Meta Blog Post #4

 Please assess "Middle Class Crisis"

In my first Meta-Blog Post (Bloggin' Ain't Easy), I stated that "Blogging makes me nervous. The idea of putting all my thoughts and opinions out there, for all the world to see, is enough to make my stomach turn." This has definitely changed over the course of the year. While I don't always look forward to blogging, it is something that I do not mind doing, and, most of the time, I even enjoy myself when writing one. I never get nervous about what people will think of my blogs, even though this was a primary concern of mine in the beginning of the year. I also think that I have added much more voice to my blog as well. The posts are no longer facts that simply relate to what we have learned in class, but rather they contain bits and pieces of my personality.

Throughout 4th quarter, blogging did not continue to be a top priority for me. With all the work I wasdoing for Junior Theme, it was not something that I was often thinking about, or stressing about over the weekend. I think this can be seen when one looks at my posts from earlier on in the quarter. Around the time when we were right in the middle of Junior Theme, my blog topics included Kate Middleton, and the world's hottest pepper. However, I don't necessarily believe that this is a bad thing. Blogging is supposed to be enjoyable, and when I was writing about more laid back topics, I was definitely having more fun. However, that isn't to say that I didn't blog about any serious topics. Once Junior Theme was turned in, I feel that I really stepped it up again, and punched out longer, more serious posts about topics we were discussing in class. 

The post that I am most proud of this quarter was "Middle Class Crisis!" The topic really tied into what we were discussing in class, and I was proud of the article and video that I came across. I also loved the cartoon that I added. I think that post reflects what we were learning in class well, and what I took away from it.
Overall, blogging has been a great experience! It started out shaky, but I ended up really enjoying it.

This Lawn is your Lawn

Happy Memorial Day!! Starting since 8:00am this morning, I have heard nothing but the buzzing of lawn mowers from outside my window. It's a beautiful day, so obviously everyone is outside working on their lawns. But my question is, why? What is it about people's front lawns that they find so important?
This reminds me of the book we are reading in class called The Kentucky Cycle. The book is a series of plays taking place over a hundred years on the same piece of land in Kentucky. A reoccurring theme throughout the book is the importance of land, and the impact that is has over the people that live on it. The land means everything to the characters in the book. Blood is commonly shed over it, people fight about it, marriages are ruined over it. But once again, my question is why? Why is the land so important to the characters in the book?
The first answer that pops into my mind is a status symbol. People feel that the better their front lawn looks, or the more land they own, the higher in social class they will become. This would explain why in The Kentucky Cycle, the characters fight over how much land they have, and why in modern society people are always working to improve their front lawns, or backyards. Also, even more than a hundred years ago, people have felt that the land they own reflects on them. If the land is well kept, and sprawling, it reflects well on them, but if it is overgrown, and small in size, it reflects poorly.
I wonder when this idea started. When did people begin to feel that the property they own reflects who they are as a person?
I am definitely not an expert on this subject, but I know that Remy wrote her Junior Theme on a topic just like this, so if you are interested, check out her blog!

1. Write Blog 2. Edit Blog 3. Post Blog

During class on Friday, we spent the majority of the period discussing the idea of lists. Who knew they were that important? But I was completely surprised at what I heard.
When asked, about half the class said that they loved making lists, whether it was a bucket list, or a to do list, or a goals and aspirations list. The other class said that they rarely make lists at all. I was a part of that half.

Many of the class members discussed how rewarding it was to make a list, and then complete every task on it. The minute they crossed off a task, they felt an immediate sense of accomplishment. The same went for the "bucket lists", or the list of things you want to do before you die. Many felt that crossing items off your bucket list is an extremely rewarding task.
I almost feel the exact opposite. While I can definitely see how making and completing lists may make others happy, it doesn't apply to me. Especially the idea of a bucket list. What worries me is the idea that if I make a bucket list, what if I don't get to cross off everything that is on it? What if I look back, and regret my life, because not everything was crossed off? This is why I like to do things backwards. I hold off on the list making. Instead, I wait until I accomplish something big, and then I choose to write it down to remember it. For example, I may write down getting a good grade on an essay, or going on vacation somewhere. This way, if I ever look back on my list of accomplishments, I won't feel regret for not doing something, but I will feel success for what I have already accomplished.
Whether or not a person makes lists can really tell a lot about them. I definitely learned a lot about my class members during our brief, thirty minute discussion. Next time you find yourself writing a list, stop for a minute, and think about what you are doing, and why. You may learn something new about yourself.

