The tragedy of feminist sexual experimentation *MUST READ!!***

First Posted "Friday, July 15, 2005"

I am writing this blog in response to an article that was sent to me a few times from readers. I thank you all for sending it my way- it was a great read and sparked many thoughts that I’ll gladly share. The link is http://www.iwf.org/pdf/sex_ms_ed1.pdf. To start with, I think Carrie Lukas is brilliant. She brought up very interesting and captivating topics, outlines her points quite clearly, and all of her examples are well-researched and serve a specific purpose. It’s about time someone talked about sex, love, and marriage in a way that shines light on all the biased views out there. Most things in our society try to show how common these things are- but we forget to take a step back and see where these ideas are stemming from. I see how she brings up recent movies and TV shows as an example of how sex plays a major role in the themes of these forms of entertainment- how the fact that all these characters are being sympathized with if they aren’t getting the desire and pleasure of sex. The writers make it seem there’s something wrong with the character if they aren’t having sex a few times a week. It’s absurd how normal they try to make sex nowadays. I understand that it’s only TV and everyone knows that the stories are all made up, but the very fact that they write about it and base the plots around it makes it seem like sex is everywhere and happening all around us. For example, I was flipping through the channels a few days ago to come across the movie “Unfaithful” with Diane Lane and Richard Gear. I had never seen this movie before, but I’d watched a little of it and read what happens throughout the film. When this movie came out, I refused to sit there and watch a movie solely focused on a woman cheating on her husband, and the passion she now found with a mysterious lover. I’m not going to get into detail about it but the simple fact that the whole movie was about cheating really sickened me. I find it incredibly sad and frustrating to hear of people who cheat or have cheated. The media makes it seem so common for people to cheat that it actually seems quite normal and many times expected that you’ll either cheat or be cheated on. I honestly don’t think our society is like this but the more these movies and TV shows try to spice up their storylines, the more they influence how we act. Take a look at all the soap operas, Desperate Housewives, the O.C., One Tree Hill, and practically every single TV show on the air! They make cheating and sex out to be normal, and accepted among our society. Although the issue of sexual promiscuity is obvious among the media, I was surprised when Lukas mentioned about college courses that assign textbooks which preach about how “sexual exploration is a key element of women’s liberation”. They talk about how the structure of our society enslaves women, the feminist movement, freeing women’s sexual behavior from traditional restraints, and so forth. The junk written in these books is quite scary if you think about it. The fact that so many books have been written about how repressed women are, the more we’ll see young girls thinking they’ve been in the dark and need to do what they’re told they’re entitled to feel and experience. Even girls who don’t particularly have an interest in sexual experimentations would most probably think ‘hey, it’s my right to do all this, and since everyone is doing it, why not???’. I was appalled when I read about Rebecca Walker, the girl that was named by Time magazine as one of the 50 future leaders of America. This girl wrote an essay called “Lusting for Freedom”. In it she talks about her sexual experimentations and how people should be more accepting of sex. I found this article and was outraged by the utter crap she’s trying to instill in our society. Is she kidding??? The stuff she talks about is disgusting and I’m angry she’s even attempting to ‘change people’s views on sex’. Is she actually trying to rid our society of any values we still have left? Just because she mistakenly or carelessly lost her virginity at age 11 as if it were a piece of clothing doesn’t mean she should be putting it in people’s heads that this behavior is ok. In her essay she tries to convince us that sex at age 11 is common, and not only should be accepted at such a young age, but encouraged. Encouraged????!!! HUHHH??? This girl must be on something. She suggests that parents should encourage their young daughters to experiment sexually so they ‘grow’. She talks down about marriage and seems to be striving to change our views and values we’ve all grown up with. After a while, you can’t help but laugh at all the insane things this girl talks about. She’s trying to strip our morals away and make us feel stupid for having grounded opinions on important issues. The very fact that Time magazine labeled her as one of the 50 future leaders of America makes me frightened. I sure hope not that people like her will be leading our country. With such twisted and sick views on life, I’d rather leave the country than live in a place where she’d be a ‘leader’. America has enough problems and you’d better believe views like these would completely push us off the deep end. This feminist movement seems to have gotten completely out of hand. I personally liked to think of myself as a feminist- although my definition seems to be different than what it’s come to today. I think of it as simply saying that anything a man can do, a woman can certainly do as well. President? Sure. CEO of a multibillion dollar company? You’d better believe it. The list goes on and on of all these things that men are used to doing but I know women can do just as well or perhaps even better. The fact that feminists are now preaching lesbianism and blatantly saying that we don’t need men for anything is a little too extreme in my book. What happened to values and tradition in our society? I have nothing against gay and bisexual couples- they can do what they please, and all is good. The one thing that I do have a problem with is the encouragement of such behavior for young teenagers. If you read any biography about a gay person coming out of the closet, it seems like one of the hardest things to do- Emotionally, mentally, and physically as well. It’s a major struggle, but some people actually have to deal with it. For some of these people to turn around and pressure/encourage young teenagers to experiment sexually would just be causing extra problems for themselves. If a teenager decides he is gay, then fine- he’ll deal with it and come out of the closet, where I’m sure he’ll have a lot of support from people who encourage a gay way of life. For those average teens, I ask why they would want to possibly put themselves in an extremely difficult situation. You might have some confused and lost teens thinking they are gay if they experiment and happen to enjoy themselves. It doesn’t mean that a person is gay if he gets turned on by this and it shouldn’t be confused in that way. It’s called hormones. That’s it. Many things can stimulate them and on the off chance that you think it might have been caused by someone of the same sex, it creates anxiety, depression, and confusion as to what steps to take next. Many people today think that the problem I mentioned above is the biggest problem with experimentation, and I for one am not willing to