Life In Prison. Plus 5 Years

"The public needs protecting from you... Your actions in this case, Mr. Mandell, were evil, and showed a complete disregard for human life." Is what Judge Amy St. Eve said to ex-cop, Steve Mandell, was tried and sentenced for a gruesome plot for murder.  He and his accomplice, Gary Engel, were planning on kidnapping, torturing and chopping up innocent businessman Stephen Campbell.

 Originally there was a third man in on this plot, George Michael, but what the other two were not aware of, was Michael and contacted the FBI and told them what Engel and Mandell were planning to do.  There were disturbing videos that the FBI was able to get from surveillance from what was going to be Mandell's torture chamber, filled with cleavers, saws and all sorts of other tools to disembody Campbell after they had gotten what they wanted out of him.

Engel and Mandell were planning to pose as cops and torture Campbell until he agreed to sign over deeds to several properties.  They then were going to kill him and chop up his body and drain his blood in the sink in their torture chamber. Engel was found dead in his prison cell after he had hanged himself after being arrested.

After a 30 minute hopeless rant to the judge trying to prove his innocence, Judge Amy St. Eve stayed strong in her verdict saying that she had not seen "an inkling of remorse." He smiled and wished her a "Merry Christmas."

Mandell Giving a Thumbs Up After His Verdict in 2005

To me, it is mortifying that someone could think of a plot to torture, kill and mutilate, and proceed to show not even an ounce of remorse. Mandell had gotten out of death row for a different crime in which the trial had been 14 years.  I think that Judge Amy St. Eve was right to stand so firm in her decision and showed true jurisprudence.  Americans are often skeptical and say there can be flaws in the judicial system, however, it seems completely fitting to me that this clearly disturbed man be locked away from the rest of society for the remainder of his life.

Swastikas Found On Hanukkah Wrapping Paper

Just a few short hours ago, shopper, Cheryl Shapiro, was looking for the perfect wrapping paper.  She wanted to find some cute wrapping paper for her grandchildren to wrap their Hanukkah gifts.  She picked up a silver and blue paper and within moments, she spotted swastikas on the design. In an interview with CNN, she said, "To me, it was a big deal.  I'm Jewish, and I don't want to see swastikas on anything. And to see it on Hanukkah paper, that I'm wrapping gifts in for my grandkids... no that wasn't going to fly for me..."

At first glance, the wrapping paper seems like a bunch of rectangles all bunched together to look like an intricate design.  However, upon looking closely at the corners of the rectangles, you can very clearly see that there are indeed swastikas embedded within the design.

Hallmark Cards Inc. has removed this specific wrapping paper from its shelves to prevent any further problems. The controversy of the wrapping paper only deepens with the fact that it was in a Hanukkah display.  Hallmark spokeswoman Julie Elliot says the gift wrap wasn't intended for the Jewish Holiday, Hallmark didn't mean to offend anyone and it was an oversight that no one at Hallmark noticed the intersecting lines could be seen as a swastika.

It is horrifying to me that there could be swastikas found in wrapping paper for Hanukkah.  I think Cheryl Shapiro was right in saying that we shouldn't see swastikas on anything. The wrapping paper was distributed by Walgreens which is no longer selling it, however this oversight is something that potentially could lose a lot of business. It also puts a huge damper on the holiday spirit, bringing up a horror of the past during supposedly happy times.  It is upsetting to see something like this pop up in the news especially as we are all scrambling to get all those presents wrapped in time. This oversight is horribly shocking and hopefully will never happen again.

#Confused

In an era with such amazingly advanced technology, it might  surprise you just how hard it is to find out about true working conditions of clothes manufacturers. I was looking up the brand Splendid, owned by a company called VF, for close to an hour and all I saw was the pristine, laid out policies and terms of how they should treat their workers. I was baffled.  My soft, cozy black and white striped sweater that was draped around me had a tag that said, "MADE IN CHINA." However, everything that I read online about Splendid, said that it was an American company and their clothes were made in the USA.  Confused? I was, too. 

  Upon further research I looked into VF as a company.  VF Corp. owns many well known brand names such as The North Face, Nautica and Wrangler Jeans.  Turns out, they have 2,000 factories in countries all around the world.  All of a sudden some of the policies started to make sense. For example, Principle Number 4 of their Global Compliance Principles says that, "VF recognizes that compensation packages vary by country." It now clicked because I understood that they did manufacture their clothes in other countries.  Feeling deceived I continued to look into this corporation.  Turns out, VF was highly pressured to reveal the names of their factories, especially those in Bangladesh, following the collapse of the Rayna Plaza two April's ago, which killed 1,129 workers.  Many companies keep the names of their suppliers hidden not only to hide it from competitors, but to not be publicly linked to accidents like the collapse, fires or unfair labor. 

