Ugly Baby, Ugly Divorce

A few months ago a Chinese man named Jian Feng divorced and sued his wife for having an ugly baby. (No, you did not read that wrong). Feng told reporters that the child was “incredibly ugly” to the point where it “horrified” him. First, he accused his wife of cheating on him because he thought there was no way he could have helped to create such an unattractive child. He was so convinced that this child wasn’t his that he demanded a DNA test. However, the results proved that the baby girl was indeed his and that left him even more confused than he was to begin with. He wondered how he and a woman as beautiful as his wife could create such an unsightly child.

Due to the unraveling evidence, Feng’s wife eventually confessed that she had thousands of dollars worth of plastic surgery before they met. Feng then took his wife to court and sued her. His argument was that he was married under false pretenses because she deceived him into thinking she was beautiful. The crazy part is… he won and his ex-wife was ordered to give him $120,000.

I have sympathy for this woman because I could only imagine how embarrassing this was for her. However, I have to side with the man. Nobody wants to sound superficial but when we are looking for spouses, the two main things we look for are personality and physical attraction. Good looks (or decent looks) are important because it reassures someone that if they were to have a child with this person, the child would be cute. In this case, this man was misled. He obviously believed that he would have a cute child because he considered himself a decent looking man and his wife was “beautiful”. Just imagine how excited he must have been to be expecting a beautiful baby girl. Then imagine how disappointed and confused he must have been to receive the total opposite.

This is a very peculiar story and I’m sure everyone will have different opinions. What do YOU think about it all?

Spending Money You Don't Have

There’s a guy that always stops by my job, but I’ve never spoken to him until last week. One day I saw him and he looked a little down, so I asked him if he was alright. He proceeded to tell me that he was upset because he was on his way to court for missing child support payments.

Mind you, this guy is always decked out in jewelry and designer clothes and he drives a ’09 Mercedes Benz.  He’s only 21, he has a kid, he works at Starbucks and he doesn’t make illegal money on the side (so he says). Once he told me why he was upset, I looked at his clothes, his jewelry, his car and his new IPhone 5 in-hand and I just laughed. I literally could not stop my mouth from saying “Wow, you’re kinda dunce.” It was completely out of character for me to impulsively say that, so I made sure I apologized and explained myself… but I still meant it; he was stupid.

Don’t you think paying child support is a bit more important than buying an IPhone or Louis Vuitton sneakers? If this guy is a young parent and Starbucks is his only source of income, why on earth and how on earth did he have all of these expensive things? How does that add up?

Some people in our society would rather buy $300 shoes than groceries. I just don’t get it. It seems like tricking people into thinking you have money has always been the “it thing”, but why? Everyone, especially the youth should be careful with how they spend.

If you are a young parent, prioritize your spending! If you are a college student, prioritize your spending! If you don’t have money trees in your backyard, prioritize your spending! In America, folks tend to buy a bunch of things they don’t need or they buy things they do need, just the more expensive version of it. I’m not sure if it’s manipulation by the media or if it’s the need to impress people, but either way it doesn’t make any sense. Unnecessary spending always backfires on YOU so please people, just be smart.

 

NHL Lockout

The National Hockey League has now been in a lockout for 90 days and has canceled games through December 30^th. 526 games, that is the number of games that has been cancelled so far this year including, the famous Winter Classic that had only been around for five seasons but was one the biggest revenue generators the NHL had. With games getting canceled for the un-seeable future fans can only hope this lockout doesn’t end up like the one that canceled the entire 2004-2005 NHL season. So what are the reasons behind this seemingly unenviable lockout?

The reason for this lockout is because the old Collective Bargaining Agreement has expired and there was never an agreement reached for a new one between the Players Union and The Owners. During many talks and proposals it seems like the main side causing the lockout is the Commissioner  and the Owners, who want a lot more of the revenue in terms of splitting it with the Players Union. Last year the NHL revenue was 3.3 billion, which is 1.1 billion more than 2004-2005 revenue which was the year after the previous lockout. The 30 Owners know that this sport is growing and want many new restrictions on contracts and salaries caps that will benefit them and screw over the players in the end, because that’s what the Owners have always done.

Another factor going into this lockout is that the Players Union actually have a president that is trying to make things fair. For years everyone knew the Owners would get their way because the players never had a strong leader to stand up for them and make things fair. Until, former Major League Baseball Players Union President Donald Fehr decided to take his talents into hockey to take the same position. Mr. Fehr has been known for always getting his way and making things fair. As he always got his way when working in baseball for the players. So now that the Players Union actually has a voice and trying to make things fair for once. This has caused a Lockout that some people say could last for possibly two seasons.

As a hockey fan I know that this lockout will last for the season, or at least I would prefer that because if there was a season it would be too condensed and forced. I would rather see the Owners and Players Union just work on getting the NHL back for next year because with canceling games through the beginning of the year 2013 gives fans little hope for a season this year. The most demoralizing thing about this lockout is the fact that this is the second lockout in less than a decade, with the last one cancelling the entire 2004-2005 season.

What is enough?

