So I’m a week early by posting this. The WNBA Draft is next Wednesday. I’m so excited about this. I know many people still don’t know the best kept secret about the summer: The WNBA. The Women’s National Basketball Association has been up and running for the past 10 years now. It hosts some of the greatest basketball talent there is today. Diana Taurasi, Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, Tina Thompson, Sheryl Swoopes, Becky Hammon…among many other women are all the “All Stars” in the league. As of today there are 13 teams in the league. In the West we have the LA Sparks, Houston Comets, Seattle Storm, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs, San Antonio Silver Stars, and Minnesota Lynx. In the East we have the New York Liberty, Detroit Shock, Connecticut Sun, Chicago Sky, Washington Mystics, and the Indiana Fever.
I am a die hard fan of the New York Liberty. I have been a season ticket holder since 2001. I’ve been going to the games since 1999. 1999 in my opinions as well as several of the WNBA fans will tell you, was the best year ever. It was the year when the ABL which was a coexisting league folded. The 1999 Draft included the young college graduates and the ABL stars. Man, it was loaded with star power. The playoffs were even better. It came down to Houston against New York and Houston was up by 2 points in the last 2.4 seconds of Game 2. At the time, it was a best out of 3 contest, so you can just imagine my little 8 year old body on the floor in despair of watching my team lose the playoffs for the 3rd time. In those 2.4 seconds, our point guard Teresa Weatherspoon put up this half court jumper…which went in, forcing a game 3. And several annoyed neighbors from me and my mom screaming. We eventually lost the third game, but hey…I wish I could’ve been there.
Why is the WNBA the best secret of the summer? Anyone who lives in New York just has to take the train into Penn Station and walk on upstairs to Madison Square Garden. Tickets are as low as 10 bucks in the 300s, 20 bucks in the 200s. What would be 80 dollar seats for the Knicks is where I’m sitting for 20 bucks. Grab some popcorn and soda and you are set for the night. But you have someone who doesn’t like basketball? There is a load of entertainment. The music featured at the Garden is the same hits circulating the radio rounds during the summer. We have been voted the best arena for music. There are a lot of activities on the court, and it’s a good time to release your frustrations out without penalty. You can scream as loud as you want and no will look at you oddly, unless you are my mother. My mom can yell so loud that when we went to the Sun arena for the All Star game, she could be heard on the television. And we were in the last row!
It’s good clean fun. Its fundamental basketball that is quick and smooth. There aren’t any egos on the court, they aren’t making outrageous sums of money like the NBA players, and there aren’t sex scandals or any type of scandals going on. It’s good entertainment. The players are so nice. I’ve ran into several of the players after the game, and they do not leave until the last autograph is signed. They appreciate the fans.
I also like going to the games because I formed a family with my section. I’m the youngest in the section, most of the women are older. There are two girls in my section who are 5 years older than me, and we’ve bonded over the course of the years. I originally used to sit in the 300s but last year we relocated for the same price into the section below us, where we already established relationship ties. Sure I get picked on because I’m the runt of the group but I get relationship advice, I get life advice, I even get college advice from these women!
But this league is the best kept secret. We’re even due for two new teams in 2008. There used to be a winter league called the NWBL (National Women’s Basketball League) where many college and WNBA stars would play in the offseason. They unfortunately folded, but Colorado is looking to put a bid in next year. They are about 4 million dollars away from getting that bid. Atlanta is also in the process of getting a bid. Every year there is new talent, a new rule, or a change. It’s still young, and its not going anywhere for a long time, so stop on by and support your local WNBA team.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
The sad but true American Dream
Viewing the Dove commercial and the satire of the Dove commercial, life’s view on beauty is varied. Both videos show some amount of distortion to the human body. The Dove commercial shows the need in America to be “beautiful.” The satire shows an unrealistic account of “ugly”. The guy went through a series of changes to become “ugly.” The girl has to go through a series of changes to become “perfect.”
Both videos show the extremeness of American society view on what is beautiful and what is ugly. I don’t believe it can get to that extreme but as Americans we give into harmful ways of life that can distort our human bodies. Going in either direction, it’s severe distortion. America today is built on an unreal perception of beauty and ugliness. The perfect hair, the perfect lips, the perfect body. No one will ever have that “perfect” body. Why? Because the American lifestyle is loaded with drugs, fast food, alcohol.
Both are sadly the reality of today’s society. In America we are pushing for a “healthier lifestyle.” Everything that happened to that guy in the video happens. The effects of over drinking, the effects of drugs, the effects of chemically altered food, it’s what makes America go round. The money invested in the above will make sure that America never sees to a “healthier lifestyle.” The Dove video shows perfection. Not reality. People undergo dangerous operations for beauty. Either way, it’s harmful to the body. Natural beauty can be perceived as natural ugliness and the other way around. America has become obsessed with unrealistic goals, high expectations. Its not wonder why there is such low esteem in the American society today.
