My Final Post to Say Thank You

As there is only one week remaining of my junior year of high school, I would like to reflect on how I've grown as a student through blogging in my American studies class. To start let's rewind back to August...

"A huge part of this class is blogging. You're expected to write a thoughtful blog post at least once a week". These words were said on the  first day of school by our American studies teachers as 49 high school juniors sat anxiously waiting to learn more about  the class expectations. I have never blogged, read a blog or written short pieces weekly, so I must admit, I was quite nervous to enter the "blogging" world.

As days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, not only was I looking forward each week to write my weekly blog post(s), but I was really making my blog my own and improving my mediocre writing. Throughout my high school career I have had English teachers who teach the typical five paragraph paper. I was always just an okay writer who never pushed myself to excel and was never pushed by my teachers to look at my writing critically.

This year with the help of Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor, I have blossomed from a student who has to write, to a student who enjoys to write. I have learned things that will definitely stick with me for years to come like corroborating different sources and getting straight to the point without having any "fluff".

Being honest with myself, this will probably be my last blog post because of my busy summer schedule, so I would like to thank everyone who contributed to my 3,554 page views. For anyone who doesn't like to write, if you have the right teacher and try to approach writing from a different point of view (like blogging), you can have just as a rewarding experience as me and enjoy a life skill that will stick with you forever.

Happy Summer!

The Cost of a Cigarette

 "Tobacco's older than gummut (the government) itself"

        -Unknown present day tobacco farmer


In my american studies class yesterday we looked at the quote above and thought about this tobacco farmer's statement. It is true that  tobacco cultivation  has been around long before our country had established a government, yet there is such a large tax now on cigarettes put into effect by the government. In fact, President Obama "Has proposed a 94-cent-per-pack increase to the federal excise tax".

Smoking is the number one cause of preventable  deaths, yet people are still willing to spend so much money and risk their lives just to get their "fix". In this blog post I would like to look at how much it costs to produce a pack of cigarettes, the tax on a pack of cigarettes in Illinois (the tax varies state to state), and the profit margin that cigarette companies gain . Since the company Marlboro (made by Philip Morris) accounts for almost 50% of the total cigarette market, I thought they would be a good company to analyze.

In general to produce one pack of cigarettes before taxes in 2002, Health Canada found that it costs  98 cents per pack (Adjusted for US dollars) in 2002, which includes all the production, labor, purchasing of tobacco etc... Yet these products are being sold for over 10 times their production cost (which includes taxes).

I called my local Walgreens and found that one pack of marlboro cigarettes costs $10.25. $4.66 of that is strictly taxes. That my friend is a lot of money to spend on something that will last you maybe a day or so.
If you're wondering how much Marlboro profits, their operating margin is 30% despite all the taxes, which makes them the 2nd most profitable product in America.

If you're a smoker, maybe next time you think about smoking a cigarette, you'll think about spending that hard earned money somewhere else.

The Great Gatsby: Book vs. Movie

Warning: contains spoilers

Friday night I could not wait until 7 o'clock to see "The Great Gatsby" because after just finishing the novel, I was excited to see how director Baz Luhrmann was going to adapt the classic american novel into a movie. I would like to compare and contrast the two works and then pose a question: Why do you think Luhrmann chose to add, cut or emphasis certain scenes from the novel?

Comparisons:

Some critics think that the movie was almost "too similar" to the book. Fox News reports that the
"characters’ skewed perceptions of reality, love and distraction of materialism and their hollow notion of love" was quite similar to how they were portrayed in the book. For example, we see just like in the novel how Tom tries to win Daisy's love by giving her $350,000 pearls. That to me seems more like materialistic love than true love.
Also, the plot line is very similar, to sum it up in a nutshell: Gatsby longs for Daisy--throws lavish parties to try to win her back, Tom has an affair with Myrtle, Nick helps Gatsby in pursuit of Daisy, Daisy and Gatsby have an affair, Daisy runs Myrtle over in her car and Gatsby takes the blame, Mr. Wilson kills himself and Gatsby...You get the point the plot line was very similar. However, there were a few things left out.


