Freaky!
Hey all, as timely as last Friday’s, pre-formal annoucement urging students to avoid “freakin’” at the Pima Air and Space Museum Saturday night comes this controversy out of Texas: “Freaked Out: Teens’ Dance Moves Split a Texas Town”.
Oh, Kevin Bacon, thou shouldst be dancing at this hour: freakin’ teens hath need of thee!
Linkjam!
“LinkJam!” is a new feature I’ve decided to implement on the site. It’s my own delightful take on “logjam”. A linkjam happens when I get backed up posting links to text or a sties that I think may be relevant to class. Logjam/linkjam. Get it?
Instead of writing a post for every neat link I think may complement something we’ve discussed in class, which can be time-consuming, I’ll post a few links at a time with a little description about each.
Mike A. asked about Stephen Colbert’s recent effort to get on the South Carolina presidential primary ballot. The satirist was unsuccessful in his home state, but found support in Virginia: “Colbert in Three-Way Tie for Water Board Seat”.
On the topic of elections, it seems some of the post-secondary members of your Generation Y cohort are more materially- than politically-minded: “Most at NYU say their vote has a price”. God bless America!
Finally, for APELC students, as we prepare to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, take a minute to read over this article about a recent investigation by the Pew Research Center: “Study: Black pessimism worst since 1980s”. Consider this reality as we begin to see the world through the lens of Malcolm X’s worldview.
Think You’re Challenged?
Whenever I hear students wonder aloud why their lives must be filled so with untenable adversity, I try to offer something that might help them realize the advantages they enjoy, advantages they may daily take for granted. And I don’t just mean the manifold opportunities they have at school or the variety of choices they have living in free-market America. I mean something even more fundamental, something like the use of their hands. Thus this recent USA Today article on foot and mouth painters: “Disabled artists get broad stroke of resilience”.
I’ve mentioned foot and mouth painters to students many times before, almost every year with every new batch of kids that come through my door, and highlight what a man or woman can do if he or she is determined despite seemingly insurmountable odds:
Dig that.
“Student Collapses”
No homily, no lesson, no comment―just a sad story: “Student collapses, dies after taking test”.
What Age to Drink?
Here’s a fun one. One of the standard topics floating around the agora is that which relates to the age at which it’s legally permissible for people to drink alcohol. So dear is it to many young people’s hearts that it became a point of discussion at the Dartmouth Democratic debate in September, which engendered the following piece at ABC News, “Group Stirs Debate on Legal Drinking Age”.
I’m always particularly interested in how students and other young people tend to work this issue out. Of course, the standard line goes something like this, because I (any young person under the age of 21) am old enough to vote and to enlist to fight and perhaps die for my country at the age of 18, I should also be allowed the right to consume alcohol at 18 also. Interesting, although I’d argue that the reasoning is fallacious, perhaps of the common practice, even red herring varieties.
One of the main problems with this type of argument is that youth generally want it both ways, the “it” being that they be evaluated differently according to their age according to the situation. For example, while some young people I’ve spoken with have towed the lower-the-drinking-age-in-consideration-of-our-maturity line above, they’ve simultaneously argued, in defense of Monica Lewinsky, that she was young and naive when she began her indiscretions with President Clinton, that she be, if not forgiven, at least reevaluated mercifully in consideration of her age. (She was older than the legal drinking age at the time of her dalliance with the President.)
In regards to the original subject, check out this summary of the research on the minimum legal drinking age. So, what say you? Argue away by clicking the link above.
“Pushing the Limit”
Something new to be added to the annals of high school jackassery, some members of the student body at Oyster River High School in Durham, New Hampshire tried to pull a fast one on the rest of their graduating classmates. Many decided not to participate in the idiocy that their money was used for. Good for them. Here’s the story: “‘Pushing the Limit’: High School Senior Tee-Shirt Features Concerning .08 Image”.
Gotta Problem with Our Monitors?
This is what’s happening to your peers in the state next door.
More here, “School guard assault”, and here, “Mothers seek action from school after children suspended”.
What Makes Young People Happy?
The Associated Press and MTV conducted a joint poll of the nation’s young people to find out what makes them (that’s you, students) happy. You may be surprised what you reported considering where media directs our attention. Here’s the article at CBS News: “What Makes Young People Happy?”
What do you think? Leave a comment by clicking the link above.
Just Say “No” to Drawers
“Anyone caught wearing sagging pants who exposes his or her underwear will be subject to a fine of up to $150 plus court costs, or face up to 15 days in jail,” so reports the Shreveport Times of a law set to take effect in Mansfield, Louisiana on September 15. Mansfield is in the state’s De Soto Parish; read about the penalties in the town of Delcambres and the Lafourche Parish: “Louisiana’s Saggy Pants Crackdown”.
What think you? Leave a comment.
Education for Africa’s Children
As the 2007-2008 school years begins, we begin to think of the new backpacks, the new folders, the new clothes, and the new everything we need to get the fall semester started of off right. We prepare for the rigors of what’s to come in the classroom and prepare for brighter futures, but we forget, if we ever knew at all, about the situation that other less fortunate students around the world are dealing with while we struggle to determine what we’ll wear on the first day of classes: “Africa’s children struggle for education”.
Leave a comment by clicking the link above if you wanna weigh in.
Child Soldiers
A quick post with a story worth mentioning for those who take for granted our Western luxury, our opportunities to learn and move freely: One strand of slavery that exists today involves the conscription of children into loose militia-armies among whose members they’re taught to fight and kill without remorse. Thus comes something lately from the African nation of Chad: “Chad child soldiers scrutinised”, and it calls to mind the rending story of Hussam Abdo in 2004 (more here and here).
Human Rights Watch has a special page dedicated to children’s rights all over the world at the Children’s Rights Division and more information particularly on the plight of child soldiers.
Check out these posts at Rob’s Blog for more on the condition of other children, women, and men around the world:
Have something to share? Leave a comment by clicking the link above.
Update: Skaters Take It to the Streets
In response to the reinstatement of Office Joey Williams, accused-then-cleared of brutality against several teen skaters in Hot Springs, Arkansas, skaters have taken to the streets in protest: “Protesters carry boards as they oppose officer’s reinstatement”.
Justice Served?
Resourceful skaters captured the following video on June 21, Go Skateboarding Day, in Hot Spring, Arkansas. Be warned that it contains some harsh language and it’s violent (but the level of violence apparently wasn’t a problem for police officials as you’ll read).
Ostensibly, Officer Joey Williams was enforcing laws prohibiting skating on downtown streets; some details were revealed after the video was posted online: “Officer Accused of Choking Skateboarder”. The video led to an investigation of the incident, “Cops vs. Skaters: Video of Skater Arrest Leads to Investigation”, but today it was reported that Officer Williams was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident and the skaters are still set for trial: “Ark. Cop Cleared of Choking Skateboarder”.
Regardless of the skaters’ actions or attitudes, some have argued that their behavior didn’t merit the officer’s reaction. What do you think? Leave a comment above. Better yet, even though this is a local issue in Hot Springs, if you’d like to share your opinion of the incident and how it was handled with the Hot Springs Police Department, why you can find contact information on the department homepage, and you can share your opinion of the incident and how it was handled with the mayor and city officials with using the contact infomation on the elected officials’ homepage.