Brittany Spears

If I could choose one person to “vote” off my island it would be Brittany Spears. She is a down right no good icon in today’s world. The news stands are always riddled with her acts of either indecency or poor parenting.
From a very young age Brittany has always been a favorite to the press, her sexual song lyrics and provocative wardrobe provided a less than perfect example of what a young woman should act or dress like. However, her most famous mistakes came during her early parenting days. The infamous pictures of Brittany driving away in her car with her son in her lap were immediately picked up and splashed over every front. Another very famous event for Brittany was when she made out with Madonna on stage at one of her concerts. When being interviewed about “the kiss” she simply said that Madonna was a good friend of hers and that she thought nothing was wrong with it.
Brittany has done it all, from simply partying with out panties on to shaving her head to her fifty five hour marriage to Jason Alexa. Brittany has touched on every aspect of my moral thread, I feel that marriage should be respected, and that in today’s society with the divorce rate north of fifty percent it is important to get rid of people like Brittany spears who make a joke out of marriage. We also know that from many examples she has no respect for her self. I feel that women play a very important role in the development of their children. Children look to their mothers for comfort and protection, and when you have a mom like Brittany spears its scary to see how many lives she will ruin by being a horrible role model and mother.

Tv Values

In today’s world of computers and an iPods you can take anywhere, and now with new technology you can basically do anything with them. This makes downloading and sharing videos exceptionally easy. While this is all very wonderful it comes with a catch, interpretations of incorrect situations. What I mean by this is, when looking at this from say the view of a fifth grader it makes me worry about the views they will soak up. While every parent tries to be the best they can be to their child these new technologies make monitoring the air ways increasingly difficult. The clip from the hit show Family Guy depicts Stewie and Brian in Iraq, don’t get me wrong I love family guy and have probably seen every episode. Family guy in particular prides its self on making a joke of everything, just in this clip we see; extorted women jokes, gay jokes, jokes about the way the army is run, and jokes about democracy. This to a child may not be so detrimental, however in today’s society when the average American spends about fours a day watching television. Think of all the things you can do in four hours: drive to ocean city, fly to Texas, or even run a ten min mile twenty four times. My point is that for the amount of TV spent a day, and the depreciating quality of what is on, we need to watch exactly what is filling our heads.

In the United States more and more people are speaking out on the facts of abortion, a very controversial issue. In my opinion I feel abortion is a matter of choice, however that choice must be made quickly! After a certain point you have to ask yourself how long they will let you go before aborting the baby. I say baby because although it has not taken its first breath, at about 12 weeks it is fully formed making the abortion a little more than an abortion. However I believe in cases of incest or rape the mother should be granted the abortion at anytime. But on a case by case basis I feel the sooner the better.

America in crisis

When you see this sign Uncle Sam is calling you to the navy or the army or any branch of the US arm forces for that matter. The United States is in a crisis right now, I’m not talking about the economic down turn or the war in Iraq, I’m talking about the problem the United States faces with under age drinking. A very valid point made in opposition of lowering the drinking age would be that teenagers are irresponsible and don’t think many decisions through, however given the fact that most drunk driving convictions are linked to men between the age of 25 and 30.i feel that I should not be punished for the people who choose to break the law, the law should be more severe; so people don’t even think about driving home after a night at the bar as a gamble. This just goes to show that maybe the problem isn’t the age people drink rather it’s an authority issue. Think of the government as the ultra controlling parent, the American people have grown up and realized that their bigger and stronger than the once intimidating authority figure. This is still no excuse to participate in illegal activities; however I feel that if the government wants to do some good they need to crack down harder on those who are breaking the law and not punish those responsible to get a ride or just call a cab! I am a very responsible 19 year old and I feel that if I want to have a beer while having some crabs I should not be look down on, or worst get in trouble.In most European countries the drinking age is ridiculously low, making alcohol not this huge sought after beverage, like it is here in the US. However in the US you are allowed to be taken from your home shipped thousands of miles away and shot at or even killed, but Uncle Sam thinks you’re too young to have a beer. The theory behind the drinking is absolutely ridiculous; make beer and alcohol illegal to everyone under 21, than fill the media with images of how “cool” drinking is and how when you drink you will have so much fun. The same concept applies to the kid who steels his parent’s car and crashes it because they don’t let him drive it he didn’t know what to do, its better instead to slowly give privileges and not just hold them back. The same applies to the drinking age, the more you restrict it the more of a problem it will become.