It is easy to say taht I will only by sweaters that were made in the USA, but I had thought that all of Splendid's clothes were made in the USA.  So despite what their website says, am I really going to know who actually made my sweater? The confusion comes from the deception and the hush-hush of the manufacturing. However the more we hear about the horrible incidents, like factories collapsing, the greater awareness people have about the horrid conditions.  To prevent further microscopic attention and immense pressure on the company, I think VF is doing the right thing by being honest and giving the names of their suppliers upfront.  Transparency into their company and honesty about their work will hopefully lead to a better outcome in the end. 

Number 20 in the Nation (NTHS)

As a student, walking through the halls of the west campus of New Trier High School, it is very clear that the school needs some major fixing.  The school founded in 1901, is over 100 years old, and it shows it. Its got a certain smell that only a Trevian would be able to take, and the community agreed that it is about time to change that.  Knowing that the school needs a little TLC, the administration proposed a renovation plan that required a referendum. This past Tuesday, New Trier Township tallied all the votes and the referendum passed.  The Cook County Clerk's website on Wednesday showed 65 percent of voters in favor and 35 percent against the measure to increase taxes to pay for the renovation project. The few stipulations for this referendum were that the school was asking to borrow $89 million for a projected $100 million project.  With this, community members should expect to see about a 1.7% increase in their property taxes.  This would mean that someone paying $15,000 for their property taxes would have to pay an additional $250.
As a student who attends the school, I would say that $250 is so worth it.  The facilities that we use are very old.  It feels like we are stuck in the mid 1900's while other schools are more modern. Recently a study came out ranking the top high schools in the nation and New Trier was number 20, behind our competitors GBS, GBN and Stevenson. As a school that prides itself on being a top notch institution encompassing academics, athletics and the arts, I feel that one of the ways to stay in that category is updating and maintaining those facilities. Compared to four years ago, when the school tried and failed to pass a different renovation plan that would borrow $174 million, it seems reasonable that this would be passable. People like Wes Bauman, former principle, didn't support the 2010 referendum because they "Love New Trier! But not a $174 million plan rich in Unnecessary spending.." I feel very strongly that this is a good thing to pass and that it is a issue that has been needed to be addressed for a long while.

Projected Renovation of New Trier

New Tier High School

The Frightening Numbers of Halloween

As Halloween is today, I thought about all the preparation and work so many people put into this fun holiday.  For me, it was a grand total of about 10 minutes right before school, last minute desicion to be a 'lax bro.'  However, when I was younger I remember thinking ahead months in advance and making sure that I would have the perfect outfit.  My 8th grade year was crazy as I realized that I had to spend $50 on a leather jacket.  However, much to my shock, American's will spend about $7.40 billion on all Halloween products in just 2014.  Alone, $2.8 billion will be spent on costumes.  Adding on to that, about $350 million is spent on animal costumes. It is estimated that nearly four million more people are going to celebrate Halloween this year than did in 2013.

Expenses and Statistics for Halloween

In the picture on the left there are all the statistics and numbers of how much was spent on Halloween in 2014.  It also talks about top costumes for the year.  It is interesting to see that 20% of people make their own costumes.  I love to go out and see all those super cool and well thought out costumes.  However, there is one thing that I didn't come across in my research, but what I heard on the radio; Apparently a very popular costume this year was an ebola patient and or a 'sexy ebola nurse'.  It seems funny to me that people are making such light of a serious situation. Hopefully people will think it's clever and not get too terrified by the epidemic.

ACL Insanity

This Saturday morning my alarm was waking me up at 5:15am for a 6 am practice. I watched as my teammate hobbled across the field on crutches, thanking my lucky stars that I was not the one in her place.  About two months ago, she underwent the unfortunate event of tearing her ACL... for the second time. My teammate tore her ACL freshman year of high school, and then again, two years later she tore her other ACL. She was the first of 3 girls on my team, but the only one to have to go through the extensive and frustrating recovery process twice.
Oddly enough, only a few hours later, Maryland backup quarterback, Caleb Rowe, met almost an identical fate to that of my teammate.  During practice, in a non-contact drill, Rowe kicked his left foot to the calf of his right, causing his next step to land awkwardly.  That awkward step did the trick and his left ACL was torn.  Two seasons ago, as a freshman, Rowe tore his same ACL. Now Rowe will be out for the season with a long road of physical therapy ahead of him, as recovery after the surgery can be anywhere from 6 to 12 months.

