20. April 2009 by student.

Everyone knows what they are, and today majority of your friends have them.  One of technologies newest inventions and a great one at that for a profit.  Today anyone with a Blackberry can access internet and text messaging immediately with just one click of the “trackball.”  These devices have an intelligent feature called BBM (Blackberry Messenger) where you can text message and it will save like an instant message for the enjoyment of the customer. Now I question here, how addicting can these blackberries be?  How many times a day can you check your Facebook now that you have hip held internet access? You can email pictures and video to a family member or friend in a matter of seconds. So are these things safe? Do they cater to the customer or the merchants?

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20. April 2009 by student.

The other day in class Mr. Andoscia asked the question can a guy and a girl be “just friends?” I thought about for a while and came to the conclusion it really depends on the situation. In two different situations I came to two different conclusions. I have a friend who I have known since I was born. Our moms our best friends and we having been spending time with each other since we were in diapers. We used to hang out every day and spend every free moment with each other. We had the nickname name of the “Toy box twins”, and when we were in middle school running for student government together we used the slogan “J&J all the way.” Our parents always told us that we were going to get married. We were such good friends we got jobs together as camp counselors. It was such an amazing time. When I was 17 and was hospitalized for a week he was there every day. He would drive up to St. Pete as soon as he got out of school and spend as long as visiting hours and often way after. Something changed a few months later. He got a girlfriend and she was extremely jealous of me. I have no idea why; I have never had any type of attraction to him, but she seemed to think we were secretly in love with one another. I did not want to create an issue with them so I just kind of backed off and let her spend time with him. As a result we kind of lost touch and he seemed to change. Now we do not hangout at all and while it makes me sad I have made a lot of new friends as a result of it. I still would be there for him if he ever needed anything, and I am sure he would do the exact same for me.

A year or two ago I became really close friends with one of my other guy friends. We began spending a lot of time together. We have a pretty big group of friends so often times we were hanging with the group, and when we were not he and I would hang out. When we were not together we would be texting or talking on the phone so there was not much time without him somehow in my life. About a year ago he decided to call me at 2 in the morning and he was acting really strange on the phone and so I said Jon what is wrong? Then all in one breath he says, “Jenn I like you.” Click. He hung up the phone. So I am lying in my bed wondering what in the world that was all about. The next day we went to my friends party and he was being really weird, and he tried to act like the call was just some joke and he made up a story about how he lost a bet. I felt really awkward because I did not have any feeling for him, and I saw him as my best guy friend. The next few months were pretty weird. Because of his confession I constantly felt uncomfortable around him. I felt like we could no longer be as close of friends. We began fighting and he began knit-picking at everything I would say to him. Needless to say it is a year later and we are stuck in the same place. I do not even speak to him anymore.

So, can a guy and a girl truly be “just friends?” I think it is a question that probably will never be answered because you get varying stories that can change your opinion about it.

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20. April 2009 by student.

While many people lit up this morning, I logged onto my only addiction, Facebook. To only find myself reading ” Happy 4-20″ on almost every single one of my friends statuses. I would usually sit on Facebook for quite sometime and lurk but on this morning I was so irritated with everyone, I just logged off. Why does everyone seem to think today is a holiday? There are so many myths of why 4-20 is some sort of national smoke day. I’ve heard more different people that it was a cops code for there being marijuana on site. But who then made it a holiday? I may just hate this day so much because I don’t smoke weed and never will. I’ve never preferred it and I think its expensive and useless. Why would I spend ten or fifteen dollars on a little piece of plant to get high? I rather just go shopping with that money and have something to enjoy for a longer period of time. You may think I’m crazy for comparing smoking weed to shopping but its just the way my brain works. I did a little research and went to www.concept420.com, I figured if someone took there time out to make a website about this day maybe they know there stuff. This day has been an important part of the weed smoking culture since the 1970’s. I think its the one day all pot smokers get to brag about what they do. I don’t think its something that should be bragged about, ever. It’s a drug and always will be. Its not legal and I don’t think some people realize that. Christmas and Easter are holidays not today. 

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20. April 2009 by student.

After almost 25 years of having the drinking age legally be 21, many still believe that it should be turned back to 18 again.  When my parents went to college, they were legally allowed to go out and have a couple beers.  It’s understandable that since the law was changed to 21 that there are statistically less accidents and such, however there are STILL occurring problems. Underage drinking is a huge problem these days and it is striking a younger and younger population each and every year.  What if the legal age was moved back to 18? Would people go buck wild and take advantage of the opportunity? Most likely. But hopefully that would grow old very fast and America could handle drinking like the countries in Europe do.  In Europe teenagers are introduced to many different kinds of alcohols at the dinner table and family functions to get an acquired taste and tradition to the alcohol.  They do not take advantage of intense binge drinking like kids do here in the states. I believe that if America took this big step towards the future, that in the end, it will be better for everyone. Kids will get to be around alcohol more and realize that it is not something to play around with because it causes many problems and in the worst cases, even death. 

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20. April 2009 by student.

