Technology

Advancement in technology is a great thing and will only move our society forward if used correctly. Technology has given us everything from the lightbulb to blu ray and even though one is significantly more important than the other, its a prime example of how we have evolved. Its the abuse of technology that will ultimately bring our demise. Its already causing some to lose jobs, taking from those in manufacturing lines, or secratary positions. The idea that robots will someday rule the earth is not too farfetched in my opinion at the rate that we are going. Technology also makes us lazy. A prime example is the remote control. Before its invention, viewers had to get up out of their seat and manually change the tv channel. now, most wouldnt even consider this if the remote was lost or batteries are low, they rather not watch tv it seems. Computers made communication easier, the same can be said about cell phones.

Higher Learning

The name of my all time favorite movie is "Higher Learning" released in 1995 by John Singleton. It tells a story of young adults on a college campus with high racial tension. It stars Omar Epps, Tyra Banks,Ice Cube, Lawerence Fishburne, Busta Rhymes and Regina King. Its a very powerful film that I still enjoy today. It has action, drama, romance and comedy,all great focal points for a good film. This movie appealed to me becaus eit had characters that I am very familiar with and can relate to. It also brought in to perspective how racism was handled on college campuses back in their time, because believe it or not its still exists today. Higher Learning was such a powerful movie, my mother says she remembers there being fights after the premier lef out of the theater. Emotions ran high enough within people to drive them to fight based on the racially motivated acts depicted in this movie. I recommend it to any and everybody.

The NFL Lockout

This whole thing is about money. The owners want the players to play 18 games, make them more money and all the while they want to cut down money given to the players because of supposed funds that they are losing. But my question for the owners is where’s the proof of that? The NFL has been thriving for years and I haven’t seen any slowing of revenue. I personally think the owners just feel that they were giving too much to the players and they wanted to get that power back in the terms of money. Well, because of the shot they fired first with opting out of the deal, the NFLPA decided to decertify and now there’s a lockout. Now I’m sure that there may be some key points that I have missed, but the only thing I can say for sure is that I’m tired of this bickering back and forth and I wish that both sides would just come to an agreement and get this over with. The owners still haven’t realized that their greed is what has caused this lockout situation. Now with all that being said, I still think that we will not be missing any football at the beginning of the NFL football season. If there is football missed, then the NFL will incur serious damage to its popularity.The NFL owners and players would be wise to do a little research to what happened to Major League Baseball after they missed games in 1994.It took steroids to get them back on the map. I really doubt that either side wants to go through something like that especially when you consider that right now both sides are making billions of dollars.I know that there are important issues on both sides, but at the end of the day the only people that are getting hurt by a work stoppage is the fans, so I will not be participating in any of the propaganda that either side is putting out there. The only thing I support is a resolution that keeps this thing moving forward with the momentum that it currently has.

Bin Laden

Osama Bin Laden's death has a neither a positive nor negative affect on me personally. I have been living my life peacefully while he was in hiding, and nothing will change now that he is dead. I do have very strong feelings about the 9/11 disaster and his involvement with it, and I feel he may have deserved to die, but that's not my place to give a man the right to live or not. He felt he was justified in what he did for his country, or religion, or whatever reason he had behind the attacks. Just as our troops feel justified. My main concern is retaliation. Osama has many followers behind him and his country, ready to die for the cause at any moment. This could trigger more terrorist attacks in the near future and some don't even realize that. Osama Bin Laden was a very powerful, wealthy and smart man. Do people actually think he didn't have a plan devised for if this exact situation might occur? Spending years in hiding he had more than enough time to realize that he may eventually be caught. While the world is rejoicing I feel we need to be preparing. Preparing for attacks on the U.S. and modern warfare. I think the government may know this, but I don't think we are ever FULLY prepared for what may coming.

Facebook

I am an active facebook user. I log on maybe once or twice a day on free time just to see whats going on with my friends. I do think some people are getting carried away and maybe even addicted to the social network. I have about six hundred friends, half of which I actually know in some way or form. I know of people with thousands of friends and communicate with absolutely none of them. All this does is give a countless number of random people access to your life. If you are not careful of what you post on facebook, people from all over can know your phone number, city and state, location at the current time or any other types of information you wouldn't normally give to a stranger. If you don't always practice "appropriate" conversations or post on your facebook, you need to beware of future employers searching your page to see what kind of things you discuss, or pictures you post on the site. I don't think this is a fair way of judging a person in consideration for a job because pretty much everyone knows the difference in how to conduct themselves on a work site, or at home or a casual place. I may talk about things on facebook with certain people that I wouldn't even consider bringing up on the job. On the other hand, employers or businesses that promote via facebook have an extreme advantage over those that don't. Millions of people use the social site, many of which are seeking employment of some sort. I'ts a great way to reach a large amount of people from various ethnicities,ages,backgrounds and qualities.

