Beginning class in Public School with a prayer. Is it a violation of separation of church and state?

Public School shouldn’t start every morning with a Christian prayer, even if it is led by the teacher and is not mandatory for every student in the class. Where is the line between religious freedom and religious imposition? Students may be forced to do it because they feel confused or think they can be excluded for the rest of their classmates, so undoubtedly this case would violate the separation of church and state.

Teachers and students have their rights if they want to speak about religion matters (First Amendment, free speech) but teachers can’t allow students to pray out loud or with a group. If they allow Christian students to pray, they must to do the same with Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist students,... The United States is a diverse nation with people who follow many different faiths and all of them can’t be represented in the started of the classes.

Teachers should not defend just one religion in their classes and should keep out of it. Teachers’ work is to teach their corresponding field, they are not responsible for teaching students to pray. This work belongs to the parents who are the real responsible of it. Students can pray in Churches or at home with their families.

There is a time and a place for everything, and Public School is no one of them. If a family really wants that their children pray at school, they should look for a specific school, a private school which share their religion. But if they want to keep their children in a public school, they must to respect to the rest of the people who have different religious ideology, such as they want to be respected.

Beginning class with a Christian prayer - violation of the separation of church and state?

First of all I agree with the objection of the non-Christian parents. Although it’s most probably a harmless violation of the Amendment that regards the separation of church and state the teacher shouldn’t include the Christian prayer in school. Even though the students can choose whether to participate or sit quietly, the prayer affects all of them who sit in class. I mean isn’t this way an unconscious intake of the information?

Secondly, the teacher projects her belief on the students which is partly also not correct because America claims to be a country that encourages the freedom to follow your own religion.

What the school could do is to offer a religious class as additional subject in case some parents would like the idea. That is how the school system used to be when I went to school and I think it is a good solution.

Violation of the separation of church and state? (Illinois)

"A school in Illinois instituted a daily prayer, every morning, which thanked God for the day and asked for support, but which didn't mention a specific god or religion."

In my opinion It violates the separation of church and state since it's a public school and I assume it's part of the government. The school shouldn't force the students to pray or to have any religion. It's a personal decision. Even if the prayers didn't mention any specific religion, it's still related to religion. People should have the chance to choose any religion they want, even if they choose not to have a religion. The school is not giving this choice for the students.

Violation of the separation of church and state? (Arizona)

In my opnion, this case is definetelyviolation of separation of church and state.
Once a law is enacted, People's rights are affected by it.
People are eligible for enjoying the freedom of religion and separation of state and church
without any pressure like goverment interference or others's oppression.
If students felt they were praying under teacher's pressure and the teacher used his authority to make students pray,
It could be said that it is an intrusion into what is supposed to be the separation of state and church.

Violation of the separation of church and state? (Arizona)

To my mind, this case definitely violates the separation of church and state since this procedure is based on a governmental decision. The children at school are told to pray or to mediate before their classes start. This means that the students are in a way forced to do so and even the ones that are undenominational must pray.
It remains questionable whether these regulations are stipulated by the school itself or by the government. If the latter is the case, the separation of church and state would clearly be violated because the government would directly interfere with the school's decisions. On the other hand, if it was a school internal decision, it may appear not to be a violation but in a wider sense it is because in the end, everything happens on a public school.

Occupy Wallstreet Interview Project.

Occupy Philadelphia started on October 6th at 9:00 am at City Hall and it was originally inspired by the wall street protest in New York.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Philadelphia)
The majority of protestors are unemployed or students who see little hope for the future.
They have been demonstrating against corporate greed.
They call themselves the 99 percent and their main grievance is the fact that the richest 1 percent of Americans control 49 percent of the wealth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_are_the_99%25)
Blue-collar workers,people from jthe middle class and a few of the rich protest against wasteful distributionof wealth and against the government's support for the wealthy 1% in the US.
In other words, They pitch their tents and do sit-in to fight peacefully for their right of equal financial treatment as we already discussed in our class.(https://www.change.org/petitions/do-not-evict-the-occupy-philadelphia-protesters)
What we found suprising was that even very young children,homeless and adults participated in the protest.
In addition to that,there was a little library for kids. We realized how peacefully this protest is going on. Nevertheless,People seemed absolutely determined in what they do.

" Working hard for the American dream is hardly working. The government should invest in education, infrastructure, basic
reaserch for the poverty, not tax breaks for billianaires."
"If Individuals can be arrested, so can corporations. They don't deserve it."
'It is unfair. We am working all the time and so what have we done wrong?"
When we asked them what these protests were for, They said.
It doesn't seem that these protests end in a short time.(http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2011/10/post_39.html)
We doubt they solve America's deep problem.
but at the very least,we believe this movement is generating A much needed discussion of wealth.
They show that they fight not only for the human rights , but also for the American values praised by the government itself.

Occupy Philadelphia

More than 4 millions of layoffs and an economy controlled by bankers and corporations have led the protest movements that multiply at times in the U.S. Protests are already in lots of cities, and in Philadelphia they decided to camp out, give tents and foods to the people and walk with banners against corporate greedy people.

Last Friday we went to the City Hall and found different kinds of people as homeless people, students, volunteers and curious people like us. Protesters mentioned some reasons but most important reason is for a change of the current system and the inequality of wealth.

“We are the 99 percent”, a homelesswoman said. She doesn’t believe that her life can be changed. She came here 2 weeks ago and is in one of the tents of the City Hall. Why? to protest? No, It’s only because she has nothing and they are providing a shelter and food.

A student of Temple University gave us strong reasons, she said: “I am here because we need a fede

ral and local changes. I want a basic health, free college education and a job. It is the time to change the current system”.

Joe, a volunteer, has own reasons to be there, he is a disabled person and claims: “People with disabilities are entitled to better jobs and opportunities, a high percent of us are unemployed. We want national health care as you hav

e it in your countries like Spain and Korea. Capitalism caused the big problem of disparity”.

