Vicky I agree with the choice of commercials that you made. I watched the candy store one and really liked that one. It was very original and funny. I think it is funny how they take something that we say a lot give it a visual and then also add other says that are similar with a visual. The other commercial that you picked with the soldiers and the coke was really cutie and funny. I think that the company wanted to send the message that everyone loves coca cola no matter where you are from or what you believe. Their trying to get the message out the coke is universal and everyone loves a can of coca cola no matter. I also a agree with you about the adds that you hated. I thought that the Android was really creepy and did not get what message they were trying to send. I felt that the commercial was so creepy that it just made me not want to buy the phone. The other commercial was also weird. The commercial started out ok and could have been funny but when the baby hit the glass wall it was really creep and awkward. I thought that the face of the baby they used look almost jell like and that made it look really fake and gross. I felt like the baby hitting the wall was unnecessary and really inappropriate. I feel like that company could do a better job and that the commercial was sloppy and not very well thought out.

Alex I think that you are totally right about the stress. Kids are worrying so much about admissions and costs that they can not enjoy the process of applying to college. Many people are also spending thousands of dollars on tutoring or other classes to help their grades and to look good on applications. I thought that the author made a good point when he said that people are taking certain classes just to get to an easy grade rather than taking classes that challenge them. This is sometimes unfair to people who apply to highly competitive schools or programs. This makes the colleges pick students who are not prepared or do not take the course or school serious. As a result some kids who deserve to be in those schools or programs do not get in. I know a lot of people that took classes because they were easy or took classes because the teacher was easy. As a result they got higher grades and made them look good. This made it tough for people who took challenging class that they would need but did not do as well as others who took the easy classes. Also I think that colleges expect way too much from their applicants. During the week many kids have school work, work, and extra circular work. This makes it hard to fit in extra things that they might want to see in an applicant. If high school students did all the things that colleges were looking for and did them well then more students would have burnout. I think your right that getting straight A’s isn’t everything. The best thing to do it to get the best grades you can and enjoy life because if not life is just going to be miserable. I think colleges so accept more kids with differ grades instead of just all A students.

Vicky I think the person that you picked is a great example of hero ship. Anuradha Koirala is a great example of how someone can take something horrible that has happened in their lives and turn it into to something that saves lives. In poorer countries like Nepal and India sex trafficking is practiced and little is done by the government to help these girls. It then falls on past victims or other people to take the laws into their own hands and help these girls. This woman is spreading awareness for this cause by doing something and helping the girls. After saving these girls she can offer them counseling and help from the trauma that they have suffered through. Koirala risks her life by raiding these places where there are dangerous men that could hurt her, this makes her a heroic. With out her help, many girls would be forced to live the horrible abusive lives they are living at the moment and also help prevent girls from being kidnapped. I like when you say that this proves that one person can make a difference to a cause because she proves this. After suffering from her own abuse, Koirala could have given up and become silent but has instead used this to make her stronger and give her the strength to save these girls. Koirala can now inspire many people to fight for a cause that they are passionate about or to help people that are in need or suffering. I think that Koirala is an inspiration that horrible things in life can make someone stronger instead of weaker. With out her help 12,000 girls would still be suffering abusive lives but Koirala has put an end to that. I think that you are right in that if people made efforts to help others in this way then the world would be a safer and a more better place.

Aubrey I agree with what you are saying. If teenagers grow up and do not know how to do things like mortgages or retirement funds then we could possibly ruin our financial future. If we can not handle these things then we could put ourselves into debt and could then spend the rest of our lives trying to correct the mistakes that hey made years ago. Now that we are in a recession we need to make as many good financial decisions as possible. This could make or break our financial future. I also think that you are right when you say that many kids are immature and as a result they make bad decisions that they regret later in their lives. If we teach a class like this we can then prepare young people for their fanatical future. If we do not prepare them for this it could come at them all at once and ultimately put massive amounts of stress on them. If this class was taught it could possible help the recession because young people would start to make better finical decisions that could help them and ultimately the economy. Many kids depend on their parents when it comes to finances so when they handle their own fiancés it can be a real shock. This class could allow for young people about to graduate, to have their first real world experience. If we do not do this then kids will never know what they are doing and may never learn how to do these very important this that could really affect their lives.

Aubrey I agree with the point you are making. Haiti was bad before the quack but after the quack things went from bad to worse. The damage was so bad that buildings collapsed since they were not build properly. This is different form other earthquake prone places like California or Japan. This is because their buildings are built to withstand earthquakes so they do not collapse. I also think that we were right in helping Haiti during its time of need since it did not have the resources to help itself. If we did not help than the death toll could have risen and conditions could have gotten since the country could not get supplies it needed to rebuild the country. I think that you are right about the concert being a big help to the cause for Haiti. I think that all the money collected for the song we are the world was donated to Haiti relief and that donated a lot of money to organizations helping Haiti. I think thought that the US should now not be involved with Haiti and its issues. American has its own issues and problems to deal with and does not have enough money to aid Haiti or the manpower to change Haiti. I think that if our economy gets better than we can help them, other wise we would be trying to help a country with money and resources we do not have. If we do this then we could have another issues like the one we are having in Iraq. I think that as important as it is to help people in need we should worry about our own country before we can look to other countries in need.

