think that says a lot about our society today. Back when our grandparents were little, it was exciting to crack open a brand new book. Now, most students would rather be updating their Facebook profile or searching the web. Later on in the video, the students begin to share all the things they do in a day. At the end of the list, they state that its exactly 26.5 hours of stuff. Obviously thats more then a day. I think part of what these students are trying to say is that with all the new technology in their lives, along with jobs and school, life becomes more stressful due to lack of sleep or relaxation time. This article relates to my world because I am a student learning in the modern generation.