The occupation in Philly is a representation of what is happening all across the US as the people are starting to realize and protests against the hard conditions they are living in.

These people, who claim to be the "99 percent", are comparing themselves against the wealthiest people of the population, which represents only 1 percent of the population. They are not looking for the American Dream, they just want to protect

their rights and have fair conditions, free education, health care and changes in taxes. In summary, the US which lots of people consider it the best country in the world is proving that it is not capable of giving its citizens the basic needs to live, and people started to protest for retrieving their basic rights which are repressed by 1% people.

Occupy Wall Street - Illusion or change?

The media says:

Occupy Wall Street began a month ago in lower Manhattan among a few young people, and has grown to tens of thousands around the country and the world. A recent Associated Press-GfK poll says more than one-third of the country supports the Wall Street protesters, and even more – 58 percent – say they are furious about America's politics. – The Huffington Post¹

Dozens of such groups have since formed across the United States, spurred by anger at the power of giant corporations, frustration at joblessness, and exasperation with politicians who refuse to increase taxes on the richest 1 percent of Americans while slashing programs for the poor. – The Philadelphia Inquirer²

Let's be honest. The American "establishment" – mainstream media, political elites, academics – have absolutely no clue what to make of the Occupy Wall Street protests. The month-old movement has spread across the world, but remains centered in dozens of America's largest cities and university campuses. – Guardian³

Occupy Wall Street is a demonstration which started on September in New York’s Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district. The purpose of it is to protest against the social and economic inequality as well as the power and influence the government and corporations (mainly in the financial service sector) have on the United States economy.

The participants' slogan "We are the 99%" is regarded to the difference in wealth between the top 1% and the other citizens of the United States.

Desperation, loneliness, anger, hope, belief - these were the feelings that surrounded me on Friday, October 21, 2011 during the protests that have been going on for weeks now at the City Hall in Philadelphia. In the middle of Skyscrapers and businessmen walking around in suits, there are tents, banners, homeless as well as unemployed people.

At first it was hard to find anyone to talk to. The first group of protesters I tried to approach were like walls telling me not to come any closer and giving me no way to get through. At the beginning I was disappointed. I admire people who want to change something but their faces already portrayed hopelessness. Don’t you need fire if you want to win a battle? Soon other protester showed me the ambition I was missing and I had some very interesting conversations.

One man to whom I talked had lost his job two weeks ago. He said that he was close to a burn-out and that’s why he asked for a week off to recover. The answer he received: “If you leave now you don’t have to come back”. Is it possible that everybody is expendable? Apparently yes! No mercy, it doesn’t matter how much you give or have given to a company in the end everybody is replaceable.

I asked him what his expectation of this movement was. His answer:

“This movement has merit! People have been blind so far but the new generation will open their eyes and make them realize that something has to be changed. Capitalism has no moral or obligation to people only to money”. - Antonio

Antonio knows that this movement is not going to change anything from the governmental side. The government is already aware of the problems. In Antonio’s view the fact that after graduating our children will not find a job and maybe become criminals or have drug/alcohol problems will reveal that this situation is our fault because we support the “rich man”. For me Antonio’s way of thinking is really interesting and that is why I enjoyed talking to him.

Furthermore greg, who is a Quaker, said: “We believe in social equality, so all human beings should be treated like this. It is immoral that some people have so much money whereas others have (almost) nothing. This movement will be a cultural transformation around the value that is placed on humans."

In case you are thinking that I spelt “greg” wrong with a small “g”, greg himself told me that his name is written with a small “g”. When I asked him for the reason he told me: “All important things are written in capital letters and since according to the English language things like tree, flower, street, house and so on are not important, I spell my name with a small “g”, because I am not more important than nature”. I find this a very interesting thought and that’s why I decided to share it with you.

After speaking to greg, I had a very curious conversation with two guys:

We are not homeless we are home free! Live life to your fullest and have fun - fuck the politics! - Tank and Juniper

So what do we make of all this? At first I was confused, I wondered why would someone choose to life like this? How can you enjoy life if you live in a tent without money? Aren’t they scared of dying any moment because of lack of food or the cold? I basically figured out that they rather die knowing that they are free than be a prisoner of society. Interesting thought isn’t it?

According to our discussion in class, US citizens have always supported and protected the wealthy. Since they believe in the American Dream so strongly they are afraid of spoiling their chance by acting “incorrectly”. Michael Moor says in one of his writings: “Don’t attack the rich man, because one day that rich man may be me”. Honestly, for me this is understandable. I come from a country where people are very realistic and would never protect a person in a high position to such an extent. We know that the chance to become rich is 1/100. In fact as soon as the news paper writes about pay raises in the management sector people start to complain. And I am only talking about small amounts like thirteen to fifteen times more than a standard employee earns. Imagine Swiss people had to deal with CEOs and Presidents of companies getting 411 times more than the general public like in the US. They literally would go crazy!

Talking to those people, looking at the atmosphere that is surrounding the United State right now and reviewing this part of the American culture makes me feel positive about this movement. Even my survey shows that Americans have started to realize what is causing all this unemployment, homelessness and lack of money. 90 % were completely against the fact that CEOs should earn as much money as they can get. They are aware now that protecting the wealthy side of society only harms them rather than helps them.

I am sure it will take some time till the change can be put into practice but like I always say: “Better late, than never”. We own our progeny a safe and fair world – lets fight for this!

Invisibility!!!

I'm not going to lie, i love being sneaky and sneak into places without people seeing me... i'd love stealing people's food and eat all i can... I'd love to avoid septa every time i can!!! and to be honest, I see myself more as a villain than a hero. So i'll pick invisibility, its the one that describes me the most, and i love it!

