This Sunday at 10 PM on BBC America the Documentary “Super Skinny Me” (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=3935938) will be premiered. Think back to “Super-size Me” and then invert it. Two journalists, Louise Burke and Kate Spicer spent 5 weeks trying radical diets along with extreme exercise. Over the course of those five weeks both women put themselves through the rollercoaster effects of dieting and exercise. Louise, who started her journey weighing 129 pounds ended up as a size zero after shedding 14 pounds. Kate went from a size 12 to a size 6 after loosing 17 pounds. Kate also went into a very dangerous bingeing and purging phase during the 5 weeks and was told that she needed to drop out of the experiment because she was dangerously close to developing bulimia. She held on during the last week but was very troubled by the severe effects of just five short weeks.
I’m really excited to tune in and watch this program and see the scary transition that these women will make. The dedication that they have to their profession is laudable although clearly there are huge risk factors involved. For me, I think the hardest part about watching this documentary will be the realization that this is the reality of life for so many women and men. They are willing to put their bodies at risk to loose that extra 5 pounds. I understand wanting to look good and feel satisfied with yourself, but there is a right way to go about changing your body and there is a wrong way. Fad diets and extreme exercise programs do much more harm then good in the long run, even if they help you shed a few extra pounds.
Besides the health issues at play here it is also important to understand what these tactics say about a person psychologically. I think a much more effective documentary would try and tackle the issues behind the dangerous habits, instead of just experimenting with the dangerous habits themselves. Talk to women and men and find out why they are so obsessed with weight and fitness. What drives them to these severe measures? Are certain people predisposed to push limits in regards to their health? Although I still have these questions I’m sure the documentary will be interesting and startling and I hope some of you can turn in to watch it.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
No Pain, No Gain?
I’ve been hearing a lot recently about the dangers of being and becoming beautiful. We have all heard the term “no pain, no gain,” but I think that it is safe to say that there is a limit to the amount of pain one should expect or accept for any sort of gain. I have two different sides to beauty in this post, but I think that its appropriate to show the wide range of affects that beauty has on the world of women.
1. I just read that the newly crowned Miss Puerto Rico Universe Ingrid Marie Rivera was maced and robbed in an effort to keep her from winning the crown (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/11/25/pageant.pranks.ap/index.html). Apparently the culprits didn’t try hard enough. Congratulations Ingrid! Ingrid’s gown and all of her make-up was doused in pepper spray, causing her to break out in hives multiple times over the course of the pageant. She also had her bag, containing other gowns, make-up and credit cards, stolen from her.
I can understand the desire to win, but these tactics are too extreme, even in the apparently nasty world of competitive pageantry. Why are women so dead set on hating each other? Why is it that whenever I enter a room with women inside I feel as if I’m being judged and inspected to find my flaws. As if, by discovering what is wrong with me they can feel better about themselves. Its absurd. We shouldn’t’ be our own worst enemy. We should be helping each other out instead of pushing each other down.
2. The search for beauty took another victim recently in the death of Kanye West’s mother. Apparently Mrs. West, who was 58 at the time, underwent plastic surgery to get a breast reduction and a tummy tuck (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21742159/). While in recovery at her home she stopped breathing and died while on the way to the hospital. This sad story should begin to give pause to people who are all to eager to settle their physical insecurities with the blade of a knife and a well placed suction machine.
I understand the unrealistic ideals that women face today in western society. We’re supposed to be these wonder women who can do it all in stilettos and a sexy three-piece suit. Heaven forbid we have an off day, or are born with naturally frizzy hair or small breasts. If you’re pale, go to a tanning salon. If you are over weight, lose it any way to can, even if it means you have to get some doctor to suck it out for you. God forbid we try to love ourselves the way we are naturally. God forbid we start embracing the beauty in our differences.
If you spend your whole life trying to change the way you are, or how you look you’re going to wake up one day and realize that you are a stranger in your own skin. Love as many things about yourself that is possible, and try to add a new thing to the list everyday. Don’t look at the girl next to you as competition, because you’ll only end up losing yourself in the jealousy and insecurity. Never stop searching for the beauty in yourself and others. Never doubt that you deserve to be completely happy with yourself, just as you are.
1. I just read that the newly crowned Miss Puerto Rico Universe Ingrid Marie Rivera was maced and robbed in an effort to keep her from winning the crown (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/11/25/pageant.pranks.ap/index.html). Apparently the culprits didn’t try hard enough. Congratulations Ingrid! Ingrid’s gown and all of her make-up was doused in pepper spray, causing her to break out in hives multiple times over the course of the pageant. She also had her bag, containing other gowns, make-up and credit cards, stolen from her.
I can understand the desire to win, but these tactics are too extreme, even in the apparently nasty world of competitive pageantry. Why are women so dead set on hating each other? Why is it that whenever I enter a room with women inside I feel as if I’m being judged and inspected to find my flaws. As if, by discovering what is wrong with me they can feel better about themselves. Its absurd. We shouldn’t’ be our own worst enemy. We should be helping each other out instead of pushing each other down.
2. The search for beauty took another victim recently in the death of Kanye West’s mother. Apparently Mrs. West, who was 58 at the time, underwent plastic surgery to get a breast reduction and a tummy tuck (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21742159/). While in recovery at her home she stopped breathing and died while on the way to the hospital. This sad story should begin to give pause to people who are all to eager to settle their physical insecurities with the blade of a knife and a well placed suction machine.
I understand the unrealistic ideals that women face today in western society. We’re supposed to be these wonder women who can do it all in stilettos and a sexy three-piece suit. Heaven forbid we have an off day, or are born with naturally frizzy hair or small breasts. If you’re pale, go to a tanning salon. If you are over weight, lose it any way to can, even if it means you have to get some doctor to suck it out for you. God forbid we try to love ourselves the way we are naturally. God forbid we start embracing the beauty in our differences.
If you spend your whole life trying to change the way you are, or how you look you’re going to wake up one day and realize that you are a stranger in your own skin. Love as many things about yourself that is possible, and try to add a new thing to the list everyday. Don’t look at the girl next to you as competition, because you’ll only end up losing yourself in the jealousy and insecurity. Never stop searching for the beauty in yourself and others. Never doubt that you deserve to be completely happy with yourself, just as you are.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Instead of Reading this GO Outside. Reality is Better than the Internet.
I think it’s time for Myspace to hang up its coat. Every week or so I hear another horror story about some helpless kid who befriended a pedophile, or ran away with their “Myspace boyfriend/girlfriend.” I’ll admit that in high school I was guilty of being a Myspacer. Every day after school I would rush to the computer in the hopes that someone might have posted on my page that day. Of course I entered the Myspace nation at the being of it all. I was a Myspace member when you could only have 10 pictures on your page. It was just a fun way for me and my friends to communicate with one another. Because spending all day at school together and then talking on AIM all night wasn’t enough. I never added people I didn’t know and I wasn’t interested in finding the latest cute boy to message with.
I just read an article (http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=3879037) about a girl who killed herself because of the end of her Myspace relationship with a young boy. Apparently, 13 year-old Megan, who suffered from depression and ADD had formed a connection with a boy named Josh. Her parents recounted how Megan’s spirits soared whenever she would receive a message from Josh. About 6 weeks after their communication started Josh decided to break off the messaging, and sited that he had heard that she was a cruel person to her friends. Megan was crushed and hung herself in her room.
At first this seemed like an ordinary tale of an alienated fragile girl who had experienced “the last straw.” You can’t really blame Myspace for this tragedy; if it hadn’t been Josh on Myspace it would have been someone or something else. Obviously Megan had some much larger issues that she wasn’t dealing with. The shocking part of the story came when it was discovered that Josh never actually existed. The character Josh was formed from the collective imaginations of members of a neighborhood family. Apparently one of Megan’s old friends wanted to have a little fun at her expense. We can all agree that the price was too high.
Megan’s parents are now trying to find justice for the cruelty that was shown towards their daughter. Myspace does hold some responsibility here. Megan was only 13. To be on Myspace you are supposed to be 14 and older, but the safeguards for this rule are laughable. It’s as easy as making up your new birthday and you can be whatever and whoever you want to be. Plenty of my friends thought it was hilarious to 100 years-old in their profiles. It’s important that such an influential and expanding communication network try harder to monitor and protect their clients. The problem with this is that there are millions, probably billions, or Myspace members, with new profiles emerging every day, so it is even more important for parents to monitor their own children. Megan’s parents did observe their daughters communications through Myspace, but unfortunately there is only some much you can do.
I think their needs to be a retro movement. Lets start meeting people out in the real world. Lets start calling our friends and going out to fun stuff together. Lets actually communicate instead of just typing. Myspace, and the predators that use Myspace only have power if you are there listening and paying attention. Get up from your computer, grab a friend, or a football or a book and go outside. STOP READING. GO.
I just read an article (http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=3879037) about a girl who killed herself because of the end of her Myspace relationship with a young boy. Apparently, 13 year-old Megan, who suffered from depression and ADD had formed a connection with a boy named Josh. Her parents recounted how Megan’s spirits soared whenever she would receive a message from Josh. About 6 weeks after their communication started Josh decided to break off the messaging, and sited that he had heard that she was a cruel person to her friends. Megan was crushed and hung herself in her room.
