The Paw Print

$0 Blog, blog, blog. Does anyone else think blogging is difficult? Perhaps I’m not completely in the journalism mind set. Silissa said that people have ideas every day, every hour–maybe even more often than that. Those ideas pop up in our mind, capture our attention for but a span of a second and then they are gone. But it’s journalists who hold onto ideas and elaborate and change them into a story… today’s not one of those days for me. So I in hopes of finding an idea, I browsed through the holy grail of newspapers: the New York Times.$0$0 And thus I stumbled upon this quote mid-passage:$0$0 “Africa has about 2,000 of the world’s 6,000 languages. Many are still unwritten, some have yet to be named and many will probably disappear.” $0$0 Africa. When people think of Africa, they imagine desert, elephants, large mammals with power and grace. I personally think of something seen in Disney’s “Lion King” – just herds and herds of animals coexisting in an environment. The large pool of water all animals share and the caves imprinted with the hooves and paws of the lurking type.$0$0 But Africa also spurs up imagery of people. Many of our first impressions of the African people are that they are barren, rung-out and uncivilized. They still live in rivalry, their tribes still fight for territory… that scene.$0$0 But African civilization is so much more.$0$0 Unfortunately, their culture is dissappearing at far more alarming rates than the countries’ animal ecosystem. Animals have activists and advocates who fight for their rights and for their preservation. But who fights to preserve one’s culture? One’s language? Tucker Childs does.$0$0 A recent article, “Scientist at Work: Tucker Childs: Linguist’s Preservation Kit Has New Digital Tools,” explains that people have been attempting to find, define and savor languages. Tucker Childs  has been recording the dialect of African countries for years. He hopes to create a dictionary and thesaurus to keep the language alive for years to come.$0$0 While many of us would rather scorn an unknown dialect, wish everyone spoke English and go on about our day, others, like Childs, have a life’s work in preservation of old dialect and language.$0$0 Language is more significant than people can imagine. Language is what allows humans, above all other beings, superiority. Language allows us to communicate in infinite ways, there is unlimited potential. Language has allowed us to talk about the past, present, future, what would have happened, what should have happened, what might happen…$0$0 If Language becomes the past, then what is left for the future?$0$0$0$0$0$0$0$0

There’s a huge controversy about religion whether you’ve heard it or not. It’s not about which religion is wrong or which one is right. It’s more about whether there really is a heaven and hell and what the answer means for us here on earth.$0 I myself am Muslim, and do believe in heaven and hell. At some points I do question where we will we go after we die. I really want to know if heaven and hell exist or if right after death you just disappear forever. $0$0 Some religions like Hinduism and Buddhism believe in reincarnation, but others believe the story of heaven and hell. I’ve always wondered what type of criteria is needed to have occurred during your life to choose where you go. $0$0 In my religion it is told in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, that you are told what will happen throughout your entire life before you are born. If that is true, I wonder why people who have a life committed to doing crime choose to be born. $0$0 Religion is important to some people, not so important to others and there are some who take it so seriously. Let’s think about it this way: why are there so many sins if it’s known that they will be broken. Maybe not all, and maybe not even half, but is it possible to live a life without sinning? Not during this generation. $0$0 I believe that if you were to live a sinless life you would have to be isolated from the rest of the world. I’m sure that when religions were first being spread it was a lot easier to follow them then it is now. The clothing, technology, outside influences and much more have changed. So how much can be expected from us when we live in this type of world?    $0$0$0

A slide show was posted on the New York Times Web site about an author, William T. Vollmann, who traveled through Mexico while writing his book ‘Imperial,’ which is about California’s Imperial County. The slide show reads that the book is about illegal drugs, victims, songs and Mexican borders.

The images begin by showing Vollmann standing on the opposite side of the border looking through a hole. As the pictures continue it goes on to show his journey to Mexico. There are pictures of him with other people across the border and some people that are staring to the opposite side where he was standing in the first picture. Several of the images are from Mexicali which is closer to the border.

In one image he states that the temperaturee was 115 degrees but he thought about the other people standing out working.

I believe the last image was very powerful and also his quote. The image shows white crosses with the words UnIdentified where people who died crossing the border are usually buried if found. The quote reads, “‘You wonder how many are never found and never brought here,’ and headed, an edge creeping into his voice, ‘At least they won’t be stealing our tax dollars anymore. That’s very important.”

It was inspiring because it was a powerful story although it was only 17 images long. I really liked how he was able to capture such emotional cameras with just one photograph. As a future photojournalist this is a skill I would like to develop.

