Kaitienglish's Blog

Underage Drinking

kaitienglish — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:23:11 +0000

This article is about the new implications at the University of Minnesota in their efforts to curb binge drinking by the students. This topic of binge and under age drinking among college students has been a hot topic in our class and this article fits in nicely and outlines the way in which this university, among others, is making efforts to prevent this dangerous practice. This program, modeled after the University of Wisconsin’s Check BAC (said check back, the BAC stands for blood alcohol content) allows student season-ticket holders who are kicked out of a game for being too drunk to go to future games by submitting to blood alcohol testing. Students under 21 must be alcohol-free; those 21 or older cannot exceed a BAC of 0.08. The alcohol limits are the same as the ones for driving. This program is definitely a step in the right direction; rather than forbidding these students the right to go to games, they give them another chance which will hopefully teach them to be more responsible in the future. This system is however not fool-proof. With all the students that go to the games at such a big school as the University of Wisconsin, there is no possible way to catch every under age or out of control drinker in the crowd. The TCF stadium in which the Gopher’s play seats 50, 700 people and 10, 000 of those are student tickets. If a student fails the breathalyzer test after their first offense then the student gets their season tickets taken away. Only three Minnesota students have violated the system another time. Wisconsin’s version of this program is named the Show and Blow program. Perhaps this program would be a better option for sports game related offenses than the BASICs program offered on campus. At least in this case the University can be sure that there won’t be returning offenders on the same violation, and could perhaps monitor binge drinking by underages students more closely. Our school’s football program is not nearly as big of an attraction as those at the University of Wisconsin or the University of Minnesota, or at the University of Texas where a 2007 study came out saying that more students drank on a game day than New Years Eve and Halloween or the last day of fall semester classes. This article then goes on to say that the University of Minnesota is very worried about underage drinking, and in the next sentence mention the property damage in excess of $150,000 after their 2003 NCAA men’s hockey championship. Though the author may not have intended it to sound this way, the worry of the administration about underage drinking is negated by the fact that property damage was mentioned next, this makes it seem like all the University cares about is their property and not the welfare of their students.

Blogs that I read

kaitienglish — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:40:52 +0000

I read a few blogs frequently, these three are my favorite:

The one I read most frequently is the Zoe Report on rachelzoe.com. Rachel Zoe is a Los Angeles based stylist who works with celebrities such as Anne Hathaway, Eva Mendes, and Keira Knightley. Her blog is updated daily and highlights different products from different designers and companies. An item is featured, described with Rachel’s original vocabulary, and then is paired with a more affordable matching similar product. Most items Zoe features are very expensive and her “Parallel Universe” section shows a similar item at a more affordable price. This blog is not a website for advertisement though it does provide a very good forum for Rachel’s endorsement. Her blog provides a disclaimer saying:

“The chic variety of accessories, apparel, and other items featured in The Zoe Report and on RachelZoe.com are carefully chosen by Rachel Zoe.

Never in a million years would we accept money (or Barney’s gift cards) in exchange for editorial endorsement. That would be bananas. The bad kind.”

Another blog that I read is title Bitten, it is Mark Bittman’s blog on the New York Times website. Mark Bittman is a food journalist who also has a column in the New York Times called The Minimalist and is the author of six food related books. His blog highlights different types of foods that are uncommon, recipes, traditions, or anything really that pertains to food, the consumption and or preparation of it. Bittman provides a thoughtful insight along with his expertise. The textual blog is always accompanied by a vibrant picture of the featured food.

This last blog is one that I usually refer to if I’m traveling into New York City. It is written by two guys, Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal. These men are self-proclaimed foodies and this blogs main goal is as a very straight forward, honest restaurant reviewing site. They group restaurants into categories such as “Buffalo Wing Fix”, “First/Early in the Game Dates”, “Laughing at Europeans in Crazy Outfits.” The restaurants are ranked according to price, venue, atmosphere, and of course the food. This is a great website, it is comical and truthful and does a real service to those in need of a restaurant recomendation.

