Youth Voices

This is a pretty cool article. I wonder what my version -- and my co-teachers versions of this article would be.

Sam plays in the orchestra, but none of "his classmates knew that he was undocumented." He wants to go to college, but colleges are too expensive. He cannot apply to financial aid as other people do. So it is very hard for him to go to college.

Sam wasn't aware of the deadlines.

The Story of Sam He plays the saxophone and is in his school's jazz band. He is a senior in high school and is about to graduate. He is here from Mexico and immigrated here when he was 5 years old. His visa expired and his father did not reapply for one. "I was raised an American." He did not get in to college because of his legal status. Michelle is his girlfriend, she plays the piano. His family wanted him to keep a low key because they were afraid of what would happen. Every Sunday morning, his family gets together to play together. His mom sings, brother plays the drums, sister plays the bass, and his father is a pastor. He graduates high school in Indiana and his dream is to go to Indiana University, but he applied too late and issues arose. He did not qualify for financial aid because he is undocumented. His father tries to push him to find a job in the summer since school is about to start in 2 months. He cannot pay for tuition, cannot commute to college because he doesn't have a driver's license, and can't work on the mark. "I can't go very far." "I'm not sure what my future is..."

Right now we are listening to a podcast. The podcaster is talking about himself. The podcast is about a guy who is undocumented and its his struggle in college. One quote that stood out for me was "whole family plays music on the stage." This stood out for me because it shows that he has a close family and they are there for each other. Another quote that stood out for me was " The whole college proses was very frustrating" I understand him because I am also going through this college proses and it is very confusing at times. Also stressful because everything has to be right. I admire Sam because With all the obstetrical in his life he still going to college and getting an education. It is great that his family is supporting him.

Sam's parents did not teach him his indigenous culture/language. They possibly thought that by not teaching him Spanish it'd become easier for him to assimilate to the American culture, but by doing so I feel like it cost him a part of his identity. What if Sam get's deported, he won't be able to survive in an environment that he's not familiar too. His own father acknowledges his sons capability to adjust in born country.

"Fine motor skills are described as the coordination of the small muscle movements which usually occur in the fingers and usually in coordination with the eyes. When in relation to the hands (and fingers) the term dexterity is most commonly used. Manual dexterity is the ability for the hands and fingers to make coordinated movements. Strong fine motor skills, such as used with writing, knitting, sewing and other activities that involve the hands and fingers, rely on manual dexterity. In young children, manual dexterity is developed normally through routine activities that also require hand-eye coordination. Some children's fine motor skills develop faster and are stronger than those of others and some children with weak fine motor skills may struggle when learning to form letters and beginning to write." This proves to me that teaching my child when i have one to do pen tricks at a young age would mroe benifical to him rather than waste his/her time with all the toys that require no dexterity to play with. i noticed that my sister have decent dexterity for a 6 year old because my mother often gives her color in booklets what require you to color in the lines and toys that either lego related or building required which is why she is able to write so well at a young age.

I been researching on why certain people can't dream. As I was looking for answers, I came upon this website. It caught my attention because of its title.The title and my question is both the same. What that website said is "Sometimes where we are at in our internal processing is so deep that there are no recognizable symbols to be given to the dreamer by the deeper level of consciousness. Think of it as a meal not fully cooked - therefore not ready to be served. Trust the process. Relax in the reassurance that your dreams will resume." Its basically saying that we are not deeply asleep yet therefore no dreams are coming to us. The peson related it to a not fully cooked meal. When the meal is not cooked fully, its not ready to be eaten. Same goes with if you are not deeply asleep, there will be no dreams. So, just relax, be patient, and try to sleep well. Close your eyes and wait. Everyone has to dream.

""Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.""

"3. Pen Spinning We all had a friend who did this, with way too much skill, in the middle class, right? And this friend had long hair and probably saved his old Arizona Tea bottles and filled them with highlighter fluid and stacked them behind his blacklight? i find this to be very disturbing but true because of all the pen spinning videos i research 99% of the good ones were all Asian and there were a few non Asian good ones but if you were to compare the videos i would say the Asian videos took more attention Is it racist to say that Asian kids are always better at dexterity tricks? I mean all these videos say "Korean kids" or "Japanese pen tricks" or something."

