Michael Jackson dies at 50 June 26, 2009

 

So im sitting on my bed listening to the radio and watching TV ( good multitasking right?) and i hear the awful news about Michael Jackson. I look up from my radio and my TV happened to be on a news channel and i saw it…Micheal Jackson dead at 50. When i saw it i literally got goosebumps. It was so eary to think that someone so young, inspiring and iconic could die so suddenly. The confusing part about hearing his death was that i heard that he had passed but other news channels kept saying he was hospitalized. I felt in my heart that he was dead because news channels are very weary about making such a strong statement…you cant later say…oops sorry we meant to say he’s hospitalized not dead. So when i heard it the first time i knew it was true. I felt really bad because although i didn’t grow up listening to his music, i still know his music. My parents and grandparents and siblings grew up listening to Jackson. I know almost all his songs and remember when i was about 7 years old watching his music video ( my favorite was thriller and Billie jean…and maybe some others i forgot the names) I would watch it and then try to learn the dance moves. I also remember watching his videos and just being amazed at the “movie like” quality to his music videos. It was never just him dancing and singing every video had some type of story being told. Even today with stars like ne-yo and Chris brown, usher, Justin timberlake, you can see Michael Jackson’s influences on the way they perform. Micheal Jackson will definitely be remembered in the highest regard. Despite him being a  controversial person,  i do believe Michael Jackson was a good man who influenced the music world and the world in itself and he is in a better place now.

R.I.P.   Micheal Jackson

What do to when you dont get accepted into college June 25, 2009

 

 

The college admissions process is long, tedious and time consuming , but what happens when you you spend all that time filling out papers and writing essays and then you finally get that letter. The dreaded letter…you see it in the mail and you just dont want to open it because it doesnt look like the welcome package could fit into that tiny envelope..the tiny envelope that can be nothing more then a rejection letter. Almost everyone receives a rejection letter but what happens to those people who get rejected from all of the schools they applied to? They get left in the dark feeling hopeless and alone…but there is no reason to feel that way if you take action!

The first thing you can do is you can call the schools and ask why you didn’t get in. they have people in the admissions office ready to take out your file and explain to you why you didn’t make it in, it could have been your essay wasn’t as strong as they would like, maybe your grades/GPA/sat scores werent up to their standards. Colleges have the responsibility to tell you why you wasn’t admitted into their school. Don’t assume that the rejection letter is final. If you really want to go to a school, ask them if there is a chance for your application to be re-reviewed for admittance into the second semester…you may have a chance. Especially since there is such a high volume of applications coming in for the fall semester…you might get in for the spring.  Since you may not be attending school until the spring semester, you can upgrade your application, though you may not have any more grades to enter, you can work on your essay ( because honestly why would you want to use the same essay again???) you can do some volunteer work ( community service always looks good on a college application) you can also take your SAT’s again. With lots of time on your hands…there are alot of things you can do to help you get into college for the spring semester. Remember, its not a rule that you have to start college in fall…nor is it a rule that you have to go to college at all. But it is up to you, you control your future. Just because you didn’t get in the first time doesn’t mean that you wont get in the second time. Just remember use your time wisely and get stuff done because it is very easy to get distracted about deadlines ( its not like when you were in high school, you had friends talking about college/ teachers/guidance counselors talking about it..remember that you need to get things done and meet deadlines without people reminding you) 

Lastly remember that college isnt mandatory, thats why they have you pay for it! It isnt nessary that attend a university but it does help with your career in the future, so get on it and start applying!  

College Acceptance Letters March 22, 2009

         

So its the end of March going on April and colleges have either sent out applications or will be sending them out soon. Every senior finds themselves running to their mailbox every afternoon to see if one of their colleges has finally accepted them, but what do you do when you are accepted? Most people will have 2 or more acceptances the hard part is now deciding which one will be the school of your choice. I think it comes down to 2 major things, cost and distance. Cost is the most important factor right now especially since we are in a recession. Keep in mind that tuition can be pricey. If you are a commuter, then your tuition will probaly be alot less then a dormer. A commuter may only have to worry about travel fees and books. A dormer on the other hand will have alot more expenses like food, books, optional travel expenses. Also keep in mind if you are dorming its just like a second home.  When your home, occasionally on a saturday or friday night you may want to chill with your friends so keep in mind that there are other expenses as well, shopping sprees, movie tickets etc. It could all add up and eventually cause you to go broke. Distance is another key issue when picking your school. Some people choose to pick colleges right down the block from where they live, others want to be hours away. When you live closer to home, you dont have to worry about dorming expenses, you just live with mom and dad, they pay the rent and its almost like highschool accept now you have a little more freedom. You may be able to keep in close contact with your friends from highschool ( assuming they didnt go 3 hrs away for college) and you can make new friends that you know may live right in your area. Long distance colleges are good too, you just sacrifice being with your family and old highschool friends , but you gain indepence. But keep in mind that you truly wont be able to visit home until the holiday or a school break…unless your willing to pay alot of money for a weekend visit home. But no matter college you choose the goal is to receive the best education you can, and still manage to have some fun