Aubrey, I think you are right when you say that teenagers and young kids will do worse rather then greater than life if we keep using the system that we have. Kids and teens need to worry about simple things instead of all the homework they have. When you say how you are viewing it first hand and seeing how it is affecting teens is very important. Many adults think that kids are over reacting or are just lazy but they do not know that our lives are different then what they used to deal with. I defiantly have more to worry about at this age than my parents had to do when they were my age. I think that in some cases, teens have it harder than most adults do. Teens are juggling academics, working, and after school activates while adults sometimes do not have to worry about such things. If adults really had to live a day the way teenagers do then they might have different feelings. He is right to about how kids have less freedom in how they play too. Before, kids would go out in the morning and come back at nigh this is different in today’s world. Today adults are afraid of predators and kids getting hurt so kids spend more time in the house or in their backyards with adults present. This means that kids spend more time with adults than ever before. This limits kid’s freedom in what they do. If kids were allowed more time to play then they could relieve stress and have more chances to be creative. Relieving stress more will allow kids to enjoy life more. If we only focus on school and get rid of art and sport programs, kids will live boring lives and might never learn if they have a passion or talent for a certain thing like art or sports.

Alex it thought that invention was really cool too. This game system really allows you to get into the game and have fun at the same time. I think you are right, this system is best used when there are more people playing but can also be fun if you are alone. This is also a fun thing to match too. Some people do not feel comfortable acting crazy with a bunch of people around but his game allows everyone to have fun, even while watching. When you talk about how you never thought that you would see this kind of technology when you were young is similar to how I feel. When I was little we have huge Gameboys and Nitendo controllers but now everything has gotten smaller and the graphics are amazing. To me the coolest thing is the Wii. My cousins have one and I always love to play it with them. It is really cool to see how the game knows what you are doing and how you are able to play games like golf without being outside. This technology is really cool and is sometimes used or incorporated into other sections of technology. I think it is really cool that it cane tell you apart form your other friends that are playing the game. This type of technology can also be used in different things like identification recognition for the government or hospitals. I think that gaming technology will always be improving but this the furthest that it has come. Still I think that the games will become more life like and have new interactive features.

Ok so I love this story. After reading this so much of our past now makes so much sense! Knowing you, it does not shock me that it was a stuffed dog because you love dogs and animals. Also I was especially excited to hear that there was photographic evidence of you with this dog and I must see these pictures! The part about you getting dressed up and crying about not having you dog is so adorable! Although I have my suspensions that you were crying over the fact that you had to get dressed up compared to not having your dog (joking ). And I also thought it was cute that you have your baby blanket. I still have my baby blanket to and I sleep with mine every night. The story of your dogs is similar to some stories that I have. I had American Girl and My Twin dolls which I sometimes brought to places. I remember going to the market and bringing the doll after putting on its seat belt in the car and later pushing it in a little shopping cart. And do not worry, my mother has pictures so we can share stories! The part about your mom giving you these things so you could get attached to them rather than to people is nice. I know that you do get wicked attacked to people and that’s ok but these animals helped you get attached to them so you could met people and not get to overly attached.

Aubrey I agree with you on certain parts. First I do not think that they should let everyone who wants to play, play. This is because then the team would have to many players, and many might be benched for an entire season. Also this is different from high school sports because NFL football is the next step for many of these guys so they have to do the best that they can and not let guys who are not moving on to the NFL get in their way. If we let anyone then we can not appreciate the talent that many of these players have. Also football would become a joke because some players would be bad and people would watch to see them get tackled or mess up on the field. I do agree with not letting the players cheat. School work should come first in college life not sports. I think that suspected cheats should be brought in a room at random and take some kind of test that would determine if they know the information being taught. This can give college administrators an idea of who is cheating and needs to be reprimanded. I think that this would be the best way to control the issue. Also there should be some GPA or some set of grades that need to be met in order to stay on the team. This would allow for the players to get an education and still have a sports career. These players are at college to be educated, not to train for sports. Still I think some schools and teachers let the sports get in the way and lie to allow students to play even though they should not. This hurts them because if their career falls through or they receive an injury then they have nothing to fall back onto. If they have a degree then they can always go back and work with the degree that they have.

