The Best Of The Best

I played basketball on the Freshman B team last year. I practiced every day after school and we played games twice a week. The practices were an hour long and relaxed, running drills and practicing plays. While I was not in any way extremely good, it was fun exercise and an overall good time. Allonzo Trier plays basketball for 7 hours a day. In is apartments gym with his mom, at another city gym with a private ball-handling instructor and then two hours with his All-Star team. Talk about a love for the sport. Allonzo is 13. He has his own clothing line and the attention of college scouts. But Allonzo came from humble beginnings. He doesn’t know anything about his father except that he was black and 6 foot 3. His single mother earns a modest salary as a social worker at a shelter for victims of domestic violence. But despite his normal circumstances, Allonzo is anything but normal. At a young age he was determined to be the best and that sense of determination hasn’t run out yet. He is a committed player, he has to be: to be able to sustain the long hours of practice that are required to become good. Unlike other sports like football or soccer basketball is a mostly inner city sport and good players come from all income levels. I play occasionally play basketball remedially on intermediate teams or shoot hoops in my back yard, missing baskets in a game is alright and losing is ok as long as you play hard. But some people like Allonzo can’t miss a shot. They know that every game they play is being watched by college scouts or commercial business like Nike who pick out only the best and leave the semi-good ones behind. Allonzo’s mom said, “If his game falls off, they will kick him to the curb. That’s what makes me nervous, and I don’t want that to happen” While most of us just play for the exercise and fun of it, some people show extreme determination to overcome their current standing and be the best.

Twilight and the Obamas

Last night I watched Twilight for the third time, this time at home with my neighbor’s newly released DVD. Of course like all other girls in the universe I have read the entire Twilight series, although I read them about a year before it became a phenomenon. As I was engrossed in the catchy romance, I couldn’t help but wonder if this ever really occurs in real life. It is well known that over 40% of marriages don’t last and I have plenty of friends with divorced parents. I am certain true, pure, irrevocable love exists, but does it always last? I decided to love to the countries number one couple at the moment, the Obamas. Michelle and Barack Obama have a very interesting love story that you can relate to even when the two seem so distant up doing important business in the white house and running a country as well as a family. I think they could make a movie out of it, it is so sweet and romantic; the kind of thing we all wish for. Like many love stories it began at work, after months of Michelle’s rejection Obama finally won a date with his future wife. After two years of dating he finally popped the question with a dessert box with a ring inside. After a beautiful wedding at Trinity United Church of Christ they honeymooned in California. “It was magical, they were clearly in love with each other,” said one guest. But the couple had their fair share of turbulent times. During Barack’s difficult 2000 senate election he was almost never home and there were rough times at home. Once Michelle said “You only think of yourself, I never thought I would have to raise a family by myself”. But they got through it and a close friend said, “These are two people who love each other. For me, more importantly, there’s a huge respect on both ends.” While young fiery love is everyone’s dream, like in Twilight, the true judge of a relationship is whether it can last through tense and tough times like the Obamas.

Women at War

As a growing number of women become soldiers, issues centered around their emotional and physical health grow as well. War has always been a devastating and destructive part of human existence, while some claim the world must have war to 'settle' issues and 'fight for justice and peace' war is a crippling thing that should be avoided at all costs. In my world history class we have begun to study the nineteenth century and the Great World Wars, during this time women and civilians began to play a much larger role in the balance of warfare. The Home front became an essential ingredient in the victory of one nation over the other. In the past few decades however women have started to play a larger role as soldiers, fighting among men instead of on the sidelines supporting them. In an act I can not imagine myself doing, some women sign up voluntarily to fight for their country and democracy. They want to protect their community and are praised and respected by their society. But the reality of war is hard and brutal. Post Dramatic Stress Disorder, a common emotional trauma not widely recognized until recently takes great tolls on soldiers on and off the battle field. But an newer problem has arisen with the increasing amount of female soldiers. In addition to many cases of PDSD and other emotional disorders, women also face many sexual harassments and assaults. After a few cases in the 1990's the US military had become more sensitive to women in the military- they now make up 15% of the armed forces worldwide. These strong women leave their comfort and safety of home to sign up for unimaginable death and destruction, while they are respected on the surface, underneath they face emotional distresses that will haunt them for a life time.
Corbett, Sara. "The Women's War." New York Times Online. 18 Mar. 2007. 15 Mar. 2009 .

The Effects of Imperialism in West Africa

Much of the world's big bulk of imperialism took place in the 19th and 20th centuries when Europe pretty much dominated most of Africa and Asia in a never ending search for resources and profit. While the horrors of this European expansion are many, I think it is maybe even more important to study the huge effects that imperialism has created today. The tiny and desolate country of Guinea-Bisseli is a prime example of what happened after the Europeans left. The country declared it's independence from Portugal in 1973 after a long and devastating period of war. But independence did not bring peace or prosperity, ever since its liberation, Guinea-Bisseli has been in and out of brutal civil war, military coups, repressive governments and a destroyed economy. In 2005 they had a democratic election, where repressive President Vieira was brought back in to power. General Tagme Na Wie, the head of the military and the President have more or less ruled the country for almost all of its independence. (They are bitter rivals and the article was about both their assassinations yesterday). While the government and its people are struggling just to survive, ( the assassinations are said to have pretty much better the country and bring stability), you can tell this country and almost all of Africa was completely ruined by the colonization and imperialism by Europeans. I just got done studying colonialism in APWH and the effects of the Berlin Conference and the Europeans treatment of the African peoples can still be clearly seen today. For instance in the article, they talked about how which tribe you belong to can make you have higher status or give you many enemies. One in five children in the country won't live to see the age of five and the economy is in ruins with a growing underground drug industry. Like in Things Fall Apart the imperialism and colonialism of Africa, dramatically altered the economy, lifestyle and culture of its people.
Polgreen, Lydia. "2 Slayings in West Africa May Signal a New Day." New York Times 10 Mar. 2009, National ed., International sec.: A1+.