Me and Orson Welles

Having just watched Citizen Kane in class, I remembered seeing a trailer for a movie called Me and Orson Welles, starring Zac Efron, Christian McKay, and Claire Danes. I haven't seen it, and have no idea if it's good, bad or even accurate. But if you want to check it out, you can watch the trailer here.

No More Public Housing?

Last week during American Studies Day, I got the privilege to see former New Trier student, and now Northwestern graduate student, Molly Metzger. She spoke about the importance of public housing in Chicago, and how the Chicago Housing Authority is currently demolishing many of the public housing sites.
This ties in interestingly to our class discussions about the social class system in America. Affordable and public housing houses many people of the lower class in America, and by demolishing many of the buildings, is Chicago in a way, trying to "get rid of" the lower class?
Chicago is becoming nicer as the years go on. Expensive apartments are being built, more and more people are moving to the city, it is up and coming. Could Chicago be trying to "clean up" the city by getting rid of, or rehabilitating the public housing?
It is definitely a possibility, and in my opinion, the idea isn't too far-fetched. However, the demolition of public housing is an increasing problem, as many residents are being moved out of their homes unwillingly. In 2010, 232,000 people applied for public housing, with only 40,000 slots available. It is a problem that clearly needs to be addressed. These apartments are homes, and by destroying them, we could be destroying lives.
The image to the right is Cabrini-Green, one of the public housing apartment buildings that have been demolished.

Middle Class Crisis!

The issues of social class have been a huge topic of discussion for the past few weeks in class, and one of the topics we have been discussing is the idea that it is very hard for a person to change class. For example, it would be very difficult for a person of lower class to go to middle class, or middle to upper. The class systems are very strict that way. However, after recently reading an article I found on Yahoo! about the middle class, I learned that this is not the case.

The article, which you can read here, describes how people of middle class are facing serious economic problems. The article states that "Middle-income jobs have been replaced by low-income jobs, which now make up 41% of total employment.", and "17 million Americans with college degrees are doing jobs that require less than the skill levels associated with a bachelor's degree." These are frightening statistics.The fact that low income jobs now make up almost half of total employment proves that middle and upper income jobs are extremely hard to come by, and keep. Even more, 17 million Americans with college degrees are doing jobs that require less than the skill levels you earn with a bachelor degree. In class, we have been discussing how higher education is commonly associated with upper and middle class, however, if people with a college education are working in lower income jobs, with a lesser skill level, that is certainly changing.
The article comes with a video, and many other sobering statistics, and I encourage you to check it out. It really stuck out to me that people in the middle class are growing closer to lower class, clearly demonstrating that recently it has become much easier for a person to change class, more often for the worse.

Class Hole

This week in American Studies we have been discussing the issues of social class, especially what class is like on the North Shore. One thing that I found particularly interesting was when we were talking about the North Shore, and people who lived in it, it was hard for them to categorize themselves into a class. The choices were "Upper, Middle, and Lower". About 1/4 of the class  chose that they were middle class.
When you look around the North Shore, it seems pretty clear that it is an upper class neighborhood. The houses are large, the neighborhoods are beautiful, it seems obvious. However, for people that live here, it is harder to see. Personally when I think of Upper class citizens, I picture the East Coast, sprawling mansions, private planes etc. I certainly don't see myself in that category. But in relation to the rest of the country, we are. We discussed in class that the factors leading into social class are occupation, education, income, and wealth. These can be hard to determine from just looking at a neighborhood, but when you look at the North Shore in relation to those statistics, it becomes pretty well known that it is indeed an upper class neighborhood. In fact, Forbes.com rated Kenilworth, IL, the 2nd most affluent neighborhood in the country. You can read the article here.
While the North Shore is in no means composed of entirely upper class citizens, it is easy to argue that majority of the people living there are. It is in some ways a Class Hole, it lacks class diversity.

Junior Theme....

Going over my peer edits, I've learned that I'm having a hard time providing quotes and analyzing them. It's really easy to just pop a quote in and be done with it...but it's the explaining that's the hard part. And then you have to throw in empathy for the reader which makes it even harder! Thank goodness it's due Monday.
But as hard as empathy for the reader is, it is so beneficial to a paper. Everyone is writing about such interesting topics, but it's important to keep in mind that they are topics no one else really knows about or understands. And you are the one that has to teach them. I've tried to keep this in mind as I've been writing, but it's easier said than done. Between providing empathy for the reader, and keeping my paper between the page limit, it's been a struggle. Hopefully with a little more work though, I will be able to finish it!

