A Racist Pastime

Rule changes and stricter enforcement of infractions during NFL games with player safety in mind has been a focus of the league during recent years. One theme I couldn't help but notice, is who is truly getting protected within the game we have grown to love.

In regards to the players, every year since 2000, at least 75% of the total players at the quarterback position have been white (shown in the table).

The quarterback position has always been extremely dangerous to play. As many may know, the "Blindside Hit" (yes, there was a movie about it) poses one of the biggest threats to QBs. The NFL has now put in place penalties in an effort to protect the at risk quarterbacks (of whom are predominately white) against the malicious hits of the defensive lineman (of whom are predominately black). 

In addition, while a kicker or punter is kicking the football at any point in the game, if a player on defense were to make contact with them, an immediate 15 yard penalty (the largest enforced yardage possible) is given. The stiffest penalty, protecting a position, in which at least 97% have been white since 2010. 

What does this say about who the NFL chooses to protect? Why do you think so many white people play the protected positions? Let me know your thoughts!

Unaware American Consumers

Purchased t-shirt

Just yesterday, I made an uneducated decision: I bought a t-shirt without researching. Just after we had talked about who makes a given shirt, where it's made and if the person/people making it are treated fairly, I may have unknowingly supported human rights violations.

Solely based on aesthetic appeal, I bought the pictured University of Alabama t-shirt before returning home after a soccer showcase in Alabama. Before I looked up the details of the shirt, I selected it, gave it to the cashier, paid the $19.99 for it, and put it into my carry-on. No other thoughts involved. After re-triggering my memory of our class discussion Thursday with our class period today, I looked further into the details.


I looked up the company that made the shirt and found that everything checked out fine. In fact, they printed the individual shirts on site in Comstock Park, Michigan. Their facilities appeared pristine, as can be seen on their webpage. Although in my case I won't be feeling guilty every time I put this shirt on, many other situations may be different though unknown. Human rights like proper working conditions and wages may be being violated by other companies without consumers realizing. In fact, I find it to be an extremely American value to find something that looks good and is cheap. Whatever may be the "Best Value" or "Most For Your Money" is a draw for us Americans. Such mentality is dangerous and can lead to the unknowing violation people's rights worldwide.

Do you as a consumer research before buying? Would you pay more for fair produced products? Please let me know your thoughts.

All Too Common Thanksgiving

Now that I can finally start to process my thoughts again after my food induced coma, something really struck me during my family's Thanksgiving celebration.

Every year we hold Thanksgiving- and all major holidays for that matter- at my Grandma's house in Glenview. Something I never really thought about though, are the longstanding traditions within the celebration. 

As many may know, football is a huge facet of Thanksgiving. Every single year, one can expect to find multiple daytime games broadcasted. As I was watching these games this year, I couldn't help but notice who was and wasn't in the room with me. Of the 4 males at the party (Me, my Dad and 2 Uncles) all were watching the games. Of the 5 females there (Mom, Sister, Cousin, Grandma and Aunt) none were watching the game. In fact, every female there had either made something for the dinner, or was making something in preparation. 

It really got me thinking. The men were the ones relaxing, watching football and simply waiting for the food to be put on the table. Put on the table though and made tirelessly, by the women. Women prepare the food, men devour it. 

I'm almost positive that this is the case for most of the American population on Thanksgiving. Is this the case with your Thanksgiving celebration? What does it say about us as a nation? How do women feel about this assignment? Please let me know your thoughts!

Enough is Enough

When is enough, enough?

Today in the Gaza Strip, deadly Israeli attacks were carried out. At least 11 people were killed; 9 of which were women and children.

One child casualty in Gaza Strip (NYTimes.com)

The deadly conflict between Hamas and Israel is reaching a point of absolute insanity. For the fifth straight day, Israel has attacked Hamas with missiles, warplanes and naval vessels. These attacks in defense from Hamas attacks. (For more information here is the New York Times article). Although in defense and obviously inadvertently, Israeli forces killed women and children.

As stated previously, just today, at least 11 people were killed and at least 9 of those were women and children. I'm no mathematician, but that equates to at least 81% of the deceased being either a woman or a child civilian.

This is unacceptable.