Gold; The True Cost of a Global Obsession

The next time you buy a gold necklace think about this: In all of history only 161,000 tons of gold have ever been mined, barely enough to fill two Olympic pools and more than half of that has been extracted in the past 50 years. For centuries gold has captivated and lured peoples from all cultures around the globe. Captivated by it's easy malleability, rarity and beautiful sparkling color. But today as the precious metal is getting harder and harder to find, big and small miners alike are willing to suffer greater risks to get it. The global demand for it is enormous with 2,398.7 tons of it going just to jewelry use, the largest consumer of gold. But as the demand grows so does the environmental and human suffering it takes to mine it. Small scale mining account for 25% of the worlds extracted gold. These poor miners faced deadly effects to their health, the often use mercury to separate the gold from the rock in liquid and gas forms which create toxic fumes and poisons their water. These miners often travel into extreme danger, by way of explosions, collapsing mines and exhaustion. Their families are also affected, many of their children and wives work just outside the mines crushing excess rock to extract any remaining gold all to make just a meager living. This article was very long, there are countless people effected and destroyed by the world's hunger for gold. Diamonds and other precious stones also cause a lot of havoc around the world. Displacing people, extreme environmental damage, destroyed communities and families as well as extreme wastes. Gold mining is more wasteful than any other metal, a single ounce of gold- the amount in a typical wedding ring- requires the removal of more than 250 tons of rock and ore. The gashes in the earth are so massive they can be seen from space yet the particles being mined in them are so microscopic that in many cases, more than 200 could fit on the head of a pin. The story of gold is amazing, after reading this article I will never walk by a jewelery store without a thought of an Indonesian family whose children are pulled from school to work next to their parents in the mines and the babies who die there because their mothers drink toxic watter with mercury in it from the mining activities that meagerly supports their families.
Larmer, Brook. "The Price of Gold." National Geographic Jan. 2008: 34-61.

So What is Easter Anyway?

Easter is coming up and it took me by surprise. Not being religious and never having been to a church service in my life, makes these sporadic religious holidays sudden surprises. I guess even non Christians know when Easter arrives because every grocery store, target and Walgreens fill their shelves with peeps, chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs. I know vaguely that Easter relates to some time in Jesus' life, but I don't see the connect with Jesus to plastic eggs filled with chocolate and bunnies. I read this article and learned that officially Easter was the day (or around the day) that Jesus was "resurrected"three days after his crucifixion, and two days after Good Friday. No offensive to any one's beliefs but to a totally non religious person these events seem a little absurd, especially in this age of technology and modern science, I just don't comprehend it. But something I do comprehend it the tradition of going on Easter egg hunts, and getting a basket full of candy from the mysterious Easter Bunny. This is a tradition that, even with my non-beliefs my family and I celebrate without fail. How did this odd religious observance end up so transformed in to a consumer and family holiday that even non- Christians practice? The answer lies in the many centuries worth of blending religion, music, tradition, pop culture and consumerism that creates our modern Easter Sunday in to a small but fun family get together, with chocolate, bunnies, Jesus Christ and most important community.
(I know we aren't supposed to use Wikipedia but this article was REALLY long and had good information on the transformation of the holiday that I couldn't find anywhere else)
Many authors. "Easter." Wikipedia.com. 23 Mar. 2004. 4 Mar. 2009 .

My Encounter with Bollywood

For first quarter's Ap World History extra credit movie night my teacher, Ms. Matters showed Ashoka, a historical Bollywood film. She told us it was about the life of King Ashoka, one of the greatest rulers of who unified India. We were told to bring pillows and blankets and report to her room at 7:00 Tuesday night for an action packed film and two extra credit points. What we got was a three and a half hour long singing, dancing, romance, battle spectacle. Unlike most American movies, Ashoka had all the themes of movies; romance, action, assassinations, deception, exile, huge battle scenes, lost princesses, religion and death all rolled into one extremely long and confusing plot. In short, Prince Ashoka leaves his kingdom after many assassination attempts by his cousin and other contenders for the throne. He conceals his identity, and travels the Indian country side, a land greatly divided into regional kingdoms. He meets a beautiful girl named Kalwaki, who is actually a princess in hiding and her little brother who is in line for the throne of a rival kingdom. Ashoka and Kalwaki fall in love, but Ashoka must return to his kingdom to take care of his dying mother. While there he receives false news that Kalwaki and her brother have been killed. So heartbroken he turns into a monster, and murders many to take the throne. Mad with no feeling he begins on a ruthless conquest of India, destroying everyone in his way. Meanwhile Kalwaki and her brother have returned to their kingdom and taken the throne, they prepare for war against Ashoka's growing empire. After an extremely bloody series of battles the last independent kingdom falls, with both sides almost completely destroyed. Kalwaki lives threw the battle and sees that her lover is the destroyer of her country and brother. Ashoka sees her alive and suddenly realizes the horror he has created and everything he has destroyed. In the end he is reunited with Kalwaki and becomes a devout Buddhist, and spends the rest of his days ruling and repairing the united India. In addition to an extremely confusing plot, about every 20 minutes, all the character would burst into song and dance, where the tunes were catchy but all in Hindi ( the movie was entirely in subtitles but their language was really cool to listen to). This movie was quite an experience, which although is pretty weird to most Americans, it is a large part of Indian culture and a treat on it's own.
(I read the article on the Ms. Jarrett's blog also)
Mehta, Suketu. "Bollywood Confindential." Suketu Mehta. 14 Nov. 2004. New York Times. 1 Mar. 2009 http://www.suketumehta.com/nytm.html.