February Response (1-1) -- Rick Santorum, Meet My Son

Article: Rick Santorum, Meet My Son
Author: Emily Rapp

Central Argument: Emily Rapp argues that abortions should be legalized based on information from prenatal tests and on the fact that women should have rights over their body and the pain they suffer through it.

                Abortion and prenatal tests, which are considered immoral and thus illegal in several countries, seize the rights that woman should have over their own bodies. Since this method is seen to be a way of taking the life of a child, it is frowned upon by society. Although it may seem as if it should be an obvious choice, it is still a large ethical issue that is being debated upon. Even though some have good reasons to argue why abortion can be a terrible act, it’s quite often leads to a much better life for the parents.

                In my opinion, woman should be allowed to make the decision for their unborn child. Emily Rapp, the writer of “Rick Santorum, Meet my son”, would agree on this situation. Rapp was born with a lot of problems, and as a child, growing up wasn’t easy for her. After her birth, the doctors had predicted that it was highly likely that Emily would turn out to be mentally incapable and probably her walking was out of the option. With advancements in technology, all these facts can be figured out before the birth and the child, and can be terminated through a less painful way – abortion. Yes, this does kill the child, but it also avoids all suffering for child and parents. Rapp explains her son’s situation – who is blind, paralyzed and almost non-responsive – and compared it to her own. Rapp went through a lot of suffering over a period of her life time, whereas this kid has only started his life and it all seems useless.

                Emily Rapp argues, or rather sends a message toward Rick Santorum, who, from my point of view, sounds like a politician of some sort. Rapp attempts to change his views by arguing otherwise. With her use of pathos, she conveys her opinion on why a woman should be giving rights to her own body. With a complicated issue as such, there isn’t much one can do to resolve it when morality is at hand.

                An ethical issue such as abortion comes with several factors that can contradict one’s opinion on this situation. We can never have a Utopian society where everyone is perfect and there’s no reason for problems as such as health related. For example, as Louis Lowry explain in his book, “The Giver”, a perfect society cannot exist due to all the contradicting ideas. The book describes how everyone is perfect, ideally at least. To maintain this perfect society, people are tested genetically before they have children to avoid defects completely. Children are tested before birth and aren’t allowed to live if similar defects are found in them. That, however, may not be possible in a world today, but there is still hope. This small step can lead to a future where parents like Emily Rapp may not have to suffer and live a hopeless life.

                When it comes to an issue as such as abortion, changes cannot simply be made. Emily Rapp chooses to argue about the fact that if she had the choice, she wouldn’t have allowed the birth of her child, to a pain-free life for both, Ronan and herself. This topic later leads to morality based questions and soon to deciding whether this change will be drastic or not. Legalization of abortion, as Emily Rapp would argue, would create a radical change; a positive one. 

This is definitely got to be my favorite song of all time, it's so cute..
Would recommend everyone to listen to it :)

Also, my blog is set to play this song as soon as you get on it.
The song that is playing at the moment (or should be, rather, unless WS internet permits it from doing so) is the same song that the video is.
Click pause on the bar on the bottom if you'd preferably listen to video (they're both the same)

Rockets are cool -- January week 4 (C.E)

241. If you knew you wouldn't fail, what would you do?

                I wondered about my response. What if I intentionally wanted to fail? What if I actually attempted to fail at something rather than pass? Would I fail to accomplish the task, or would I fail in completing accomplishing my goal? Inception, Well not exactly, but I’d like to believe so. Let me elaborate in case you didn’t get it. So my goal here is to fail at a particular task. But if the prompt says that I won’t fail, does that mean I won’t fail at the task itself or the goal, in this case, is to fail the task? I’m in a bit of confusion here, should I blame the prompt for being unclear about what they’re looking for, or am I just mistakenly changing things up.