Contrasts: 

There were four things that really stood out to me as different from the novel. First, There is a lack of Wolfsheim in the movie. In the novel it is emphasized quite frequently that Wolfsheim is Jewish and Nick seems to have some antisemitic viewpoints...not so much in the movie though. Let's also remember that the book was written before World War II.  Second, Tom Buchanan seems a little "too nice" in the movie rather then the book. In the movie when Tom comes to greet Nick, he is open arms and welcoming. However in the novel, Tom is described as "Arrogant...[with] a cruel body"(7) when Nick first sees him. Thirdly, Nick is narrating the movie in a psychiatric ward, making him seem like an unreliable narrator because he isn't mentally competent. Compare that to the book, Nick is just reflecting on his time in New York during his narration. Lastly, There is no relationship between Nick and Jordan in the movie, when clearly there is one in the novel. Perhaps Lurhmann wanted us to think that Nick could have had some love for Gatsby...? Maybe.

Why do you think Luhrmann chose to add, cut or emphasis certain scenes from the novel?I s there a bigger theme trying to be highlighted in the film that wasn't in the book? All comments are welcome.

"The Gatsby Collection"

   In my american studies class today we discussed different high end designers such as, Tiffany's and  Brooks Brother's creating a "Gatsby Collection" in honor of the hit remake of The Great Gatsby that is coming to theaters tomorrow across america. Now I like movies, don't get me wrong, but I am not a diehard fan of any movie that I will go out and buy clothing from a "movie collection". However, there are movie buffs all over who want to show their love of a movie by expressing it in the clothes they wear. For example,  when the  "Twilight Saga" first came out in theaters you could go to any target, walgreens, or walmart to get your "team Edward" or "team Jacob" fan gear. Sorry guys, looks like all the Gatsby fans are out of luck. Tiffany's is selling a "Daisy Buchanan" headpiece for a small price tag of $200,000. For those of you who just have some spare change laying around the house, try out Brooks Brother's collection. You could buy "Gatsby's complete look" for $1867.5.


Are these signs that we are reverting back to the 1920's way of conspicuous consumption that F. Scott Fitzgerald tried to steer us away from? Notice too that many other movies "clothing collections" are represented by walmart and target rather then the highest end of luxury like Brooks Brothers and Tiffany's.

Why do you think expensive stores are creating "Gatsby Collections"?

Empathy: the Rich vs. the Poor

Empathy. A word defined as the experience of understanding another person's condition from their perspective. Many would think that people's wealth has no correlation to empathy, but in reality

 it does. 

To test this theory, Adam Galinsky, a professor at Northwestern University, along with a research team, used the "E" test. This test is very simple. As shown in the picture above, the subjects are asked to draw an "E" on their forehead. If the subject draws it like the man in the picture to the right did, it usually means they have a lot of power and wealth with a "Reduced tendency to comprehend how others see, think, and feel". The people who draw it "forwards", so the surrounding people can read it, tend to have more empathy, less power, and less money. Why is this?

Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at UC Berkley, found that the rich, "Think that economic success and political outcomes, and personal outcomes, have to do with individual behavior, a good work ethic". In other words, in general the rich tend to think more about themselves and not other people, while in general the poor tend to think more about each other and not about themselves. 

What do you think your peers would do if you asked them to take the "E" test? 

Why is Special Education Underfunded in High Schools?

As rates of autism and other similar disorders are on the rise, I can't help but think about funding for special education. For those who don't know what special education is, it is education for physically or mentally handicapped children whose needs cannot be met in an ordinary classroom. Because there are more children with special needs, the funding should increase for the special ed. departments right? In fact, since 1980, there has been a 2.4 million increase in children receiving special education at school. 