At first this seemed like an ordinary tale of an alienated fragile girl who had experienced “the last straw.” You can’t really blame Myspace for this tragedy; if it hadn’t been Josh on Myspace it would have been someone or something else. Obviously Megan had some much larger issues that she wasn’t dealing with. The shocking part of the story came when it was discovered that Josh never actually existed. The character Josh was formed from the collective imaginations of members of a neighborhood family. Apparently one of Megan’s old friends wanted to have a little fun at her expense. We can all agree that the price was too high.
Megan’s parents are now trying to find justice for the cruelty that was shown towards their daughter. Myspace does hold some responsibility here. Megan was only 13. To be on Myspace you are supposed to be 14 and older, but the safeguards for this rule are laughable. It’s as easy as making up your new birthday and you can be whatever and whoever you want to be. Plenty of my friends thought it was hilarious to 100 years-old in their profiles. It’s important that such an influential and expanding communication network try harder to monitor and protect their clients. The problem with this is that there are millions, probably billions, or Myspace members, with new profiles emerging every day, so it is even more important for parents to monitor their own children. Megan’s parents did observe their daughters communications through Myspace, but unfortunately there is only some much you can do.
I think their needs to be a retro movement. Lets start meeting people out in the real world. Lets start calling our friends and going out to fun stuff together. Lets actually communicate instead of just typing. Myspace, and the predators that use Myspace only have power if you are there listening and paying attention. Get up from your computer, grab a friend, or a football or a book and go outside. STOP READING. GO.
Friday, November 9, 2007
If You're Going to San Francisco I Hope You Don't Mind Oil in Your Hair.
I’m leaving for San Francisco in the morning, so I guess it’s the perfect time for there to be a large oil spill in the bay. Early Wednesday morning, in dense fog, a container ship headed for South Korea struck a supporting tower for the San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge, creating a large gash in the side of the ship, although thankfully the bridge did not suffer any structural damage. (http://www.ktvu.com/news/14541458/detail.html). This spill is reported to be the largest in San Francisco since 1988. Although it is technically considered a medium sized spill it’s impact will be great considering the environmental sensitivity of the people of northern California and the bay area especially.
One of the most troubling things about this spill is the slow reporting of the actual extent of oil that was released into the bay. The first accounts that were given reported that there had only been 140 gallons of oil spilt, however we now know that the number is actually 58, 000 gallons. Because of the delay in accurate information the city workers who were trying to control the spill handled the situation much differently. Knowing what we know now they are upset that they weren’t able to better stabilize the spread of the oil with the proper amount of boom lines.
The oil that is in the bay is now at the mercy of the currents and winds and has been seen as far as 40 miles up the coast. Marine life is also being affected and workers are doing everything possible to help those animals that are soaked in oil.
This oil spill seems so senseless to me. I realize that it can get very foggy in the bay, but a boat should never crash into a bridge. There is so much technology in navigation and other ways of “seeing” now that this occurrence is simply unacceptable.
Although the number of oil spills and the quantity of oil spilt has dropped since the 1970s (http://www.itopf.com/stats.html) it is still important that we work to make sure that accidents like the collision in the San Francisco bay don’t occur. Besides the obvious fact that oil is a huge commodity in our nation right now, as well as around the world, our growing environmental problems will only worsen at a quicker pace with occurrences like these. San Francisco and the surrounding beaches in Marin County are some of the most beautiful in California and it is important that we protect that beauty and the marine life that call these places home.
When I get to San Francisco tomorrow I want to be able to go to fisherman’s wharf and enjoy myself, instead i'll be reminded of yet another careless mistake we’ve made with our environment.
One of the most troubling things about this spill is the slow reporting of the actual extent of oil that was released into the bay. The first accounts that were given reported that there had only been 140 gallons of oil spilt, however we now know that the number is actually 58, 000 gallons. Because of the delay in accurate information the city workers who were trying to control the spill handled the situation much differently. Knowing what we know now they are upset that they weren’t able to better stabilize the spread of the oil with the proper amount of boom lines.
The oil that is in the bay is now at the mercy of the currents and winds and has been seen as far as 40 miles up the coast. Marine life is also being affected and workers are doing everything possible to help those animals that are soaked in oil.
This oil spill seems so senseless to me. I realize that it can get very foggy in the bay, but a boat should never crash into a bridge. There is so much technology in navigation and other ways of “seeing” now that this occurrence is simply unacceptable.
Although the number of oil spills and the quantity of oil spilt has dropped since the 1970s (http://www.itopf.com/stats.html) it is still important that we work to make sure that accidents like the collision in the San Francisco bay don’t occur. Besides the obvious fact that oil is a huge commodity in our nation right now, as well as around the world, our growing environmental problems will only worsen at a quicker pace with occurrences like these. San Francisco and the surrounding beaches in Marin County are some of the most beautiful in California and it is important that we protect that beauty and the marine life that call these places home.
When I get to San Francisco tomorrow I want to be able to go to fisherman’s wharf and enjoy myself, instead i'll be reminded of yet another careless mistake we’ve made with our environment.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Sex Education?
Since when are thirteen year-old boys sexually appealing? If my memory serves me correctly boys that age are immature, obnoxious and dirty. So why are we constantly hearing stories of teachers running off with their much younger students? Kelsey Peterson, a twenty-five year-old math teacher and basketball coach has just fled the country with a thirteen year-old student from Lexington middle school in Nebraska (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3815758). Apparently Ms. Peterson and the boy, Fernando Rodriguez, have been emailing and texting their love for one another over the course of the last few months. Are these just coincidences, or is there something more to the large number of student teacher relations?
We all know the story of Mary Kay LeTourneau and her romantic love affair with one of her students, 13 year-old Vili Fualaau. In this case, Ms. LeTourneau actually ended up marrying her student after a seven-year prison sentence. They now have a family and a “normal” life together in Washington. This relationship is the exception. Although it may be uncomfortable to recognize, this outcome is far better than some of the alternatives when teachers fall in love or lust with their students.
In an investigation by the Associated Press it was discovered that from the years 2001- 2005 there were 2, 570 cases of teachers losing their credentials due to allegations of sexual misconduct (http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=3755182). And these were just the reported cases. Most of the time assault goes unreported or ignored and many teachers are repeat offenders who get off with just a slap on the wrist. This is due in large part to the fact that school boards and officials do not want to deal with the fallout of a sex scandal at their school. They would rather sweep it under the rug than create unrest in their community, especially concerning the risk of lawsuits from both the victim and the teacher.
Another huge factor concerning the involvement of the school systems is the lack of uniformity between states, and even individual counties. Teachers have often skipped from state to state followed by allegations of sexual misconduct only to be greeted with ignorance by their new employers. It is a dangerous prospect that a sexual assaulter can elude punishment by merely crossing state lines. Maine, which is the only state that did not participate in the AP’s investigation, actually assures teachers disciplinary files and punishments are kept secret. Hawaii, had no disciplinary cases during the duration of the 5 year study, but they did have a number of their teachers in jail for various sex crimes. These are just some of the idiosyncrasies that the AP found. It is important that we start to form some sort of unified system in dealing with teacher’s sexual misconduct. They shouldn’t be allowed to slip through the cracks of our faulty system. There is too much at stake.
Congress mandated a report that said that of the 50 million Americans students in this country approximately 4.5 million of them have experienced sexual misconduct by a school employee sometime between kindergarten and the 12th grade. This number is unacceptable, especially when you add that only about 1 in every 10 victims actually come forward with their stories of abuse. Most children are too scared that they won’t be believed or that they will get in trouble. The sad fact is that these fears are not unwarranted. In one case a girl was expelled from school after reporting that one of her professors sexually assaulted her. When a second accusation was brought against him he was finally punished, but the young lady who accused him was ostracized and finally switched schools and left town. This should not be the case. Children and teens should not feel frightened to speak the truth.
Teaching is a privilege. It is not an excuse to abuse power. The future of this country relies on the ability of educators to do their jobs professionally and inspirationally. I can tell you the names of all of my favorite teachers. They impacted my life in such a powerful way. Their passion for knowledge and their drive to instill passion into their students is awe-inspiring. It is imperative for our children to have equally influential teachers in their lives. They hold the power to better our future, and that responsibility needs to be cherished. It is inexcusable to use authority and opportunity to manipulate a student in any way. That act of betrayal can leave lasting negative scars. They need to respect the power that they possess and they need to use it to the advantage of the student, not themselves.
We all know the story of Mary Kay LeTourneau and her romantic love affair with one of her students, 13 year-old Vili Fualaau. In this case, Ms. LeTourneau actually ended up marrying her student after a seven-year prison sentence. They now have a family and a “normal” life together in Washington. This relationship is the exception. Although it may be uncomfortable to recognize, this outcome is far better than some of the alternatives when teachers fall in love or lust with their students.
