Who likes to chill in toilets?

Last week in class, at the marketplace of ideas, I saw a stand that's topic was "Binge Drinking". This idea was very interesting to me and after seeing the stand and the Haze video, my views on drinking has changed so much. the quote I was most shocked by was when one of the kids said that "when pledges were puking, we would continue to pour beer down their throats". This was really shocking because the kids could have died easily but the older kids continued to push them further. Obviously there really isn't a solution to this problem, due to the fact that both the greek life, and alcohol are both associated with college. History has just put all 3 of these things in a category, and now its impossible to change that. My only answer would be if kids went against the rushing part of the greek system, because honestly who likes to chill in toilets.

Closing Time

4 years, and now I am faced with my last day of school. Obviously the only word to describe this is, bittersweet. Obviously I am very excited to get out of high school and start the next chapter of my life. But the sad part is that I am leaving all the memories I made in school. Ive been with the same kids for most of my life, and after tomorrow, I probably wont ever talk to any of them again. Although that is sad, I feel like high school has been going on forever, and its time to move in. The next chapter of my life will still hold many friends and there will be many new memories made. So I guess that there are a lot of perks to being in high school but also a lot of perks to leaving high school. With the memories made, the friends made, and the teachers met, I get to leave high school and start a new chapter of my life, which I am looking very forward too.

Pads Shelter

      In class we had a Marketplace of Ideas, which highlighted many of the issues we see around the world today. My issue was on the homelessness in Chicago, and I was quickly shocked by all the facts on how many people are homeless. The thing that I found very interesting is the Pads shelter, which helps take people in off the streets. The Pads shelter has 4 different houses to accommodate different types of people. The first house is the Veterans House, which takes in any homeless veterans off the streets and provides them with dinner and beds for the night. Next is the Safe Haven which is  a house that is there to accommodate anyone with mental or physical disabilities. Also is the Family Center which houses families of all kinds, and lastly the ssesment Center which is where people stay before being assigned one of the other homes. Pads is a great shelter for everyone and allows people to have a place to stay for a month and also helps them get on their feet. Pads is partners with many local businesses and helps get the Pads residents jobs. Pads is a great place and if you are looking to help by either donating or volunteering, you can go to their website for more information.
http://padslakecounty.org/about-us/

The Fall of Chicago Sports

What a horrible year for Chicago Sports! constant let down after let down, due to injuries. Starting the bad luck was the Chicago Bears. With an excellent start to their season, many of us fans believed that they had a chance at making a run in the playoffs. All until Jay Cutler got injured making a tackle, after an interception. If that wasn't enough to make a Bears fan lose hope, shortly after, running back, Matt Forte got injured. With their 2 best offensive players injured, the Bears quickly kissed their season goodbye. Next came the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks had a good season going, and made the playoffs again. But towards the end of the season their captain Johnathon Toews got a concussion that sidelined him till the first round of the playoffs. As good as it was to have him back, it would have been better if he was at 100%. With a injured captain the Hawks started their push in the off season, until game 3 when all-star Marian Hossa got hit in the head and had to exit the series earlier than planned. With 2 teams down, the last hope for Chicago was the Bulls. Going into the playoffs with the one seed, they were predicted to do very well. All until the fall of their captain Derrick Rose, who tore his ACL in game one of their opening series. With little hope, the Bulls continued, but ended up losing Joakim Noah a few games later and eventually losing the series to the Sixers. 3 teams up, 3 teams down, as a Cub fan, I again will have to "wait till next year".

Affirmative Action

Both affirmative action and racism have to do with discrimination against a group or individual. In a sense, affirmative action uses racism to fight racism, and as every child learns growing up “two wrongs never make a right.”Affirmative action is just another form of racism and is promotes judging people based on their color. Martin Luther King Jr. had, “a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Affirmative action completely opposes Dr. King’s dream that his kids would not be judged by the color of their skin. Martin Luther wanted to put an end to racism and make it so that when his kids applied for college they would be judged appropriately. In 1978 Allan Bakke was a white male who got rejected two separate times by a medical school that instead accepted less qualified applicants strictly because of their race. Since Bakke felt cheated, he took it to the Supreme Court, and in turn “The Court ruled that inflexible quota systems used by affirmative action programs violated the law, yet, in the same ruling, upheld the legality of affirmative action programs” (Stewart, Chuck). Now how is it fair that minorities are getting spots which others who are much more qualified are getting deferred from? 