                Assuming the prompt is talking about a task that one wouldn’t be able to fail, I’d choose to complete my life goal to join the aerospace field. Aerospace engineering has been my interest since a young age, and I continue to stick with it. It’s not an easy task but if I knew I wouldn’t fail, I’d definitely go for this. With a lot of obstacles on the way, failure is highly likely an option. Interestingly enough, Aerospace engineering has been a popular profession, allowing for selective job offers. None the less, my interest in this profession remains as it is. One reason that I thought about this was because my friend –his name is Ruan, but that’s not very important here- and I spent most of this winter break creating and launching model rockets. This not only reminded me of my childhood dreams, but also of what I know I want to do in the future. This is why failure isn’t an option for me in this situation. 

Procrastination is the definition of my life -- January week 2 (C.E)

Just a quick note, do not comment about the title, i wasn't being literal about it.

232. Ten things you do when you procrastinate.

Rather than simply stating the things I would do, I also chose to add the times I would procrastinate. For example, I’m only on my second sentence, but I’ve left the computer thrice (who even uses that word these days?) till now. Once to drink water, once to get some food (by food I mean absolutely unhealthy junk food since I’m on break), and once just got up and decided to visit my little pet dog. I just felt that she really needed attention at this very moment. Starting from 10, as you’ve already noticed, I tend to take short breaks and find little reasons like: “I need water”, or “I’m hungry.”  9: Interestingly enough, I only found out about this recently. I attempted to do a blog post last week, and then my mom came to my room and asked me if I wanted to accompany her as she went to the supermarket to get some groceries. Normally, I find this a waste of time and refuse to go, but this time I said yes. Unknowingly, my mind was procrastinating when it came to write up another blog post. Next on the list would be watching a movie, or even better, a TV show. I like to convince myself that “House M.D” is educational and one day I can become a doctor just by watching it. This helps me forget about homework, for a while at least. Moving on to 7: “Homework time? Oh why not listen to music while working on homework. Hmm I really like this song, why not look for other good ones on youtube. Woah, that’s a good song by them, I should download it. Why not download the entire album?” That’s basically what I do if I start listening to music and have high speed internet mocking me on the side. Quite often when I sit down and choose to commence on work, I realize that I haven’t showered in two whole hours. Of course this can’t wait any longer. 4,3 and 2 are almost similar. I spend a lot of time on 9gag, a pretty funny website. Unlike facebook, 9gag is endless and you can be on there forever. Facebook, on the other hand, I go on facebook whilst doing homework simply to check for “notifications.” No need to say, I end up doing more than just checking the notifications. Another thing I do often is skype with friends from Woodstock. Yes, I spoke to them for an hour yesterday, but it is absolutely necessary that I do the same today, homework can wait. Last, and definitely what I do the most, games. With a laptop and an xbox, and no allotted gaming hours, I spend most of my day playing games, whether it’s online or just by myself. According to me, this list is a perfect explanation of what my days are like over break.

Attacks in Nigeria -- January Week 3 (N.A)

More Than 100 Killed by a Radical Group in Nigeria

By MUSIKILU MOJEED

Published: January 21, 2012

Accessed: January 22, 2012

                An Islamist group went on a firing spree and killed more than 100 people in Abuja, Nigeria. Eight government buildings were attacked on this Friday evening. Ironically, all of these buildings were security building, such as police stations or police headquarters.  These attacks were a way of setting an example to the government to tell them to stay out of their way. These attacks were said to be led by a sect who goes by the name, “Boko Haram.” He used violent means to impose his version of Islamic law in Nigeria and countries around it. The Nigerian government doesn’t seem to be taking much responsibility to abrupt Boko Haram’s acts, which has been going on for well enough over a year now. The government didn’t take any actions even after Boko Haram warned the newspaper agencies that he would invade the major cities and continue what he and his men have been doing.

                Indirectly, this reminded me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. In the novel, Kesey explains how the combine controls every action taken by the patients. Boko Haram and his men are trying to control the city and the government has no control over them due to Boko Haram’s influence. The patients, in this case are the Nigerians being attacked, are being affected so that the radical islamists can get through the government and get what they want. This general involves the Nigerians suffering rather than the government directly. As long as Boko Haram’s islamist group has control, similar to the asylum in Kesey’s novel, there won’t be peace in Abuja.