Wrong. According to the University of Michigan, in 1975, "the legislation included the goal that 40 percent of the extra costs of the inclusion of special needs children into regular classrooms would be covered by the federal Government". However in over 25 years later, the government only provided 18% of extra costs for special education. 

Some possible reasons special education is underfunded are because people care more about core classes and tests scores. Nowadays, high schools are ranked by the number of APs students take and how well they do on the exams. Since a child who is mentally disabled will most likely not be in AP classes, they will not contribute to having their high school highly ranked. Also states issue standardized tests each year to see how well a school is doing. Kids in special ed. will generally do worse than mainstreamed kids, making the school seem that it is doing "more poorly" than it actually. 

Since kids in special ed. don't positively contribute as much as mainstreamed kids to having a "highly ranked high school" or a "successful" high school, I think their programs are unfortunately underfunded.

Why do you think special education departments in high school are underfunded?

Vaccine & Autism: NO Correlation

Vaccines save our lives from harmful infectious diseases, yet parent's are hesitant to get there children vaccinated after hearing the word "vaccine" and "autism" in the same sentence. In fact, USA Today reports that at least 10% of parents of young children skip or delay routine vaccinations.

The vaccine that many people have tried to correlate with autism is the MMR vaccine, which stands for three diseases: Measles, Mumps, and Rubella. This is a critical vaccine for infants to get because measles alone is the deadliest rash/fever illness a child can develop.


A lot of talk of vaccines and autism has sparked in the media because of  one celebrity,  Jenny McCarthy. McCarthy gained notoriety when she spoke out to the public after she believed her son developed autism after getting vaccinated. Mccarthy told Time Magazine a ludicrous belief that she thinks "it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it's their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back."To me, it  seems like McCarthy is in denial about her son being diagnosed with autism, so she is trying to find a source to blame, which is clearly not the solution because she thinks harmful diseases that "resurface" like Polio, will be the only way to make vaccines "safer" and preventative of autism.

Do you think there is any chance the vaccines cause autism?

Autism: Why is it so Much More Common in Boys?

As data from the CDC has come in, the rise in rates of autism is alarming, especially in boys. Now, the incidence of autism is 1 in 88, but in boys it is a staggering 1 in 54. I, and probably many other people are baffled by this data, so I would like to explore why it is so much more common for boys to be diagnosed with autism than girls.

First, it is important to really understand what autism is. According to Autism Speaks, autism is "Characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors".  Autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning it can range from people having trouble understanding social cues, all the way to people unable to talk and barely able to communicate basic necessities. 

Now, one reason that there is such a large gap between boys with autism and girls with autism, is there is different symptoms displayed by each sex. According to an article in CNN, one hypothesis is "That perhaps higher-functioning girls with autism are missed by clinicians who are not experts in diagnosis. [Also] girls have better social skills than higher-functioning boys with autism and so are not diagnosed as readily". Because of the difference in symptoms shown by the child, the girls are not as commonly diagnosed because of their ability to have better social skills. Also CNN reports that since girls don't engage in as many repetitive behaviors as boys, like rocking or spinning (a hallmark symptom of autism), so the lack of that symptom could be deceive to inexperienced clinicians. 

Do you think there are actually more boys with autism than girls, or are girls being misdiagnosed? 

What is Regressive Autism?

Many of us have heard of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but what about regressive autism? According to Dr. Sid Finegold, a former professor at UCLA and leading researcher on regressive autism, "As the name suggests (regressive autism), these children develop normally up to about eighteen months of age, and then they begin to go backwards". By "going backwards" these children lose their social connections, have trouble with eye connect, and develop intestinal problems.

Although, there has been limited research on regressive autism compared to ASD research, scientists and doctors have found evidence that children who are on antibiotics at a very young age tend to be the ones that develop regressive autism because they are disrupting the normal growth of the flora developing in their gut, which can then harm the brain. The diagram to the right depicts a nice flow chart of how children develop regressive autism. Although in the first chart not all of the causes have been heavily research, they give a good idea of what some of the indicators can be. 