The power of Teleportation

When it's pouring or blazing hot or the road is very slushy in winter, I used to imagine myself teleporting. With the power of teleportation, I can transfer from one point to another without traversing the physical space between. As soon as I was assigned this task, this superpower popped up in my head. But there is a precondition; I would need to be able to carry heavy things while I use this power so that I transport stuff quickly OR, maybe I might save a person who is stuck in a burning building! However, for my privacy, I don't want my superpower to be known to the public. Not being obstructed by anything, I will go everywhere I have ever wanted to go without wasting time or money. How useful it is!

If you could have any superpower, what would you choose and why?

If I could have any super power, I would choose the power of 'Mind reading'.
The older we get, The more time It takes to really get to know each other.
As we tend to barely share our real feeling, thoughts and idea, hide ourselves and pretend to be cool, It's getting very hard to understand others.
So I think It would be very AWESOME if I could read someone's real mind.
Sometimes It could be hurtful, but It would make a difference, if my remark never touch a nerve with people or if I could read my fiance's mind to see how much he loves me, or If i,even though I wouldn't try this :), won lots of money with crooked gambling!

If you could have any superpower, what would you chose and why?

I'd really like to be able to stop the time and decide which people, including me, can go on moving. Life would be so much easier if I only had this superpower! Everyday I could sleep as long as I feel like, decide on the duration of weekends when I have a good time with my friends, make happy moments last longer, have enough time for important decisions at short notice, have more preparation time for oral exams and eventually, I would never ever miss a train or bus again. That would be so cool :-)

Democrats or Republicans

In my opinion, the democrats have a better idea of government than the republicans. Of course the republicans will have a better economy and more money running all over the country but Cuomo said, they make the rich people richer and the poor, poorer. I believe democrats should be ruling because of many reasons, first of all health care has to be free for everyone there isn't any exception for this, if someone needs health care he/she should receive it without any problem. Education, some people say that people that don't get education is because their parents were really lazy and didn't work enough to afford it, then it all leads to one point, people need to be LUCKY when they're born, college education should be free because is everyone's right to learn. And lastly, social equality, everyone should have the same rights no matter how many millions or pennies you own.
Of course the democrats system has some problems, but they can all be solved with some time to analyze every single bit of them.

Sarah Vowell: "[...] that's why we are Ronald Regan"

To my mind this statement, which is merely based on the fact that Regan was elected and reelected, is truly too judgemental. One cannot generalize the opinion of one person and transfer it to so many other people.
However, I think that speakers and especially politicians should not focus too much on the bright side of a certain issue but also consider the other side. This would help the audience understand that the speaker is aware of the real situation and additionally that all his actions and decisions will include everybody of every social class.
Briefly, criticism and generalization should be expressed more carefully.

Do you think sports should have the same prestige as the arts?

Korean government usually cut funding for sports facilities and athletic teams at school and is often in favor of increased funding for school arts programs. However, I think that sports have much more advantages than the arts. Sports can offer students academic and social skills as well as physical benefits. More importantly, the benefits from sports are the same whether of not the students are good at the sports. Also, by playing sports, students can relieve stress and reduce depression from their hectic schedule. Furthermore, sports can teach the importance of teamwork and leadership skills, learning that they have to cooperate as a team to win the game.

Yoojin

Yes to equal value of sports and arts!

Today I was confronted with an interesting question of which the answer is evident to me: Should sports have the same prestige as the arts? YES! To my mind neither of them should be considered better or worse than the other. Therefore, sports undoubtedly deserves to be recognized at least as much as the arts is. For decades, sports contributes so much to our society. Let us prove this by the topic "world championship in soccer". It provides an excellent opportunity for people to meet each other and to spur their teams. The result is that sports gets a cultural meaning because it motivates people to come together and to create and strengthen their team spirit. In other words, sports is a reason for arousing enthusiasm which connects people not only in a figurative but also in a literal sense.
The latter underscores and simultaneously explains precisely why sports should have the same prestige as the arts: It connects people. It gives them something they can be proud of and something which they can share with others. Isn't this exactly what the arts does?

Sports should have the same prestige as the arts?

As some arts are performed using physical actions, some sports have the beauty of arts and people are impressed by both of them. I think there are gradations between sport and art as two extremes. For example, ballet is considered an art but it needs to use your body with endurance and muscular and it is usually very sportive. Figure-skating is an Olympic sport but it is played with beautiful music and it is as expressive as dancing. Therefore, it falls right in between sport and art. Like this example, some sports are not just tough but also sophisticated enough to have the same prestige and appreciation as the arts.

Do you think sports should have the same prestige as the arts? (Thomas)

Nowadays, sport people and artists (musicians, singers, movie directers...) are the people living of a kind of leisure who earn the most money. Therefore, I think that on an economic point of view, sports and arts enjoy the same prestige.
As far as culture is concerned, in ancient Greece, the olympic games were an in event as much important than the development of the arts, maybe more.
So sports are able to have the same prestige as the arts, it's just a question of culture, it depends on each country to say if sports "should" have the same prestige as the arts.

Clones for food?

Scientists have been cloning animals to make an exact duplicate for research and even for food. Even though the Food and Drug Administration has approved cloned beef and other foods for consumption, many people, including me, do not approve. Many people disagree for ethical or religious reasons claiming that life should not be created in a lab. Like me, health conscious people just prefer their food to be as organic as possible. For farmers and consumers, cloning can be dangerous. Since all of the animals or plants in a field share the same genes and weaknesses, one disease can affect them all at the same time, destroying everything. Genetic variation is needed for healthy stable farms.

GM foods

I do not like genetically modified food because I think they can be dangerous for human consumption. Even though all of our foods contain genes, they are naturally produced and we are used to them already. However, when the genes are genetically modified, our bodies might not be able to digest them the same way. Therefore, consuming genetically modified food might be harmful to our health.