P.S. Happy Easter!

Junior Theme Post #...?

With just a few days left to go with Junior Theme, the writing process has gotten more intense, but I am actually somewhat enjoying it. I think it is important when writing a paper like this, that you focus on something you care about, rather than just something you think will be a good paper topic. I know for me, it made my paper a lot more fun and interesting to research, and spend so much time focusing on.
I know I've mentioned this before, but it's still been a challenge shortening my paper to the allowed space...5-7 pages. After weeks of researching, there is so much that I want to include, but I have to cut back on. While it's difficult, I understand that it's really for empathy for the reader, and by shortening my paper, I am making it easier to read and understand. While I may have a lot of knowledge on my topic, it's important to understand that the reader may not, and I have to make my paper as clear as possible.
But it's exciting to know that in a week or so I will be completely finished!

Jelly Bean That Looks Like Kate Middleton

During another one of my quick junior theme breaks, I came across this article about a jelly bean that looks like Kate Middleton, its pretty cool. Check it out!!!

Click here to read the article!

THE WORLD'S HOTTEST PEPPER

With everyone writing their junior themes on hot topics in America, I figured I would blog about one hot topic as well. I just found out that a new pepper has been crowned as the world's hottest pepper! WOW!!! The Naga Viper had previously held the crown for the pepper with the most heat, but this is no longer the case. The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T. is now the world's hottest pepper.
Some people may wonder, isn't taste subjective? Won't everyone have a different opinion about whether or not a pepper is the hottest? I know I thought this, but there is actually a scale to measure the heat of peppers! It's called the Scoville Scale, and it measures peppers "by tracking the presence of a chemical compound in chilis" Who knew??
The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T. measure at 1.46 million heat units on the scale, which is one spicy pepper! In case you're wondering, the average Jalapeno falls at around 5,000 heat units.  Many of you may be laughing, but I am serious, this pepper is hot. When making salsa used with the pepper, they have to wear body suits and chemical masks to protect themselves from the dangerous fumes.
I think it's important that everyone takes a break and has time to relax when writing their junior theme. Today, my break was reading about the new Trinidad Scorpion Butch T. pepper, and it was wonderful. So if you ever find yourself stressed, and in need of something to do, don't be afraid to just look around on the internet. You may find something really interesting!
You can read the full article here.

High Five/Junior Theme Post #2

Over spring break I've been trying to make a dent in some of the books and articles I plan to read for my junior theme. I've read about a book and a half so far, and numerous articles, and I've found myself bombarded with loads of information that I don't know what to do with. I'm sure others have come across this problem as well. I know what I want my paper to be about, and I want to include almost everything I've learned, but it is so hard to narrow all the information down and squeeze it into 5-7 pages...double spaced. It's not that I have started to write my paper, not even close, but even this early on in the process I'm worried about how I am going to organize everything, which information I am going to include, and which information I am going to leave out. I believe that this is the hardest part about writing any kind of paper. It's easy to just write down everything you know about the topic, but narrowing it down is the hard part.
As we have consistently stated in class, it is so important to have empathy for the reader, and if someone provides too many facts, quotes, figures etc. in their paper, it becomes overwhelming. This is what is so challenging for me. My topic is so broad, and can be looked upon in so many different ways that I don't know how I am going to decide what information I want to add, and how I want to organize it. I'm sure many people are going through the same problem, but it's definitely going to be a struggle.

On a lighter note, the High Five Choir was featured on NBC Nightly News tonight with Brian Williams! It was broadcast at five-thirty, but the video is online, and you can watch it here. Just click on the Making a Difference tab!

High Five on Channel Five!!

Hey everyone! Tune in to channel five today, during Brian William's Nightly News at 5:30 to see New Trier's High Five Choir! We will be featured on the Make a Difference segment during the last five minutes. DVR IT!!