Example of New Media

kaitienglish — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:41:04 +0000

This article is a restaurant review with little text but 11 pictures. The colorful, thoughtful pictures display everything from the restaurants dining room, to their cheese and meat display, to actual dishes. In an article that focuses on something so sensory as dining at a restaurant sometimes words just can’t aptly describe the atmosphere that the diner will experience. SD26 is a restaurant that was opened by Tony May and his daughter Marissa May. Tony was the general manager of the famous New York establishment Rainbow Room for twenty years. This article also encourages readers to post comments of their experiences in the both the new and old restaurants of May. Because this restaurant is in New York City it is most likely expensive, this forum of opinions of other diners could help people make the decision of if they would like to go to this restaurant or not. For restaurant reviews, this way of reporting could really be more useful than the old way of reporting, or at least a great supplement to traditional restaurant reviews. Before the internet restaurant reviews in the newspaper may have only had one black and white photo. This article also provides links to other restaurants in the area and a link to a full travel guide of New York City restaurants.

Another example of new media is also on the New York Times website called Pulse by Karin Nelson, this series of nine pictures shows gift ideas for those on one’s holiday list that are the tough ones to shop for. This slide show is accompanied by brief paragraphs that explain the photo and why the gift would be appropriate and whom it would be appropriate for. So though there is not a succinct flowing story, the writer gets their points across very clearly with a beautiful color photo to accompany it. These little bits of information are quick to read and easy for the reader to comprehend which is what most people want to have. The New York Times gives excellent examples of new media that set the bar high for other newspaper websites.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

kaitienglish — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:31:34 +0000

This article reports on the punishment for tennis’ number one woman, Serena Williams. Williams was fined $175,000 and put on 2 years of probation for her unsportsmanlike and unprofessional behavior at the U.S Open. In a statement the Grand Slam Committee said, “On 9 November 2009, the Grand Slam Committee administrator determined Serena Williams had committed the grand slam major offence of aggravated behavior for her misconduct at the 2009 U.S. Open.” This punishment definitely fits the crime here, as described in the article, Williams’s behavior was completely unprofessional and inappropriate. Behavior such as hers in response to a call by an official which she didn’t agree with is never accepted in any other sport as it shouldn’t be. In the NCAA, a response such as hers with such disrespect to an official could get an athlete kicked off the team. Officials are there to keep the game fair and should there for be respected by both athletes and coaches. Williams is also being fined for another incident of her rage where she smashed her racquet onto the ground after being given an automatic point penalty. The article points out that these fines are the highest in tennis history (since records began in 1990) to be given to a female player. Williams apologized for her behavior on the day of the incident and admitted that she “handled the situation poorly” but also did not directly apologize to the judge. As such a famous professional athlete in such widely televised events, Williams should be thoroughly embarrassed for her reactions, but it doesn’t seem like she feels all that bad. This article then goes on to compare Williams to Jeff Tarango who was suspended from Wimbledon 1996 after walking off the court and accusing the umpire of being corrupt. These acts of disrespect are treated much more seriously in tennis than are those of other athletes such as football and baseball players who seem to disagree with rulings by umpires on a more frequent basis. Though some have been kicked out of the game this is rare and not looked on as harshly as this incident has.

Fashion and Politics

kaitienglish — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:06:15 +0000

Fashion and politics never really have meshed well together, they seem to really be non-related. However in last years election the issue of fashion and republican vice president candidate Sarah Palin seemed to draw a lot of attention. After the recent release of her book Going Rouge, Palin’s “New York stylist” identified herself to the New York Times to try to explain some of what went on during “Wardrobegate”. The formerly unnamed “New York stylist” is self-employed fashion consultant Lisa Klein, not to be confused with the Lisa Klein that owns the LA boutiques. Klein explained the $150,000 in clothing for the Palin family by telling about on when she was first employed for the job. Klein was called and asked to dress Palin for the Republican National Convention three days before it was to begin on Labor day weekend. After accepting the job, Klein realized that all her fashion connections were on vacation for the holiday and that she would have to buy the clothes at retail prices. After picking clothes out at Saks Fifth Avenue and Barney’s, she traveled to Minneapolis with a seamstress for fittings and was there informed that she had to dress the entire family including. A worldwide ninety-minute trip to the Neimen Marcus by Klein in Minneapolis at 7 am costs the republican party $130,000 according to election fillings. Being a stylist doesn’t stop at picking out clothes however, once all the clothes were brought back fittings and alterations need to be made on the clothes as well. this article is interesting because it clears up some of the confusion over the rumored costs of the Palins’ new wardrobe for the election, which the article says were all returned after the campaign trail. One might argue as to why so much time, money, and effort are put into the wardrobe. Most people in the public eye however have stylists to help them choose appropriate outfits and looks for highly publicized events, if they didn’t especially with a family as big as Palin’s they run the risk of the family looking inappropriate for an event. People may have forgotten about Palin for a little while but the debut of her memoir has dug up more questions that this article proves to answer.