My second story will be on the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum. The video game will be released in North America in August 25, 2009 and August 28 in Europe for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, and X-Box 360. Batman: Arkham Asylum is an action-adventure stealth video game that will delve deeply into Batman’s world. The plot starts off with Batman (voiced by Kevin Conroy) capturing the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) after his latest plot and escorting him to Arkham Asylum to be imprisoned. Due to the Joker’s recent attacks on Gotham’s Blackgate prison a large amount of sane convicts were transferred.  It turns out this is exactly what Joker wanted and he and Harley Quinn (voiced by Arleen Sorkin) free all the inmates (including Batman’s most powerful foes) as well and close Arkham Asylum with Batman and Commissioner James Gordon (voiced by Tom Kane) inside. Joker threatened that if anyone attempts to enter the building he will detonate the bombs he has placed around Gotham city. So now Batman must face all the dangers Arkham Asylum has to offer in order to stop the Joker from bombing Gotham city. Besides the characters just mentioned Killer Croc (voiced by Clancy Brown), Bane (voiced by Ron Perlman) will make an appearance as villain/bosses and the Oracle/Barbara Gordon (voiced by Brittany Byrnes) will be a supporting character. The associate producers of the video game are Joe Best, and Nathan Whitman while the actual producer is Matt O’Drisscoll. The music was done by Ron Fish. The video game has given great insight into the world of Batman. The visuals are spectacular as well as dark which connects to Batman’s demeanor. This video game could be destined to be one of the greatest super hero video games of this time. 

    I get that he’s the president of the United States and the first African American President, but do you think that Obama has been too much in the news? When a new president is chosen, they are followed by the media for the first 100 days. It’s been 209 days in 2009 and Obama still keeps making headlines–not just about his presidential life, but about his personal life. $0 The media has tried to find any dirt on him that might jeopardize his presidency, even swirling rumors that he isn’t an American. The most recent ‘scandal’ was when he had a drink this week with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley. I understand that he should have his head on other things, but come on. $0$0 I mean, I think that every man in American has a drink or two in their house behind closed doors. I personally don’t see it as anything bad because he’s inside his house, it’s not like he’s at a bar with strippers and stuff. I think people just need to chill and accept the difference that’s he’s a black president. It makes you wonder if people are still a bit frightened by the difference. $0$0 Yes, there’s a big financial mess but like they said: it’s not going to be cured overnight. It takes time and I think people are just losing their patience and trying to find someone to blame. Beer won’t cure what is going on in the world but what makes you think that other presidents didn’t do the same thing? Why is only Obama in the spotlight for it?  I think its time to back off and leave him alone. $0

    While on Facebook last Wednesday evening, I read a post by a friend from school that read: “I went to school with this kid… crazy” followed by a link to an article in the New York Times.  

    As I read the article, I was disturbed to find that a local teen had thrown a homemade bomb into a, luckily empty, Starbucks over Memorial Day weekend just to make a statement against corporate America–an idea developed in the movie Fight Club. Various news articles have reported that he was planning his own “project Mayhem”to sabotage corporations by destroying property. I was even more disturbed when I read the name of the boy and realized he was someone I knew.   

    Kyle Shaw, just 17, was arrested last Tuesday night and charged with first-degree arson and first-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He had just graduated from City-As-School high school, but before he transferred he went to School of the Future, where I attend school, and was just in the grade above me.  

    When I thought back to the Kyle I knew from school–a socially outgoing guy who had a lot of friends and no former criminal record–I was flabbergasted that he would risk his reputation and future like he did. I remember hearing rumors of him and a bunch of other boys planning a series of fights which they proceeded to tape and put on Youtube. I never liked it and thought it was the start of a dangerous trend that would result in someone getting badly hurt, but never did I expect it to go this far. 

    When I finished the article, I immediately looked at his Facebook profile, noticing that people had already written sympathy comments on his wall just a day after his arrest. My mother peered over my shoulder –a pet peeve of mine that she never seems to remember–and asked who that boy was. When I told her his story, which she had already heard about, her response was: “That’s the bomber? But he’s so CUTE!” 

    She was as taken back as I was, but I was more concerned with what Kyle’s followers would do. The fight club theme had been a recurring issue in my school throughout the previous school year, and now that a member has been arrested I was alarmed to think what could have followed. Had he not been arrested when he was, would there have been more attacks?  This made me wonder if he was really protesting corporate America, or were these acts of rebellion just for attention?  

    Over the years there has always been some history of violence in public schools, but what irritates me the most is that this group of Fight Club extremists would mimic the movie without the thought of consequences.  These days, boys are so obsessed with proving their manliness that they would go as far as hurting each other on a regular basis. What do they really get out of breaking one anothers nose and arms? It seems to me that it only causes tension for the loser who could then ask for a rematch, leading to a never-ending line of hatred.  

