Senior Reflection #3

I think the craziest thing in the last few months that's taken place has been my desperate search to find a roommate.  After making the decision to go to UVA, which was done pretty early in terms of most people deciding where to go, I posted on the UVA female roommate page in hopes of finding a completely normal girl who was also willing to room with me despite my tv show addiction haha.  Lemme tell ya, it's not that easy! I was talking to two girls at once and they ended up both getting roommates before I had a chance to even ask them! As I kept discussing my options with my friends, the whole process kept sounding more and more like a dating website than finding a roommate.  Finding a roommate that actually ends up being exactly as they say they are is also the constant struggle.  I've heard so many roommate horror stories...in addition to hearing the recent story about the heart/brain eating roommate and watching the movie The Roomate that I am now completely terrified of what I'll get.  But never fear, with all the luck in the world, my girl Jackie will hopefully be completely normal! Can't wait to see! Wish me luck!

Senior Reflection #2

  I think the absolute most memorable part of this year was the entire college process.  When this year began, I was dead set on getting into UNC Chapel Hill.  I worked my butt off and tried really hard and I really believed I had a chance to make it.  I ended up applying to UNC, UVA, Tech, JMU, Villanova, Notre Dame, and University of Pennsylvania.  It was definitely a process I do not want to go through again.  I think if I handed my dad one more essay to look over he never would have talked to me again.  I think all the schools must conspire against us diligent applicants, because I tell you not one single prompt was the same for any of my applications.  Go figure.  Not to say some of them weren't fun to write - because they were, my personal favorite being what's your favorite word and why, courtesy of UVA. However, I'm not going to lie, I personally was not a huge fan of UVA when the whole process began.  I really didn't want to end up there and I was dreading it a little bit.  Oh, but how the tides changed.  One day, I took a day trip down to UVA with Kaija for Days on the Lawn, and it was there that I realized the true potential of UVA.  Being a particularly superstitious person...the signs were all laid out for me.  We passed a Chik fil A and got free coffee and chicken biscuits on the way down.  There was no traffic along the way.  The campus was in full bloom, especially the Rotunda.  The sky was a bright clear blue and the leaves were waving in an almost-welcoming fashion.  The second we started walking on campus, I saw an Australian Shepherd puppy, coincidentally, the same type of dog I was looking into buying just a few measly days beforehand.  We happened to be there on the same day as one of my best friends from middle school who I hadn't seen in ages.  But, what really did it for me was the second I stepped into the commerce school seminar.  I had never in my life felt that a place was so perfect for me until that moment.  It was then and there that I made my decision, despite my pending UNC decision and despite everything else.  It was clear then and even clearer now, and I can't wait!

Senior Reflection #1

This weekend really just made me realize how quickly this year is all coming to a close.  I hosted my grad party on Saturday, and sitting, surrounded by all my family and friends, it really made me appreciate how much I have and have to be grateful for.  I'm so blessed to have gotten the opportunity to go to school at Herndon High School.  Ive had some of the best teachers I could ever ask for and an excellent academic experience.  I feel satisfied that I've done as well as I could these last four years and it's on to college with the only regret being leaving all the great times and people behind.  Not only have I had an excellent academic experience herrrrr at Herndon but I've also met the greatest people! I love my friends, and I'm so glad to be able to say that three of my closest friends will be coming with me next year! It's been a crazy year, but I'm pretty glad to say the work part at least is coming to a close. Shoutout to all the teachers, friends, parents and all others who've been there to support me these last four years.  Endless appreciation to you!

Current Event #4

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/06/03/passenger-plane-crashes-in-nigeria-largest-city/

A commercial airliner crashed into a three-story apartment building in Nigeria this week.  Claiming to the tower to have engine troubles about five minutes before landing, the plane crashed and killed all 153 passengers and completely destroyed the apartment building.  The police couldn't stop the thousands of people from getting near the crash site, and fire trucks, few as there were, weren't able to get into the area in order to the put out the fire.  The fire continued to burn for over three hours after the crash.  President Goodluck Jonathan has declared three days of national mourning.  This crash is the worst that Nigeria has seen thus far. It became very apparent how poor Nigeria's infrastructure is by the poor rescue efforts.  The true cause of the accident still remains unknown.

