(Kate Zephyrhawke) Here’s a place for you to express yourself! When you find yourself tingling with anticipation and counting the hours until class meets again, you can dialogue with your classmates right here. I’ll have both classes use this same space– that way you’ll have to consider your audience when you write (i.e., how you may come across to people who have not had the pleasure of experiencing your charming personality in person). Remember to include your name and a picture (follow this model) so it will be easy to keep track of who’s who.

Good morning Vietnam!
So i’m leaving today to meet the family of the gf…
the extended family…
you know what that means…
Anyway…Whew what a day. i love my bed.
I’m starting an all healthy diet over the christmas break of ultra low carbs and high protein diet
*cough* Atkins *cough*
i’m sure it’ll rebound on me afterwords, but for now i just want to look good for back to school.
i’m also going to try and ween myself from caffeine which has become like mother’s milk to me.
this…is going to be a bear…i’m sure…since last thursday was four shots of espresso and 5 hour energy.
-_-
AMERRRRRICAAAAAAAA
Oh and i throughly approve of mash-ups
where two artists are combined and remixed together.
i recently heard a mix of 99 red ballons and 99 problems

http://vjbrewski.multiply.com/video/item/77

^^^ here
Explicit, as a warning

they’re alot of fun

especially if you know both of the songs they’re mashing

well…back to this papper

ttfn
ttyl

Mmmmmmm bed. i slept for 14 hours last night…i needed it.
the past few nights i’ve been having less than four hours of sleep a night.
all this work i’ve had to do for all these classes has been killing me…
oh well, it’s good to be home.
my head hurts though…wonder if that has anything to do with it…

My little brother is having his christmas concert tonight with his guitar group and i already have tickets to see my girlfriends play that she wrote and has a major role in.
so i’m kinda cluster here.
i’m trying to think of a way i can appease both of them.
i can’t pull the, “i have to make a phone call” deal and switch in between both of them…no that won’t work…
hmmm… i don’t know.
oh and i just picked up the latest Puddle of Mud Album…what a disappointment.
rock has hit rock bottom in the last few years. i don’t think it’ll ever come back.
so i think i’m just going to make the switch to Indie music. you know, independent. what all the hipster scene kids listen to.
ya, i think i’m just gunna make the switch. it’s not worth it to listen to anymore.
dang, my head hurts, i’m gunna go grab a tylenol.

Well done Professor Z; you Rick rolled me. I am glad I was able to get a comp teacher with a good sense of humor. So many times, it professors lack the ability to maintain a sense of humor inside the classroom, but you do it well. Thank you so much for everything you have done for me and my writing this semester. I hope that students in the future will enjoy your class as much as I did. I know that I’m not the most enthusiastic or expressive student inside the class, but I appreciate having a professor like you who personalizes the learning experience. Best wishes for you and your future

- Ryan Brooks

In the following blog, I will be writing about the information presented in one of the articles from Fox News.

At the beginning of this year, there was a story that really disturbed me involving the BART county police department in California. Earlier this year at a Bay Area transit subway station, a man was being arrested for a non-violent conflict. After being handcuffed, the man was held at gunpoint by one of the officers and was not acting aggressively in anyway towards the arresting officers. It was then that the officer holding the man at gunpoint shot his firearm into the handcuffed individual’s back almost immediately killing him. There were several witness and video accounts supporting this information which led the BART county sheriff’s department to release the man from his duty and arrest him for his actions. There is currently an active investigation on the this incident and since his arrest the police officer was able to post a $3 million bail, most likely with the help of fellow police officers.

When I first heard of this, I was shocked by the abuse of power and the misuse of force. I believe that for this particular case, because the man killed an unarmed and restrained individual, that the harshest penalty should be enforced. The fact that a murder was committed by an on duty cop really upsets and frightens me. The only thing that frightens me more is that this case might not be investigated objectively. Because the man was a fellow police officers, investigators may not produce the results they otherwise would for any other perpetrator. It is already evident by the fact that this man was able to post $3 million dollars in bail money that he has plenty of friends on the force. I just hope that this man is brought to justice.

For the following blog, I will be discussing an article from Yahoo Sports News.

Two years ago, Barry Bonds was released from the San Fransisco Giants baseball team when his contract was not renewed. During this time, a lot of speculation was being presented upon whether Bonds knowingly used performance enhancing drugs. Since that time, it was found that he did knowingly take performance enhancing drugs and still remains a free agent. Recently, his agent commented on the matter saying that with every passing year it has been increasingly more difficult to find a team interested in signing Bonds, adding that this year it will be nearly impossible. With this news, it is most likely that Bonds will formerly announce his retirement from the sport of baseball.