In an investigation by the Associated Press it was discovered that from the years 2001- 2005 there were 2, 570 cases of teachers losing their credentials due to allegations of sexual misconduct (http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=3755182). And these were just the reported cases. Most of the time assault goes unreported or ignored and many teachers are repeat offenders who get off with just a slap on the wrist. This is due in large part to the fact that school boards and officials do not want to deal with the fallout of a sex scandal at their school. They would rather sweep it under the rug than create unrest in their community, especially concerning the risk of lawsuits from both the victim and the teacher.
Another huge factor concerning the involvement of the school systems is the lack of uniformity between states, and even individual counties. Teachers have often skipped from state to state followed by allegations of sexual misconduct only to be greeted with ignorance by their new employers. It is a dangerous prospect that a sexual assaulter can elude punishment by merely crossing state lines. Maine, which is the only state that did not participate in the AP’s investigation, actually assures teachers disciplinary files and punishments are kept secret. Hawaii, had no disciplinary cases during the duration of the 5 year study, but they did have a number of their teachers in jail for various sex crimes. These are just some of the idiosyncrasies that the AP found. It is important that we start to form some sort of unified system in dealing with teacher’s sexual misconduct. They shouldn’t be allowed to slip through the cracks of our faulty system. There is too much at stake.
Congress mandated a report that said that of the 50 million Americans students in this country approximately 4.5 million of them have experienced sexual misconduct by a school employee sometime between kindergarten and the 12th grade. This number is unacceptable, especially when you add that only about 1 in every 10 victims actually come forward with their stories of abuse. Most children are too scared that they won’t be believed or that they will get in trouble. The sad fact is that these fears are not unwarranted. In one case a girl was expelled from school after reporting that one of her professors sexually assaulted her. When a second accusation was brought against him he was finally punished, but the young lady who accused him was ostracized and finally switched schools and left town. This should not be the case. Children and teens should not feel frightened to speak the truth.
Teaching is a privilege. It is not an excuse to abuse power. The future of this country relies on the ability of educators to do their jobs professionally and inspirationally. I can tell you the names of all of my favorite teachers. They impacted my life in such a powerful way. Their passion for knowledge and their drive to instill passion into their students is awe-inspiring. It is imperative for our children to have equally influential teachers in their lives. They hold the power to better our future, and that responsibility needs to be cherished. It is inexcusable to use authority and opportunity to manipulate a student in any way. That act of betrayal can leave lasting negative scars. They need to respect the power that they possess and they need to use it to the advantage of the student, not themselves.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Think Before You Drink. The Why's Behind Your Wine Glass.
Evidently, the key to not drinking too much is to start drinking too early. In a recent CNN article by Jennifer Pifer entitled, “Author: Letting Kids Drink Early Reduces Binging,” Mr. Peele, a concerned parent, psychologist and author, has the innovative idea of exposing his daughter to alcohol starting in middle school so that the taboo and temptation of it won’t lead to binging and addiction.
Stanton Peele (http://www.peele.net/about/index.html) has spent much of his life and career dealing with the myths and misconceptions of addiction. His philosophy is that addiction is more of a mental pattern then a disease. He says that it is more important to observe people’s relationships and past behaviors when trying to understand their drug use and abuse. Although I don’t agree with his methods I think there is something to be said for the mental aspect of addiction, prevention and rehabilitation.
Over the last year we have witnessed a slew of celebrities enter and re-enter rehab facilities at the request of their parents, managers and agents. Britney Spears went to rehab twice this year after the request of her mother, but now denies the presence of any addiction. I think that alcohol and drug addiction is a serious issue, but I also think that rehab and addiction are being used as a quick fix right now. It seems that whenever a celebrity has had too much fun on a given weekend she or he is sent away to rehab to wipe the slate clean. I don’t think that all of these people have serious addictions; I just think they are making bad decisions.
Peele discusses the concept of preparing your children for the future by desensitizing them to the glamour of alcohol. I would venture to guess that Peele would believe what these celebrities need is a change in their relationships and environment instead of an expensive trip to rehab. The concept of exposing your children to alcohol to deter them from binging on alcohol seems a bit nonsensical. I can appreciate the logic behind his actions, but I think that he is putting too much faith in teenagers. I know parents who allowed their children to drink without worries in high school and it didn’t change the fact that all of their friends were still drinking and binging, it just allowed for a freer venue for their parties. The factor isn’t whether your parents are fine with you drinking. The factor is your friendships and the environments that you allow yourself to be in. If you are friends with people that like to go out on the weekends and drink, than the fact that your parents are ok with you having a casual glass of wine with dinner isn’t going to make that much of a difference when deciding if you are going to join them or just be responsible and stay home. The person that a teenager is around their family is not necessarily the person they are around their friends. It is more important to instill good values in your child than it is to distill alcohol to them.
The average American begins drinking regularly at 15.9 years old (http://www.focusas.com/Alcohol.html). This means that while Mr. Peele was allowing his daughter to casually drink at family functions the rest of her peers were also enjoying cocktails and beers with and without their parents consent. The statistics also show that “adolescents who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at age 21.” So, if the average teen is drinking by the age of 16, and parents like Mr. Peele are allowing their children to drink, then who are these people that actually wait until the age of 21 to begin drinking? What are the chances that if a person hasn’t begun drinking by the age of 21 that they are life-time abstainers? I can’t think of one person in my life over the age of 15 that I know for a fact has never consumed any alcohol, and I grew up in a city with a large Mormon population.
The point that I am trying to drive home with the anecdotes and the statistics is that it is not really important when people are drinking, but why they are drinking. Mr. Peele can give his daughter all the wine coolers that she wants, but because she has a good head on her shoulders, and has a strong set of beliefs she doesn’t binge on alcohol when she is trying to have fun. Celebrities go out all the time, trying to get noticed and unwind, so they tend to consume larger quantities of alcohol than the normal person. When you can walk right into all of the hottest nightclubs and the owners are sending you free drinks all night it can be hard to say no. On that same token, when a 15 year old boy is hanging out with his friends and one of them pulls out a bottle of rum that he took from his parents liquor cabinet, its hard to say no to the experience of “getting drunk with your buddies” for the first time. That is a memory that they will have with them forever, even if the hangover is something they would rather forget.
So why are you drinking? Are you trying to unwind from a hard day at work? Are your friends coming over for the big game? Do you have to loosen up before a hot date? Is the pressure of it all just too much? Does it just feel better to be fucked up? As long as your motivations are appropriate alcohol does not have to be the enemy. You can make it part of your life without letting it control it.
Stanton Peele (http://www.peele.net/about/index.html) has spent much of his life and career dealing with the myths and misconceptions of addiction. His philosophy is that addiction is more of a mental pattern then a disease. He says that it is more important to observe people’s relationships and past behaviors when trying to understand their drug use and abuse. Although I don’t agree with his methods I think there is something to be said for the mental aspect of addiction, prevention and rehabilitation.
Over the last year we have witnessed a slew of celebrities enter and re-enter rehab facilities at the request of their parents, managers and agents. Britney Spears went to rehab twice this year after the request of her mother, but now denies the presence of any addiction. I think that alcohol and drug addiction is a serious issue, but I also think that rehab and addiction are being used as a quick fix right now. It seems that whenever a celebrity has had too much fun on a given weekend she or he is sent away to rehab to wipe the slate clean. I don’t think that all of these people have serious addictions; I just think they are making bad decisions.
Peele discusses the concept of preparing your children for the future by desensitizing them to the glamour of alcohol. I would venture to guess that Peele would believe what these celebrities need is a change in their relationships and environment instead of an expensive trip to rehab. The concept of exposing your children to alcohol to deter them from binging on alcohol seems a bit nonsensical. I can appreciate the logic behind his actions, but I think that he is putting too much faith in teenagers. I know parents who allowed their children to drink without worries in high school and it didn’t change the fact that all of their friends were still drinking and binging, it just allowed for a freer venue for their parties. The factor isn’t whether your parents are fine with you drinking. The factor is your friendships and the environments that you allow yourself to be in. If you are friends with people that like to go out on the weekends and drink, than the fact that your parents are ok with you having a casual glass of wine with dinner isn’t going to make that much of a difference when deciding if you are going to join them or just be responsible and stay home. The person that a teenager is around their family is not necessarily the person they are around their friends. It is more important to instill good values in your child than it is to distill alcohol to them.
The average American begins drinking regularly at 15.9 years old (http://www.focusas.com/Alcohol.html). This means that while Mr. Peele was allowing his daughter to casually drink at family functions the rest of her peers were also enjoying cocktails and beers with and without their parents consent. The statistics also show that “adolescents who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at age 21.” So, if the average teen is drinking by the age of 16, and parents like Mr. Peele are allowing their children to drink, then who are these people that actually wait until the age of 21 to begin drinking? What are the chances that if a person hasn’t begun drinking by the age of 21 that they are life-time abstainers? I can’t think of one person in my life over the age of 15 that I know for a fact has never consumed any alcohol, and I grew up in a city with a large Mormon population.