Maryland Backup Quarterback, Caleb Rowe

Rowe has now joined two of my teammates and the 150,000 other unfortunate people (most of the time athletes) who tore or will tear their ACL's this year. Each year, ACL injuries account for more than $500 million in US Health Care costs. Statistics show ACL injuries are common in teen athletes and that girls are 8 to 10 times more likely to tear their ACL's.  Statistics also show that only 30% of ACL injuries are due to contact.  70% of the time, ACL's are freak accidents like talking an awkward step and just landing funny.  Of the four ACL's that have been torn on my team, only one was due to contact. Rowe will join the 70% of the freak accidents.  It truly is a long recovery process and it takes a lot of motivation from a lot of different people to get back out on the field. Hopefully Rowe and my teammate will be back faster than they think, as I am sure they are telling themselves for the second time.

Are the Police Fighting Us or Protecting Us?

October 12, 2014. St. Louis, Missouri, at least 17 people were arrested after refusing police orders to disperse from a sit-in outside of a convenience store. Aside from the arrests and some pepper spray, the protests were peaceful. The protests were taking place in a St. Louis suburb very close to Ferguson, where earlier this summer an unarmed black teenager was shot dead by a white policeman.  To make matters worse, according to the Chicago Tribune, another "fatal shooting of an African-American teenager by an off-duty cop last week inflamed tensions." The fact that there have been two shootings similar to one another is causing lots of chaos and the people of St. Louis are getting very upset.  It is horrifying and frankly disturbing to me that these two deaths have occurred in such a short period of time, very close geography wise and by the very people who are supposed to protect us.  This brings up a very important and serious issues of race and discrimination.  People were protesting the Ferguson shooting because of how it brought up the fact a white police officer shot a black, unarmed teen, raising the ongoing dilemma that discrimination is truly still a major problem in our society today.  We saw the protest bring police to the scene to make sure that everything stayed peaceful.  However, just like in Ferguson, police were fully armed and equipped with face masks.

Comparison of Ferguson to Birmingham in 1963

This picture shows the similarities between Birmingham in 1963 during the Civil Rights movements to Ferguson.  The photographer who took this photo was quoted saying, “It looked like soldiers. And soldiers’ job isn’t to protect. Their job is to kill people and to be ready to die.” A policeman's job is to protect and if they are being compared to soldiers ready to kill, the people won't feel safe. 

I think it is very interesting to now add this third image in.  All of the police still look as if they are soldiers instead of police officers and it is crazy to think that perhaps we are fighting against the desire to eliminate discrimination with soldiers.  Is everyone truly protected?

Is Crossing our Fingers Enough?

Recently the nation has been clouded with fear of a highly contagious, deadly virus that has now entered the United States: Ebola.  The reason Ebola is so easily spread is because it is transmitted through bodily fluids.  So for example, that guy on the bus who just coughed all over your face, could be giving you a deadly disease. Someone who has ebola might not even know it for up to three weeks.  Symptoms can take anywhere from two to twenty one days to present themselves after exposure. Many common symptoms are high fever, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle pain and unexplained bleeding or bruising.  As of right now, there is no cure or vaccine for ebola.  However, researchers are trying like mad to try and find both a cure and a vaccine. The problem is some people feel like not enough is being done to cure it because it is taking too long. We can sit back, cross our fingers and hope it doesn't spread and wait to hear, or we can get down to the grit and work to find a cure.

 Just this past week, Eric Duncan, was taken to a Dallas hospital where he was and remains the only person in the United States diagnosed with Ebola. A top federal health official said that a man [Eric Duncan] was "fighting for his life" and expressed confidence that the disease would not spread widely to those with whom he had come in contact.

I thought it was very interesting, as my brother attends Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, that my mom this past Friday received a letter from the school assuring parents that they were closely monitoring the information about the Ebola case.

I never really thought about it until my mom showed me the email, but the possibility of Ebola breaking out right near a college campus is a terrifying thought.  Disease would be running rampant throughout a college campus. Without a cure, it would be frightening to have our future of bright minds be compromised by a fatal disease.  Luckily, we are doing everything in our power to isolate this one case and stop it from spreading.  Fingers crossed my brother won't have to worry about it!