WInnetka Teen Stabbed-Breaking News. South Side Teen Stabbed-Just Another Story.

Last night, a confrontation broke out on a quiet suburban street in Winnetka, Il. One senior boy, who attends New Trier High School, was stabbed in the chest and rushed to the hospital for non life-threatening injuries. The student, who will remain anonymous, posted a picture on Facebook of himself at the hospital and said, "Stab wounds are dope...so r punchcard lungs". Dozens of people are making statuses on Facebook saying to "pray" for this victim. However, another Facebook stood out. It read, "A person got stabbed and sent to the hospital today in a domenstic violence case in a rich white neighborhood. Dozen of murders in the southbsidehtoday and nobody mentions it".

The words, "dozen murders in south side...nobody mentions it" especially caught my attention because this Facebook user brings up a really strong point. According to Chicago Red Eye, "In February alone 14 victims have been murdered" in the south side of Chicago. These 14 murders did not catch any attention from the media because of how common a murder is in the south side. However, in Winnetka, New reporters from all over the area are capturing the story of a stabbing that left both teens alive.

Any disputes between teens that lead to violence are tragic, but what stories do you think deserve to be extensively covered by the news?

Should Bone Marrow Donors Be Paid?

This morning as I watched Rock Center, one story caught my attention about an ill child in need of a bone marrow transplant. The mother, Doreen Flynn, waged a legal battle to make it possible for bone marrow donors to be payed for their donations; Flynn thinks because of the money, many more people would be willing to donate. Throughout the years thousands of donors have backed out of bone marrow transplants, but I wonder,  if the donor was paid, would they have gone through with the procedure?

Although there are many arguments for and against Flynn's case, Jeff Rowes (Flynn's Lawyer) argues something that many people wouldn't consider. Rowes argues that, “Bone marrow is just like anything else in the world... it’s valuable. And if you compensate people for it, you’re going to get more of it, it’s just that simple”. Rowes' argument is simple: supply and demand. The more in demand something is, the more it's worth.

Rowes brings up a good point about a constant American ideal of capitalistic solutions for solvable problems. In many cases, people are willing to cooperate more if money is involved for compensation. Unfortunately, this means that the people who would donate for the good will of others, aren't praised for their charity; it's the people who would never donate before that receive the bonus of money.

This is only one example of an "American Way" to solve problems using pure capitalism,  but do you think think market based answers are always an appropriate solution?

Is Race a Deciding Factor for College Admissions?

As Seniors in high school all around the country are receiving letters of admission or rejection to colleges, I can't help but think about how someones "race" plays a role in the decision.

We would like to think that race has absolutely no factor when applicants are being looked at by admission offices, but unfortunately that's not the case.

According to the New York Times, some highly selective schools, like Rice University, take race into account when looking at their applicants. Chris Muñoz, vice president for enrollment at Rice since 2006, says, “From an academic standpoint, the qualifying records, the test scores, how many AP courses, they may all look alike,  that’s when we might go and say, ‘This kid has a Spanish surname. Let’s see what he wrote about.’ Right or wrong, it can make a difference.” 

How much a "difference" does it actually make? Unfortunately, it's very unclear at Rice University and many other institutions. The one thing we can look at however is the numbers--they can't lie. Although its a small margin, multiracial applicants being admitted is 23%, while whites are being admitted at 19%. Four percent can really make a difference when looking at thousands of applicants. 

Do you think college admissions should take race into a factor when looking at applicants? 

The Facts of Racial Profiling.

 Although we like to think that there
 is equality between blacks and whites in our country, the truth is, we are far from it. There has bee a constant struggle ever since the 1800's to treat blacks as equal as whites. We start with slavery, then to black codes, then to Jim Crow laws: The list code go on forever. Although we are no where near where we used to be, we still are racial profiling, especially when it comes to looking for suspects breaking the law to become incarcerated.


