My Big Five for Life!

What are your “Big Five for Life?” What are the five things you want to see, experience, or accomplish before you die? Would you then consider your life a success?  Do you see your “Big Five for Life” changing as time goes on? What factors might cause you to re-evaluate your “Big Five for Life”? 

- My big five for life are to become a successful pediatric nurse practitioner, get married and have a family, travel to a different country, not struggle financially, and being able to retire some place wonderful. No matter what I do or how bad I fail I will always consider my life a success because I will still always have the people I love surrounding me. As time goes on I can see my big five for life changing because I might come across new interest.

Is Hazing Really Innocent?

            Hazing is, any humiliating or dangerous activity expected of you to join a group, regardless of your willingness to participate. The top organizations that tend to report the most number of members hazing are known to be fraternities, sororities, peer groups, and gangs. In 1999, Alfred University reported that 79 percent of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes that participated in this survey did indicate that they did experience some form of hazing. 51 percent also stated that they were required to participate in different alcohol-related hazing. This same study also showed that 76 percent of students joining fraternities or sororities were hazed and 22 percent of students that participated in music, art, or theater groups were also subjected to hazing. Students who are subjected to hazing tend to suffer from psychological and emotional disorders such as depression, discomfort, low self-esteem, and negative feelings including a sense of hurt, betrayal, worthlessness, loneliness, and hatred.

            My opinion on hazing is that it is uncalled for. You should not have to be tortured or “hazed” to be initiated into a fraternity or sorority. Also, you should not have to be involved in any type of hazing for a sports team or as well as music, art, or theater groups. I am aware that at my school hazing is prohibited. I also know that it may still take place within certain groups on campus. As a student I can take it upon myself to form a group or association that represents anti hazing. Within this group I can try to encourage students to come forward and inform us if they have been subjected to hazing and by whom. This group can help stop hazing at my campus and possibly expand on other campuses to try and help prevent hazing there as well. 

  

http://www.campushealthandsafety.org/violence/hazing/ 

Facebook Goes To Far

 

On February 22, 2010, Liz McNeil wrote an article in People Magazine. The article talked about bullying over Facebook at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. The young girl that was bullied went by the name of Phoebe. Phoebe was new to Massachusetts. Her family was from Ireland. At first Phoebe was adjusting well to her new school until all of the boys started to notice her. Many girls became jealous that Phoebe had the boy’s attention. Once Phoebe started to have an exclusive relationship with a football player that was also seeing another girl, everyone started calling her the “Irish whore”. The taunting only got worse. Phoebe was not only sent horrible messages, photo comments, & wall posts over Facebook she was also verbally bullied in school. Phoebe got to the point where she couldn’t handle it anymore and she soon hung herself.

While I read this article my heart went out to Phoebe and her family. I was never bullied when I was in school so I honestly do not come close to understanding what it feels like. I just don’t understand how people can be so cruel to another person. I have a Facebook, and there has been times that I have read conversations on my news feed of one person degrading another. There has also been an incident where girls are having an argument and wish each other dead. Facebook is really meant for friends and family to stay in contact, or for you to meet new people. It is not meant for bullying or cruel words. Reading this article has really opened my eyes to the effect bullies have on their victims. It has also opened my eyes to the fact that Facebook allows bullying to go on. I am not sure that I am okay with that.

 http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20350702,00.html

Why Not Be Smart and Don't Start!

http://thedesigninspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/smoking/smoking-kills-05-v.jpg

This advertisement creates a disturbing type of mood. The designer of this is ad sets the mood by loading a gun with cigarettes instead of bullets. The designer is trying to say that cigarettes can kill you just as fast or just like a bullet can. The relationship this ad has between pictorial and written material is about even. The designer found a way to balance out this ad with an outstanding picture as well as a great amount of facts that tie up message they are trying to get across. The photo in this ad looks like it is a medium shot. It also has good lighting, the hand of the person holding the gun and the gun itself stand out nice and bright for the viewers.

I believe that the message that this ad was trying to make does get to its viewers. In all honesty smoking cigarettes lead a person to death just like a loaded gun would. This ad is very persuasive the creator used good detail with the photograph as well as great facts on the left side of the ad. All the facts are examples of the different effects cigarettes have on smokers. The slogan at the end catches my attention every time I read it. People that chose to smoke know the risks but they do it anyways. What I don’t understand is why they would want to cause themselves to be at risk for health issues. Smoking does kill so why don’t people choose not to smoke?  

Conversation Misinterpretation Between the Sexes

Why men don't talk to women

The central message the author is trying to communicate is that when men try to talk to women, the women misinterpret what the men are trying to say so the men get there "heads chopped off". A man can say something simple to a women like "Hey, would you like to have lunch with me?" and the women would take that statement as the guy smothering her or wanting to be more than just friends. I disagree with the author's view point because he is trying to make it seem like the men are all sweet and innocent about the questions or statements they make towards women. Men can be very disrespectful towards women at times. Walking around a college campus you might possibly hear " hey girl, wanna get some food?" talking to women in that type of way will infuriate them and because of that they might misinterpret what the man is really trying to say.


 <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/d54TiN3t5_I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

GoAnimate Professional!

For the technology part of my midterm I chose to use GoAnimate. At first I was unsure if I wanted to do a short animated Cartoon on GoAnimate or create a small presentation on SlideRocket. In the end I chose to use GoAnimate because making a short animated cartoon appealed to me. I have never made one before so I thought it would be a lot more fun than putting facts on a slide. Signing up for GoAnimate was very simple. I was able to start my cartoon right away. The website is very user friendly it takes you through there process step by step. I usually tend to have trouble with technology but this site was a piece of cake. I really enjoyed creating characters and a dialog. Over all it was definitely the right choice for me. One thing I would choose to do differently in my cartoon is change a little bit of the dialog and possibly make it catchier. Other than that I think I did a decent job on my cartoon.

This is the link for my GoAnimate Cartoon:
http://goanimate.com/movie/02y2MBXrPqPo?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0FU5W1550Dt8