The Real World Brooklyn: Breakin Tables! February 28, 2009

So on the last episode of the real world brooklyn, things started heating up when the male room mates start to get fed up with how the female room mates arent cleaning up after themselves. Like Devyn, who conveniently leaves her hair in the sink…or shall i say sinks. Or Katelyn who leaves dirty dishes in the sink, and walks around in her underwear in her post op body ( if your wondering…yea she use to be a guy)…i honestly think thats the only reason the guys complain…because if any other girl in the house was walking around in their undies…i bet no one would care but back to what i was saying. So JD, the gay guy feels the need to make a chore list for everyone in the house, Baya doesnt seem to really care but Katelyn and Sara are automatically against it because they feel JD is once again trying to be his naturally controlling self.  To make it short, JD suggest to the girls that all of the roomates have a roomie meeting so that everyone can get what they need to say of f their chest( or basically so the guys can get what they need to say off their chests), the girls refuse because they know that all the guys are gonna do is bash them and not even allow them to get a word in edge wise ( which ended up happening) Later that night when the roomie meeting was suppose to happen, somehow the guys bait sara in on the conversation. Sara has the potential to be a very strong woman but she comes off as very sensitive and passive aggresive…thats probaly why they chose her to talk to first. So the guys start ranting about how the girls dont do this, the girls dont do that…and basically sara’s jus defending herself and the girls. Being that Sara is very passive aggresive…she doesnt argue she doesnt raise her voice and that probaly drove JD off the hook because he’s not getting any reaction out of her, so he starts shouting and yelling and cursing then he takes some random object and just breaks the table! I thought that was his shining moment, because from that point on you got to see the TRUE JD, no longer mister nice guy( well i actually never thought he was nice), you saw his true personality. So sara jus sits there, almost like wow i cant believe that just happen, but oh boy, it doesnt end there! In his moment of anger he runs into the phone room where devyn is on the phone and politely says Devyn where having a family meeting can you please join us, Devyn just says no i am on the phone. JD yanks the phone ( cord and all) from devyns hands  and throws it out the window….seriously….just tosses it out the window. This crazy scene that JD just made wakes everyone in the house up causing them all to meet in the living room…which eventually leads to the roomie meeting they was suppose to have in the first place. Wow, all i have to say is JD needs some meds….he is crazy!

Time to Vote!!! November 1, 2008

We are literally down to the wire and it is almost time to vote. Though we had our ups and our downs with bush (  mostly downs) its time for a new leader. With a war going on in the middle east and a economy that has seen better days, we really need someone who is worth the vote. So please people take time out of your schedule and vote! I wish i could have voted in this election, but seeing that I’m 17, guess i will just have to wait  till next time. I doubt that this election will be the most historical, i believe this election is a new chapter for America and who knows maybe we might see an Asian or an Hispanic candidate run for president in the major parties?! who knows all i know its time for a change in America. Seriously enough is enough the republicans have had there chances and obviously there chance is over in the white house. Sorry McCain better luck next time because i truly believe that Barack is going to win this election. Oh and also people, PLEASE VOTE IRREGARDLESS OF WHAT THE POLLS SAY. Just because the polls show that barack is ahead in the race, doesn’t mean that he will win. Especially if no one actually follows through with the poll results. Also another thing is please please please vote even if it shows that barack is in the lead from the exit polls. Alot of people will come home from work and say ” oh wow, _____ is in the lead! there’s no need for me to vote, he already got his votes”. No, no no! that is all wrong. Make sure you get your votes in no matter what the exit polls say. Voting is something that people fought and protested for and something that should be looked at as a privilege and not burden so please get out there and vote, especially the younger voters!!!

Oh yea last but not least

 GO BARACK!!!!

