Recently we have been seeing mayor Bill de Blasio in the current news a lot due to his views and goals for charter schools. De Blasio originally stood by the side of his predecessor Michael Bloomberg of supporting charter schools and making education a top priority. The reason why de Blasio has been attacked publicly is because he declined to prohibit three charter schools to open in public school buildings. This brought up  a whirlwind of backlash and has hurt de Blasio’s support throughout the education field. Although it seems like mayor de Blasio has his back towards a wall he actually pulled off a smart counter move in order to try and win some of the support back. He decided to make a surprise appearance at a meeting filled with charter school executives and talked to them for close to an hour about the importance of education. The mayor has also stated publicly that he’s never been against charter schools and that one of his main goals to tackle is to convince lawmakers in Albany to raise taxes on the wealthy and that would help support prekindergarten and after-school classes. One more tiny thing to consider is all three of the schools that de Blasio decided not to open, all are ran by the head of the Success Academy Charter Schools, Eva S. Moskowitz who is a long time rival of mayor de Blasio.

How the affair of Willy Loman turned him into the man he is now.

Throughout the whole play we see Willy Loman experience flashbacks that make him think about his past and it begins to make Willys life spin to of control. and how his actions can affect more than just himself. I decided to choose the scene in the play where Willy Loman begins to have visions of what happened in Boston years ago while he is sitting at around a restaurant table with his boys Happy and Biff accompanied by two women. What happened in Boston made him go a little mad, especially after his son Biff caught him having an affair with a secretary while telling his family he was going away just on a business trip. Ever since that day Willy Loman began to lose his mind. He suffered from experiencing flashbacks and hearing a woman’s laughter which would make him go crazy because deep inside Willy felt guilty about it all. Eventually these reoccurring flashbacks have finally taken too much of a toll on Willy and he absolutely looses it and begins to converse with an imaginary Ben. Even though Willy lost his mind, Linda always stayed by his side as he began to go a little crazy and that should say something about the power of love while facing the power of madness. Willy also eventually takes it to heart after Linda says that their kids idolized him, but the fact that Willy had an affair shows that he not a man worthy of such high admiration. At one point Willy is considered nothing ore than a “failure” because he never gets things done or things wont usually turnout the way you want it to be. Willy is also not respected as a man by others, and that the woman he had an affair with chose Willy because he was funny and not for his astounding qualities, but that didn’t honestly matter too much because Willy uses this as an escape fro his real life and it can provide an alternate world where Willy’s ego will boosts up, but that only solves his issue in the short run, because later in life that won’t be the moment that defines him or he can look back and make him happy nor will it bring him happiness now because it doesn’t mean anything (at least in a positive sense) to Willy. We don’t really point any fingers as the reader, we don’t feel bad for Willy at his funeral, also we don’t label him as a cheater, because we understand the psychological stand point of Willy Loman and that’s what makes us feel a certain way when it pertains to Willy. This psychological feeling makes a clear understanding between Willy and the reader on why Willy chooses the things he does. 

In college you are given a lot of free time but this also comes with a tremendous amount of work. Some kids don’t really know how to balance out their free time with schoolwork. Those are the kids that become so stressed out and overwhelmed that they feel like they are suffocating and they freeze and don’t know how to deal with the situation. Now if those students knew how to spread out their work with their time then they will be better off than the student who waits till the last minute to do everything.  So to stay on top of your game make sure you balance out your work with it’s due date.

I recently just watched the old school film The Graduate and all I can say is wow. It is a film filled with plot twists that involves a young Dustin Hoffman just graduating college and getting ready for graduates school. But there;s a lot on his mind that keeps him behind a shell. His neighbor Ms.robinson addresses him and tells him to drive her home where she tries and seduces him. Throughout the whole movie we see young Dustin Hoffman become a shy awkward graduate to a self aware and more social of a person by the end of it. In the end Dustin Hoffman has grown up and knows what he wants to do with his personal life because he’s stuck in a dilemma between Ms.robinson and her daughter.

In this journal I will be focusing on Lester Burnham and I will discuss his philosophical views, as well as his morality, and the values he holds. Essentially this essay will be a complete analysis to Lester’s character in American Beauty.

On the outside the Burnham family looks like your typical American family with a white picket fence, but in reality they are the complete opposite. Lester’s wife Carolyn hates him and is cheating on him. His daughter Jane regards him with contempt, while his boss wants him to quit his job as he finds Lester completely worthless. Lester realizes that when one doesn’t have much to lose, one might as well risk everything. Provoked by a pitiful life Lester decides to make a few changes in his life to sort of spice things up or at least get his spirits up. Throughout the movie we see that the freer Lester gets the happier he becomes, which really trouble his wife a tremendous amount. Fantasies begin to form in Lester’s conscience after he starts to develop a lustful feeling towards his daughters friend Angela who is portrayed as a gorgeous person but she’s obviously too young for Lester. But Lester comes to learn that the ultimate freedom comes at the ultimate price. At the beginning of the movie we see Lester act very patient and nonchalant about a lot of things. He is seen as an underperformer at the office and that’s why the want to get rid off him. Lester is also sexually frustrated and it is evident and he tries to deal with this in a peaceful manner. But when things start to spiral out of control this is when Lester becomes rebellious and instead of solving and helping fix all the issues all he does is just walk around doing his own thing. At one point Lester decides to throw a plate against the wall and even tells his wife that she never gets to tell him what to do again. This is when Lester gets rid of his passive mode and actually speaks up to his dominant and egotistical wife.