Meta Blog Post

Please look at "Slavery Film Controversy in Winnetka"

Junior Theme Post #1

Last Monday our class began research on one of the most daunting junior year projects of them all...Junior Theme. We had to come up with four or five "why" questions about American issues that we wanted to research. One of my questions that I came up with originally was "why do Americans continue to be intolerant of people with disabilities?" I thought this was a good question, there was a lot that I could research on it historically, but then a few problems arose. I was faced with the task of coming up with a modern example of such intolerance, which was difficult to find. One example I came up with was the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign, a campaign that I recently blogged about aimed at stopping the use of the r-word. But this campaign alone was not enough to base my whole paper off of.
At first, I was extremely frustrated that I could not find an example of modern day intolerance. While I know there still is intolerance today, there was no big event that I could base my paper on. But then I began to realize that this is not such a bad thing. Clearly there has been much improvement with the treating of individuals with disabilities. America has taken great strides in the understanding, and awareness of physical and mental disabilities. People with disabilities are landing roles on tv shows, and in movies, campaigns like Spread the Word are taking place, and more and more opportunities keep coming for people with special needs.

Beckham's Baby Surprise vs. Japan Disaster

Today I was on the front page of Yahoo while going to check my email. As I looked at the recent news, one of the first articles that popped up was about David Beckham and his wife Victoria, and how they are expected a baby. Don't get me wrong, this isn't bad news, but I was surprised that it was paired right next to an article about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It seemed to me that stories of the natural disasters in Japan would be given more coverage than recent celeb baby news.
It definitely makes me wonder what is considered important news. The death toll in Japan is continuously climbing, hundreds of thousands of people are evacuating, but still, many people feel that the personal life of their favorite celebrities takes the cake over groundbreaking news. I feel that the country should be more aware of what is going on around them, and while Japan is certainly getting a lot of coverage, I feel they should be getting more. Next time you're on Yahoo, or any news site for that matter, look around and see what the top stories are. You may be surprised at what you find.

Spread the Word to End the Word

I know that Jenn has recently blogged about this, but it's such an important campaign that I thought I would blog about it as well. Spread the Word to End the Word was a campaign that took place on March 2nd, and it's message is to stop the use of the word "retarded". This word is not only hurtful to people with mental and physical disabilities, but it is insulting to their friends, and family, as well.
In a recent study, it was calculated that the "r-word" is used once every three seconds on twitter. If it is used that often of twitter, it must be used more by people in everyday conversation. This is a staggering statistic and needs to be changed. Next time you hear the word being said, make it clear that it is offensive, so hopefully in the future it won't be used.

For more information, check out http://www.r-word.org/

College Quandary

Big school, little school? East coast, west coast? Private school, public school? These are questions millions of high school juniors have recently been bombarded with as the search for colleges begins. Speaking of beginnings, I don't know where to start. My college counselor meeting is approaching in a few weeks, and I am faced with a task of coming up with a list of schools that I feel I may want to attend. I know I'm not the only one, my twin brother, and everyone else at school is faced with this task as well. But that doesn't make it any easier. But my question is, why does it have to be so hard?
Ultimately, it's a huge decision. I would say it's almost one of the biggest decisions of your life. So you definitely want to make the right decision, but there is no guarantee. There is no way of knowing that the school you choose is going to be right for you. At some point, you just have to make a decision and take the leap, like jumping out of an airplane with the parachute that you packed yourself.
In the end, you just have to take a chance, and eventually that's what it's all about. Making an informed decision, and hoping for the best.
Who knows what will happen, but talk to me two years from now and I'll let you know.

Slavery Film Controversy in Winnetka

After skimming through an edition of the TribLocal, I found an article that jumped out at me because of it's headline. It read: "Slavery film controversy results in District 36 policy change." This jumped out at me because it reminded me of recent Huckleberry Finn controversies we have been discussing in class. However, this article was about a movie shown, rather than a book read.
A couple of weeks ago, a fourth grade class at a middle school in Winnetka was shown a movie called "The Middle Passage", a movie about the journey Africans were forced to take to North and South America. The movie depicts the journey in a very realistic way, resulting in some intense scenes. Some parents were infuriated, calling the scenes "too intense for youngsters". One parent stated of the movie, "it's so off limits, I can't even talk about it, it infuriates me so much". However, other parents were completely supportive of the movie being shown. One mom sarcastically stated "About 20 million Africans were taken from homes and families and sold into slavery...but the real tragedy, really and seriously, is that a privileged little girl from Winnetka had to see some scary pictures of it".
I personally believe in this point. Growing up on the North Shore, we are immediately sheltered from so many things happening all around us, but we shouldn't have to be sheltered from what has already happened. I understand some parent's concerns that their children were just too young to be shown this material, but I wonder when the right age would be? Our past defines our country, and there is no need to be sheltered from it

Les Miserables

Last Thursday, Hayley and I got the opportunity to go see the production of Les Miserables with our chorus class downtown. New Trier is putting on the show in March, so it was really incredible to be able to see a professional production of it. But while we were watching the show, something really stood out to us. The role of Jean Valjean, who is usually portrayed as a white man, was black in the show. We thought this really corresponded to what we were learning in class, especially with our talks about the civil rights movement.

