Citation: "Al Roker On Being 'The Jolly Fat Person'" NPR. NPR, 15 Feb. 2013. Web. Summary:  Al Roker lived a tough life.  He was obese, and was often made fun of at school.  This was during the time where the TV show, Fat Albert was becoming popular, and made his fatness more of a joke rather than an insult.  When he pursued his television career, it was an advantage at first, as more people viewed his show, but soon it became too much.  His wife told him to lose weight, and bariatric surgery was performed on him to lose more than 100 pounds and he is now on a strict diet.  He is now 200 pounds, compared to his 340 pounds he was, and still at times enjoys his high-fat foods.  

I think that this article is very significant to many people's lives. Al Roker was at the point of being so fat, that it was dangerous for his life. I think that if some obese people read this, they could realize that their life could be in danger because of their weight. This will not only affect your life, but others around you as well. I think it was very brave of Al Roker to perform this life threatening procedure and change his diet to lose weight, and make people close to him happy.

Citation: "A Son ‘Cuts,’ and a Father Struggles." Motherlode A Son Cuts and a Father Struggles Comments. New York Times, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Summary: A father is trying to find out the meaning that lies under the scars of his son's cuts.  When he first noticed the cut, he believed his son when he told him that he got it when, he fell, but he was shocked when his daughter texted him that he was cutting himself.  This was hard for him as he has always made a conscious effort to protect his son.  The writer argues that tattoos are similar to cutting because you are piercing ur skin and tissue, but it is considered "socially sanctioned" self harm.  It is also apparent that there are more anonymous posts about teens cutting themselves rather than eating disorders or depression.  Some teens cut to share the pain or relate the pain with someone they know, or their celebrities that they look up to.  The writer thinks that it is more important to understand the stories than sending his son to traditional therapy which is recommended.

It is always sad when there are cases of teens causing self inflicted harm to themselves. Rather it is because they are being bullied, having family problems, depression, or whatever, it is never pleasant to hear abou these cases. The hard thing about trying to prevent this from happening, is that the teens will often not tell anyone doing this, and there is no real cure to this.