Many boys are wearing tuxes. Back packs are v small, not as big and bulky as mine. More boys than girls. Smells like feet and wood polish. Clothing racks for formal wear to change into. Flashing lights from cameras. This is a senior picture thing for yearbook. Lots of  blue and black. Not as loud as i expected-probably got here later than most of the seniors. There is a line of people (maybe got their pictures already?) by the left wall chatting idly.

Ada Moore on things she's good at!

"I've been singing since I was super little. When i was a toddler I'd just be going around my house just singing or whatever. The same goes for drawing, I was constantly drawing. The first picture I ever drew was of my dad. He looked like a potato.

Current Events Quiz #2

1. Yesterdays Presidential debate allowed the competitors that were falling behind, to get screen time to assert that they still mattered, and were there to win. Donald Trump is reflecting his lead in the national polls that determine participation.

2. CIA Director John Brennan and other important people, were at UT for the unveiling of 2,500 documents given to JFK and LBJ in the 1960's. Before his speech at a ceremony in Bass Concert Hall, the CIA had been working to make the declassification possible, and the documents are now available on the CIA website. PDB means Presidential Daily Briefs, and the ones from the 1960's capture the evolution of the Vietnam War, problems with communist student protests, and conflicts with Cuba, Africa, and the Middle East. 

3. Hungary officially closed its borders, so now migrants/asylum seekers cannot cross the Hungary-Serbia border. They also fired water cannons at them, which you should definitely not do, ever. Because of the razor wire fence Hungary put up, the refugees are having to take alternate routes. Which is dangerous, because some of these routes are riddled with landmines.

4.  Ahmed Mohamed is a Muslim boy, who brought a clock he made to school to show to his engineering teacher. The teacher called the police because they are afraid of Muslims, and are also racist. The school staff escorted him outside after searching a 14 YEAR OLD BOY, and they said later it would have gone down exactly the same way if the person were of a different religion or race. Which is a lie. People were furious about the ordeal, and President Obama tweeted saying that the clock was cool, and that he should have been celebrated. Especially considering it took him 20 minutes before bed. The Irving City Council endorsed a bill that forbid judges from rulings based on foreign laws.

ESSAY QUESTION

I first heard about Ahmed through Tumblr, and I think that when it comes to newspaper editions of such controversial things, they might be better. Because journalists tell the facts, what they know (or at least most of them do), and nothing is really saturated with objectivity and biases. Whereas on social media there is no need for that, because social media is all about speaking your mind, and what YOUR views are. So, where one person might believe one thing, and talk about their side of the story, someone else is going to argue the exact opposite, and people make things up all the time online. The news value of this story has a lot of proximity and conflict, i think. If only because racism is a huge thing all around the world, and terrible things happen to POC all the time. I probably wouldn't have changed where the article went, because I agree as to where they put it. It's a political and cultural issue and it think the articles that were on the same page were also relevant to our society and things that need to change within it.

Current Events Quiz

1. UT is under fire because the two men they hired committed a hate crime against a gay man back in 2004. He wouldn't talk about the hiring of Darren specifically, but he did say that all employees have background checks done and are researched pretty well, and that if it turned out a teacher or staff member was indeed charged of something a full scale investigation would follow. I'm not exactly sure what I think right now, because if UT is supposed to have such a thorough background check and etc, why they wouldn't have figured it out before they hired them. But on the other hand, I don't think that UT would willingly hire people who have done such horrible things, but that just might be wishful thinking

2. The deal was a 6.4 million dollar settlement for the death of Freddie Gray. The Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, said that the settlement would be in the best interest of the city, and that they would "avoid costly and protracted litigation." There aren't any other pending cases going on in Baltimore according to the article

3. Vice Chancellor Sig-Mar Gabriel announced yesterday "that the Migrant flow is only escalating amid a humanitarian crisis that has sharply tested European cooperation and fundamental policies such as open borders." Some people have criticized Germany for "offering benefits so lucrative that they had become an incentive for asylum seekers to risk their lives over land and sea."Germany, in response, said that they would reduce the cash handouts, and instead focus on offering more food stamps and in-kind aid. Most of the migrants are from the war between Iraq and Syria. Germany is taking the "Lion's share", which is an estimated 8,ooo dollars. 

4. Sen. Ted Cruz invited Donald Trump to his anti-Iran nuclear deal rally. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are friends, but the other candidates really don't like him. Ted Cruz invited him because Donald can draw in crowds and get the attention of people pretty easily. I understand that they are rivals when it comes to the campaign and what not, but Donald isn't really a target at all. They have a pretty decent relationship.

5. Hillary Clinton used a personal email connected to a privately owned server, so that her emails would not be as easily accessible then if she were to have used her government email. The two republicans are considering seeking immunity orders for a former Clinton aide. Co-mingling means to join, blend or mix. Hillary's apologies and reasons were pretty inconsistent, things were apologized for and then all of a sudden, she felt to regret or guilt for any of it. Hillary was also very slow to admit her mistake when she voted for the invasion of Iraq.

6. Two High School students hurt an official at a football game. The assistant coach for the team has also been suspended for telling players that "this guy need to pay for cheating us." Allegedly the person injured had been using racial slurs against the players, and it made them angry.

FREE RESPONSE ESSAY

"Donald Trump's nonexistent problem with GOP women"

So, I'm pretty sure we can all agree on the fact that Donald Trump is a misogynistic idiot who has no idea what he's doing. I feel like that's something everyone should understand, but apparently Republican women find him refreshing. That him not being political correct EVER is a good thing. Which to me makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, because they are the people he is disrespecting! He makes an enemy out of everyone who isn't white, cis, or male etc, every time he opens his mouth, that much is crystal clear. So, why is it that people continue to find him funny, or "refreshing" like so many of the Republican women do? He isn't particularly smart, he doesn't know how to debate anything, and is one of the most petty people I have ever had the displeasure of knowing about. He would be a terrible president and I don't understand why anyone would vote for him! Then again I'm not a Republican

The reporter does a nice job. The event is current and relates to me very well on many levels. The topic also brings up controversial topics, such as racism, sexism, and just everything bad about America in general. I think the most important news value would probably be either human interest or conflict. The reporter used polls, crowd sourcing, validity, research, secondary sources, and a survey maybe. I think they did the topic justice. Really, I think that anything against Donald Trump is good, BUT they were pretty thorough with research and staying pretty unbiased.

Stupid Creationist Biology Teacher is stupid

       to begin with, I would probably interview some of the kids in the class that the power point was shown to, and then talk to the teacher, because he's the one who showed them the power point, and because he said it was on the district website I would check to see if the powerpoint was actually on the district approved list of power points, and if it was, I would see if i could get a teacher to download it for me, or just download it myself if possible. because, if you didn't, then you would only have the word of a bunch of fourteen year olds to rely on, and that is not enough to go on. 

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