Is Graffiti Art or Vandalism?
Did you know that if you're under 21 and in New York you can't possess spray paint, broad-tipped markers, or etching acid if you're "on the property of another or in any public building or upon any public facility" and no-one can sell you any of these items? This has led to a group of artists filing a lawsuit against the city.They say "the law violates their constitutional right to free speech" while a lawyer for New York City is quoted as saying "it strikes a "constitutional balance between the First Amendment rights and the need to control the long-standing plague of graffiti".

Well most of these artist/vandalism kids are kids with rough childhoods. so to them instead of following there other ways of killings , drugs, fighting etc..they turn to the street and make art,not causing any harm to no one in my opinion, but when being caught by authority’s are being sentenced for major years in prison for expressing them self's the only way they know how, mainly to get noticed. for people who don’t know about this art they might think it is straight vandalism.

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Graffiti can be an art or it can be vandalism depending on why you are doing it. If people write random things then its no point really. If its a message that can get across to people, then they will pay attention. Some people do it to express oneself. I heard one time that there are workshops that you can go to or like a group that does graffiti on big poster boards, i forgot where it was. But the teacher that was supervising them said that he does this so the students/kids can stay away from drugs and the streets. Its like an outlet for them. I think what this teacher is doing is great. To me graffiti is both art and vandalism, it depends where you do it and for what purpose.

what body parts do you want to keep or replace??

I would pretty much like to stay exactly as i am.When Aimee Mullins was speaking on TED she had the legs that people had given her, one pair of legs was hand carved wood and it looked like wooden boots. Others had designs on them, its almost as if they are becoming real fashionable. She said she could change her height depending how tall the pair of legs you are wearing. One day you can be 5ft.7in. and the next day 6ft.1in. Although if they made something that allows you to hold your breath underwater or be able to breath underwater or grow bigger lungs for me as a swimmer that would be awesome but if not everyone had it then it wouldn't be fair.

Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee sprinter, has been denied a shot at the Olympics... for being too fast. The runner -- who uses carbon-fiber, prosthetic feet -- was reviewed by the International Association of Athletics Federations a review which found the combination of man and machine to be too much for its purely human competitors. According to the IAAF report, the "mechanical advantage of the blade in relation to the healthy ankle joint of an able bodied athlete is higher than 30-percent." Additionally, Pistorius uses 25-percent less energy than average runners due to the artificial limbs, therefore giving him an unfair advantage on the track. Maybe to make it fair there should be prosthetic legs for all.

The Special Olympics are events that take place every year (I think), and they are mainly targeted to people with mental disabilities.The Para-Olympics are held every four years right after the official Olympics. The para-Olympics are for athletes who have some sort of physical impairment (and sometimes mental). They are considered at par with the normal Olympics.That said, my take on the Pistorious situation is the following: aside from whether or not the artificial limbs give him and advantage or not, the spirit of sports should be to put in competition with each other people who have the same skills and conditions. For this reason, I don't think pistorious should be allowed to take part, even if the libs were not an advantage. He should take part in the para-Olympics against other amputees who are in his same condition. The normal Olympics its based on your ability and strengthas a person.

Most people don't have a choice whether or not to get prosthetic legs but it wouldn't be right to call them nonhuman just because they don't have the exact feature as one. They still have feelings and thoughts.

The painting by Saul Steinberg is describing a person or a persons personality. The statements "i do" and "i have" all influence what and who you are "i am".
The painting has alot of detail the "i am" is green and at the bottom of the picture like the ground. There are flowers growing from the top part of the "M". The "i am is rising from the bottom. The "i have" is a little bit destroyed there are springs coming out of the "E" and the "V" is kind of patchy. It almost looks like a clothing line hanging with clothes that are drying. The "i do" is all the way in the sky and the "O" looks like the sun and its painted in really bright colors.
I think that what Steinberg is trying to say with his painting is that our lives or our personalities. You will always be who you are. What you have influences you lifestyle for example, if you have a car then you can drive to work, if you don't have a cell phone you can't all anyone form anywhere you are. What you do are the actions that will maybe change what you have or maybe who you are for example if you have been known to be a nice person and then you go and comitt a murderous crime and you go to jail you will no longer be the same you will have changed. Alot of famous people in history are known for what they did and not what they had for example I'm quoting Mr.Sutherland here.."we don't really know what kind of person Christopher Columbus was,all we know is what he did". Things that you have can always go away based on what you do or what desicions you make. I think the main idea is that the most important thing is who you are no matter what because it is the ground, the base of your life.

kids with special needs in school.