give up on the traditional values that do not view homosexuality as normal or healthy. With the acceptance of so many gay people today makes young adults think that being gay is basically normal and if they think they are gay, all these people are trying to protect them and it’s not such a bad thing. It’s quite obvious from all the studies done and honest reporting from many young sexually active girls that they’ve entered into a casual sex mode with many partners but at the end have either regretted it or hoped for a more stable, emotional relationship than the simple pleasure of it all. It’s common knowledge that men and women are different. Women get more attached, they think differently, and as much as anyone tries to dispute that, there’s biological proof which backs that up. It’s pointless for girls to try and have sex like men. It just doesn’t work that way. Women need more of a commitment, and strive for an emotional bond from the guy. She’s setting herself up for a heartbreak if she continues to convince herself otherwise. It’s not an independent thing to act like a man when it comes to sex. It’s playing right into the hands of the horny guys who dream of women throwing themselves on them without the commitment holding them down. The biological chemicals in our bodies that are released during sex have women yearning for that emotional commitment from the guy. There’s no way around it. These stuck-up women who think they know better are trying to change what can’t be done. By convincing women to have sex like a man temporarily fools them, but the anger, frustration, and regret eventually catches up with them. One thing that does make me wonder is the common reference to women as sluts and whores when they engage in casual sex, yet men are considered players or studs. It reminds me of that Christina Aguilera song with Li’l Kim, giving a shout-out to all the women out there who are called whores if they engage in the same sexual activity as men. I assume the reason for this is that people have always liked to view women as pure. If she engages in sex, then she’s used goods. If she does it a few more times, she’s considered to have been around the block, and probably full of diseases and things of that sort. I’m not sure why exactly women are looked at this way. Perhaps, and I realize this suggestion is quite out there, but maybe it comes from the fact that the majority of prostitutes are women and young girls who drop out of high school are commonly known to live on the streets and have sex for money. You rarely hear a case when a guy gets paid to have sex. Since there are girls who have sex on the streets, you’d probably think those are the ones carrying the diseases, are on drugs, and come from a messed up family. So I’m guessing that since this is more or less true, if someone thinks of a girl having sex, they would put two and two together and think she must be a whore to sell her body like that. When women are so ‘easy’, many believe it takes away the challenge. Guys respect girls more when they don’t engage in casual sex. It shows them the girls have values and respect themselves, knowing they deserve better. In the short-run, it may seem like a guy is interested in a girl when she puts out, but overall, he treats her with no respect, and she’s just an in-the-meantime girl until he finds someone he considers to be more as an equal. The present sexual pleasures never last and only cause a jungle of emotional vines that may ultimately lead the girl into depression. Depression then leads to insecurities, which then lead to women needing more approval from guys, and thus the ugly cycle repeats itself, where women try to please and feel good in the moment. It usually starts from girls thinking that everyone is doing it. Truth is, no one ever really knows what goes on behind closed doors. People you think are doing it could not be, and people you ‘know’ would never do it could have easily done it as well. High school guys as well as college guys usually exaggerate their sexual experiences among their friends to make them sound cooler or hotter than the rest of them. Girls could have said no to sex, but with the screwed up changes our society is going through now, many girls believe that even if they didn’t do it, they don’t want to sound pathetic as if they don’t have any experience. Just like it’s common for guys to brag about sexual experiences, it seems that now women are trying to follow in those footsteps. As a side point and thanks to a friend’s suggestion, the topic of oral sex is also an issue. If a girl is insistent on not having sex, a guy can easily convince her that oral sex is not really sex. There is a difference between the two, but on the issue of emotional attachments, both have the same effect. What this feminist movement has turned into is a huge circus! They degrade traditional values, standards, and morals that our forefathers built this country from. Their extremist views seem to have red flags waving all over. They are just screwing themselves over by trying to convince the world of how sexually liberating they are. You would think that feminists are trying to still prove their value and worth in society and show men how they are equal if not better. I believe this can be done though the workplace- from all these women now going to college and becoming professionals. To show how well we can do in the business world, in politics, and in medicine. This sincere view of how feminists should act does not include sexual experiments. What they don’t realize is how much they are devaluing our status in society. It seems that women have become our own worst enemy. I don’t think people like Rebecca Walker should be saying anything about this topic. She seems to have her own major issues and her attempts to screw up the morals in this country are outrageous. I hope no one actually takes her seriously. I think overall, young adults should be aware of this crazy feminist movement. They should recognize where it is coming from and to know not to believe everything one hears. Most things are exaggerated and far from the truth. Take American Pie for example. I remember one specific part towards the end where they mention that if a guy says he’s been with 3 girls, there’s the divide by 3 rule- meaning he’s only been with 1 person. For some reason it’s a common misconception, especially among guys, that if you have more sexual experience, it makes you look better. People have to try to keep in mind that many other people will lie about this stuff. You might think people are experimenting sexually, but they are not. You might be pressured into something you never really wanted to do. The best advice I can say is to really think for yourself. Watch out for people who stretch the truth to sway your judgment. Be confident in the values and morals you were raised with and only do what you feel comfortable doing. Rid yourself of the psychotic views of idiots like Rebecca Walker. She’s just a bitter girl who’s made a lot of mistakes and wants to pull everyone down with her. Don’t fall for it. I touched upon a few topics in the report from the Independent Women’s Forum by Carrie Lukas, but I highly recommend everyone read or skim it. The percentages of surveys taken on these topics will shock you, and it’s made me realize how wrong some people actually are. Please take a look at this full article. I’d love to hear your comments as well.

