Prom Pressures (to be continued)

Students all across the country have been attending prom the last few weeks and still will in the next few weeks to come. Prom is a high school girls dream. Boys too look forward to prom but nothing compared to the girls and their dresses and shoes and hairstyles. Oh and I forgot nails and jewelry. It’s quite an ordeal.

Sometimes I think we do too much to get ready for prom. It shouldn’t be as hard as it is for girls. We shouldn’t stress about everything as much as we do. I think if there was less pressure from society and social media that girls wouldn’t be so concerned.

My point with this is though, it’s hard enough for girls to have the perfect prom night so why do we pressure them so much? And why do school administrations create these bogus rules?

Many school administrations at prom have been asking girls to leave because their dresses were too revealing.

An article on this can be found here:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/16/living/prom-dress-shopping-too-sexy-skimpy-parents/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

The above link has a series of stories on girls being punished at prom for their dress.

Survival

In People Magazine’s most recent issue dated May 19, 2014, there are the usual stories and pictures of stars in extravagant dresses attending events. But this issue features another story about tragedy. This story is the cover story or the featured story. This story features Cleveland Kidnap Victim, Michelle Knight. A man who she thought she could trust held Michelle Knight captive for over eleven years. 

I will admit, People Magazine is one of my guilty pleasures. Yes it often is just a magazine about stars and singers and what they wore and who they’re dating and all the rumors and gossip about stars and people in the industry. But they also often feature stories about real people too. These people come from everyday society who overcame tragedies or did something for their community. That is my favorite part.

This recent issue about Michelle Knight was one I couldn’t stop reading. Michelle Knight was kidnapped by Ariel Castro, a man who she thought she could trust when she recognized him as the father of her friend in a store.

Ariel Castro approached Michelle Knight when she was asking for directions to a place where she needed to attend a meeting. She recognized him when he stepped up and said he knew where to go when she was asking an employee.

Ariel Castro then persuaded her into his home and locked her in a bedroom with chains coming down from the ceiling, which he locked her in. Michelle was then left alone for two days before Castro came back and raped her and then dragged her down a flight of stairs where he chained her up in his basement and came back and continued to rape her everyday after that for a year.

After about a year, Ariel Castro kidnapped a sixteen-year-old Amanda Berry and brought her into the home as well. Another year later fourteen-year-old Gina DeJesus was kidnapped as well. Gina was changed in the basement next to Michelle. The two become close in light of the tragedy.

Eleven years after Michelle was kidnapped, Amanda helped them be rescued by yelling out the front door for help.

The article is written about Michelle’s experiences while being held captive as well as an excerpt from the book she wrote about her journey.

I read this in the magazine, however I found a link to the article online, that can be found here:

http://www.people.com/article/michelle-knight-cleveland-kidnapping-book-excerpt

Graduation, what next?

This time of year is the time for so many people to graduate from high school and college and move on to something new in their lives. Whether it is, more schooling somewhere else or a job somewhere else, it can be a scary yet exciting time for people. It can be hard for people to say goodbye and hard to move on but it can also be a happy time.

I, myself, still have one more year left at my school, before I have to move on, but I have many people that are close to my heart that will soon be far away from me. It’s very sad. It’s the point where you realize that you finally are growing up and your life is going to change very, very soon.

It’s a scary time but it is also exciting because you are about to start your path to your future career. Graduation is also a time of questioning, there are so many things to contemplate and think about and so many decisions to make.  

How do you decide what you want to do every single day for the rest of your life? That is a really big decision. No, its not a really big decision. It’s a HUGE decision. The biggest and toughest decision I will have to make so far in my life.  I don’t want to grow up.

And yes, you can change your major through out your schooling but that all takes more time and more money and life is way, way, to short for that.

So where do I start? Well first I have to choose a college.  And that college has to be one that has a major in my field of study. But I have to know what I want to do first! Yikes!

But for now, with another year left of school, I just have to cope with saying goodbye to my friends.  Then next year I can make all my big decisions. Ugh. Growing up is hard. But I know I can make the right decision.

How did you decide what you wanted to do with the rest of you life?

First Openly Gay man in NFL

Recently, in the news and media the last few years, there have been a lot of debates about things that deal with people and their sexual orientation. There have been debates on if gay marriage should be legal, the military’s, “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and other things of that nature.

In my personal opinion, there shouldn’t be any debates. People are people. Any person should be able to love who they want to love, and be with who they want to be with without being discriminated against.

Our nation as a whole, has slowly became more accepting of gay people and their sexual orientation but it’s been a long road and still has more to come.

Many people in our society today are still trying to fight for equality and acceptance of different sexual orientations.

One of those people is professional football player, Michael Sam.

Michael Sam attended the University of Missouri or Mizzou, at a preseason workout when coaches asked the team to divide up into small groups and tell others something about themselves, Michael Sam told his teammates, “I’m gay,”.

Michael Sam told the New York Times that he knew his teammates already knew.

Michael Sam is an outstanding athlete and person. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Sam, a senior who was listed at 6 feet 2 inches and 260 pounds, had a stellar season as Missouri finished 12-2 and won the Cotton Bowl. He was a first-team all-American and was named the Associated Press defensive player of the year in the Southeastern Conference, widely considered the top league in college football. Teammates voted him Missouri’s most valuable player.”

That is amazing. Michael Sam’s teammates are remarkable people as well for voting him Missouri’s most valuable player.

Michael Sam is about to enter the NFL or National Football League where there are many controversies over sexual orientation and players and coaches being homophobic or claiming to have homophobia. This is ridiculous. Times are changing; it’s ok for a football player to be gay.

If colleges can accept this, and college students can, why cant grown men?

Michael Sam deserves a chance, and deserves respect.

Michael Sam is predicted to be drafted in the third round.

An article on Michael Sam can be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/sports/michael-sam-college-football-star-says-he-is-gay-ahead-of-nfl-draft.html?_r=0

To follow up on this blog post, Michael Sam was drafter to the St. Louis Rams.