Alex I agree with you. I like it when teachers treat us like people rather than stupid kids. When they treat us like this it makes the class or school more enjoyable because you get the feeling that they really care about you. Also I like being in small schools too because the teachers get to know you as a person rather than a name on a sheet. When teachers get to know you it is easier to communicate with them and allows for an easier way to learn. I also think that feedback and comments on papers or work is also very helpful too. When I write a paper I would want to know what I did wrong so the next time I write a paper I can correct my mistakes. Also, if I do something write I want to know what it is so I can do that same thing or technique when I write the next paper. When teachers do not give feed back it just makes it harder to know what you did wrong and that makes it harder for you to do better on another assignment. Your pet-peeve about picking favorites is also one of my biggest pet-peeves. Some teachers make it really obvious who their favorite students are while others try to hide it but in truth everyone knows. This is the same when teachers do not like a student. One teacher I had did not like a certain student and as a result made that students life awful. This particular teacher always choose this student to answer questions, would yell at them if they did one thing wrong, and if the student asked for help the teacher refused to help. When you talk about teachers giving up on students I think that that is also bad. Teachers are supposed to help no matter what even if the student is having an extremely hard time in that class or really does not care. You are right, teachers should respect their students and never give up on them, no matter what.

Aubrey I agree with your argument. I personally would not have thought or picked Tyra but after reading your post I can see how she can be a role model. She is never mentioned in the media for negative issues. Other models like Naomi Campbell are always in the news for treating other people badly or acting like a diva. Tyra is usually mentioned for sill things like something weird she said or something she is doing. Also the fact that she started modeling at a young age does not seem to really affect her. We see child actors like Lindsey Lohan who are damaged from their early years in the spot light or other models who struggle with eating disorders. Tyra does not seem to have had these effects in anyway, in fact it is quite the opposite. Like you said she has accomplished a lot by having her own talk show (which has been canceled), being host of America’s Next Top Model, and also being a producer on her different projects. She also does support women of all shapes and feel that women should love themselves no matter what. She was made fun of in the press for not having a “skinny,” body which led her to talk about it on her show. She mentioned that women should not listen to these magazines who say you have to skinny to feel special, you can feel special if you’re a size 2 or 24. The only time she is shown in a negative way is on the Soup with Joel McHale (The Soup, Friday nights at 10 P.M. on E!). Although it is done in good humor, it can make her look like an attention seeking ex-model. This though is taken from selective scenes from The Tyra Show and America’s Next Top Model. Even thought this is done it still does not take away from the fact that Tyra is a good role model who will hopefully continue what she is doing for a very long time.

Preston I agree with you. I use facebook all the time to talk to friends that I went to school and never really see anymore. Also I use facebook sometimes to talk about school work with friends or other kids that are in my class. I also think that you are right in saying that people are taking it way to far in what they are posting for status and pictures on facebook. I also like how you said how some people are adding people that they don’t know as friends just for fun. I know all my friends on facebook and don’t accept friend requests from people I don’t know. Some friends I know are friends with people to see how many friends they can get while others are friends with people that they have never even meet in person. This does put them in danger because these people can not see all their personal information. This makes it dangerous because they do not know these people or what they are capable of doing. I think that your advice of only accepting friend request from people that someone knows is a good idea. This way, people can have friends and know who’s looking at it to. I also think you are right about the hate groups. Some are harmless like for TV shows or homework while other are about people. This can be very hurtful since this is a form of bullying and can tie into the recite suicides that have been happening across the country. I believe that people should really think about what they say before they post it on facebook. If people really did think stuff through before they put it up on facebook, it would be a better and safer website to use.

Aubrey I agree with what you are saying. I had all those different types of Barbie and loved how they had different careers and goals that never stereotyped jobs women “should” have. They instead gave Barbie jobs like doctor and astronaut. This teaches little girls that they can do anything and do not limit them because they are girls. I also think that your right about people not liking the way the doll is designed. I know that when I was little I was never concerned with that stuff and I never want to look like her because I knew that she was a doll. I think that people need to realize kids are playing with them to have fun and do not care about how short her skirt is or the size of her chest. I think that you make another good point in saying that she is an icon. She has changed over the years but she changes with the times, which makes her timeless. Ever since she first came out in 1959 she is something that little girl’s share a love for not just in America but all over the world. They are so many different ethic Barbie’s and collector Barbie’s that it is safe to say that she is a toy that will never die. I liked how you talked about your own experiences because like you, I had a lot of dolls and the cloths, cars, and houses. Even now I have a Rose Titanic doll that I refuse to open because she is so pretty that I don not want to ruin her. At stores I have even seen Twilight Barbie dolls. They still appeal to me because I grew up with that and it is hard to let go of something that was such a big part of your life growing up. I think that it is safe to say that when we have kids and grandchildren that they will be playing with Barbie dolls and even after were gone children will continue to play with Barbie dolls.