My Community Service

I did all of my community service for the school musical in the fall. I chose to do it there because I was in the musical itself, and I wanted it to be as good as it could be. It also simplified having to worry about getting to community service, because i could just do it in my spare time during rehersals. There was alot of help needed for the entire thing, so there were several things that i did throughout the musical.

One of the biggest things that i helped with was the making of the hats. In The Wizard Of Oz we needed to have alot of one-of-a-kind hats for the characters. I spent a large amount of time hot-gluing random doodads onto something that would make an interesting makeshift hat. It was very time-consuming but it was fun because I got to do it with my friends and allowd me to get a little creative.

Another thing that I helped with was painting the house for the tornado scene with Dorothy. We had to sponge watered down black paint on to the house to make it have an old, kind of worn and weathered look. This was also very time consuming, but I still had a lot of fun doing it with my friends. It wasn't terribly difficult work, and by the time we were finished the house looked very good and made us a little more excited for the musical to open.

The last thing that stood out more prominently was the making of the props for the other actors. Making things like spears for the Wicked Witch's henchmen took some patience. We had to completely cover broom handles in electrical tape in order to make them look black. We also had to make "ears" for the Poppies, which we had about thirty of. I was very busy throughout most of the night.

There were several other little errands, but those were the most prominently occurring things that they had me do. It was a pretty fun expierence, and i got to do alot to help out. It added to the overall effect of the play. I was glad that everything turned out as well as it did.

Pakistan

I dont think that it would affect the rest of the world very much today. Since it is still a developing nation, it really doesnt have much of an impact for having illiterate children. the rest of the world will not be effected because they cannot read, except for the ose who try to help.
The countries that try to help will be affected alot because they have to worry about making mad for helping them, and whatever polotical problems that that may have with it. They will also have to worry about who to help, and how much help to give

tragedy that wont fade away

thisisnot a free speech issue, but a moral issue. however since the photos were leaked illegally, then technically the photos should be contraband and therefore illegal. the family should win because of that. If this had been one of my family members, then i would probably be really upset. I suppose it would have to depend on the family member. For the most part though i would be very pissed off.
For particular situations such as this, the photos should be taken off of the internet and not allowed. It's morally disgusting and anybody that would even want to see something like that should be monitored for mental instabilities. It just not right.

Earth Day

I do believe that the writer is correct. i liked is analogy relating it to christans and easter: it's a good excuse to have a party, but the real decipleship last all year. I did not know that today was in fact earth day until a friend told me last period. I also highly doubt that anyone in my house even knows that it's earth day.
My family honestly doesn't do much to help protect the earth. We drive as little as possible, and thats usually for more selfish reasons than saving the earth. Most of the vegetable we get are organic, unless the other kind is cheaper...and it usually is.

Things not To Learn In school

I have learden a couple of these traits, but the biggest one that i've "learned" would be that "you only need to get a 70." Over the last few years i have been doing only "okay" in my classes, just getting a C in order to pass. All that i wanted was to make sure that i got all my credits so i would be able to graduate. That has been my biggest goal just so i would be able to get my own job and move out.
I also have been stuck with the "you only need to know what's on the test." I have almost never studied for a test, and whenever I do I only look at the material that will be on the test and afterwards not give any of that information a second thought. I know that's not the intention or purpose of a test, but that's all that it is to many kids. Which is probably because of the last thing that i wasn't supposed to learn in school.
"It's the teacher's job to teach you stuff" is probably the second biggest thing that i "learned." Like I mentioned earlier, I never study for tests, so i rely on the teacher to teach me the material.

Stop Me if you've heard this one

Today people are kind of slow to respond to the current economic problems. However now that they have realised that we really are having troubles, they are responding to it as wel as they can as quick as they can. However, that isn't quick enough, and alot of people are suffering because of it.
My family has had to sacrifice quite a few things, alot of them mine priviliges that most teenagers have. We have stopped going places so much, and i have been unable to get licenced because i cannot get a job to afford insurance and gas. I pretty much have to pay for any movies or social outings that i want to do.

Michael Vick

Michael Vick was convicted of his tortureous dogfighting operation. It was terrible and very inhumane. However, he has served his time and made sure that whatever mental illness that he may have had is definetly not there. I believe that he should be able to go back to playing again simply because it's the team's choice to decide if they want him on the team or not, it's not a public decision.

What Vick did was bad, however he isnt trying to get a job like taking care of dogs, he's trying to play football. It's not constitutional to not allow him to compete if his crimes have nothing to do with his job. It's understandable that people would be concerned about the kids looking up to him, but the kids like him for his football abilities, not his criminal record.

Like the article says, he has been down as long as the law requires, brought to his knees, stripped of his freedom and fortune, and done everything to fulfill all the terms of his punishment. Also like the article says, he may never actually live down what he did. He shouldn't live it down because it will keep him in line if that is necessicary.