less than easy life

As I sit in my grandma’s small yellow kitchen, fish circle around my head on the wall paper that surrounds the top of the walls. My grandma is busy cooking dinner for our big family dinner that night, were having black refried beans, tamales, and rice. The smell from the onions being browned over powers all the other foods filling the kitchen with their scent. My grandma standing on a foot stool to reach the back burners; my grandma has always been very small in stature, only standing four foot eleven. Despite her height she has always been the strongest woman I know.
My great grandmother died giving birth to my grandma; or Tita as we call her. She was born in Guatemala and when she was around two years old her father; Oscar Zamora re married so he would have some to look after my grandma. Her name was Eva and she hated my grandma; she tried to drown my grandma one day while she was giving her a bath, but Oscar came in to speak with Eva so she had to stop. Oscar loved Tita very much; she was his only thing left to remind him of his first wife. When Tita was 4 years old her father went on a business trip to the United States, while he was away Eva dropped my grandma at an orphanage. Eva had a fake death certificate and head stone made up so when Oscar came home Eva told him that his daughter died from cholera; a very popular disease in that country during that time.
My grandma lived at the orphanage till she was eighteen years old, and legal to live on her own. She described her experience at the orphanage to me as torture; they made her scrub and clean everything, she said that if she did not do a good job they would make her kneel on dried corn cornels for hours. She received no formal schooling, other than what she taught her self.
After my grandma was living on her own for about three years when she had to go to a doctors appointment in the city, on her way into the city she bumped into an older man who appeared to be lost she asked if he needed any help and he told her he was looking for the market. The market was on her way to her doctors office, as they walked they talked and just she he was about to leave she asked for his name he replied; Oscar Zamora, it was her father. She told me that after the initial shock they embraced and he told her to come home with him. She was tired of living in a tiny apartment and missed her whole life with her father, she decided to move back home with her father. Since she left he divorced Eva and lived a life of solitude, thinking of his two women that he lost.
My grandma now lives in the united states and loves her life she has never had anything handed to her, working incredibly hard for every little bit she has. she is the strongest woman I know conquering every obstacle life has throw her way and through it all keeping her head held high.

Parks and recreation

As I sat on the cold metal bench I peeled the paint off the arm rail and observed the park. Parks are like free outdoor gyms, all types come to exercise, show off, and socialize.
It was warm outside with a cool breeze, the kind that makes you want to breathe deep and welcome fall. The grass was soft and cool to the touch, mowers hummed on the other side of the park, grooming the grass. I could smell the fresh cut grass and taste the freshness of the day. There were tall triangular trees all over the park; the leaves were still green and clung fiercely to the branches. A large white gazebo sat in the middle of the park; it was decorated with green, blue, and yellow balloons. Upcoming concert series posters decorate the trunks of the trees.
The park was busy with bustling walkers on there lunch break, trying to squeeze in a days equivalent of exercising into a hasty loop around the park. I could hear them panting as they walk past, their feet slapping heavily on the pavement. Groups of mothers stampede through the park with their stroller’s, Nickelback blaring as they shout over the music to talk to each other. They all have some form of spandex with some type of headband along with a style of Nike running shoes, used for walking.
Two men in completely matching jump suits began their stretches to warm up for a work out. By the intensity and matching suits I could tell me, along with the whole park were in for some laughs. Naturally after a hard stretch they became over heated and had to remove their shirts, one man was tall and thin with hair that completely covered his chest and back! The other man was fairly tall with a medium build and was fortunately not covered in fur. They began to do assorted static stretches such as walking lunges and squats, making sure to flex every time a woman passed by them. They even had the audacity to stop and wave to a young mother that was clearly out there league.
Finally we come to the people who come to the park to enjoy making new friends. From what I saw this is the smallest and typically the oldest. I experienced this first hand when a small woman in her late sixties came and sat next to me on the bench. Her name was Debby, but everyone just called her D. She was small and very petite; she wore a blue sweater and jeans that just barley passed her ankles. Her skin was old and leathery and her voice was deep and raspy, I could tell she was a smoker. She explained to me how this time of the day was her favorite, she told me she has been coming to this park every morning for ten years and loves to just sit and talk with people in the park.
A park may not look like there is much going on but once I took the time to sit and watch I saw all types of people with all types of personalities.

