Actuality After the Deadly Aftermath

A decade after Harris and Klebold made Columbine a synonym for rage, new information — including several books that analyze the tragedy through diaries, e-mails, appointment books, videotape, police affidavits and interviews with witnesses, friends and survivors — indicate that much of what the public has been told about the shootings is wrong.

The yahoo news website featured a story linked to the USA today paper all about Columbine ten years later.

When the deadly duo, Harris and Klebold, first brought their wrath upon students, a lot of people thought that they had been picked on, or that they targeted certain ethnicities. The aforementioned is no longer credited as truth, but mere rumors and gossip.

The pair had built over 100 bombs, and planned to set them off in the cafeteria, but they were so badly wired that they never went off. Instead, the couple picked off as many students as possible.

Klebold and Harris also wanted to kill journalists, police officers, and any other help that arrived on the scene, but the bombs they planted in their cars never went off either.

Harris and Klebold were essentially terrorists, and they did have friends,’ but they “weren’t accepted by the kids,” they believed mattered.

One believed he was God, and the other suffered from depression and rage.

I think it’s sad that things turned out they way they did, but it’s good to know that their plans were not carried out to their fullest potential.

The reason the two grabbed so much attention, is because their murder spree was the first to be widely publicized on television.

The media has the power to persuade people, and twist stories, like a cult, but it also has the potential to spread many experiences, so that we don’t find ourselves in sticky situations or sketchy binds.

I am glad that someone decided to clear up the rumors, and write an extensive piece on Harris and Klebold, a piece of writing that offered the simple and honest truth.

Do you love me, Do you Surfer Girl/Guy?

Over the winter, even with my spring suit and rubber leggings, I don’t get much time to grab my 7 ft. fun board, and hit up the small surf in Jacksonville. If we’re lucky, we get some five to six foot sets, but such a treat generally only occurs when a hurricane is forming offshore.

Most of the time, we get two and three foot sets of baby waves.

I’ve been surfing since the eighth grade, just for the fun of it. I don’t keep up with the media aspect, but it always has been brought to my attention that I don’t fit the “surfer type.”

You know the types, the "beach bums, drop outs, and stoners" or so I’ve heard.

However, surfing is much more than that, and I’m glad that the media has been presenting it in a positive light.

In an event called “Surf with the Stars,” kids travel up to 13 hours for a rare chance to go surfing with their heroes. Even if the water is freezing, it’s not a deterrent to anyone participating in the event; the event is equivalent to a fan of Tiger Woods being able to golf with him for a day.

A 15 year old, Keanu Asing, won a Quicksilver ISA World Championship in Ecuador yesterday in the 16 and under age division.

It used to be that surfing wasn’t a serious sport, and it’s nice that it’s being taken more seriously by the media these days.

Surfing works out just about every muscle in your body, and it’s great to just kick back and catch a few waves.

Everything bad falls apart.

High-Definition surf cameras for premium members were released by Surfline today, as well.

For nearly 15 years, this website has been delivering live beach and wave imagery through their extensive camera network that has reached beaches from Hawaii to California.

Premium users will now be able to check local conditions and breaks through HD feed, but regular users will still be able to access over 100 working cameras.

It’s great that the internet has made it possible for people to catch many good swells, and it’s even better that surfing has become a sport for people looking for competition, and for those that just want to have fun.

Energizing Entertainment

DVDs are generally released on Tuesdays. Around six o’clock this evening I tried to check out the film Bolt (released today) from either the Blockbuster on Southside Blvd., or the Blockbuster at the corner of Beach Blvd. and St. Johns Bluff, but both were all out.

Luckily, my boyfriend came to the rescue, and found a copy at his local Blockbuster.

The Entertainment industry is fairing better than most in these days of economic despair. DVD rentals for Franchise Entertainment Group, which runs the Video Ezy and Blockbuster home video chains, are up more than 10 per cent in 2009.

Summit Home Entertainment said first-day sales of its modern day vampire love story Twilight (released March 22) sold more than 3 million DVD units.

I Love You, Man and Knowing were just released nationwide this past Friday, and already they are receiving better reviews from the public as opposed to the critics.

Even internet movie websites such as Netflix are on the rise. Netflix is pairing up with the network savvy Facebook and gets a chance to attract new subscribers from 175 million members.

I think that it’s great that people are still embracing art, and culture, but at the same time I feel sad that we need entertainment and that we cannot entertain ourselves.

I vote that instead of cocooning in our homes, watching the latest movies, or playing the latest video games, we should instead go on walks, ride our bikes, or even play a game of Urban Sprinting.