Kids/Students with special needs in school are not always treated the same way and a kid who doesn't have special needs. Some children experience difficulties in school, from problems with concentration, learning, language, and perception to problems with behavior and/or making and keeping friends. These difficulties may be due to one or more of the following: physical disorders, psychiatric disorders, emotional problems, behavioral problems, and learning disorders or disabilities. These children with special needs are usually entitled to receive special services or accommodations through the public schools. Federal law mandates that every child will receive a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. To support their ability to learn in school, three Federal laws apply to children with special needs:The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (1975). Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990).


Children with ADHD show signs of inattention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity in specific ways. These children:Are in constant motion. Squirm and fidget. They don't seem to listen. Have difficulty playing quietly. Often talk excessively, they interrupt or intrude on others, they are easily distracted and do not finish tasks.

Some of the people that take care of the kids and walk around with them in a way yell at them but iguess they just do that so that they pay more attention but i think we should treat them with more respect. At school you here friends calling their othere friends retarted just because but some people really take offense to that. If a student/kid that is retarted they won't tell you anything because they don't know any better. Alot of other students do make fun of them and they think it is funny.They get treated as if they know absolutly nothing but they might just have hidden talents that haven't reachen their peek. They might be able to do something really nice if they use the potential they have. Im not sure but for me i think is you say to someone that they don't know anything or that their stupid then that might make that person feel less about themselves and actually believe that they are stupid. Kids who have special needs shouldn't be treated differently than other students although there are some things that can't be changed for example you can't really levae them alone for a long time because of fear that they might do something that is not right. Some They are just human beings just like us.

New goals

After i re-read all my blog post i realized that they were all connected to my statement of purpose. I wrote about everything i wanted to write about, songs, sports, or anything random that just pops into my head. I also noticed that i didn't feel like i changed but i think i did. For the next quarter i want to write about many different things and not just a couple set topics. Although having one set topic can be good, like writing a story and have a couple paragraphs each week and have the story grow with every week. I feel like i can expand my knowledge and creativity if i write about different topics each week.

For this quarter i want to concentrate in my writing and try to go deeper the real meaning. I also would like to not forget to publish or write my post and remember on Saturday morning. A couple other goals i would like to have would be to follow more peoples blog and actually read them. I have more goals but they are more like for this quarter i would like to have better grades and don't fall behind and ask questions when i need help.

I think that if i decide to write a story i think it would be cool to follow other peoples blogs who are also writhing a story because it would be nice to read each others stories and maybe pull ideas and leave comments on them. I want to accomplish writhing in paragraphs more often but sometimes i do but it doesn't show up like that. I also want to improve/expand my vocabulary words. I fell like the website that has all the words in a list really helps and so do the vocabulary sheets that Mr.Sutherland passes out.

random :shamwow

SHAMWOW !!!
i was talking to my cousin and she said she watched the shamwow chomercial in spanish and i said thats a good topic for a blog post.
The Claim
"You'll say wow every time you use the shamwow ." This revolutionary fabric works wet or dry, acts like a vacuum to soak up spills and holds 20 times its weight in moisture. The machine-washable rayonlike textile wicks liquid and air-dries quickly for reuse, saving big bucks on paper towels.
The Test:
Soaking soda from a carpet, cleaning a spill from a plant pot, wiping kitchen counters,turning it into a bath mat and drying off after a swim.
The Verdict:
It works, but keep a roll of paper towels on hand. And don't expect to say wow every time you use it.

