Obama essay

"Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise," said the president. "Or when even basic facts are contested, and we listen only to those who agree with us. Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention." In this quote, Obama is trying to signify that as democrats we can not work together because we are internally divided. Those who are in the same party as us, are usually the ones we listen to and it should not be like that. If we want a better country, we should listen to those we do not agree with because they could have great ideas about the future of our country. Another quote that caught my attention was "But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future. Those with money and power will gain greater control over the decisions that could send a young soldier to war, or allow another economic disaster, or roll back the equal rights and voting rights that generations of Americans have fought, even died, to secure." In this quote Obama makes a really good point. Giving the power to people with more money can harm the ones with little to no money at all. Our whole future generation can suffer from the decisions that the next president makes. People with more money are arrogant and only care about people that have the same amount of money as them. This effects me personally because I am not rich and I would want my president to listen to everyone not just the rich people. One of Obama's greatest achievements as president was passing the health care bill. By doing this he gave over 32 million Americans affordable health care. Many of Americans could not afford health care because it cost a lot of money, but the bill took care of that. Another achievement was his involvement with the environment, Obama has been more active with the environment than any other president. He has closed down many unregulated power plants and has been promoting Going Green in some of his commercials. His legacy will never be forgotten.

Reflection of NPR Field Trip

The NPR field trip was very fun. I got to meet Kenny “Baby Face” Edmonds as he was leaving the NPR building. That was a great start. The first place we went was the 5^th floor to see the satellites and the Green Roof. The NPR building is very environment friendly. The satellites are weather proof which means that they can withstand winter storms and thunderstorms. The second place we went was to the work quarters where people gather information to put on the website. That floor is also where they hold important interviews. This was interesting to me because there were so many people at work and our tour guide told us that some of those people work 24 hour shifts. When we went to the second floor we went to the Tiny Desk where they have small concerts. Bob Boylen gave us a nice lecture on doing what we want to do in life; he is a strong promoter of having a job that makes you happy. His tiny desk was filled with toys and other things he had collected over the years. There were also books and albums from some very important people. After we left Bob we went to meet with Tasneem (Digital Editor) and Alecia (Producer) to have a conversation about what the media includes and does not include about serious topics. The conversation was very interesting because the media does leave out a lot of information. We also discussed bias in the news also and how that can impact the story to favor one side over the other.  I really enjoyed the conversation and after we left I wanted to go back.  

Circus w/o borders

Our Circus without Borders lesson provided me with a lot of lessons that DC and the entire world can benefit from. There is a lot of misguided youth in the Washington DC area and other parts of the world that need to get involved in activities that can keep them out of trouble. The Circus took in troubled youths and taught them to believe in themselves and follow their dreams. Guillaume’s community was dealing with a lot of suicides so he created a program that implemented acrobatics to take the children’s mind off of negative things. Yamoussa and his friends used acrobatics and dance to escape the reality of poverty.  This pass time can also take the troubled youths away from their troubles and give them something to be happy about. The movie also showed acceptance to different cultures and encouraged the integration of different races. Men from Guinea and the Igloolik, Nunavut Community were able to join together and be successful. It also teaches children to accept themselves despite what others think of them. Guillaume was being bullied because he did not look like the rest of the Igoolik people. Giving back to the community is another lesson the Circus teaches us. Both Guillaume and Yamoussa go back home and perform shows for their friends and families. Guillaume started a program to give back to his youth. Yamoussa recruited some of his friends who are good in acrobatics to join the circus with him and experience different surroundings. Susan’s collaboration of the two very distinct cultures contributes to her interest in “telling positive stories.” Collaborating two groups of people who are very distant from each other and becoming successful is something that everyone wants to see. There are many stories in the news of different cultures going to war because of their differences or local gangs fighting because they want to be better than one another, but, May’s documentary shows a positive reflection of conjoining two different groups of people. Telling positive stories in the news is important because people need to here good things so they can have hope in humanity. 

Underdog- Pollution

An issue that is not getting enough attention is pollution. Pollution is the introduction of containment into the natural environment that causes adverse change. Pollution can take the form of water pollution, land pollution, air pollution, light pollution, noise pollution and thermal pollution. Pollution is caused by loitering; the vast releases of carbon dioxide from cars, and deadly emission of Green Houses from the burning of fossil fuels. These types of pollution change our environment and cause many issues. In the article “Smog in China closes schools and construction sites, cuts traffic in Beijing” by Katie Hunt she discusses how the pollution in Beijing has caused a thick layer of smog to form around the city of Beijing. The smog is so thick that it shut down the whole city because inhaling the films may lead to health damages. The smog is predicted to last for a week according to Beijing’s Bureau of Environmental Protection. Their embassy also stated that the air quality was absolutely horrific, ten times higher than recommended. The citizens of China’s capital have to wear face mask to help prevent the inhalation of the unhealthy films. If the air around Beijing is contaminated then the markets will have to shut down too because the vegetables will absorb the films. If people eat contaminated food, they’ll become sick and spread viruses. Not only does pollution affect this specific city, it affects the whole world because it is contributing to Global Warming. Global Warming is the vast heating of the earth’s climate over time. Global Warming is harmful because it’s melting ice caps in Antarctica and raising the sea level. We need to worry about saving the planet before it’s too late. To prevent further damage to our environment we need to take care of our planet by: recycling, buying hybrid cars reduce emission of fossil fuels by conserving electricity and many more other things.