Green Rivers, Green Trees, Green Clothes.

Well, it’s Saint Patrick’s Day today folks. That means we get to wear green, feast, have parades, and get drunk.

If we’re Irish who follow the faith that stems from Christianity, we get to skip lent for this day.

The St. Patrick's Day custom came to America in 1737, and was believed to have been celebrated first and foremost in Boston, but today it’s all over the news, and celebrated across the span of America.

In Savannah, their 185th parade brought thousands to the streets. The Chicago River received an annual dose of green dye over the weekend. In New York the St. Patrick’s Day Parade does not include any commercial aspects like floats or cars; approximately 150,000 to 250,000 people march before an estimated 2 million spectators.

In the olden days, Gays and lesbians -- expected ordinarily to live in shadows -- were granted license during the festivities to cross-dress and act out different gender identities.

Even O'Bama is celebrating St. Patrick's Day.


Why exactly do we have all of these festivities, and who is St. Patrick?

Well, St. Patrick is Ireland's National Apostle. After escaping prison, he helped convert Irish Protestants across Ireland, and set up many churches. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D.

That’s not the only reason why people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day either.

The Great Potato Famine hit Ireland in 1845. As a result, close to a million poor, uneducated, Catholic Irish began to pour into America to escape starvation. They were rejected by protestant Americans, but soon began to gain political power in a political organization known as “the green machine.”

Annual St. Patrick's Day parades became a show of strength for Irish Americans, and in 1948, President Truman attended New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade, a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes and racial prejudice to find acceptance in America.

While you’re out there celebrating today, and perhaps late into the night, take a moment to reflect and give thanks for the sacrifices made by St. Patrick, and the Irish people, who brought this lovely custom to America.

Even though we’re in an Economic crisis, it’s great to know that we uphold such lovely traditions.

Hop on the Suicide Bandwagon

Suicide is a very controversial issue among societies today and it is primarily considered taboo in our culture, but for newspapers today and television stations, it’s become something of a routine trend. For a lot of news groups, it’s a way to tweak a plotline for for a predictable ending, death and higher ratings.

The Boston Herald relates the issue of suicide to unemployment mentioning that “Hotline calls rose to 11,000 last month, up from 8,400 in February 2008 - a 31 percent jump. In January, the commonwealth’s suicide hotline, which takes calls from Boston to western Massachusetts, fielded 2,900 extra calls - a 38 percent increase over January 2008.” On one of their railroad tracks (MBTA) five people have committed suicide in this year alone. There were only eight last year.

If that isn’t enough entertainment for you, another suicide bomber in Iraq killed more than 30 people west of Baghdad. “The bombing follows a series of violent incidents across Iraq, including a suicide attack outside a Baghdad police academy that killed 28 people Sunday. The high-profile attacks come after a year in which violence dropped dramatically.”

What caught my attention most though is a story about a young teen who committed suicide after being belligerently battered with words and objects by students and classmates at her former school in Ohio. Her name was Jesse Logan.

Jesse Logan hung herself in her closet because for months she had been taunted after her boyfriend sent a nude photo of her to classmates and friends’ around campus in a new phenomenon among young teens called “sexting.” Sexting is a form of sex through internet texting.

MSNBC reports that her mother has already been through “six lawyers” in a conquest for justice. I hope that justice is served. Unfortunately some of her former students still hold the belief that she’s a whore who essentially had what was coming to her. "It's her responsibility to make sure like pictures of herself don't get around the school, but if she wants it to, then it's up to her," said Mason sophomore Amanda Eads.

I have noticed that some reporters have taken measures to report on sensitive issues (like suicide) in a more empathetic manner.

This means a lot to me.

Suicide is a sensitive subject and can be caused for many reasons. It can be caused by the death of a loved one, an insane conquest for power, or even by a chemical imbalance in the brain, but it can also be prevented.

We should control our actions and recognize when they positively or negatively affect peoples’ emotions, and above all we should take suicide threats seriously.

Powdery White Stuff

When I think of powdery white stuff, I’m not thinking cocaine; I’m reminded of sliding down slippery slopes of snow on a sled at my cousins’ house a few years ago. I think of the huge snowman we built, it was about as tall as a doorway, and about as big around as two people put together.

Such was not the case for eastern states such as Virginia, New York, New Hampshire, and parts of the Carolinas.

Even though we haven’t received snow in Florida, we’ve felt the bitter cold, but we’ve been luckier than up north.

