Not Current Event Related

I thought up this blog topic when Mr. O'Connor was promoting the annual literary festival. After giving us a brief description of the event and running through the lineup, he expressed his appreciation for our hectic schedules but reminded us that some experiences are worth making time for. It might seem a bit ridiculous, but Mr. O'Connor's last words actually left me thinking, "OOOO right right, sometimes it's ok to do interesting things even if you're busy". Then I tried to recall past instances where I ignored an exciting opportunity under the assumption that I had too much work to do. I can think of two examples in the past month alone: Dana Boyd and Lagniappe. My regret led me to realize what I'm actually missing when I mindlessly reject these opportunities: cultural and artistic enrichment. I began to wonder why, when confronted with an enthralling event, it had become my initial reaction to assume I'd be too busy to go.

I think alot of New Trier students react the same way. Is the academically rigorous environment surrounding us to blame? Have we been broken to ignore anything that can't be put on a college application? Have we exchanged our instinctual lust for knowledge with a cut-throat ambition to achieve academic success?

POST

Emotional Intelligence and more

For the first time in my blogging career I was inspired to make a post about an issue that I didn't discover on yahoo.com. Infact, I wasn't even planning to make a blog post when I sat down in front of the computer. I was meandering about psychologytoday.com and came across an article titled, "What Emotional Intelligence Is and Is Not".

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-personality-analyst/200909/what-emotional-intelligence-is-and-is-not

I was fascinated by this article as a whole, but the segment titled, "Is EI a Better Predictor of Success than IQ?" interested me the most. The context didn't particularly enthrall me, it merely debunked the media's propagation that emotional intelligence is infact a better predictor of success than IQ. The title itself inspired me to research other kinds of intelligence and figure out what the best predictor of success actually is. I did some research on a Harvard professor named Dr. Howard Gardner and his theory of multiple intelligences.

http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences

He believed that the traditional idea of intelligence (IQ, book smarts, ect) is far too limiting and does not give a rounded assessment of an individuals intelligence. He proposed eight different intelligences

	Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"):
	Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")
	Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")
	Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart")
	Musical intelligence ("music smart")
	Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")
	Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")
	Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")

I think that modern day schools primarily develop/evaluate linguistic and logical intelligence. Therefore, students who are particularly well endowed with these forms of intelligence are misled to believe that they are guaranteed success.

Wal-Mart

I was looking around for a blog topic on the internet and came across an article comparing the positives and negatives of Wal-Mart. Apparently there's alot of bad things about Wal-Mart, "Suppliers claim that its persistent pressure to lower prices has led to bankruptcies, closed plants and lost jobs. It imports so much product from China it's been blamed for the growing U.S. trade deficit there. It's been accused of sexual discrimination, gender discrimination, child-labor violations, anti-Semitism, employing undocumented immigrants, denying overtime wages, dodging taxes, excessive pollution and, of course, general thuggishness." Numerous books have been written to exploit the dark side of Wal-Mart rarely seen by the public. There was a popular documentary made called, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" that effectively alerted the public to the deceitfulness of Wal-Mart. I think a corporation as massive as Wal-mart, that employs over 2.4 million people, could not possibly avoid unethical conduct at all times in everyone of its locations. It is simply too big. Does that mean that Wal-Mart is a dysfunctional company? Is management the problem? What should be done to correct the problems? Would shutting Wal-Mart down solve anything, or would another company rise up and act the same way? People also complain about Wal-Mart shipping large amounts of product from sweatshops overseas, "It imports so much product from China it's been blamed for the growing U.S. trade deficit there" which is indeed a problem. It makes me seriously question our nation's code of ethics. Our we so dependent on the low price and convince of Wal-Mart that we will continue to ignore this issue? If more people were educated on the defects of Wal-Mart would fewer people shop there? In this time of economic recession can we afford to challenge a giant like Wal-Mart? BLOG Y'ALL


http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/why-you-should-hate-wal-mart.aspx


http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/809/ (relevant and hilarious)

Swine Flu Vaccination (Fear)

A few months back everyone was freaking out about the Swine Flu. You may remember. A few deaths were reported and mass panic ensued. Still, even though cases of swine flu were appearing in our own neighborhood, the fear diminished in a few weeks. Since last Spring's panic I hadn't much about Swine Flu until today when I read an article about country wide vaccinations for the virus. This immediately made me think of a book I started a few days ago called The Science of Fear. The book explains how developed nations are increasingly becoming more worrisome and panic-stricken due to irrational threats. In the first few chapters the author lists predictions made by several respected sociologists that society's irrational fear will doom man-kind within the next hundred years. I began to wonder if the production of a vaccination for Swine Flu had begun simply because of irrational fear. I think that if Swine Flue were a serious threat, media coverage wouldn't have ceased over the past few months. I have heard that Swine Flu is as much a threat as the common flu. Infact, more people die each year from the common flu than from Swine Flu. I can't help but wonder if this is a step on the irrational fear ladder to self-caused destruction. Could we be doing more harm by creating this vaccination than would be done if we did not? Are we merely supporting the fear epidemic that has slyly corrupted our society? POST!

Swine Flu Vaccination Article -

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091005/ap_on_he_me/us_med_healthbeat_swine_flu_q_a;_ylt=AgRXxE_NkLdIg.19pIbmPPes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNoNjBzcDkyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDA1L3VzX21lZF9oZWFsdGhiZ
WF0X3N3aW5lX2ZsdV9xX2EEY3BvcwM1BHBvcwMyBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWM
DeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDc3dpbmVmbHV2YWNj