CCC English 101

Society ruins Childhood

2005-12-01T06:16:00.001-08:00

Mr. House
English101
November 28, 2005
The Child’s Inside
When I was a young child, I can remember being outside all day long. Now, when I drive down the streets of the once child filled city, all I see are leaves blowing across the street. Parks are bare with not a child in site. Society has worsened so drastically that parents no longer feel safe to allow their kids to experience the outdoors. Gangs, drugs, alcohol, molestation and abductions have become an epidemic that has parents fearful of their child’s future.
One major fear parents have is child abduction. There is a reported 797,500 children missing in the United States alone (missingkids.com). This has become such a prevalent issue that the government has established the AMBER Alert. The AMBER Alert notifies the public that a child has been abducted. It was created in 1996 when Amber Hagerman was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas. “AMBER is an acronym for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response" (AMBER Alert). Although the AMBER alert recovers many children, thousands are never found and sometimes it’s too late for children when they are found. Therefore, parents find it much easier to just keep their child inside rather than allow this risk to happen.
Along with child abduction is child molestation. Children can’t play a sport or even go to church without a parent anymore. Those used to be the places a parent could drop their child off and be free for a couple hours. In the US alone, “there are roughly 4,000,000 child molesters” (kiddefense.org). Children ages 8-11 are more commonly molested and a third of females are molested before the age of 18 (kiddefense.org). What’s even worse is that “seventy percent of those adjudicated guilty of child molestation serve no time for the crime” (kiddefense.org). All over the world there are catholic priests molesting children. Many children won’t even admit that they have been sexually assaulted because the priest tells them to never tell anyone. What is a real shame is that these molesters are supposed to be the most trustworthy people in the world. They are supposed to be the closest people to god. Therefore, why would they even be suspected as child molesters? A sex offender could live right next door and no one would even know. This is why Megan’s Law was established. Megan’s Law requires “every state to develop some procedure for notifying concerned people when a person convicted of certain crimes is released near their homes” (Megan’s Law). This is because a young girl named Megan was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a convicted sex offender whom lived directly across the street from her. In Vineland New Jersey, a local soccer coach had recently been accused of several molestations. David Durling molested children in his own home “mostly during sleepovers at his house” (NBC 10 News). Parents obviously trusted him with their children only to find out he was a bad man. Some of the nicest people turn out to be a parent’s worst fear.
Drugs and alcohol are two big worries parents are afraid their children will get into. Both are illegal, addictive and can possibly put hardships on the future. Both drugs and alcohol are extremely easy to get a hold of. All a child has to do is ask an adult to buy alcohol for him/her. If this certain adult is in need for money, they can easily over charge the child and the child will never know it. Drugs can be found right on the street. Narcotics are dealt all over and if a child really wants to try them, there is nothing stopping them. Thirty nine percent of children sixteen and under have tried alcohol and twenty one percent of children sixteen and under have tried marijuana (Juvenile Offenders 8). Parents realize the easy access to these harmful substances and don’t want their children exposed to it. Once again their resolution is to keep the child inside.
Gangs have also become quite common nowadays. These gangs get people arrested and basically kill any chance of a future. Once a person gets into a gang it is extremely difficult to get out of it. The problem with children joining gangs “is substantial and affects all sorts of communities” (Juvenile Offenders 27). In a 1995 study, there was an estimated 846,000 gang members and “more than half of these members were under the age of 18” (Juvenile Offenders 27). Besides joining gangs, parents also tend to be worried that their child could be a victim of gang activity. Many gangs harm people for little or no reason at all. On November 21, 2005, in Vineland High School North, a boy was hospitalized after being severely beaten by five people (Dunn). The cause of this fight was an unavoidable bump in the overcrowded high school hallways. Although it was originally believed to be a non gang related issue, it is now suspected to have been gang related. No parent wants to watch their child suffer.
Avoidance is the key to parenting nowadays. Maybe if the problem is never exposed to the child, it will all just go away. It doesn’t matter how many laws are made to protect children, parents aren’t going to be able to feel safe with their children outside. These laws are only good to things that are reported. Many things aren’t reported because it is kept a secret, like the Catholic Church accusations. Due to all of these crucial problems in society, children will never again have the ability to experience the good old days.