Four Women Collegiate Athletes Killed By an Unknown Distraction

This past Friday, four women from a Texas Community College's softball team were killed when their team bus was rammed by a truck.  Russell Staley, 53, the driver of the truck, was headed Northbound on Interstate 35 when he got distracted and proceeded to drive straight through the median, collided with the bus and then continued on for another 300 feet even after the impact. "He (Staley) said he was distracted by something in the cabin,' said Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Ronnie Hampton, who declined to say what the distraction was.  He said investigators don't necessarily agree with Staley's explanation." Investigators are still working to see if the brakes were applied by Staley, because as of right now nothing was wrong with the trucks brake system, but they are downloading the truck's data recorder, which would show if the brakes were applied. Below the picture shows the damage of the truck after it had gone barreling through the median and collided with the bus.

Damage to Staley's Truck

 It seems very cruel that four young college women lost their lives on behalf of a distraction in a car.

Distractions in cars are everywhere now, especially in this day in age with our technology.  For example, someone texting while driving endangers themselves with a chance that they are 23 times more likely to crash.  Some might say well obviously texting would create a bigger distraction, but phone calls would be fine. Wrong.  Talking on a cell phone while driving can make a young driver's reaction time as slow as that of a 70 year old. There are tons of things on the road to distract drivers and In 2012, 33,561 people died in motor vehicle accidents, the first increase in numbers since 2005. Clearly, drivers can get distracted very easily, causing many fatalities. Hopefully upon further investigation, the police will learn what the true distraction was and hopefully be able to provide some comfort to those who lost loved ones in the crash.  

Numbers Can Decieve

Growing up in the so-called bubble of the North Shore, I can't begin to imagine having to be scared of the possibility of being shot as I walked across my backyard. Unfortunately, 9 year-old, Antonio Smith, suffered this tragic fate, when he was shot in a backyard after running out of his home.  Allegedly, his mom had not allowed him to eat a cupcake he had asked for and, as any 9 year-old with a sweet tooth would do, he got angry with his mother and ran out of the house. As he was running from his mother, 4 men were driving around looking for rival gang members.  Just as the four men found two of their rival gang members, Antonio Smith was in the backyard of a house right there and he was yelling.  One of the convicted men, Derrick Allmon was ordered by another, Jabari Williams, to shoot the two men of the rival gang.  Smith started screaming to warn the two men of their attack and so he turned and shot Smith multiple times in the chest, wounding him fatally.  Derrick Allmon, 19, Jabari Williams, 22, and Michael D. Baker, 19, all face first-degree murder charges in the death of Antonio Smith.   After the shooting occurred, the hand gun that was used to kill the child was thrown into a sewer and his body was found a few feet away from a railroad track that has served as a boarder between the two gangs for years.  Unfortunately, this is not a super uncommon problem, but gang violence and all crime in Chicago is something that has caused a huge struggle for years. 

Crime in the city of Chicago has been sky rocketing in the past.  For example, the murder rate in Chicago in 2012 was almost four times higher than New York City and 2.5 times higher than Los Angeles.  To put in perspective, Chicago's population is nearly three times smaller than New York City's and almost half as big as Los Angeles's population.  However in recent years crime rate has gone way down, and the Chicago Police Department is taking drastic measures to try and keep it down. 

 This graph shows the continued decline of all crimes in chicago from 1993-2013. However, as this article goes on to point out, people capatalize on, wow, murder rates are down 18 percent and crime is down 23 percent in total.  However, people just tell them what sounds good.  In reality, we had more deaths in 2012, with 507 murders, than any other city in the nation. It is deceiving to look at the numbers because despite the fact that crime is decreasing, it is still a very pressing problem within the city. Hopefully something can be done to get these numbers and statistics even lower so kids like Antonio Smith don't have to be worried about being shot in the backyard. 

The Never Ending Cycle of Abuse

The horrors of coming from a family where the child is beaten unfortunately is not as uncommon as we would like to think. An incident of child abuse in the United States is reported every ten seconds.  Unfortunately superstar running back Adrian Peterson has joined the unsettling numbers of abusive parents towards their children. He follows the disturbing statistic that 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the appalling cycle of abuse.  Peterson turned himself in early Saturday morning to Montgomery County, Texas, authorities and was released about a half hour later after posting the $15,000 fine.  It was emphasized, "It is important to remember that Adrian never intended to harm his son and deeply regrets the unintentional injury." Child abuse is a horror that clearly is not right, but can we really blame Peterson if he was brought up with a stiff hand and that is all he knew? 