In the show, Jean Valjean begins as an outcast. He is an ex convict, and though he is trying to get his life together, no one will help him because of his past. It was so interesting to us to see this role played by someone black, because because much like in the civil rights movement, the black character was an outcast and denied of certain freedoms because of his past. In the play, he was denied pay, food, shelter, and so much more simply because of his past in jail. But in the end, he overcomes and becomes very successful. However, he was not the only black actor in the cast. The role of Eponine was also played by an African American woman. This character as well is an outcast, a woman that nobody loves. It was interesting to make the connection that the two characters in the show acted by African American cast members were the two characters that were outcasted the most.

Race to the Oscars

It's that time of year again, and the 83rd Annual Academy Awards are right around the corner. Many movies and actors have created "Oscar Buzz" this year, with nominees including Natalie Portman, Jesse Eisenberg, and James Franco, just to name a few. However, this year is a little different. None of the actors nominated are black. This is the first time that this has happened in over a decade, according to an article I stumbled across. To read the full article, click here.
I thought that this article, and situation, was extremely relevant to what we have been discussing in class. The topic of racial tokenism has come up quite often as we have been reading the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As we finished the book, we discussed Huck's redemptive arc, and whether or not Huck has grown at all throughout the year. As a class, we came upon a quote on page 230, where Huck states "I knew he was white on the inside" (referring to his companion Jim). By saying this line, it seems as though Huck has not grown, and is still back to his racist ways. And by comparing this line to the recent Oscar controversy, it makes me wonder if we have grown at all. By not having any black actors nominated this year, is it safe to say that America is still partial to one race?
I don't think so. While many people are discussing what this year's list of nominees really means, I honestly believe that it is nothing more than a list of talented actors. Black actors have been nominated in the past, and have won. And so have white actors. The nominations are nothing more than a list of noteworthy performances, and should not be perceived as anything more.

Everything but the Game

Today as I'm sure everyone knows is the Superbowl XLV (!) between the Green Bay Packers, and the Steelers. It's a super hyped up event, as last year over 106 million people tuned in to watch.  I'm sure many of the people are tuning in to actually watch the game, but a good percent of the people are only watching for the commercials. Since the beginning of the Superbowl in 1966, it has become increasingly media based, rather than based on the actual game. The program is advertised by the quality commercials shown in between plays, and the over the top, entertaining half time show, this year featuring the Black Eyed Peas. It has become so focused on commercials that many cable channels have begun broadcasting programs featuring the "Best Superbowl Commercials of All Time". The question is, why has the Superbowl become so focused on the media, rather than the actual game? The most obvious answer is money. Since hundreds of millions of people are watching, companies spend millions of dollars creating the best advertisement possible. But is this really necessary? Will people really wish to spend their money more on a company that featured Justin Bieber in their commercial, versus a company that didn't? While watching the game, it will be interesting to think about whether or not the over the top commercials actually attract costumers, and whether or not they are worth it.

Pretty Women

This week in class, we were discussing the role of women in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. One of the main themes that we came up with was the idea of the word Lady, versus the word Woman. As a class, we decided that the word Lady has a connotation of delicate, polite, refined, and ornamental, and that the word Woman seemed stronger, and less delicate.This reminded me of a song that I remembered hearing in the musical Sweeney Todd, called "Pretty Women". The song somewhat contrasts what we came up with in class, because rather than using the word Lady, it uses the word Woman with a delicate, ornamental connotation. Here is an excerpt of some of the lyrics:
Pretty women
Fascinating...
Sipping coffee,
Dancing... 
Sitting in the window or
Standing on the stair
Something in them chills the air.
In this song, and much throughout Huck Finn, women are objectified. Rather than being praised for their intelligence or personality, they are praised by looking good. This can be seen on page 124 of the book, where Huck describes a woman as looking like "the most loveliest parasol". I think that we can still see examples of this kind of objectification towards women today. If you look around you can see cases of this objectification in movies, television shows, and music videos. I'm not saying that this angers me beyond belief or makes me disgusted with men, but it's interesting to wonder why women have always been portrayed this way.