Practice makes perfect

After reading the article, “If I were a poor black kid”, I have mostly agreed with the author. He was very specific throughout the article and give different situations, and how he would approach each situation. I don’t think that race is greater than hard work, and I think that if someone works very hard, they will get out of any situation they are in and succeed. I feel like that there are many kids that have the opportunity to get ahead but for one reason or another, they choose not to. The kids have the resources to work hard, but not everyone has the resources to succeed. Although the article made it sound very easy for everything to fall in to place in order to succeed, I don’t think that everything will just fall into place. But I think that hard work goes a long way, and if someone keeps working at something then they will succeed at it.

Guest Speaker

Recently in Issues, we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about wrongful convictions. Terrel Swift was a member of the "Englewood Four", a group of men who were wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a Chicago woman in 1994 after confessing to it as juveniles. Terell talked a little about how it all happened and life after prison. The most moving activity we did was the one when we first walked in. Everyone just signed the piece of paper without even wondering what they were signing. Although it wasn't severe, it did get its message across. The only reason that everyone signed it I think is because we were told to sign it as we came in and everyone was more concerned with sitting down than reading what the paper said. It is crazy to think that there are so many people who actually get tricked by cops to sign a confession for something they didn't do. I look as Terrel as a role model because he is going out even after he had to serve time, and trying to put an end to wronful convictions.

White Like Me

After reading the chapter "Privilege", I agree with what Wise was saying. Wise opens up talking about how Whites say the past is not their fault and the racism cannot be undone, But are also quick to take credit for the good things that happened in the past. He talks about stories about when he was in school, and how being white was a privilege to him, and how it helped him succeed. He points out that 9 out of every 10 teachers are white, which makes teachers teach from a white lens. He did a convincing job showing this by giving a story from when he was in college. When he was in college, he missed a whole exam, and walked into one a few hours late. He ended up being able to make up the exam he missed and was able to walk in late(which was against the rules) to the other. He even realized that he was very fortunate for  both of them and even though it might not have to do with his skin color, he felt like being white helped. He felt that "Black or white students in that situation would not only bear the pressure of having dropped the ball; they would further carry the burden of wondering whther they had dropped it, in the eye of authority figures, on behalf of their entire group"(23). So Wise found 2 seperate priveleges off of that scenerio, and I agree with him on both. Many people may not agree with his next statement, but "race shapes lives".

Hidden Bias

After taking the hidden bias test, I was pretty interested by the results. The results showed that I prefer Whites more than Blacks. I was shocked by the results and think that although there may be some bias involved, I don't think that the test can really depict them. The test just broke things or people up into four groups. I don't feel like they can find a bias by asking you to put the people into a specified group. I could guess that there would be a bias though because I have grown up my whole life in a community that is mostly white and along the way there have been a few different races that have stepped in to my life. I wouldn't say that I'm leaning completely towards whites because I have friends that are different races and view them the exact same way as anyone else.  Even when I was younger I grew up with a neighbor and good friend that was black. So I feel like this test might find some bias, but I don't think that the results that were shown were right. Also at the end it had a survey that asked questions like "what religion are you?" or "how religious are you?" And by those answers I think they can alter the final result and place you into a different category. Do I think the test was completely right? No but I do think it was a good test but had flaws.

