I would like for you to summarize for us a news story that you’ve encountered recently—one you read in the newspaper, one you heard on the news, one you found on the internet,etc. When I say “news,” I mean that it should be a nonfiction account of an event—the genre (personal interest, crime, politics, etc.) does not matter.
After you’ve summarized this story, analyze it. Think about why it caught your attention, why it stuck with you, and why you think it’s important enough to share with us. What was particularly effective about the way in which it was delivered? You can also go one step further to provide us with your reaction to this story. I want to see what types of events in the world around you are capturing your attention and making you think about issues.
Please respond in some way to at least one other person’s blog. This blog should be more conversational in nature than past blogs have been.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091502106.html?nav=rss_metro/crime There is the link to my news article. This was part of my gang violence paper. It was catching to my eye because the topic was one i enjoyed writing on. Although I am not a gang member I often wonder what influences them and results of actions they commit or why they commit them. I myself listen to "gangster rap music" and found it intresteing that it could influence an event such as the kidnapping and assult of a girl just for leaving a gang. The fact that people around the area were not aware of the gangs in their city is also astonishing to me.
Last night, which was Thursday October 30, the seniors members of the NorthWood football team were all at Coach Dodson's house eating supper and watching WSBT 22. The sports section came on and Skyler Titus was named the BK student athlete of the week. It showed an interview with Skyler and also with Coach Dodson. It also had some highlights from our football season so far this year as well as some practice highlights. Some of the questions asked of Skyler in the interview were about keeping his grades up and attending college. Coach Dodson talked very well about the team and Skyler. It was a overall good piece and fun to watch. I think that it made all of us excited to go out and play Friday night.
A news story I will reflect on will be one I heard on Larry King recently which discusses Obama's tax plan.
Obama's plan, which we've heard about numerous times, claims that he would cut taxes for the middle class and raise taxes on those only making $250,000 or more. He would raise taxes on people he considers wealthy.
However, a few weeks ago, he changed his plan. He claimed in a speech that now people making $200,000 or more would recieve tax raises. Then last week Joe Biden (Obama's running mate) claimed that now people making $150,000 or more a year would recieve tax raises.
The discussion that followed this story featured political corespondents from both sides discussing the matter. The conservative corespondents claimed that this number will keep lowering until it hits $60,000 or $50,000, and Obama would then in fact tax the middle class.
My response to this is of course obvious, and I won't go into it to prevent war from breaking out. However, I did enjoy the way this story was presented in the way that after the news was released, people discussed their opinions on it. This gave you an idea of what other people, on both sides of the isle, believe the story means and how the story will affect this country and its people.
In Georgetown, Kentucky a man was arrested after the decomposed and mummified remains of his sister were located in the trunk of his car.
Timothy Brown (criminal) was said to have checked his wheelchair bound sister out of her nursing home late last year. The most disturbing issue about this case is the fact that Brown was stealing his sister's disability checks.
This crime is interesting because Brown had a history of untrustworthy behavior and yet, he was still able to sign the release forms for his sister.
Shockingly, his nephew (of his sister) was living with him at the time the child’s mother disappeared. The boy claimed that he hadn't seen his mother in a while and was not allowed in her room. I find it somewhat odd that the son did not think it strange that his mother was being withheld from his sight.
I think that many issues can be solved simply through paying attention to stories like these. People with criminal histories should not be allowed to care for others; also they should not be allowed to have custody of children. In response to this issue, the government must fix the foster care system so as to protect the future generations.
I agree with Chaz. The presence of gangs in one's city should be especially obivious. Even if it is not, people should be informed by those who know. I'd assume that the police force would be aware of gangs because of their violent nature. If they do not inform the community they leave their safe hold incredibly susceptible.
Lions, tigers, and ligers? On this last Friday morning, a story came up on my television set during my normal ritual. The particular story that I am talking about comes from Oklahoma. A tiger, lion crossbred animal was preparing for its daily feeding when its instinct took over him. With the recent use of fresh venison, the “liger” was very ambitious about feeding time. This is not what caused the problem though for Peter Getz. His mistake was getting in the cage with the animal to feed it, which led to a vicious attack. By the time he was rescued and taken to the hospital, he had lost his life.
Working with so many animals throughout my life is definitely one of the reasons this story caught my eye. It is hard to believe that an animal would do this to a human being, but is believable because of basic animal instincts. This could happen with any animal because of the normal animal within their minds. As individuals, we need to be aware of the possibilities of animal behavior. Just because an animal looks adorable does not mean that it is completely restrained and safe. I think it is amazing at how many of these attacks happen yearly and how aware scientists are of the situation. With every story of this kind, a viewer hears the story from a survivor (usually) and a knowledgeable scientist. I guess this entices me because of my work with animals, but I think everyone needs to know the danger of animals.
Ms. Right’s story is quite scary to me. I think it is extremely creepy that someone could do something like this. I thought that these types of things only happen on television, but there are obviously weird people in the real world too. People that are strange like this need to be locked up and hidden from me because I do not know what to do around them. Therefore do not tell me anymore creepy stories like that. Thanks!
There has been resent news coverage of a string of violent physical assaults on people in the South Bend area. These pointless crimes have been the conversation of multiple news papers and news station reporters. These mindless acts of violence have sparked contemplations as to the safety of South Bend. It is however, safe to assume that bad things are occurring in South Bend. Such violence, although police believe that they are drug and gang related raise questions about the moral soundness of our society. These television like acts of violence, as mentioned in Ms. right's blog and the increase of gang violence within this country one cannot help but wonder what corrupt moral influence these people have been subjected too.
