My Contemp Lit. portfolio

Today, at the school of Technology High School, is the last academic day to determine the graduating class of 2010. It is a lot of pressure to put onto a class of Seniors who are close to the end of their year of high school. It is the most scary thing you could feel because you will start to feel like that your life was about to come to a complete end. You wish that you could stay for another year or just want to have a little more time in the year so you didn’t have to leave. But, what exactly am I suppose to do when I finish here at school and go off on my own in life?

Going to college may be a good option, but what if I want to take time away from school for awhile? There would be nothing wrong with doing so, but maybe your parents or guardians want you to do more over the summer. You have just finished up twelve years of school and now your parents are telling you to move on and do more over the summer or find yourself a job. It is personally up to me or the person to determine what they want to do over the summer. It is the time to relax and get paid for hard work, not the time to go into a deep study session of school. So, I believe the parents need to lighten up on the load that they are putting upon their graduating son or daughter.

So, what does the future hold for me when I leave the comfort zone of high school? Well, the future will hold a lot more job opportunities for me because the people that hire people for work look for people with a high school diploma isn’t of the people that came out with a Master’s Degree in some field at college. Knowing that you can get a job with a High school diploma instead of with a college degree can give you a lot more confidence in life because you did great because you graduated from High School and didn’t decide to give up before the year was over.

Hopefully, you made the right choices or did what you wanted when you finally got out of high school, because right now… I could really use some advice on how to handle it.

This has been the last blog.

All across America, young drivers are starting to get behind the wheel of their own car or their parent’s car and they start to feel their first sense of freedom from their parents. However, with such freedoms comes a great deal of responsibility on how they should behave behind the wheel, or how they should take care of themselves and the people that are in the car with them. The young adults can possibly run into another car when they are unable to focus on the road, run a street light if they are in a hurry, driving after dark is the most-dangerous risk a teenage driver can take. However, the danger increases exponentially when alcohol is involved in the United States.

Almost seventy percent of all teenaged drivers drive while intoxicated at least once. Those drivers that do drive that are intoxicated have an increased chance of being in a severe accident or even death. About six thousand teenagers die in car crashes each year .

Advertising constantly seems to be blamed for the number of teenagers who start to drink at young ages, spending over one billion dollars each year on alcohol advertisements alone, portraying alcohol as alluring and exciting for our nation’s youth.  Some parents try to deal with this problem at home by not drinking any sort of alcohol in front of their children, as a way to make sure they never start the habit. However, their friends can still tempt them and they can find ways of buying it from areas other than the stores. No matter how parents may try to hide their alcohol, the kids will always some how get around it.

In colleges across the United States of America, each year, college students spend approximately five and a half billion dollars on alcohol. This is more than what they spend on soft drinks, milk, tea, coffee, and books combined. But, how early do your children actually start drinking alcohol?  According to studies, children as young as twelve years old have their first drink of alcohol. Teenagers who are able to drive believe they can get away with new things since their parents aren’t there with them anymore.

Many parents who do know that their children drink while underage try to find ways to monitor their children’s drinking to keep them off the roads to cause harm. In some families, when the parents know the child drinks alcohol, the parents allow the children to drink at home with them, to prevent them from leaving to drive somewhere else while intoxicated. They use this technique as a way to help teach their children how to drink more responsibly.

Statistically, about twenty two percent of all crashes involve drivers who ran red lights or other traffic controls. Eighteen percent occur when a car that was either stopped or in the process of stopping was struck from behind. Fourteen percent happens when a car ran off the road and struck an object. Thirteen percent involved a vehicle swerving into another occupied lane. And nine percent involved motorists turning left and hitting an oncoming vehicle.

Due to the increased amount of people that drink while driving on the road, it has caused the government to spend more fifty eight billion dollars on costs for damage by underage drinking. The amount of money that the government uses on these areas can be used to actually buy every public school student a brand new state-of-the-art computer.

What are some steps to prevent it?

1)     If you are at a party or are the party host, take the keys of all the drivers in the room and keep them away from them until they have sobered up enough to drive.

2)     If you need to be home later and can’t stay the night, bring someone with you who can drive and will stay sober so they will be able to get you both home safely.

3)     Call a parent – Have an agreement. Have the parent and child sign a ‘Contract For Life’ contract to reach a common agreement with both the child and the parent. The contract states that the child won’t cause any destructive behavior or drive under the influence. It will be the parent’s obligation to pick up the child at any time and any place when the child calls them.