Cloning (Yoojin)

Cloning is a huge subject that keeps polarizing society after Dolly,which was the first cloned animal, was born. The major pro of cloning is that if it is possible to clone the vital organs of the human body, people can use them as backup system when they get sick. People who have a problem with their organs do not need to wait for suitable organ donors. However, there are disadvantages to cloning. the most controversial issue about advantages and disadvantages of cloning is the ethical problem,. For me,it seems to unethical to act like God by making a embryo that becomes a human being eventually.

About cloning (Thomas)

I think (and not feenk) that cloning is too bad known nowadays to be used no matter how. When a scientific progress is made, it's better to define first the moral border of the discovery, and then the law can act to define the legal border.
It's not a question of religion, life is too important to play with.
Let's find out every opportunities that cloning can afford, and then let there be legalized in the legitimate sectors.

International adoption

I still think that international adoption is a great option for either the country where the kid is from, the biological family and of course the kid. I didn't like the fact that Faith got 'americanized' since she was a girl with a strong personality now all she does is follow the american culture and she even forgot how to speak mandarin and cantonese (at least it looks like it). Maybe this is just part of the documental drama but thats the only thing i disagree with in international adoption.

After Watching The Video...

At the beginning of Faith's new life in America, She had a difficult time due to a language barrier and missing her biological family. An eight-year-old girl facing a totally different environment was confused about her situation. When children of her age are adopted, they already got used to their mother language and culture and express their thoughts and feelings. That's why Faith was being stubborn against her foster mother and wanted to go back to China. As time passes, she has been losing her Chinese. Generally, a child who was adopted to the U.S. americanizes themselves to survive in the reality. I could see her struggles for her identity on the video but having this time is inevitable for any adopted child, and they live in an affluent circumstance as a reward.

Faith's story (Thomas)

The documentary about the international adoption, seen through the prism of Faith's story is very interesting because it shows us a situation pretty hard to manage, and the evolution toward the construction of a new identity in another country, in another family.
We can feel the hope of all the protagonists, both the foster family and the adoptive family. But the case of Faith is very complex: with her coming in US, she seems like an extremely clever kid. Step by step, we can analyse her change, and it's very strange because it's as if she completely had been casted in the mold of her new family's expectations.
I've prefered the little girl very quick at repartee, than the character she became.

International Adopting 2

Adopting a child is a noble act that could also bring adaptation challenges for both the child and the family especially when the child is older. International adoption could not only bring challenges such as adapting to a new family, environment, rules, and traditions, but it could also bring the challenge of adapting to a different culture, learning a different language, and understanding different values. Even though challenges exist, they are worth it when the outcome is rewarding and fulfilled with happy moments.

International Adopting

A child’s smile really is a gift from God. Adopting a child not only provokes his/her smile, but also gives him/her a chance for a better future. This is especially true when this child comes from a sub developed country where the opportunities for health, nutrition, and education are scarce. When the new parents give this child a new home, conditions to grow and have a decent life, and above all the love he/she was missing very much, it generates smiles for now and always.

My Opinion About International Adoption

When a child is abandoned or born into poverty, they are sent to a facility which takes care of these children. While some families can't afford to raise a child, others can't have a baby or want more. I think adoption is a good program for these people.
Children need a safe place to grow up and a family. International adoption can help children to have better lives, moving from a poor environment such as an uneducated or dangerous place to a secure home. Also it could be easier than domestic adoption because the larger the range of opportunity for adoption is, the more children will find homes.

Personal impression about adopting chinese kids.

It is really really impressing how american people is interested in adopting chinese kids and how the family in the video agreed to add new members from a total diverse culture to their family.
I personally find it really good to adopt kids from China since this is a country that has a lot of overpopulation, and this helps the chinese economy and of course the lifestyle of the kids that are being adopted.

PD: The older son of the family looks like Wolowitz, one of the protagonists of "The big bang theory" :)

My opinion on international adoption (Thomas).

International adoption is not a subject I master, but the principle seems to be good. At first appearance there's no negative dimension, every protagonists can be satisfied by this process. The kid is able to grow up in better conditions, the bioligical parents may be happy to know that their kid will know opportunities of another country, and the parents can have a child.
Maybe the point is that instead of international adoption, parents may think to "national" adoption first, to help the children near them.
But whatever the way, national or international adoption is a chance.
The real negative point is on the parents who are ready to do anything, even not to respect the law. In France there was a case like this: some parents who had adopted children in Chad, and it turned out that these children were found in Ndjamena's streets but were not abandoned.
So it's a very delicate question, even if on the principle I completely agree with the idea. If someone told me "you don't agree", I would reply "I DO agree".

Do you think that Diane's advice about how to act like a man was accurate? What about it made sense base on your experience...

According to me, Diane's advice is not relevant. It could be an accurate advice to act like a drag king or like drag queen, in other words to act excessively and then not naturally.
Acting like a man means that all the men behave in the same way and according to Diane, men don't smile. When there's another known generalization which says that "boys don't cry", she says that boys don't smile. So how should a man behave?

Diane mistakes the category "men" for something else, maybe the men called "macho" very arrogant towards women, thinking that men have to control women.

This kind of mentality can be dangerous beacause it closes the people in false identities.

Question 5. How the men are in Venezuela.

There are some things that need to be known before I start this answer, and it is that some men in Venezuela are really mean with woman. But this is just a part of the men of Venezuela, the other ones are really kind and sweet to woman.
Since the listening we heard today was about arrogant men, I'm going to talk about the arrogant men in Venezuela.
If a girl went into the 'how to be a man' workshop in my home country, the first thing they would be taught is about how to drink a lot of beer and not care about anything else than how many drinks left are in the fridge. The Venezuelan men have a very strong attitude that is characterized by the 'hating' factor, which is about hating and being mean at everything that is not similar as you. Another thing you must consider to look as a Venezuelan guy is the way you walk and talk, since if you do it in a wrong and not manly way you could be considered gay, and homosexual people is really discriminated in south american countries.
As conclusion, becoming an arrogant and mean Venezuelan man can be really hard, because it's not anymore about attitude, but also hurting other people feelings, so if girls want to become like them, they have to do a really hard work and be converted into another completely different person.

