I am impressed with your ideas about interesting activities for science classes. Are you a future teacher, perhaps? Your CD is also impressive; very thorough exploration of controversial issues. Love the cover!

An Ideal University

One of the biggest problems with universities is the price that comes along with them. An ideal university, in my opinion, would be one that is more affordable: no in-state tuition over $5,000 and no out-of-state tuition over $10,000-$15,000 a year. Furthermore, graduate schools shouldn't be any more than $25,000 a year (and that's being lenient). These prices are still hard to afford for some even with scholarships and financial aid available because financial aid and scholarships can only do so much. In addition to affordable tuition, my ideal university would be like its own community with enough parking and housing for all of its students. I also think that it is a good idea to house people according to their sleep habits as Professor Johnson suggested.

For all of the work that a university's students and faculty do, it is important that universities offer good food to please their stomachs! Notice that I included faculty; unlike V Yonker's "The Ideal University" blog, I believe students should not be in charge of teaching themselves as they were in the movie "Accepted." In my view, a student will not learn by himself unless someone is there to guide them. Therefore, universities need their faculty members to guide their students in the correct path and encourage them to reach their dreams like Sandra Boyle.

Though universities do need faculty members, they need to make sure that they hire people who are creative in the techniques that they use to teach so that students will be more interested in learning. I am currently enrolled in many science classes which are required for my major. While taking these courses, I often find myself wondering why I need them or how I am going to use them later in life. Faculty members need to find ways to help students realize that these subjects are important and can be utilized later. For example, physics teachers can do an experiment where one student walks a certain distance, d, in time, t, and the other student(s) have to find his velocity, v. By using these type of hands-on, visual learning techniques, teachers can show their students that what they are learning can be used later and is not just a waste. Therefore, if students see a reason to learn material, they will become more motivated to understand it.

Blog 10 - Communicating through Clothes

People now days are using their clothing and humor to communicate their religious views and/or affiliations. Depending on the shirt's text, some shirts did not seem as bad as the others. For example, the shirt shown on page 319, which has 'coexist' written on it is not as bad as the other shirts shown because it does not directly poke fun at religion through its images (LaFerla). In my opinion, the visual aspect of the shirt shows more humor than the textual and is a parody. Since I am religious, I would never consider wearing a shirt that would poke fun at my religion or any of it's beliefs.

In Paul Mitchell's essay, he says, "we could say that the previous examples are typical of a culture that ignores God." Mitchell says this regarding the shirts, such as the 'Jesus is my homeboy' and 'Mary is my homegirl', which he feels attack religion. However, by wearing shirts like the ones listed, can Mitchell really argue that they are "of a culture that ignores God"? Rather, people seem to remember God through their shirts, not ignore him.

If the shirts only contained text, they would become less humorous. Thus, they would be less upsetting to those who are religious. It would change the way I react to the shirts because I would find them less harsh to religion.

The shirt on the left displays a picture of a 'buffed up' Jesus outlined by white in a black background, or in other words, a Jesus who seems to have muscles. His face is calm, but with a 'don't mess with me' type of look aided by the black background. The text is written in bubble letters with Jesus written in the biggest font, and Homeboy written in a bit smaller font. Furthermore, the text is centered right over Jesus's chest, which draws your attention to his built. The halo in the picture makes you realize that the man in the shirt, or Jesus, is a god, or more like a type of strong guardian. The shirt to the right depicts an image of Jesus holding up a peace sign with his hand. He seems to be wearing a red hoodie with a white cap, which attempts to indicate how modern he is. He is standing in a very laid-back pose, leaning to one side. Thus, the shirt on the left seems to be more serious, while the shirt on the right is more humorous.

Blog 8 - Jammin for a Topic

A. Song Titles:

1. Song Title: Keeping us Alive

Genre: rock

Explanation: This song explores the role of a doctor according to the Oath of Hippocrates. The song will show clips of doctors going to extreme lengths to save their patients lives, not end it.

2. Song Title: A New You

Genre: rock

Explanation: This song explores how research of stem cells should be allowed since they are the future of treating human diseases. This song will give soundbites of scientists who share information on the benefits of stem cell research using embryos.

3. Song Title: Unconscious but Feeling

Genre: Rock

Explanation: This song explores how some patients who are said to be in a vegetative state can still feel. Thus, it is immoral to take them off of life support. Unlike physician assisted suicide, in which the consent of the patient is taken before any action is taken, when life support is drawn, the consent of the patient cannot be taken. Wesley Smith, an attorney and Discovery Institute colleague states,"when family members claim that they detect signs of consciousness in their 'unconscious' loved ones, doctors should be less quick to assert that they are merely seeing what they want to see."

4. Song Title: Stop Gun Violence

Genre: Rap

Explanation: This song explores why and how we should stop gun violence. This song gives hypothetical examples of people who were the victims of gun violence and also provides possible solutions to gun violence such as stricter regulations when purchasing guns, like stronger background checks.

