Final Exam

An open campus policy allows students to go outside during lunch or in some cases even leave the grounds. This has been implemented in many schools, especially those in warmer climates. However, some schools don't allow students to go outside at all, even during lunch. Why would this be? Is it because of a lack of trust? The potential for danger? Simple climate issues? It's different for every school. The main  question that should be asked when considering an open door policy is this: do we want to treat our students like prisoners? Or even worse than prisoners, considering most prisoners get time outside.

Being able to go outside shouldn't be considered a luxury, it should be considered a right. It shouldn't be reserved to "if you donate enough money, we'll let the seniors have lunch outside for one day out of the entire year." That's completely dehumanizing. There needs to be a level of trust and respect placed upon students that just isn't there. This issue is similar to the fact that we have to ask to go to the bathroom. It's like in the film The Shawshank Redemption; Red gets out of prison for the first time, and keeps asking his employer if it's okay to go to the bathroom. His boss says that he doesn't have to ask him to use the bathroom because it's a basic human thing that doesn't require permission, just like using the bathroom at school or sitting outside in the sun to eat lunch. 

Most jobs allow employees to leave for lunch, if they wanted to. They could take a break, walk across the street, get some coffee and a bagel and come right back. Why is this common, while it is an uncommon thing for students to sit at picnic benches outside and eat? Especially when the weather is nice, sitting outside and enjoying a decent meal would be a dream. Leaving to go somewhere for food would also be a wonderful thing. One could drive to Chipotle and back and arrive in time for next period. As long as people get back on time, it wouldn't be an issue. Despite that fact, we aren't allowed to leave, or even go outside. 

Students just want to be treated like humans. We should be trusted enough to at least go outside, if not walk across the street for some coffee. It all comes down to a matter of respect and faith in the student body. Giving students more responsibility would be beneficial and could lead to them respecting their teachers more as well. It will make everyone involved happy, and would provide a nice break from the long, stressful hours inside the building. We want to attend a school, not a prison. That's all anyone really wants. 

AP Press Scandal

The government did not act properly in this situation. They overstepped their boundaries by a lot. They should have at least asked permission to see the phone records, instead of secretly taking them and intruding on people that they had no right to. Even in matters as serious as terrorism, they should still at least try to go about getting their information properly before just seizing it.

Good Eats

     Hannibal, created by Bryan Fuller, is a new American-Thriller series playing on NBC. It focuses on Will Graham, a teacher and FBI consultant with extreme empathy, and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Will's psychiatrist and a mass murdering cannibal with a taste for fine cuisine. Hannibal is also known as The Chesapeake Ripper, a serial killer who kills in strings of 3 and is known for removing the vital organs and keeping them (presumably eating them.) He has yet to be discovered as the Chesapeake Ripper, or as a cannibal. 

     Hannibal is an extremely fascinating character. For instance, even though Will is on the brink of finding out about him, he seems to genuinely care about Will and see him as a friend. Even when Will is explaining to his class one of the crimes Hannibal committed and showing all of the evidence he has, Hannibal looks really proud of him for being able to figure out everything that he's done. He also seems determined to feed everyone he meets actual humans as food. He'll cook different organs and say that they're pork or lamb or sausage, and people will just eat them up with no questions asked. He even through an entire dinner party where every course encorporated some kind of human meat. Everyone on the show is an unknowing and unwilling cannibal. 

     There are currently seven episodes of the show out right now. A decision has yet to be made about whether or not it will be renewed for a second season. They air on Thursdays at 10PM on NBC. This Thursday's episode will air 15 minutes later and will be presented with no commercials, and there are rumours that the ratings of this episode will determine whether or not it is renewed for another season. 

Bombs in Boston part 2- Page assignment

I was thankfully in Florida when the bomb went off, because I know that if I hadn't been I probably would've gone into Boston that day. Copley Square is where I go with my friends when we go in the city, and to see something like this happen in such a familiar place is devastating and bizarre.

Bombs in Boston

     BOSTON- On Monday, April

     On Monday, May 15th, the annual Boston Marathon was interrupted when two bombs went off in Copley Square. The finish line was clouded with smoke, and it is reported that over 100 people are injured and 3 are dead, including an 8 year old boy.

     One of the suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was found that Friday hiding in a boat in Watertown. Tsarnaev is in no condition to be interrogated right now because of several bullet wounds, including one to the neck. He is charged with the intent of using weapons of mass destruction in an attempt to kill people, and there is question on whether or not the death penalty will be implemented, despite it's illegality in Massachusetts. His brother, the other suspect, was killed in a shootout with the police.