Drying off after a swim was an experience in exfoliation, with the Shamwow rubbing it in at about 220 grit. It was very light in the backpack on the way to the swimming hole, however. Caught in the rain, it can wipe you down from forehead to pant leg. And after a shower, it makes for a decent bath mat. In the kitchen, it's too coarse to use as a towel and too stiff to be a napkin, but it can scour a stovetop and it's not a bad place mat. On food spills, it works better on thinner liquids—wine, yes; tomato sauce, no.
Every one has diffrent opinions it may work for some peole but it mighe not work for some people. When the comercial says " not available in stores" its a lie !! They sell them at target and walgreens.
They are awesome for spills on carpet -- they really do soak up everything and leae the carpet only slightly damp. They're infinitely better than paper towels for that sort of thing. I also agree with the person who said they're great for wet hair especially after a swim meet of a water polo game of just a fun day in the water it really dires you off quicly. There are alot of uses but items you see on t.v son't always work.

Teamwork

Teamwork.When most people think of teamwork i assume or believe most teams would just say oh okay lets play as a team, but it really is much more than that.Teamwork: Simply stated, it is less me and more we. Teams have to be united be a family since your with the same people/friends every day of the week and even on Saturdays for up to 3 hrs. If one person messes up you all mess up. Everyone has to sacrifice things even if it means missing a homecoming assembly or a dance. Put your head away form all the drama. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing,you'll never get it done.
Teamwork is working together — even when we are apart. Fighting about the most littlest and simplest tings is not going to help us in any way. Of course there will always be issues outside your team and maybe its best to leave them outside. Then there are things like we say before a water polo game "leave everything in the pool.
“Empty your mind, be formless,shapeless-like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle,you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water,my friend.
Everybody needs each other. There is no "I" in team. If you work hard the score on the board doesn't matter as long as you put all your effort and walk away saying you did your best. Teams communicate with each other and they listen to each other and most importantly they help each other succeed whether it be help in math or in the sport like making a shot or a basket. I've learned that when people yell at you from the water to be in a certain spot their not always mad at you their trying to help you. GO HORNETS!

FRIENDSHIP

Friendship can be tough especially when its a group of 3 individuals that are best friends that have the different likes and dislikes but at the same time have a lot in common. Sure you meet up have fun at a football game and everything's going good until one person says or does something then the world turns upside down. Then when two of the friends are mad at each other there is always that one person that is stuck in the middle.Your caught up between them hanging out with one then hanging out with the other. When your talking to one of them they only talk about the other person and the usually say "you know what i mean?" or "im right,right?" or "don't you agree?".
Its like you don't even want to get involved with any drama but you always end up with it because one friend tells the other what you said and then they get mad at you and its like WTF!?!?! why can't they just talk it out themselves but no they just make it so hard and not talk to each other or they act like nothing happened and they mouth out words about one another behind their backs with a really weird face. If you have lunch with one friend and not the other then they get mad and say "you ditched me for her?" and its like ugh GET OVER IT!
I wonder if they know how lonely it is to be in the middle. When one get a little crazy don't be assuming things unless you know for sure and don't ask so many questions about things that are obvious. If they want to tell you they'll tell you just don't let it be a month later..lol inside joke. "People never know how special someone is until they leave, but maybe sometimes its important to leave, so they are given that chance to see how special that someone really is!"
- by Ali Nitka. When they don't have you their they come to you for help. "Friendship is like a violin; the music may stop now and then, but the strings will last forever." "Never look back...Never regret...Never remember the people you've met...Never begin...And never end...Never say never when it comes to your friends!" -Aliza Llaguno. haha it rhymes ! Don't let anything get in the way of your friendships.

“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Chapter 1: Defining Racism “Can we talk?” By BEVERLY DANIEL TATUM, Ph.D.

These are the paragraphs that stood out to me.

(10.) Prejudice is one of the inescapable consequences of living in a racist society. Cultural racism—the cultural images and messages that affirm the assumed superiority of Whites and the assumed inferiority of people of color—is like smog in the air. Sometimes it is so thick it is visible, other times it is less apparent,[9] but always, day in and day out, we are breathing it in. None of us would introduce ourselves as “smog-breathers” (and most of us don’t want to be described as prejudiced), but if we live in a smoggy place, how can we avoid breathing the air? If we live in an environment in which we are bombarded with stereotypical images in the media, are frequently exposed to the ethnic jokes of friends and family members, and are rarely informed of the accomplishments of oppressed groups, we will develop the negative ideas about those groups that form the basis of prejudice.