Currently, across the United States, there is a self-awareness program that is being presented to all public and private high schools in each district. The program is called the “Every 15 Minutes” program. The goal of this program is to make the teenaged or soon-to-be teenaged driver aware of the consequences of driving while being intoxicated. They do a live presentation of an alcohol related accident, providing a view of what the scene and scenario can look like. This technique is used to scare the teenagers into not drinking before they get behind the wheel of a car. Each scenario is different and is set to match the ideal consequences.

When someone is intoxicated and is behind the wheel, a major cause for most of their accidents is the delayed reaction time they have once they become drunk. This is why people at parties or the parents should be the ones to take control to prevent these events from happening, to stop getting the early morning phone call from the hospital saying, ‘Your son/daughter has been in an accident.’

What can we do to stop the drunk driving if there is no one around to stop him or her? Currently in development in major car companies is a device that will report or stop the person from driving the car when they are intoxicated. It could be a good solution to our nation’s problem with the teenage drunk driving.

What can be done to prevent teenagers from driving like this with their new found freedom?

1) Have a talk with them

2) To tell them the consequences of what could happen to them if they choose to drive like the rest of their friends

3) Monitor their behavior

4)     See if they have made a change in how they spend their time at home or homework

It could a well known sign that they are someday going to be in that worst case scenario when they get behind the wheel. It is up to parents to put their foot down and stop them from making the biggest mistake of their life.

It wouldn’t be fair to them if they survived and find out that they were responsible for the death of their close friends when they were driving home from some crazy party. Parents need to take the time to let them know how they feel about their generation and what they would do if they ever caught their children in the act. It just might scare them into not doing it if the threat is big enough.

Hearing about the tales of teenagers and drunk driving incidents can possibly be the scariest thing you have ever heard if you are a parent, but it doesn’t meant that it will happen to your son or daughter. However, you need to take the steps to prevent them from ever being that way. Teach them how to ignore the many distractions that surround them on the road or highway by not being the one to get distracted. With the help of parents or instructors, the teenager can learn how to be aware of what surrounds them and give them the experience they need to become to safe driver.

In today’s community, many men and women have been discriminating the people of our world today, but one group gets most of the attention today. The Gays and Lesbians of the State of California fight to gain the equal rights of marriage like the rights that a man and women have to get married under. But, about a year ago, the state had created Prop. 8 to help come up with a decision on whether gays and lesbians should have the right to get legally married in the state of California. Everyone had thought that they would finally get what they had so long deserved, to be free like the other states.

At the beginning of the New Year, the people had voted and all of the votes had been counted up. In the end, the gays and lesbians had lost the fight for their rights, denying the right to get married legally in the state of California. Many people of the community of Rohnert Park and Cotati were all ashamed on the outcome of Prop. 8, denying the rights of every homosexual in the state.

Even today, the homosexuals fight in today’s community to make things right, to give the people another chance to fight again for their own rights. The governor, a few months ago, decided that in late December, Prop. 8 will be brought up to the court to give the final verdict on whether it is right for homosexuals to have the right to be legally married.

But, have you ever wondered why the people voted against it in the first place? It is the people are afraid of the future for themselves, the educational system, and the future of their children. They believe that it is wrong for the people to turn this way, more like it is an abomination; so says the men and women of the Christian and Catholic faith.

“Eat This, Not That” is a small booklet that you can carry around in your bag or purse while you are out shopping at a grocery store. But, how useful is the book to the average person buying food at the grocery store? This small book covers the Produce, Meat & Fish, Pantry, Snacks & Sweets, Freezer section, and Drinks. When you go to each of the different sections of the book, it splits the products into the “Eat This” and the “Not That” side of the page. Now, it only shows the worst of the worst for the “Not That” side and the Best of the Best for the “Eat This” side, it doesn’t actually show all the different kinds of food to tell us what to eat and not eat.

The book likes to go over every kind of product that goes into each of its categories, like with the Pantry section. In the Pantry section, they like to split the section into ‘Grains’, ‘Rice Sides’, ‘Dry Noodles’, ‘Packaged and Seasoned Noodles’, all the way to ‘Sweet and Wholesome Cereal’. The book likes to provide the people who read the book the good and bad side of your favorite and least favorite kinds of food. Though, the book has a scary side that it isn’t really afraid to show you.