Final Thoughts in my Final Book Report

Alright so in the last four posts I have walked you through the book and explained how I felt about each portion. So I'd like to take this final post to explain my final feelings and bring closure to my ideas. I'm going to start with how remarkable it was of Sudhir to do this research and to be able to write about it. I would recommend this to everyone mostly to people who are of wealth, so that they can get a glimpse of what its like to be in someone Else's shoes. Getting this inside look really changed my perception of our country as a whole and of gangs. I used to think that gangs were all bad, but after reading this I have seen the positives of them. Gangs provide security and discipline in a lot of areas that don't have a strong police force, and that are looked down upon for being of a lower class. Although that shows a strength in the gangs, it also shows a flaw in our countries criminal justice area. Living in Deerfield I am surrounded by a strong police force that makes sure that everyone is safe, but as I go to college I know that I am going to encounter areas that are not as safe as the town I live in. Seeing Sudhirs Story play out, through the different views I have been exposed to these flaws. This book to me was an eye opener, and to be honest one of the only books that I have been eager to read. I would recommend this to everyone and hope that it can open the eyes of others like it did for myself.

Blinders Book Report 4

Alright I decided that I'm going to take a swing on the rest of this book, in order to change up my blog type. Its time to breakdown Sudhir and what he has done. Throughout this book we saw him in his gang life, and now at the end he is reflecting back on it all and realizes the huge change on his views of life. He grew up thinking everything was one way but everything ended up being ass backwards. The more and more he learned the more and more he was changed.
I really wish I could have take a step in his shoes because growing up in the north shore I have really been blinded from all the bad in the world and the different life styles. It would be great to see how Sudhir did it all and be part of what he did. I think that it would be a life changing experience and something that can not be fully taken in by some book or documentary. I would love for the opportunity to do that. 

Book Report 3

Sudhir is now close with the gang and wants to get a different outlook on his research. He then goes to Ms. Bailey who is the Tenant of the Robbert Taylor Homes, and really helps out the needy. Although he is with Ms. Bailey, he quickly realizes that everything ties back to the gang. When a fight occurs and she is forced to send the gang after Beebee, Sudhir ends up in part of the fight. The reality then starts to hit.
This book continues to highlight how much power the gang has. Through out this book I keep looking for different issues to dig deeper into, but I am truly stuck up on how much power the gangs have and how little control the criminal justice system has. I don't why I can't get past it, but seeing such a big flaw in the system makes me wonder more and more how safe the U.S. truly is. Throughout my church career we have gotten into discussions about safe countries and states, and the realism of this whole thing is really freaky. Instead of police officers, there are gang members that set disciplinary rules for the town to abide by. I can not imagine what that would be like.
Also another freaky thing that Sudhir is now basically in the gang because he took part in the fight, which unintentionally stated his side. I'm curious to what is going to happen him next and am really starting to wonder if he will make it out of this alive.   

Book Report 2

Now that you have gotten a feel for what the book is about, I have decided to summarize a little less and try to just pull out some issues that arise and things that stood out to me in these few chapters. To start off both something interesting and an issue that occurred is that the town is basically run by the gangs and that the police really don't do much. The gang resolves issues with money or with physical punishment. I was quite amazed with how the people in the town function under the gang. At one instance there is a women who is chasing this man who illegibly raped her daughter, and instead of the police getting involved the gang stops her and calms her down. It was an eye opener to me because the United States is supposed to be such a safe place, but in places like the projects there is very little, if any, police support and so much violence.
Chapter 4 was when it really got exciting and Sudhir finally gets the chance to be gang leader for a day. Sudhir and J.T. have had many arguments on how the town is run and how the people are dealt with, and now that Sudhir is the leader of the Gang he is quick to tell J.T. that he doesn't like the violence and that he wants nothing to do with it. I honestly love how Sudhir views it all, and quite frankly I find it hard to understand how anyone could run a society like this. Sudhir has to deal with a small issue dealing with money, and has to punish Otis. I really had no interest in that issue of the money but hearing J.T. talk about how the projects doesn't really have any criminal justice by police officers and the only way to keep the town in order is by giving out consequences from the gang, really got to me. As I said earlier the idea of safety and justice in America has completely been shaken for me by reading this book