 

Curly hair VS Straight hair August 12, 2008

                         VS

Okay so i was watching Good morning America on August 12th 2008, it was on about 8:20 something in the morning and it was a story about straight-ism vs curly-ism….curly and straight hair discrimination….is the best way i can explain it. Basically they took a picture of a woman with straight hair and a second pic of her with curly hair. Show it to a group of men, and asked them to grade her on a level from 1-10 ,10 being that they really wanted to date her and 1 being the complete opposite. Well i was immediately drawn to this story until i saw how limited they went with it. First of all they had a group of all white men. She was a white women. And every culture has there idea of what beauty is, so when they gave her a more Afrocentric curly hairstyle, of course they graded her low! Then when she had her hair straight they graded her slightly higher. In my opinion i think that maybe they just didn’t like the way she looked period, irregardless of her hair texture…but thats just my opinion. Then she later went to a school of kids ( all white…what a surprise there). She asked the kids to run to either the photo of her with straight or curly hair, the one they run to will be the one they like the best. Once again, they chose the straight hair. Then lastly she went on a job interview…to make it short they chose the one with the curly hair. I had an issue with the other two experiments though. I mean each culture has there own ideals of beauty. what they should have done was put people of different races and men of different races  in a room and have them judge. Because in the latin american community, curly hair is excepted as beauty, in the african american community that choice can vary. In the asian commmunity im guessing straight hair would be preffered. I just felt that the experiment was very very lijmited. As well as the school of kids. A class filled withall white children, though there is nothing wrong with that, i just felt that you are not getting a full perspective of what america thinks, if you only have one race judging. So there you go curly vs straight. I hope Tyra does this on her show…she always does crazy things like this, but i believe she will execute it much better then Good Morning America did.

High School Confidential April 27, 2008

I had high expectations for the new WE-TV show called High School Confidential. I saw the commercial and i figured it would be a great show but after watching 1 hour of it, I realized it was nothing like what i thought it would be. One false move was the fact that the show originally came on at 10 at night…That’s not late but for a show that its core demographic is teens, the last show i would want to see at 10 would be High schoolconfidential.They should have made it a prime time show that came on at either 8 or 9. The second thing i did not like was how the show was made. I thought it would be a weekly episode of them coping with there life starting in grade 9 and working up to grade 12 . Instead they choose 2 or 3 people to focus in on and they talk about there struggles from grades 9-12. It becomes more of a biographical show and less of a show that has reality. not saying that this show isn’t realistic, because some of the things they talk about helps other people cope with their lives, i just figured they would show more of the high school life and less of the person talking about there high school life. Lastly my issue with this show is the lack of diversity. There is diversity amongthe family types and the social cliques but with race there is none.( they have one African American). With the exception of the show taking place in Kansas…which may play a big part….i feel that they could have been a bit more diverse then preppy vs nerd vs single parent vs traditional vs religious vs non religious. All though this show is not what i expected it to be, i feel that they did a good job with shedding light on how teenagers are thinking and coping with life in high school. It is relate-able, but they could have executed it better.

                                                                Just my opinion.

Why turn a blind eye to polygamy??? April 18, 2008

If you have been keeping up with the news, there is alot of  coverage on the polygamist ranch in Texas over 500 women and children were taken off the ranch because of a 16 year old girl who called the police saying how she had been abused and how girls as young as 14 and 15 were being forced into marriage.This caused alarm across the country because once again we are hearing abuse within the polygamist community. Almost everyone has heard about Warren Jeffs. A polygamist leader who was charged with two counts with rape as an accomplice. In February of this year he has issued a guilty plea in Arizona, due to the accusations of arranged marriages with young girls and older men.

In my opinion why does the united states allow this to happen. Now i am not saying all Polygamist are prone to rape and forced marriages but a large amount of cases prove otherwise. Polygamy would be found under religion so based on that, the government can only go but so far to intervene. Only in cases where people are getting hurt such as the Jeff Warrens case or the new ranch in Texas can the law intervene. I feel through that in a religion that break rules such as multiple marriages,underage marriages and rape, why do we allow it? Yes i understand freedom of religion, but in a religion that can be compared to a cult…why allow it? There are stories of people who have broken free of there polygamist ways and are shunned by family and friends because they no longer want to live that way of life. There are stories of incest and rape, and forced marriages. There is a story of a girl was 16 and forced to marry a 65 year old man! This is ridiculous. People wonder why they are told to hide their faces when people who are non polygamist see them. That is because they are hiding their shame, there hopelessness. Though certain polygamy compounds are old fashioned, meaning they wear the home made clothing, with the bonnets almost very similar to the Amish. On Oprah i saw a modern day polygamist  family who wore the same clothes any average American would wear. They lived in a gated community ( of course) and their children wore no bonnets and they went to school with other non polygamy children. Now i am not giving them a gold star because they live a more modern way of life but they are less old fashioned.