"Several possible origins are commonly given. The practice of blessing a sneeze, dating as far back as at least 77 AD, however, is far older than most specific explanations can account for.[1] A legend holds that it was believed that the heart stops beating and the phrase "bless you" is meant to ensure the return of life or to encourage your heart to continue beating.[2][3][1]"

Apparently, Church lines have changed. Oh, I hope not.

I'm learning more about Copenhagen conferences right now, and in particular what I'm wondering about is :''Why is the Copenhagen conferences so important? i was researching this question online,and this blog post caught my attention because the title of the blog is Obama's remake at the unit nation climate change conference,and i saw why this conference is important, because the people that join the conference is all the leadership of their country around the word. "Climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet. Climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people" The quote i chose here is basically saying that the climate change is danger to the people. The climate change also will damage our security,our economies,and our planet. I think this is best because the conference it makes me wonder that the leadership of the world know the problem of this,so they just have a conference about the climate change,so they try to solve the climate problem,because it can be damage the world, so they try to decrease the pollution of the world ,some of their country cut the greenhouse gas emission, some of them cut the emission intensity. they do so hard to cut this,so i think it should have more conference like this, then they can make the world more better.

"Sneezing can also be triggered by a sudden exposure to a brilliant light, a somewhat full stomach, and rapid changes in the climate or temperatures. This is something that I can relate too. Do you ever sneeze right after eating a meal? where there is exposure to some bright light, I will always sneeze. Does your heart really stop when you sneeze? (literally) to sneeze. Don't tell your kids that, because it is not true. Sometimes we may feel like our heart is going to stop, but it doesn't. cough, it may feel like our heart is going to stop."

I'm learning more about dreams right now. I was researching about dreams online and this podcast caught my attention because of the title. It had nightmare in it and nightmares are a type of dream. In the podcast it said "Another listener, Scott Guffy(ph), just wishes he could dream at all. I'd be happy to have nightmares, he wrote. I have no sensation of dreaming at all. I shut my eyes at night and, suddenly its morning. I don't think that's normal." The quote I chose here is basically saying that this guy, Scott can't dream at all. In the podcast, it says that, that have been happening to him for 20 years now. Well it doesnt mention how old he is but if hes older than 20, then Im thinking something happened to him that disabled him from dreaming. This is interesting. I never heard that some people cant dream. I would like to research more about this. I thank the podcaster for this podcast.

In this podcast, the author is actually advertising the Maharishi University of Management, but in the act he discusses consciousness and its importance in education. I found it especially interesting because it takes the perspective of a biological consciousness. It describes experience as "traces in the brain" and the distinctive "connection of neurons." In addition to this he brought up the point that the brain is constantly changing; "Over 70 percent of the brain changes everyday." However, this make me wonders where is the evidence to back up this assertion. Although somewhat unconvincing for me, this podcast raises a very important point: is consciousness physical? I hope I could answer this question but it is plausible that such a question would remain unanswered for a long time. Neuroscience and the biological perspectives on cognition are still young, but I am certainly that progress will come at any time.

I'm currently learning more about eating disorders, a very popular topic about teens. I am listening to a podcast that talks about girls blogging on the internet and joining forums chatting with other people who are also trying to become thin. Just listening to the podcast makes me really wonder whats wrong with the girls and why they are torturing their bodies like that. The podcast read a girls blog that said, " i forgot to delete the history on my internet and my mom had saw what i had been on. Anaboot camp anorexic queen etc. Now shes watching me like a hawk. Im only on now because shes at the pub. It was my 100 calorie diet and i did fine until dinner. She shoved a white roll down my throat and a bunch of chicken . probably like 300 calories. Ugh, I can feel myself getting fatter. I need tips to get her off my back." It's crazy how girls take their physical image so seriously.I would understand, because I'm a girl also, but I would never starve myself like that ! I would skip dinner, but I would Never survive off drinking tea the whole day. That's just really harmful to your body.The podcasts talks about ways they can help these girls recover from anorexic by promoting pro-recovery sites. However, not all of the users who went on those blog, were females. There were also males. What i found most shocking was that there was even a 54 year old who blogged about their diet... The blogs are very interesting because the people talk about what they are going their and express their feelings for people on the internet to see. The most helpful way to prevent younger kids to going on these pro-anorexia sites, is to talk to them about it and teach them about the consequences...