He is even going as far as to cooperate with the people from the PETA, who won't simply accept an apology, to prove that he is a changed man. He is going to phycological testing and going to have a brain scan that will reveal if he has phychopathic tendencies.

All in all, he is a guy who has done a crime and also done his time. He should not be penalized from a job as a professional athelete simply because he will get more press comverage for being somewhat of a celebrity.

immigration assimilation

In order to help the new immigrant students assimilate into a modern school, there should be a special class that helps them learn english. Not isolate them, just one specific class that will help them with the more basic concepts that we learned at an earlier stage. It would make them feel more confident and be a great help in their transition.

Here we could be a little more sympathetic towards them, since we live so far from the border we don't usually have to deal with this issue. We could create an enviroment that cares more about that particular section of the community. Just a small subtle change in the people surrounding them could make a huge difference in how they assimilate into our town.

We could also change the classes available to the rest of the students. Since it's not just mexican immigrants that we're talking about, we should have more foreign languages available to the rest of the student body so they may be able to meet on some middle ground.

Possible Topics

Advertising-I found this to be an interesting topic because of the possibilities of it. There are so many censors and rules for ceartin things and in other areas are left practically untouched. I think that advertising should have its own limits, but in the troubles that america is now, advertisment is a must. It's constantly an issue, but the thought of severely limiting the field is not what alot of people ant.

Prison reform-i find this an interesting topic because of the way that the system is set up. There are people that purposly go into prison just because it's nicer in there than it is on the outside. They are given luxuries that alot of americans cant afford for themselves, and are actually paying for. Its just appaling to me. thats why i also find the capital punishment law so endearing. I have a few opinions that would tie into both of those issues.

Living will-i find this an interesting topic because of it's unique qualities and how delicate of a subject it is. The fact that we wont end braindead people but we'll put animals to sleep because the surgery is too expencive is rediculous. I know it's an animal's life and not a human, but alot of the animals have more of a concience than people. Plus if a person is not aable to function, then how is that living at all?

Compromises

Well some of the thing that will happen are regular things like clothes and fast food will cost more. The public schools will be using older textbooks and they won't be buying more copies, so the students will likly have to share. Their parents will receive fewer tax benefits, and state university students will pay 9% more in tuition.

There will be 14 billion in spending cuts to public transportation, health care, courts and schools. There will be 12.5 billion in tax increases, 5.4 billion in borrowing, and a 1 billion reserve fund.
Personal income tax will rise by 1/4 of a percent, and the sales tax will rise up to 6 percent, one full percent more. The average of the states and counties will average out to about 9 percent. .
There may be a 12 cent increase in gas tax, but that was filled with a 600 million cut and an infusion of federal stimulus money,

organ selling

I believe that people should be able to sell their organs. I wouldn't do it personally, and it should be frowned upon, but this is the land of the free. If somebody needs some extra cash and they
have a healthy organ that someone elce needs, then it should be able to be done.

However if it were to be allowed, there should be some regulation as to how much the organs can cost. If they wern't regulated, then only the extremely rich would be able to afford the organs, because on the black market it's a small fortune to get one. If it were official, then it would open up doors for much more people.

In order to be able to sell your organs, you should have to be tested for diseases, but im sure that would happen anyways. You also would not be able to just keep selling organs until you only had your vital ones left, and were just barely alive. Just a single unnecessicary organ that would leave them all completely healthey and feeling good that you just saved someone's life.

On alnother note, you shouldnt be able to sell to an older person if there was a young child that needed it just as badly. There shouyld be priorities that should be drawn out as the laws are regulations were being written.

Favorite Movie 08

My favorite movie was the dark night. It was because of several reasons, but mostly because of Heath Ledgers performance in it. He did such a great job playing the rold and sticking to the origional joker character, the way the comics first made him. I'm a very avid batman fan, and I always love Batman movies.
Christian Bale also plays a pretty good batman, but i just personally dont like him at the chartcter in this sequel, even though i liked him in the first one. Kind of odd, but he just doesnt "feel" right in this one.
A close second was Iron Man, because Robert Downy Jr. plays an excellent tony stark, and the effects in the movie were spetacular. They Made it very "realistic" as it in could happen if we had that kind of thing.

Obama

Nationally i believe that there are several things that we could be more responcible about. First there is the gas issue. We still need an alternative form of fuel for out transportation. It would do wonders with another big issure, our economy. We need to figure out a way to make it "boom" once again. That would help the unemployment issue that we currently have.

Locally, it has annihalated almost all small businesses, making it almost impossible to get hired. It has driven up the unemployment rate greatly, and yet the city finds ways to buy stupid and unnecessicary items like palm trees. Its redding, not LA. That is a very stupid and costly item that could have been better spent assisting the average person.

Personally, it has made it impossible for me to get a job and because of that impossible to drive. My mom cannot afford to give me gas money or pay insurance for me, so i cannot drive to get a job etc. I signed up for the army because i knew that i would not be able to afford college unless i had some serious assistance.