Putting the Pieces Together

I See: I see four puzzle pieces with the words Analyze, Reason, Investigate, and Review. I also see that each piece is a different color.

I Think: These pieces could represent the progress of Obama and his cabinet coming together and maybe adding another piece to the puzzle by choosing Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. Also, our class clearly relates to this image because all 4 of the pieces of this puzzle are steps that one would take when thinking critically.

I Wonder: I wonder if the different colors of these pieces could represent different races in our government?

This was my Final exam for my american studies class. I was limited to 100 words in this assignment so I could not add a few key points that I wanted to make. For the I wonder portion, I want to say that the different races include people like Obama and Sotomayor who both represent minorities. I also would of liked to add in specific times in class when we thought critically. For example, we thought critically about the media many times, we looked at African American Tokenism in television. I really enjoyed this discussion because it was something that has always been right there but I never noticed it. this is just one of many topics that we discussed in American Studies, a class that I really enjoyed being a part of.

American Flag

This is a picture that I took of an American flag. I used this particular flag because I thought the way it is hung is very interesting. It is hanging from a window on its side and it is covered partially by a plant. I think that it is hanging from the window for easy access, if the family wants to take it up then they can. It is possible that the flag is hanging on its side so it is able to flow in the wind. If the flag was hanging in its normal position then the wind would not have as big of an effect on it. The family may want it to seem like a flag on a flag pole, one that blows in the wind. A flag on a flag pole is the ideal position for a flag according to some people. And because of the lack of a pole, I think that this is the best they could do. There is a plant partially covering the flag on the left side. This plant is not thick, so one can easily see through in order to view the flag. i think that this was done purposefully by this family because they may not want the flag to be the center of attention when someone looks at their house. The people that live here may have strong patriotic feelings and they love their country, but they do not need to shout it to the world. They are perfectly fine with being patriotic, but quiet as well.

Creating My Thesis/Map

My topic is Why did the NCAA change the age of a "recruitable prospect" from a ninth grader to a seventh grader? And the answer to this question is not clear to everyone. Each individual has a different opinion on the situation. The NCAA says that they are changing this rule in order to protect the young seventh and eighth grade prospects. But, after thoroughly researching the issue I decided that I think the NCAA changed this rule for the very selfish reason of making money. My problem is that I do not know how to turn this answer into a full Thesis/Map. I think that this answer is sufficient enough for just a thesis, but the map is the tricky part. How can I split this up into three body paragraphs? Do I need to find two other reasons for the NCAA's decisionto change this rule? Or is there another way for me to just focus on the money?

Research Overflow

Over the past week and a half of American Studies class I have been collecting sources in the form of books, articles, and websites. At first glance I thought that I had enough research to write ten junior theme papers on my subject. But once I read the sources that I gathered thoroughly I realized that each piece of research was very similar to the next and very repetitive. For example, I found the same quote in 5 different sources. All of these sources basically said the same things. So I went back and searched for more, but it was harder than I thought. Most of the sources I have been finding have been purely factual, but I am looking for something with an opposing viewpoint to the NCAA. I need some articles that have some biases and that express differing opinions. After searching for a few days I found only a few articles that I feel will really help me write my paper. I am wondering where else can I find articles to support some of the ideas that I have heard about briefly? For example,one of these articles said that the NCAA changed the rules just to make more money. I really like this point of view and want to learn more about it, I just dont know where to look.

Topic Troubles

Now that we are in the middle of Junior Theme, I have noticed some major problems with my topic. My topic was initially, Why do professional athletes make so much money. But, that was much too broad for a 4-6 page paper, and I understand that. Then, I thought about the topic, Why do Americans idolize professional athletes? But, again that was still too broad. Then after having a few conversations with Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Bolos I decided to choose the topic of, Why are college basketball teams recruiting players as young as students in middle school? Initially, I thought that I had finally found a topic that was concise enough for me to write a 4-6 page paper on it and Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor approved. But, throughout my research I have discovered that my initial thought may have been misleading. Through my research I have found that the answer to this topic is that schools have recruiting these young kids to get a leg up on the competition. They are doing this simply to get to the prospect before their competitors do. After finding this information I thought to myself, How could I write 4-6 pages on a question when the answer is one sentence long? Therefore I attempted to think of ways to expand my topic, but, I am having a lot of trouble.