Early Day for Sports Fans…

kaitienglish — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:36:34 +0000

This New York Times article is about a non-conference basketball game between St. Peter’s University and Monmouth University. Both in New Jersey, Monmouth University is 5 minutes from my house. These two teams hardly get coverage locally and usually never on a national scale, but ESPN’s Twenty- Four Hour College Hoops Tip-Off provided an exciting opportunity for the players and fans of these two teams. The game began at 6:05 am and ended at 7:55 am but this early time didn’t stop the universities’ fans from going, the article said that a quarter of the people in attendance were fans from Monmouth University who made the hour-long trip in the morning from West Long Branch to Jersey City for the game. This type of coverage on a national scale, especially for teams who don’t normally receive it, is so exciting that the players probably did not even care that the game was so early. Though most of this article highlights the fact that the game was early and tried to make a correlation to the shots missed by the teams, most student-athletes wake up and are practicing or conditioning at this time anyway. The early time may be tough for normal college students to wake up but not for most athletes who have double work out sessions. The hype and excitement probably helped the players more than hurt them. The article also tired to make it seem like the early time of the game would prevent student’s and student-athletes from going to class, and this as well really wouldn’t be any different for the student athletes than any other day except for the emotionally draining aspect of having a game rather than practice. On any given week day morning at 6 am if one came into the Joe Rodgers pool in the Boyden gym the swim teams would be in the water practicing until 8:30 am and then go to class and try to function as a normal student for the rest of the day. So though the article tries to make this early game seem like a burden, I think it was really just a great opportunity for these players and fans to get some national coverage.

Hungry Americans

kaitienglish — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:27:18 +0000

This article is on the rising incidence of hunger being experienced by American families, especially children. This issue was commented on by the president as “unsettling”. The Obama administration is progressing with steps in congress to help raise the benefits of food stamps and to help feed more children during the summer when subsidized food isn’t available at schools. This time of year with the holidays approaching is usually the time in which the media really hypes up childhood and family hunger. Other than Thanksgiving and the Christmas season food drives and donations to help this cause aren’t really popular, and if this issue is continuing to progress with close to one in four children being hungry more needs to be done to prevent this. As a Food Network addict, most times during the year there are commercials for some type of fund-raising to prevent childhood hunger. In a country that if you turn on the television you will undoubtedly see a commercial for some type of weight-loss product, and on the news most of the time there are reports of the rising rate of morbid obesity it is hard to believe that there is a hunger problem. I read in another article that Obama is the first president to pledge to try to get rid of childhood hunger. Perhaps because Obama has young children he is more sympathetic towards the younger demographic. The issue of hunger should be erased from the richest country in the world, there isn’t much of an excuse for it. In times such as now with the poor economy the issue is also food shortages, more people than ever now are on federal food assistance programs, so because there are more people on the programs there is less food to go around. Studies show that people on these federal food assistance programs are more often families that have one parent with a full-time job and that their wages are not enough to support a family. A complaint amongst families on federal food assistance programs also complained that on their budget with food stamps it is hard to feed a family with nutritionally balanced meals because healthy food costs more than unhealthy food. With the government’s push towards healthy living in the United States they should take into consideration their food assistance programs and help families to be able to afford nutritionally balanced meals.