Works Citied
“AMBER Alert.” 8 November 2005. Wikipedia. 21 November 2005 org/wiki/Amber_alert>.
Dunn, Colleen. “Teen Beaten in Vineland High Critical.” Bridgeton News. 23 November
2005. 30 November 2005 .
“FAQ’s and Statistics.” 2005. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. 30
November 2005 LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=242#0>.
“Juvenile Offenders.” 1999. National Criminal Justice Reference Service. 30 November
2005 .
“Megan’s Law.” 21 November 2005. Wikipedia. 21 November 2005 wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan%27s_Law>.
“Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident,
and Offender Characteristics” 11 July 2000. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 24 November 2005 .
“What Are Some Recent Abduction Statistics?” 2004. Kiddefense.org. 21 November
2005 .

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

2005-12-01T06:16:00.000-08:00

House
English 101
24 October 2005
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
During times of crisis, Americans have a tendency of giving up their rights. This giving up makes individuals vulnerable and gullible. In society today, there is a new controversy brought out by the Bush Administration. This controversy is known as the Patriot Act. Many see this as a new phenomenon of assumption and injustice. Throughout history, the courts make people prove their own innocence instead of someone proving them guilty. This same ideology has taken place in American History since settlement back in the 1600’s.
In 1682, the residents of the Salem Village were Puritans. Puritans believed in witchcraft and thought of it as a sin because “it denied God’s superiority, and a crime because the witch could call up the Devil in his/her shape to perform cruel acts against others” (Sutter 1). Being convicted of witchcraft resulted in the death penalty, which at this time was to be hanged. A group of seven, young, teenage girls caused a mass hysteria in the Salem Village during the spring and summer of 1962. They twisted “into grotesque poses, fell down into frozen postures, and complained of biting and pinching sensations” during what is now known as the Salem Witch Trials (Linder 1). At the end of the Salem witch trials, nineteen people were hanged, one was pressed, thirteen died in prison, and a total of one hundred forty people were accused of witchcraft (Sutter 2).
One of the Salem Witch Trial victims was an educated man. He was a 1670 graduate of Harvard College. He was also a generous man. In 1683, he gave one hundred fifty acres of his land back to the city of Wells because of the increasing population. His name: George Burroughs. George Burroughs, a minister from Maine, had moved to Salem Village in 1680. His wife died after only a year of living in Salem. Due to disputes over salary and disputes with residents, Burroughs only lived in Salem for two years before leaving the city. After his departure, many had accused George of being a wizard. On May 4, Burroughs was in the city of Wells when “he was seized, taken from the table while eating, and hauled back to Salem” for his trial (George Burroughs 1). During his trial, he was referred to as the leader of the witches. He was accused of distributing magical dolls, temptation, being Satan’s personal representative, mistreatment of his wives, and of superhuman strength.
Burroughs was left to prove his innocence. On August 7, Burroughs was carted to the gallows. Thirty two respectable residents signed a petition on favor of Burroughs. One accuser “recanted her accusation as groundless and made out of fear” (George Burroughs 1). Perhaps the most surprising and controversial proof of his innocence took place right before he was hanged. What he did as he awaited the noose was known to be impossible for a wizard to do. He proclaimed his innocence and recited “the Lord’s Prayer without hesitation or error” (George Burroughs 1). He was hanged regardless.
Nearly 260 years after the Salem Witch Trials, the Cold War began. The Cold War frightened Americans of communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy led the anti-communism brigade. The HUAC, House of Un-American Activities Committee, investigated people who were suspected of being unpatriotic and was said to “be the best vehicle to discover if people were trying to overthrow the government” (McCarthyism). People who were suspected of being a communist were blacklisted. Blacklisted people were usually fired from their jobs and found it hard to find new jobs. Many celebrities and writers were placed on the list. Being on the list took away many privileges and protections. By June, 1950, Vince Harnett and the FBI published Red Channels. Red Channels was “a pamphlet listing the names of 151 writers, directors and performers” accused of being in the American Communist Party (McCarthyism).