Second-hand, unwanted, cigarette smoke

First posted. "Friday, August 26, 2005"

As a short piece to take a little break from the 5 other things I’m in the middle of writing, I wanted to bring up something that happened to me today. I was by 34th street in Manhattan to return something after work, and since it was such a beautiful day out, decided to walk all the way to my apartment near 100th street. I was listening to my Ipod and leisurely walking up the streets when I took notice of something that got me quite upset. Every step I would take, I’d be inhaling cigarette smoke. I can’t even begin to explain how much second-hand smoke I must have gotten today while walking outside. Most people all around me seem to be smoking, and puffing away. No matter how much I try to dodge around the smoke, some other person is blowing smoke right at me. It’s as if you can’t even go outside to get fresh air anymore, because people are smoking everywhere. I understand that since smoking is banned from inside buildings, smokers are left no choice but to puff away right outside. But what about those of us who absolutely can’t stand the smell of cigarette smoke? Where are we to go if everyone around us is blowing smoke everywhere? I realized I was holding my breath for a little at least every 2 blocks. I am trying to be sympathetic towards the people who are addicted to nicotine and can’t seem to quit smoking, but what about everyone else? At this point, I’m still quite annoyed at this situation to even begin to think of possible ways to fix this problem. I wanted to bring up this topic to start a conversation among the incredibly smart intellectuals who comment on the blog to see what you might be able to suggest we do. I’m also curious to know if anyone else has thought of this as a problem before. I’m not sure how feasible it is to ban it from the streets too, because where could smokers go now? Even though the smoke is mixing with the air outside, the smoke is still so strong that even after one puff, the smell lasts for at least half of the rest of the block. So, any suggestions on what could be done to fix this or have some kind of compromise or something???

Palestinian Youth Education and the 'Seeds of Hatred'

first posted "Monday, August 15, 2005"

