Sex Offenders Banned from Participating in Halloween

Due to the request of a Riverside County Supervisor, two cities have banned sex offenders from participating in Halloween this year. The sex offenders are prohibited from decorating their house with Halloween decorations and lights, and from passing out candy to children. The Supervisor, Jeff Stone,  sent out letters to six cities in his district regarding the banning of sex offenders participation in Halloween. He said "This way, we will have uniform protections in place by Halloween 2012 for the entire Third District".
I think this is a very good idea, and it should have been done a long time ago. Candy is to children as children are to pedophiles, especially during Halloween. Very upfront, but sadly true.

"From Letter from Birmingham City Jail"

This week in class we read a famous speech written by Martin Luther King Jr. He wrote this speech on a newspaper while in his jail cell about civil rights and freedom. It was written in Birmingham Jail in April 16, 1963, in a calm, encouraging, and emotional tone. The purpose of his speech was to inform, explain, and persuade the racists that the African-Americans will indeed get the freedom they have been fighting for for centuries. Though he was in jail while writing it, he had always hoped that his speech would one day somehow be published, and it was. I Find Martin Luther King Jr. a very inspirational man. It is truly remarkable that he had all that courage to go against a law who is against him and his people in order to stand up for what he believes is right.

Turkey Earthquake

As most of you have probably heard, there was a powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Turkey this weekend. Officials of Turkeys Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute speculate that as many as a 1,000 people have already died because of the earthquake with countless people injured. The town's that were hit hardest were Ercis and Van. Dozen's of buildings had collapsed, leaving many victims trapped under the ruins. Survivors and rescue workers have been digging through the debris with their hands and shovels in order to save people that are trapped. Turkey is in great need of medical aid in a time of such terrible disaster. In my opinion, this is a golden opportunity for Armenia to help Turkey in their time of need. It would be the right thing to do both morally and politically. If Armenia comes to Turkey's aid, Turk's would have a positive view on Armenian's. How can they hate a group of people that were there for them in their time of need? It will better the relationship between the two countries and in the long run, I think it will be beneficial to Armenia.

Speech Presentation

Last week in Miss Kirkman's class, all of the students presented their speech presentations. There were many interesting topics discussed, but I remember Patil's and Gareen's "Women's Rights" speech presentation most. The first Lady and the secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, shared her ideas about the importance of Women's Rights to the public in a very demanding and en-powering tone. She repeatedly stated the women's rights are human's rights. Simply because you are a woman, does not mean you are not subjected to the same rights men have. Clinton delivered her speech in Beijing, China, where many infant girl's are unwanted and mistreated because of the fact that they are girl's, not boy's. I must say I agree with Hilary Clinton, a violation of women's rights is indeed a violation of human's rights.

"Straw Into Gold"

This week in class we read Sandra Cisneros's Autobiography, "Straw Into Gold: The Metamorphosis of Everyday". Her story was about the hardships she endured throughout her youth and how she persevered and succeeded in her challenges. The purpose of her autobiography was to inform the readers and send out a message that the impossible can, after all, be achieved. When her friends asked her to cook them corn tortillas for their dinner, Cisneros was put in a difficult situation. Though she was Mexican, she had no idea how to make corn tortillas. After trying and failing what seemed impossible, she succeeded in making a corn tortilla. This experience, along with many others mentioned, ties in with the title, "Straw Into Gold", and it reminds us that a lot of times we can go against all odds, and it is possible to achieve what may seem impossible.

5 Virtues

It is important we all do our best to improve ourselves and become better people. We can not be perfect, but I think we can be close to it. If Benjamin Franklin can do it than so can we! I will now list five virtues (though there are so much more I would like to appoint), I find these virtues very important and they are all qualities I love about people.

1. Stick to your goals and do not lose focus, like I always do.

2. Be nice to everyone and help others. We only have one life to live, so lets live it good. Be peaceful, helpful, and a good person to others.

3. Do not talk badly of others. Obviously we all have flaws, and when you sit there and judge someone else's flaws, you are technically being a hypocrite.

4. Do not be full of yourself and look down upon others. Yes, it is good to be confident and love yourself, but do not think you are better than everyone. If you are this way, just remember, no one likes you.

5. Probably one of the most important ones, do not do to others what you would not want to be done to yourself. This one is just beautiful and self explanatory. 

I try my best to follow all five of these, and in time I hope to try less and less, for all five of these virtues will become my natural qualities.