The point that I am trying to drive home with the anecdotes and the statistics is that it is not really important when people are drinking, but why they are drinking. Mr. Peele can give his daughter all the wine coolers that she wants, but because she has a good head on her shoulders, and has a strong set of beliefs she doesn’t binge on alcohol when she is trying to have fun. Celebrities go out all the time, trying to get noticed and unwind, so they tend to consume larger quantities of alcohol than the normal person. When you can walk right into all of the hottest nightclubs and the owners are sending you free drinks all night it can be hard to say no. On that same token, when a 15 year old boy is hanging out with his friends and one of them pulls out a bottle of rum that he took from his parents liquor cabinet, its hard to say no to the experience of “getting drunk with your buddies” for the first time. That is a memory that they will have with them forever, even if the hangover is something they would rather forget.
So why are you drinking? Are you trying to unwind from a hard day at work? Are your friends coming over for the big game? Do you have to loosen up before a hot date? Is the pressure of it all just too much? Does it just feel better to be fucked up? As long as your motivations are appropriate alcohol does not have to be the enemy. You can make it part of your life without letting it control it.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Smart Bra? I Thought We Burned Those?
Professor Elias Siores of the University of Bolton in the UK has raised the bar for inventive ways of discovering early signs of cancer. The “smart bra” (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/OnCallPlus/Story?id=3722085&page=1) is supposed to use microwave antennae to detect heightened temperature in the breasts, which is a signal that a tumor is present. Although his prototype isn’t going to be out for at least another year I’m looking forward to seeing the effectiveness of such a creative solution.
The article I read on this bra, “A Smart Bra to Find Breast Cancer” left me with some unanswered questions. Would you wear the bra regularly? Would it need batteries? How would it warn the wearer? How heavy would it be? Would there be sensors everywhere in the cup or only in specific places? Could this idea be expanded for use in briefs for men? How much is it? I decided that I was unsatisfied with all of the missing pieces so I did a bit more investigating.
At the Discovery Channel website (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/10/05/smartbra_tec_02.html?category=technology&guid=20071005093030) I was able to find some, although not all, of the answers. In the first sentence my question regarding the briefs was answered. They are working on them now and hope to be able to have cancer-finding briefs out to accompany the bra. The use of microwave radiometry will measure the rise in temperature. Cancerous tumors generally have higher temperatures than the surrounding tissue because of inflammation and blood flow changes. The antennae would be laced into the side of the bra and it would be worn for just a few minutes at a time while plugged in to a power supply. If the machine detected any irregularities it would signal the wearer through auditory and visual means. Although there are some concerns as to the effectiveness of this bra I think that it is a step in the right direction. It is important that we have creative preventative measures for discovering breast cancer at its earliest stages.
Breast cancer is a very real concern for women in America. In 1960 1 in 20 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. As of 2006 that number increased to 1 in 8 (http://www.breastcancer.org/about_us/press_room/press_kit/cancer_facts.jsp?gclid=CPG21amHjY8CFRctagodLka-eg#statistics). My grandmother’s twin sister had breast cancer as well as one of my best friends mother. In 2006 it was expected that almost 41,000 women would die from breast cancer in the US alone. This staggering number is unacceptable and any action taken towards reducing this number is important, even if it something as simple as a bra. It’s a serious reality and the quicker that we are able to find cancerous cells the better chances women have for a successful recovery and a full and happy life.
The article I read on this bra, “A Smart Bra to Find Breast Cancer” left me with some unanswered questions. Would you wear the bra regularly? Would it need batteries? How would it warn the wearer? How heavy would it be? Would there be sensors everywhere in the cup or only in specific places? Could this idea be expanded for use in briefs for men? How much is it? I decided that I was unsatisfied with all of the missing pieces so I did a bit more investigating.
At the Discovery Channel website (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/10/05/smartbra_tec_02.html?category=technology&guid=20071005093030) I was able to find some, although not all, of the answers. In the first sentence my question regarding the briefs was answered. They are working on them now and hope to be able to have cancer-finding briefs out to accompany the bra. The use of microwave radiometry will measure the rise in temperature. Cancerous tumors generally have higher temperatures than the surrounding tissue because of inflammation and blood flow changes. The antennae would be laced into the side of the bra and it would be worn for just a few minutes at a time while plugged in to a power supply. If the machine detected any irregularities it would signal the wearer through auditory and visual means. Although there are some concerns as to the effectiveness of this bra I think that it is a step in the right direction. It is important that we have creative preventative measures for discovering breast cancer at its earliest stages.
Breast cancer is a very real concern for women in America. In 1960 1 in 20 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. As of 2006 that number increased to 1 in 8 (http://www.breastcancer.org/about_us/press_room/press_kit/cancer_facts.jsp?gclid=CPG21amHjY8CFRctagodLka-eg#statistics). My grandmother’s twin sister had breast cancer as well as one of my best friends mother. In 2006 it was expected that almost 41,000 women would die from breast cancer in the US alone. This staggering number is unacceptable and any action taken towards reducing this number is important, even if it something as simple as a bra. It’s a serious reality and the quicker that we are able to find cancerous cells the better chances women have for a successful recovery and a full and happy life.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Newsworthy?
I just checked CNN.com (www.cnn.com) and was sadly un-shocked to find a news story about Britney Spears in their “top stories” category. Along with “Sinead O'Connor to Oprah: I feel for Britney”(http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/04/people.sinead.oconnor.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch) were stories of Halle Berry’s interest in having a second child and news of cats in toilets and just in case we didn’t get enough of her, Britney Spears appears a second time on the home page with news that her first single is a smash hit. Well done Britney, shame on you CNN. Websites like CNN, ABCnews and Foxnews are all giving in to the hype of popular culture. They are selling out for the sake of ratings instead of sticking to the hard news that we come to them for. When I want to read about Britney’s exploits or other equally salacious and shallow gossip I visit Perez Hilton’s website (www.perezhilton.com). Everything you want to know about celebrities can be found there, even things you didn’t want to know. When I want to learn about the developments of our world I go to sites like CNN. I rely on them to keep me well informed and up to date on the relevant issues we are dealing with in America and around the globe.
Popular culture is taking over. Everywhere I turned it seems like I can’t escape stories of Paris Hiltons missing dogs or pseudo celebrity reality TV stars fighting over whom is more talented. And what’s most disturbing about all of this nonsense being thrown at us is that we are actually listening. We have websites, TV shows and radio programs all dedicated to keeping us up to date on whether those pictures of Vanessa Hudgens (one of the actresses in High School Musical, a Disney Channel Movie) are real or photo shopped. They’re real, just in case you hadn’t heard. It’s easier for me to find out about the sexual orientation of obscure reality TV stars than it is for me to get a list of the bills that we are voting on in congress. When you try to youtube George Bush speeches, the first things that pop up are all parodies.
Taking a step back from popular culture and its overwhelming influence I would like to look at the people writing the posts and articles that we read; the public intellectuals. Stephen Mack recently posted a blog about the state of public intellectuals in our modern world. In his post, “The ‘Decline’ of Public Intellectuals?” (http://www.stephenmack.com/blog/archives/2007/08/index.html) on August 14 he discussed the differing beliefs on the decline of the public intellectual. Some figures, like John Donatich believe that we are taking the topic of the public intellectual too seriously. By worrying about its place in society we are creating something to be worried about. It’s like when you are about to give a speech in front of a crowd and someone with the best of intentions tells you good luck, because they would be really nervous if they were you. No matter how much you try not to let it affect you their words do have an impact. Suddenly you are nervous because someone told you that you should be. By thinking about the position of public intellectuals we are bringing it up to be analyzed and criticized. In a realm where analysis and criticism are welcomed and freely given this shouldn’t come as too much of a burden, however the problem arises when people begin to over think the issue. Later in Mack’s post he sites Richard Posner’s book, “Public Intellectual: a Study of Decline.” If ever a man were too critical I think it could be Posner. He criticizes a great number of intellectuals and proclaims that the arts and humanities should be taken out of “public intellectualdom.” He also has the audacity to rank public intellectuals as if they were Maxim’s hot 100. This over-critique is detrimental to the plight of public intellectuals. They should be sharing knowledge and inspiring passionate debate, not competing for the number one spot. The important part to remember is that it is a good thing that we have people out there writing and expressing their views in a public forum.
I feel like the whole point is being missed. Its not about who is writing the piece, it is about who is reading it. There are probably millions of blogs out there in cyber space and each one of them could be written by the next brilliant thinker of our time, but it doesn’t matter what he or she says if no one is reading it. That’s why it is so frustrating to me when I see sites like CNN.coom, ABCnews.com or Foxnews.com wasting valuable space and time on stories about Britney Spears. They have all of this power at their fingertips to be the informant for the masses, so they should use it wisely. Don’t cater to popular culture; rise above it. Prove that what is happening in Iraq and with our upcoming presidential election is more important than whether Britney’s extensions are real or synthetic; because they are.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
Popular culture is taking over. Everywhere I turned it seems like I can’t escape stories of Paris Hiltons missing dogs or pseudo celebrity reality TV stars fighting over whom is more talented. And what’s most disturbing about all of this nonsense being thrown at us is that we are actually listening. We have websites, TV shows and radio programs all dedicated to keeping us up to date on whether those pictures of Vanessa Hudgens (one of the actresses in High School Musical, a Disney Channel Movie) are real or photo shopped. They’re real, just in case you hadn’t heard. It’s easier for me to find out about the sexual orientation of obscure reality TV stars than it is for me to get a list of the bills that we are voting on in congress. When you try to youtube George Bush speeches, the first things that pop up are all parodies.
