About me...

I was Born in Amman, Jordan March 1st, 1989. I moved to the United States when I was 5 because of my dads job. Soon after I moved to Canada and stayed there long enough to become Canadian.I moved to Memphis when I was in the 7th grade. My first day of school at Germantown Middle was September 11th. I have two brothers and one sister. The oldest brother and my sister are twins. I had another brother before them, but he died when he was a week old. Germantown Highschool was where I stayed for four years. I decided to go to University of Memphis because my family and I really like it here. I visit Jordan once every year or two and I miss my family there but I'm used to life here. My sister recently got married on March 7th and she still lives in Memphis. The only job I've had was at Banana Republic, I really enjoyed working there. Since I do not visit Jordan as much as I'd like, my grandparents come and visit us from time to time. I used to have a cat named Maya that we brought with us from Canada, she died from our garage door. My love for animals, especially cats drove me to get another one. Now my new cat's name is Tiger and I absolutely adore him. I'm billingual in both English and Arabic and I try to make sure I don't forget either language. When I was little I was really into sports, especially soccer so I played recreational soccer till highschool,then I quit. Then I played on my school's team freshman year. Now that I am almost done my freshman year of college,I am excited to finish the next few years at The University Of Memphis.

Research Paper: Titanic

Even though I'd rather not mention my research paper or think about it because it's such a pain, I will. My research paper is on the movie The Titanic. The reason I wanted to write about this movie is because it's been my all time favorite movie since I was young and both the love story and the music was compelling for me.
Although there is some historical significance of this movie, which would be the whole ship disaster, I don't want to focus on that in my paper. Rather I want to focus on the love story between Jack and Rose because for me, that was the highlight of the movie and that is what spiced up the whole movie. Their love story was very common, you know rich girl falls in love with that poor boy who is madly in love with her, off course forgetting the fact that she is engaged. There are several arguments that I noticed about my topic. The first argument is that several critics thought that the movie had no depth and that it lacked values. I disagree with that because it showed viewers that love disregards class or wealth and that the "unsinkable" can sink, againest all odds. Those were the two lessons that I think that movie taught us....I can agree on the fact that the whole love scenario that happend on the Titanic is very common and nothing new. Typical poor boy, rich girl drama.
What I like best about the movie is the love story. I like how it happend, how Jack saved Rose's life and how he showed her how to have fun regardless of class. It seemed like she had the perfect life and that she had the greatest fiance but we fail to see her inner suffering. Jack brings out the joy and the fun child in her. I want to focus on that part of the movie and perhaps examine how often and how common it was for this stuff to happen back at that time and what the consquences are. I might research how important class was for people back in that time and how the regarded this.

More about Me...

Eversince I can remember I've been reading. Usually it's because of in school assignments that the teacher gives us in English class, but sometimes and not too frequently, it's because of my own interest. Now that I think about it, even the books I was required to read were pretty interesting. One book I read and enjoyed in highschool was"The Scarlett letter." Even though it was about the bad sinners in our society, it caught my attention to see how adultry was unheard of and extremely horrible back then, but commonly accepted in our society today. The differences in people's moral expectations were so different then they are today and that was something that interested me.
Other books I read in Highschool didn't really catch my attention as much...they were all so BLAH nothing out of the extreme or unexpected... I remember when I was younger I'd always be caught reading a book ( usually Marykate and Ashley adventure books) or Goosebumps mystery books. Now I pick up books about different religions because I like to know something about everything. Right now I'm reading a book about Prophet Muhammad and his life and teachings. One of my favorite books is the Quran.....and I've always been curious to see if the Quran and the Bible are really that different. Sure they have several main differences, but also so many things alike.
Writing is something I enjoy doing. I know it sounds corny but I've owned a journal since I was in middleschool and I still like looking back at day to day events that put a smile on my face now. I remember writing about the stupidest things, things that I would now classify as being a waste of time and paper. Looking back at them now I don't regret writing anything down because it is all good memories of my past. My major, Journalism, requires a lot of writing. I new I wanted to pursue that as my major because it allowed me to express any and all of my thoughts about any subject, the way I wanted to. In Highschool I was one of the editiors for my newspaper class and I enjoyed every bit of it. I got to write stories of my own, edit them and lay out the pages for my section.
When I read books now, either for school or for my own pleasure, I tend to write little notes on the side if it's something I want to remember or keep in mind. Sometimes If i'm not really into the book, and I could care less about what's being told, I'll skim through it and I won't even bother to leave notes on the side. The more interested I am, the more notes I leave.
Besides reading and writing I have several other boring, useless hobbies :) I enjoy cooking and doing little crafts on my free time. First of all I don't think I told much about myself. I'm 19, I was born in Amman, Jordan in MidEast, obviously. I moved to the United States when I was 5. I've also lived in Canada for several years. ( I'm Canadian and Jordanian). I have two brothers, one who is twins with my only sister, and another who is a redhead ( I know). My sister got married March 8th..and other than my immediate family, I don't have other relatives in Memphis. I'm billingual, I speak English and Arabic fluently. I have an adorable cat named Tiger and I drive a blue PT Cruiser... Speaking of reading and writing, I also like to read stories, newspaper articles and magazines in Arabic. Since I left Jordan with like 1st grade education I had to teach myself how to read and write the language(and the help of my parents). I think that's another way I push myself to read, because I don't want to forget my language.