I picked this article because I thought the relation to one of our countries that we studied this year was cool and also because disasters like that are horrible and I wanted to know why it happened.  I thought the article was very well-written.  It was very informative and I learned a lot about the event.  I didn't enjoy hearing about the terrible accident, so no I didn't enjoy the article very much, but I did appreciate the ties to our curriculum this year.

Current Event #3

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-naked-face-eating-attack-20120529,0,2974308.story

Last week in Miami, a naked man, apparently hopped up on LSD made with bath salts, was found eating the face off of another man.  After the policemen who found the man told him to stop repeatedly, the man, Rudy Eugene, turned and growled at the officer.  In order to save the life of Eugene's victim, a 65 year old homeless man, the policeman shot Eugene.  It took at least four shots to bring him down.  People all over the country are calling this the beginning of the Zombie Apocalypse as several stories of cannibalistic behavior have been surfacing across the country, apparently due to this particular type of LSD.  People are still in shock at the events that have passed, and Eugene's family continues to claim that he was a nice boy and must have been drugged to make him commit this type of act. 

I picked this article because I've been hearing about the story for several days now from friends and I wanted to learn more about what happened and why.  The story kind of freaks me out.  The article was decently well-written and one of the most descriptive articles I read on the topic.  I didn't particularly enjoy the article because the idea of cannibilism freaks me out, but reading about psychotic people makes me appreciate my own life so much more.

Current Event #2

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/rich-ross-steps-walt-disney-studios-chairman-avengers-weeks-release-article-1.1064912

Many were surprised this week when Rich Ross stepped down from his role as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, especially given that the movie "The Avengers" is to be released in about two weeks time.  This movie, featuring Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America is supposed to be a major hit for the company and is estimated to make about 150 million dollars just on opening weekend.  Rich Ross just suffered the embarassment of the major let down down movie, "John Carter," which cost the company about 200 million dollars from its failure. Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, proclaims still that Ross was an excellent man for the company, but was just uncomfortable in the role of being resposible for the money the company makes and loses on its movies.  Rich Ross has worked for Disney for decades, and helped bring popular shows to Disney Channel, like "Hannah Montana," helping along the careers of Miley Cyrus and other actors and actresses like Selena Gomez and also the Jonas Brothers.  His time of departure from the company is a surprising one, and maybe more information will come to light in the next few weeks

I mostly chose this article because I love Disney, but I'm also really excited to see the movie "The Avengers."  I loved the "Iron Man" movies, and especially love Robert Downey Jr.  The article was well-written, and left me wondering with Ross actually did step down right before this huge success that's slated occur.  I'm curious if there's more to the story.  I did enjoy the article, mostly because I just did a project on Pixar for english and recognize some of the names from Disney, like Bob Iger.

Current Event #1

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118052902?refCatId=13

This summer, Hollywood will face many international market challenges with its summer releases, which are predicted to make billions of dollars globally.  This summer the producing companies will have to dodge around summer events like the Euro Cup the Summer Olympics, which take up a good portion of time and attention during the summer months, taking away from the time people spend going to see movies globally.  There are many big title movies scheduled to come out this summer, including "The Dark Knight Rises," "The Amazing Spider-Man," "The Avengers," and "Bourne Legacy," as well as several lesser-grossing films like "The Dictator," "G.I. Joe: Retalliation," and "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted."  Some other animated films like "Brave" and the next installment of "The Ice Age" are also set to come out internationally, especially during the breaks of international schools. China has begun to become a big spender on the movies Hollywood shows internationally, especially with the recently released "Hunger Games." However, as China and Russia also begin to expand their markets, the European countries are getting tougher and tougher to add to the market, especially France and Germany who are focusing more on their home-grown movies.  China may also be imposing a blackout month in July to support its local film producers, which could be harmful for Hollywood's films. 