As chaos starts to erupt in the Middle East during this extremely controversial disengagement period, I engaged in a conversation with my highly intelligent roommate about the possible source of it all. She had strong views about the disengagement and we both agreed that Israel is flat out giving into terrorism. As America stands by the fact that terrorism will not be tolerated or rewarded, Israel’s disengagement plan seems to be allowing terrorist organizations to dictate how the country should be run. Without delving into the delicate issue of disengagement taking place, I’d like to focus on what I believe to be the most important issue of it all- the source of the problem, and thus the reason why I think terrorism will only rise in the future. What I am talking about is the highly over-looked but obvious problem of the Palestinian youth education. The amount of hate in this world is unfathomable. The most fundamental yet brilliant question is “Why do they hate us so much?” What did we do? How can we make them like us or at least leave us alone? I’ll live my life and you live yours, or I won’t bother you if you won’t bother me. Why can’t these people in our world just focus on their own lives instead of devoting theirs to disrupting others? It’s like an annoying fly who won’t quit bugging you unless it stings till it kills you. Last week I watched a DVD from the Israeli Embassy called “The Seeds of Hatred” in which it documents actual footage of life among Palestinian children and the values being instilled in their society. Pardon me for judging, but it’s incredible how upside-down their views are from America and most of the world. “Children are taught not to fear death, but welcome it”. Their lives seem to be focused not on how to better themselves but on how to ruin other people’s lives. From birth these children are taught to hate. There was a study done of 6-11 year olds which revealed that over 50% dream of becoming suicide bombers. Parents feel a sense of honor if their son or daughter blows themselves up in order to murder innocent people. They learn that they will be rewarded in the world to come. Their families get paid thousands of dollars from the PLO when their children successfully kill themselves and take other lives with them. Even murdering small children, they are given such praise for this ‘heroic action’. In ten years, it is common knowledge that there will be a full-on generation of hatred. It stems from the morals that these Palestinians teach their children. A little over a year ago, I saw an independent film called “Gaza Strip” where a man documented life among Palestinian children. He followed them throwing stones at Israeli soldiers every day after school. He watched as they traded Pog-like bottle caps of their favorite martyrs and how they would share their dreams of killing Jews too. This behavior is actually encouraged in their schools and among their families and friends. I saw a home-video from a Palestinian school where five and six year olds put on a play saying how great it is to kill, and how when they grow up, they want to make themselves into a living bomb. They get motivated and excited at the thought of killing people. Does that sound insane? How can this type of behavior be tolerated? I cannot even begin to understand how parents can encourage their children to commit suicide and take other lives with them. Seeds of hatred have been implanted into this generation. The things we see on television today are cleaned and polished versions of what the reality of the situation is. The gruesome footage is basically banned from American television and is only showed as motivation among these people. Another thing I saw recently was a clip from Palestinian television where a man was saying “Wherever you are, kill those Jews and those Americans”. After a successful suicide bomber kills Israelis, the indescribable footage of Palestinians cheering and gloating after watching crying and screaming family members is absolutely absurd. Seeing these Palestinian terrorist groups excitedly hear of the disengagement plan where Israelis are being forced out of their homes after generations of building up the land is unbearable. They know they are winning and claim “We’re going to continue to bomb them, even more now… Jerusalem is next!” It’s things like this that we Americans seem to be sheltered from. Why are we not more outraged by these things? Do we not see a problem with the mindset of these people? How can we live side-by-side with murderers who teach their children to kill us? As far as any plan to bring peace to the Middle-East, I don’t see how any of this is possible without pulling a 180 on their education system. It’s quite sad and disturbing that these children aren’t taught how to be children, but how to kill and murder innocent people. The type of things we see in the media are Palestinians “who present themselves to the world as victims”. They later laugh at how vulnerable and stupid Americans are to believe their crap. They admit to putting on a show for the world at how they’ve been burned over the years and how they suffer, yet these videos of what really goes on don’t enter into the American media circulation. Little by little these clips are leaking into our country but not into our media, who try to refrain from reporting on it because of mixed views and angry Jew-haters. The one thing that all these terrorist attacks boil down to is the simple most important issue of education. We need to teach our children to love and not hate- that a life should be taken more seriously and that no one has the right to steal someone else’s. Children should not be given machine guns to parade around with. Trust needs to be instilled in these kids and the ideology of knowing that I won’t kill you if you won’t kill me should be fostered in them at an early age. Perhaps the fact that these children aren’t really given a chance at a future makes them not care enough to want to be more. Maybe the fact that many of the parents have done illegal acts of violence and they now reside in jail, that these children don’t strive to do more with themselves. Even so, it all comes down to their education. If they are taught of the possibilities that one can do with their own lives, they can begin to reach a higher value system. The importance of education among Palestinian youth is the one thing that can even attempt to turn around the dangerous situation in Israel. Until then, I highly doubt any amount of land foolishly given away will solve anything- it only feeds into the hungry mouths of people who won’t stop until they get it all. What I believe can and should be done to reform their education system is to have an impartial international monitoring organization to regulate what type of material they are distributing to their children in these Palestinian schools. They can have 2 guards protecting them at first, and as time goes on, the job of teaching these children can be given back to the Palestinian teachers. In the meantime, Palestinian teachers should be required to complete training on what to teach these children. Maybe they can have them complete some courses in other neutral countries that are specifically geared towards reforming the education system. Our taxes in this country should not be given to the preaching of hatred. In dealing with possibly angry parents, incentives should be given to have them understand and support what their children are now being taught. They should see how their children are given more opportunities and how their society can grow to being more civilized, having roads, running water, food, and shelter. The textbooks can be regulated by the international community and now the world can support reforming the previously disastrous education that had been taught to these people. If you think this is a good idea, or you have any other ideas of your own about reforming the Palestinian youth education, please contact your congressman or senator discussing the gravity of this issue. As a side note, my roommate would like to add, and I happen to agree with her for the most part, that this conflict will not be solved by disengagement- it can only begin to change when the real seeds of terrorism in the Palestinian education system seize to exist. There also needs to be a process to deprogram the future generations of Palestinians into believing they can have a future of LIFE if they really believed in a two-state solution. There needs to be a stop to PM Abbas's rhetoric that the next stop is Jerusalem while adding that terrorism is not the answer IN ARABIC. Until these steps are taken, there will be no two-state solution and no peace.

