3rd Quarter Blog

Hi Mr. B and Doc Oc! This is my favorite post from this quarter :)

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Fish Are Friends, Not Food

I was scrolling through the internet this afternoon and I came across an article that really shocked me.  A fisherman was killed by a swordfish when he was impailed by its bill.

The victim was a 47 year-old Hawaiin fisherman named Randy Llanes. According to the guardian, Llanes speared the fish, but as it struggled to escape the spear’s line got tangled in a mooring anchor. Caught on the anchor, the fish swam back around toward Llanes at a high speed and struck him in the chest with its 3ft bill.

It is crazy to me to think that something that seems as harmless as fishing can result in a death.  I don't think people realize just how much talent it really takes to deal with fish.
Being a fisherman is one of America's most deadly jobs.
It is odd to me because when I think about fish, I think about that classic line from Finding Nemo "Fish are friends, not food".  It doesn't seem like our friends should be killing us.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

ABC 7 Chicago Live From New Trier

Recently New Trier High School has received a lot of negative attention in the media.  It is a school that prides itself on helping others.  However, recently on a service trip, a student allegedly posted a picture of African Americans on a social media site, with a racially offensive caption.

The media immediately pounced on this and had reporters on the campus and were interviewing students.  Surely enough, it was on the ABC news and all over social media sites.

Here is a link to the article that ABC 7 News reported on about this incident.

I think, that while yes, what this student did was very wrong, that it is interesting that the media pounced.  In an afluent area, like New Trier Township, if something is off, the media seemingly always finds a way to shine a light on the wrong.  Comments by others on this incident are also stereotypes that "rich" kids could always get away with something as horrible as this.

To me, I think that it was a terrible mistake that this student made, but what I think is the most interesting is the media coverage and how people now view the area.  I feel like even more now, a "snotty" "stuck-up" reputation of people who are racist will follow students from the area.




Friday, May 22, 2015

Where Are You Going To College?

The much anticipated copy of the New Trier News came out in advisery this morning: The Destinations Issue.

Every year the New Trier News puts out a newspaper that has a list of nearly all the seniors and where they will be attending school the upcoming fall.  It is always so much fun to see where all your peers will end up and is always my favorite issue of the paper.

Interestingly, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign takes the cake with the top number of New Trier students attending this fall.  A whopping 62 seniors will be together for the next four years as they journey on in their academic careers.  Followed by University of Michigan (37 students), Indian University (28 students), Northwestern University (24 students) and Miami University, Oxford (21 students).

One thing that I noticed this year was that the paper had to include a portion that said,

"We at the New Trier News intend for the Destinations Issue to be a source of pride, not ridicule.  While there is a lot of competition surrounding the college process, this list is meant to be a source of recognition and celebration for the accomplishments of seniors, no matter what they go on to do after graduation..."

This struck me as particularly interesting because in a place like New Trier Township people would ridicule others on where they end up going after high school.  Not everyone takes the same path or will end up in college, but I think it is interesting that in our society it is assumed that kids will continue on with their academic careers.  However, it is still so cool to congratulate all these seniors on their hard work and see where they will end up.

I am so incredibly proud of all my senior friends and wish them the best of luck wherever they are next year!!!

Monday, May 11, 2015

Do You Have Power?

Today in class we were having a very interesting discussion about how you can tell who has more power in a situation. We were talking about if there were potential ways to tell if two people are having a conversation, which of them has more power.

We originally started in regards to scenes in The Great Gatsby, and talking about which character seemingly had the most power in context of what was happening in the text. For example, we talked about how Daisy, who despite talking at a murmer, held the most power when we first meet her because everyone is leaning in to hear what she has to say. She had to hold the most power in that situation or people just wouldn't listen to her.

We then listened to a report on NPR about language and power. It was very interesting that it started out talking about the filler words we use, and how two people might be more compatible based on the types of words we use. At the end, it suggested that the language we use can also show how much power we have in that situation.

It was interesting because we also heard that you cannot change your language to change your personality, but rather, your language changes when you person changes.

Are there any patterns you see in people's behavior and how they assert their power? Do more factors beside language, or lack thereof, play into who has more power?

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

The Dog Days Aren't Over

I know I am a little late on the news, but I keep seeing something that is making me so sad, dogs are getting infected and dying from the flu.  The article I was reading today said that the flu was now in 12 states!

The number one concern of many people was that they would get the flu.  However, people cannot get the dog flu.  To date, there is no evidence of transmission of dog flu viruses from dogs to people and there have been no reported human infections with the canine influenza viruses,"

As the article goes on to explain, the flu is spread from nose to nose contact between dogs, which is bound to happen when you see two dogs play with one another.  Dog owners were told to avoid dog parks and keep a tight leash on their dogs if they wanted to help avoid the spread of this outbreak.
Puppy eyes are cute, but not when they look at you because they are miserable.  Keep those dogs safe!!