Kendrick Lamar (found poem)

“Would you say that my intelligence now is great relief

And it’s safe to say that our next generation maybe could sleep

With dreams of being a lawyer or doctor, Instead of a boy with a chopper

That hold the cul-de-sac hostage,

Kill them all if they gossip”

Kendrick Lamar, daring; with ambition

Vexing rapper of the day, on a story-telling mission

Good kid, m.A.A.d city ß great hip-hop

Sold 200,000 copies when that album got dropped

Good kid, dark past;

Tremendous verses, prayers last

Accomplishments made, eases to the beat

Excitable star,  who’s gonna knock you off your feet

 I chose this poem because I am into hip-hop and rap music. I like Kendrick Lamar’s style of rap at times, especially in the song “m.A.A.d city” which tells about his life and the things that he’s faced growing up, although he’d always wanted to be something more than what he was. I think that Kendrick Lamar's style of rap is unique and it is more like poetry. I also chose this article to do my found poem off of because it was an article comparing and contrasting Kendrick Lamar and Meek Mill and their two different styles of rap music. It was hard to write this “found poem”. I struggled greatly to come up with an ideal topic and/or what to write.it wasn’t easy to write 14 lines or less about Meek Mill and Kendrick Lamar, so I had to choose one and try to come up with something to say about them in poem form.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/arts/music/kendrick-lamar-and-meek-mill-rappers-with-debut-albums.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The Elephant Effect

Have you ever stopped to think about all the prehistoric animals that once roamed the earth? Are you aware that as we speak millions of elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory? Did you know that we, as the people can try to prevent this? Recently I have read an article called. “Slaughter of the African Elephants” by Samantha Strindberg and Fiona Maisels about how elephants are being driven into extinction by people who are desperate for their ivory.

            In the article, Strindberg and Maisels talk about how elephants are being driven into extinction by humans who don’t care too much about how they place a major impact on our environment, but only kill them for their ivory, which they use for jewelry. In the article, it says “Forest elephants play a crucial ecological role in the life of the forests they inhabit, places of incredible biodiversity and one of earth’s most important carbon-sequestering regions.” Which means that life might change drastically since people are killing off forest elephants just for their ivory.

Also in the article it says, “A universal attribute of humanity is compassion. We protect those in harm’s way. We need to show this compassion to forest elephants, giving them space to roam and protection from danger. Most crucially, people must stop buying ivory. If we do not act, we will have to shamefully admit to our children that we stood by as elephants were driven out of existence.” Which is pretty much saying that elephants are very important to our environment, and in the future when there are no more elephants roaming the earth, there will be no one to blame but us, as humans for buying and selling ivory without having the slightest clue of what it can do to us. Elephants not only have a good influence on our environment, but they also have feelings just as well as humans do. Babies die from heartbreak and loneliness after losing their parents, when killing one elephant, think of how many babies will die.               

I think that it’s wrong to kill elephants just for their ivory. They don’t deserve to die. In fact, they deserve to live much longer than they do. Elephants are part of the reason that humans can live the way that we do. Elephants plant trees, which contribute to our oxygen, helping us to breathe better. So instead of killing elephants.. we should be praising them. Humans can survive without ivory, so is it really worth killing a harmless animal who only contributes to the environment? 

Is It Ok for Parents to Monitor Their Kids Online? (choice blog)

Parents, have you ever felt like you were unable to trust your children with what they do online?  Kids, have you ever felt like your parents were too overprotective and they just don’t trust you enough with technology and social networks? Recently, I have read a debate article called “Is It Ok for Parents to Monitor Their Kids Online?” (“Yes” by Betsy Landers, and “No” by Jeffrey Nadel) about whether or not parents should be able to monitor everything that their children do or say online.

        In the article, Landers gives her opinion on why parents should be able to monitor what their children do or say online. Landers says, “This is not an invasion of privacy; it’s a 21^st-century parental responsibility” meaning that she believes that parents should be able to access not only all of their children’s online statuses, but also their conversations. I don’t think that this is right. Her opposition was almost completely opinionated, she rarely used facts to back up what she was saying. Also, she may just be making a brief point, which is that children should not be trusted on social networks.

      Also in the article, Nadel gives his opinion why parents should not monitor/ spy on their children’s online ventures. Nadel says, “Spying on young people denies them respect and dignity to which people are entitled.” Which means that children are the same as adults. Although parents tend to be worried about what their children may encounter online they have to trust that they’ve raised their child well enough to know what’s right and what’s wrong.

       I think that Nadel is correct. As children, we deserve to be treated just the same as any other human beings. There are many ways that a parent could ask their child about what is going on in their lives whether school, home or technology wise. Snooping in a child’s private social network will just break the bond that they’ve built, or could have. I also think that parents in this generation could never be too certain about not listening to their children when they are telling them about what goes on in their lives because if you have raised your child the right way, I’m pretty sure they’ll tell you when something goes wrong.