Thoughts about the precautionary principle

The precautionary principle allows lawmakers to make decisions if there is a suspected risk for the environment or society.
My family grew me up telling me that we should avoid exposing ourselves to dangerous substances and that if we are not sure whether something is harmful or not we should stay away from it until science gives us some answers.
I would strongly recommend a government to do the same.
I'm not against technological progress, I just think that we shouldn't take more risks then the necessary ones, especially with the current economical situation.
Besides, human beings have been living without a certain object for thousands of years. They can wait a decade or less for science to complete the proper tests on a new object or substance.

The precautionary principle

The precautionary principle is one of the way we use to protect our health and the environment but people think more and more that it's a too heavy imposition on our society and business. They think that it's illogical to ban something without knowing clearly whether it is dangerous or not.
I strongly disagree with this purpose. For me, the respect of well-being and environment is more important than progress and profit. I prefer to know that every innovation is clear, safe and will never be consider harmful because of a study for the late-effects of this product. And if an innovation comes but it's a risky one. I prefer to know that too and be ready to face the consequences.
The precautionary principle is a good thing and must be maintain, even if it's against productivity and economy.

Innovations... essential elements in a society

What would we be without innovations? I’m pretty sure that we wouldn’t survive… People always want more convenience in every single activity that they have to do, which requires to carry out improvements to objects constantly. Nowadays, inventing things is a full-time job that is indispensable to our society satisfaction.

Even though there are some inventions that ended up being harmful, skillful people are working on new innovations in order to make them better. A perfect example is the pollution engendered by cars’ CO2 emissions. Thousands of engineers are trying to develop a new green energy source, which would improve cars quality.

Innovations are key elements for a society to develop in a healthy way.

Innovation

I think that innovation is a great tool for human being. It helps us for our daily life and make us think about ourselves and our "world". The furthest we innovate, the best we can see how big are our possibilities. It's an essential part of our development.
On the other hands, we see today that innovation can be bad. We discover the pollution, the power of the nuclear of how destructive our innovation can be. That's why there are so many groups of organizations which want to go "against the current" and return to traditional ways of life.
I'm sure that innovation is not bad but we have to be aware of our limits and don't force the nature and destroy what we already have.

Cubism

Cubism was one of the most influential art movement of the first part of the 20st century. The work of its two leaders (Picasso and Braque) changed the way of painting and thinking of more than one generation. The consequences on the art and the society are huge, even in architecture, or photography.

The two main idea of cubism are the fact that our world is everything except absolute. All our concepts are relative. The second fact is that the cubists wanted to fix a three-dimensional world on a canvas. Picasso and Braque show these results by the analytic cubism.

The cubists don't care about the perspective. They paste the 3 dimensions in two. To help the viewer, they insert small details and clues to understand the topic and to refer to the title. For example, in "the guitar player", Picasso shows us the hand and the head of the player.
They also (in the first period, the "analytic" one) don't care about the colors. It came back after, when they were certain of their technique. That's why it's so monochromatic. They just add bright white color for the idea of light.

Another really important progress is the introduction of words in the painting, with a "commercial" printing. The modern art and after the pop art and its derivatives used this technique a lot to represent among other the consumer society.

For all those reasons, I think that the Cubism was a main influence of the 20st century art. It was the precursor of abstract and it directly influenced the pop art. Picasso and Braque were genius and we can thank them for our current art.

The Internet

The Internet is probably the most powerful and revolutionary device of the 20th century. Thanks to the Internet you can do absolutely everything, buying or selling goods, finding information or advice, meeting people, organizing parties…unfortunately, some people seem to abuse from this freedom of speech and action to steal people or injure them. I think it is up to everyone to be careful on the web so that bad experiences don’t happen. Let’s share things with consciousness and don’t let bad people damaging the Internet’s image !

Why do we always make the same mistakes?

What happened in 2009 and it's happening right now already happened in 1929 with the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. As corporations grow, they were able to hire lobbyists and give money to politicians to make them pass pro business laws and to keep the status quo, getting more powerful than ever.

In the meantime normal people are left with crappy jobs and bankers present them with the offer of the next bubble, which is going to pop sooner or later.

Is this just again evidence of the fact that human beings don't learn anything from past history and that they have to face themselves a problem to realize that it exists?

Great Depression... Great Nation... Great People.

Well, well, well... The Great depression. That`s an intense topic to talk about, but here, I am not going to talk about how it was horrible and many families and dreams were fell apart. No. I am going to talk about hope and patriotism.

When I first went to the National Constitution Center I was with my host family, and inspired by the mini White House, we were discussing [or trying to] about Obama, the political system and the economic system. And then, I came up with the question "but, if something like the Great Depression had happened again, what would you have done?!" and one of the girls answered me "we rebuild, like we always did". End of discussion.

Then I saw how people truly believe that no matter what happens, America will overcome the obstacles. And learning about The Great Depression and what americans went through in the 1930s only replenished my faith in people and made me believe that nothing is impossible when we have a cause.

Liked it... Well, the end was pretty fun

I've always, since I was a boy, loved reading. Not everything, but a piece of this and that. Literature, for sure, is not my favorite genre. It always revolves in an authors objective to prove something or to show some truth in it's text, and, even though I'm not a terrible metaphor reader, some elude me. The great gatsby was one of those books until it's end. If it wasn't for class discussion I believe that I would not have understood a thing.
But, with help, we got trough the rough parts and unscrambled an interesting story about love, money, music and the American dream. With that I think that I can, quite surely say, that the great gatsby is indeed a master piece. The work that F. Scott Fitzgerald made with the descriptions in the book are so inpiring that people seek it before writing anything that envolves the same thematic.
I enjoyed the deepness of each character and how the story unfolds trough rapid dialogues. But the best part, for me, was the end. The last two chapters are filled with emotion and action and made the whole novel worth reading.