Missing Major

My major is rehabilitation services. The rehabilitation services program prepares rehab coordinators who match the special needs of people with available resources. Rehabilitation specialists are trained to assess individual strengths and needs, and they are taught to understand the total impact of a disability upon the individual. I chose this field because I have been employed with  a company called RMS Of Ohio for a little under two years. RMS stands for residential management services. We provide in home care services for those that are MR/DD, meaning mentally retarded or developmentally disabled. I enjoy my job now, but i'm not sure if I see my self continuing with this as a career, which is why I am considering switching my major. I simply chose it because of the influence of my current job. I figured with my work experience and education in school, once i graduate I should have no problem obtaining a higher level position. This is not something i'm so sure about now. So I am not sure what my future holds just yet as far as a career or living arrangements later down the line, however, I am still a freshman and taking basic entry level courses but I plan to decide fully on a major before fall quarter.

T.V O.D?

I disagree with the statement that if we could unplug all of the television sets in America that our children will grow to be healthier, better educated, and more independent. TV sets are not what should be raising a child, but technically speaking that is often sadly the case. It is up to the parents to be a part of the child's life and influence healthy behavior, strong education and independence, no matter how much TV they watch. Television is a great source of information for children. It gives them the ability to expand the mind and learn of things outside of what they are used to seeing. I have never been to Africa, but I have a very vivid picture of what it would be like based on ideas and images that I have encountered on TV. As it opens a positive side to kids education and brain development, it can also negatively affect them if what they watch is not suitable for their age. Its the misuse and the and improper supervision of TV monitoring that brings about this negative outlook on it. Time limits are also a good idea to set for young ones watching television. Often while viewing, food and other types of snacks are incorporated which leads to an unhealthy lifestyle if exercise is not included at some point. Overall, I believe TV is a part of our growing technology. It is used to reach a wide audience for both entertainment and educational purposes, and is very effective in doing so. Its up to us to take the initiative in getting our kids motivated to learn, and exercise and not solely blame the television.

The Watermelon Race

This work of art created by Palmer Hayden titled "The Watermelon Race," stood out to me the most, especially as an African American. Palmer Hayden was one of the more controversial painters associated with the Harlem Renaissance, the boom of Black American culture that began in the 1920s. Hayden frequently referred to African American folklore in many of his artistic expressions, at times creating critics that believed that they played into racist stereotypes. During the 1920's, this may have been an acceptable portrait and a reflection of what lower class blacks did for fun. I think Hayden intended on creating it for just that purpose, and for the audience of African Americans. Unfortunately, this image today, I feel is a very derogatory piece that portrays blacks in negative stereotype. It's very sad that we are frowned upon and constantly associated with these type of images because they are a part of our culture that we should be able to embrace, and not cower in shame of. This is a very nice illustration for its time, very powerful to me as a part of my background. Palmer Hayden used great color and attention to detail in the painting that draws my attention. Of his works I have seen, this is in my eyes one of his best, and definitely a favorite of mine.

Why Wright?

I graduated high school from Hughes Center in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2008. Prior to graduation, I only applied for one college that I didn't even plan to attend. It was a requirement for one of my classes to have completed an actual college application. I simply applied to Cincinnati State Community College. I never had plans to go further my education after I graduated. I was so ready to get out of high school, the last thing on my mind was more schooling. Once I graduated I got a full time job working with the MR/DD providing in home care. I am currently still employed with the company. I thought I had a good enough job to get me by for a while until i figured out what really wanted to begin doing with the rest of my life. As time went on I began to quickly see that the working life is very different than being a high school student, it was much harder. I found that I had it easier in school, than I did working full time trying to keep up with bills and such. I knew it would only get harder as time went on and i acquired more bills, or even children. I had a decision to make. Either struggle trying to make ends meet working a close to minimum wage job, or do what I should of done in the first place and seek higher learning and continue my education. The decision was easy. I knew it would benefit me in the long run, so I applied to Wright State. Wright is about a hour away from Cincinnati. Not too far from home, yet far enough to begin to establish some independence. I had a few friends that already attended that further persuaded me to enroll. I didn't chose Wright because of my major, or any specific reason. Simply because it was convenient for me. It seems I made a good choice and plan to continue my education here as a Raider.