Trayvon Martin

     Unless you have been living under a rock recently, you probably heard about the Trayvon Martin case coming out of Florida. If you have been, let me give you some brief background. The New York Times has reported multiple times of this unfortunate story.

     Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old killed outside Orlando, Florida last month. The man that killed him, George Zimmerman, has not yet been charged with anything. A final detail that brings this case into light is the fact that Trayvon Martin is black, and George Zimmerman is not. This has brought on the idea that this crime was a hate-crime.

     Zimmerman allegedly called the police to report Martin as ‘suspicious’. The police dispatcher warned Zimmerman not to pursue or follow the boy. Unfortunately, Zimmerman did not listen. He followed Martin, and soon a physical dispute occurred. Resulting in the death of a young boy.

     Regardless of my personal opinions of this case there is something terribly wrong. According to the Christian Science Monitor, millions of people are taking this story the wrong way. Before getting all of the facts, they are jumping to conclusions, and hurting a man in the process.

     Many of the key issues of this story have taken a long time to come out. The Washington Post writes about the life Trayvon Martin really lived; not just the one his family wants Americans to believe. He had been expelled from his high school on numerous occasions because of marijuana.

     Many people believe this is a hate crime because Trayvon Martin was black and George Zimmerman was white. The Economist explains this is untrue; while Martin was black, Zimmerman is a Hispanic man, who was merely looking out for his community.

There are many people who point to Zimmerman as the murderer of Trayvon Martin, and the majority point to it as an example of a hate-crime. People have gone so far as to find Zimmerman’s address and go to his house. Fortunately, the wrong address, via Twitter, was used, but many Americans do want to hurt him.

While this is a terrible crime, one that does need to be dealt with, pointing fingers and blaming everyone near the case, is the complete wrong way to find the truth of this crime.

When reading or researching anything, try to find the truth and your own opinion; not just one you read in a newspaper article. Regardless of personal opinions of Martin or Zimmerman, we must look to find justice and truth; not just a good story for the front of the New York Times.

Spring Break 2012

     Here, in Des Moines, most schools just finished spring break. Usually, I don’t care for spring break, but this year, the opposite was true. I was in desperate need to take some time off from school. Lately, I’ve been incredibly stressed out, and this past week helped me to get back in control, and focus on the things I need to do.

     My spring break was pretty boring, in comparison with the majority of my friends. We got out of school on Wednesday, and I attended parent/teacher conferences. The rest of the week was spent hanging out with friends and simply, just relaxing.

     On Sunday, my two younger sisters and I went up to Minnesota to stay with our aunt for a few days. She lives in a suburb of Minneapolis, so we were close to everything. Everyday we did something different. One day we went to the Mall of America, one day we went for a hike around the park and one day we just stayed at home, playing games.

     We returned home on Wednesday, and the rest of my spring break was spent prepping for future debate tournaments. Next week, my partner and I are going to Novice Nationals in Iowa City.

     On Saturday before we had to return to school, I went to see The Hunger Games with a few of my friends. I knew what the movie was all about; I have read all three books in the series, I read reviews and heard plenty of personal opinions from my friends.

     When I went, I expected the movie to be just OK. I knew it probably wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as the books, but still okay. Fortunately, I was completely wrong. I absolutely loved the movie. It still wasn’t as good as the book, but I still loved it. For anyone who has not seen it, I would definitely go as soon as you have time.

     I hope everyone else had a great spring break like me!

60 Minutes Response 2

     This 60 Minutes interview I watched, was on the rise of Adele, the up and coming pop artist. They talked about how different and unique she is as a female pop music icon, and interviewed her on her music career.

     I have enjoyed listening to Adele’s music, ever since she came out with her first album ‘19’ a few years ago. I love how different she is than other female artists. Although she sings about topics, such as love, like many other female artists, she does act, dress, or look the same as others.

     She is very self-respecting, and is a great role-model for younger girls, unlike the other female artists, we hear about often in today’s culture.

     In the interview, they talked about her successful singing career, and some of the hardships she has had to surpass, in order to be successful in the music world. I really enjoyed the interview, because we got a new look into the world of Adele, and I have come to like her even more now. She is a great role model, along with a great singer, and the interview showed her in a very positive light.

     If you would like to watch this video, go to: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7398480n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.10

60 Minutes Response

     I watched the interview of Sam Eshaghoff, a young college student who cheated on the SAT in a prestigious New York High School, on 60 Minutes.

     When watching this video, I learned that thousands of students every year cheat on their SAT’s, ACT’s and college admissions tests. Sam Eshaghoff would take fake ID’s and take the SAT as different people.

     I was very surprised to learn that this happens hundreds, even thousands of times each year. I never knew people would actually go so far to try and cheat on this test.

     I really enjoyed this video, because it showed how often this problem happens. I understand why people would do this; it would change their life, often for the better.

     I also really liked how this video and interview was set up; they interviewed the boy who was someone who cheated for others on the SAT, and then talked to representatives of the SAT companies. They feel as though they should make the identification process more strenuous so that the cheating either does not happen, or is more difficult to happen.

     This really showed me how big of a problem cheating is, and how far people will go for a better grade or test score.

     If you want to see this video go here: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7393498n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.8