To Pic or Not To Pic

   Recently, with the event of Osama's death, there has been a lot of controversy as to whether or not the government should release videos and pictures of his body. On The View, there was a poll presented that showed that 56% of United States citizens polled wanted the U.S. government to release the pictures. Of course we cannot know exactly why each of these 56% wants to see horrific pictures of Osama's remains, but it is suggested that it is due to the suspicion that he's not really dead. This reminds me of something I previously blogged about- the release of Obama's birth certificate to prove that he was not, in fact, a Muslim. It is ridiculous to think that he's not really dead, but at least this time it is not a matter of race or religion, but just disbelief and mistrust in the government, which, in my opinion, is understandable. Do you think the pictures should be released? Do you even doubt that Osama is not really gone?

"ROT IN HELL"?

   This morning, when I found out about Bin Laden's death, one of the first things I thought about was the fact that I would need to address it in my blog, as I'm sure many of us will. What I didn't know was what exactly to write about. But after seeing the collage of newspaper covers today in class, I feel inspired to write about how inappropriate I feel it is to celebrate the killing of a human being, no matter how bad of a person they are. It is one thing to be glad he is gone, which I admittedly am, than to party outside the White House and pop champagne to the story of him, his son, and a couple others being shot. While I don't want to rain on the patriotic parade that has suddenly arisen from this occurrence, I don't think this is the time to be especially patriotic, mostly because the United States are coming off as inhumane and cruel, at least to me. Looking at the cover pages we looked at today, I am sad to see declarations of "ROT IN HELL!" and "WE GOT THE BASTARD!" Does this event not deserve the gravity that is normally involved with a person's death? Also, his death should be a reminder of the many people who died in 9/11, an extremely grave event. It should not be the revenge we have achieved in their honor.

"Humiliating Day"

   According to the Vancouver Sun (link), a critic called the release of Obama's birth certificate a "humiliating day" since it was caused by the ignorant "suspicions" of people such as Donald Trump. Because Trump made a statement about Obama needing to release his birth certificate to the public to end the suspicions of people who think he might be Muslim...(um, I think the U.S. gov would have figured that out by now if it was true), Obama went ahead and did it. And this is humiliating for our nation because it shows the continued existence of racism in 2011. Do you think we as a nation ever demanded to see a Caucasian president's birth certificate? No. It upsets me that things haven't really changed for the better. And I hope I'm not the only one upset by it.

Returning to Life

   First of all, I just want to apologize for my lack of blogging since April 4th...that's pretty sad. I'm apologizing more to my self than anyone because I know it only hurts me in the long run to forget to blog, but I neglected it anyway because I had to prioritize my life for a while and make some sacrifices. The week that our "full draft" for junior theme was due was a horrendous one for me. I had two auditions, an in school performance, a long dress rehearsal, 2 passover seders, and 2 tests, and that all occurred by Wednesday since I left school early on Thursday for a visit to IU. When I got back, I was expecting to feel this great weight be lifted off my shoulders with the turning on of my paper, but unfortunately that feeling has not taken over quite yet. Maybe because I still had the ACT to take. Maybe because there is still life after junior theme. I'm still waiting for that sigh of relief to hit me.

Assessment

Please assess Racism Still Exists. But please pardon the line about Reconstruction...I'm aware of how historically incorrect that is.

Suckerpunch Gets Suckerpunched

As you already know, (if you've read my previous posts), I am researching sexism and gender inequality in films for my junior theme project. A few recently produced movies immediately come to mind when I think about the over-sexualization of female characters in films today. The first one is Suckerpunch, which is about a girl who gets thrown unwillingly into a mental institution, which ends up being more like a whorehouse judging by the costumes and mannerisms of her fellow "institution girlfriends" in the previews. She is then told that the only way to escape from the institution is to fight and defeat demons in some kind of imaginary world. This would be a great example of a strong, "kick-ass" female character in a movie, had she not been dressed like some teenage boy's schoolgirl fantasy. Of course this movie would be gobbled up by perv-y guys if it didn't look as much like a chick-flick as it seems in the preview. But I was happy to read on PerezHilton.com: "Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch took a huge blow as it dropped 68% from the previous weekend, grossing only $6.1 million for the weekdn. So far, that's been the biggest second-weekend drop of any movie this year. Ouchie."

"Ouchie" is right. Looks like I'm not the only one disgusted by this horrific display of sexualization and demeaning stereotyping.

Work Over Spring Break Orrrr....Not?

I feel like I'm going at the exact right pace right now for my junior theme. I have at least 5 good articles I found online that I am starting to read and annotate, I am currently reading a book on my topic written by a NYTimes journalist, I found 7 articles from encyclopedias and books in the library and copied the pages, and even did a bibliography of every source I've found so far and think I'll use. So now the question is, should I work over spring break?? Doc OC and Bolos said no need to do significant work over the break, other than reading. But since we don't know any due dates, I feel wary about taking time off from writing, researching, and planning my essay for a week. Also, my 23 year old sister who is a graduate of WashU will be on vacation with me, so my mom has suggested that I use her help because she's a great essay writer. Is it worth it to spend my precious time in Palm Springs working on this project? Help!!