"What's all this hype about China???"

First Posted "Wednesday, June 22, 2005"

China seems to be what all the newspapers, magazines, and news stations talk about lately. The globe has been captured by an extraordinary Chinese hype in such a short amount of time. It has become common knowledge that the world’s next economic superpower is none other than China. It seems that after thousands of years of continual tradition-like history, the world has now been revealed to China. There are endless possibilities, and the global leader status of the United States may very well shift to Asia. China has emerged as a major player in world trade. The world is starting to take notice of the rise of this new economic powerhouse. Given another decade, analysts believe that China will produce more manufactured goods than all of Europe put together. China’s flourishing economy is being fueled by the billions of dollars it receives each year in foreign investment. It seems that Americans have become infatuated with all the cheap goods produced by China’s factories. The mainland is being bombarded with all kinds of new production technology with wide varieties of telecom equipment, electronics, machinery and chemical manufacturers. The world can no longer try to ignore the sweet aura of low wages and production costs, as well as the growth and size of the domestic market in China. Real gross domestic product in the Middle Kingdom has averaged almost 10% over the past 20 years, largely surpassing other major economies in the same period. As far as export growth goes, China has become the fourth-largest exporting nation, trailing behind the United States, Germany, and Japan. In regards to imports bought from Australia, Japan, and many other Asian economies, China has now become the second-largest customer. This growth is being fueled by the rapid movement toward a market economy, which includes the privatization of thousands of state-owned businesses that were once central to the Communist Party rule. In the start of 2003, private and foreign investors were permitted to purchase majority stakes in big enterprises that the Chinese government had refused to sell in previous years. As a result of this, there have been extremely large amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China. It has been a tug-of-war with the United States for global leadership in the category of FDI. China’s currency, the Yuan, has also attracted much attention this year, with China’s extremely large purchases of dollars in the currency market. China is now only second to Japan as the largest holder of dollar reserves, thanks to their foreign-exchange reserve holdings. The whole world is keeping its eye on China, and markets have started treating China’s policy moves and economic data just as they would for any other global economic powerhouse. Looking at the aforementioned evidence, it appears to show China as an incredible new emerging marketplace. However, on a deeper level, things aren't always what they appear to be. Not many seem to be taking notice of China’s ecological wasteland that has been quickly developing. China has become home to some of the world’s dirtiest, murkiest cities with uncontrollable water shortages, acid rain, and soil erosion. Respiratory diseases and other major public health concerns are taking a serious beating during China’s power growth. These public health problems have been acknowledged by many Chinese officials, although they seem to agree that it’s a natural and necessary side effect to China’s economic growth and rapid industrialization. Almost 75% of China’s domestic-energy needs rely heavily on coal, which tends to be high in sulfur and extremely filthy. They are also a net importer of oil, and desperately need to attain a cleaner domestic energy source, like hydroelectric plants, and possibly nuclear power. Societal repercussion can be expected if China continues to push aside these environmental concerns and simply focus on their economic growth. It is not quite clear yet as to whether this environmental challenge is being given enough attention, although recently, China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) just suspended 30 major projects because environmental standards had not been met. Many believe that it’s also important that China pull back from its dependency on coal for energy. Like Japan and in The West, China should invest in cleaner coal-burning technologies. Because of many inefficient factories, primitive coal-mining techniques, and light building-construction codes, there is a large amount of energy waste. It has been noted by many economists that this brisk growth period China is going through may possibly last into the next decade. Because of this, the living standards of millions of modern Chinese families will rise. This would be great, although economists truly hope that more attention is paid to the environment throughout this path. If not, even though China would become quite wealthy, people would not want to live there. Even so, it seems that China has become the newest place for investment opportunities, posing as a major threat to the United States. Only time will tell how the latest series of events will unfold, as the world tends to be keeping both eyes on China’s next move.