Both videos show the extremeness of American society view on what is beautiful and what is ugly. I don’t believe it can get to that extreme but as Americans we give into harmful ways of life that can distort our human bodies. Going in either direction, it’s severe distortion. America today is built on an unreal perception of beauty and ugliness. The perfect hair, the perfect lips, the perfect body. No one will ever have that “perfect” body. Why? Because the American lifestyle is loaded with drugs, fast food, alcohol.
Both are sadly the reality of today’s society. In America we are pushing for a “healthier lifestyle.” Everything that happened to that guy in the video happens. The effects of over drinking, the effects of drugs, the effects of chemically altered food, it’s what makes America go round. The money invested in the above will make sure that America never sees to a “healthier lifestyle.” The Dove video shows perfection. Not reality. People undergo dangerous operations for beauty. Either way, it’s harmful to the body. Natural beauty can be perceived as natural ugliness and the other way around. America has become obsessed with unrealistic goals, high expectations. Its not wonder why there is such low esteem in the American society today.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
From coast to coast...Girl Scouting is the most
March has been a pretty crappy month for me so far. I’m completely swarmed with my work schedule; I think that this weekend is my only weekend off. School work is starting to kick off and one of the professors I knew when I was at Post died on Thursday.
Despite the hard times so far, I know that March is supposed to be a good month in general for me. It’s Women’s History month. I’m a self proclaimed feminist and have been growing in a family of women. If anyone wants to see a really nice display check out the book display of Women’s History in the library that is all the way to the right when you walk towards the individual staircases to each floor. And no I’m not doing this because my mom did the display. Ok maybe part of me is mentioning because of that hah.
With Women’s History month comes one of the most important dates in my life. March 12th. March 12th will be the 95th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America. I’ve been a scout for 13 years now, and despite the ignorance that people have, yes you can still be a scout long after your Brownie years.
On March 12th, 1912 Juliette Gordon Low started up the Girl Scouts in her hometown of Savannah. She thought of the idea while in England when she was a Girl Guide leader, which is the rest of the world’s version of Girl Scouts. Daisy, Juliette’s nickname, taught the girls how to be independent. She taught them to cook, sew, camp, fix things, and tend to the sick. Every girl had to wear a kerchief around their neck and until they did a good deed for the day, they couldn’t untie it. There were “merit badges” and special awards like the Golden Eaglet. The Golden Eaglet was given to the girl who demonstrated top notch Girl Scout abilities and went through tests such as earning a certain number of badges and service hours. This became what is the Gold Award today.
They made their own uniforms, the first being a dark blue. Do a search on Girl Scouts and there is a slideshow of the uniform fashions, it’s pretty funny. Those were some scary bell bottoms in the ‘70s. New awards came into being such as religious awards, service awards, life saving awards. We have so many different religious awards, service awards, a Bronze Award for Juniors, a Silver Award for Cadettes, and the coveted Gold Award.
There are 5 levels of actual scouting- Daisys, Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes, and Seniors. Each are 3 years long with the exception of Daisys. And believe or not, you can be a scout long after your “field years.” I am going in for my leader training, but I can get a paying job over at the Council Building which many of you know, but never really knew it. Over by Roosevelt Field there’s a cube like building and there are Girl Scout flags flying everywhere…yeah that’s the headquarters for all Nassau based associations. And if you are itching for some of those cookies, I can assure you there are so many booth sales going on right now wherever you step.
I honestly love being a Girl Scout. It made me into who I am today. I have a strong background because of the law and promise that carry the guidelines to the scouts. I am a Gold Award winner, the first in my association for 7 years. I am also an owner of the Silver Award, and the Bronze Award was around when I was a Junior. I was the keynote speaker at the luncheon in October. I continue to serve and volunteer whenever I get the call. I think they have me on speed dial. I joke around about taking over the Girl Scouts and becoming its ruler. My mom even told the CEO and President that I am going to a military take over, and they turned to me and asked me to wait a few more years because they like the jobs they are in.
If you know a girl who is in scouts, encourage her to continue. It will benefit her life forever. I’ve met some really important people in my life from Girl Scouts. You can’t buy what the Scouts have to offer, well…ok you can buy the cookies…but you can’t buy the morals, the adventures, and the lifelong lessons. Women’s History month is such an interesting month, so go find out more and see how many women changed the world.