In the Carolinas, schools were closed in several counties. The snowstorm caused power-outages for tens of thousands, contributed to several wrecks Sunday night that shut a 22-mile stretch of I-85 near the S.C.-N.C. line for about eight hours, and some patches of snow may not melt for a couple of weeks in some counties.

In Washington between 3 and 12 inches of snow fell. The weather contributed to four deaths on roads in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and on Long Island. The storm was also blamed for 350 crashes in New Jersey, and a Maryland official counted about 50 cars in the ditch on one stretch of highway.

Three on-air staffers at WABC/Ch. 7 spun their personal vehicles while on their way to cover the heavy snow, almost becoming accident statistics themselves.

Although the snow storm packed a lot of damage, it could have been worse.

As much as I love snow, and as admirable as it was for so many networks to cover the snowstorm—as it made it’s way across the east coast and into parts of Georgia—I’m smart enough to say stay inside during rough weather.

When it all calms down, go out and make snow angels!

13 Taking Care of 50

“A 2005 nationwide study suggested that about 3 percent of households with children ages 8 to 18 included child caregivers,” wrote Pam Belluck of the New York Times in her article entitled “In Turnabout, Children Take Caregiver Role.” This article featured the ups and downs in the lives of children who are primary caregivers.

We usually imagine home caregivers as middle-age parents who dress their parents, and tend to their disabilities, Alzheimer’s, or some form of cancer. We never entertain the idea of 12 and 13 year olds being primary caregivers, but this situation is more common than you think.

Parents and grandparents being provided for suffer from a large array of diseases including multiple sclerosis, bladder cancer, diabetes, and colitis, and extend to caring for parents who are crippled or blind. The children must administer medication, bathe their disabled parents or grandparents, give up regular activities, and some even drop out of school. Some children even rebel against their parents and run away or “beat them with canes.”

On the up side, children have the potential to mature at a faster rate.

There are special programs dedicated to the education, recognition, and support of children who are primary caregivers and one such program is the Caregiving Youth Project.

Children who are primary caregivers obtain such titles because of their culture. Others become primary caregivers because they’re too poor to afford health care or they come from single-parent homes.

I personally believe that it is immoral to place that much responsibility on a child. Granted, that our parents raise us and I understand that life can drop unexpected situations in our life.

I feel that medical help should be provided for those in need. We shouldn’t have a system that wants to take away a child’s right to be around their parent or parents’ if the parent(s) can not provide for themselves, and that is what keeps these child caregivers in the dark. They cannot get the help they need without fear of expulsion from their family by the state.

On February 15th Steven McElroy wrote an article about the remake of the classic horror film FRIDAY THE 13th. “It slashed its way to No. 1, earning $42.5 million in its first weekend in theaters, more than double the total of the No. 2 movie HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU,” wrote McElroy.

I beg to differ.

I watched Friday the 13th on Saturday, and at the end of the film I was quite disappointed.

The film started off with a bang; within the first few minutes four people are violently killed by Jason Voorhees (the villain), and one person is captured. Then the title card pops up revealing the words FRIDAY THE 13th and the audience I was with as well as myself sighed in relief that the movie wasn’t over.

Unfortunately, I had not realized at the time that the movie would go on to be about drugs, sex, and bloody deaths with a splash of cheap thrills and bangs to make the audience jump.

In the end I left the theatre feeling a sense of loss, but I was thankful that my boyfriend paid for my ticket, or I would have felt cheated out of a precious ten dollars.

The Internet Movie Data-Base gave FRIDAY THE 13th 6.9 out of ten stars, which I feel was more than generous.

Rotten-tomatoes (another website dedicated to rating movies) gave the film a 29% fresh rating on a scale that goes to 100% fresh.

"This is certainly not the movie to propel the slasher genre forward," wrote USA TODAY’S Claudia Puig.

Hollywood needs to revamp its horror section and they should do so without remaking old horror films; regardless of whether or not they’re American horror films (like AMITYVILLE HORROR), or foreign horror films (THE RING and ONE MISSED CALL).

The last good horror film I watched was entitled EDEN LAKE, and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a horror defined in a different way.

Crap! What Am I Going to Do for Valentines Day?? O.o

My friend came to me for advice recently and said something to the effect of, “Oh crap, what am I going to get my girlfriend for Valentine's Day? Do you have any good ideas? I don’t want to be outdone and feel like a loser.”

Every February we put ourselves under mass amounts of stress while we go and get cards, flowers, candies, and gifts for loved ones, but few people know why they even go through such lengths to declare love for their family members, friends, and sweethearts.

In honor of that oh so festive holiday that I feel is a total trap to sucker people out of money, let’s take a look at Valentine’s Day.

