High school seniors' predictions for the future

The kid I most relate to in these recordings is Andrew Benedict, a student who is undecided about his future. He is actually a lot different from me, but the most relatable in this series of recordings. I have a general idea of what I want to do in the future, but I'm not entirely sure. He says "I don't know" a lot in his recording, which I think suits me well- I don't know.

My favorite of the students was Nathan Rebelo, who wants to be an architect. His interest in "making his mark" on the world is intriguing. He talks about his family a lot too; his future, and present family. He wants to get away from all the judgment high school comes with, which is how I think most high school students feel.

The most deluded of the group is the girl who wants to be an actress. Not that the dream of acting for a living is so far fetched, there are many aspiring actresses. However, not many make it. And they especially don't make it as big as she wants to make it. "Angelina Jolie status" is a rare goal to achieve. Her dreams, while admirable, are unrealistic. However, she should follow her dreams to the best of her ability because if she doesn't she will regret it. She should probably just not get her hopes up too high.

Loose Girl- Kerry Cohen pg 1-50

"Loose Girl" is a memoir telling the promiscuous tales of Kerry Cohen. So far the book has run through her child hood in New Jersey and some of her high school life too. The beginning is disturbing, as she remembers a time when she was twelve when her and her friends were stuck at a gas station in the middle of the night and two perverts drove them home. She talks about her parents divorice, and how they were never really there. Especially her mom who left her life as an artist to become a doctor in another state. Her sister became very depressed and barely left her room. The book is basically all of her sexual experiences and the mistakes she made along the way.

This book is really good so far, and her expericens are really interesting. The part where she talks about the guys in the gas station really freaks me out. I think she is a really relatable person, although her stories are unique. I've heard the book's ending is sad..:(.

Awesome Things

Awesome things is a great list, and many of the awesome things on this list, are things I believe to be awesome as well. Number 283 is "Eating what you're cooking while you're cooking it," who doesn't do that? Every time I made brownies or cookies I am constantly licking my fingers and the spoons. It is hard to resist when making delicious treats. Number 298 is "Successfully giving someone directions in your home town"is another awesome thing. It doesn't happen often but when I give directions to random people in my hometown I feel so good; definitely an awesome feeling. One awesome thing I didn't really agree with was "Grandma hair"; it's just not something I think, "wow that's cool!" when I'm out and about. I don't really aspire to having grandma hair either.

Cody- "Country Boys"

Cody, whose life is followed by a camera crew in "Country Boys", may seem like the bad boy ultra-disturbed Goth type- but he is much different than his appearance would suggest. Cody wears dark nail polish and typically all black; his hair is died and he sports a outrageous hairstyles, his appearance threw me at first. It turns out that Cody is actually a Christian, who loved music and spending time with his girlfriend. Although he goes to a intermediate school, he does not come across as necessarily unintelligent. What I think is sort of remarkable is how his parents both committed suicide, and he has lost everything he had, yet his faith remains strong. A lot of kids with his circumstances would have more behavioral problems. Not to say that he is an angel. Cody occasionally causes trouble with his U.S. history teacher, resulting in being sent to the principal's office. His behavior at home seems to be calmer, however. He is polite to his adopted grandmother, and seems to want to live there with her. The truth is he has nowhere else to go. He has known his parents both committed suicide for most of his life, but an interesting moment in the documentary is when he reads the details of what really happened in his father’s death. Upon learning his father shot his wife, and then himself, he is not shocked, but seemingly more confused. He confidently states that he will always love his dad, and then nostalgically reminisces on their past. I can’t say I feel bad for Cody, despite his economic conditions and family circumstances, because he does not seem to feel bad for himself.

Freakonomics pg 120-150

This chapter asks "Where have all the criminal's go?". The crime rate has significantly dropped since the nineties, where it was at its highest in years. Dubner and Levitt talk about the romanian abortion policy and how it so drastically changed from a form of birth control, to a forbidden practice, and was strictly and even bizarrely banned. He further goes into abortion in the united states and the role it may have had on crime rates in the nineties and present day. He talks about how bad the crime rate was then, and how good it is now. Rowe V. Wade made abortion legal, and by 15 years later the crime rate had dropped significantly. He proposes that legalizing abortion may have contributed to less crime in the U.S. by eliminating children who would have most likely grown up in poverty or under bad circumstances. Crime is at it's higest among teenagers, and with less teenagers born into bad circumstances, their was less crime.