If these attacks were carried out in the United States, the deaths of defenseless women and children civilians would be an absolute outcry. I feel that protecting women and children is a strong facet of the American system of beliefs. Children represent the future and women are needed to birth those children. Without them, the very progressive and forward thinking nation in which we live in today would be losing a part of our futures.

For who truly knows? Children killed could have turned out to be President had they not been, or the next Steve Jobs, or even created the next Facebook. The possibilities are truly infinite.

Women who are killed are a vital part in creating a child. Without them, there isn't even the possibility of the previously listed opportunities for children.

Because of the progressive mindset of Americans, the deaths of women and children civilians would absolutely not be tolerated. Tying back into the Hamas-Israeli conflict occurring now, it will be interesting to see whether or not the same mentality will apply over the deaths of the women and children civilians killed today in the Gaza Strip.

Celebrate the Election

The Election is this Tuesday, and all I've been hearing and seeing on Radio and TV commercials are campaign ads. Bashing other candidates, promoting themselves or telling the public who the right selection is has been constant. Even the public in support of a certain candidate can get nasty with each other.

Although obviously a winner must be chosen to lead the United States of America, the presidential election should be a time for celebration of the democratic format instead of a nation-splitting decision. Taken for granted at times is how lucky Americans truly are to be able to express their desires for their leader. As shown by the included map below, many countries around the world do not have the same political rights and civil liberties that we take for granted at times. 

Red=Not-Free,Yellow=Partly-Free, Green=Free

I really think it is common for us Americans to look past the fact that the Presidential election is a celebration of free expression and voice due to the prospects of winning. In my opinion, most Americans forget how important and unique their right to vote is while enveloped in the prospects of their ideal candidate winning. This trait of Americans I have actually seen relatively often. Whenever winning something or being the best at something comes into play, it seems as though everything else in one's life takes a backseat role. In sports, a workplace or even in school, Americans are so focused on winning and being the best that basic rights others may not have, like voting, are taken for granted. 

Transparent President Wanted

Today, Donald Trump made an extremely interesting announcement. "From the Desk of Donald Trump" he stated that he would donate $5 million dollars to the charity of President Obama's choice in return for a release of his college and passport records.

If you care to watch the 2:44 second video clip, it has been placed below.

I cannot help but think of this video as a campaign plug for Mitt Romney. Donald Trump is an extremely affluent individual (Real-Estate Billionaire and Reality TV Personality) and for him to come out with a video as such, it puts President Obama in a very difficult situation; a situation in which I believe Donald Trump strategically put him in.

During the video, Trump states that if Obama were to release his college and passport records, "[Obama's selected charities] would be very, very happy". This puts President Obama in a tough situation. If he were to decline to release his records:

A) It would appear as though he may be hiding something from the American people, and

B) It would seem as though he disregarded the $5 donation offer to charity.

Either way, if President Obama declines to release his records, Donald Trump and the American people, in my opinion, can and will spin the denial into what I mentioned previously. On the flip side, if Obama actually were to release his records, I believe that criticism of such records are guaranteed to occur.

It is my personal belief that Donald Trump may have (no pun intended) trumped Obama merely weeks before this crucial election. What are your thoughts? What do you think Obama's decision will be? What will be the consequences for such actions? Please let me know with your comments!

Unjust Deception of the Enemy?

While I was reading the New York Times online this morning, an article came up in my feed that really interested me. The topic was about usage of booby-trapped weapons during warfare; particularly within the conflict in Syria.

For more background information and current usages, please read the article here. 

I find this topic extremely intriguing. Within the article, the downsides to the usage of bobby-trapped weapons (such as bullets, mortars and hand grenades) were many, but I truly think this is an effective way of fighting an enemy. 

Case of Bullets (NYTimes.com)

One of the ways of distributing such rigged weapons (bullets especially) are to intentionally push a crate off of the back of a supply truck, hoping that the enemy will see the newly found crate as a mistake made and free ammunition for their own use. This method however, has downsides. Not every bullet can be booby-trapped, because otherwise, the enemy will stop it's usage. Therefore, a select few of the bullets are actually booby-trapped with a TNT like substance, rigged to blow up upon firing. 