Roughly three legends came to define Valentine’s Day.

One contends that “Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome.” Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers (The History of Valentine's Day).

Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death (The History of Valentine's Day).

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for trying to help “Christians escape harsh Roman prisons” or that Valentine sent the first “valentine greeting” himself to a young girl he fell in love with while in prison.

Thus, people support Valentine’s Day in honor of Valentine’s death which occurred sometime around the middle of February.

If you were a Christian or believed in the pope, you celebrated Valentines Day based on the pagan Lupercalia festival; this festival signaled the beginning of spring and a time for purification, and was held around the middle of February.

I don’t doubt that Valentine’s Day stories will pour in all over websites just like last year.

All I am saying is that I feel Valentine’s Day should be a day where we enjoy the company of our loved ones in honor of Valentine’s death or the Lupercalia festival.

If you’re not a fan of either of the previously mentioned traditions, and all you want is chocolate, flowers, or cards, then I feel sad that you are unappreciative of the fact that a friend, family member, co-worker, boyfriend/girlfriend, or husband/wife has loved you every single day, since the day you were born.

That idea alone should mean more than perishable or worldly items.

New Exhibit: Homeless People

My friend and her Mother were recently evicted from their home (after living in it for over 15 years) because the financial strains of the economy today in combination with the loss of her Mother’s job and medical needs had finally taken its toll.

My friend and her Mother are currently rooming with her Mother’s friend, but all this made me think about homeless people; people who once lead ordinary lives when series’ of unfortunate events made them become homeless because they had no family or friends to turn to.

We pass them on the street and maybe we give them money or a bottle of water, maybe we think they’re lazy and we turn our nose away from them as if they’re beneath us, but do we ever stop and just talk to them as if they’re human?

News reporters keep count of homeless people, exhibit and report violence done to homeless people by people who are better off financially, and even report on communities and associations that support homelessness.

A report by WJLA recently stated that “a homeless man died after being attacked Friday [he] lay unconscious for nearly 20 minutes” before anyone called for help.

Another report by The Seattle Times stated that, “2,826 homeless people were counted in King County, an increase of about 2 percent over 2008.”

Somewhere in all that commotion we forget that we’re dealing with people (not animals) who are down and out on their luck. I feel that news casters can be particularly insensitive when it comes to speaking of the homeless.

I’m not saying that we should promote homelessness, I’m just asking that people re-approach their thought processes when it comes to people who must make do without all the luxuries that other people have.

No matter whom you are or what your situation is “you will never be any better or worse than anyone else, but no one will be as good as you.” –My Great Grandmother (Lauretta Kimble).

Spiderman, Obama, and The Media Have Something In Common

I’ve heard Clinton referenced as the “party president,” and a few people have said to me that Bush has taken more vacations than any other President, but the media has ushered in a new trend by essentially worshipping the ground Obama walks on.

I’m fairly certain that any other president that came after Bush was going to be idolized, but I never predicted that things would go to the extent and lengths which they have been taken.

A cataclysmic train of events have taken place since before the election and they cannot be stopped even after the inauguration has taken place.

Aside from the fact that Barack is a normal human being with basically one of the most important job titles in our American history, he is also one of the most publicized in terms of private life.

Entertainment Weekly recently released a special issue with Barack Obama on the front cover and said that he is “changing pop culture forever,” and that he is the first “presidential rock star.”

The six page article featured the most publicized celebrity endorsements that a president has ever had; big names such as Jennifer Aniston, Matt Damon, and Oprah Winfrey were mentioned. The article also features his appearance in a Spider-man comic book, his favorite cartoons, and his favorite celebrities. Not to mention, his daughters and wife have become fashion “first trendsetters.”

Not all is fun, flowers, and worship; E News television show “The Soup” often takes real clips and montages them for a comedic effect, which is just what they did around 11:30 a.m., Tuesday morning.

The feature for the first five minutes was Barack Obama. The Soup poked fun at the media for quoting a seven-year-old Caucasian female when she said “this is my chance to have a black president.” The Soup also re-ran a clip from the Today Show that showed newborns in Kenya being named Michelle and Barack in honor of Obama and his wife (criticizing the Kenyans for their worship), and they even went so far as to inappropriately clash a woman’s words when she said it’s cute that they’re (They President and his wife) showing “affection” by “cuddling” and “fisting.”

Personally, I feel that the media are making too much out of the inauguration and out of Obama in general. I understand that he is the first African American president, but if you ask the average person what his policies are they won’t be able to tell you.