Taking a step back from popular culture and its overwhelming influence I would like to look at the people writing the posts and articles that we read; the public intellectuals. Stephen Mack recently posted a blog about the state of public intellectuals in our modern world. In his post, “The ‘Decline’ of Public Intellectuals?” (http://www.stephenmack.com/blog/archives/2007/08/index.html) on August 14 he discussed the differing beliefs on the decline of the public intellectual. Some figures, like John Donatich believe that we are taking the topic of the public intellectual too seriously. By worrying about its place in society we are creating something to be worried about. It’s like when you are about to give a speech in front of a crowd and someone with the best of intentions tells you good luck, because they would be really nervous if they were you. No matter how much you try not to let it affect you their words do have an impact. Suddenly you are nervous because someone told you that you should be. By thinking about the position of public intellectuals we are bringing it up to be analyzed and criticized. In a realm where analysis and criticism are welcomed and freely given this shouldn’t come as too much of a burden, however the problem arises when people begin to over think the issue. Later in Mack’s post he sites Richard Posner’s book, “Public Intellectual: a Study of Decline.” If ever a man were too critical I think it could be Posner. He criticizes a great number of intellectuals and proclaims that the arts and humanities should be taken out of “public intellectualdom.” He also has the audacity to rank public intellectuals as if they were Maxim’s hot 100. This over-critique is detrimental to the plight of public intellectuals. They should be sharing knowledge and inspiring passionate debate, not competing for the number one spot. The important part to remember is that it is a good thing that we have people out there writing and expressing their views in a public forum.
I feel like the whole point is being missed. Its not about who is writing the piece, it is about who is reading it. There are probably millions of blogs out there in cyber space and each one of them could be written by the next brilliant thinker of our time, but it doesn’t matter what he or she says if no one is reading it. That’s why it is so frustrating to me when I see sites like CNN.coom, ABCnews.com or Foxnews.com wasting valuable space and time on stories about Britney Spears. They have all of this power at their fingertips to be the informant for the masses, so they should use it wisely. Don’t cater to popular culture; rise above it. Prove that what is happening in Iraq and with our upcoming presidential election is more important than whether Britney’s extensions are real or synthetic; because they are.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
Saturday, September 29, 2007
The Tower and the Booth.
While surfing the web I came across a posting by Stephen Mack (Stephenmack.com), which opened with some highly blasphemous claims. In his opening remarks on is August 14 post “Wicked Paradox: The Cleric as Public intellectual” (http://www.stephenmack.com/blog/archives/2007/08/index.html) he compares a prayer tower to a voting booth. Right off the bat I found this offensive. I am not a particularly religious person myself. My mom used to make us go to church every Christmas Eve and Easter, but I hardly count myself among the believers. With that fact understood I would like to say that I have the utmost respect for people with strong religious convictions. It takes a much less selfish individual than I to give part of yourself over to faith and piety. When Mack made the claim that the political experience is analogous to a religious experience I automatically laughed.
How can one compare God to a political party? God, the creator of the universe versus politics, the creator of the official separation of conservative and liberal thinkers. The answer seemed obvious. But I have to say, after further thought; I have come to the decision that my gut reaction may have underestimated the power of politics.
America was founded by a group of people seeking religious freedom. But they were not seeking to change their religious beliefs, or to make radical change in their faith; they wanted freedom from a political system that oppressed their religious beliefs. They were willing to cross a seemingly endless ocean for the chance to have the political freedom to practice their religion.
One of my first qualms with Mack’s argument was that politics could never inspire the amount of dedication and selflessness that religion has shown in spades. Millions of people throughout history have died for their religious beliefs. Wars have been fought for it. People have been tortured for it. Innocent blood has been shed, all for the abstract concept of faith. Countless men and women have martyred themselves with absolute certainty that they were doing right by their God. The Crusades, the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, The genocides of Rwanda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide) and Darfur; all of these held religious motives as their starting point. Although these events are some of the lowest points in human history, they also illustrate the awesome power that religion commands. To be able to elicit hate and terror based on an abstract belief system is truly outstanding. Could politics claim such fervor and atrocity?
I started to think about all of the American wars that I have studied. WWI and WWII, the Vietnam War, The Revolutionary War, the Civil War and our ongoing war in Iraq. Our American blood was shed, not for the higher power of God, but for freedom and democracy and our American dream. People of all religions and cultural backgrounds came together to protect these values that we hold just as closely to our hearts as any person of faith holds their religion. Hate spewed through the well-aimed snipers and the blunt bombs that represented our political beliefs. God forbid anyone try to destroy or tamper with our democracy. In Iraq right now we are fighting to establish democracy at the cost of our own men. In Vietnam we sacrificed thousands of our young men in an effort to save a country from the long arms of communism. The world of politics has its own martyrs as well. Abraham Lincoln, JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. all died for our country, fighting to protect the freedoms and liberties that we all deserve. They protected the Constitution of the United States and they delivered equality. In answer to my own question I believe that politics does inspire fervor. I believe that it can create atrocities.
But does that make it equal to religion? I think after all of the reflecting I have done I am still at a loss in regards to this question. I believe that religion is more powerful, but I can’t seem to prove it. And yet, maybe I have just answered my own question once again. The point of religion is faith. In believing what you cannot see. In putting your trust in a higher power. Even our American currency carries the phrase, “In God We Trust.” You can’t touch religion. God is not going to run for office. He doesn’t have campaign slogans or interested investors backing him financially. There might be conservative and liberal Catholics, but they aren’t fighting over amending the bible. Some things are sacred. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that our constitution changes as we mature as a country. Evolution is a sign of intelligence. Debate is important. It keeps people interested and involved. Political parties force people to make decisions about their beliefs. But people shouldn’t be looked down upon for using their religious beliefs as a deciding factor in their political beliefs; it is inevitable that they should be important in informing their decisions. So here they are together again, the prayer tower and the voting booth. How strong are your convictions? Would you be willing to fight for either?
How can one compare God to a political party? God, the creator of the universe versus politics, the creator of the official separation of conservative and liberal thinkers. The answer seemed obvious. But I have to say, after further thought; I have come to the decision that my gut reaction may have underestimated the power of politics.
America was founded by a group of people seeking religious freedom. But they were not seeking to change their religious beliefs, or to make radical change in their faith; they wanted freedom from a political system that oppressed their religious beliefs. They were willing to cross a seemingly endless ocean for the chance to have the political freedom to practice their religion.
One of my first qualms with Mack’s argument was that politics could never inspire the amount of dedication and selflessness that religion has shown in spades. Millions of people throughout history have died for their religious beliefs. Wars have been fought for it. People have been tortured for it. Innocent blood has been shed, all for the abstract concept of faith. Countless men and women have martyred themselves with absolute certainty that they were doing right by their God. The Crusades, the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, The genocides of Rwanda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide) and Darfur; all of these held religious motives as their starting point. Although these events are some of the lowest points in human history, they also illustrate the awesome power that religion commands. To be able to elicit hate and terror based on an abstract belief system is truly outstanding. Could politics claim such fervor and atrocity?
I started to think about all of the American wars that I have studied. WWI and WWII, the Vietnam War, The Revolutionary War, the Civil War and our ongoing war in Iraq. Our American blood was shed, not for the higher power of God, but for freedom and democracy and our American dream. People of all religions and cultural backgrounds came together to protect these values that we hold just as closely to our hearts as any person of faith holds their religion. Hate spewed through the well-aimed snipers and the blunt bombs that represented our political beliefs. God forbid anyone try to destroy or tamper with our democracy. In Iraq right now we are fighting to establish democracy at the cost of our own men. In Vietnam we sacrificed thousands of our young men in an effort to save a country from the long arms of communism. The world of politics has its own martyrs as well. Abraham Lincoln, JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. all died for our country, fighting to protect the freedoms and liberties that we all deserve. They protected the Constitution of the United States and they delivered equality. In answer to my own question I believe that politics does inspire fervor. I believe that it can create atrocities.
But does that make it equal to religion? I think after all of the reflecting I have done I am still at a loss in regards to this question. I believe that religion is more powerful, but I can’t seem to prove it. And yet, maybe I have just answered my own question once again. The point of religion is faith. In believing what you cannot see. In putting your trust in a higher power. Even our American currency carries the phrase, “In God We Trust.” You can’t touch religion. God is not going to run for office. He doesn’t have campaign slogans or interested investors backing him financially. There might be conservative and liberal Catholics, but they aren’t fighting over amending the bible. Some things are sacred. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that our constitution changes as we mature as a country. Evolution is a sign of intelligence. Debate is important. It keeps people interested and involved. Political parties force people to make decisions about their beliefs. But people shouldn’t be looked down upon for using their religious beliefs as a deciding factor in their political beliefs; it is inevitable that they should be important in informing their decisions. So here they are together again, the prayer tower and the voting booth. How strong are your convictions? Would you be willing to fight for either?