Despite the hard times so far, I know that March is supposed to be a good month in general for me. It’s Women’s History month. I’m a self proclaimed feminist and have been growing in a family of women. If anyone wants to see a really nice display check out the book display of Women’s History in the library that is all the way to the right when you walk towards the individual staircases to each floor. And no I’m not doing this because my mom did the display. Ok maybe part of me is mentioning because of that hah.
With Women’s History month comes one of the most important dates in my life. March 12th. March 12th will be the 95th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America. I’ve been a scout for 13 years now, and despite the ignorance that people have, yes you can still be a scout long after your Brownie years.
On March 12th, 1912 Juliette Gordon Low started up the Girl Scouts in her hometown of Savannah. She thought of the idea while in England when she was a Girl Guide leader, which is the rest of the world’s version of Girl Scouts. Daisy, Juliette’s nickname, taught the girls how to be independent. She taught them to cook, sew, camp, fix things, and tend to the sick. Every girl had to wear a kerchief around their neck and until they did a good deed for the day, they couldn’t untie it. There were “merit badges” and special awards like the Golden Eaglet. The Golden Eaglet was given to the girl who demonstrated top notch Girl Scout abilities and went through tests such as earning a certain number of badges and service hours. This became what is the Gold Award today.
They made their own uniforms, the first being a dark blue. Do a search on Girl Scouts and there is a slideshow of the uniform fashions, it’s pretty funny. Those were some scary bell bottoms in the ‘70s. New awards came into being such as religious awards, service awards, life saving awards. We have so many different religious awards, service awards, a Bronze Award for Juniors, a Silver Award for Cadettes, and the coveted Gold Award.
There are 5 levels of actual scouting- Daisys, Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes, and Seniors. Each are 3 years long with the exception of Daisys. And believe or not, you can be a scout long after your “field years.” I am going in for my leader training, but I can get a paying job over at the Council Building which many of you know, but never really knew it. Over by Roosevelt Field there’s a cube like building and there are Girl Scout flags flying everywhere…yeah that’s the headquarters for all Nassau based associations. And if you are itching for some of those cookies, I can assure you there are so many booth sales going on right now wherever you step.
I honestly love being a Girl Scout. It made me into who I am today. I have a strong background because of the law and promise that carry the guidelines to the scouts. I am a Gold Award winner, the first in my association for 7 years. I am also an owner of the Silver Award, and the Bronze Award was around when I was a Junior. I was the keynote speaker at the luncheon in October. I continue to serve and volunteer whenever I get the call. I think they have me on speed dial. I joke around about taking over the Girl Scouts and becoming its ruler. My mom even told the CEO and President that I am going to a military take over, and they turned to me and asked me to wait a few more years because they like the jobs they are in.
If you know a girl who is in scouts, encourage her to continue. It will benefit her life forever. I’ve met some really important people in my life from Girl Scouts. You can’t buy what the Scouts have to offer, well…ok you can buy the cookies…but you can’t buy the morals, the adventures, and the lifelong lessons. Women’s History month is such an interesting month, so go find out more and see how many women changed the world.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
education is key
I guess this can be seen as a continuation from my last post. In class we’ve read an essay by Gloria Naylor called “A Word’s Meaning” and a newspaper article called “In Bid to Ban Racial Slur, Blacks Occupy Both Sides” b Anahad O’Connor. Both readings deal with the widely use of the n word in today’s world. I personally despise the word, I think it’s degrading, and I don’t understand why rappers and other media high figures feel the compelling urge to use it a million times in a short amount of time.
In the newspaper article there were a few websites that I went onto. Abolishthenword.com had this very disturbing flash presentation in the beginning before entering the site. Pictures upon pictures of cruelty towards a specific group of people. I believe that each person who died from cruel attacks were called the n word before dying, which just makes me even more angry that today it is a term of endearment or power.
What is it with our generation to take such cruel words used to attack several groups of people who aren’t the same as us and turn them into a “positive” term? It’s disgusting. What’s even more disgusting is when it is acceptable among people of the same group using the same word to each other as a sign of respect.
I applaud those who are taking steps to educate today’s youth about the origin and vulgar use of the n word. No matter what race you are, there is no reason to use words like that. “Words are stronger than actions.” That is true. I think the spoken word is the strongest weapon ever created. Physical pain can heal is what I always say, but that emotional and mental pain will never go away. Never. The spoken word attacks emotionally and mentally, scarring those attacked for life. A child will forget the knee scrapes and the bruises, but call that child the n word or any other derogatory word…and they will remember it for the rest of their life. Without the proper education, we can lose hope that respect will prevail. If we do not educate the youth today about words such as the n word, they are just going to keep using without paying respect to those who died before them from that word. And that’s what make is disgusting to me.
