Journal Response #3

Unlike Romeo and Juliet, I do not believe that love at first sight is possible. The reason is that love at first sight means that you are in love with the person’s outward appearances. Although that is a good thing, the most important qualities of a person are the ones inside, such as the attitudes and values they have and the way they control themselves when they are angry or sad. Romeo and Juliet think they are madly in love, but in reality they have barely even talked, have only seen each other a fews times and they already want to get married. Romeo and Juliet are just basing their likings toward one another on each other’s their outward appearances. Almost every time people marry based on love at first sight, their “love” for one another will wear off and they will probably get a divorce. For example, a lot of women like to marry the rich NFL stars that make millions of dollars a year. These women are mainly basing their love for these NFL players on their “first sight” of the man’s bank account. Later, after they are married, they frequently wind up divorcing their husband, being unfaithful, or wind up getting abused by some of the criminals that play in the NFL. Research shows that between 60% and 80% of all of the NFL players have gotten a divorce at some point. This divorce rate is higher than the general population’s, likely because there are so many stressful things that go with being a professional athlete. Therefore, this shows that love at first sight isn’t a very effective way to live with somebody for the rest of your life, but knowing each other and being able to work through hard times is more effective. On the other hand, there are a few cases where love at first sight works out for the better. For example, if you see a cute puppy on the side of the road with no dog tags, looking like it hasn’t eaten in a week, you would take it home and save the dog from dying. In this case, if you happened to see the cute puppy on the side of the road and didn’t think it was adorable or needed help, then that dog could have died the next day. That is why love at first sight can work towards the good sometimes. One of the pitfalls of love at first sight are that when the couple grows older, they start to not look as good so then the love eventually runs out, and there isn’t anything that they find interesting about each other. Additionally, another pitfall would be that you may not even realize that your new lover is a criminal because you are too busy admiring the person’s outward appearances. On the other hand, an advantage is that sometimes love at first sight may temporarily help you find “love” in somebody or something to help bring you out of a hard time. Therefore, whether you believe in love at first sight or not, you still cannot deny the fact that the relationships that are based on love at first sight are not as strong as those that are based on a relationship where two people get to know each other and build a strong relationship with each other.

Journal Response #1

        In comparison, Benvolio and Tybalt play two very common roles in the play “Romeo and Juliet.”  Benvolio is Romeo’s cousin, and Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin.  Both are very helpful towards Romeo and Juliet because they Benvolio tries to help Romeo understand his love life, and Tybalt is always very loyal to the Capulet household and is always looking for revenge.  Although from different families, both characters are always trying to do what is best for the family even if that means risking their lives or jumping in the middle of a fight to break it up.  Both characters hate each other’s families due to the long held grudge between the families.  Also, both Benvolio and Tybalt are extremely demonstrative when they are explaining something.  In contrast, they are both members of two very different families.  The families seem so different because of the way they handle situations.  The way Benvolio and Tybalt handle situations is very different also.  For example, if Benvolio were to be in a middle of a brawl, he would probably do anything just to make peace and not fight.  On the other hand, Tybalt would most likely try to kill the other person, especially if they did something to his family.  Also, the language that they use is very different.  For example, Benvolio likes to use a more simple language, and sometimes more poetic.  This is exemplified in Act 2 Scene 4 when Benvolio states “Thou wouldst else have made thy tale large.” which demonstrates his poetic nature in his language usage.  Conversely, Tybalt uses a more aggressive tone and language, declaring things like in Act 1 Scene 5 lines 61-67 where he states, “Come hither cover’d with an antic face. To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?  Now, by the stock and honor of my kin, to strike him dead I hold it not a sin.”  Therefore, both characters have their similarities and differences, but that is what makes them engaging characters and the story more interesting.

In comparison, Lord Montague and Lord Capulet are both very similar in ways.  For example, both Lord Montague’s and Lord Capulet’s love for their children is unbelievable.  Both lords constantly are worried about their children’s conditions and if they are safe.  For example, in Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 14-15, Lord Capulet explains to Paris when Paris is asking to marry Juliet, “The earth hath swallow’d all my hopes but she, she is the hopeful lady of my earth.”  And also, whenever Lord Montague comes back from the small fight between him and Lord Capulet, the first thing he asks Benvolio is how Romeo is and his location.  This shows that both Lord Capulet and Lord Montague are both very concerned about their children.  In contrast, Lord Capulet is more overprotective of his daughter than Lord Montague is.  For example, although both men care greatly about their children, Capulet locks his daughter inside the house all day because he fears that she will die like all of the rest of his children.  Conversely, Montague just wants to know where Romeo is, but as long as Romeo isn’t getting into trouble, Montague doesn’t really care where his children are.  Therefore, even though the two men differ in some of their rules concerning their children, that doesn’t take away the fact that they are both very caring and loving towards their children.

