Mrs. Micikas

Having Mrs. Micikas talk to our class was a great experience. i have always heard some stories about her since she is a little more open in advanced biology than other class but never anything in such detail as that. While she was telling her story i just pictured a little Mrs. Micikas running through the college campus and trying to sneak her little peaks of those movies. It made me see her in a different way as a teacher and also gave me more respect for her in regards to the lifestyles she was put through and how she turned out as the Mrs. Micikas we know today. Knowing her background helps us view different cultures in different ways and i think by going over some of the extremes of how close her family's beliefs were to beliefs of other religious groups helps us gather a better view the lives around us. for example, i would never have known about a town called Hoten and how life was there unless we had her talk to us about it.

Voysey Inheritance

I did not enjoy the play all too much. My reasoning behind this is that i thought it was too much dialogue and it didn't keep me all that interested. i think being informed earlier and knowing more about the play and its background would have helped tremendously. the storyline i thought was interesting and the characters portrayed the story very well. although it was hard to get to know the characters and know what their relation was to Edward. i think the play was very relevant because the same things go on today just with higher stakes, more people, and more money. it might have been a little over 100 years ago but we were still able to easily connect with what was going on, just in a different time period is all.
The discussion of the play AT SCHOOL was good because we all got to share our opinions and were able to reflect on what had occurred. i think that Ponzi schemes are very interesting. they are something that is going on today, yet so many people are oblivious to it even being out there. they may think "well it wont happen to me" or "i would know if i was part of a scheme such as that." the thing is, they don't know how dangerous, detrimental, and common they really are.
i think that Ponzi schemes start like any other type of "ripping people off" type of order starts: with "smart" people who somehow get involved with someone else who got involved with someone else and the cycle keeps going.

!!!!!!!!H-O-M-E-C-O-M-I-N-G!!!!!!!! (CAN YOU TELL I'M EXCITED?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?) jkjkjkjkjk!!!

AS A STUDENT HERE AT DENVER CHRISTIAN, BEING A CRUSADER, I VIEW HOMECOMING AS A WEEK OF FUN ACTIVITIES INSTEAD OF REGULAR CLASS WHICH SLOWLY BUT SURELY DECREASES THE SIZE OF OUR BRAINS. THE ACTIVITIES GIVE US A WAY TO BOND WITH OUR CLASS AND OUR SCHOOL IN A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT EVEN THOUGH IT IS STILL AT SCHOOL.
IT IS DEFINITELY A WORTHWHILE EVENT BECAUSE IT CHANGES UP OUR SCHEDULE FROM BORING TO FUN AND IT GIVES US WAYS TO ENJOY HIGH SCHOOL AS A WHOLE. IT MAKES THE EXPERIENCE OF HIGH SCHOOL MUCH MORE MEMORABLE AS WELL.
THERE IS A VALUE IN THE TRADITION IN THE WAYS THAT HOMECOMING HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE THE STONE'S AGES (PARENTS STILL TALK ABOUT IT) AND IT IS A GREAT MEMORY FOR STUDENTS OF ALL AGES. ALSO, THE EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK ARE GREAT THINGS TO BE ABLE TO COMPARE WITH FRIENDS FROM DIFFERENT SCHOOLS AND JUST A GREAT THING TO EXPERIENCE OVER ALL.
THE CULTURE IT IS TRYING TO CREATE IS ONE WITH A FUN ATMOSPHERE AND ONE OF GREAT TIMES. IT IS SUCCESSFUL IN THIS WAY I BELIEVE DEPENDING ON WHAT ONE PERSON TAKES AWAY FROM THE WEEK AND THE NIGHT OF HOMECOMING. MOST OF THE TIME IT IS A POSITIVE ONE.

American Gangster

The worldview that the film American Gangster portrays is one of self satisfaction. Denzel Washington plays the role of a man who is all about his family. He makes his name "Frank" well known in the drug dealing scene in Harlem by how he deals with situations and how uncommon they are. Some values seen in this film are: money makes it better, amount of money = amount of power, family is everything, reputation is everything.

I do not agree with the worldview of this film because as most of you know, I'm not all that big into the drug scene. especially involving cocaine... it's just not my thing. on the more serious side, the views seen in the movie are very risky and living life on the very edge of getting caught and that is a way i don't see as safe for yourself or other associated with you. the morals portrayed in American Gangster give us a view at how life is and was back then and how it has obviously escalated in many different ways may they be good or bad.

Story

I realized i already talked about those percentages in my first post so i will give you a story about a man who was "driving" a horse drawn wagon and he was holding up traffic on a road so a police officer went up next to him and over the loud speaker told him to move over to let cars pass. This loud noice frightened the horses causing them to not obey their "driver". this angered the police man and once the man got his horses to stop, the officer pulled the man off his wagon and started beating him infront of the man's 15 year old nephew. The police officer was a white man and the man in the wagon was black. this is just one of many examples of police brutality influenced by race

Racial Influence on Police Brutality

Some percentages caught my eye about how different the numbers are according to race when comparing a police department to the public they are supposed to protect. A few years ago, LA's population was 40% non-white yet 61% of the LAPD is white. Also, in New York, whites make up less than 50% of the population when the NYPD is 75% white. This brings about a lot of controversy on and off the streets in these major cities when it comes to police brutality.

Beginnings of Police Brutality

In 1991 a commission released findings concerning brutality in the LAPD. This sparked the investigation of more than a million documents of similar cases. Most major US cities have had reports of police brutality. In San Fran., seven protesters at a 1988 United Farm Workers demonstration were beaten; they eventually won a $24 million lawsuit.
Most police brutality encounters are affected by many racial, ethnic, or economic divisions in our society. For example, 40% of LA's population is nonwhite but 61% of the LAPD are white officers.