Whining Millionaires

With the end of the 2010 NFL season nearing completion, thoughts of next-year are already brewing. The National Football League Players Association, NFLPA, and the NFL have an agreement that is set to expire in March of 2011. Currently the "players get 59.6 of designated NFL revenues." However the owners opted out of this agreement, "arguing that they have huge debts from building stadiums and starting up the NFL Network have made a profit impossible." Both parties appear to be complaining about one simple thing, money and I, for one, am tired of professional athletes constantly whining for more and more money.

The minimum salary in the NFL is $285,000, but this amount increases as the player completes more seasons. The median salary of a person living in the United States is $48,201. Discussing a lockout of the 2011 season is ridiculous. All the NFL athletes are already overpaid, but the NFLPA still pushes for higher salaries. The leading figures of the union are acting no better than a spoiled child. If they don't get what they want, they pitch a huge fit and stage some sort of ridiculous, unrealistic protest. I am tired of these protests and want to see sports return to the good old days. These being where professional athletes wanted to entertain not receive ridiculous amounts of money for what eventually boils down to a simple game.

12 Sentence Short Story

Our future house was a vast wasteland full of mystery, full of excitement, full of nature in the middle of the city, and full of adventure. The woods in the backyard provided a new sense in my life: a sense of adventure filled my mind on one July day. Corbett, my childhood friend, and I decided to explore the woods in the back part of my future house. We descended into the woods, crossed a trash-strewn field, and went down a creek on that summer day. We hoped our parents would not notice our extended absence. Not quite. The thought that we were lost, and that we would crawl out of the woods late at night, and that our lives would be scared with the memory of our ordeal forever raced through the minds of our parents.. The growing worry could not be measured in anger, but the growing anger could be measured in worry. In our future, anger we did not see. Why would we be? However, after resurfacing hours later, we were bombarded with yelling and screaming and red faces and questions of our intentions. Even with the huge amount of ruckus we caused, our bravado about the adventure grew with time, thoughts about a repeat adventure surfaced and surfaced again, and the anger of our parents finally subsided--these are the memories of a great summer day.

An Explanation

For those in my English class, for those not in my English class, for those who do not ever talk to me, you have probably heard me make a negative comment at the Fox News. These smears probably give an aura of hatred for the "news" network. However, I only dislike the misnomer in the name and the widespread belief that Fox News is the most unbiased news network.

The misnomer in the name is ridiculous. Fox News is just as much of a news network as MTV or VH1. They both provide news with a plethora of other tidbits thrown in. Do not get me wrong, there is news on the channel, but that is not the end. All the hosts and guests provide numerous commentaries about the political scene. Watching the O'Reilly Factor, I have noticed that O'Reilly dismisses every guest with "thank you for your analysis." This shows that Fox News does not provide news but political commentary about the real news.

Fox News the most unbiased news network? That must be a joke for the very reason stated above. A commentary network cannot be unbiased, it is impossible. Sure the hosts can bring on guests of both parties, but that does not mean their opinions are equally listened too or shown. The fact is that Fox News provides almost strictly Republican commentary about various triumphs of the Republicans in office and the great failures of the virtually all Democrats in political office.

I hope this explanation will maybe help some people see the light, or maybe not. Just remember, this article is not a stab at anyone who watches Fox News. This is merely commentary on my personal beliefs and opinions on the network and why I do not watch.

3 Books I Would Like to Read

The Hunger Winter: Occupied Holland tells the story of a young dutch boy during the Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II. This book intrigues me because of my interest in the second world war. I am currently reading a book set during this horrific period and I would like to read an account of the realities of the harsh winter. This book is not in our class library but I will probably buy the book or go to a library.

Catch 22 is another book that tweaks my interest. I have heard this book is really fun and would like to decide for myself if the book is as funny as claimed. This book also takes place during World War II which immediately makes me want to read the book.

A third book I would like to read is The Lightning Thief. I saw the movie based on this book during the summer and I would like to read the real story.

Annotated Bibliography 2nd Nine Weeks

Reading Reflection

After completing the first nine weeks of independent reading, I have made several notes about my reading habit. My reading habit, has not improved. However, I read rather habitually already. I also noticed I was having trouble, at first, writing in my reading journal. My earliest entries mostly consisted of trivial pieces of information with no depth at all. I have improved at this, somewhat but I believe I will continue to get better with time. My reading "diet," on the other hand has improved substantially. Normally, I read "candy" reads with no real literary importance with the occasional biography thrown in the mix. The diversification of my reading has caused my to read somewhat more analytically. The biggest difference, I have noticed, is the amount of questions that pop into my head while I read. I question the style, themes, and even the author's choice of words. Next nine weeks, I would like to make a better effort at journaling. I would also like to read more articles. I found that I really enjoyed reading about current events and would like to continue.

Socratic Seminar Reflection

Upon first hearing of our class's impending Socratic Seminar adventure, I had several reservations. I had doubts about the ebb and flow of the discussions, believing there would be periods of furious discussion and then stretches of silence. Reservations of my ability to make substantial preparations for the discussion also popped into my head. However upon the conclusion of my first discussion, I found that my ability to spring board off other students' ideas into my own was better than I first imagined. This kept the flow of the conversation moving along at a acceptable.

Brave New World has many deep, thought-provoking themes throughout. The Socratic Seminar prodded my brain into more analytically deep thinking about the themes and characters than I ever thought possible from the surface of the text. The discussion did not bless my mind with any new knowledge but gave my thinking a different direction. For example, in our discussion of the significance of Henry Ford as God, I was introduced to a more literal way of viewing the situation. I saw Henry Ford as the representation of scientific triumph just as God is our representation of cultural triumph. However, Andrea, viewed the situation more literally. Just as God created our world with his hands, Henry Ford manufactured the new society in Brave New World. Andrea redirected my thinking in an entirely way that had never crossed my mind before.

The discussions at the end gave me the most enjoyment and satisfaction. They seemed to be less structured and allowed the conversations to take a variety of twists and turns. This was best expressed when Sean, Natasha, Sadie, and I discussed the effect of mass production on individuality. Natasha challenged my ideas, giving me a way to enforce my own understanding of my ideas with the examples that came to mind as the discussion continued.

I found the Socratic Seminar to be a really fun and stimulating activity. However, I found the placement of the discussion group in the center of the room awkward. A feeling of judgments being passed filled the room. I do not see a better way to do this activity, however, and realize that this an individual problem that needs to be solved by the individual.