In the newspaper article there were a few websites that I went onto. Abolishthenword.com had this very disturbing flash presentation in the beginning before entering the site. Pictures upon pictures of cruelty towards a specific group of people. I believe that each person who died from cruel attacks were called the n word before dying, which just makes me even more angry that today it is a term of endearment or power.
What is it with our generation to take such cruel words used to attack several groups of people who aren’t the same as us and turn them into a “positive” term? It’s disgusting. What’s even more disgusting is when it is acceptable among people of the same group using the same word to each other as a sign of respect.
I applaud those who are taking steps to educate today’s youth about the origin and vulgar use of the n word. No matter what race you are, there is no reason to use words like that. “Words are stronger than actions.” That is true. I think the spoken word is the strongest weapon ever created. Physical pain can heal is what I always say, but that emotional and mental pain will never go away. Never. The spoken word attacks emotionally and mentally, scarring those attacked for life. A child will forget the knee scrapes and the bruises, but call that child the n word or any other derogatory word…and they will remember it for the rest of their life. Without the proper education, we can lose hope that respect will prevail. If we do not educate the youth today about words such as the n word, they are just going to keep using without paying respect to those who died before them from that word. And that’s what make is disgusting to me.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Today's Slang Can mean You're offending a whole group of people
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17388702/?GT1=9145
We were discussing in class how the English Language is constantly changing, and we are always changing the meanings of different words. I was reading an article that I feel tied into that discussion. Slang is an ever changing informal way of the English Language. There’s politically correct terminology but then there’s just plain degrading words out there. This particular article discusses a lawsuit against a school for reprimanding a girl who used the term “that’s so gay.” Her parents claimed it was a violation of the First Amendment, and sued the school.
I don’t really want to get into the politics of that lawsuit, but I think it’s appalling nowadays how words that are used to identify a group of people are now being turned around and used as slang. Words like “queer” “gay” and the n word. I just think it’s inappropriate to make slang out of these words. It’s offending in a way to hear people calling people fags because now it also means “stupid.” Well it’s an offensive term to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. Then there are racial terms that being used instead as an insult but as another form of stupid or other words along those lines. These words are offensive! Why are we bringing them back into slang?
I hate when people use the word fag or gay in a way that means stupid around me. I would actually make my friends stop using the terms in such a way because it would upset me. Being an out lesbian, I had to deal with a lot of gay bashing growing up. Now to hear words that were used to cut me down and beat me up meaning “stupid” is just appalling to me.
I wish there was a way to stop it all, but I’m going to look at it realistically. It’s not going to happen. Let America use these, but as an individual I’m going to stop it around me. Too many people have been hurt by those words, that it’s inappropriate to used them. I honestly just don’t want to be reminded of bad times, and I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who agree with me on some level. I mean it’s weird in a way that I’m fighting for the term “gay” to remain the way it is and not mean “stupid.” But look at this way, using the word gay, you are also referring to a homosexual person and I can tell we are all not “stupid.”
We were discussing in class how the English Language is constantly changing, and we are always changing the meanings of different words. I was reading an article that I feel tied into that discussion. Slang is an ever changing informal way of the English Language. There’s politically correct terminology but then there’s just plain degrading words out there. This particular article discusses a lawsuit against a school for reprimanding a girl who used the term “that’s so gay.” Her parents claimed it was a violation of the First Amendment, and sued the school.
I don’t really want to get into the politics of that lawsuit, but I think it’s appalling nowadays how words that are used to identify a group of people are now being turned around and used as slang. Words like “queer” “gay” and the n word. I just think it’s inappropriate to make slang out of these words. It’s offending in a way to hear people calling people fags because now it also means “stupid.” Well it’s an offensive term to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. Then there are racial terms that being used instead as an insult but as another form of stupid or other words along those lines. These words are offensive! Why are we bringing them back into slang?
I hate when people use the word fag or gay in a way that means stupid around me. I would actually make my friends stop using the terms in such a way because it would upset me. Being an out lesbian, I had to deal with a lot of gay bashing growing up. Now to hear words that were used to cut me down and beat me up meaning “stupid” is just appalling to me.
I wish there was a way to stop it all, but I’m going to look at it realistically. It’s not going to happen. Let America use these, but as an individual I’m going to stop it around me. Too many people have been hurt by those words, that it’s inappropriate to used them. I honestly just don’t want to be reminded of bad times, and I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who agree with me on some level. I mean it’s weird in a way that I’m fighting for the term “gay” to remain the way it is and not mean “stupid.” But look at this way, using the word gay, you are also referring to a homosexual person and I can tell we are all not “stupid.”
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