Giving A Voice to the Voiceless

In the article "Kenya: The Wasteland", the author David Conrad gives a voice to a woman who is suffering in Dandora. The article explores the epidemic of a rural city outside of Dandora being victims of waste disposal. The city gets waste from the Kenyatta International Airport and other places at the same time every day. Once the trash is disposed, many people sort through the waste to eat and feed their children. One woman named Rahab Ruguru points out that she depends on the trash to feed her children and for work. She has been suffering in the filthy city but says that she will follow the dump cite if moved. She depends on the trash for everything, despite how harsh the conditions of the city are. This article gave Ruguru a voice to tell her experience with living in the trash capital of Kenya. Many people aren’t as fortunate as her because people don’t give them chances to express their feelings about a living situation. With this article, people from all around the world can know about this tragedy. According to the article, the wasteland was supposed to be destroyed or moved because the site was overused. There have also been reports of people trying to help but at the same time trying to control the impoverished individuals living in the area. It’s sad to say that only the people inside the wasteland are trying to help because other higher powers aren’t really trying to make a change. Ruguru is still waiting for improvements but until she sees them then she will forever work in the wasteland.

Truth & Beauty in Photojournalism

Real Beauty

This picture shows a man taking his children to the park. This picture is really beautiful because he is actually paying for his children to enter a park. Most people's fathers leave them or are never in their lives to begin with, and the fact that he is taking care of all of his 5 children is wonderful. He doesn't even have a proper mode of transportation but still found away to get his kids to the park safely.

Unauthentic Beauty

In this photo their is a beautiful model who works for Victoria Secret. Victoria's Secret is a clothing company and it has models to advertise their merchandise. The lighting in this photo really compliments the women;s skin complexion. The women is also half naked which may also draw attention to her. If you do the rule of thirds, the center of the photo is the women's breast. The blue in the photo stands out because its such a deep shade. This color is really calm in my opinion and that's why I was so drawn to it. It reminds me of the ocean and her wings remind me of an angel. I think the photographer's intention was to make her look heavenly and that can draw someone to it also. This photo is confusing beauty because the model has a lot of make up on. Her body is also photo shopped to enhance the photo. Thew way the light is reflecting off of her makes her skin look flawless. This photo is bias because it makes people think that you have to look like this to wear theses clothes- when you don't necessarily have to. Many people believe that skinny is better when in all actuality this model most likely starves herself to be this skinny. This photo can have a negative influence on someone who has been struggling with confidence. I think this is why they made a branch for "plus size" models. But the "plus size" models aren't really plus size, they aren't that much bigger than the actual models. This suggest that people take "plus size" as a joke because the models don't represent actual plus size ladies.

#4- Bacon Causes Cancer....but NBD

The story correlating red meat and cancer relates to me because I eat a lot of processed meat because it’s faster to make and cheaper than organic meat. Since I live in the low income area of Washington DC, it is difficult for me to get unprocessed foods because those are the only things that are offered to me and the people of my community. It’s scary to think that the only food offered to me can increase my chances of getting a terminal, incurable disease. This impacts the world because there are many impoverished countries that don’t have access to healthy food. This is very frightening because so many people eat red meats because they enjoy the way they taste. I know for a fact that I love the way steak and other red meats tastes. But, according to International Agency for Research on Cancer, they believe that if humans continue to eat vast amounts of red meats then there are more likely chances for us to get certain types of cancer. This is very misleading because when I saw the article, I immediately believed that if I continued to eat those meats I would get cancer. This is not entirely true; I just can’t eat immense quantities of the meat. The article Ham, Sausages Cause Cancer; Red Meat Probably Does, Too, WHO Group Says immediately encourages readers to automatically believe that the foods they loved will give them cancer. The article says, “Processed meat, such as bacon or hot dogs, causes cancer, a World Health Organization group said in a long-awaited determination on Monday.” Although the claims involving the correlation between processed meat and cancer are sufficient, the claim still catches the reader's eye because the word cancer draws them in and makes them believe that these foods will eventually kill them. This miscommunication can be avoided if the press would release the actual report instead of allowing the bias press to misconstrue the story.