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Kids These Days.
DISCLAIMER: my computer is not formatting my links properly, so I've just included the web pages in the sentences where they are supposed to be links and also at the bottom of this blog. Sorry for the inconvenience, I'm trying to work this out.
What is happening to kids these days? Why are they growing up so quickly? Has the world really changed that drastically over the last decade? Is the media getting more sexual because we are demanding it, or are we getting more sexual because the media depicts life more graphically? Everyday I turn on the TV or look up at billboards or flip through a magazine and I’m inundated with images sex and alcohol. Long gone are the days when Lucy and Ricky slept in separate beds. Even Married with Children looks tame now compared with some of the programs on television. Cartoons are glorifying drug use and alcohol consumption. I was flipping through a magazine yesterday and one of the advertisements was portraying two women “making love.” And no, this wasn’t a Playboy; it was Vogue. I hear stories from teens all the time of their sexual escapades and how wasted they were last night, showing it off like a badge of honor. I’m not trying to sound like an out of the loop mother here, but kids are maturing way too fast. They are wearing designers by the age of eleven and they are watching reality TV with the idea that it is actually reality. The pressure for kids to become mature faster and the overt sexuality and graphic nature of some elements depicted in television today are largely responsible for teenagers participating in illegal activities and becoming sexually active very early in life.
I have a sixteen year-old sister and it’s amazing that even in our four-year difference our perspectives on the media, sex and the world are completely different. When I was going through puberty I watched Boy Meets World and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. My sister watches the O.C. and the Real World. The most exciting thing that happened in Sabrina was when she moved off to college and started meeting older guys in coffee shops. I can’t recall one episode where sex was even mentioned. The O.C. dealt with drugs, sex and Tijuana all in the first half of season one. Don’t get me wrong, I watched the O.C too, but I wasn’t twelve when it first came on and I definitely wasn’t impressionable enough to think that is what high school kids would be like. I specifically recall one afternoon during my junior year of high school when my sister approached me and asked me “why does everyone think Marissa (the main character from the O.C. for those of you who have been living under a rock for the last five years) is a prude for not having sex? Isn’t she only a sophomore in high school? I don’t want people to call me prude.” I can’t even tell you how taken aback I was. She was being completely earnest. My sister was twelve at the time and it was then that I realized that raising her was going to be a lot different than raising me. I spent about an hour convincing her that it was just TV and they were trying to make life more dramatic for ratings and that being a virgin your sophomore year of high school, when most kids don’t even have their drivers license does not make anyone a prude. She felt much better after our talk but I just felt like crying. Was she going to turn in to one of those kids that would go on to say, “everyone on TV was doing it, I thought I was supposed to. I thought it was normal.”
It’s four years later and my little sister is all grown up. You can’t tell her anything. That earnest young girl is a walking, talking, opinionated sixteen year-old adult; at least in her mind. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my sister, and for the most part she makes the right decisions, but she is at such a different place than I was at her age. I just want to grab her by the arms sometimes and shake her and yell “GROW DOWN.” The scariest part is that I just don’t know how to relate to her sometimes. I don’t know what to say to make her listen instead of just thinking of me as her out of touch older sister.
So what has changed? What makes her generation so different from my own? The media. The way we depict life on television. It is no longer fun to watch shows about normal human interactions. Everything has to be hyped up or glamorous. People don’t want to watch a show about a young witch living with her two aunts and a talking cat, who’s biggest problem is how to get the guy to buy her a slice of pizza on a date. They want to watch people doing coke at a beach house after party where earlier in the night their fathers got in a fight and their boyfriend burned down a house.
Teens are changing. Their social norms are evolving and I’m a little scared. The United States spends at least seven billion dollars a year dealing with the issue of teen pregnancy (http://www.familyfirstaid.org/teen-pregnancy.html). Thirty-four percent of girls will have become pregnant at least once by the age of twenty (Aid). THIRTY-FOUR PERCENT. That means that when you sit down with a group of four twenty year-olds, statistically one of them has been pregnant. That is a daunting statistic and it’s actually the lower of the two that I read on the subject. Another site proclaimed that the number was closer to forty percent (Sound Vision). Luckily, since 1991 the rate of teen pregnancy in America has declined by thirty percent, however it is still the highest in all industrialized nations, including being twice as high as England. Lets take a look at that thirty percent decrease however and realize that there is a major asterisk that goes along with it. When people hear that the teen pregnancy rate is dropping they assume that that correlates to the teen sex rate dropping. This is just not true. Because of better sex education in schools and the focus of condoms in the media as seen in commercials like this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=U6krr40mdHM) one put out by Trojan condoms recently, teens are being smarter about contraception. They are still having sex, and if anything they are starting earlier but with more information at their fingertips.
Another (http://www.soundvision.com/Info/teens/stat.asp) reason for the decrease in teen pregnancy can be attributed to the huge increase in fellatio over the last seventeen years. While reading the article “A Cock and Bull Story: Explaining the Huge Rise in Oral Sex” (http://www.slate.com/id/2148583/) by Tim Harford I discovered some staggering statistics. Over seventy five percent of teenagers are receiving oral sex (Harford). Take a moment to shake that off, I know it’s not the prettiest picture to have. Apparently, at least to kids, oral sex “doesn’t count.” Now I’m not going to debate this point, because frankly you have your own opinion on the distinction between sex and oral and I’m don’t feel like changing it. I do have to say though, that when I have kids I’m not going to hand out any medals to my son or daughter from “just doing oral.” Harford goes on to illustrate how the economic burden of engaging in sex is the reason for the increase in oral. He postulates that because of abortion prices, and the fact that your parents have to consent to abortions, teens find the prospect of getting pregnant too risky for them. Notice that he says that these kids are worried more about what mommy and daddy will think of them instead of the larger issue of pregnancy and STDs.
Here’s a quick tip for your life, if you’re worried about what your parents are going to think about you participating in a certain act (sexual or otherwise) you’re not mature enough to be doing it. End of story. You have to be able to take responsibility for your own actions and you should never be doing something that you would be afraid to tell your parents about. Of course I may be biased because I have a healthy relationship with my parents.
I came across an article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072101275.html) in the Washington Post recently that discussed the plateau-ing of teenage sex rates. The article went on to say that perhaps we have reached the limits of what will deter kids from engaging in sex at an early age. Since 2001 the drop in teen pregnancy and activity has become stagnant and professionals fear that there will soon be an upswing again (Stein). Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council said, “’Teenagers today live in an MTV-driven culture and are bombarded by sexual messages that say it is normative for them to get involved sexually.’” He goes on to say that it important that we try and send the message that sex at such an early age is not normal, or even healthy. The images that are portrayed in shows like the O.C. are unrealistic and are skewing the nature of what real life and real relationships are all about. On the Media Awareness network they discussed this very issue (http://www.education-medias.ca/english/parents/television/issues_teens_tv.cfm) of unrealistic norms and standards. They reported that, “A survey conducted in 1997 by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 61 percent of young teens, ages 13-15, rated entertainment media as their top source of information on sexuality and sex health” (Awareness). Parents, please go talk to your kids. Explain to them and not everyone is skinny and white and sexually active in high school. I think that a little less passivity and a little more involvement could go a long way. God forbid you sit down and watch TV with your kids and have conversations about the incongruencies that are being portrayed. It will amaze you how little it takes to have an affect on your own children. They need your guidance. Twenty-five percent of girls should not be sexually active by the age of fifteen (Sound Vision).
Lets take a step back from sex for a moment and focus on other issues that teens are dealing with now. Drug and alcohol abuse (http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teendrugstatistics.html). As of 2003 thirty point three percent of 8th graders admitted to illicit drug use. In 8th grade my idea of a good time was going to the movies on a Friday and maybe a little ice blocking on the local golf course (for those extra crazy nights). By 12th grade the number had risen to fifty-two point eight percent (Teen). Remember when I told you earlier that teen pregnancy costs the U.S. seven billion dollars a year? Well, underage drinking tops that by fifty-one billion more dollars. You could buy The World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_(archipelago)) a little over four times with that amount of money. Alcohol isn’t the only problem, although a teenager is six and a half times more likely to die from the use of alcohol than all other illicit drugs combined. The use of prescription drugs has been increasing over the last few years, due in large part to teen’s perception that if you can buy it legally than it must be safer for you than marijuana or cocaine. Painkillers and other prescription drugs are not only just as dangerous for you they are also highly addictive. The problem is that they are so much easier to obtain. Go in to your parents medicine cabinets, or your little brothers supply of Ritalin and there you have an abundance of options for hazing the day away. If you really get desperate you can just run down to your local thrift store and purchase some cough syrup. The world is full of things to alter your mind and you are young and stupid enough to take them without a second though. The media isn’t helping. Shaan Singha sites in his article entitled “The Dangers of Drug Use in the Media” (http://media.www.brockpress.com/media/storage/paper384/news/2005/03/01/Humour/The-Danger.Of.Drug.Use.In.The.Media-881245.shtml) that,
"five of the 200 movies portrayed no substance use whatsoever (about two percent)" (NDCP, Movie Findings), "Positive statements about substance use (e.g., expressing longing, desire, or favorable attributes of use) occurred in 29 per cent of all movies. Most pro-use statements referred to alcohol" says NDCP. This large amount of substance use in movies today is a growing concern, as it desensitizes the viewers to drugs and alcohol, making them think it's not wrong to take such substances” (Singha).