The book starts to become more frightening when you reach the ‘Drinks’ sections in the book. It  likes to show you how much sugar one of your favorite drinks is equal to in other sugar-based products.

Examples

Snapple Antioxidant Water (20-ounce bottle) = 3 bowls of Honey Comb cereal

Snapple Lemon Iced Tea (20-ounce bottle) = 6 Original Fudgsicles

Starbucks Frappuccino (13.7-ounce bottle) = 3 1/2 scoops of Dreyer’s Double Fudge Brownie Ice Cream

SunnyD Smooth Style (16-ounce bottle) = 8 Eggo Choco-’Nilla Flip Flop Waffles

Sunkist (20-ounce bottle) = 17 Chewy Chips Ahoy! cookies

Now, the scary thing is that all of that is the product’s equivalent in sugar. That is the scary thing to find out about how much sugar is really hiding inside of your favorite drink or just something you are wanting to try.

Coming onto the topic to change the way we vote, it is absolutely positive that the Electoral College needs to be gotten rid of. The background of the college works in the election is crucial. Did you actually know, as a voter, when you put in your vote for a candidate, you aren’t actually putting a vote in for them? You are actually voting for an elector that will cast his or her own vote. This makes the outcome of the voting process ever more dramatic than it would be if the whole process was done by popular vote. it actually comes down to the 538 voters that represent all 51 states and districts. It is time for a change.

Why would it be better to get rid of the college? Well, the nation, for one, would be electing by popular vote, instead of going through the people elected to represent our votes. People also wouldn’t have to pick the people to represent, making it equal for all. Under law, to become an elector, you need to fit special requirements to even be able to run to become an elector. The process to becoming an elector is actually decided by popular vote in the state they each represent. Why should we have to only use popular vote there instead of the presidential election?

Well, for one, the people back then didn’t want to have to tally all of the votes from all of the nation’s people because computers either weren’t created or used for such purposes yet. But, today, the voting is all done by computers instead of writing your vote down on a piece of paper. So, why are the people afraid of using technology to count up the votes? It is because the people would be out of jobs and they find it much easier for them to count only the votes of the people chosen that represent. So, why America? Why are you afraid to make one small change to the way, we the people, vote in today’s world? America, it is finally time to make the change! Electoral colleges need to be forgotten and people need to remember the change in the world to make the change to popular vote.

I am waiting

Aberrant – departing from the right, normal, or usual course.

“the dog’s sudden aberrant eating patterns alerted its owner to a possible health problem.”

Abby from “The Devil Wears Prada” is a woman with an example of abberant because she starts off as a woman who knows who she is in the beginning, but then loses track of her real self as she begins to explore the world of fashion. Her boss begins to control her life, ruining her friendships with a new man, losing her boyfriend to her job, and losing sight of her real goal in the end.

Anomaly – a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form.

“The extra leg on this baboon was quite an anomaly.”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a story of a little boy that grows up to get younger and younger, causing him to disappear from existence in the end. His condition was a mystery to all, basically an anamoly, a unique case that no one could ever solve. Since he was a baby, he had the face and body look of an elderly man and as he grew older, he began to grow younger and taller becoming a man for a short time in his life. In the end, his condition made him grow into the form of a fetus, causing him to lose his life in the very end.

Eccentricity – an oddity or peculiarity, as of conduct.

“The old man’s eccentricity led some people to believe he was crazy, but those living around him knew he was a kind and caring resident of the neighborhood.”

Lady Gaga is the definition of the word. The way she dresses, combined with the way she creates a music video is the way to use the word in everyday life. She is the inspiration to keep on using the word for future use.

Endemic - belonging exclusively or confined to a particular place.

“Certain categories of diseases are endemic to the tropical regions like Malaria, yellow fever, etc.”

The animal above, a Lemur, is an animal that is always confined to one space the rest of it’s life. They like to stay on the island of Madagascar and up into the trees. They love to stay confined to one particular up in the trees in the island, never bordering their horizons.

Incongruous - not harmonious in character; inconsonant; lacking harmony of parts.

“The dilapidated Volkswagen looked incongruous puttering between the executives’ late model Mercedes and BMWs.”

The comic above is a good example because the cartoon isn’t in harmony, because there is a piece of it is missing in the middle showing you what exactly had happened.

Mundane – common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative.

“I had to complete my boring, mundane tasks before I could have fun.”

The picture that was taken up above is proven to be mundane because the picture was taken at sunset and is in a suburban area that makes it a common piece amongst others.