I find that all this controversy surrounding the use of performance enhancing drugs is ridiculous. Now, I am not saying that I support the use of these drugs; however, it should be up to the commissioners of each individual sport to decide on the matter. The fact that individuals are being brought to court for this issue is absolutely ridiculous. Why is it a criminal offense to ingest something in your body? Whether it be steroids or any other type of controlled substance, people should be able to decide for themselves whether or not they want to partake in the use of drugs. In these particular cases of sports figures, it seems that these individuals are trying to get a competitive advantage over opponents. While I do not have a problem with it, it is solely the decision of the commissioners of each sport to decide whether or not they want to allow this to occur, but that is where the matter should be left, in the arena of sports and entertainment not the justice system.

The following blog will be based off of a CNN World News article.

In a recent development in the Irish Catholic Church, a report was filed demonstrating that children were sexually by members of the clergy and that the church authority figures had knowledge of these actions. The Pope has stated that he is “deeply disturbed” by these findings and expresses profound regret.

The thing that really scares me about this article is that church authority figures had knowledge of the attacks. The report found that the incidents of molestation and assault were covered up from 1975 all the way up to 2004 and that sexual abuse was widespread during this time. How could anyone knowingly cover up the sexual abuse of children? It is appalling to believe that someone could commit such an act against a child, but for someone else to know about it and not do anything is even worse. The corruption of the Irish Catholic Church is obviously deep routed for incidents like these to occur in such a large magnitude. I really hope that the members of the church that are found to have committed these acts will be criminally charged and sentenced. I am right agree with the Pope that this information is deeply disturbing. Although I am not a religious person, I hope that these acts do not overshadow the Catholic religion as a whole. The individuals who are guilty of these heinous crimes should be the only ones held accountable.

For this blog, I will be talking about a CNN news article.

In a murder case in Chicago, Andre Crawford, a 47 year old man, was convicted of the killings of 11 women and was also linked to several other sexual assaults. An account presented by one of the survivors of Crawford’s attacks, along with DNA evidence, proved Crawford’s involvement and the jury was able to find him guilty on seven of the eleven murder charges. The focus of the case is now being shifted to what the punishment should be for the serial killer, specifically whether or not he should be sentenced to death.

Personally, I believe that in this case, with all of the evidence presented, that this man should be put to death. This type of monster will never be reformed and poses a threat to society. He will never be able to function properly in any type of social scenario; therefore, I believe the best option would be to put him to death. Normally, I am a bit hesitant to jump to the death penalty because of all the cases where it is found that the individual sentenced to death is actually innocent, but in this particular circumstance, with the victim’s testimony and the DNA evidence, I believe that the death penalty is the appropriate plan of action. While our justice system has many flaws, I do not see how this man could be seen has innocent and non-violent and I believe that the judge should choose to sentence Crawford to death.

With finals week coming up, I’ve been starting to study quite a lot. Because of all this studying, I’ve also been reflecting quite a bit on the past semester. It’s amazing how fast the time has gone by and it’s weird to think that I’m now finished with 1/8 of my college career. To think that, in just 7 more semesters of class, I will have my bachelor’s degree is just amazing.

Cont.: Well, started writing this blog before Wednesday and now I am finished with all of my finals. I was kind of surprised at how easy some of them were, but then again there has been a lot of things in college that have caught me by surprise. In a way, I think that is what college is about; being prepared for the unexpected. Life is never planned out like a high school curriculum, so you always need to know how to think on your feet and improvise to solve new and unique problems that arise. Without this skill, you will be unable to be successful in anything you undertake. I think college is a good way to prepare these skills for the rest of your life. In college, you must account for several different things: class difficulty, class subject, teaching style, and testing styles. If you cannot use your organization and problem solving skills to properly adjust to these varying aspects, you will be unable to succeed in college academics in the same way you will not succeed in your other undertakings.

I don’t know why my blogs aren’t showing up when I search for them !! I know for sure that I submitted 9 blogs in total – not including this one. I went through all the blogs manually and found them. When I search for my blogs using my name, only about 3 of them show up so I hope this is just a technical difficulty. Okay byee

It’s crazy, I should have been done with this blog a long time ago, but I get distracted so easily. First I was typing the title of this blog and next thing you know I’m on Forever21’s website while talking to my friend on Skype and eating Goldfish . Well now that I’m back on track ..it feels like just yesterday when this semester started. I’ve come such a long way with all of my classes, and met so many new people. Since the beginning of this semester I have been through both my ups and downs. Made friends but also lost them; learned from my classes; and learned about responsibility. The semester has come to an end and I’m ready for my one month break !! I plan on using this time to work – need money to shop and for school, work out, see all my friends and family from home, and just relax !! I hope next semester and all of 2010 will be as good as the first semester or even better. I enjoyed my semester of writing blogs and even reading others. Even though I wasn’t consistent in writing my blogs I realized that I kind of like writing them especially when we weren’t given a topic on what to write about. Well I’m off to do who knows what; I wish everyone the best in their future !!