The AOL website recently posted a link to an article that mentioned something other than Obama’s inauguration and personal lifestyle; Obama's first official interview with the Arab community was given. Writer of the article, Paul Schemm, mentioned that Obama wants to “repair relations with the Muslim world."

Congratulations, we officially defeated segregation because we actually have an African American family living in the white house when about forty years ago racial segregation kept white, black, and Mongoloid people from using the same bathroom, but I’d be more concerned with the job Obama will do.

I’m not bashing him.
I voted for him.
I just feel that we should be more concerned with his policies than the tan he’s getting at the beach, or his favorite cartoon characters.


Interesting quotes about Obama from the Media:

“Two billion people worldwide have seen footage of Obama putting his hand on a Bible.” –Entertainment weekly

“Barackaliscious!” – E News “The Soup”

Lifestyles of The Rich and The Famous

I was sitting on my boyfriends’ couch when he showed me an article out of Entertainment Weekly on Heath Ledger. The sub-headline read, “A year after his death, his closest friends finally open up about his fear of fame, life as a father, and brilliant career.” The article goes on to mention the start of Heath’s career at age 18 in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, moves on to mention the rest of the films he’s starred in over a lifetime, and ends with his half-finished role in Parnassus and his untimely death.

The article also mentions Heath’s disdain for parties in Hollywood and his lack of interest in interviews to the point where he would sometimes partake in “playing soldiers with [Pecoroni’s son] for hours just to get away from [the Hollywood lifestyle].”

If you’re wondering where I’m going with this blog, it is simply this; we as Americans partake in idolizing celebrities and often know more about them then we do about our founding fathers, prior presidents, or even about the people who have helped cure diseases that once plagued our society. This troubles me greatly.

It’s tragic to me that if you question someone with who played the lead roles on Titanic, they’ll probably say, “Jack was played by Lianardo DiCaprio, and Rose by Kate Winslet.” If you ask them who the Father of Science of Microbiology was, the same man that contributed to solving cases of “rabies, anthrax, chicken cholera, and silkworm diseases, and contributed to the development of the first vaccines” they’ll stare at you like you’re insane.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching a good movie or two and maybe even referencing actors to prior roles they have performed in, but I don’t go so overboard as to revolve my life around them. For example, Jim Carrey definitely did a great job in movies like Ace Ventura: Pet Dective, Me, Myself, and Irene, and even in Liar Liar but, when he tried his hand at a more serious role in the movie entitled The Number 23, almost every person I questioned about his performance stated that he should just stick to comedy roles. No one I questioned about his performance went more into depth about his lifestyle, which I was thankful for. We should be able to reference actors or celebrities and not idolize them or make a big scene, like people have done with Britney Spears or Vanessa Hudgens.

Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame and fortune, if only for a brief moment in life. I feel that the best way to get there is to be unique and original by creating your own style, idea, or invention that helps the masses or renders them into a mind state of salivation. I just feel that we shouldn’t idolize people to the point that we know more about them then we do our own selves and I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to sit back and be the 40 year old man behind the popcorn counter asking, “Would you like to upgrade that to a larger size,” simply because I wasted my life indulging in the lives of the rich and the famous instead of creating my own fame and fortune.

Californication...No, not the song

Blogging is something I’ve been doing since my freshman year of 2003, but that blog is for pleasure alone. Blogging is something many people have been doing since the mid 90s and a modern television series entitled Californication pokes fun at bloggers and puts into question their choice of diction.

Californication is about an author named Hank Moody who juggles his “drug and sex addictions while raising a daughter and trying to win back the love of his life.” He goes on to blog for Hell-A magazine to make money but protests the idea of blogging from the beginning.

In one scene between the main character (Hank) and another woman this is said:

Woman: "LOL"

Hank [curious and baffled at what he just heard]: "What was that? What did you just say? Just then? LOL...laugh out loud...that's part of your lexacom?...really? LOL."

Woman: "Shouldn't it be part of yours too? [pause]. You are writing for cyberspace."

Hank [sighs and says sarcastically]: "Oh and there goes my boner."

Hank: "Wave bye bye."

Woman: "What is your issue with LOL?"

Hank: "Ah..I don't have an issue unless you count the fact that every time you say it you're contributing to the death of the English language."

Ironically or perhaps not, Californication has it’s own blog.

Well, bloggers? What are your thoughts on this? Will blogging with all of its internet shorthand be the public’s voice to a brighter tomorrow or will blogging inevitably murder any authors’ chances to become part of a list of famous novels such as MacBeth, To Kill A Mockingbird, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, and Of Mice and Men.

Testing Link

I'm curious about Robert Blade's blog.

New Beginnings.

Hello World.