Unfortunately, people of color have been arrested at much higher rates than whites even when committing extremely similar times. The Huffington Post, "Black males had an imprisonment rate that was nearly seven times higher than the incarceration rate of white men". Seven times is such a staggering number to begin with, but we should also take population into consideration, which will makes theses numbers even more unfathomable. White people make up the supermajority at 72% of the U.S. population, while Blacks only make up a mere 13%. So, if we take population into consideration, Blacks are actually being imprisoned at a rate of 35% compared to whites.

Is it because of history that has made it harder for us to wrap our brains around that it is just color defining the people? Or is it the fact that some people are still for segregation as we have seen the many attempts to halt desegregation throughout our nations history.

Why do you think we are still "judging" people by the color of their skin? Do you think blacks are treated as equally as whites?

All comments are welcome!

Chicago: "4th Most Miserable City in Country"

When I think of Chicago, I think of the beautiful lake of the East and the bustling shops that line the "Magnificent Mile", the clean streets, and the spectacular restaurants, but According to Forbes However, "Chicago is the 4th most miserable 

city".

Why is it so Miserable? 

Well according to The Chicago Sun-Times,  “Chicago residents must endure long commutes [31 minutes on average], plummeting home prices, brutal winters and high foreclosure rates". I think the criteria of "miserable" is not met here. First, 31 minutes is not that long and with public transportation, the city is very accessible. Next, some people love winter! I could never live in a city that doesn't have a cold winter season because who doesn't love beautiful snow and cuddling next to a fire drinking a warm cup of cocoa? However, Plummeting home prices and foreclosure rates are not a good trait for a city to have. Home values have gone down 37% in the past five years and we have reached an all time high of foreclosure rates of 3.3%.

When looking at cities, one has to think of their personal opinions of what makes a city pleasing. Sure some people hate cold weather, but some people can't stand the scorching sun. I think Overall, the positive things Chicago has to offer out ways the foreclosure rates and dropping home prices making it a great place to live. 

Do you think Chicago deserves to be the "4th Most Miserable City"?

Pledge to Accept: Spread the Word to End the Word

 A few weeks from now is the annual Spread the Word to End the Word pledge to accept day. This day  brings awareness about not using the word retarded (the r-word) when talking about people with mental disabilities and or special needs.

Many people know it is inappropriate to swear in school or call people of color the "N-word", so generally they don't say these words. But the word retarded is used continuously in  day to day lives. You may hear people say,
"this is so retarded" or "you look retarded", but what they don't know is it is just as harsh and cruel as calling someone the "N-word".

Personally, every time I hear this word, it breaks my heart because I have been working with kids and adults with special needs for over six years. Since 2011 I have pledged to never say the "r-word" and to this day I have helped many people become more aware to not say it.


To Pledge Your Support Click Here

Smart Guns

 Since the Sandy Hook shooting back in December, gun control has become a more prominent issue that has been showing up all over the media. A new type of gun may make the risk of deadly shootings a lot less likely to occur, by using a smart gun. Smart Guns "fire only when a certain magnetic ring [our watch] is in contact with the handle. So, if you don't have the ring, you can't shoot the gun".

  So you may be wondering why these type of guns would be beneficial. First, it would prevent the mentally ill and children from taking a family members gun. Also, for police officers, it would prevent their gun being taken and being used against them. 

According to NBC news, each year, "600 people are killed in accidental shootings. Some say putting this technology in the gun won't stop every gun death, but could save lives". Just the fact that some lives could be saved is why this technology for guns should be implemented to prevent future shootings like Sandy Hook from happening again.

For more information, watch the video to above.

Do Public Schools Actually Have a Uniform?

Young Adult Girls wearing similar outfits after school.

Recently in American Studies, we had a conversation about if public schools actually have a "uniform".  Our teacher noticed a few years back, there was an overwhelming majority of kids who wore North Face Jackets to school. Then an even bigger anomaly occurred. I can safely say 95% of girls at our school started wearing Ugg Boots. Why is it that we don't have to dread putting on "the plaid skirt high socks" private school uniform, when we all wear very similar things anyway. The Guardian reports that "the thought of school uniforms makes some people cringe", yet why are public school students wearing similar clothing?