One of the first groups to be accused of un-American activities was known as the “Hollywood Ten”. The Hollywood Ten consisted of: Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Albert Maltz, Adrian Scott, Samuel Ornitz, Dalton Trumbo, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Larder Jr., John Howard Lawson and Alvah Bessie. When questioned by the HUAC, they all refused to answer any questions because “they claimed the the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution gave them the right to do this” (McCarthyism). Each one of the Hollywood Ten was sentenced to six to twelve months for contempt.
Anyone who “refused to name names” was added to the blacklist. In October of 1949, the HUAC decided to use the Alien Registration Act. Due to this, over forty six people were arrested and charged over the next two years. Their crime was “advocating the overthrow of the government.” McCarthy also, eventually, blacklisted 57 State Department people. Most of the people accused of being communists weren’t communists at all. They were actually fascists, alcoholics and sexual deviants... which McCarthy himself could have been guilty of (McCarthyism).
The date was September 11, 2001. The sky was blue and it was the perfect fall temperature. Students had just begun school that week. It was early morning when tragedy struck in New York City. The World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. It was assumed an accident until another plane flew right into the second building of the World Trade Center. America was under attack. Two more planes crashed that day: one into the Pentagon and another into a field in Pennsylvania. The World Trade Center buildings crumbled to the floor, placing New York City under a coat of smoke, dust and debris. Following this attack, President George W. Bush, with the help of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, passed the Patriot Act. Many embraced the Patriot Act because it meant safety. The fact of the matter is, there was an attack on American soil and the American people wanted to be as safe as possible. So if the Patriot Act enforced safety, what could be wrong with it? The answer is that it violates the constitution. All a person has to do is call in and report what they believe to be suspicious acts and the government steps in. Nobody is safe from the Patriot Act.
Steve Kurtz was an Art professor at the Art University at Buffalo. On the morning of May 11, 2004, his wife died of cardiac arrest. The medical team felt suspicious of the death because of age and how it was an unexpected death. They also grew suspicious of the chemical lab, which was obviously visible in the house. Kurtz was actually not only an artist, but a biological artist. Due to their suspicion, they notified the FBI. The FBI closed Kurtz’s street for total evaluation of the premises. Everyone tried to connect Mrs. Kurtz’s death to the biological equipment and also tried to find evidence that Kurtz was planning an attack on America. This was all allowed because of the Patriot Act.
Federal Agents had no probable cause to for a search and Kurtz never committed a crime. The only response the FBI gave was that the death looked suspicious. This was after the autopsy results. The case is still continuing, but if convicted Kurtz could face up to 20 years in prison (Hirsch 1).
Wars and other social events make Americans unite. During the 1600’s, religion united them. In the mid 1900’s, they had successfully won the Second World War but were frightened by the Russians. In the early 2000’s, there was an attack on American soil. All of these events united Americans and continuously made America stronger than before. When the country is strong, leaders can control the minds of the citizens into believing whatever they say. This leads to false accusations and lack of consistent law. People simply end p having to do the nearly impossible… proving their innocence. "The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just” stated Winston Churchill (Thinkexist.com).

Works Citied
George Burroughs. University if Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. 17, Oct. 2005
.
Hirsch, Robert. “The Strange Case of Steve Kurtz: Critical Art Ensemble & the Price of
Freedom.” Afterimage. May/June 2005, Vol. 32 Issue 6, p22-32. EBSCOhost.
24, Oct. 2005 17218502>.
Linder, Douglas. An Account of Events in Salem. University of Missouri-Kansas City
School of Law. 16, Oct. 2005 /salem/SAL_ACCT.HTM>.
McCarthyism. Spartacus Educational. 19, Oct. 2005 co.uk/USAmccarthyism.htm>.
Sutter, Tom. Salem Witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials. 15, Oct. 2005 salemwitchtrials.com/salemwitchcraft.html>.
Sutter, Tom. Salem Witch Trials FAQs. The Salem Witch Trials. 18, Oct. 2005
.
Thinkexist.com. 24, Oct. 2005 history_of_the_world_is_summed_up_in/15844.html>.