Lately i’m sure you have heard about all the crazy situation going on in the middle east involving ISIS or ISIL. The American military and government has decided to intervene and take things into their own hands. As an American there are 2 sides to this debate one being to support US intervention and the other is to not support it. Personally I believe that since the United States of America is not just a super power but a bigger brother to the world and we must step up when no one else will to help protect the world. Now the side that decides we must do nothing and let them figure it all out can you live with knowing we could do something to stop all the public executions, rapes, and chaos? Personally I can’t live with that.

Athletes since the beginning of time have looked into gaining an advantage on their opponents in order for them to succeed and excel in their sport.  In my personal opinion using a substance that will give you an advantage over another person is cheating. Different leagues use different systems to punish those who are caught using PED’s (performance enhancing drugs), but unfortunately those who violate the rules sometimes come back and violate the rules again. In my opinion every pro sport should use the lifetime ban. If you’re caught once then you should be kicked out for life. Pete Rose who is the all-time hits leader in the MLB was kicked out for life for gambling and sense then no one else has been caught gambling. This should be implemented with those who cheat in general.

Superman and the heroes of September 11, 2001

The image i decided to chose that gave a well representation of some sort on the horrid events that happened on 9/11 is the image made by Alex Ross, called Superman and the heroes of September 11, 2001. This image to me best reflects the true heroes on that day, those who ran towards the chaos and not the opposite way. The firefighters who first responded and the police department were some of those people running towards the burning buildings and the pentagon at first site just like what superman would have done if he were not a made up superhero. We cannot also forget about the paramedics and doctors who stayed well after their shifts to help those hurt by the catastrophe. Those people are the true heroes, the people that would give up anything to help those who were hurt on that day. In the picture we see superman and his animal companion staring at doctors, police officers, firefighters, and what looks to me like civilians. Superman is standing admiring their heroism as if for once the roles were reversed and superman is the one who feels grateful for the heroes that stood up to the plate that day and delivered as opposed to first responders usually feeling thankful for superman’s actions in his stories and movies.

The Kings speech was personally a very inspiring true story for me.  Knowing that I am not the worlds greatest speaker and I begin to get nervous in front of people that i do not know, watching this film showed me that if you can persevere through just about anything and as long as you have you’re eyes set on your goal and with determination and having the will to do anything then you can attain your goal.  Another thing on my list of things that I took back from this movie is the issue of trust.  Throughout the movie King George VI has a trust problem with his speech therapist because he was outcasted in his youth due to his speech impediment.  I learned that accepting your issues wether it is a speech impediment or just mentally insane will help you build a road around your challenge onto succeeding in anything you can potentially set your goals to.  Also as corny as it may sound i also took back from this movie the aspect in believing and hoping in one self and in others around me.  At times Lionel would become frustrated with King George VI, but with Lionel stayed and never gave up on King George VI and eventually succeeded with King George VI getting over his speech impediment and delivered a phenomenal and comfortable speech as if

King George VI was in a room having a normal conversation with Logue.  I also took from a teaching stand point that not everyone will work with you the way you may like, instead you should work with people that are fit to handle your deck of cards.  Meaning if someone really wants to work with you and they’re determined to do anything to attain their goal(s) then they’re going to eventually succeed in what ever they are learning or trying to do.

Personally I loved this movie because it shows me that anyone is capable of attaining they’re goal one way or another. Whether that may be through trusting yourself to take big leaps with faith or trusting someone else even though you may not feel comfortable in your shell.

To live in a virtual reality or to not live in a virtual reality has been a intriguing question that has popped up over the course of humanity especially with all the advancements in recent technology. The real question is do you sacrifice everyone else’s emotions for your own reality where there are no problems or do you live the life that nature has presented itself to you? Personally I would choose not to live in a virtual reality simply because it is virtual and not real, and all of your emotions and actions are all artificial. With this being said I would much rather feel what living life has to offer me and going through everything life has to offer me.

Living in a virtual reality would be nice for a while but it would come with an ultimate price that not everyone would happily accept and that is leaving everything behind for a fake and artificial version of it. Yes you would still be able to appreciate the things you would like to, but people in the real world would miss you and what you have to offer. What is the point in experiencing things if you truly haven’t experienced them? For example falling in love with another person. Yes your emotions would be genuine but  your lovers emotions wouldn’t be true and real, essentially it would just be you loving yourself since you’re in an artificial world solely feeling your own emotions. Feeling other people’s emotions are a part of the life experience and what it has to offer.