The Prejudice of the Future

kaitienglish — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:46:37 +0000

The concept of genetic prejudice seems like something that would come out of a sci-fi movie but it is now an issue of the present. A new law is effective starting November 21, 2009 to prevent prejudices by companies against the results of genetic testing. This law will help to prevent companies from making work related decisions based on the results of a genetic test that may show one’s predisposition to any type of disease. One case explained in the article is that of a woman who was fired soon after she told her office that she was having a genetic test for breast cancer, her boss said the company couldn’t afford to keep her if the results were positive. This law also applies to health insurance companies from asking people to give family medical histories, and prevents group health plans from giving people lower premiums if they do give a family medical history. Results of genetic testing are very broad and reveal information beyond those of the person being tested into family medical histories. The new law, called GINA, is put into place so that people can feel free to get genetic testing and not worry about the repercussions of their employers. To show the wide range of genetic predispositions these tests show, the article also said that a track maintenance worker from Nebraska was ordered by his boss to see a doctor and have blood taken he didnt know until after that they were genetically testing his blood for a predisposition for carpal tunnel syndrome. This kind of misleading by employers should be prevented at all costs. The act also makes it illegal for an employer to obtain medical information about an employee from a family member’s obituary and then “alter the terms, conditions and privileges of employment.” This article is full of more information on this act and also highlights more discrepancies over those in the health care profession.

“The Drinking Age Debate”

kaitienglish — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:41:28 +0000

This 60 minutes segments brings up various solutions to the ever present issue of binge or extreme drinking among the underage demographic. The authorities that claim that the law on the drinking age being 21 as unenforceable is correct. There is no way that every underage kid could be arrested for underage drinking; on any given weekend on any college campus there would be countless underclassmen in jail all night. There are simply too many underage drinkers, not enough cops, and not enough jail space or time to arrest all breakers of the law. The ways in which police enforce the law varies so much between states as well. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would not solve the problem however. As mentioned in the documentary this would just then lower the age in which kids start drinking. The story of the college boy in the documentary who died after consuming an excessive and dangerous amount of alcohol as a part of a fraternity pledging is a blatant example of hazing which is against the laws of most organizations. Situations like that should be prosecuted to the fullest due to the pressure that was put on the under age kids to drink by older college kids that should know better. Constantly arresting underage kids will do exactly what the segment says and push the drinking further underground which would prevent kids from calling for help in dire situations due to the fear of arrest. In New Jersey legislation was just passed that says that underage kids will not be punished for calling the police to help a friend that has had too much to drink and needs medical attention. Laws such as this are a good start to help prevent unnecessary deaths among underage kids. I think the idea of educating kids about drinking and appropriate drinking is a good way to help prevent excessive drinking as well but I do think the drinking age should remain 21.

Why do we need the news?

kaitienglish — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:40:02 +0000

The news is the way in which current history is documented and the way in which the events of the time will be remembered and understood by people of the present and future. Obviously the news keeps people informed of what is going on in the world, whether it be in their home town, or across the country, but also the news helps to keep people educated and able to form decisions that will essentially influence the country especially in this democracy. If it weren’t for the news there would be no way for anyone to know what is going on around them, it is a reporters job to report completely on the issue they are assigned. One story makes up just one small part of the news for the day. The news is not just one beat or one aspect of society, soft news and hard news are equally important for people to really know about the society in which they are living. For the news to be comprehensive, enough background information is included for the consumer to be able to digest the full story, in context, so that they are able to form their own educated opinion. Whether the story be in reguards to the economic stimulus plan, the war in Iraq, or something as trivial as celebrity gossip, the news keeps people informed with information that is important to their lives so that they can make educated decisions and have informed conversations and debates on the topic. My parents have two very different styles of news consumption that have influenced my own style. My mom always watches the news in the morning before work and while making dinner after work, my dad reads the local paper and the New York Times daily and watches ESPN. I usually watch some of CNN, ESPN, and check my blackberry for important stories from the New York Times. Whenever I see or talk to my parents, we usually discuss some type of recent news story whether it be something more serious and political or something for entertainment.