It's Better to be Dumb!

2005-12-01T06:15:00.000-08:00

Mr. House
November 7, 2005
English 101
Intelligence vs. Unintelligence
Life is full of positive and negative sanctions. The thoughts and beliefs of society decide these sanctions. When it comes to mental ability, society considers intelligence to be positive and unintelligence to be negative. This isn’t always true. There are many positive aspects of being unintelligent and many negative aspects of being intelligent. The life of an unintelligent person is better than the life of an intelligent person.
Intelligent people have a lot of room to fail. Where do you go when you climb to the top of a mountain? Down. That’s the problem with the intelligent. They have climbed their mountain and can only go down from where they are. They have succeeded and have little room for more achievement. Probability is against them in the fact that there is a greater chance of failure. On the other hand, unintelligent people are still at the bottom of the mountain. They still have a clear future of achievement in front of them. They don’t have anywhere else to go but up. Rather than failure, achievement is in their favor.
Recognition is more commonly given to the unintelligent, not the intelligent. Higher expectations are placed on smart people. They are expected to do well in school, do the right things and be leaders. Unintelligent people aren’t really expected to do much. It’s okay if they don’t do well in school, don’t do the right things and are followers because they aren’t expected to have the brain capacity of an intelligent person. Therefore, if the intelligent do something good, they get no recognition for it because they are expected to do that. Less intelligent people, on the other hand, aren’t expected to do much. If they do something well, it’s a big deal because they went beyond their expectations.
It’s okay to not be perfect unless you’re intelligent. People are more likely to be disappointed with an intelligent person. If an intelligent person doesn’t live up to their expectations all the time people become shocked and scorn them. The unintelligent aren’t expected to do everything right and therefore if they do something wrong its okay. Yet, if they do something right, people become shocked and admire them.
Another way unintelligent people are better off in society is how they approach issues and conflicts. Unintelligent people think outside the box. They do things by experience rather than factual information. Smart people on the other hand use factual information. They use the things they learned in school to defend their points and aren’t open to unsupported ideas.
“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know” said Ernest Hemingway (thinkexist.com). Intelligent people know too much for their own good. They are too aware of their surrounds and analyze everything. Unintelligent people are happier than intelligent people not because they are ignorant to the world, but they don’t think too deeply into situations. They know what’s going on but they don’t make into a big deal like intelligent people do.
Unintelligent people have the ability to believe in things. The prime example of this is religion. The unintelligent can believe in religion faithfully. An intelligent person can’t truly and faithfully practice a religion. They know that there are other religions in the world. This also makes them aware of the possibility that their chosen religion is exactly true in every aspect.
Everyone has the brain capacity to achieve what they want. It’s a matter of how one uses their brain to achieve their own dreams. The people who use their brain to achieve things are thought to be intelligent. Others who use their brains just to live day by day and lack achievement are seen to be unintelligent. While this is the typical stereotype, the roles are actually reversed. The unintelligent are actually intelligent and the intelligent are unintelligent. This is because the unintelligent people know the consequences of intelligence. Malcolm Forbes said “The dumbest people I know are those who know it all” (thinkexist.com).