Overall, it is both the similarities and differences in these two sets of characters that add additional color and depth to the tragic love tale of “Romeo and Juliet”.  Despite these two families’ differences, they share similar love and dedication to their families.

The topic of my article is about if the NFL doesn’t it may fade away just like boxing. The title of my article is “The N.F.L.’s Next Play: Address Brain Trauma or Fade Away”. I got my article from: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/opinion/the-nfls-next-play-address-brain-trauma-or-fade-away.html?_r=0

If the National Football League (NFL) doesn’t change it safety rules, it might find itself right where boxing around the 1980’s. In the 1980’s, there were several debates whether or not boxing was a good sport to advertise to people sitting on their coach. The reason was that the refs would let the games get a little out of control, so eventually enough complaints were made to where a lot of people stopped watching boxing.

This affects me because my favorite sport to watch in the whole wide world, is football. I love to sit down and watch the Dallas Cowboys play on every Sunday night. The thing is though is that over the past 10 years the NFL has made several rules to prevent concussions and head injuries, but the rules were never enforced enough to solve the solution. Some people might say that it waters the league down too much, but the thing is that it doesn’t really matter what we think, but it’s how well the players are protected. I’m pretty sure that if the people who said that played football against those humongous 350 pound men out on the field, they would want to make sure that they were protected by the refs.

This affects the world because of the fact that so many people across the world watch the NFL. That means that if the doctors who are trying to protect the players, willow given a hard time for taking the fun out of the game. Although not every person thinks the same way, surely most people know about how those players you see playing on the field every night, aren’t moving the same way after they retire. For example, the great running back who played for the Houston Oilers in the 1980’s, can barely walk now even with a walker. This shows how you can go from great to crippled very fast if you play in the NFL. He may not have been concussed severally all of his career, but he still probably wishes he could walk normal again. Therefore, it’s not all about what we think should happen with the rules, but it should also be how the players feel about the rules.

The topic of my article is over Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performance. The title of this article is “Beyoncé’s Super Bowl act courageous or offensive”? I got this article from: https://policingtheusa.wordpress.com/data-behind-the-stories/

At Super Bowl 50, Beyoncé’s performance stole the show from the main attraction, Coldplay. Former mayor Rudy Giuliani said her performance, which alluded to the Black Panthers and Malcolm X, was an attack on police officers. Beyoncé was dressed very inappropriately for all of the younger viewers of the Super Bowl, and lost several fans on her Super Bowl performance.

This affects me personally because usually I like to enjoy watching the halftime show during the Super Bowl, but this year I couldn’t watch it because it just wasn’t right. There is no way that the NFL should’ve let Beyoncé go out and perform wearing what she did. Personally I don’t think that they will ever invite Beyoncé back to a Super Bowl performance. Also, Beyoncé shouldn’t have talked about cops in her songs, especially after all of the problems that have happened in the past few years. Beyoncé also stole the main attraction away from Coldplay by the way she dressed and the way she sang. Personally I believe that Beyoncé should’ve respected that she wasn’t the main attraction, and backed off a little bit.

This affected the world because people were watching the game from all across the world. The parents who let their kids watch the halftime show, probably won’t let them watch the show again due to how Beyoncé and her dancers were dressed. Also, I’m sure that several cops were watching the halftime performance, and they probably took Beyoncé’s lyrics as threats or mocks. Although not everybody realized that Beyoncé was talking bad about cops and disrespecting them, but the ones who did might’ve thought that if Beyoncé could disrespect cops, then so can I. Although Beyoncé didn’t mean any harm, she didn’t gain very many fans compared to how many she lost from her Super Bowl 50 performance.

The topic of my article is about the workers for Super Bowl 50 aren’t happy about their pay and treatment. The title of this article is “For Stadium Workers, Super Bowl Is Not So Super”. I got this article from:
http://m.newser.com/story/220290/for-stadium-workers-super-bowl-is-not-so-super.html

Just recently Super Bowl 50 was held in San Francisco, California. The workers for the concession stands, and the clean up crew, had a very busy night that night, and they were working more than state laws allowed without a ten minute break. Also, one man named Gabriel Thompson, wrote this article to bring recognition to how little they workers get paid during these big games. He says that he only gets paid $12.25 and hour while he has to work in the concession stand, while the biggest game of the year is on.

This isn’t a reason to complain about not getting paid enough though. If the people who work during the big game, went to college and got a halfway decent job, they would be making at least 10 times as much money as they make right now. I understand that they might not have had enough money to go to college, but if they would’ve saved their money starting whenever they could get a job, and maybe even studied harder in school, they wouldn’t be in the situation they are in now. They could probably already have graduated college, and made more money than have made their whole life in just 1-2 years. I understand some of the workers may not have had the opportunity to get a better job, or weren’t able to study as much due to their home life, but some of the workers just never tried to find a better job, but they are ok with living life just barely making enough money to survive.

