Summers Here

Normally when finals are over it takes a while for the fact that summer is finally here to set in. However, when the second the bell rang at 11:30 the feeling of summer hit me faster than a fastball at Wrigley Field, which is where I plan on spending many days during this most glorious season of the year. The energy of summer cannot be matched by an other season. Sure people say that spring is a time of rebirth but summer is after you have been born so all that is left to do is live. It seems that everybody is at their best when it is summertime; skin gets tanner, hair gets blonder, and smiles spread like wildfire. I have always been a summer person and have had a hard time getting through long cold winters. This year was no exception. At certain times I thought that winter would never end, but ultimately having that brutal winter made summers long awaited appearance all the more sweet. So as I sit here today looking ahead at the 3 glorious months ahead of me and I cant wait for them to begin.

America Taking a Step Forward

America Taking a Step Forward

I see American soldiers putting up a solar panel

Wearing hats and shades and the backs of a camel

They all look interested in this new source of energy

Hoping Mother Nature will accept our apology

I wonder why it has taken us so long

To come to the conclusion that our system is flawed

Our country runs on oil but it’s drying up

Soon there won’t be enough to fill a sippie cup

Our nation is progressing but is it too late?

Will there be enough time to clean up that slate?

(This image is great because it relates to what we have studied about the American military and where it is going)

When I came across this image I immediatly knew that it was the one I wanted to use because it mixed together two concepts that have been thrown in my face all year, not just in AIS, but in my every day life. These two concepts are The military and the environment. Many people have this view of the military as this huge expensive production that is too busy to care about little things like the environment. So to see soldiers putting up a solar panel was refreshing to say the least. I was also quite taken with this image because of the environment presentation I saw on American Studies day. The presentation had great information and incredible images of the progress that we are making as an entire planet. So these soldiers putting up the solar panel are not just representing the progression of America, they are also representing the progression of the world. 

American Flag

I took many different pictures of old glory, but I was most taken by this photo because of where the flag is situated on the house. I took multiple pictures of flags that were hanging outside of houses and most of them were hung right over the door. However, this particular flag is proudly waving high up in the air on the second floor. The flag makes a bold statement that draws the person viewing the house in. Obviously, whoever hung the flag has at least some love for their country. Not only are they hanging up a flag, but to hang it up in a spot where it is the focal point of the front of the house, shows not only that they feel something for their country, but that they want others to feel it too. It is always refreshing to know that there are patriots out there because too often America is spoken of negatively.

Game 4

Today, I was lucky enough to be able to witness the fourth game of the playoff series between the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics. It was an incredible game that went into double overtime, and even though they were favored to lose the Bulls came out victorious. While I was in the United Center I was completely consumed with the game. The sight of Derrick Rose weaving through defenders to slam the ball in the basket, the sound of the thousands of cheering fans reverberating off the walls, it was an amazing game. Afterwards, as I was driving home with my Dad, I came to the realization that even though I have been doing copious amounts of research on how athletes do many bad things that destroy their image as role models, I still look up to athletes. I cannot help it. Every human being wants to see some form of perfection, and the players in the NBA have achieved athletic perfection. They are ten times faster, stronger, and more agile than the average American and it is amazing to watch. I am aware of all the bad things that NBA players have done, but once I stepped through the doors of the United Center I forgot everything because I was simply there to enjoy a basketball game. Therefore, I can see now that it's not that we as a nation give professional athletes special treatment due to their profession, it is that we love to watch them play so much that our subconscious just looks the other way.

First Good News, Then Bad

This morning while I was checking my gmail inbox, which had been as baron as the Gobi desert for the past 3 days, I saw that I finally received some positive feed back for an interview for my paper. I sent out emails to over 20 people, but I still wasn't sure if anyone would email me back because these days people are very busy and they might not have the time to help out some high schooler with his junior theme. However, I recently learned that my potential interview subject, Tribune Writer Melissa Isaacson, got fired due to large cutbacks in the writing department. This scares me because I know if I had just gotten fired I wouldn't want to answer a bunch of questions about my former job. I do not see this as a failure though. This interview will live on. I'm sure that Melissa was very gracious about her termination, and I know that she has the talent to get a new job very quickly, so I will still try and set up an interview. The thoughts and feelings of a seasoned sports writer for the Tribune are too precious to my paper to give up.

A good thesis

Originally all I was worrying about was whether or not I had a good why question, but now I have shifted my focus onto worrying about whether or not my thesis is good. Asking the question is one thing, but coming up with an answer to that question is a completely different story. My question is, "why is it that we see athletes as role models?" So I didn't know if my thesis should focus more on the psychology behind the perception of athletes as role models, or if I should try to focus more on how athletes have done things that cause them to no longer be athletes. Since the junior theme is such a big essay, obviously the thought of having a less than perfect thesis is scary, due to the fact that your thesis is probably the most important part of your essay. So I have been contemplating what will make my thesis perfect and I have almost come up with it, but it still needs some work. Good luck to all those other writers out there because lord knows I need some luck.

Topics?

I never thought that it would be so difficult to find a junior theme topic that I not only was passionate about, but that also fit the correct criteria. The first road block is that every student must have a why question. I know I speak for all inquisitive words when I say, "who, what where when must be very offended." So many of my amazing questions where not started off with the word why. However, its not a problem that an accomplished, crafty and dashing writer like me cant get over. The funs not over yet though. Now the author of the junior theme must make sure that his/her question and thesis are not bias so that they do not wrongfully lead the reader into their opinionated death traps. Nevertheless, the main issue that I am dealing with is that even if I know that I have a good why question that is un-bias, I still don't know if my topic is perfect. Every student at new trier knows how important the junior theme is, so what could possibly be scarier than writing an entire paper on the wrong topic (That just sent chills up everyone who is reading this blogs spin didn't it?) So as you can probably tell, I have many concerns regarding the junior theme, so if anyone would like to give me a few pointers or any help at all it would be greatly appreciated.