The Jazz Age or the Golden 20's

It's very interesting to see this huge change in the span of a few couple of decades in the history of US. From the harsh conditions during the period of war to the sort of short term dream of the Roaring 20's and its collapse in the 30's. Women had lead to big changes generally and in this situation isn't any different, there was a big change in women behavior, also known as the flapper period for them; they started to get involved in the working field, a sense of equality was gaining popularity and as a result women change dressing, started to use make up among other changes. At the same time with prosperity in the economy people in general wasn't worried about money, extravagant parties were likely to be attended by them and Jazz Music was the final ingredient in this cocktail. The result the Golden 20's a time were alcohol was ban to manufacture and sale but not to posses, a short term cocktail followed by the big depression.

The "Great" Gatsby

This novel filled me with different and contrary feelings. I like it, i hate it. I found it interesting but sometimes extremely boring. The overwhelming and exceeding decriptions of the characters, places and situations made it hard to understand. The contradictions of the characters made it interesting for me. Gatsby was a respectfull character for me at the beginning even though he was a liar and an unreliable man. His efforts to find his true lover deserved appreciation but after a while when i read the following chapters i lost my respect for Gatsby and Gatsby became a miserable, pitiable and dishonourable character.I dont want to talk about the end of the story because it was unintelligable and not creative. I think the writer didn't choose a proper name for the novel. I think it should be The Hapless and Miserable Gatsby.

Unlucky Gatsby

Poor Gatsby... From the day he fell in love with Daisy, Gatsby has dedicated his life for her, to get her back; and what is the result: failure. He died tragically whithout having lived his dream life with Daisy. Even if i haven't been engrossed deeply by "The Great Gatsby", it remains a pretty good novel.

Church... not my cup of tea

Going to church has never been a usual activity for me and my family. We usually go there twice a year in average. This is due to the fact that we live in a canton (state) where religion is not very popular among young people and new generations. At school, students who go to church are usually targets for jokes, because it is a common thought to associate church with “old people”. That is the reason why religion has never drawn me.

Questions

Religion is supposed to give people answers. Life has always eluded man, they couldn't find proper answers to a lot of the questions they had like: How life began? Who were the first human beings? Who is watching us? Who created the earth?
Religion has been trying to answer all these questions for a long time, and, some have succeeded in giving those answers, creationism is the best example we have at hand.
But what happens when religion stops being healthy? Fanaticism, in my view, is not something to be proud of. It creates violence towards other people and other religions. It dissimulates respect and love. It transforms a person into it's religion.
I've always had religious education in my schools, and something that I've. Learned while studying is that having a lot of religions in the world is not a problem, it's a solution. Diversity. What makes us different always makes us stronger, and whether you believe in God or not, whether you believe in the bible, or in the Koran, or in nothing at all, we're a human being that are always looking for answers. In religion or in science, we always tryto answer some impossible questions.
Gabriel García Marques wrote a book called The General in His Labyrinth, and while reading Looking For Alaska by John Green I stumbled across a reflection of Simón Bolivar's, the principal charecter in the book, last words.
He said: " Damn it, how am I ever getting out of this labyrinth?"
And in the reflection the author changed the quote from labyrinth to labyrinth of suffering. Looking at this question again, after this week, I could finally understand that the labyrinth is life, and the way to get through it is believing. Believing in yourself or in a greater force, but you just have to believe. And people know that, hence the fact that there are Over 34,000 christian faiths in the world.
I've spoken about questions.Something that we tried to answer in class but failed to is " what do we believe in?"
In what you want? In what seems right? In what your parents belive?
I'm not trying to reach any kinds of conclusion here, but I believe that that is the question in most of peoples head today.

...And faith will make you blind...

Religion as all the things in the nature evolves. At first there were pagan religions, polytheist, and with little organization but then some of them became highly organized institutions. With that they added an unprecedented power to the concept of religion and the evolution of these religions ended up making almost all other forms of pagan religions obsolete. Now these are considered the greatest religions of today and almost all of them share the same traits:

1. They are very organized.
2. They have written rules to follow.
3. They teach their own moral code.

But more important, and that's what allowed them to maintain such a big power over the centuries:

4. They promote unquestioning faith.

I totally disagree with the last statement: its purpose is to maintain control of the believers who cannot question at all anything said by the institution, and this has resulted in absolut power from generation to generation through the centuries. However, this method is not perfect, there is a breaking point, which is the reason why the overall percentage of people subscribed to a particular religion has declined in the last 50 years: education.

The more educated the person, and society, the easier it is to understand the reason why these institutions operate as they do. That is, as many religions say in many passages, " The truth shall set you free", really ironical but true.

The key point is that it was not God (or any other deity), who founded these institutions, it was, in fact ordinary men. Also these institutions do not follow their own rules, they have changed their views with the passing of the years. Like the case of Galileo, which was condemned by the church for saying the Earth was round and it revolves around the sun. Obviously the church retracted that behavior, and now they have a statue of him in the Vatican. That means that the rules are not absolute, so that the current rules should not be regarded as unquestionable truths and that today's truths are very likely to be changed in the future, as it suits or not the institution.

Then are you part of a Religion or of an Organized institution?

participants of religious education

The importance of the religions in humans' life is unarguable. Religions exist since the first human "Adam" was created. The religions will stay being important until the last standing human being dies. In addition to being the only creatures which can think, human beings are also the only creatures which have the ability to believe. It is almost impossible to fill the emptiness of a human who doesn't believe, even this belief is believing in nothing.

The first people whom a baby first met are his or her mother and father. Their beliefs play a crucial role in his/her life. According to our belief, newborns are pure and innocent. At first, his/her family shape the future of the child. In kids' world everything must be explained with love.Because of this, religion must be taught with love too. Firstly, kids must love, then respect God, then they should learn how to live by the rules of their religions.