This affects the world, because there are people all across the world who don’t have a good job. This makes the unemployment rates go up because if all of the bad jobs, that everybody wants because they don’t want to have to work hard get filled up, then there will be tons of people unemployed, and living with their parents, or even living on the streets. Some people in other continents would love to have a minimum wage job, but their government won’t set a minimum wage, so they can have sweatshops,so they can’t even if they tried couldn’t get a better job. So in the end, the workers who work in the concession stands, can either work harder to get a better job, or not complain about what they have. I understand that they may not have the best job in the world, but maybe if they would’ve worked a little bit harder, or not dropped out of school, maybe they could have a better job.

The topic of my article is about the Flint Water Crisis. The title of the article is “Plenty of blame to go around in Flint water crisis: #tellusatoday”. I got this article from: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/26/flint-water-crisis-tellusatoday-your-say/79374596/

This article is about the Flint water crisis that happened on January 16. The water ever since the water source change in 2015, there has been a 2.5% increase of children that have an elevated level of lead in their blood. There are a lot of people who are being blamed for this issue, but nobody really knows exactly what happened to the Flint water.

This affects me because if one of the effects was the new water source change, that was a national requirement, that means that Flint probably isn’t the only city that has high lead levels in their water. Also, if water plants aren’t paying attention, they can really get in lots of people sick. This scares me that the water plant people either didn’t notice that the lead was so high in the water or that they just didn’t care about the lead. Also, the sad thing is that nobody knows how the led got in the water in the first place, so the don’t know how to fix the problem yet. If people keep drinking water with high lead levels they can become extremely ill or even die in some cases.

This affects the world in different ways. For one, every country has had a problem with their drinking water. And 2 not every country even has filtered water. Most of the countries in Africa don’t have a lot of pure water that’s safe to drink. That’s why our drinking water is taken so seriously around here, because if not lots of people die or become ill. This problem with the Flint water will be fixed very soon, but we need to be more aware of things like this or else we can be seriously hurt just from drinking water.

My article is about if Ted Cruz wants to win Iowa’s vote, he has to find a solution to solve iowa’s methanol problem. The title of the article is “Could ethanol cost Iowa its kickoff caucus? – Column”. I got this article from: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/20/ethanol-iowa-caucus-cruz-branstad-column/79056168/

If Ted Cruz is planning on winning Iowa’s vote, he will need a good solution that will help save Iowa’s kickoff caucus. Recently Iowa has been having too much ethanol emissions from vehicles and gases. If Ted Cruz can come up with a good solution he could very well win Iowa’s vote for the presidential election.

This affects me because this is a state that can help Cruz come closer to becoming president. In my opinion Cruz would be a better option for president than Donald Trump. The reason is that ever since the presidential runs have started to begin Trump has made several rude comments about other people and countries. It would not be good if our president talked his way into world war three just because he couldn’t keep his opinions to himself. I believe that Iowa is going to pick whoever they believe has the best solution, and also whoever is the best fit for president.

This doesn’t have a big impact on the world yet. But if we don’t make sure that the president we pick is a good one, then the world could be in some trouble. Although there are many bad options at the president position, there are also many good options at president. So if we decide to elect a good president for office, then we might be able to keep peace throughout the world for a little bit. That’s why it’s so important that we pick a president that will make good decisions, and also help solve the problems in our country.

The topic of my article is about the 1.5 BILLION dollar powerball drawing on Wednesday. The title of my article is “When Powerball Fails you”. The source of my article is: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/12/powerball-losing-rigged-column/78688698/

The Powerball jackpot is up to 1.5 billion now and people are cashing out and spending 100’s of dollars on tickets just trying to win the jackpot. People won the lotto in several different states, but nobody won in Texas. Overall people wind up wasting a lot of money on tickets to win little or no money.

I believe that it’s a waste of money usually, but when the jackpot is that high, why not throw a few dollars in there and try to win something. I wouldn’t waste hundreds of dollars though. Sometimes people get kind of crazy about lottery’s, and money earning websites such as draftkings & fanduel. Honestly though 1/4 of the people wind up winning less money than they payed for. That’s why I don’t like to waste money on this types of things.

The world impact isn’t very large, unless the people who win that money decide to donate a lot of it to organizations. If they donate some of the money to several organizations like to cancer research, or child hunger organizations, then that could potentially have a great impact on the world. Although it says the jackpot is worth 1.5 billion dollars, after the taxes they take out of it, it turns out to only be about 900 million dollars or less. Don’t get me wrong though that’s still a lot of money. Even if the jackpot is lowered after taxes, the winners can still help the world in several different ways.