(13.) To say that it is not our fault does not relieve us of responsibility, however. We may not have polluted the air, but we need to take responsibility for cleaning it up. Each of us needs to look at our own behavior. Am i perpetuating the negative messages in our culture, or am I seeking to challenge them? If I have not been exposed to positive images of oppressed groups, am I seeking them out, expanding my own knowledge base? Am I acknowledging my own prejudices, thereby minimizing the impact they might have on my interactions with others? Unless we engage in these and other acts of reflection and reeducation, we easily repeat the process with our children. We teach what we were taught. The unexamined prejudices of the parents are passed on to the children. It is not our fault, but it is our responsibility to interrupt this cycle.



The way i annotated these paragraphs was by underlining and circling key words and key sentences and phrases. i also made every day life comparisons. I made little side notes to my self to help me understand the text better. Chunking also helps a lot because your not worrying about getting the whole article done your just focused on one section and annotating it as much as you can. If there is something at the end of the article that ties into the beginning of the article then i will just draw an arrow to the beginning an write down a little note about how it ties together. Everything that goes on my paper is coming from my head and my thoughts.Just like how Mr.Sutherland says to listen to the little voice in your head,if you listen closely you'll hear it. For paragraph #10 i basically just wrote little side note were it says "but if we live in a smoggy place"which can mean a racist place and where it says "how can we avoid breathing the air?" i think that means that we can't live without it because we all need the air to survive unless your a freak.so i think its trying to say that we will have to live with the concept about our world being racist.
For paragraph #13 were it says "we teach what we are taught" that is totally true because children reflect their parents you internalize what your parents are like and what they do.For example if they are neat freaks then there is a good probability that you will become a neat freak because you grew up and lived in that environment. So if like your parents are black and they are always saying things like stay away form white people because they did a lot of things to us then that little kid will most likely grow up and be prejudice or racist. The reason why i annotate is because it helps me understand the purpose of what im reading. No one can tell you how to annotate,there is no specific way. So what i annotated was what i thought was important to me or what i thought was good valid information.

Stand and Deliver Movie Review

Many people think that racism is gone but the truth of it is that it is still here and is around us everywhere we go.It exists in our communities and in our schools. In the movie stand and deliver one dedicated teacher decided that he would teach a group of Hispanic students that lived in barrios AP Calculus and said that they would all pass the test. But the head teacher in the math department said that if they didn't pass the AP exam it would crush the little self-esteem they had. Mr.Escalante the teacher decided that he would teach them at early hours in the morning and they would stay a couple hours after school but not even that they would have to come on Saturdays also and they started their classes in the summer to get a head start. Those students must have really wanted to succeed if they were willing to put in all that time and effort.But Mr.Escalante made them sign a contract which said that they had to come to every class regardless of anything. There was one character named Pancho who wasn't the brightest student he said that he was going to be a really good car mechanic and was going to make more money than Mr.Escalante but when him and Mr.Escalante took a drive he told Pancho that "you only see now you never see the road ahead." which is true because most kids just do the thing they do because they can they never really take the time to see where those things are going to take them.When it finally came time to take the test they were all ready and prepared.Proudly they all passed even Pancho but when a striking phone call to the students homes changes every thing i mean all their hard work gone to waste because the board of education thinks they all cheated because they got the same wrong answer sand that most kids who take the exam average up to 14-15 wrong answers when they averaged 4-5.But they didn't even let Mr.Escalate look at the test and Mr.Escalante had told them they should retake the test even though it was going to be harder and they only got one day to study so they all started to review from chapter 1 again. One girl didn't even get to finish the re take because she told the man that was part of the board of education and who was running the test that she had to go to do some work for her college scholarships and the man said that "couldn't it wait" like implying that the AP exam was much more important than her going to college but the AP exam is college credit but she actually has to get into college first. Besides all the odd they all passed all 18 students proving they did not cheat it wasn't a conspiracy that it was their knowledge and if the other students didn't score as high as they did it was because they were lazy didn't put in the effort because most students as seniors are goofing off. Every year after that more and more students started to pass the exam thanks to Mr.Escalante who believed they could do it because that math director was only holding them back by saying that they couldn't do it.

random song.....