I chose this article because I love going to see movies, and I love to know which movies are coming out for the summer.  The article was interesting because I don't know much about the internation market for our own Hollywood movies, and I've never thought about how other entertainment programs like the Eurocup or the Olympics take away from the movie business.  The article was pretty well written, and gave a lot of information that I didn't already know.  I just recently went to the midnight premier of "Hunger Games," which I thought was really well done.  I'm super excited to see some of the movies coming out this summer, especially "The Dark Knight Rises."

Current Event #6

http://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2012/03/chinese-power-politics

The Chinese government has just removed the Southern party boss, Bo Xilai from office.  Bo was accused of corruption, and he was removed from office just days after the Premier, Wen Jiabao pronounced him a corrupt leader during a highly-publicized nation event.  Priot to this happening, Bo was thought to be headed towards an even higher position within the party, being on the Standing Committee of the Politburo.  He was one of the "princelings" and had moved quickly through the party and gained popularity through his low-cost housing plan and attempts to combat the city's corruption.  He's also a strong promoter of Red Culture, or the culture of Mao.  This was a strange occurence, because rifts between high-up government officials don't often occur in the eyes of the people.  This is once again a signal from the top saying don't question our authority.  The CCP saw a problem and they quickly eliminated the problem.  The party has absolute control, and if anyone tries to mess with the traditional way things go, then the party will act.  Mr. Bo is just another example of a modern person trying to bring some new perspective to China, however it appears China is not ready.  Labeling Bo under the heading of corrupt leaders puts the party in good light by showing the Chinese people that they aren't afraid to cut prominent people out of government if they aren't following the party's idealogy.

Current Event #5

http://www.economist.com/node/21549973
A huge uproar in Russia was caused last week when the outgoing Prime Minister, and former president, Vladimir Putin was elected back into the office of the presidency.  He won with a 64% majority, ensuring that he would not have to go into the second round of elections, and won the presidency for himself.  People all over Russia are rioting and mad because the elections were clearly rigged for Putin.  The last few elections hadn't been very hard to manipulate because people didn't care as much, but now it's clear that civil society is taking hold of Russia.  It's said that Putin supporters rode buses throughout Russia from one polling station to the next, and that the Kremlin was clearly in on the plan.  A majority of people in Moscow are especially angry with the rigged vote.  Putin himself had to force about 100,000 people together to unwillingly attend a celebration party for his victory.   The people had to be guarded by police forces.  All of Putin's main opponents had already been barred from being able to truly compete before the race for the presidency ever took place.  The Kremlin-run media has been running news about Putin's victory since the end of the election. 15,000 Muscovites gathered in Pushkin Square to protest the election.  Putin's been using threats of violence to get the protesters out.  I think that time is running short for Putin's presidency.  He may have to step down from the presidency in order to appease the country and especially the middle class Muscovites.  He did them a real dishonor by making the election corrupt, and now he's lost almost all sense of legitmacy that he had before.  The Russian people don't like the movement away from democracy and back towards communist ideals.  It will be interesting to see how long Putin keeps trying to make this corrupt government work before he caves in.