    Popularity is isn’t worth destroying your future over. What we do in high school doesn’t define who we are, so why put everything on the line for it? The world is filled with real tragedies and danger, and being that we are the next generation  to enter into it, must we really cause such hardship for ourselves at such a young age?

            The 40^th anniversary of the first man on the moon was a few days ago and it put me in a reflective mood as I thought about what this milestone really represented. This flight was so much more than a revolution for science. It is a snapshot of what this country is really built on: image.

           Immigrants traveled to America with fantasies of opportunity and a new life for their family. The image of streets paved with gold distracted them from the vermin, death, and illness that surrounded them on their long journeys by ship to the “New World.” Nixon kept favor with the Americans by selling them on the image of victory in Vietnam until that image was shattered by Walter Cronkite and reality. 

         The Man on the Moon represented the victory of good over evil. America was stuck in the death hold of tension that was the Cold War. It was the era where people slept with one eye open, bomb shelters replacing security blankets. This tension was manifested through the Space Race.

         Obsession with image penetrates every aspect of American society from politics to beauty. Symbols are important everywhere, they keep morale up and remind people of what they fight and work hard for. The Man on the Moon is the epitome of image at the height of effectiveness. But an image cannot replace the substance of what it represents. America has long maintained the image of being a superpower, but I’m not sure of what that really shows for. It means wealth and influence, but we are on the brink of an actual depression and other countries’ respect for us was severely diminished by our former president. Such damage was allowed to surmount because of image that served as a cover.

    Digital cameras are no longer limited to land. Recently, camera companies have been brainstorming ways to improve a new digital camera. This digital camera has a unique feature: it can take quality photos underneath the rocking waves of an ocean or capture the depths of a 12-foot pool. 

    After the increased interest in digital technology, companies like Fugifilm, Lumix, Pentax, Canon and Olympus, to name a few, have focused on developing underwater cameras that are affordable, aesthetically appealing and take quality photos. 

    As a person who is interested in marine biology, the underwater camera has caught my eye. Camera companies are producing products that target the average citizen and allow them to explore different realms and environments alone.

    These digital cameras allow individuals who aren’t professional photographers to take clear photos underwater. People are given the ability to capture the beauties that exist beneath the water for themselves, whereas decades before, exploring the sea and capturing photos below the surface was limited to a select group of people. 

    After the digital camera became popular, physical photographs seemed to disappear. Digital cameras produced digital photos that were stored on digital hardware that could be viewed on computer screens. The lack of photographs, during and after the peak of the digital camera, in my household made me dislike all digital cameras. However, on July 22, 2009 the NY Times published an article in which five underwater digital cameras were reviewed and ranked based on weight, design, the qualityof the photo and the cost.

    Improvements made to underwater digital cameras have helped to change my perspective on digital cameras. The underwater digital camera allows people to engage in a different world and other forms of life. And as someone who is interested in a marine biology major, this newfound access is appealing.

         You know when you arrive home, whether it be after school or work, planning to rest your tired feet on your favorite ottoman, order in the extra cheese pizza you’d been psyching yourself up to eat all day and watch reruns of “Law & Order: SVU” as your parents or roommates work overtime, thankfully leaving you alone? And as you reach the front step of your house, already tasting the perfectly melted cheese and the slightly crunchy crust, you realize you locked your keys inside and there’s only one way in: the back door.

    This is similar to what happened to noted Harvard scholar, Henry Louis Gates Jr., last week. After returning home from vacation, Gates arrived at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts unable to open his front door. Figuring his best option would be to go through the back, he did just that, only to be arrested minutes later by an officer who thought he was breaking into his own home. Yet, what’s more perplexing than the possible racial profiling of the arrest is the person who made the phone call to have Gates arrested: his neighbor. 

    In a society where we often have these picture-perfect, ideal neighbor relationships–where your neighbor is supposed to be the person who’ll tell you if someone has been snooping around your house, tampering with it, or breaking into it–how is a person supposed to deal when their own neighbor doesn’t recognize them?  

    Maybe Gates’ case is the perfect indication that our society needs to gain back some hospitality. From now on, we all have to bake pies and jello molds and have dinner parties with our neighbors, just to make sure they get familiar with us. Then, we have to offer to walk their dogs, watch their kids after school, and maybe fetch some groceries when their backs hurts, just to gain some respect. And hopefully then, and only then, will they not accuse you–an owner of the house–of breaking in to your own home. I mean, if your neighbors turn on you, and your ID proving you own the house isn’t enough to convince the police you live there, then please, tell me what is.