Vietnamese Soldiers (NYTimes.com)

The United States actually used exploding ammunition long before this conflict in Syria. In the 1960's, the United States leaked exploding ammunition to the Vietnamese soldiers, causing mass casualties, but effectively destroying weaponry of the Vietnamese in the meantime. 

Personally, I think that this is an incredibly valid form of warfare, although the legality of it is still unknown. If physically killing someone on the battlefield is completely legal in warfare, I take a strong stance of support about this topic of purposely placing explosive ammunition and other forms of weaponry in locations which the enemy will most likely find and use. 

What's your opinion on this topic? Should this form of warfare be allowed? Please let me know!

Fun With Erasure Poems

In class today, we began to introduce Erasure poems. I happen to find this type of poetry as one of my favorite varieties. I love how a completely new meaning can be found from a conversation (or transcript in this case) by pulling words out of context. From my interview transcript, I actually made a few of my own with titles. The part of my transcript I used was basically small talk after the bulk of the interview was conducted. The topics consisted of my family personally, New Trier Soccer as well as a few others. For the sake of space, please select, read more to see my work.

Plummeting to the Record Books

Baumgartner Free-Falling

More than 24 miles above Earth today, Felix Baumgartner took a free fall. This Austrian skydiver broke the sound barrier (690 MPH) by a landslide, traveling around 834 MPH during his descent. For more on the details on his descent, please read this article. 

Part of Baumgartner's Suit

Preparing to Jump

It's truly amazing where technology has taken our world today. A man jumped from over 128,000 feet above the ground and survived. First of all, the dangers of jumping were bountiful. At a height where exposed water vaporizes instantly, any hole in Felix Baumgartner's spacesuit would have killed him instantaneously. His suit was designed with technology which physically locks the parts of the suit together, in order to ensure it's protection of Baumgartner's life. Such technology was not available or even demised in the past, making such incredible feats intangible. We live in a world today of incredible technology, allowing jumps like Baumgartner's to become a reality. It was truly one of the defining moments of this century watching Felix Baumgartner break numerous world records, while millions watched the events streaming online. 

Today, this accomplishment cannot be described as anything but remarkable, but in the future, this may be viewed as just an ordinary occurrence, possibly just the norm of skydiving. What do you think the future will be like? What achievements will be next? Please let me know with your comments below. 

Just Another Day Off?

(Original 10/8/12)

(Revised 10/26/12)

Although Mr. Bolos has already created a blog post like this one, I feel the topic is pertinent enough to create another one similar to it, but with a whole different twist.

To many students across the nation, Columbus Day is just another break in the schedule of their school years. In my mind however, this day does not deserve the recognition that it has received.

Cristoforo Colombo and crew

Christopher Columbus (Americanized from actual name Cristoforo Colombo) stole the discovery of America from a Viking group led by Leif Eriksson. Yes, Cristoforo Colombo was the first official Spaniard to discover the United States we know today, but not even near the first one to do so.

Leif Eriksson discovered America 500 years before Colombo did and hasn't received even close to the amount of recognition Colombo does. Well, Leif Eriksson does have his own day of recognition, but it's hardly known at all and happens to be the day after Columbus Day.

Leif Eriksson

Americans in general tend to favor being regarded as a civil and progressive. The Spanish undoubtedly were civil and progressive at the time of Colombo's discovery of America, whereas the Vikings weren't as much. For these reasons, I think that Columbus Day is widely commemorated. Why not just credit the discovery of America to respected and notable Spaniards instead of the less impressive Vikings? It's truly a highway robbery. 

In contradiction, Americans love being first, the best, however you want to describe it. With this said, it comes as a shock in my mind that Americans continue to regard Columbus as the first person to discover America. With our incredible transfixion on being the first person or people to do something, it would only seem like the American norm to commemorate the first person to discover America -- Leif Eriksson. However, this is not the case and Columbus Day, celebrating the "runner-up",  is continued annually; directly contradicting the strong American value of being first. 

What do you think? Do you believe that Leif Eriksson day should be celebrated to conquer American values instead of Columbus Day? and or, should Americans continue to celebrate Columbus Day for purposes of relation with a progressive culture? Please weigh in with your thoughts.