American Insurance Group (AIG) has been bailed out twice by the government in order to keep the economy alive. After AIG received their first bailout they threw a boat party for all of the employees to celebrate their "accomplishment". After the second bail out AIG decided to reward their executives with large bonuses. This action made the country furious because the company received 170 billion dollars from the United States tax payers. AIG claims that these bonuses were necessary to attract top talent to run the company and make the business batter. It turns out that eleven out of seventy-three AIG employees who received one million dollars or more in bonuses no longer are employed at AIG. Congress wants to tax the recipients of theses bonuses in order to regain the money and send where it is needed. Although many believe that it is none of the government's business what AIG decides to do with the money, I agree with those who criticize AIG for their terrible decision making. The government is clearly involved in the situation because the money comes from them. I believe that this money should be retrieved by the government and then sent to wherever it is needed.

March filled with Madness

When March First comes around everyone begins to talk about the NCAA tournament. The tournament consists of a field of the 65 best teams in college basketball. Some of these teams are automatically given a bid by winning their confrence tournaments, and others are voted in by a comitee full of experts on College basketball. The questions asked are who will make it and of the select teams that do make it who will be crowned as the champion? This year these questions are especially confusing because the confrence tournaments this season have been full of upsets and the teams that many though were the best may not turn out to be. For instance, In the Big East quarter finals both projected number one seeds Conneticut and Pittsburg lost to teams that were questionable to even make the NCAA tournament. Conneticut lost Syracuse in a thrilling six over time game and Pittsburg lost to West Virginia in another thriller. Also a third projected number one seed in North Caralina lost in the Semi-Final game of the Atlanic Coast Confrence (ACC) tournament to a team also on the bubble of the tournament in Florida State. With all of these top ranked teams losing in their confrence tournaments it makes it very confusing for experts to predict a champion.

Madoff Pleads Guilty

This morning the infamous Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to all eleven felony counts. He took over 68 billion dollars from over 45 hundred people from across America. This posses several interesting questions. Because he is pleading guilty to eleven felony counts, many ask why is he being permitted to return home for two months before he is sentenced to a lifetime in jail? Also, several of his investors had sent memos to The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the huge returns on people's money that he claimed to have made. Many wonder why he was never investigated? According the National Public Radio (NPR) one of the main reasons that SEC did not investigate Madoff was because they didn't want large funds companies to not talk to them. NPR believes that this is completely ridiculous because the SEC has one responsibility and they are not fulfilling it. Although Madoff spent a large portion of the money on his multiple homes and luxuries, that cannot begin to account for 68 bullion dollars. And the question that many are asking is where did all of this money go and how are the investors going to be reimbursed? A large portion of these investors have lost almost all of their retirement savings. Please leave your comments if you have an answer or opinion to any of these questions.

TAXING QUESTIONS

Despite Tom Daschle's unquestionable qualifications to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, I think it was the right choice for him to withdraw his name from consideration because of income tax mistakes he made. Public servants need to live up to the highest standards of ethical conduct in order for them to be effective in their office. Given the challenges our country is facing it is best for our government officials to be able to focus on accomplishing their goals without unnecessary distractions. We must all live with the consequences of our choices and Senator Daschle is not different. I do believe that each case should be handled on an individual basis and the facts and circumstances should dictate the result. Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner also had some tax issues and was confirmed. Honest mistakes should be given more leeway and people can be given a second chance. I believe that Secretary Geithner's tax mistakes are more forgivable given that many people in his situation made the same mistake. While Secretary Geithner's tax mistakes undermine his credibility somewhat, I also believe in giving people second chances. Senator Daschle's mistakes are harder for me to forgive because I think he may have knowingly cut corners thinking no one would find out and if they did he could claim they were mistakes. I don't have any real evidence of this but based on my reading of the events I have lost some confidence in him. There are others who will be able to do the job and it is best that the country move forward from here.