Whatever happened to English and Social Studies??

Last night, as I'm sure almost everyone knows, President Obama delivered the annual State of the Union Address. To read the full text of the speech, Click Here.
Throughout the speech, Obama constantly discussed the current issue of education. According to the speech, America has fallen to "ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree", and the President feels that America must do better than that. I completely agree with what he is saying, the quality of education is a major issue in the country, and it is something that needs to change.
Obama also stressed the importance of teachers, but most notably he talked about teachers of math and science. He stated "we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math. (Applause.)" The question that instantly popped into my mind after he said this was "What about English, or Social Studies, or arts? Why are math and science suddenly the most important subjects?"
I'm personally not a fan of either of the two, so maybe I'm biased, but it seems to me that other subjects taught in school are equally as important. Perhaps many people feel that students taught in the subjects of math and science will somehow be more beneficial to society, that they will be quicker to stop global warming, or save the world. I don't think this is the case, I think students taught in other subjects have just as great of a chance to be beneficial to society, which makes me wonder why the President chose to only reference those two subjects.

Meta-Blog Post

Please Assess Secrets, Secrets are No Fun, Unless They are for Everyone

Last quarter, in my meta-blog post, I mentioned that "Blogging makes me nervous." I guess I could say that in some cases that is still true, but for the most part, I think my blogs have really improved this quarter! In my opinion, over the course of a quarter, I began to write posts that interested me, not just posts that I thought would tie well into class. For example, in my post titled Secrets, Secrets are No Fun, Unless They are for Everyone, I wrote about political issues and wartime, two subjects that rarely catch my interest. It was a big change from my normal blogs about pop culture issues. However, I was so excited to write the post because it was finally a political subject that did interest me, and I was able to make some really cool connections into what we were learning in class. (Not only that, but I got a total of 4 comments on that post...an all time record!!!)
Another way that my blogs have changed from the past quarter was that they became more frequent. Rather than simply blogging once a week, I began blogging more often, on subjects that caught my eye. This really changed my outlook on blogging, because instead of writing because I had too, I blogged because I wanted too. That is a big change from last quarter.
In some cases, blogging still makes me nervous because I never know how my opinions will resonate with other people. But I think for the most part, I am becoming much more confident with my posts, and I hope that will only improve in the quarter to come.

New Huck Finn Controversy!

Today as I was skimming through Perez Hilton.com (possibly my favorite website of all time), I came across something that surprisingly enough was not celebrity related, but was actually about the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As most of you know, we are currently reading the book in class, so I clicked on the article as fast as I could to learn more. As it turns out, a decision was made to edit the 'N Word' out of the entire book, and there has been much controversy about that decision.
Mr. O'Connor mentioned in class that the word is used somewhere around 217(?) times in the book, so clearly, the book would be significantly altered. Alan Gribben, who is in charge of the change, also stated that they will be removing the word 'Injun' from the book. These words will be replaced with the word 'slave'.
Gribben defends his decision by stating that "Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century." In my opinion, the word should not be removed. It is, in a way, altering history by changing the way that the story is told to make it more appealing, or politically correct to others.  However, others completely agree with the decision Gribben has made, and feel that the book should be edited.
To read the full article Click Here

The Age Old Question

Since most of my winter break was spent with me sprawled on the couch watching movies, it was no surprise that I made a connection to one of those movies today in class. Today, we were discussing the controversial subject of when a child officially becomes an adult. It reminded me of a movie I watched one afternoon over break called My One and Only. This movie centers on the life of a recently single mother, struggling to find a new husband that can support her family.
The main plot of the movie is that this newly single mother (Renee Zellweger) feels that she cannot raise her two boys without the help of a husband, so she sets out on a quest to find one. There is a line in the movie that made me think of class today. She is talking to her ex husband, and he asks her if she loves him anymore. She responds by saying "I don't know, but I do know I don't NEED you anymore."
I think at this point in the movie, the mother finally reached adulthood. Though she was much older than eighteen, and would have been considered an adult by many others, she finally realized that she could live her life without relying on someone else to help her, and to me, that made her an adult.
Now, I'm not saying this is the case for everyone. Everyone is different, and everyone reaches adulthood at different times and under different circumstances. Some may argue that adulthood is simply reached when one turns 18, or moves out of the house. I personally feel there is no set date. But it brings up a good question: Is there a certain time when every person reaches adulthood?