Blog Post 15

I read an article called "Conceived to Save Her Sister, a Child Is Born" by Associated Press.  It was about how an 18 year old girl named Anissa Ayala was suffering from leukemia needed a bone marrow transplant to live.  She didn't have any direct siblings so her parents decided to have another baby hoping he/she would be a perfect match.  After many complications with the conceiving and birth of the baby, the couple had a baby girl named Marissa Eve.  Oddly enough she was a perfect match for Anissa!  The doctors told the parents that they would have to wait 6 months for Marissa to grow, and that there was a 70-80% chance that it would be successful.  In the end, Marissa gave her sister some of her bone marrow and she ended up curing her cancer and living.  This relates to my life because when my sister was first born and was no older then 5 months she came down with encephalitis, which is a disease that is similar to West Nile and consists of severe swelling of the brain.  She needed some blood to be donated to her and I oddly enough was a perfect match, so I gave some of my blood to her and she ended up living and is now 13, happy, and healthy!

Blog Post 14

When I first read the blog topic for tonight, I immediately thought of Taylor Swift's song Love Story on her Fearless album.  They lyrics are a perfect example of a stereotypical love story!  It follows the story line of Romeo and Juliet, which is also a well-known love story.  The lyrics that read,

Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel

This love is difficult, but it's real

Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess

It's a love story baby just say yes

Oh oh

The lyrics above are powerful and really explain how love works today.  This relates to my life in two ways one is that I love the song!  The second is that I really do believe in love and that people can make it through problems if they do love each other.  The love that people share together most times is more powerful and meaningful then the fight itself.  

Blog Post 13

This weekend I was sitting out on my deck and read an article titled Last British survivor of WWI trenches is made an officer of the French Legion of Honor by RAPHAEL G. SATTER from the Star Tribune.  It is a story about how a man named Harry Patch was awarded a medal of honor from the French Ambassador Maurice Gourdalut-Montagne from his duties in World War I.  Harry Patch is 110 years old and lives in a nursing home in Wells, England. He served as a machine-gunner in the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, and though it was many years ago he was one that the Ambassador thought deserved a medal of honor for all he did.  Also he didn't begin to talk about his war experiences until the 21st-century so no one even knew anymore about what he had done because all of his colleagues from the war have perished in the past century.  This relates to my life because we are learning about WWI in AP world history right now and I felt this was a very interesting article.  Also because WWI seems like so long ago but really there are people still alive from then!

Blog Post 12

This week I read an article titled A Survival Imperative for Space Colonization by John Tierney.  It discusses how scientists are beginning to believe that human existence will last at least 5,100 years longer if we extend it to life on Mars.  In order for this to happen though, we have to get life on Mars up and running within the next 46 years.  Dr. Gott was the professor that came up with this idea back in 1993 and over the past 16 years he has improved his theory and its become more creditable.  Though this theory and idea of living on Mars actually becoming a reality seems like a modern idea, humans have been studying/exploring space for thousands of years.  This connects to my life because ever since I was a little girl i have wondered about life on Mars and if it would ever happen and if there are aliens up there and many other things!  Now seeing that it may actually happen is very cool and interesting to me.

Blog Post 11

This afternoon I read an article in the New York Times website titled  World Bank Says Global Economy will Shrink in '09 by Edmund L. Andrews.  This was a very intriguing article which discussed multiple issues.  One being that the decreasing rates of exports of developing countries are hurting the countries general well being and its primary cause is the banks.  Robert B Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, wants wealthy governments to set aside a percentage of what they spend, called a "vulnerability fund".  This would be used to help lend a helping hand to countries in need.  Finally Eastern Asian countries are feeling this blow the hardest because of their high demand of their cheap goods has declined.  This has impacted them so heavily in both a direct and indirect way because this was a very important source of income.  In conclusion as most of us are realizing now more than ever, the world is going through a tough time because of the failing world economy. 

Blog Post 10

I recently read an article titled Zulu Krewe at 100: Still Marching to Its Own Beat by Wayne Curtis.  The Zulu parade begins in New Orleans in 1909. It is a stereotype festival that takes place during Mardi Gras. African Americans living in New Orleans march off at 8 am on fat tuesday and make fun of themselves and their roots for the entire day. The festival is not meant to be disrespectful, but hilarious for everyone who understands the content of the parade. Men will stand on floats and wear grass skirts as well as juggle and throw coconuts at objects. The average tourist doesn't know how to react to seeing a parade like this. African Americans make fun of tribal Afric and wear a mockery of tribal paint called "Blackface" which is a racial slur. Since this is the 100th anniversary, the parade was kicked up a notch and included over 50 floats with a few thousand marching in the parade. The Zulu king is a member of the community chosen to be "chieften" of the parade. The Zulu king may be anyone from a UPS man to Louis Armstrong who premiered in 1969. I believe it is goo for people to poke fun of where they came from, so that one may understand the weaknesses and strengths of one's background. The festival started as a skit and is now one of the largest parades in the world during the Karnival time of year.

Blog Post 9

I found this article on Bollywood on a funny website with a poem actually titled Bollywood by Kritika Dey.  The poem sums up the ideas and concepts of Bollywood and gives them a little twist and play on words.  It is very creative and realistic.  My favorite stanza is, 

Next follows an exhausting fight,
Where the bad gets defeated by the good.
The hero heroine live happily ever after,
" It happens only in Bollywood ".

This stanza is my favorite because it is so typical for movies, its what people want to see!  It compares to "Bride and Prejudice" in the way that Lalita was beautiful and Darsey is very handsome and they have their falling out period but end up together in the end which mimics the poem.  The only difference was there wasn't a designated 'bad guy' it was more bad things happened but not one person caused all of these things.