            I work in a daycare with children and was devastated to hear the news concerning the man who went killed twenty children and seven adults in Connecticut. I cannot imagine the devastation that these families are going through and my heart goes out to all the parents who have to deal with the tragic loss of their children. Parents should never be put in a position in which they have to bury their children. What upsets me most about this whole situation is that I have long ago believed that second amendment is ridiculous and frankly quite outdated. I am tired about hearing comments concerning the government trying to infringe on people’s rights by limiting gun control. I am also tired about hearing arguments as to why limiting gun control will only harm rightful citizens because the majority of the people who commit the crimes own guns illegally so making guns illegal will not solve anything. Gun control should be restricted and individuals should not be allowed to own them. We have had many cases throughout this past year alone where guns had resulted in the senseless killing of innocent lives. Disturbed individuals who were allowed to buy a gun legally purchased them with the intent of killing and the result is that innocent people died. Children should not have to be afraid of going to school and parents should be able to send their kids to school without worrying about anything bad happening to them. Schools are supposed to be one of the few places where parents can rest assured that their children will be looked after and are in good hands. Recent events have changed this and it is almost as if people need to worry about going out anywhere at all. Events like this happen and people become too afraid to leave their own houses for fear of their own lives and their children’s lives. I hope that this shooting prompts change to happen and I hope that the change involves stricter policies involving individuals owning guns. The children who died today were innocent victims and another tragedy like this should not be allowed to happen. If restricting people’s rights to owning guns means that innocent lives are saved than I am totally in support of that. People’s lives are more valuable than the right to own arms.

The Tomorrow That Never Comes

 As an English major I have been told time and time again that the key to writing a well written paper is writing many drafts and editing them many times. Although I understand how in theory this makes sense, it is a practice I hardly ever follow. The reality of the matter is that the only time I write a rough draft of a paper is when my teacher requires me to do so. I do not find anything wrong with writing rough drafts and am sure that they help in the writing process but for me it has always been unnecessary step I have skipped whenever possible. How many of you can identify with having weeks to complete an assignment but waiting until the day before to bang it out? My friend insists that she does this because she writes better if she is under pressure and feels that her papers would not be as good if she had worked on them for a longer period of time. I find myself doing the same thing she does and waiting until the day before to write my papers not because I am foolish enough to believe the my paper turns out better written the night before, but because I am guilty of leaving things until the last possible second. Every time I have an assignment I find myself planning out the days I will use to complete it: I imagine all the drafts I will write, and the several days I will have to edit it. Throughout the course of many years I have to terms with the fact that is wishful thinking because this almost never occurs unless a teacher requires me to complete multiple drafts. The fact that I can write papers the night before and receive an A on them is the reason why I believe that I have not changed my ways. As long as this is my reality I will continue to be one of those people who leave things for the last minute because she knows she can get away with it. Completing papers in a timely and orderly fashion is fine but nothing beats the drama of cranking out a paper hours before its due and being rewarded with an A for your effort. One thing I hope to make clear is that the quality of my paper does not lessen because I chose to leave it until the last minute. I try to make sure that I produce a quality paper each and every time I turn something in because although I do not believe the grades are the end all be all I do take pride in getting good grades for the hard work I put I in.

Sports Journalism

With having an established newspaper, a variety of athletics going on, and a well-equipped Communication Arts department that has all the production necessities, why doesn’t Framingham State University offer Sports Journalism and Production core classes that specializes in covering the school’s athletic teams and events?

As a Communication Arts major who is graduating in the spring, I have seen what this department has to offer and what it could offer.  I have personally taking a production class and have thoroughly enjoyed it, as it has given me the chance to see the capabilities of the studio on campus. The studio is definitely capable of offering a nice set up for a sports talk show, but this school has no interest in doing that as they are more into performing arts.

This isn’t the only problem when talking about the lack of a Sports Journalism and Production class being offered here. The two main production professors,  Professor Robert Johnson and Professor Bowen, primarily focus on using the studio just for performing arts. Both of these professors are great teachers as I have had both of them in my journey to get my Bachelor’s Degree, but only are useful for students who are looking to pursue a career in communication performing arts .  As my time winds down at Framingham I really wish they would offer any type of Sports Production  and Jorunalism class for various reasons.

One reason is because it would get even more high school graduates and transfer students to apply here if they were looking to pursue a sports journalism or production concentration. If Framingham offered the basic classes this would allow kids to pursue a a sports journalism degree at a cheaper price as they could take their core classes here and transfer to a more prestigious sports journalism school, such as Syracuse or Emerson. The second reason is that this would spread the word and expand the knowledge of the Framingham State Athletics on and off campus as the students would have to produce video segments highlighting teams and game highlights. Right now the only publicity the sports team receives are on fsurams.com and the Gate Post. Having two well established media sources is a good start but adding a consistent video segment would help extend the knowledge of the Rams success more obtainable to the public.

I proposed this concentration of Communication Arts because now a days a lot of the Massachusetts State schools are starting to offer more and more majors. Framingham recently picked up Criminal Justice as the newest major and that attracted many new kids because it is one of the few state schools to offer. So why not add a concentration that no other state school offers and attract even more students?

If Framingham State University were to add this class to it's program, not much more would need to be added. They already have a studio and the right equipment for a student to produce a sports show here on campus. The school would have to hire a person who has been in the industry as they would able to relate to the student and teach them from personal experience.  In closing, this is a concentration that I would really like to see Framingham add but with the constant focus on the integral parts of the university such as construction and renovation of the school I do not see this happening in the near future.

Global warming and politics

Why did Conservatives deny Global Warming?  Did something happened? The Bush administration was skeptical by refusing to sign an international agreement to reduce global warming. Environmentalists, argued that the phenomenon does exist for example the average temperature have climbed 1.4 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880. The Arctic is feeling the effects the most. What is its definition/nature? The Bush administration defined global warming as naturally occurring, while environmentalists base their definition on industry-related causes. What is the Quality? Here the two parties in the issue must demonstrate where the evidence for the dangers of global warming comes from? Who stands to gain if the dangers are accepted as real and present and eventually who stands to lose. What action should be taken/Policy? For the Conservatives, nothing need to be done since global warming is a naturally phenomenon, it will correct itself in time. If, on the other hand, global warming is a clear and present threat to the quality of the atmosphere as the facts showed or environmentalist argued, then the Administration would recommend legislations to regulate global warming. The regulation could impose companies to reduce their Carbone Monoxide, and others policies to protect our environment from mass pollution.