One of the members of our prestigious first hour AP English class was reading an article the other day on alcohol and its effects on pregnancy. In the article, it stated that numerous tests have proven a correlation between smarter children and mothers who consume light alcohol once per week while pregnant. I believe it stated that children whose mothers (responsibly) drank alcohol while pregnant scored much higher in several areas of testing. It is strange to me that for so long, society has forbade expecting mothers to consume any amount of alcohol, and is now contradicting itself in such studies. Though I do not believe in drinking, I find the irony in society's standpoint of the matter very ironic. Years ago, people consumed alcohol like it was a simple glass of water. In some cases, children as young as two or three were given beer as a form of hydration due to bad water conditions. In my opinion, people, over the years, have become less intelligent. Back then, it was common for a person to study on his own, possibly learn several languages, and read just for the sake of learning more. Whether this intelligence has anything to do with consumption of alcohol or not, I am in no position to say. Within the last few decades, however, scientists and doctors have noted the negative effects of alcohol and pregnancy. They are very accurate in their conclusion that excessive amounts of alcohol can have life-threatening and fatal effects on babies. However, it is possible that, not knowing where to draw the line, doctors stood by the "law" that pregnant women should avoid alcohol altogether. I find it interesting that society has become so trusting and vulnerable to information placed in front of it by "renowned doctors." It seems as though we often fail to question the diagnosis or advice of a doctor.
Now, just to make sure you all know I'm not a ravid drunk or anything...
I think drinking is pointless, I find myself holding little amount of respect for those who abuse it, and I believe that if you're going to do it, you should be of age, and do so responsibly.
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In response to Elysia's article choice, I feel a little uneased. It's incredibly disheartening to even contemplate the fact that such terrible things are occuring in our own world. It really makes me wonder...how much more twisted and sick can the people of our world become before there is nowhere worse to go? Is every generation simply going to become more horrible the the previous? It really sickens me.
I just realized that I wrote, "I find the irony...very ironic."
I think this was a blonde moment.
So, if you could just pretend like it said "interesting" or "controversial" or something rather than the obvious, that would be marvelous.
Oh, and also, on my response to Elysia, it's supposed to say, "than the previous," instead of "the the previous."
Tori
Last week on ESPN, I was watching Sports Center. They confirmed a report to be true that on October 26th, the San Francisco 49ers head coach, Mike Singletary, had dropped his trousers during his halftime pep talk to try to motivate his team. Singletary claimed that he did this in order to prove the point that they were getting their butts whipped, but he did explain any further.
This type of behavior portrays 2 ways of how our culture has evolved over the years. The first is how bad our attitudes have become. Why must a man pull down his pants in order to get his point across? Shouldn't we be able to just listen to our bosses and do what the say? Unfortunately, many people nowadays have such bad attitudes that they do not want to hear any critisism directed at themselves, even if it is constructive. Their egos are so humongous that it takes a pantless man in order to get their attention.
The second shows how crazy people have become. Dragging down one's pants is a type of motivation never before seen. Some of the great NFL coaches of all-time such as Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, or Mike Ditka would never have done anything like this. If they would have, society would have raised a riot. There is no need to become pantless in the middle of a locker room. Yes, the team members were the only people there, but it still is in a public setting.
Tyler's story gives me a thought: why don't we leave nature the way it is? I know that this incident could occur with just a simple lion or tiger cub, but combining the two can't make matters much better. If we would all just let nature take its natural course, I believe we would be a great deal more happy and, more importantly, safe.
I read a story about a 12 year old boy who was shot to death while Trick or Treating. He knocked at a door and the man inside supposedly thought he was being robbed so he opened fire with an AK47 and sent 30 rounds flying through the side of his home. Several shots hit the boy, one fatal wound suffered in the head.
This story caught my attention because something as innocent and widely participated in as Halloween turned deadly for a child. All the kid did was knock on a door with a lit porch and he ended up dying for it. This just goes to show how many times we take simple things for granted. Parents let their son go Trick or Treating and now he's gone. The story drew me in because it had a vague overview that made me want to keep reading to find out more.
I was shocked by Elysia's story that someone would do something like that. It's just more proof that there are alot of crazy things that happen everyday in America.
This past week in Goshen, a man was killed and 6 others were injured. This accident was a result of faulty brakes on a box truck with a tired driver at the intersection of College Avenue and Lincolnway East Tuesday afternoon. Basically the truck driver hit someone, who hit another car, which in turn hit another truck, resulting in 6 people being injured and the first man that got hit by the box truck passing away.
I think that this is horrifc mainly because when I'm driving I know how tired I get sometimes, and I'm sure it's that way for everyone. I just don't see why this truck driver hadn't pulled over sooner and if he would have he could of saved a man's life.
I am shocked at Elysia's story. That is just horrible and I'm sure there are other cases out there similar to this one, that could have been prevented and solved sooner if people paid more attention.
The news story that i will be analyzing will be the interview larry king hosted with the president of iran, Ahmadinejad. during the interview king discusses, with the president, Bush and the future candidates. but the interview started to catch my attention when king started to ask ahmadinejad questions about the well-being of his family (sons, grandchildren, and what-not). it boggled my mind that king would ask a man that has threatened to bomb the united states these kind of "buddy buddy" questions. i couldnt believe they would have him on the show in the first place, but, then again, it is CNN.
Editor tyler's story is completely hilarious. What kind of idoit gets into a cage with a giant liger? i believe he received his just reward.
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