5: Song Title: Lifestyle of the Rich and Poor

Genre: rock

Explanation: This song explores the gap between the health care of the rich and the poor and, thus, why we need universal health care. This song include soundbites from interviews of doctors and politicians who support universal health care. Fact: About 47 million people in the United States are completely uninsured, while millions of people remain inadequately covered (Single-Payer National Health Insurance.)

Works Cited

"Single-Payer National Health Insurance." Physicians for a National Health Program - Health Care is a Human Right. 22 Mar. 2009 http://www.pnhp.org/facts/single_payer_resources.php.

B. Lyrics to Unconscious but Feeling:

Little Missy Jones
little did she know
she was being robbed of her life
without getting a chance to say goodbye

laying there all stiff and still
they assumed she was not there
and took away her life support
didn't even stop to look
just waited for her heart to die
all the while she was screaming inside

C. CD Title: Survival of the Fittest, Richest, and Meanest

D. The Cover:

Paraphrasing - Georgetown Students Bristle At New Restrictions on Parties by Susan Kinzie

What do you think about when you think of college? One of the things that comes to my mind is parties. Parties, which occur all over the college campus, are one of the main events that students take advantage of to get involved in their college. Unfortunately, most parties go hand-in-hand with drinking. So, what if, in an attempt to crack down on drinking, the parties came with restrictions? Georgetown University has begun to implement crowd limits and registration requirements on parties that occur in it's housing areas and the D.C. police has begun to scan the streets for students to arrest due to party-related violations (Kinzie). Furthermore, according to Susan Kinzie, parties that take place on the campus are "limited to 25 or 35 people... or 50 in a back yard or on a roof" and students must ask for permission to have a party, in which they can only bring one keg, by 10 a.m. Consequently, angry students have begun to take their parties to residential areas nearby (Kinzie). Now, not only are the students angry, but so are the people who live in the residential areas. Students are angered by the sudden regulations, which have caused an uproar on campus, resulting in the creation of a facebook group called "Work Hard-Play Hard, GU Students for Stopping the Madness" (Kinzie). In addition, the people who live in the residential areas are bothered by all of the noise caused by the parties, which now take place nearby (Kinzie). So, by enforcing these regulations so suddenly, is Georgetown causing more problems than it is solving? Are they being effective in their goal to spread safety? Most nearby residents and students would say no. Some students, like Camille Kolstad, believe they were much safer on campus (Kinzie). Yet, despite all of the opposition, school officials and the D.C. police stay firm to their belief that something must be done. Police commander Andy Solberg when addressing the issue with drinking in campus parties said, "It's gone on too long now (Kinzie)."


Works Cited

Kinzie, Susan. "Georgetown Students Bristle At New Restrictions on Parties." Washington Post. 8 Sept. 2007. 23 Feb. 2009. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/07/AR2007090702816.html?nav=rss_metro/dc>

Cheating to Win

As I was watching this video, I found myself wondering why in the world someone would make such a big deal about the use of steroids if there are no real long-term health risks caused by it. However, the video only focused on the use of steroids among healthy adult males, but what about unhealthy adult males? The video also failed to address the effects that the drug has on others, like women and children. Thus, arguments could be made that steroid use among 'healthy' males influences steroid use among unhealthy males, women, and children. Other arguments could be made that steroid use among unhealthy males, women, and/or children is bad; so, why should healthy adult males be allowed to use it? Furthermore, what constitutes a healthy adult male? If healthy adult males were allowed to use steroids, who would stop others from using them to get steroids? It would be yet another case of how children use adults over the age of 21 to get their hands on alcohol; however, in this case, it would be people, not only children, using healthy adult males to get steroids. So, do I think that steroids can be used responsibly? No, of course not! Like any other drug, the abuse of steroids is inevitable. If someone wants to get bigger, they will probably use more steroids, which is another topic that the video failed to address: the overuse of steroids. However, the biggest and most important topic that the video failed to address is that its cheating! Legalizing the use of steroids would be like allowing children to cheat in school; both have no long-term health effects and they both have good outcomes, one gives you a good body, the other gives you good grades. So, what do you have to lose? Only your self-respect.

My reaction to steroid use is that it should be regulated. So, I am glad that students are being tested for steroids because it is cheating. However, I think there should be different standards for professional athletes vs. high school athletes. I would think that professional athletes would be likely to use more steroids than high school athletes. Yet, I do not think that there should be different steroid use standards for different sports because even though sports are different, the main aspects to them are not. The key aspects for each sport are speed and strength, which can be enhanced by steroids. Thus, steroid use among different sports would most likely be nearly the same.

As Hoberman suggests, I also think that steroid use is, to some extent, caused by our culture's desire for people to be the best. However, it is also caused by the desire of people to do well and, not to mention, look good. Although our culture's expectations are somewhat responsible for the use of steroids among athletes, it all comes down to who you are as a person and what actions you choose to take. When things go bad, you can't always blame others for the actions that you made. Eventually, you have to recognize that it was your actions that placed you in this situation: you chose to take steroids; thus, only you are to blame.

Portfolio #2 - Thesis

The abuse of animals for or during any type of entertainment, specifically circuses, should be banned.