My sixteen-year-old cousin quotes Beerfest and Harold and Kumar, both movies that glorify alcohol and marijuana, like it’s his job. Superbad (http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/superbad/) is out in theaters right now and even though I thought it was hilarious it definitely raised some issues. While talking about the “big graduation party” that is coming up later in the evening Seth, one of the movies stars, tells his friend, “you know when you here girls say, ‘ahh I was so gone last night I shouldn’t have slept with that guy.’ We could be that mistake!” Obviously this is a pretty funny conversation, however it is a scary reality for a lot of girls, and guys. Teenagers, especially when they are first experimenting with alcohol have no concept of their bodies limits and often times will go too far in an attempt to fit in at the party or prove themselves. They don’t realize the risks that they are taking by drinking so young in life. Teens who start drinking at the age of thirteen or younger have a forty percent chance of developing a dependency on alcohol, whereas teens that start after the age of seventeen only have a ten percent risk. This statistic from a “teen drug abuse” website coupled with the fact that in America, “The average age of first alcohol use is 12 and the average age of first drug use is 13” (Abusem (http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/teendrug.html)) is a very worrying reality.
You’re only young once. Don’t spoil it by getting pregnant or having to go to rehab at the age of eighteen. Remember the days when you could play with a bubble machine for an hour without getting bored? Remember when you got to “make a volcano” in science class and then you erupted it seven times and even that last time you were just as excited as the first? Remember when you decided to choose the cute girl for your soccer team during recess, but then relentlessly tried to explain to your friends that she’s actually pretty good? Hold on to those moments for as long as you can. Revel in the fact that the simple things still excite you. Be proud that you still where two different color socks. One of my favorite quotes is, “Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine” by Robert C. Gallagher. You’re going to grow up. It’s going to happen. But let it happen, don’t make it happen. Ignore the hype. Ignore the peer pressure. You’re only young once.
Family First Aid: Teen Pregnancy Stats, Facts and Prevention. http://www.familyfirstaid.org/teen-pregnancy.html (Aid).
Statistics on Teens: SoundVision.com: Islamic Information & Products. http://www.soundvision.com/Info/teens/stat.asp (Sound Vision).
Harford, Tim. “A Cock and Bull Story: Explaining the Huge Rise in Teen Oral Sex.” Slate. September 2, 2006. http://www.slate.com/id/2148583/ (Harford)
Stein, Rob. “Teen Sex Rates Stop Falling, Data Show.” The Washington Post. July 22, 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072101275.html (Stein)
Media Awareness Network. Special Issues for Teens. http://www.education-medias.ca/english/parents/television/issues_teens_tv.cfm (Awareness).
Teen Drug Abuse. Troubling Teen Drug Use Statistics. http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teendrugstatistics.html (Teen).
Singha, Shaan. “The Danger of Drug Use in the Media.” The Brock Press. March 1, 2005. http://media.www.brockpress.com/media/storage/paper384/news/2005/03/01/Humour/The-Danger.Of.Drug.Use.In.The.Media-881245.shtml (Singha).
Anderson, Kerby. “Teen Drug Abuse.” http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/teendrug.html (Abuse).
What is happening to kids these days? Why are they growing up so quickly? Has the world really changed that drastically over the last decade? Is the media getting more sexual because we are demanding it, or are we getting more sexual because the media depicts life more graphically? Everyday I turn on the TV or look up at billboards or flip through a magazine and I’m inundated with images sex and alcohol. Long gone are the days when Lucy and Ricky slept in separate beds. Even Married with Children looks tame now compared with some of the programs on television. Cartoons are glorifying drug use and alcohol consumption. I was flipping through a magazine yesterday and one of the advertisements was portraying two women “making love.” And no, this wasn’t a Playboy; it was Vogue. I hear stories from teens all the time of their sexual escapades and how wasted they were last night, showing it off like a badge of honor. I’m not trying to sound like an out of the loop mother here, but kids are maturing way too fast. They are wearing designers by the age of eleven and they are watching reality TV with the idea that it is actually reality. The pressure for kids to become mature faster and the overt sexuality and graphic nature of some elements depicted in television today are largely responsible for teenagers participating in illegal activities and becoming sexually active very early in life.
I have a sixteen year-old sister and it’s amazing that even in our four-year difference our perspectives on the media, sex and the world are completely different. When I was going through puberty I watched Boy Meets World and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. My sister watches the O.C. and the Real World. The most exciting thing that happened in Sabrina was when she moved off to college and started meeting older guys in coffee shops. I can’t recall one episode where sex was even mentioned. The O.C. dealt with drugs, sex and Tijuana all in the first half of season one. Don’t get me wrong, I watched the O.C too, but I wasn’t twelve when it first came on and I definitely wasn’t impressionable enough to think that is what high school kids would be like. I specifically recall one afternoon during my junior year of high school when my sister approached me and asked me “why does everyone think Marissa (the main character from the O.C. for those of you who have been living under a rock for the last five years) is a prude for not having sex? Isn’t she only a sophomore in high school? I don’t want people to call me prude.” I can’t even tell you how taken aback I was. She was being completely earnest. My sister was twelve at the time and it was then that I realized that raising her was going to be a lot different than raising me. I spent about an hour convincing her that it was just TV and they were trying to make life more dramatic for ratings and that being a virgin your sophomore year of high school, when most kids don’t even have their drivers license does not make anyone a prude. She felt much better after our talk but I just felt like crying. Was she going to turn in to one of those kids that would go on to say, “everyone on TV was doing it, I thought I was supposed to. I thought it was normal.”
It’s four years later and my little sister is all grown up. You can’t tell her anything. That earnest young girl is a walking, talking, opinionated sixteen year-old adult; at least in her mind. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my sister, and for the most part she makes the right decisions, but she is at such a different place than I was at her age. I just want to grab her by the arms sometimes and shake her and yell “GROW DOWN.” The scariest part is that I just don’t know how to relate to her sometimes. I don’t know what to say to make her listen instead of just thinking of me as her out of touch older sister.
So what has changed? What makes her generation so different from my own? The media. The way we depict life on television. It is no longer fun to watch shows about normal human interactions. Everything has to be hyped up or glamorous. People don’t want to watch a show about a young witch living with her two aunts and a talking cat, who’s biggest problem is how to get the guy to buy her a slice of pizza on a date. They want to watch people doing coke at a beach house after party where earlier in the night their fathers got in a fight and their boyfriend burned down a house.
Teens are changing. Their social norms are evolving and I’m a little scared. The United States spends at least seven billion dollars a year dealing with the issue of teen pregnancy (http://www.familyfirstaid.org/teen-pregnancy.html). Thirty-four percent of girls will have become pregnant at least once by the age of twenty (Aid). THIRTY-FOUR PERCENT. That means that when you sit down with a group of four twenty year-olds, statistically one of them has been pregnant. That is a daunting statistic and it’s actually the lower of the two that I read on the subject. Another site proclaimed that the number was closer to forty percent (Sound Vision). Luckily, since 1991 the rate of teen pregnancy in America has declined by thirty percent, however it is still the highest in all industrialized nations, including being twice as high as England. Lets take a look at that thirty percent decrease however and realize that there is a major asterisk that goes along with it. When people hear that the teen pregnancy rate is dropping they assume that that correlates to the teen sex rate dropping. This is just not true. Because of better sex education in schools and the focus of condoms in the media as seen in commercials like this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=U6krr40mdHM) one put out by Trojan condoms recently, teens are being smarter about contraception. They are still having sex, and if anything they are starting earlier but with more information at their fingertips.
Another (http://www.soundvision.com/Info/teens/stat.asp) reason for the decrease in teen pregnancy can be attributed to the huge increase in fellatio over the last seventeen years. While reading the article “A Cock and Bull Story: Explaining the Huge Rise in Oral Sex” (http://www.slate.com/id/2148583/) by Tim Harford I discovered some staggering statistics. Over seventy five percent of teenagers are receiving oral sex (Harford). Take a moment to shake that off, I know it’s not the prettiest picture to have. Apparently, at least to kids, oral sex “doesn’t count.” Now I’m not going to debate this point, because frankly you have your own opinion on the distinction between sex and oral and I’m don’t feel like changing it. I do have to say though, that when I have kids I’m not going to hand out any medals to my son or daughter from “just doing oral.” Harford goes on to illustrate how the economic burden of engaging in sex is the reason for the increase in oral. He postulates that because of abortion prices, and the fact that your parents have to consent to abortions, teens find the prospect of getting pregnant too risky for them. Notice that he says that these kids are worried more about what mommy and daddy will think of them instead of the larger issue of pregnancy and STDs.