Current Event #4

http://www.economist.com/node/21543592

In large cities of Nigeria with large Muslim populations, like Kano, the rules of Islam, or sharia laws, have substantially loosened, especially with regard to women and how they dress and act.  Women dress less conservatively, sometimes wearing trousers and shirts, and even uncovered heads go without question.  However the loosened rules have applied to men as well.  It's not uncommon for people to drink a beer at the end of the day and nightlife has grown more as well.  A lot of radical Muslims account these changing circumstances to the influence of the southern Christians, who they accuse of hogging all the oil and government posts in the country.  With these complaints in mind, many Muslim protests have arisen, and even more extremely, a radical Muslim terrorist group, Boko Haram, has arisen and inspired terror in the hearts of the Nigerian people.  In the city of Kano, people now adhere to a curfew at night.  Boko Haram's name is not even spoken, due to the fear of what saying the name might ignite.  Boko Haram has killed thousands of people already.  Its main cause is to strictly implement the sharia laws in the north, where they are loosely applied, and especially in the south, where they aren't applied at all.  Kano was once a rich city, thriving off Saharan trade, but now it's economy is collapsing due to lack of ability to keep up with cheap Chinese labor.  The terrorist attacks aren't helping.  From what I can tell, the conflict between the Muslim north and the Christian south is becoming a real problem in Nigeria.  It's clear that the Christians have a clear majority of the nation's oil supply, as well as hold many of the governmental positions.  In order to solve the conflict, some sort of compromise needs to be reached regarding these two issues, or else, it seems to me that the parts of the country are too different to exist cohesively.

Current Event #3

http://www.economist.com/node/21547287

China, like other communist countries of the past, has upheld its belief that religion and the Communist Party should not and cannot exist simultaneously.  They have been more loose about allowing the presence of religion in the country, but only under strict control of the government, and only to the faiths that China has excepted - Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, and Protestant and Catholic Christianity.  This has become a real issue for some followers of religions who wish to engage in party action.  Over the last decade, the policy has pretty much been "don't ask, don't tell" regarding faith of party workers, because its against the law for them to be religious believer and party members.  If any employees were to discover the faith of one of their coworkers, that person could be fired for their beliefs.  Despite the stringent measure surrounding relgion in China, a lot of people still partake in it.  It's estimated that 200 to 300 million people practice religion in China.  Of those, the majority of them are Daoist or Buddhist.  Number of Christians varies from about 50 million to 100 million.  However, recently, a suspicion of higher regulation and a less accepting attitude towards religion has been expected to arise due to an article that deputy minister of the party's United Front Work Department, Zhu Weiqun, wrote in a party article.  He warned against relgious belief in the face of potentially losing the Marxist values that the country holds now.  The Chinese government fears the separatism that could result from concentrated religious beliefs within the country.  The idea that people cannot practice the religion they want freely is a very alien idea to me, living in the U.S.  It's clear that many people in the country like the idea of religion and want to see it preserved as an institution in the country.  If religion continues to persist and perhaps grow in China, we could be seeing some real issue begin to result in the country, especially if the party takes a more hostile view towards religion and stirs resentment in the practicing folk.  It will be interesting to see how communism and religion continue to intermix and mingle within Chinese society in the next few years.

Current Event #2

http://www.economist.com/node/21547282

With further developement in the realm of Mexican politics, women have come to represent a force to be reckoned with, both as voters and as candidates.  Until this year, no woman had ever been a candidate in Mexican presidential politics.  Josefina Vasquez Mota, a woman who has held high-standing governmental positions, has thrown tradition regarding the female sex in politics right out the door as she runs against her fellow male candidates for the position of President.  Her dream is to be the country's first female president.  The question, though, is whether or not she'll be able to count on her fellow women for the vote.  However, her sex may not be the issue with the voters.  Her party, the current ruling party, the National Action Party (PAN), has fallen out of favor of voters across the country due to their dislike of the current President, Felipe Calderon, and the violence that has ensued under his regime.  This could mean an initial disregard for Vasquez simply due to the party she belongs to.  Women voters are really going to be a huge deciding factor in this race.  They've really been listening to the politics.  Unlike in other countries, one fourth of Mexico's government seats are held by women, a number greater than that of the U.S. and many other countries, and more developed ones at that.  The rival party's (Institutional Revolution Party (PRI)) candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, has been trying to rope in the female voters with his good looks, however, his un-female-friendly actions of late that have been reported by ex-girlfriends and simply by stupid comments he makes have made him lose a lot of support in that department.  There is always a chance that the women voters will now turn to Vasquez, however, with Vasquez's anti-abortion position, the increasingly independent women of Mexico may be drawn away from her.  Women are really important factors in politics these days in Mexico.  It will be very interesting to see how they further change the dynamic of Mexican politics.  It's inspiring to see how much ground women have gained in politics in less developed countries like Mexico.  Hopefully, more women will be encouraged to run for positions in other countries around the world as well.  