-Steve Malkin-(Danny's Dad)

Reunion

I have seen many television shows throughout my 16 years of life, but none better than Seinfeld. Seinfeld is a sitcom about four people and their daily lives. It is one of the most popular shows in television history. I have many Seinfeld fans talk about a reunion of the cast and maybe to do one more episode. Although this would very interesting to see as a fan of the show, I would highly advise against it if I were the a member of the cast. I think that having one last episode would ruin the entire series. There is now way that the cast could come back and recapture the magic from the past. Especially because of the incident with the actor that played Kramer had a few years back. I believe he was being heckled and then he made some racist remarks towards the heckler. I think that bringing back the cast and crew from Seinfeld would be just as disastrous as when Micheal Jordan came out of retirement and decided to play for the Wizards. All of the Seinfeld episodes were so great during the 1990's and if they do one last episode, people will be expecting even better, and I just don't think that is possible.

The Pressure

Final Exams are a very big part of a students overall semester grade. This causes many students to have allot of stress and may feel a great deal of pressure to do well during this last week of the semester. As a junior at New Trier High School, I have taken a total of four semesters worth of Final Exams. And what I have noticed is that I have rarely had a final that changed my grade in a dramatic way. More often than not the grade I receive on my final Exam is roughly the same as my overall grade in the class. I think that doing al of your homework during the school year and studying for all of the tests and quizzes throughout the year is the best way to prepare for a final exam. Sure if a student studies hard during the week before finals it will improve his or her score, but no matter how hard and how long a student studies for i that week it will never make up for 4 months of slacking off. Students are feeling the pressure to do well in finals and I think that if you have been doing your best throughout the semester then you should have nothing to worry about.

What is the Problem??

Chicago Teams this season have let down the city with losses in a disgusting fashion. Each team has their own way to lose. The Chicago Bears had a great chance to make it to the playoffs this season and they blew it. They needed alot of help in order to make it during the last week of the season. Both of the teams that needed to lose did and the Bears found themselves in a situation where if they won their last game then they would bew in the playoffs. Unfourtunatly they lost to a very subpar team in the Houston Texans and let down the city once again. Also, the Chicago Bulls had very high hopes before the season began after getting the number one overall pick in the NBA draft. Now, it does not even look like they are going to make the playoffs and have another dissappointing season. The Bulls have lost their last three games and are now looking at a very lousy 14-20 record. This is a huge problem for the city of Chicago and noone can seem to figure out how to fix this situation. Is it the coaching? Is it the players? Is it the management? All sorts of things have gone wrong for the Chicago sporting teams and please leave your comment if you think you know the answer.

Change is Occuring

In American Studies class today we were discussing TV Tokenism. Many believe that minorities, specifically African Americans, are not getting a fair shot at television and movie roles. These people feel that changes need to be made in order to solve this issue. But I feel that this change has already begun. The population in the United states consists of around 75% White Americans and approximately 12% African Americans. Looking at these statistics one should infer that the number of African American actors and actresses would be much less than Caucasian's. Studios are still criticized for having African Americans in supporting roles as opposed to the main characters. I do not agree with this criticizm because the studios are certainly making an effort to have African Americans in main roles. Just a few of many African American movie stars include names such as Will Smith, Hallie Berry, Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington, Queen Latifah, and Chris Rock. Also, in the very popular television show Gray's Anatomy, two of the main characters are African American and another is Asian American. Although this is not the ideal situation for many minorities and this is still a major problem that needs to be addressed, our society is in the middle of a change and hopefully in the near future this problem will be solved.

A Government in Need of a Leader

The United States of America is in a very difficult situation and the government has many places that need their attention and support.  At this time Barrack Obama is the president elect and he is waiting for his time to step into office.  Because of the delicate spot that America is in there needs to be a president to the nation and make the decisions necessary to get our country back on track. Unfortunately our current President George W. Bush does not feel that he should play as much of an active role in the government now that Obama has been elected. At the same time Obama does not believe that he should take any action until he is officially named the president. During these two and a half months between Obama's election and him being placed in office we really have no leader of our nation. This is a huge problem because we are in a crisis and a president to lead the United States out of this jam is a necessity. I believe that the layoff period between the presidential elections and when the president elect is placed into office should be shortened by at least one month. This would hopefully contribute to solving the controversy of who should act as president an make the decisions to run the nation.