In the reports the child had cuts and bruises all up and down his legs, allegedly from a tree branch that Peterson had used to discipline his four year-old son. The picture shows the police evidence of the beating of Peterson's son. "He used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in East Texas. Adrian has never hidden from what happened." He never knew anything different, and only was carrying on what he learned from childhood.  I am not suggesting that this is right in any way shape or form, no child should have to go through being beaten, but it is a controversial idea that if maybe he had been taught differently, he would not resort to inflicting the beatings upon his own children.  Apparently Peterson sent a text saying, "Never do I go overboard! But all my kids will know, hey daddy has he biggest heart but don't play no games when it comes to acting right." It seems very ironic that Peterson was beating his child when trying to teach him to act right.  Last time I checked, beating a child doesn't qualify as "acting right." Now we create the potential problem that his child will one day continue the vicious cycle of beating his own kids to teach them how to act right. 

The Cuts and Bruises Caused by Peterson's Abuse

(What) Would You Rate Yourself?

Today I had a huge wake up call that really got me thinking about society and judgement when my soccer coach was very unhappy with our team's performance. Instead of screaming at us at the end of the game, he took a pen and a piece of paper and wrote down every girl's name and gave them a number and a comment.  Each girl received a number on a scale from one to ten that rated our individual efforts with a comment beside it, mostly saying what we had done wrong.  Receiving a five meant that you were at your average ability of play; one girl received a five, while only one other received higher than a five.  Needless to say, it was not the best showcase of our abilities. Many of my teammates were very clearly upset and there really was not any chatter as we all walked off the field, lost in our own thoughts.  Everyone I'm sure, was going over every last detail of the game and thinking about how they played and what they could've done to make a greater impact on the game. Being presented with those numbers and few words, made me wonder about why we judge and rate ourselves and others.

Not only did what my coach did get me thinking about myself, but it also got me thinking of others on my team.  It is so interesting to see how quickly people turn to judge others.  Especially in a group of 20 or so sixteen year old girls, I am sure there were plenty of negative thoughts and feelings of resentment for some girls who thought they should have received higher scores.  It got me thinking that people don't take judgements into consideration to see if they can change or improve, instead they ball it up inside and get angry about why they were judged.  I wanted to be able to take what my coach said and try to improve my game, instead of being angry or bitter about it.  However, in true teenage girl fashion, it is very hard not to be offended when someone says something negatively towards you.  It is much easier said then done to just brush it off and pretend like the words don't have any impact. So naturally, the easiest thing is to point the finger and put the blame on somebody else and say, it's her fault that we lost.  But in reality, we are just targeting those others, to cover up for our own mistakes or maybe even guilts.

I thought that this was very similar to how we objectify celebrities.  Celebrities are constantly in the spot light and always have a camera pointed their way, or somebody trying to get the dirt on them. We point the finger at them and emphasize what they have done wrong. Recently, Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton both had nude photos hacked from their own personal devices.  The media has exploited them and are even going to such sickening extents as to put them in a life size exhibit.  However, what most of the public seems to be obsessing over is the fact that they even had these photos in the first place.  Why would they take that picture and have it on their phone? They know they are celebrities, they should be way more careful with what they do. "Dear Ms. Lawrence, its your own stupid damn fault."  The judgements are brutal and they are endless. But as that second article goes on to say, celebrities are human, too.  They just have more eyes watching their every move so that the second they make one mistake, everyone knows it.  The title says it all; Why Do We Consider Hurting Celebrities 'Fair Game'?  Is it really necessary that the hackers expose these personal photographs and create even more controversy and judgment that these women will have to deal with? The media is fueled by judgements and gossip from the mistakes celebrities make.  But we are all human, we all make mistakes.  Is it possible that we could be projecting our feelings of guilt or hiding our mistakes in the wake of those who are more famous? Could we be judging our celebrities and putting the blame on them, just the same as my teammates judged and blamed one another after the game?

Thinking back on my number, I was upset at first.  I thought it was so dumb and I questioned why would my coach ever give us those ratings and comments. After thinking a lot about it, as much as it seemed obnoxious or rude, all of it was true.  Having someone else rate me got me thinking, it really caused me to reflect and think about what I would have rated myself.  Now I am curious to see if others would reflect on their judgments and their actions and learn from it, or if they are hiding behind the truth.  What would you rate yourself?