Lights, Camera, Action

I believe that the media is a very powerful thing in our society. I believe that everyone in one way or another, if exposed to the media, become affected by it. The media tells us various things, what is in, what is not in, who's hot, who's not, etc. The media affects me in a way that it makes me aware of things. It makes me aware of the way that people really are. I'm not going to lie because I love the gossip and the new trends. I know it sounds bad but its entertaining. Im not sure if the media is what makes us who we are. The media is what also gives us our perception of other people who are always depicted on the media. We see people on tv or hear about them and we make assumptions about them and what kind of people they are based on what we see or hear. You can never fully know a person through an outside perspective through just rumors. 

Sex is something that is all over the media. Sex sells. It is in hidden messages exposed to us even at a young age. I remember sitting down with my sister watching disney movies and when we were older, we figured out all of the sexual hidden messages. I always wondered how disney could pull this off. I also think sex should be discussed in the classroom. Kids talk about it all the time anyway. At a young age kids usually turn curious and they want answers to question, so they talk about it with each other. 

Music, like the media, influences us a lot. I think it represents our mood and the way we handle our everyday activities. I usually listen to angry rock music if i get really pissed off and it may even feed my anger on a little. If I'm happy I can usually listen to anything. If I'm feeling emotional or maybe a little mellow I'm usually more careful to what I listen too and I tend to listen to music with strong beautiful lyrics. I think our society is influenced by music that degrades people. This music constantly makes people inferior by calling them names that degrade them. I always thought it wouldn't affect me because I just liked the beat but little b little I started noticing that the words really were vulgar in some songs and it started making me disgusted with the use of words. It really did affect me at one point when i heard a specific song and every time I heard it I had to turn it off because it literally just grossed me out. So I figure if I have to turn it off because it affects me, why wouldn't it affect anyone else?

Places in Need

Many Caribbean Islands now are under much devastation due to hurricane Ike. There are pictures on Natasha's blog of the hurricane aftermath in Haiti. Haiti is one of the poorest countries right now. The pictures in that blog truly show the devastation as if it were through a personal experience. The photographer truly captured the emotions of suffering and the loss of hope that everyone at the point was experiencing. Sometimes I think about how many Haitians are deported daily back to Haiti without having a chance to stay here. Although, I find it unfair how for Cubans as long as they step on land, they are able to reside here until they are citizens. I am a Cuban- American so I appreciate that people from my culture have the chance to make a life here. I just do not find it fair that other people from other countries do not get that chance. Sometimes I feel like I should do something about it but I have no idea where to start. A lot of people I have noticed always see things going on and want to do things about it but they have no idea where to start. Maybe thats the biggest problem with poverty itself. Many people who live in poverty want to make changes with themselves and they want to fix everything for their life and their family but they have no idea how to start making these changes. The children in Nicaragua however, do not even have a chance to make changes because they have nobody to help them or take care of them. These children have to fend for themselves when it comes to living. These children do not have a chance to make changes because they do not have the ability to read or write and therefore do not have a chance to better their future. We have a chance however to do whatever we want with ourselves, or lives, and we can choose to make ourselves better, more successful people. When I see the pictures it makes me want to be successful and a better person so that when I am successful enough I can help these people and then I can really make a change. This is the only way I can see that I can help them

My Opinion as a Woman

Like Natasha said, apparently we are always told to try to keep from topics such as religion and politics away from the dinner table. These are very controversial yet conversational topics. I believe that although they are very controversial subjects, people should be able to express their opinions through their families and gain the courage to express it publicly in respect to others. 

Voicing your opinion is what the presidential election is all about. We have four people, two teams allied, trying to govern our country. It's through the opinions of these people which can determine our future on such matters such as politics and religion. 

It all really is a sort of vicious cycle. Although were always said not to talk about politics and religion, expressing our thoughts on it determines our future in a way. When we go vote this year in September, it's us voicing our opinions on such matters. Our decisions are based on our religion and our rationalization to politics. So if we are all so scared to talk about it at the dinner table, what makes us believe we will make the right decision without hearing the other side of the story first?...Yeah we may hear the debates over the TV but we don't hear everyone's individual reasons for why they will choose their presidential candidate. Now of course we can't just get everyone on the TV and have them voice their opinions but shouldn't we start off with talking to our families about it first?

Usually at the dinner table I talk to my family about all sorts of things. My mother usually has the very conservative, straight forward debate while me and my sister always try to debate with her on the more controversial side. My father usually stays quiet with my brother throwing in a humorous remark which will usually insult either me or my sister. 

In my family it's usually the women who voice their opinions the most. I'm not sure if it's because the men don't care or they're just scared to get into debate with us. 

I had heard about the potential Vice President's daughter and how she was pregnant. Although it's a young age to be pregnant, I admire her for being able to let the public know about her pregnancy and letting them know that she is strong enough to deal with the baby when it comes. I have always been very pro-life. Maybe it does have to do with my religion why I used to be pro-life when I was younger and was a little naive with the world. Now I think it's just because of the emotional side of me and I just can't imagine myself ever being in the position where I would go against my pro-life beliefs. Everyone has told me I have always had that mother extinct, actually I believe every woman has it hidden within them somewhere. The role of women in our society I believe is so important to everyone. I believe women have so much power emotionally, spiritually, and mentally that I believe we can conquer anything.

Although Palin has 5 children one whom has down syndrome and the other whom is pregnant, I believe she can do it. What woman who has made it that far with her struggles, and can still campaign through a presidential election, would not be able to do it? Yeah it's more responsibility but the woman has been dealing with great responsibility her whole life.

Palin's daughter had a few choices to make when she found out she was pregnant. We all know them. I believe the reason why the man who took part in the baby-making thing is never really mentioned because of two reasons: one is that the men never show any signs so it's pretty hard to determine who it truly is unless if word of mouth and the other is in this case that they are trying  to show the pros and cons of Palin which in this case include her daughter as a target, and as it shows they could care less about the biological father. In cases involving pregnancy and the questions of "should I keep it?, should I give it away?, should I have an abortion?" I believe the father should have some say depending on the what the woman wants to do. Unfortunately sometimes however, such as when the woman wants an abortion, the man usually can't do anything about it. I believe that it's a hard and difficult issue to address for me. In one case I think that if the man wants the baby and the woman does not then the baby should still live, but also I think of the fact that it must really suck to be that baby and have my mother not want me but be forced to have me. Of course it would be so much easier to just say whoever wants it has the baby growing inside them but there is a little bit of a genetic problem. It's still a question I ask myself. Should the man have a say in the outcome of the pregnany? If so, should there be rules and guidelines to his decision making? Honestly I have no idea and as you can see the whole topic really just confuses me. 

I've just always thought that if you weren't ready to have a baby then you shouldn't have been having sex, or at least done it the safe way. I know that there are special circumstances, you know the condom breaks, there's always like a 3% chance or whatever, but for whatever reason if you don't want it I've always thought you should just give it up. 

So this is why you shouldn't get into these sorts of conversations at the dinner table, you may just get stuck with a sincerely confused woman, like me who is always raising questions to herself. The worse thing is she may never stop =]

I have many opinions and I don't think that I would ever stop myself from voicing my opinions unless I knew it could potentially hurt someone. 

The question is can we find someone who will do the same for all of us as a whole?