Believing, literaly means the freedom of choice. A person who lives his/her life with respect to other people's lifes and beliefs is a real independent person. To provide a healthy environment for kids in which they can live, think and believe independently is the most important duty of a family and a government. Governments should be in same distance to all religions and belief systems. They should step in to provide necessary conditions for citizens' independent religious lifes.

God bless secularism

Even though my knowledge about religion is not as complete as should be. Every-time that I learn something about it, makes me think that the best decision is to remain agnostic, every new or old religion has its own biases.Therefore I try to follow this simple rule "When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion"—Abraham Lincoln

Is "Jesus Camp" an horror movie?

Children in tears with convulsions and some of them even looking possessed: this would be the perfect plot for a new horror movie. Sadly, we are talking about a documentary, named "Jesus Camp", about an authentic evangelical summer camp for kids and their families.
Talking about "Jesus camp" and being impartial doing it is really difficult. Actually, it's almost impossible for me.
A good thing about this movie is that the directors realized a very balanced product, in which the attention to the protagonists never becomes derision, nor they try to show us just the most interesting parts of the protagonists' personality.
The things that got me really upset about this camp are not the ideas that they are trying to teach to these kids, such as abortion as a murder or the non existence of the global warming. I don't agree with them, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The problem is how they teach them these ideas, turning them into acts of violence. They practice this indoctrination to kids that are four, five year old using brain-washing methods, also used by the best marketing experts. Their final goal, as one of the protagonists says, is to create an army of God. What can we understand from this declaration if not an obvious desire of religious war?
It's also true, as Becky Fisher, one of the directors of the camp, says, that in the Middle East exist camps like that one, just for muslims. But, since I hate every kind of fundamentalism, it being religious or atheist or whatever, I think that this Bible camp is just scaring.
They treat topics like abortion or president Bush in a very superficial way, without using irony or any boundary that are always necessary when you talk to really little kids.
The three kids that are followed by the documentary crew are really interesting not just for their strong faith but also for their optimism. They really want to change the world and spread the ideas they believe in.
I don't doubt that these kids, as grown-ups, could really use their belonging to God's army as a way to make the world better, but I can't help myself thinking of them as strong opponents of the civil rights or as the next invaders of an helpless country.

Independent voter

Talking about political parties, I strongly believe that the only way to make a real conscious vote is If the person is an independent voter. One of the reasons to say this is because when someone is an independent voter is not likely to have any bias for any particular party, an independent voter it's concern about the facts and reasons to take a decision of a vote what. I mean is that for example if you have been a supporter for the Democratic party, probably you would maintain that support no matter what. Therefore you aren't taking a vote decision because of the purposes that the democratic party is trying to achieve, you will be giving your vote because of a tradition instead of what should be: A conscious vote because you believe on what the party is standing for.

Politics...

When I was younger, I always consider politics a boring topic for adults only. But two years ago, as I was for the first time allowed to vote I started to show more and more interest to this “boring topic”, wanting to vote correctly. The first thing I realized was that it wasn’t so annoying to talk about how our state govern our country or the different points of views about important issues that concern us (the Swiss people) directly. The second thing I discovered was the reason why politics usually doesn’t attract teenagers: it’s a very difficult topic that brings most of time debates and conflicts. Thanks to an older friend who patiently presented me the different Swiss parties, I had the opportunity to choose which party I agreed with. In Switzerland, in most of the schools, we don’t learn anything about politics, which is regrettable. I think that politics should be taught at a certain point (beginning around 16 years old) because it’s kind of part of our history, and it could help teenagers not feel lost the first day they have to vote !

What must be the main role of political parties in today's world? In my country, most of the citizens were used to support political parties like soccer teams. They wouldn't even think about supporting a different party. They never critisized the decisions and actions of their political parties. According to them this was betrayal. In my opinion, the main role of politicians must be to serve their country with honesty, respect and devotion. All of the countries were built on some moral values. Mine was built on blood which was shed for freedom. This blood was not only belong to politics, governors or professional soldiers. It was belong to to the real citizens of my country who sacrifized their lifes without hesitation to protect their honour and indepenency. Political parties can not survive unless the citizens support them. You can't support them like supporting sport teams. Abovementioned ideas are changing now. Citizens started asking questions and calling politicians to account. They started using their votes to urge and to presswure politicians to do the right thing. As a member of my precious country which is full of warm-hearted people, ı am very proud of the recent developments in the political field.


"People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election."
Otto von Bismarck

Imperfect by definition

In my opinion perfection is a concept that it's to wide, the definition of perfection might be understood diferently in many diferents situations and at the same time seems to be something imposible to achive. For example electrons and the interaction betweem them. In the interaction between differents types of atoms, some times one of those atoms likely is going to lose or gain electrons. Why that happen? Probably that one the atoms in the interacion is weaker and is not able to keep electrons and the other is to greedy and want more even if it's more than enough. Therefore I would say that a failure is to be weak in some situation as I would say also that steal is a failure or defect in the atom interaction. My point is to highlight that even from the basic structure of the nature we are able to find flaws or defects and therefore we as humans came to this world with flaws and defects, which make us imperfects by definition. Flaws and defect that could be with us since our birth or flwas or defects that we gaing or learn during our life. The fact that we came to this world with flaws or that we gain them it's not some excuse to say that is the only way that we are goin te be. In my opinion without beein worried of how many flaws do we have, we are able to improve ourselves. How much we are able to improve? It only deppend on each person, but for sure no one is goint to reach perfection

Perfection... unreality

Perfection doesn't exist, in other words it's an unattainable goal, no matter how hard we work to get to that point. So, theorically (and logically) we shouldn't care about that question, but in spite of that, people keep "putting the bar too high". It's beneficial if since the beginning you're aware and accept that it's unrealistic and represents only a way of motivation. However, if we don't accept failure and our weaknesses, it begins to be dangerous. An attainable goal is demoralising ! Therefore, instead of creating problems, let's accept that perfection is unreal and let's try to do our best!