Here are some lyrics to a song I was writing these are my real lyrics real from beginning to end. I was just really bored in my music class and I got a rhythm stuck in my head and started rhyming and putting together phrases and words on the back of some song notes.....

I Always Said

your the one I go to
when i'm feeling lonely
your the one I go to
when life's moving slowly
can't imagine what it
would be like to
live without you

I always said I wanted you to be here with me
I always said I wanted you to stay
But now that i've seen things clear
I realize we can’t be near
I have to move on and leave you behind

You think you played me betrayed me
The mistake was all on you
No the mistake was trusting you

I always said I wanted you to be here with me
I always said I wanted you to stay
But now that i’ve seen things clear
I realize we can’t be near
I have to move on and leave you behind

I don’t know what’s happening here
Why can’t I just disappear
Like the stars at dawn

I always said we'd be together
Forever
It went by so fast
It felt like we didn't last

I always said I wanted you to be here with me
I always said I wanted you to stay

I always said

When ever I writ e a song I feel so accomplished like i’ve said what was on my mind even if it has nothing to do with or about me.
Once one sentence comes to my head it pretty much comes naturally which i find odd because i never really thought about writing songs until a couple months ago. Writing a song can be a frustrating process if you're not sure how to go about it. No matter what you may have heard, there's no magic formula to writing a song. I acknowledge The process is different for everyone, and there's no right or wrong way to do it. A good song doesn't have to sound a certain way or fit into a certain mold. All it needs to be is honest and from the heart in order to connect with an audience. Some people write lyrics before the music, others compose the music first, and still others write them at the same time. I kind of just get a rhythm and that starts me off. You’re not necessarily going to get the perfect song the first time or the time you write a new son like you might always go back and change a word here or there or take out a verse or add one it’s a process. Writing music is a very personal thing, and mixing it up a bit every once in a while can help you combat songwriters block too.

h2o polo

Water Polo is an aggressive sport. You have to try to not get kicked or punched or slapped. Sprinting back and forth up the pool, get open and get the ball. You have to make sure you know where the ball is at all time because if you don't and someone passes you the ball and your not looking then you'll miss the pass and the other team can get the ball. Just to get open the other team will try to pull you underwater or pull and rip your suit so always wear 2 suits! Practices are the worse than the actual game we do so much conditioning we swim 1000 yards for warm-up and we do some more swimming and sprinting. Then we start to pass the balls with our partners and spread out further and further for longer passes. We will do drills with the ball like fake passing and shooting dribbling the ball. Then we switch pools with the boys team and work on more drills like everyone getting in a circle and treading and holding the regular balls and weight balls over our heads and then passing them around. There is also a drill called UCLA where you have a triangle in front of the the goal you pass it to one person then you swim in closer then they pass it to the other person who passes it to you and then you make a shot. If you skip practice or don't listen then you'll do whatever your doing at the time with a weight belt. During a game you really have to communicate with each other because you have everyone is talking at one time. You need skill,precision.dedication. all which can be acquired as time go on. you'll need to have the time because you have to put all effort into it but also make time for your homework. Its a great sport and you can meet new friends and come close toghether like a family because you all depend on each other. One person can't make a shot alone your teamates have to get you the ball first. Its all a team effort and you'll all share the glory when you win.

let your creativity go wild

What the point about writing what you are going to write about sounds pretty boring .But the truth about it is that you get more out of your writing that way.Its almost works as an outline.Blogs can be as easy as 1,2,3 or as hard as calculus.There are so many topics to write about and how can you only pick out a couple,which are most important to you,are you being inspired when you write or is it just a random thought that pops into your head.For my blog i got inspired by something i really enjoy doing which is to write song about happiness,or sadness.To write songs you really have to put in alot of thought and feeling into it.Which is more important the music or the lyrics??

This is a complicated question with a simple answer in my opinion, i believe that the lyrics are really important because its the base it tells the story but the music as well it is what give the lyrics their actual meaning . When i write a song i escape into a whole different world i can find who i really am and who i want to be. There is no right or wrong in songwriting because their your own thoughts no one can tell you to write a certain way its you own imagination its your creativity.