Hurricane Katrina and how to help

First posted "Tuesday, September 06, 2005"

As they start to drain water from the flooded city of New Orleans, you cannot help but remember the crazy turn of events that unfolded last week. On a personal note, I have grown up all my life around what they call the ‘hurricane season’. As a born-and-raised South Florida girl, I’ve gotten used to bringing in all our outside furniture, drilling shutters around our windows, and stocking up on water and canned food, awaiting the big event. My siblings and I always got excited when a hurricane was about to hit- it always meant no school for us. The days that followed we would be wearing flip-flops to class, and never really having a serious school-day because we’d be splashing around in all the excess water. We’d watch people on the news with canoes in the streets, and it’d always be a time when all the neighbors would come out and look at all the branches and such that would block off our streets. During the infamous Hurricane Andrew of 92’, where the eye of the storm was aimed right for us, we were more than lucky that the hurricane turned at the last minute and hit somewhere nearby instead. The footage of the city of Homestead was heartbreaking, giving us a major wake-up call of how dangerous these storms actually are. When I first read about this latest hurricane two weeks ago, in which ironically, the eye hit my home city as well, I didn’t really think much of it. It was just another hurricane like they’ve always been, and that was that. My family lost power for a few days, but everything was fine, and life went on as usual the next day. After the storm made it’s way to New Orleans, I couldn’t believe the footage I saw on the news and the mind-boggling stories of fortunate and unfortunate people of that city. Even after reading about it, I still couldn’t believe all this. I thought, “What’s going on? It was just a hurricane, so why all the fuss, and why weren’t these people more prepared like we always are?” It really never occurred to me just how much damage these natural disasters can cause. In light of my personal experiences with hurricanes, evacuating an entire city sounded insane! My own thoughts of days off from school and sloshing around in flip flops, were totally incompatible with the images of the dead bodies floating around and the lives that were literally crushed by the hurricane. What will these people do? Where will they go? How can they find their families and how do they even attempt to pick up these shattered pieces of their now-broken lives? As each day goes by and I read about what path we’re trying to take to make this situation more bearable, I’m reminded of how foolish I was growing up to take these hurricanes so lightly. In middle school, I remember there was a Tropical Storm, Gordon, that hit the Miami area. Our first reaction was “yay, no school for 3 days!” Nothing could have prepared us for what happened when we came back. A guy in my school who was a few years older than I, went surfing with his cousin during the hurricane and drowned. His surfboard was attached to his foot by the cord so he wouldn’t lose the board in case he fell off- the board got caught under a huge boulder below, and he couldn’t free his foot in time. His cousin finally found him, gave him mouth-to-mouth, but it was too late. This guy was very well-known throughout our school- he had many cousins in each grade, and it seemed like the entire school was blown away by what happened. Now, there’s a hallway named after him, and a sports banquet dinner in honor of him each year. This was only a tropical storm, which wasn’t even strong enough to be categorized as a hurricane, yet it still managed to kill a teenager. I understand that people shouldn’t be surfing at a time like this, but that’s beside the point. These hurricanes have the power to do more damage than we give them credit for. Going back to the tragedy of New Orleans and the other places hit hard by this latest hurricane, all I can do is to urge everyone to give some time and money to the cause. It’s going to take people decades to rebuild what they’ve lost. (Many people from Homestead still haven’t been able to regain their lives from Andrew in 92’.) Please give to the Red Cross or any other hurricane relief effort you can find. It’s all going to the same place, and I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that every penny DOES make a difference. Please do all that you can to help these people and remember that it means so much to them to know that we all pull together and support them in their desperate time of need. Here are a few links of how to give money and volunteer. If anyone else has other links, please post them as well. http://www.networkforgood.org/OffsiteFrame/?SiteURL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.charitynavigator.org%2findex.cfm%2fbay%2fcontent.view%2fcatid%2f68%2fcpid%2f310.htm -17 different charity links * https://www.networkforgood.org/donate/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=53-0196605 -American National Red Cross http://www.networkforgood.org/OffsiteFrame/?SiteURL=http%3a%2f%2fhurricanehousing.org%2f -Hurricane Housing http://www.ujc.org/ -United Jewish Communities

Whats Wrong With God?

First Posted "Thursday, September 15, 2005"

Today, a judge in San Francisco decided that the pledge of allegiance was unconstitutional. I think this is a foul decision. Based on previous free speech decisions, a teacher can "dance naked on her desk", while "burning an American flag", and "reading Mein Kampf". But to mention G-d is a cardinal sin, is a serious problem for me. What will be the next step??..... the Declaration of Independence which mentions the creator?....do we have to change over our entire U.S. currency???....The presidents' speeches???....the non-denominational prayer which starts every session in Congress?...the inaugural presidential prayer??? I do not believe that the establishment clause, which is a clause that states Congress should make no law establishing a specific religion, overruled the free exercise clause, which provides for freedom of religion, or the free speech clause, which provides for the freedom of speech, to create a wall of separation between church and state.