My last thoughts on this is that i think polygamist should not be allowed. Polygamy in every other meaning then religion is illegal so why allow it? Especially when you take into account the children who have been  abused or shunned. The people who have no way out for fear of being shunned. For people who don’t even know what else life has to offer other then living a simple polygamist life. I feel this shouldn’t be legal. So i guess just like the KKK is legal because of freedom of speech, is guess polygamy will continue to be legal because of freedom of religion….what a country we live in.

~Attending a College Fair~ April 14, 2008

I went to a college fair just yesterday and there were so many people who looked lost among the crowd. Maybe i was one of them but i learned a lot based on my experience.

My first tip for going to a college fair is GET THERE EARLY.I went to the National college fair in NY, it was from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. I figured well, since it will be till 4 i guess ill get there about 1:30….Big mistake. GET THERE EARLY! If the time for your college fair is 12 get there at 11. Its not something people think about often but if you stop and think about all the millions of kids who are planning on attending college, then you can understand why i am saying get there early . on the website for the national college fair it said estimated attendees 9,000. Well there had to be at least 15,000. It was so many people that the line went way around the convention center into the streets! Now i am not saying all college fairs are like this, but in a major cities like NY or Chicago or LA, expect alot of people.

My next tip is to BE PREPARED.

 When i say be prepared i mean know these 3 major things. What colleges your interested in, what location you want your college to be in and  what majors you want to take. These things will help you navigate through the crowds. There is nothing wrong with wandering around and checking out different colleges just for the sake of it, but if you know those 3 things it will definitely keep you sane. Like i said earlier college fairs are crowded so if you know what your looking for, you wont get caught up.

College Fair Tip #3 : HAVE A LIST OF QUESTIONS YOU WANT TO ASK

This is something that i should have done because you find that you know what your going to say until you get amidst the chaos and everyone is on top of everyone trying to talk at the same time…you get lost within the crowds. So have a list ready. When you get to booth don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you want because it is very likely that the people standing at the booth with you want to ask the same thing.

Tip #4: HAVE LABELS READY

I found this out yesterday also. With the large amount of kids wanting to request info from the colleges, most of the time the reps will run out of cards. But usually if you carry labels they will accept them. There were about 2 colleges that i was unable to obtain info from because they ran out of cards. So  have a label ready with you name, address, phone number, email, high school name, high school grade and the majors your interested in.

Lastly DON’T GET LOST AMONGST THE CHAOS!

Most people get frustrated because of the amount of people and the lack of manners at a college fair, but it is what it is. Take a deep breath and realize that these people are here to do the same thing as you. If you find yourself at a booth that is popular and it is a crowded, don’t bombard everyone to get to the front, just wait your turn. If you cant find your school of choice, use a map. Most college fairs will give you a map of the fair itself, which believe me it does help you navigate around the masses.

These tips are definetly helpful for anyone who is looking forward to attending a college fair. I hope it helps

Racist Advertisements from K-swiss sneaker brand April 2, 2008

okay so i was reading through the April 2008 issue of Teen Vogue and i stumbled upon this ad. It shows a caucasion blonde woman with blue eyes and in bold white letters it says KEEP IT PURE. Now for some reason this ad didnt sit well with me because that is something that hitler or the Nazis would say or even the KKK would say. Keep the race pure. Well i looked up some stuff on the net and i also found out that Kswiss also refuses to use black models. As an african american teen this really offends me! Keep it pure. Now some people may argue that this statement was taken out of context but i deeply disagree. This in my opinion is called subtle racism. A hint of an idea about what they mean but in some ways it makes you wonder well maybe its not racist. So from this day on i am boycotting Kswiss. They refuse to use black models for their ads and TV commercials, but yet they want to sell to the black community or the minority community. Well this is all i have to say but like i mentioned before i found this article in TEEN VOGUE. Which is a mag where hardly any african americans are found throughout the pages of the mag or on the cover. just keep that in mind next time you pick up a magazine or shop for sneakers what type of group you are supporting with that purchase.