     The scariest part about this to me at first was just the sheer fact that it happened in Boston, a place so close to home. Not only that, but the bombs went off in Copley Square, a place I frequently visit with friends. I was in Florida at the time the bomb went off, but I know that if I wasn't, I would have gone to Boston. When I watched the news show footage of the explosion, I was terrified. I recognized vividly where it went off, because I've walked down that street so many times. Things like this unfortunately aren't infrequent, but most people never think that they could happen so close to home.

Interview Assignment

     The members of Stage Crew at Norton High School are a vital part of every production the school puts on. They create and build all of the sets, manage the costumes and props, and move sets throughout the entire performance. However, despite all of the work that goes into it, no one seems to give the techies enough credit. The actors ignore them, and they only get to bow on the final night of the show. Sariah Sugarman, a stage crew member for the past two years, sat down and spoke about her experience in the group and what she liked and disliked about it.

     "There is a strong family aspect to being in stage crew," she responded, "and I feel like it's because we're kind of outcasts, in a way, that we're so tight-knit and close with each other. We don't even get along all the time, but it doesn't matter. Neither do most families.The most important thing is that we're always there for each other and we keep each other sane." 

     When asked about the treatment from the actors, Sugarman took a moment to think before responding. "I do feel like they should take us more seriously and appreciate how much work we do for them. They tend to overlook everything we do and belittle how much work it is. Our contributions are vital to the shows and they seem to think that they are the only ones involved."

     Sugarman works mostly in building sets and doing stage work during the shows. She graduates next year, so she only has one more year of drama at the high school. She hopes that the techies will soon be recognized for all that they do, and maybe they'll finally get to bow on opening night.

The Defense of Marriage Act

(source)

     The Supreme court is looking into challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) this week, 17 years after it was introduced. The act defines marriage as being strictly between a man and a woman, disregarding the states where gay marriage is already legalized. This law prevents legally married gay Americans from getting the same benefits as heterosexual partners, like estate taxes, social security benefits, and health benefits. In 2011, the Obama administration no longer defended the act, but did nothing to repeal  it.

     This is the second of the back to back cases about gay marriage, the first being the possible repeal of Proposition 8 in California. California briefly legalized gay marriage in 2008 for about 5 months before Prop 8 was passed, banning it again.The states that currently have gay marriage legalized are Conneticut, I owa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Washington, and Vermont.The District of Columbia also acknowledges same sex marriage.

     People begin to line up days in advance in hope that they would be able to view this possibly historic hearing. Rallies either in support of gay marriage or against it are still going on, as people anxiously await the results of the hearing, 

Please Subsribe

Please Subscribe, a film by Dan Dobi,  is a documentary about YouTube and the people who work for it. Not the people who work in an office doing technical aspects for the website, but the content creators; the creative minds responsible for the website traffic. YouTube is the 3rd most visited website on the internet, and that is because there is constantly new content being put up at all hours, for everyone to watch and enjoy. The film explores the more prominent “YouTubers”, from Hannah Hart, whose series entitled “My Drunk Kitchen” became an overnight sensation in the YouTube Community, to people like Mitchell Davis and Grace Helbig, who are popular for sketch-vlogging techniques, and even MysteryGuitarMan, who makes stop motion videos that are viewed by millions.

The film explores the life of eight different YouTubers, and has them explain how they got to where they are and how they’re staying relevant. It exposes their daily lives to show what it’s like and what drives them to make content. For a lot of them, YouTube is their only source of income, so they have to constantly be thinking of ways to attract new audiences and gain a wider viewership. YouTube holds annual conventions, like Playlist Live in March and Vidcon in the summertime, where YouTubers can go and perform and meet their audience and attract new people to their videos. This also gives YouTubers time to collaborate with other YouTubers, which will help get their name out in more places as well.

Dan Dobi announced at the end of his showing of the film in theaters that he was holding an open spot for another YouTuber before the final copy of the film was released. He began a contest that allowed for anyone to submit a two minute video about who they are and what they do in the YouTube community, and the winner will be put in the film and given free tickets to Digitour, another YouTube convention. The finished film will be released on March 23, 2013.

Lil Poopy reaction

In response to the assignment about Lil Poopy, I decided to film my friends, Emma and Liz, reacting live to the music video. (And then we got distracted a bit towards the end.)

Lil Poopy

For Journalism, we write weekly articles for our local newspaper, "The Sun Chronicle," in the section for High School students, "The Page" . This week, we had to write about whether or not Brockton police were justified in investigating 9 year old rapper Lil Poopy's home life because of the content in his videos. This is what I submitted:

Lil Poopy's content is very risque, which would be fine if he wasn't a nine year old. His music is very sexual for his age, to the point where YouTube is even beginning to remove his videos due to sex and drug references. While this may not be a result of a bad home life, the police were still entitled to investigate the situation. 

Here is one of Lil Poopy's videos, entitled "Pop That Remix"