BUSINESS AND STYROFOAM

First Posted "Wednesday, June 15, 2005"

What led me to write an article about Styrofoam was actually influenced by my speech class a few weeks ago. We were told to give a persuasive speech about a topic that we cared about or something that meant a lot to us. One of the first things that popped into my mind was Styrofoam- a product that I’ve prided myself with knowing so much about. For years I’d been aware of the growing use of Styrofoam and the effects that it has on our environment and our health. It might sound lame, but I became so excited to do my topic on Styrofoam and educate my class about this dangerous product.To begin with, Styrofoam is actually a trade name given by DOW Chemical Co. for a product called Polystyrene foam. Foamed polystyrene starts off as tiny beads, softened by heat, a blowing agent is used to expand the beads, and then it is shaped accordingly. Polystyrene emits Benzene and Styrene into the air and more importantly, into our food. Both are known human carcinogens. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) states that “eating or drinking foods containing high levels of Benzene can cause vomiting, irritation of the stomach, dizziness, sleepiness, convulsions, rapid heart rate, and death”. The International Agency for Research on cancer (IARC) conducted a number of tests on animals and styrene exposure, claiming that “animal studies show that ingestion of high levels of Styrene over several weeks can cause damage to the liver, kidneys, brain, and lungs. When Styrene was applied to the skin of rabbits, it caused irritation”. These effects come from a product that a majority of people use almost every single day. In 1986, Styrene was found in 100 percent of all samples of human fat tissue taken as part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Human Tissue Survey. “Researchers found that Styrofoam cups lose weight when in use, meaning that Styrene is oozing into the foods and drinks we consume. It then ends up stored in our fatty tissue, where it can build up to levels that can cause fatigue, nervousness, difficulty sleeping, blood abnormalities, weakness, headache, anxiety, and depression”. More chemicals come out of Styrofoam if it’s heated in a microwave. Why am I mentioning all these medical effects about Styrofoam? Because I’m sure most of you had no idea how bad this stuff actually is for you.Not only is Styrofoam terrible for our health, but it is also extremely hazardous to the environment. It is not biodegradable, and can leak toxins into the groundwater under our overstuffed landfills. The National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire Research identified 57 chemical byproducts released during the combustion of Polystyrene foam. “The process of making polystyrene pollutes the air and creates large amounts of liquid and solid waste”. A 1986 EPA report on solid waste named the Polystyrene manufacturing process as the 5th largest creator of hazardous waste. “By volume, the amount of space used up in landfills by foamed polystyrene is between 25 and 30 percent”- this is from the Polystyrene Fact Sheet created by the Foundation for Advancement in Science and Education in Los Angeles, California. Not all Styrofoam is added to our overflowing landfills. A good percentage is often dumped into the environment as litter, where it breaks up into smaller pieces. Animals, thinking that it’s food, choke or die of clogged digestive pathways. So, not only is Styrofoam extremely harmful to our health, but it’s also bad for the environment and animals as well. You might ask yourself why I’m mentioning all these dangers of Styrofoam, and what it has to do with business. Well, being on the meal plan at Stern, both dining halls in midtown offer no choice but to use this hazardous product. My point is that most businesses and universities purchase Styrofoam, regardless of what negative effects it has. The main reason why they do so is because it is cheap. It is known that the cost of manufacturing paper cups is actually 6 times more expensive than Styrofoam cups, making it a more financially attainable choice. Even so, I think it is wrong not to offer other alternatives. Each year, Americans throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam cups, and in 500 years from now, the Styrofoam cup would still be sitting in a landfill. From all the money that businesses have and that get donated to universities, you would think that they might want to do something environmentally safe and purchase a product that doesn’t emit chemicals into our food. With all the Styrofoam containers, plates, cups, and bowls at the Stern dining halls, you could imagine how much chemicals and waste we add every single day. One thing that I had noticed at one of the dining halls is that they offer paper cups with recycled insulating sleeves for coffee or tea. This is a great idea and I commend whoever placed the order for this instead of the three size variety of Styrofoam cups at the other dining hall. Students at California State University recently petitioned to remove all Styrofoam from campus and they made art exhibits with used Styrofoam depicting how Styrofoam harms the environment. These students also used their local media to spread their cause. Styrofoam was not banned from the university, but their efforts were a good start. Even though businesses and universities purchase Styrofoam on a regular basis because it saves them money, I can’t help but wonder why that’s their first priority. Especially in today’s society where it seems that more people are taking greater notice of the problems of the world, why not try to change such an obvious problem. Students pay enough money as it is for school, and you might think why is it so hard to ask for a safe product in our dining halls- not something that’s extremely harmful to the environment and our health.There is a proposal to the US Congress to eliminate Styrofoam as a food packaging material that I had recently found on the internet. The document is authorized to be copied only to be sent to the Congressmen and Senators in your State. The link is http://www.comfortncolor.com/HTML/Styrofoam.pdf. I urge everyone who understands the seriousness of this product to sign this petition. Speak up to the university, and make them aware of the harmful effects this causes and demand that they change. You should refuse to use Styrofoam and tell others not to use it as well, but if you don’t do anything, you are not only killing the environment, but you are killing the animals and yourselves as well.