Here’s a quick tip for your life, if you’re worried about what your parents are going to think about you participating in a certain act (sexual or otherwise) you’re not mature enough to be doing it. End of story. You have to be able to take responsibility for your own actions and you should never be doing something that you would be afraid to tell your parents about. Of course I may be biased because I have a healthy relationship with my parents.
I came across an article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072101275.html) in the Washington Post recently that discussed the plateau-ing of teenage sex rates. The article went on to say that perhaps we have reached the limits of what will deter kids from engaging in sex at an early age. Since 2001 the drop in teen pregnancy and activity has become stagnant and professionals fear that there will soon be an upswing again (Stein). Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council said, “’Teenagers today live in an MTV-driven culture and are bombarded by sexual messages that say it is normative for them to get involved sexually.’” He goes on to say that it important that we try and send the message that sex at such an early age is not normal, or even healthy. The images that are portrayed in shows like the O.C. are unrealistic and are skewing the nature of what real life and real relationships are all about. On the Media Awareness network they discussed this very issue (http://www.education-medias.ca/english/parents/television/issues_teens_tv.cfm) of unrealistic norms and standards. They reported that, “A survey conducted in 1997 by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 61 percent of young teens, ages 13-15, rated entertainment media as their top source of information on sexuality and sex health” (Awareness). Parents, please go talk to your kids. Explain to them and not everyone is skinny and white and sexually active in high school. I think that a little less passivity and a little more involvement could go a long way. God forbid you sit down and watch TV with your kids and have conversations about the incongruencies that are being portrayed. It will amaze you how little it takes to have an affect on your own children. They need your guidance. Twenty-five percent of girls should not be sexually active by the age of fifteen (Sound Vision).
Lets take a step back from sex for a moment and focus on other issues that teens are dealing with now. Drug and alcohol abuse (http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teendrugstatistics.html). As of 2003 thirty point three percent of 8th graders admitted to illicit drug use. In 8th grade my idea of a good time was going to the movies on a Friday and maybe a little ice blocking on the local golf course (for those extra crazy nights). By 12th grade the number had risen to fifty-two point eight percent (Teen). Remember when I told you earlier that teen pregnancy costs the U.S. seven billion dollars a year? Well, underage drinking tops that by fifty-one billion more dollars. You could buy The World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_(archipelago)) a little over four times with that amount of money. Alcohol isn’t the only problem, although a teenager is six and a half times more likely to die from the use of alcohol than all other illicit drugs combined. The use of prescription drugs has been increasing over the last few years, due in large part to teen’s perception that if you can buy it legally than it must be safer for you than marijuana or cocaine. Painkillers and other prescription drugs are not only just as dangerous for you they are also highly addictive. The problem is that they are so much easier to obtain. Go in to your parents medicine cabinets, or your little brothers supply of Ritalin and there you have an abundance of options for hazing the day away. If you really get desperate you can just run down to your local thrift store and purchase some cough syrup. The world is full of things to alter your mind and you are young and stupid enough to take them without a second though. The media isn’t helping. Shaan Singha sites in his article entitled “The Dangers of Drug Use in the Media” (http://media.www.brockpress.com/media/storage/paper384/news/2005/03/01/Humour/The-Danger.Of.Drug.Use.In.The.Media-881245.shtml) that,
"five of the 200 movies portrayed no substance use whatsoever (about two percent)" (NDCP, Movie Findings), "Positive statements about substance use (e.g., expressing longing, desire, or favorable attributes of use) occurred in 29 per cent of all movies. Most pro-use statements referred to alcohol" says NDCP. This large amount of substance use in movies today is a growing concern, as it desensitizes the viewers to drugs and alcohol, making them think it's not wrong to take such substances” (Singha).
My sixteen-year-old cousin quotes Beerfest and Harold and Kumar, both movies that glorify alcohol and marijuana, like it’s his job. Superbad (http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/superbad/) is out in theaters right now and even though I thought it was hilarious it definitely raised some issues. While talking about the “big graduation party” that is coming up later in the evening Seth, one of the movies stars, tells his friend, “you know when you here girls say, ‘ahh I was so gone last night I shouldn’t have slept with that guy.’ We could be that mistake!” Obviously this is a pretty funny conversation, however it is a scary reality for a lot of girls, and guys. Teenagers, especially when they are first experimenting with alcohol have no concept of their bodies limits and often times will go too far in an attempt to fit in at the party or prove themselves. They don’t realize the risks that they are taking by drinking so young in life. Teens who start drinking at the age of thirteen or younger have a forty percent chance of developing a dependency on alcohol, whereas teens that start after the age of seventeen only have a ten percent risk. This statistic from a “teen drug abuse” website coupled with the fact that in America, “The average age of first alcohol use is 12 and the average age of first drug use is 13” (Abusem (http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/teendrug.html)) is a very worrying reality.
You’re only young once. Don’t spoil it by getting pregnant or having to go to rehab at the age of eighteen. Remember the days when you could play with a bubble machine for an hour without getting bored? Remember when you got to “make a volcano” in science class and then you erupted it seven times and even that last time you were just as excited as the first? Remember when you decided to choose the cute girl for your soccer team during recess, but then relentlessly tried to explain to your friends that she’s actually pretty good? Hold on to those moments for as long as you can. Revel in the fact that the simple things still excite you. Be proud that you still where two different color socks. One of my favorite quotes is, “Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine” by Robert C. Gallagher. You’re going to grow up. It’s going to happen. But let it happen, don’t make it happen. Ignore the hype. Ignore the peer pressure. You’re only young once.
Family First Aid: Teen Pregnancy Stats, Facts and Prevention. http://www.familyfirstaid.org/teen-pregnancy.html (Aid).
Statistics on Teens: SoundVision.com: Islamic Information & Products. http://www.soundvision.com/Info/teens/stat.asp (Sound Vision).
Harford, Tim. “A Cock and Bull Story: Explaining the Huge Rise in Teen Oral Sex.” Slate. September 2, 2006. http://www.slate.com/id/2148583/ (Harford)
Stein, Rob. “Teen Sex Rates Stop Falling, Data Show.” The Washington Post. July 22, 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072101275.html (Stein)
Media Awareness Network. Special Issues for Teens. http://www.education-medias.ca/english/parents/television/issues_teens_tv.cfm (Awareness).
Teen Drug Abuse. Troubling Teen Drug Use Statistics. http://www.teendrugabuse.us/teendrugstatistics.html (Teen).
Singha, Shaan. “The Danger of Drug Use in the Media.” The Brock Press. March 1, 2005. http://media.www.brockpress.com/media/storage/paper384/news/2005/03/01/Humour/The-Danger.Of.Drug.Use.In.The.Media-881245.shtml (Singha).
Anderson, Kerby. “Teen Drug Abuse.” http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/teendrug.html (Abuse).
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Salmon Having Trout? What Will They Think of Next?
After reading this article (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/WireStory?id=3599296&page=2) (my link option is having issues right now) I have come to the conclusion that I need to start thinking outside of the box more often. If you are too lazy to read “Salmon Spawn Baby Trout in Experiment” I’ll sum it up for you really quickly. Scientists are injecting Salmon with male Trout cells to produce Trout. These trials have shown great success and scientists are excited at the prospect of being able to augment the growth rate of endangered fish species including the Sockeye Salmon of Idaho and the Blue Fin Tuna of Japan. But lets just think about what this means for a second. Salmon are having Trout babies. Just to make sure that you are grasping the ridiculousness of this accomplishment lets use dogs to think about the experiment. They’re not talking about a Labrador and a Poodle having a Labradoodle, They’re talking about a Lab getting injected with Poodle cells and producing a white puff-ball 9 months (or whatever the dog equivalent is) later. Obviously the genetic make up of a dog is more complex than that of a fish, but still the idea is absurd. I know that Salmon and Trout look really similar but they are just as different as a Lab and a Poodle.
I have some questions that I would like to address. Is this procedure just possible with fish because they are simpler organisms? If I was injected with chimp cells could I have a baby monkey? When would this become a moral question? Where are the PETA people on this one? Am I the only one who thinks this is just too much? And seriously, could I have a baby Chimpanzee?
On a serious note this does have possibilities for revolutionizing the fish farming industry. At the tail end of the article they discussed breeding Tuna from Mackerel because of the size difference and the ability to produce more fish in a smaller area. I’m excited to see how this experiment progresses and hopefully it will have some positive effects on the endangered fish populations of the world as well as the fish farming industries. And don’t worry; I’ll keep you guys updated.
I have a favor to ask though; will someone please let me know when they figure out how to make pigs fly, I have a few bets riding on that one.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Welcome
Hello fellow bloggers. I've just recently joined the world wide web and I'm looking forward to sharing my opinions with those of you who care to read further. I can't promise that you will like what I have to say, but hopefully you'll have a reaction. Feel free to respond to my posts with as much criticism as you feel is apporpriate; I'm a big girl, I can handle it. The United States is going through a very delicate time right now and I'm ready to share my thoughts on the government, people and social norms that are battling to find their place in our changing society. Stay tuned, this is going to be a fun ride.
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