March from Selma to Montgomery: How far have we come?

The Edmund Pettus Bridge is a bridge in Selma, Alabama. It is also a very important location in which The Bloody Sunday ( March 7th, 1965) occurred. The Bloody Sunday was the first march of the Selma to Montgomery marches, these marches were known to be the political and emotional peak of the American Rights Movement. Over 600 civil rights marchers were attacked by state and local police. After this first march, a second and third march were organized to take affect. They were more successful than the first march.

I think that these marches have had great historical impact and we have changed our image on segregation movements. By seeing and reading about The Bloody Sunday, many people began to take action on civil rights. An example of this is when President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Governor George Wallace tried to persuade others for civil rights. Later the passed a bill which later became The Voting Rights Act. Johnson also gave a speech that was an important civil right's movement.

SOTA's Mission Statement

OUR MISSION IS STUDENT SUCCESS... ACADEMIC, ARTISTIC, AND HUMANISTIC.

I feel that this means SOTA not only wants us to be successful and graduate but also, because we are an art school, to have artistic and humanistic success. Academic success is simply having the correct amount of credits to graduate and pass. Artistic is based on your major, to also gain credits but also to have learned from your major and improved. Humanistic is having a strong interest in human welfare, values, and dignity. I think by being academic, artistic, and humanistic you will be very successful in life.

Bullying Has Gotten 'WAY' Out of Hand

Bullying is common in elementary school. Teasing and taunting of students, and sometimes beating on them. Some people thought that once these students reach middle and high school it will stop and these stills will mature, but it seems to have only gotten worse. Now bullying has led to suicide of young teens. Has bullying gotten so bad that the only way to escape it is suicide? It seems that this issue is not going away, and no one has made the effort to stop it until something has happened.

What is SEXTING?????

We have all heard the word, Sexting many times, but no one has actually understood what it meant. To people its just sending naked photos to a boyfriend/girlfriend just for pleasure. Its not only sending explicit photos, but also explicit messages by cell phone, email, or IM messengers. Sexting is most popular by cell phones. Now that technology has improved, the use of them has increased as sending explicit has increased, especially among most teens. There have been many documentaries on Sexting but teens have not bothered to actually pay attention and watch them. I never knew it was such a big issue until I seen a episode on it. The show Degrassi is based on teen life, which I find interesting because some things I can relate to as others can as well. In the episode I seen, a young girl Alli Bhandri is dating Johnny DiMarco who is older than her. He has the "bad-boy image" and doesn't want to ruin his rep. by being cuddly buddy with Alli. Alli wants attention so she gets Johnny a phone and begins to send him naked photos of herself. After an arguement that causes them to break up, Johnny sends a picture of Alli to his friend. When Alli trys to take the phone from his frien, he sees the image and so does the teacher. She doesn't get in trouble, but is left with a warning. Alli was lucky enough not to have her picture spread to the whole school, but what happened was enough to set me straight. Teens must think before they send a picture to someone, even if they trust them. Once the pictue is sent, there's no way to get it back.

My Mother is on FACEBOOK !

Myspace was just the start, now Facebook has become more popular. But what some teens are worried about is the parents having Facebook accounts and being able to access on to their profiles. Teens have said that Facebook is much more "revealing" than Myspace. Also, some teens are mad at the fact that their parents have "take-over" these websites. Even though Myspace and Facebook are for people of many ages, they see it as a teen site and not for parents. "I find it annoying when I write on my wall and my mom comments it all the time." says a teen. Also she says, "My mom thinks she's so cool because she has a Facebook. And when she requested me as a friend I denied her. But she could STILL see my page." Other teens have aslo complained of similar problems with their parents and their privacy. My advice to teens is not too put your private matters as your status or your wall. Not only will your parents see it but others will too, and this can lead to other problems.

Right to Vote?

Should there be literacy tests?

I don't think there should be literacy tests. The questions on these tests may be difficult for some people to answer, I even have trouble answer some of them. The questions do not determine what a person may feel about which candidate they are voting for. The person can be voting for the person because they feel that they will benefit them. For example, if a person was mentally disabled and could not take the test but felt that the person they want to vote for is the best, why couldn't the cast a vote? I feel that the literacy tests are wrong and prejudice to people.

Tom Tancredo feels that we should reinstate literacy tests. He wants to reinstate them for specifically voters that "cannot spell the word vote or say it in English." Whether they are illetarate or cannot speak English, everyone has the right to vote. Voting is based on opinions of the people, and by taking the literacy tests it is stop people from giving there opinion and having a say in government. This is not right, and is not fair to the people.

Critical Thinking: Margaret Drabble

In 2001 The American Scholar published an excerpt from a talk given by English author Margaret Drabble. In the talk, Drabble claimed that "Our desire to conform is greater than our respect for objective facts."

My definition of conformity is opinions based on influences of others and objective facts are unbiased statements that are based on fairness and are not based on personal opinions. I agree with Drabble. I think that some people find it easier to "go with the flow" than face the facts. Instead of taking the time to face the facts and decide what's right and wrong, they follow others that they might see as "leaders" than do what they want. An example of this may be peer pressure. If someone is telling you do to something, you might follow because everyone else may be doing it.