Outlandish – freakishly or grotesquely strange or odd, as appearance, dress, objects, ideas, or practices.

“Everyone was staring at the strangers in their outlandish clothing.”

The way these women of the tribe wear those earrings are in a way no one in America would ever let themselves go to extreme lengths for.

Paragon – a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence.

“Jesus Christ is a paragon for generations to follow.”

The pattern on this cat’s fur coat has people to believe that they come directly from leopards, which makes them an elegant cat to have around your home.

Ubiquitous - existing or being everywhere, esp. at the same time.

“Tourists with cameras are ubiquitous in Europe every summer.”

Computers/phones like this will soon be all over the place when it hits the market, like an iPhone, it will be with them everyday with daily entertainment.

Unwonted – not customary or usual; rare.

“The unwonted fish lay dead in the tank.”

This drawing above shows many ways the word Unwonted is used. The tree, for example, is really a human in disguise to get a hold of the young woman he currently has his hands on.  It is something you don’t usually see when someone puts their imagination to it.

The fashion icon, Lady Gaga, revealing another piece of postmodern fashion. Though the woman using multiple stylists to make such pieces, she keeps coming out with new pieces that no one can copy, that only she can wear. The look of her pieces are individual, which stand out in any crowd. With the different shapes and materials used for each dress and design, Lady Gaga herself is a big piece of Postmodern architecture.

The shape and design of the house that exists above stands out from all the rest. With the glass windows on each floor and the shape of the house that surrounds it makes it unique from all of the rest. Like the house Frank Lloyd Wright had created for one of previous clients, it is a piece of art that could make anyone desire to have, no matter what the cost. With a house with such shapes and designs inside and out, it deserves the title of being a postmodern piece of art.

This piece of art, that exists in the desert, stands out from the rest to be postmodern. Such a piece like this is postmodern because it is something that doesn’t rightfully belong in the middle of the desert. Along with that, it is the hole in the middle of the solid piece of metal that makes it even more unique. Postmodernism is making a great comeback against the world of modernism, striking the great empire down, freeing the slaves from the restraints of modernism.

In the pockets of every adult or teenager today, you will find a phone that they had bought to keep in contact with friends and keep their personal lives a secret from parents. But, did you know that almost every elementary student in America today carries a phone in their pockets as well? It is because parents want them to be “safe” and have a way to contact them if they haven’t seen them or if they don’t know where they are. But, the kids only really get the phone because it’s either…

A) They have older siblings that want a phone and they want what they want

B) It’s because the student wants to be cool like the rest of the kids at school

C) Or they just want to be able to text their friends like every middle and high schooler today

But, how do the parents know that their own son and daughter are texting or being distracted by their phone in school? It reflects in their own grades or how well the student remembers how to do their homework or if they had forgotten they had any. I have personal experience with this and I am trying to break the habit because it can really put someone behind in their work, causing it to be really hard for someone to catch up on their work. It is alright to text, if and only if, your done with all work, need to get in contact with a friend about homework or work, or if your not driving. It is a law for students to not text while driving anymore because it is a great hazard to teens to be driving and texting at the same time because it is the number one cause of death in teens today.

So, let me ask you guys again. Cellular devices, are they good or bad?

Tobacco is one of the well-known recreational drugs in the world. Tobacco is mostly formed into cigarettes, but can also be found in cigars and pipes, as well as a combination for cannabis and marijuana. There are some countries in the world that have an age-restriction on when a person can smoke, but there are over a billion adults who smoke legally everyday. Supplying everyone in the world with all of those cigars, cigarettes, and tobacco is proving to be a big business.

With all of the billion people in the world that smoke, it is causing more and more environmental issues in our world. Attitude from the people who also smoke have been changing for the past twenty years, never having any restraint. Inside of the developed world, the people had started to shift against smoking.

By the 1990’s, smoking had started to actually admit that their products can be harmful to the human body and can become very addicting. To help make people stop smoking, the government had raised taxes on tobacco to help discourage the people from buying it. However, a downside had came along when they had increase the taxes. Many groups had stopped smoking, but the trend had started to appear in young woman.

Key Questions:

[1] Does tobacco advertising increase tobacco consumption?

[2] Do health warnings, however much of the cigarette packet they cover, reduce consumption?

[3] What would be the effects of banning smoking in all public places, or even completely?\

Ask yourself these questions, and think long and hard about them.

Is smoking good or bad?