Culture(#8)

There are different cultures everywhere you look even if you don't notice, for example a Junior High School on the Bronx. Junior High 22 in the Bronx is a mainly black and hispanic school, they had gone through six principlas in about 2 years. When they brought in their seventh they thought it was just the same thing and that as the students they would remain in control of the school. But this was a different case. In 2004 Shimon Waronker, a part of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Hasidic Judaism, was named the seventh principal of the school. He did not hide his religion going into this culturally different school, he had his beard and wore a black hat and a velvet yarmulke. When the school met him the talk of the students and faculty was ‘You’re not going to believe who’s running the show’. With their new principal everything changed grades and attendance went up 93 percent. He created a student congress so they could learn about leadership, he got leadership books for every student. Although he did have his obsticles like getting gang culture out of the school and keeping the school from closing, with his leadership the school showed vast improvements. People though that Shimon Waronker religion and the students culture was too different and this would be a disaster but all those who doubted were wrong. I read the article "In Bronx School, Culture Shock, Then Revival" by Elissa Goodman at nytimes.com.
Goodman, Elissa. "In Bronx School, Culture Shock, The Revival". February 8 2008. February 25 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/nyregion/08principal.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=culture&st=cse&scp=10.

Change(#7)

On cnn.com i recently watched a video called "cell phones on planes" it was obviously about cellphone usage on airplanes. Recently on some non U.S. airplanes changed to allow cellphone usage to be permitted. Although only certain phone plans can connect while in the air you may place calls, text message, e-mail, and connect to the Internet. This is all for a small fee of course. The main motivation for the airlines to do this is because the increase in customers because of the convenience phones being permitted combined with the fee over time the small fees of many customers adds up to a lot. Also it you think it would be annoying to have the passenger next to you making a call and talking the whole flight then you can request that they turn off the calling feature and only allow Internet and texting. I think this is a big change and will affect the way we travel a lot.
Link to clip:cnn.com
"cell phones on planes". cnn.com. February 21 2009. February 22 2009. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2009/02/19/finighan.spain.sonim.plaschke.cnn

Hope(#6)

I recently read an article on cnn.com called "Missing Florida girl's relatives plead for her return". The article talks about a young girl in florida who was abducted about a week ago. She lived in a trailer park with her father, brother and her father's girlfriend. The father's girlfriend was watching the children, she put them to sleep around 8 pm and when the girlfirend realized the trailor was open and the young girl was missing she did not call the police. She waited until the father was home them reported her missing. The police are in serious investigation they have taken a sexual predator who lives a mile from their trailor into custody for a procaution, but he wears a global positioning device and that night it did not read anywhere near their trailor. The father, brother and grandparents are holding out hope for the finding of the young girl. They have some leads and they will not give up hope that she will be returned to her family safely.
Link to article: CNN.com
MLA: "Missing Florida girl's relatives plead for her return".cnn.com. February 20 2009. February 18 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/19/haleigh.cummings/index.html?iref=newssearch.

Religion(#5)

I read an article from the New york times called "How India Reconciles Hindu Values and Biotech" by Pankaj Mishra. The article is about the benefit on India that the end of stem cell research in the U.S. has caused. The catholic religion just like Hindu both believe that life starts in the womb and doing anything to the cell after it begins to form no matter how early is killing a person. This belief is shown in the Hindu religion by a story about a baby in his mothers stomach heard his father describing a military plan and after the boy was born and grown up he used the military strategy himself. Eventhough it is frowned upon in the U.S. without them as competition this allows India to step ahead in that area of science. They are cloning endangered animals native to India, this would be considered a good thing except by the time they have animals coming out of the lad the Indian countryside may not be fit for animals anymore and they will have no place to put them. This was an interesting article because i always though hinduism was so different from my religion but they showed some big similarities with a life being formed even at the earliest state.
Link to article: nytimes.com
Mishra,Pankaj. "How India Reconciles Hindu Values and Biotech."cnn.com. Agust 21 2005. February 15 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/weekinreview/21mishra.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Gender Roles/Issues(#4)