Current Event #1

http://www.economist.com/node/21546014

China's property market is still relatively new.  The business has gone through a major transformation over the last two decades, as the urge to own houses has taken over the Chinese people.  However, with the current economy of the world, China's housing market has started to dwindle, putting a large strain on the local governments.  China's never really had a tax on housing before a year ago when large cities started lightly experimenting with it.  China is considering creating a property tax, which would provide local governments with a steady source of income, however the work involved in implementing such a practice would be extreme.  The organization of all the houses and the verification of their actual credit would be a daunting task.  However, the Chinese government makes a risky move in implementing the new program because the people of China, especially the urban middle class, many of whom own multiple homes, see taxes as a form of theft by a government that doesn't provide enough for them.  The local governments are taking this point of view into account and it'll be interesting to see if China follows through in creating the new property tax.  It's kind of a risky move on their part.  Once China begins the game of taxing, public dissent and public opinion is going to become a huge issue.  In a nation that's still controlled relatively moreso than other countries in the world, that could be a major concern for the government.  If that process were to begin it could almost never be taken away again, and it would forever become an controversial political issue discussed in the country.  China's making a risky move, but perhaps China needs to stand up and be strong in order to keep its economy under control.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK #6

It really seems like this year has flown by so far.  I feel like just yesterday, I just started going to field hockey tryouts during the summer.  Where has all the time gone?  As someone who plays a lot of sports, I judge time by what sport season I'm in.  With field hockey done, winter sports almost coming to a close within the next few weeks, and the beginning of soccer workouts and tryout information, it really feels like this year is almost over.  We've already completely finished U.S. Government and we're on to comparative.  AP exams are drawing ever closer.  Homecoming has come and gone, along with fall and the holidays.  Winter is upon us, and it's freezing with no snow!  Thank God, I'm finally done with all my college applications, and even now, recieving answers back from those schools! But now it's time to move on to starting scholarship applications--an equally ominous task.  Everything is moving too fast.  I'm excited for what comes next, after graduation and all, but it makes me sad at the same time.  What I see for right now is just trying to make the rest of these next months coming up the best ever, and continuing to work hard and study up before those AP exams actually show up.  I'm looking forward to hopefully a great soccer season, and a great rest of the year in classes and extracurriculars, but sitting in this freezing cold weather, I'm getting some serious senioritus yearnings for summer.  Need heat.  HALFWAY THROUGH! yay!  

Political Cartoon #6

1.  This cartoon was drawn by Milt Priggee.
2.  The key objects are the pins with the words on them, the facial features and postures of the characters themselves, and the plus and equal sign.  They all combine together to form a relationship equating two people, with the pins giving the reasoning on why they relate.
3.  The cartoonist mostly uses caracature, using drawing to show the resemblance and illuminate specific features of the subjects that he wants to bring to light to convey his meaning more directly.
4.  The cartoon deals with Mitt Romney, his views, and how the Republican Party views him and his views.  From Romney's first decision to enter the race for becoming the Republican nominee, the party hasn't looked with much favor upon him.  They're aren't excited about him or his views.  He's a little too moderate for the tastes of most of the Republican party, and he's been known to change his views on things easily, showing a desire to simply please the masses rather than stay focused to his cause and his party.  This cartoon highlights this idea by adding up those dominant characteristics about Romney that the party doesn't like and predicts the winner of the upcoming 2012 Presidential campaign to President Obama.
5.  The cartoon gives off the meaning that Mitt Romney might as well just not run, because with his lack of popularity due to his constantly changing opinions and moderate views, he will not garner enough support to beat Obama in the 2012 race.  The cartoon puts a rather negative view on the whole Republican Party because Mitt Romney is the current front-runner, and if he's the best they got, prospects aren't looking so great for their party.
6.  The cartoonist's point of view is pretty much the same as the message of the cartoon gives off, that is that Mitt Romney is not well-liked or well-approved enough to stand a chance beating Obama in the 2012 race.  It's unclear which party or which view of Obama he holds though.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK #5

