Kanye West: Mayor Material?

As I was scrolling through the Chicago Tribune website I decided to click on this article because it seemed so absurd to me. Someone wants Kanye West as mayor of Chicago? An artist from Hyde Park said that "Sure, he's crazy and unpredictable, but he would also look out for the concerns of poor people in the city better than the current administration." Although I do not believe that this is necessarily true I do not think it was interesting that this article was published.

I believe that thirty years ago, before rap music was popular this article would have never been published. Rap music and rap artists have become so respected and popular in America that I believe that someone could look at this article and not think it was completely ludicrous. Rap music has become so popular that people of different races, classes, religion etc listen to it. It is a type of music that binds people together. What do you think? Are you surprised someone wants Kanye West mayor of Chicago? 

Stay At Home Dads? Who Knew?!

For most of my life my mom has always been the stay at home parent while my dad has always been the one with a full time job. When I was born my mom worked for a couple years but she soon quit to care for her kids while my dad went to work. My mom's choice was not uncommon but this article from NY times really shocked me because it proclaimed that in 1989 there was 1.1 million stay at home dads but in 2012 there was a report of 2 million. People may argue this increase was because of the recession and the unemployment rates but evidence shows that up to 1/5% of fathers choose to stay home to care for their family while in 1989 it was only 5%.

This statistic was really surprising because not only that but women are now 47% of the workforce and increasingly earning more money than their husbands. This surprises me because America has always portrayed a classic American family with a father who goes to the office everyday and a mother who stays home to clean and take care of the kids. This image of a classic American family is portrayed in books, movies, t.v. shows, magazines, etc. Growing up I had the idea stuck in my head that I would always be a stay at home mom. Clearly the statistics are changing but are people's views of what an American family should be like changing? I would argue no. 

In  a Pew survey done last year, just over 50% of people said children are better off with having a mother at home while 8% said the same thing about fathers. This does not surprise me because although statistics are changing, you rarely see a stay at home dad as the star of a movie. People can be uncomfortable or scared of change. For hundreds of years mothers have been raising children which is why I think it will take a while before there is next big movie or t.v. show starring a stay at home father and a mother as the breadwinner. 

Racism Today?!

As we have been reading the Great Gatsby and the Kentucky Cycle in class I have noticed very offensive, racist remarks made by white people to people of color. Because these books are set in the 1800 and 1900's I was not very surprised by these racist remarks. I never thought that people today thought like that but after reading this article from CNN, it is clear that this country still has people who clearly cannot get over the past.

According to the article a man named Untonia Harris was working for a white man at a cotton warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Harris had been feeling discriminated against for months by his white boss so finally he decided to record some of the things his boss was saying when he tried to drink from the water fountain. The recording shows his boss saying, "I need to put a sign here that says white people only." Not only that but after Harris asked him what will happen if he drinks from the fountain, his boss said, "That's when we hang you."

Making rude comments about someone's skin color is bad but threatening to hang them takes everything to the next level. That is not okay and that sounds like something someone would say in the Jim Crow era. I find it interesting that this happened in the South and I would make the bet that something like this probably would not happen in the North. Jim Crow Laws were born in the South and it is clear that some people still wish they still existed. What do you think? Do you think something like this would happen in the North?

Why Not Just Handwrite?

As I was hanging out with my 7th grade brother yesterday, I noticed how dependent he was on his Ipad for his homework. Every piece of writing he turns in is typed which I find interesting because he has not handwritten an assignment for school in the longest time. I came across this article from the NY times which was about what a student looses when they type instead of write. Although there have been studies that prove the learning benefits of hand writing over typing, according to this article from CNN, the state of Indiana has recently dropped the district requirement to teach cursive writing and instead students must learn to type on a keyboard. 46 other states have also adopted the Common Core Standards which is a set of educational guidelines that does not require students to learn cursive. Why would American schools stop the requirement of students learning cursive even though there are proven benefits?

I think that America has become so dependent on technology because it often makes life so much easier. Sending an e-mail can take 2 min, while writing a handwritten letter could take up to twenty. To Americans, saving time even in the simplest actions is important. Even if typing something rather than handwriting only saves 20 minutes in someone's day, I still think an American would choose to type. 

Although it is a scary thought I think that Jan Olsen, founder of "Handwriting Without Tears," is right. She said, "If you stop teaching handwriting in the second grade, you're going to have a generation of people who write like second graders." 

"I've Moved on" -Hilary Clinton

The Monica Lewinsky scandal with Bill Clinton happened in 1973 so I was very surprised to see this article on Nytimes talking about how Hilary Clinton has "moved on" from the scandal. When I first saw it I thought: obviously she has moved on! The scandal happened over 30 years ago! It was clear that Hilary Clinton moved on when she decided to stay with her husband after it happened. Then I asked myself why was this article about Hilary Clinton "moving on" published in 2014 in the first place?

I think that this article was published because she is said to be running for president in two years. Family is such an American value that she needs to make sure the public knows how great her and her husband's marriage is right now. This scandal is not relevant anymore but she needs to start thinking about gaining votes right now and she can play the angle of how great her family is. Not only does this article talk about her marriage but it also talks about how her daughter is expecting a baby in the fall. Clinton said that she was not dwelling on the decision on whether to run for president but she is thinking about,“With the extra joy of ‘I’m about to become a grandmother,’ I want to live in the moment.” Although she may not be thinking about running for office and she may be excited to become a grandmother, I question whether she thinks that label that will make her seem like a better candidate for president.

Going to College: A Must?

As we have been discussing class recently, this article from the Nytimes really struck me because it talked about how Americans with four year college degrees make 98% more an hour on average in 2013 than people who do not have a college degree. One part of this article that really stuck out was when the author said college is, "...the most reliable ticket to the middle class and beyond." 

Americans have become so obsessed with college. I would argue more obsessed than any other country. It has become almost a given that if you want to be part of the middle or upper class you must go to a four year college. Living on the North Shore college is always a topic people are chatting about because for most, it is not even a question whether a New Trier graduate is going to college or not. What I find interesting about the North Shore is college is taken so seriously it almost becomes part of your identity. People will make immediate judgements subconsciously after you tell them what college you attended or are going to attend. Why has is become this way? Why has college become so important to Americans? Comments appreciated! 

FDA Stepping It Up

Today, as junior theme topics have been throwing around, I became interested when someone said they were doing their paper on the farming industry in America today. It is becoming a well known fact that farming these past couple of years has really changed the food industry. Drugs are being used to make animals grow faster, fruit is becoming bigger, etc.

When I saw this article I was very interested because it was about the junior theme I heard about. According to the article the FDA made an announcement that manufactures cannot sell drugs for the use of speeding up growth in animals. Therefore farmers will not be able to make their animals grow fatter faster.

This news made me very happy to hear because I believe our society has become very accecepting of long food labels with chemicals we've never even heard of and do not really think about what we are putting in our mouths. I do not think it even crosses people's minds that when they have chicken for dinner there is a huge possibility that it was fed antibiotics to grow faster that medical experts are still skeptical about. What do you think? Why has society become so accepting of these antibiotics? Is it because we don't know or is is it we just don't care?