In the present things are changing before the man of the house always had a full time job and earned most or all of the money, he supports the family. But currently there are many families where the woman has a full time job and earns most or all of the money. Even though women want equality with their husband and their husband says they think of women equally, statistics show that not many people are honestly comfortable with a women earning all of the money and the husband staying home and doing "women's work". The reason is that men get pride and a sens of providing when they set up their family financially but when you see a man providing domestically for their family they are seen as not helping equally if there is not a dollar amount. I learned all of this from an article from the new york times by M.P. Dunleavey called A Breadwinner "Rethinks Gender Roles". I thought that this was an interesting article because everyone now assumes that everyone thinks of men and women equal and have no problem with the women working and the man staying home but realistically no one is truly comfortable with that situation.
Link to the article: NYTIMES.com
Dunleavey, M.P. "A Breadwinner Rethinks Gender Roles." nytimes.com. january 27 2007. February 11 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/business/27instincts.html?scp=1&sq=gender%20roles&st=cse.

Different Cultures(#3)

Recently i read an article from the new york times called "Different Rules for Different Cultures: Be Prepared" by Doree Lewak. The article is about weddings from different religions and cultures, it talks about complicated rituals and duties of some weddings and also the appropriate behavior at different types of weddings.The stories in this article were good and bad. One story involved a woman getting drunk at a wedding where there was no drinking and making their cultural dance inappropriate. Although that experience was a disaster there were some that turned out very well when the friends of the bride and groom have a new appreciation for their friends culture. Some couples don't appropriately prepare their guests for the traditions and there ends up being some embarrassment involved, but some couples like a Jewish couple discussed in the article who put on their invitations "modest attire requested" to indicate to their guests that they should be well covered to avoid an awkward situation. I thought this article was very interesting because i think that a lot of people get into this situation and the advice of doing your research before is a good idea.
link:newyorktimes.com
Lewak, Doree. "Different Rules for Different Cultures: Be Prepared". nytimes.com. December 12 2008. February 8 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/fashion/weddings/14field.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Overcoming Struggles(#2)

I read an article from cnn.com called "Life-threatening illness helps couple get money smart" by Stephanie Chen. The story is about a young couple just out of college, Elliot and Lindsay. At the age of 23 Elliot was diagnosed with leukemia. All of his hospital bills and treatments cost so much. He was so lucky to be able to recover. But in this economy it took a lot for their money situation to recover. Luckily when Elliot had to leave work his company saved his position until he recovered and Lindsay worked at a college and took free night classes, knowing that with a higher education she could get a better job. They lived in a small run down apartement, they had a small wedding with an inexpensive honeymoon to florida. Theyy also cut costs by only eating out once or twice a month and taking public transportation to work daily. When they did all of this they could afford their first house and were well off financially. I thought it was great how they overcame health and economic issues together.
link to article: cnn.com
MLA:
Chen, Stepahnie. "life threatening illness helps couple get money smart."CNN.com. 29 January 2009. 1 February 2009.http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/01/29/survival.wk2.devores/index.html

Natural Disaster(#1)

On cnn.com i read an article called 'Kentucky National Guard goes door to door to deliver aid.' The article was about the recent ice storm in Kentucky and how it is being called the worst natural disaster in the modern history of the state. When the storm hit trees, power lines and almost everything outside was frozen. Branches fell causing severe danger and damage to buildings and homes. In some areas there is no power and it is said that it will probably be off for maybe 7 more days. Without power in most homes schools and other large public buildings are open as shelters. There have been 21 deaths but not all of them have been directly liked to the ice storm. Some of the deaths were caused by people bringing their charcoal grills and improperly vented generators into their house for heat. I think that this sounds like a terrible situation because you would have no power and heat so you couldn't stay in your own home and it also sounds like it could be a while before the power will go back on. I hope the power is back on soon and that people find a safe and effective way to heat their homes in the meantime.
link to article:cnn.com
MLA:
Rose, Andy. "Troups mark homes;Kentucky is warned of strong winds." CNN.com. 1 February 2009. 1 February 2009.http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/weather/02/01/winter.weather/index.html