At this point I'm pretty unsure of who will win the nomination.  With the completion of the Iowa Caucus, and Romney's close win over Rick Santorum, I suppose it appears that Mitt Romney is in the lead at the moment, however the Republican Party has shown very little interest in him over the course of the race.  The main reason he is in the lead is because he's the candidate with the least baggage and the least liable.  However, Rick Santorum ran a close second to Romney in Iowa.  Santorum's main issue is that he is completely socially conservative.  This has both gained and lost him a lot of support.  He is unwavering in his pro-life and heterosexual relationship beliefs, and for this reason he loses a lot of support among the more moderate Republicans.  Their resistance may be enough to keep him from winning the race.  Ron Paul is an interesting candidate.  He has some momentum, especially with the grass roots that he held over of the course of his political career, and he has very clear views on issues, but he has a strange foreign policy stance.  He's also very conservative and very strict in accordance with the Constitution, which could be an issue with passing legislation if he were to make it into office.  Gingrich, who has a lot of baggage, and is portrayed by most political cartoonists as a ticking time bomb, did not do very well in the Iowa Caucus, placing fourth.  The Republican Party was showing a lot of excitement for him in previous weeks, but we are yet to see if they'll except him despite all the baggage he carries.  At this point, most people believe Rick Perry should just back out of the race.  He did very poorly in the Iowa Caucus, and at this point, the Republicans don't seem at all enthusiastic about having him as their nominee.  At this point, I'd say that Romney holds the lead, but it will be interesting to see if Paul and Santorum will keep up the momentum, and if Gingrich will make a popular comeback.

Political Cartoon #5

1.  This political cartoon was drawn by Taylor Jones.
2.  The key objects are the elephants being rode by candidates, which is ultimately meant to represent the GOP race.  The candidates represent themselves.  The gun in the background is meant to represent hostility.
3.  The cartoonist certainly uses a lot of caricature to represent their points.  The expressions of the candidates readily give away the cartoonist's view of their emotions, and the GOP race, as a literal race, on elephants, which represent the Republican party is a funny add-on.  The cartoonist also uses placement of the figures to give meaning and intuition into their expressions and how each candidate is currently feeling.
4.  The cartoon deals with the Iowa Caucus that just occured.  Mitt Romney (the candidate on the elephant in the lead) won Iowa, very closely folled by Rick Santorum, who was closely followed by Ron Paul.  Newt Gingrich took up fourth place, with Rick Perry coming in fifth.  The candidates are represented on their elephants thus in this cartoon.  The cartoon shows how Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul are near the top and have the best chances for the nomination, followed by a persistant Newt Gingrich, who, holding a gun, seems to be more than willing to fight for his top position in the race.  You can see by the expression on Romney's face that he's a little nervous that Santorum is so closeby, and as the two face-off, you can see Ron Paul eyeing them down, wanting to gain more of a lead.
5.  The cartoon says a lot about the current goings-on of the GOP race.  It definitely says that Gingrich is ready to put up a fight and is not ready to lose the race yet, despite not doing very well in the caucus.  It's definitely showing that Romney's straining to keep the lead, and that Santorum and Paul are well on the route to undermining Romney's lead, even though he won Iowa.  The cartoon makes clear that the race is far from over and that there's still much more to come.
6.  The cartoonist's point of view is that Romney better watch his back because the others are gaining momentum, and that Gingrich is not ready to be out of the race yet.  A funny kind of side note that the cartoonist added, whether willingly or not, is that they didn't even include Rick Perry in the cartoon, perhaps inferring that he's insignificant and that he should just drop out of the race.