My Neighborhood

2005-12-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

English Composition 101
House
October 3, 2005
Heights Place
As I look back on my neighborhood, it was a place of childhood innocence. This was a time where children actually played outside and didn’t have to worry about the neighbors’ criminal record. In these days, our biggest worries were who was on whose team and what time the streetlights came on. It’s a point in my life I would love to relive. From sunrise to sunset, I would be outside with my group of friends and only come home for dinner and the occasional snack.
Heights Place was a dead end road surrounded by woods. These woods separated Heights Place from the Vineland Industrial Park. Apparently, the woods were a good blockade from the industrial park because there was absolutely no sign of dirty, smoky, industrialization in the neighborhood. There was always a cool breeze to keep our body temperature down while we kids enjoyed the benefits of being children. Birds always sang their songs and squirrels played tag from tree to tree. Ladybugs were plentiful around the neighborhood.
During the summer, the smell of freshly cut grass was always in the air. The ice cream mans jingle could be heard almost every afternoon. Crickets stroked their violins as night fell. As fall approached, the scents of pumpkins and apple pies overwhelmed the neighborhood. The crunching of leaves could be heard as the children played sports and ran through the yards. Winter tended to be quite cold. Everyone, even adults, could be found sledding down the hills and the road whenever it snowed. Spring brought and abundance of butterflies. The encouraging scent of chlorine from the opening pools meant that summer was arriving.
The homes were all built basically the same way. If you knew your way around your own house, you could walk through your neighbors house blind folded without a problem. The only distinguishing features of each home were how it was decorated and what color the outside was painted. Heights Place was a downhill road only about 12 houses long. Evidence of the brilliant generation prior to ours could be found at the end of the road where there was an old wooden sign that spelled out “Nieghborhood Propurty”. When playing outside, passing neighbors always gave a friendly wave as they passed by you.
Shortly after sunrise, a knock could be heard on the front doors of multiple homes. “Can Tiffany and Tony come outside?” was usually asked to whom ever opened our front door. After those words, my brother and I would go outside to begin our day. A good game of two hand touch football was usually played daily. I happened to be the only girl among six guys, so the guys always made me quarterback so I wouldn’t get hurt. Fall had the ideal weather to play football in but the chill of winter never stopped us. During the winter, you could find all the children with red noses, wind burnt cheeks, and sweat from playing all day. During lunch time, everyone would go back to my house for what we considered a picnic. I would run inside and grab the king sized, blue cotton blanket. Everyone else brought a type of food, snack, or beverage to share with everyone. Two of my friends, Christian and Chris, were brothers and had a clubhouse in their backyard. It was a beat down, red and white, little clubhouse that they called the caseta (they were Spanish). If we weren’t playing football, we were in here. This was the home of our imagination. We all did as much as we could at the age of 10 to fix the place up. Here was the home to our office, where I was always the secretary and the guys were businessmen. After the leaves had all fallen, we would usually end up at Bruce’s house. His grandpa made him rake the yard, so we all helped. Of course, we didn’t just rake the leaves and leave. We were more creative than that. We raked paths through the leaves and built piles. This was our leaf city. Multi colored, oak tree leaf piles lined our city streets and became our buildings.
Being the only girl, I occasionally didn’t want to hang out with the guys but there were no girls to hang out with. Times like this called for me to do something by myself. It is these moments that influence my educational life. Since my mommom’s house is on the top of a hill, I would go sit on the edge of the hill. This edge was the peak of the hill, right before it declined towards the street, and usually had the softest, green grass in the whole yard. Sometimes, I would just lie back and watch the sky. Other times, I would draw what I saw around me. That didn’t last long because I wasn’t very good. I also enjoyed reading. Reading gave me the idea to write my own stuff. Writing took up most of alone time. I became infatuated with writing. I would write poetry and short stories. The neighborhood was normally my inspiration. The changing of the leaves and crushes on neighborhood boys were the subjects of a lot of the writings. Looking back on these writings, they were so simple: a result of the relaxing neighborhood.
Today, when I visit my mommom, I miss the good old days. Everything has changed. People moved out and new people moved in. I look at the houses my friends lived in and feel a sense of absence. Some of my friends still live there, but they aren’t the people I grew up with. They’ve changed. Drugs have reared their ugly head into the neighborhood and took control of the people whom I considered family not so long ago. The new generation of kids can only be seen through the glow of the television through their bedroom windows. The streets are empty. There’s no more football, picnics, or imagination. The grass has turned brown and the breeze has died. The police are at the end of the street at least once a month. The ice cream man still comes but never stops. You can’t find the same sign at the end of the road. Hooligans came and spray painted over it. It has lost its innocence.
Neighborhoods are a place where children begin their views on the world. For just about their entire childhood, their world doesn’t go past their neighborhood. Not many people are blessed with my experience. My neighborhood was my escape from reality. I had the ability imagine and grow. It has helped me become the person I am today. These are the days that I will always remember and hope my children can experience someday.