Perfection vs Equilibrium

In real life the only possible thing to do is to reach an equilibrium. Trying to be perfect and to demand perfection from the others is completely useless and it produces divisions and isolation. We are not here to learn how to be perfect, but to discover how to hold in equilibrium our masculine or feminine components, our being childish or mature and all the other aspects of ourselves and how to share them with other people. A good example is represented by our reactions to different situations. Sometimes we allow our impulsiveness to take the lead, but we should understand that finding a positive solution to every problem and an equilibrium among different people is not only possible but it should also represent our main goal.
It becomes fundamental, however, to recognize that perfection doesn't exist, while instead the search of a balanced relationship with the others, which implies respecting everyone's individuality, is possible and desirable.
The word "perfection" seems to define something close and limited to me. Being aware of our imperfection pushes ourselves to get better, to get in the game and to try to reach an ideal that, of course, will always be far from us.
Perfection is not being perfect but always trying to be perfect.

Human Imperfection

Human perfection; in my opinion these two words literally includes a paradox. A paradox which human beings tried to understand and solve from the beginning of the world. What is our conception of perfection? Who determines the the criteria of being a perfect human? Is there a common definition for human perfection? How are we going to understand who is perfect and who is not? Questions without answers, questions which leads you to another questions.It is a vicious circle. Even we are incapable of understanding this simple matter how can we be perfect? I have an answer for this question; we can not. We were created in perfect physical forms. As a perfect art of God. The places of our ears, noses, eyes; the mechanism of our bodies are perfect. Without feelings and thoughts we are perfect, but not human. Our feelings, willpowers and power of thinkings differ us from other created ones. With these powers, we can make efforts and dare to reach an unachievable goal. That is the thing that makes us humans. Anybody who believes and claims that he or she is perfect, proves that he or she is not perfect. One of the necessities of human perfection is being humble. Once and for all, in my opinion all we can do is to try to live according to our beliefs and to try not to lose our hopes and faiths.

Importance of trying to be perfect

In my opinion, it is important to try to be perfect because you will improve yourself and will help to build a better society.
If people start trying to improve themselves, they will start noticing what they are and what they can be instead of what they have and what they want to possess.
You cannot achieve perfection by having somethng, you need to become something.
People will start to see the world from a different perspective, they wil try to absorb knowledge from other cultures and this will make them coexist peacefully.

Comic books... more a "boy thing"

Comic books have never been my cup of tea. I guess it’s because in my country reading comic books is more a “boy thing”. What’s more, when I was younger, I preferred watching them on TV and spending more time playing outside! However, I read one and only one specific comic book: Titeuf. Titeuf is one of France's most popular comics (but the author called Zep is Swiss!). Through the eyes of a 8 years old boy called Titeuf, Zep shows us the children’s vision of the adults’ world in a very humoristic way.

Superman and the superhero myth...

Superman is the icon of superheroes. He represents the strength, the virtual omnipotence, the ideal of the good and generous man. But Superman is not a human being, not just because he is native of Krypton, considering that he resembles humans and that he has been raised as a human and because of the Kents he also thinks as a human. No, Superman is not a human being because no man would be able to do what he does: I'm not talking about flying or moving the mountains. Superman is not a human being because no man would use his powers in the way he does. When Lex Luthor finally discovers that Superman and Clark Kent are the same person he refuses to accept the truth because "A man with the power of Superman cannot fake to be a human. Powers as great as Superman's must be always used!" Here is the superheroes paradox! From great powers come great responsibilities but the hero is an hero not because of his powers, but because of the great responsibilities he assumes and because he doesn't use his powers for his own profit but for the others. If Superman is not a human being, then Lex Luthor certainly is, and he cannot do anything else other than trying to understand a divinity with human parameters. And he fails, as every time that a man tries to interpret the sketches of God. Superman has all the characteristics of a divinity, at least the ones of a Christian divinity: totally good, not interested at all in anything but the Good. Similar to the man but infinitely different. Superman cannot be understood by a human being, after all. And so, to make him more desirable to the public the Kryptonite was invented, his weakness was discovered. But, of course, Superman still needs to be different from human beings because the differences between the hero and humans are the founding elements of the myth of the hero, even though we live in an era in which this myth is falling apart, especially in the U.S.. They are no more the country who brings democracy or peace to those who don't have them, people don't trust their governments anymore. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" "Who watches the watchmen?" If we doubt that the myth still exists, the myth has already collapsed. The myth wants blind faith, suspension of disbelief, acceptance of the unacceptable. The only way we could conceive a superhero in a rational way without the filters of our comics literature is to accept that he would be so much aware of himself and of the enormous gap between him and us that he would look at men as slaves.

The origin of comic books in the US

The first comic book, famous funnies, was released in 1934 and since then, many stories were created. The US became the leading comic book publisher and the only countries who could compete were England and Japan.
The history of comic books are divided in 5 eras:
-The Platinum era
-The Gold era:
-The Silver era
-The bronze era
-The modern era

Superheroes - Red Kid

In Turkey, we don't have a real comic book culture. We have caricature magazines, and some interpretations of foreign comic books. In my childhood i liked reading western comic books. My favorite character was Red Kid, (Lucky Luke), the cowboy who can pull his gun even faster than his shadow. I never saw him kill anybody. He was colorful, funny and had sense of humour. I didn't know that he was created by a Belgian cartoonist. He didn't have super powers, but every time he tries to do his best for justice.The Dalton Brothers, Rin Tin Tin, Jolly Jumper (Düldül) are the other figures in this cartoon. His only real friend was his horse. He was a lonesome cowboy. And one more thing, it has a great intro music.

I'm a poor lonesome cowboy
I'm a long long way from home
And this poor lonesome cowboy
Has got a long long way to roam
Over mountains over prairies
From dawn till day is done
My horse and me keep riding
Into the setting sun