Recall

It was December 10 1996 in downtown san Francisco. My brother and I went to get a Christmas tree with my mom. As we walked down the street from our apartment downtown I could smell the streets. The donut shops were closing, so they threw out all the donuts from the day the street smelt good enough to eat. There were lights everywhere making nine o clock feel like the middle of the day. My brother and I were always playing games to make the time pass by faster, whether it was not stepping in cracks or in this case we were playing in the steam rising from under the street. We were almost there; I could smell the pine needles as we got closer to the Christmas tree lot.
The owner was a tall thin man with a bushy grey beard; he had gloves with the fingers cut off. I think it was so he could light his cigarette, the smell coming from the smoke overpowered the pine needles causing my brother and me to relocate our self’s in a less polluted environment. As we walked along the rows of pine trees we stopped to check each tree for any imperfections in our search to find the perfect tree.
After many attempts and many rejections from my mother we finally gave up, leaving the tree picking for my mom. Naturally my brother and I needed to think of a game to pass the time while mother pondered each tree row by row. The game we chose was to see who could run the fastest from one end of the lot to the other, ducking under each beam use to hold up the trees. My brother went first, going slow as he ducked under the two by fours. I could hear the dried pine needles crunching under his feet as he hurried across the parking lot. Just as he finished my mother shouted, “You boys stop that before someone gets hurt!” My mother was always barking orders at me, so I paid no attention and started running as fast as I could across the lot. Feeling my ears and nose get colder as I breathed in the cold city air, a rush of air blew past my face as I ducked under each beam; I was going to beat my brother. Just as I passed under the third beam I slipped on a thick later of pine needles, as I fell forward I smacked my head against the beam, lucky for me there was a nail sticking out of the board. It entered right above my eye and exited through the top of my head.
I don’t remember much after that; I blacked out and woke up three days later in a small hospital room with just a dull blue curtain separating me from the guy in the next bed. My mom and dad were asleep on the hard plastic chairs next to my bed; I could see that they were tired and scared. I felt awful knowing that all this was my fault, my mom told me not to and I did it did it. I learned that even know I may think I can do anything and nothing can hurt me, mama always knows best!

Be happy

If I had to choose a bumper sticker to show what im like it would be, "be happy"

Ever since I was younger I have always seemed to get the short end of the stick in most situations. Wether it was I was always the one who got hurt, caught, and in trouble. After finding this less than fortunate skill I had for getting the worst luck. I also realized that some people don’t always get what they want, and thats ok. So to combat my skill I developed a mind set that as long as I stay happy through my bad luck it would ultimately turn out ok. For example, when I was younger for some reason I would always break bones, a very unusefull skill to poses. However it led me to the job I want, after being in and out of doctors offices and hospitals I figured out that I want to be a doctor. I am now enrolled at fcc and am majoring in bio in hopes to transfer to a university and later apply to med school. I would like to think that this is compleatly related to just being happy even through not happy times.