A self-inflicted battle: what to do??

First posted "Tuesday, August 02, 2005"

I was having my usual morning coffee break with a few of the people that I work with and we happened to be watching “The View”. What they were talking about really disturbed me. They were discussing pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia websites and how there are hundreds that exist currently on the web. I’ve heard about this a while ago, but I never realized how serious it could actually be. This issue was actually brought up on Oprah recently as well. The mere thought of people encouraging this type of behavior is outrageous. For those of you who aren’t aware of these sites, they offer tips on how to starve yourself, or how to throw up food, how to lie to the people around you so they’ll never suspect anything, what types of clothes to wear so it’s not obvious to your friends and family, and other tricks to staying anorexic or bulimic.This reminds me of a chilling story where I was visiting a friend 2 years ago at her college in Boston. I was with her in the computer lab, when she started laughing at something and said “hey, look how funny this is”. She showed me this pro-anorexia website and thought it was hilarious. I, on the other hand, thought it was one of the saddest things I’ve seen in a while. There are girls who send in pictures of themselves every few months to update everyone on their status and how much weight they’ve lost. I remember looking at a girl who seriously looked like she was a shriveled old woman who belonged in a coffin if she closed her eyes. The captions under each photo were “this is me at 97 lbs!”, “this is me in a bathing suit at 91 lbs!”, “this is me at 86 lbs… 7 lbs more to go!!!”. She excitedly points to her flatter than flat stomach where bones are pressing through her paper-thin skin. There are hundreds of other girls’ pictures who have similar captions and poses.As my friend was searching through the site, I was wondering how she happened to find the website in the first place. A few months later, I believe I had my answer. This girl is overweight, but not to the point where she’s obese. She always complained about loosing weight, and for a while, said she was on weightwatchers. I came to visit her a few months later, where I noticed a complete transformation. She said she lost over 30 pounds on weightwatchers, and she looked great. She looked very healthy, but is it really possible to lose so much weight over a mere 2-3 months? Now she seems to be a little skinnier, but she still doesn’t look like a stick, so I’m not sure what it is exactly. I guess I can’t really say much because there’s no confirmation, but it reminded me of the website she was on and all I could do was hope she wasn’t on there.It makes me question the fact that anorexia is referred to as a disease. When I think of a ‘disease’, I think of something contagious that you unfortunately caught while doing something you possibly should not have been doing in the first place. I know it sounds fundamental, but I don’t understand how anorexia or bulimia is a disease. It’s hard to feel sorry or be sympathetic to people who have it because it’s self-inflicted, right? I wouldn’t expect people to feel bad for me if I threw up purposely all the time, because I was doing it to myself. I understand that after a while, it turns into something uncontrollable, and it’s hard to stop, but it’s something that started by girls thinking they aren’t good enough and while they should have been going to the gym, eating right, or seeking therapy, decided to starve themselves. I know it sounds a little harsh, but I don’t mean it to be. I’ve had a few close people in my life suffer from anorexia, more girls from bulimia, and one girl died last year from anorexia. The seriousness of the topic makes you want to look at the source and how it could be prevented from now on. I honestly want to know who these people are that keep these sites up and running. Shouldn’t something like this be banned? As simple as you’d think it would be to do that, it goes against all our fundamental laws that this country was based on. As much as sex education is taught in our schools, I think it’s also extremely important to educate young teenagers about eating disorders. Not just about what it is, but pictures and stories of girls who’ve suffered and died from the extreme pressures of being a teenager. Another thing that shocked me was the fact that some guys also suffer from anorexia. A friend of mine recently dated a guy who was anorexic. Hard to believe because you’d think guys were more into getting ripped than looking like a stick.So, as I regret not being able to finish watching the rest of “The View” that day, the topic really sparked some interest, and I was wondering what everyone else thought about these websites, and this ongoing issue among young adults, as well as celebrities nowadays. Any thoughts on how to prevent these sites or try to tackle this vastly growing trend?