1.  1.       A. In Kano, where state authorities declared a 24-hour curfew, shellshocked residents stayed in their homes.

          B. Shellshock: behavior or conditions resulting from battle/war-stress. The word shellshock, when split into two words, simply means an upsetting event (shock) which is occurred due to war (shells are another word used for explosive material)

          C. The school had trouble sending the students back home since they were shellshocked after the recent attacks nearby. (Really couldn’t see a better way to relate that word to Woodstock.) 

    2.   A.  “Unless somebody goes in to negotiate,” he said, “we are in for a long siege.”

          B. Siege: An operation where a group takes full control of a certain location and blocks off supplies in an attempt to get their opponents to surrender.

          C. During an intense game of Capture of flag, our team were able to successfully siege the enemy defenses and taking control of the flag.

     3.   A.  Kano is a major political and religious center in the predominantly Muslim north.

           B. Predominantly: for the most part. Originates from the word dominate, which means to have influence or power over another body.

           C. Predominantly, students at Woodstock do not have a say in issues or matters. In the end it is up to the school to make the decisions.

Inflatable toast is the best -- January week 2 (C.E)

190. How does advertising influence people's behavior? Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer.

                Advertisement is just another method brought up by the media to manipulate people. It has also turned out to be a successful way for companies to sell their products. After all, how can companies sell products that are completely unnecessary and unneeded by people? In other words, I feel this shows how people can be easily manipulated or influenced by the power of marketing. Ads campaigns are designed to be perfect, to reach the people, to get them to notice the product, and in the end convince them that they absolutely need it. In my opinion, this would be a perfect example and would help express my thoughts:

A $6.50 slice of toast made of vinyl, perfect replica of a $1 toast.

              I do not understand the point of such products. In current day situations, everyone is out to make a living with whatever they’ve got, but I don’t understand how people reach a point where this is something they ‘need’ to have. As a child, I would often want things that I wouldn’t use, but that was before I came to the point of realization that products such as these are absolutely useless. I understand buying products that may make your life easier as such, but what is the point of this “inflatable slice of toast?” The influence of advertisement is too high. They buy spots on the radio, magazines, newspapers, webpages, t.v., and many more that can be accounted for. These strong influenced commercials usually portray the unhealthy products as the cool, every teenager must-have product. The idea of marketing is supposed to be to inform people about products, not manipulate and convince them that they want this product. As an influence such as advertisements aren’t easy to avoid, people ending up falling for them easily.

-This title is censored- January Week 1 (C.E)

180: If you could ban anything in the world, what would it be and why?

If I had the choice to ban anything I wanted, I would definitely choose to ban the two bills announced less than a week ago in the United States. Yes, I would choose to ban a proposed law, no matter how ironic that may sound. The idea with these bills is to censor a lot of websites on the internet. As their names, “Stop online piracy act” and the “Protect IP Act” give a basic sense of their goal, it is still a huge step to take. Even though I believe it isn’t possible that such a bill will be passed, I’m still afraid of the low possibility. If this bill were to get passed, several websites that were accused for piracy can instantly shut down. A couple unimportant sites like Megaupload went down yesterday. This shows that the government is trying hard and has a chance of succeeding when it comes to this matter. If this goes on, it won’t be long until sites such as Wikipedia or facebook shut down. As a teacher (if that’s who you are), you may say that it’s for the better of the students. If Sopa were to be passed as a law, it’s not just these sites that will shut down. In a way, I don’t blame the government, after all it’s just another way the media is trying to fight piracy. But the fact that they’re trying to shut down social networking or informational websites bothers me. As we have discussed this in class before as well, I still believe there is no way to stop piracy. I admit it is a crime, but in an attempt to stop it, the government’s going to mess up the entire internet.