This chapter was very interesting, I guess weather you are pro life or pro choice, there is no denying the fact that the crime rate has dropped since abortion was legalized. Dubner and Levitt talk about this issue in the intro to the book as well, I was glad to read it more elaborated on.

Freakonomics pg 84-120

This chapter poses the question "Why do drug dealers live with their moms?" Although somewhat comical, Levitt and Dubner go into some quite heavy issues regarding urban life and inner city drug trafficking. The author writes about his friend's experiences while researching impoverished communities in the U.S. Levitt and Dubner point out the fact that selling cocaine is one of the most profitable jobs in the united states. Most people assume that if you are a drug dealer-then you have money. However, this common knowledge only applies to the top dogs of the drug chain, the big dealers. There fore, most drug dealers do live with their moms-because that's what they can afford. Even those drug dealers making a significant amount of money often times live at home with their mothers to remain known in the community, or to keep an eye on other drug dealers.

This chapter was very interesting. The way this book disproves the things you think you know is mind blowing. I'm really enjoying it, can't wait for the next chapter about parents!

Childhood memories

There were a lot of books on the picturing books website that I had read as a child. Some stuck out more than others, including "Pat the Bunny", on of my favorite books when I was little. I loved the book because it was a touch and feel book, I'm pretty sure I made my mom read it to me every night for quite some time. Seeing this book's picture on the list brought me back to my childhood a lot. I was surprised this book was written in the early fourties just because I read it for the first time in the mid 90s. It's strange how those kinds of books stand the tests of time.

Freakonomics- pages xxiv-83

I never knew I could like economics so much! This book is a much different kind of economics of that which you hear in the news and in econ. classes. The book explains how at it's root, economics is the study of incentives; and there are many incentives in this world. In the introduction he questions real estate agent's incentives in selling you're house. He proposes they may sell your house for less than they could get if they spent more time and energy on it. Although they get a percentage of the profit, it is not big enough to provide incentive for them to work any harder. Getting more for less is what he says most people are into, and economics plays a big part in getting more for less. The book raises questions on many moral issues too such as cheating. More specifically- teachers cheating to get higher scores on standardized tests. When provided with incentives, many people will leave behind their values. He also raises questions about the Klu-Klux-Klan, comparing their incentives to that of real estate agents.

This book is really interesting, and the sections ahead seem even more intriguing than the last. In the next couple of sections he will provide statistics to explain why drug dealers live with their mothers, and what makes a perfect parent. I can't wait to read more on this topic. I have heard this is offered as a college class at some schools, I would love to take it. It's a lot like psychology in a way, except for it provides more hard facts about human incentives and behavior than psychology, or observation, alone ever could.

So mad!

I just found out 'Go Ask Alice' is actually fictional, and is not written by an actual fifteen year old as stated in the beginning of the book.

Click here

This really angered me! I have read this book before, and I always thought it was a true story. Now it just seems more forced anti-drug lit.

Go Ask Alice- Pages 120-212

The girl is finally home with her family, she starts off with a new diary and feels optimistic about starting over a drug free life. Then just a few weeks later she does drugs again, she feels guilty writing it down and wishes it never happened. After that she doesn't do drugs for quite some time, she even meets a boy she really likes. Then the kids at school start hassling her to do drugs again, she has no friends and feels terrible. Her grandfather dies and she becomes very disturbed, but her new boyfriend makes her feel better and life is going seemingly well for her. Her grandmother dies, and the kids at school are still giving her a hard time. Things start looking up again and then suddently her next entry she explains that she is in a mental hospital, she explains that maggots are eating her body and her soul, and she is obviously delusional. She gets out of the hospital eventually and starts over yet again, for a long time her journal entries are optimistic and everything feels fine. Her last entry she thanks her journal for always being for her, and she realizes everything she has done wrong.

The book ends in an epilogue explaining that the girl who wrote the journal died of an overdose three weeks after her last entry. No one knows why she did it.

What a sad ending. I can't even imagine.

Letters from kids to God

Kids say the darnedest things.