Mohamed The Teddy Bear

Have you heard about the ludacris issue concerning the British white female teacher was captured and sent to jail recently in Sudan for allowing her 6 year old students to name the class teddy bear "Mohamed".

People were all riled up about this demanding that the teacher (Gillian Gibbons) be killed over the incident, there was litteraly a mob of protestors that wanted her head cut off.

Even though that she does admit that she "shouldn't have done it" she was sentenced to 15 days in jail where she worried that she would be raped by guards trying to teach a lesson to the infidel white woman. The sentence was cut short nonetheless after 2 brithish parliament members met with the president of Sudan to plead for her release. She was pardoned after one week in custody and tells about her detention in a filfthy prison.

This whole incident is ridiculous. Whats even more ridiculous is that the teddy bear was presented in court as evidence. I mean if the kids wanted to name it Mohamed and they were muslim then isn't that the childrens fault. Either way, thankfully everything worked out well and not only justice but common sence prevailed.

For more info go to http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3016&art_id=nw20071209151152298C330698

Pic is from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=500574&in_page_id=1770

Pepsi Vs. Coke

Well i'm running out of ideas. It is the last week of the semester, and my brain is just scrambled. I've been planning and thinking about this last blog for like two weeks, and the only truth is that I havent come up with anything yet. I mean I'm suppose to write about anything that I want so it should be an easy topic but I cant come up with anything.

I was thinkin about making a debate between Pepsi and Coke. i came up with this idea because I'm not a big soda drinking person but when I do I can't even finish a whole can. I prefer water or natural juices, however for the last couple of days I've been in the mood for soda. The problem is the following; as i mentioned I can't finish a whole can and my preference is Coke, while my boyfriend's preference is Pepsi. I normally can't tell any big difference except that Pepsi is a little sweeter but I definitely prefer Coke any day. My boyfriend on the other hand despises Coke's taste and "gas content". He states that it burns his throat while it goes down and makes these weird faces, freaking clown. Anyways he always proposes that I drink my own can of Coke and then when I don't finish it he gets upset and says "if you love COKE so much why don't you finish it". Then my question is this. Does anybody actually think there is a difference, if so whats your preference?

Poverty breeds Illiteracy and more Poverty

Literacy, as we all know, allows an individual to rise and overcome the obstacles of life in order to become a successful being of and asset to society. Those that do not become literate under whatever circumstances are less fortunate since they will only breed misery and poverty. Those who are less fortunate are normally the ones that receive welfare, are in jail or are constantly on the wrong side of the law in order to survive.What most people do not understand is that even though there are some illiterate individuals who are in their situation out of their own free will, most of the truly educationally denied beings are those who live in extreme poverty.

The truly illiterate beings on this planet are those who never had a chance of overcoming their strife because by mere cruel luck happened to be born into poverty. These individuals are the adults and children of 3rd world countries, where either there are no schools or poor educational systems. Most of the children from these countries will never have the opportunity to develop their literacy and remain that way up to when they are adults. These people and their future generations will only breed more illiteracy because poverty creates more and more illiteracy every day.

On the other hand, there are some people in the United States who can be considered illiterate only because their lack of motivation to achieve a good education and stay within a mediocre dead-end job or just remained unemployed collecting welfare. These low income individuals even though struck by poverty have the chance to overcome their hardships because the means are available to them. The children of such individuals if not properly educated will proceed to a life of crime and gang life in certain situations. Statistics show that "Illiterate adults account for 75 percent of the unemployed, one third of the mothers receiving AFDC, 85 percent of the juveniles who appear in court, 60 percent of prison inmates, nearly 40 percent of minority youth, and over 70 percent of the high school dropouts."(Illiteracy causes poverty)

In the end, illiteracy is brought about through poverty. Although there are some individuals that because of their own actions decide to remain in their state and poverty and illiteracy, there are others who have no choice but to suffer and remain without a means to obtain education.

Statistics were obtained from http://www.arthurhu.com/98/01/illpov.txt

Roller-Blading = The Bomb Digidi for me

I love roller blading, it's my favorite sport. i could roller blade all around the city, but walking, No way!

I learned the sport on four wheel skates at the age of five, one year later my parents gave me the new in line skates. i used to skate once or twice a week after school, but during vacations i practiced more and more often, until it became a passion. I love to roller-blade as fast as possible while feeling the wind against my face; the speed and adrenaline it creates is awesome. But like all sports skating has its risks, especially for an overconfident teenage girl that just because of looks, doesn't wear a helmet. That was me. One day i was skating, i was going as fast as usual or maybe even faster, down a dangerous steep hill until bam. That's all i remember, the next thing i knew was that i was in my comfortable bed, being served hot tea by my granny. I love her <3>. After that accident i didnt roller-blade for a couple of years.

The best thing about roller-blading is to do it with someone special, that way you can go around town, enjoy the scenery, and stop by any place that catches your attention - which for me is almost everywhere - without wasting too much time. Then ofcourse there is the problem that some haters wont let you skate in their store so you must always carry your shoes with you. Even though skating is, what i beleive to be the best hobby in existence, it does have its downside when it comes to shopping; the second best hobby.

illiterate? LIKE who? That is SO me?

I'm kind of illiterate as far as technology and writing goes. Being that I come from a different country and most of my educations was from there, I tend to have problems with my English writing. This doesn't concern my vocabulary, although it can be better, but what it does affect is my semantics (look this up in dictionary.com) and my punctuation. I guess this is due to the fact that I tend to write the way I speak.

As far as using a PC goes, I know how to do the basics but I think I would be better off being more knowledgeable about it. I can easily open programs to write and read documents, but the transferring of files with my computer and then going so far as making them accessible online is a little difficult for me. The PC and Internet combined are considered a great tool today. For example, some people post their resume online and have jobs actually call them which is very useful. Basically with a better knowledge of the PC I believe that my life would be a little simpler and easier.

I've been reading..

This semester I am reading Literate Lives in the Information Age by Cyntia L. Selfe and Gail E. Hawisher, and Literacy in the New Media Age by Kress, Gunther. Both books are for my English class, but for fun I'm reading Why Men Love Bitches by Sherry Argov. This book describes how man respects a woman when she stands up for herself. The book doesn't refer to "Bitches" as evil, whore, or the person hated by everyone at work. Argov describes it as a woman who follows her dreams without giving up.

I don't like reading that much; however, once i find an interesting book I will keep reading it often until I finish. Last year one of my friends recommend me a Spanish book named Rosario Tijeras by Jorge Franco Ramos. This book was so interestingly romantic that I was crazy about it. I look out for more versions about her and bought the movie, but it was not as good as the book or at least as I imagined. However that is the one of the good things about reading you get to create your own image of the characters.

Some of the books i recommend are:

1. Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Eleven_Minutes_-_Paulo_Coelho-925043015.html
2. HoneyMoon by James Patterson
3. Rosario Tijeras by Jorge Franco Ramos