 Years ago, it was much more common to see a jungle gym in the backyard of someone’s house.  Today and for the past few years, it is more common to see a Play Station II or X Box 360 in the playroom with an empty backyard.  Children are not spending their playtime in the sun and having fun, and it is increasing the rates of obese kids and holding them back from their maximum capacity of imagination and learning. When I was young, my sisters and I were never really allowed to have a Nintendo in the house.  My mom did not feel like we really needed it and we were too young to really argue with her so we didn’t feel like we were being deprived of anything.  Don’t get me wrong; we had plenty of movies and other toys that we would play with, but never something that would require us to sit in front of the TV for hours at a time.  I was almost fifteen years old before I saw a play station in our house, and the entire reason we got the machine was for Dance Dance Revolution.  I see today how kids depend on their electronic fun inside all day with no room for education and appreciate what my mother did for my sisters and me.  My imagination grew much larger by being outside with friends rather than on the living room floor yelling at a TV screen.  And today statistics have proven that these video games have done nothing positive for those spongy-like growing brains. 

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20. April 2009 by student.

When sitting and trying to write a paper, the majority of college students have encountered a common writing block. This block is otherwise known as Facebook. A social networking site that was intended for only students at Harvard University.  Eventually the website expanded to other students around Boston to keep in touch with each other and see what other schools were doing. Today, Facebook is a website that you may join if you are at least 13 years old with a valid e-mail address.  So how much has this website affected our generation? A lot. Myspace had almost the same intention as Facebook but did not have as big of a success rate. Society has joined in on this inter-web convenience to keep in touch with friends of all ages. Yes, it has its pros and cons just like any other internet networking site, but just how serious are these problems? Would you want your parents to have a Facebook and see what you have been up to lately? Would you like a colleague to see embarrassing pictures of you that surfaced from a bad night that you had? All of these things should be taken into consideration when each individual signs up to have a Facebook account. One amazing thing I found society could appreciate from facebook is keeping in touch with family in all the positive ways. Over this past summer my 12-year-old sister flew to Greece to spend 3 weeks with family she had not yet spent time with before. Before she knew it those 3 weeks were gone and she had to return back to the states way too soon. Today, my sisters, parents and I all keep in touch with the family we have in Greece over Facebook. They can see what we’ve been doing lately, how we’ve all grown up, and what we have planned for the future. So Facebook… Friend or Foe?

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20. April 2009 by student.

While traveling to the lovely state of New York recently, I have found that even though it has been almost a full eight years since the 9-11 attacks, I still find myself racially profiling people in the airports. When the Twin Towers attack happened in 2001, I was severely effected from it for a reason I still cannot explain. I felt as if something bad was going to happen close to my home and was too young to realize what was really going on. After I grew out of the terrible anxiety, I realized that there is a big world out there and world peace is not something in the 10 year plan.  I had to quickly snap out of the fact that I was profiling these innocent people in the airport and think about the big picture.  So as I put my bag through the security check, I wondered if I was the only one who still had negative thoughts through my mind? Or was my paranoia affecting me and only me?

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20. April 2009 by student.

We’re living in the 21st century, and physicists are currently shooting really cool little particles at each other in Europe.

But we still have mouthbreathing closet-homosexual evangelicals preaching the dangers of love? Women are still being enslaved, dressed up like ninjas, and executed by groups of bearded, livestock-fucking old douchebags?

wat.

I propose that theists are now obsolete, and only an obstacle to the further advancement of humanity–and for that matter–life itself. How many billions in funding have we withheld from the scientific community because of grumpy old Christians, and their grumpy old opinions? Imagine how much better the middle east would look right now if most of it wasn’t ruled by flat-out anti-science theocracies; imagine how many less dead bodies there would be.

How many Christians have you met that gave a fuck about habitat fragmentation, or deforestation, or climate change? I’d wager not many. I mean, if you believe that there’s some magical sky wizard up there that will take care of everything, surely he’s not going to let us hurt his creation right? Even if he did, Jesus is going to come down and whisk all the good, moral, gay-hating Christians away and destroy the world anyway, so it’s not like it matters. Well, that’s what he leading evangelical group in the U.S. says anyway.

And really, when you see some XBOX HUEG, earth-destroyer SUV, or some truck with matte spraypaint camo patterns and a lift kit that couldn’t possibly get more than .5 miles to the gallon, it’s safe to bet the driver isn’t a Dawkins fan.

Funny too that all the presidents who refused to make concessions for climate change were Christians. And before you say “Obama is a Christian”, protip: he’s not, he recognized that it isn’t possible in this often ass-backwards country to  elect an atheist, so he pretended.

If you’re a Christian, Muslim, or associate with any religion that takes precedence over the lives of others, do us real people a favor and either read a few non-religious books with an open mind, or find some creative way to kill yourself. Rollerblading into a volcano would be a pretty cool way to go.

Happy 420.

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20. April 2009 by student.

This really doesn’t have anything to do with social problems but I found an old poem I wrote many years ago and thought I’d share it with some intellectual people…. no feed back necessary. Hope you enjoy.

Love Poem

Love can be so pure, love can be so wrong, some people will do anything for love anything at all. Have you lost all hope, have you lost all faith? Can you express what it means to love in your very own way?

Love is so strong and by many untouched just like the rose that represents much. When you lose the one you love your heart becomes many pieces of saddness surrounded by memories.

There is no cupid, the only cupid would be you, your choice for liberty can only be made by you. For whom do you live, whom do you thrive? What exactly does it mean to have someone by your side?

When love is gone it sometimes never returns, you remember the feelings you shared, the fire that burned. You want and seek the meaning of life. If she really cared for you, she would have looked you in the eye.

The truth is revealed when you open your heart. If you embrace what you believe you won’t be lost in the dark. Miserable souls can be helped with a little bit of love and a little bit of wealth.

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20. April 2009 by Mr. Andoscia.

Some really great stuff.  Keep them coming.  And the comments are great, as well.

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