Why do you think kids tend to dress similar to their peers? 

Crazy Law Suit: Subway Sandwich isn't a true "foot long"

 While watching the nightly "NBC Five" news last week, I saw a very strange news story. A man named Nguyen Buren  from the North side of Chicago went into a nearby Subway with measuring tape and found out that  his footlong was just one inch shy of twelve inches.  Many would think that being an inch too short is no big deal--I mean come on, it's just a sandwich.
  But this sandwich controversy could be worth  more than just your "five dollar footlong" because Buren is allegedly seeking damages in excess of 5 million dollars for misrepresentation of a product. 
 I personally think this is beyond ridiculous and shows how desperate people are to get money. Ever since the '92 McDonald's coffee case, where a women was awarded with 3 million dollars for damages after spilling hot coffee on her lap, people will make unfathomable claims to be awarded money in court.

Do you think this man is crazy for asking for five million dollars over missing one inch of a footlong? 

Final Exam: Just Do It?

     As the first semester of American Studies has come to an end, I feel like I have become a more knowledgeable person about many different American topics and events in our history. One particular topic really stood out to me throughout the year: slavery.

    To the right, I chose to analyze a political cartoon about Nike sweatshop labor.  This artifact surfaced on an anti-sweatshop Ezine (a magazine only available on the web) right after a Bangladesh sweatshop fire in November of 2012 that killed 112 people and injured hundreds.

     This is an important American contemporary artifact because it depicts current "slave like" conditions, even though slavery was abolished over a century ago. The boss of the "sweatshop" I think is portrayed as a slave master. He has pointy "shark" like teeth, spikes on his shoes, he is triple the size of the workers. All these characteristics must instill great fear in the workers. A vary obvious feature of the man is that he is white, while all the the workers are colored, which make them look even more like "civil war era" slaves. The workers are weak, wearing the same outfit (in different colors), a minority race, and sitting on a bench working with a machine that has smoke spewing from it. If this image doesn't scream SLAVERY to you, you must be from another planet.

    This artifact relates to my American Studies class because we spent a lot of time talking about slavery, civil rights, and sweatshop labor. Throughout these past five months, our class has analyzed countless numbers of texting ranging from movies to short stories, so  I would like to analyze three different texts--a historical document, short story, NPR audio clip--and show the striking parallels between the texts and my artifact.

Why Do Schools Have Finals?

As finals are approaching quickly, students all over the country are frantically reviewing and studying everything they have learned in the semester. On the day of the final, a sleep-deprived, anxious student is not going to perform to anything close to their potential. So why do we take tests that some up four months of learning? How is it in anyway beneficial? 

Well, it's not.

According to Helium, a website where prominent writer post their work, finals "encourages students to take short-cuts and learn only what is needed for the exam, rather than rewarding those who have worked hard to learn all that they can throughout the year". Instead of having finals, we should just to learn "everything we can throughout the year", rather than studying a plethora of material the night before for an hour long test, where we are almost guaranteed to forget all the information the next day.

What do you think? Should high schools have finals? 

GDP Per Capita: Panama VS. USA

    Over Winter break I went to Panama with my family for some hiking, exploring and relaxing. While I was there, we took many taxis and one in particular really stood out. Income came up in our conversation, so my dad asked the driver, "what salary are people considered well off and happy?" Without hesitation, the taxi driver replied, "$12,000 a year; people are really comfortable and happy with that". I was quite shocked because in the US poverty line is roughly $11,000for one person. However, in Panama, the poverty line is roughly only $1,150. I wonder, why are the numbers are so different?

 Well, to really understand we have to know the  GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita between the two countries. According to nations encyclopedia, the USA average gross income is $36,300, while  Panama's is only $5,900.

Have you been to another country that has a low GDP per capita?