http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/18/clothing-guys-hate_n_4293315.html

How do you feel about the tone of this article? What do you think this says about the way society thinks women should be wearing clothes?

I think that traditions do have a place in high school society, but when those traditions are damaging, it's important that they change to include everybody. People shouldn't value tradition over the happiness of others. The figures that the author presented with regards to the money that girls versus boys spent on prom were interesting as well. I never considered the costs for boys vs. girls and that comparison would be enhanced by more research on that topic. I think because Tam doesn't have many of those traditions that many high schools value, we cling pretty tightly to prom as our "one normal high school experience." As a community we could do to more closely examine our experiences with prom and maybe reevaluate its worth.

I think that as long as they are making arrests using this method, they can validate it. Two weeks is not an absurdly long time, and its more important that they are putting these people away and stopping the consumers and hopefully the producers forever than merely shutting the website down. The child pornography is wrong, but it's just as wrong to give the people perpetuating the pornography a chance to move to a new location rather than be punished for their actions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/the-enders-game-boycott.html

Do you think that the best way to communicate disapproval of Orson Scott Card's philosophy is through the boycotting of this movie?

Do you agree with Geeks Out's reasoning?

I agree with Camille in that the day-to-day descriptions got somewhat repetititve, but I also think that as a highschool student I am better acquainted with what a standard day of homework would look like than most working adults are. The first person narrative was an interesting tool and I think that the author used it well. While I agree with the author that something needs to be changed with regards to the homework situation, I don't think that the author had anything particularly insightful or new to say with regards to students current homework load.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/08/you-can-do-em-anything-em-must-every-kids-movie-reinforce-the-cult-of-self-esteem/278596/

Do you agree with the points this article makes?
Do you notice any other trends in children's movies lately?
Do you think this mirrors or opposes recent themes in adult movies?

I think that this author is projecting his specific troubles onto the article, and is feeling more personally attacked than in strictly necessary. He even says in the article that he's not exactly gen-y, but he's writing as though it applies to him. Another important point is that this author is focusing on writing as the example for why gen-y isn't doing as well as they should be. Writing is considered by many people a "dream career" and it certainly isn't on-par with factory work as far as difficult labor for little pay is. He needs to consider that his chosen field is not the only one, and his particular struggles are not necessarily indicative of the problems every job in every field is facing. How does he know how computer programmers are doing? What about people who work multiple minimum-wage jobs? This author apparently does think he's special as represented by the fact that the only points he chose to focus on in the article were things that he could directly complain about in his own life.

I think it's important to remember that stars are real people too, and if he's having an off day, that's just sort of the way it goes. I think the reporter handled it as best she could, and I don't think I would have handled the situation any differently, because if the interviewer isn't working with the questions, or appears to be trying to hurt her feelings as he was in this case, there's not really anything to do about it while it's happening. I think it was a stressful situation for both parties and the reporter handled it as gracefully as she could have been expected to given the circumstances.

This is a good representation of how the internet can be harmful, and also how people lull themselves into a false sense of security when it comes to believing how "private" their pictures really are. I think this serves as a good reminder that people should be careful about who they send pictures to, and that they should first think about how damaging these posts can be. Although these websites are obviously in the wrong, and it should teach these people a lesson, I don't necessarily think that people who send a lot of naked snapchats care that much in the first place. Facebook and other websites should definitely discourage this kind of thing, but the original senders need to take responsibility for their actions.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/27/egyptian-tomb-defaced/?iref=allsearch
Should china apologize for this boy?
Do they need to rethink their messages towards the chinese populous about how to behave?
Does this show a trend of a lack of respect for ancient monuments?

I think this is an important issue, because it has been a hot-button topic recently, and it's importance is often debated. I think the sheriff is in the wrong here, because although immigration laws do need to be dealt with and the government does have to come to some kind of conclusion soon, it is degrading and humiliating for US citizens to be pulled over due to their skin color in an area that has a large latino population. While I admire his dedication to his job, it's shouldn't be within the sheriff's authority to make these kinds of decisions and he needs to respect peoples privacy and stop pulling people over in the vain hope of catching illegal immigrants. The most important part of this debate is how it affects legal US citizens by making them carry papers or other things to prove their identification in a country they rightfully inhabit.

This is an extremely interesting policy, and I believe the outcome of this is important. I think the point of the policy is to give people the freedom to choose their gender, but at the same time trying to keep social norms from changing. The policy does allow greater freedom, but even more than that, it means that LGBT people can have their status recognized by the school without actually having to make their status public at school. This poses an interesting problem, because I think that keeping it secret could lead to unfounded accusations by students of people they suspect of being *trans. I don't think this policy will immediately change anything, or anybody's point of view, but if it helps people feel safer and more secure at school as well as cutting down on bullying, I think that's a good thing.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/05/29/187054424/tempest-over-a-teapot-jc-penney-removes-hitler-billboard

What does this say about political correctness today?
Should JC Penny have removed the billboard?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/technology/personal-data-takes-a-winding-path-into-marketers-hands.html?ref=technology

Do you feel like these companies having this kind of information on you is an invasion of privacy, or do you accept it as the cost of the information age

I think that media coverage plays an extremely important part in the public's perception of events. While I think that the Boston bombings have been covered fairly well overall, news stations have been extremely quick to utilize any information that they think they might have. This can lead to mass public misconceptions which always needs to be monitored. Making sure that the public's view is fair and accurate is the news station's job, and it's important to keep that in mind when presenting the news. People's opinions are easily influenced, and by perpetuating stereotypes it can lead to blaming of the wrong suspect and public persecution.

This was definitely an important issue that needs to be addressed more often than it is. I thought the Verde reporters did an excellent job explaining the issue in a way that was covered all the topics and managed to not gloss over any issues that needed to be addressed. The sources used in the article were used to tell the story in a compelling way, and showed two perspectives. Their statistics were also used effectively, and truly illustrated the kind of mentality that teenagers have now. It was shocking to me that all of the girls' friends refused to be accepting and supportive of their friends, and instead turned to the kind of methods that perpetuate this kind of culture. I definitely think that these issues need to be addressed not only and Tam, but everywhere, because too often girls are told that they brought rape upon themselves. The reporters on this article portrayed this with sensitivity, but also opened the reader's eyes to the seriousness of this topic as well as this way of thinking that is perpetuated both through the media and peer-to-peer.

I think in this case, the Tam news made the proper choice. Although it's always a gamble, this is an important occurrence in the community, especially for many former teamies. This was important that Tam students were aware of it, and the Tam news did their best to make sure they were getting the facts rather than just speculation. The benefits of making the community aware of this important issue.