Movie Review

The first movie review, "The Assasination of Jesse James" was written in a negative tone. The critic obviously wasn't very fond the movie and thought that it had a bad idea to even watch it because it was all about a cold murderer. Why would we spend time making a movie on someone who was well known for his bad past? I agree with the critic, I mean this is like reinforcement I think because it's like we're rewarding him for his actions. The movie was about Jesse James life from beginning to end...Even though I don't know who Jesse James is or anything about him I got the impression that he was a bad bad who didn't deserve all the attention and fame that he got. The critic didn't really focus on the film's techniques rather more on the theme and story behind the film. To me it seemed like he wasn't paying much attention to what a critic should pay attention to, he just didn't like Jesse James. If I wanted to see this movie, seeing this review would not help me decide if it was a "well done" film, but it would just tell me background information.
The "Kingdome" review was probably my favorite. It caught my attention because it stood out from the rest. The critic didn't just stick to one fact he compared and contrasted different movies and I thought he generalized things. From his tone I could also sence that he didn't want people to view this film, and that he didn't really like it. The tactic he used was to put a stamp on films. By that I mean he said if you've watched this or that then that's exactly what this is and it's nothing new. Why would he say that? I think that every film is unique and no matter how close the settings or themes are, every film is different.
Overall I didn't think the reviews did anything for me. I wasn't given any valuable information about what I was going to expect other than the bad actors and how I've probably seen somthing like it before. The problem is that everytone is bias. Each critic has their own opinion and behind that opinion is a reason and a certain point of view directd towards a certain group or person. For a review to be successful I think it needs to disregard the main focus on the actors and look into the film's technical side.

Yellow Wallpaper

The "Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of a kind. The story consisted of essay entries written by a lady with a strange illness. Her Husband John, who was a physician, seemed to be a controlling person. She described him as someone who told her she that she wasn't capable of doing other than sitting around at home. It almost seemed that he was the type of person who knew something was wrong with his wife, but denied it, and also denied taking steps to help her get better. The lady spent a lot of her time at home, which her husband believed was the best place for her to rest in. With all that time on her hands the lady kept writing to ease her pain. More than once she mentions how she is confined to her house and how much she wishes to leave it and do somthing fun for a change. I think the message this essay is trying to convey is for people with any illness or disorder to not give up on their life,that there are other ways to manage life with such a problem. The lady stays in a room with old yellow wallpaper covering the walls.
She is really annoyed by it but soon after she becomes fascinated with the unique patterns and day by day she starts to believe that there is a woman trapped behind it and that she was the reason for making the patterns change the way they did.The lady also believed that the woman could see her and even watched her outside of her window. It was really really weird to find out that the "wallpaper woman" was actually the same sick woman we were introduced to in the beginning of the story. I honestly didn't think of that, at all.
That was interesting, but yet again very odd. For her the wallpaper was both a way to waste time and do somthing and also a huge annoyance. Even after reading it I really don't understand the symbols in this journal, anyone have a clue? Overall though, this made me think outside the box.

Interesting Ads....

This was a nice change, rather than read articles we saw Ads! They all caught my attention, each one in it's own unique way. The Ad that really caught my attention was the Dove commercial. The girl went from looking slightly "unattractive" and insecure to a striking Billboard Model. It amazed me to see how far people went to perfect the outside appearance to what is accepted and thought of as beauty. Why couldn't the girl be put on the billboard in her original form? I understand her putting on makeup and I don't think there is anything wrong with that but they exaggerated it. The makeup obviously wasn't enough so they had to turn to picture workshops to play around with her features. After viewing it I was reassured that our society cared a great deal about the outter appearance of women, but I was relieved to know that Dove also saw something wrong with it.
The Obsession commercial was so typical. They put a little picture of the perfume at the end of a 5 minute seduction session between man and woman. At first I didn't know what they were trying to sell because there was nothing there to set it apart from any other Ad. It wasn't a very strong Ad but overall it was okay because I liked the perfume :)
The Playstation vs. Wii commercial was ridiculous but true. I know absolutely nothing about these games but I know one thing, this commercial was a little biased. I felt like it aided the Wii girl more than the Playstation one because she was more attractive ( not to mention barely clothed). The Playstation lady was actually stating strong, solid facts while the airheaded Wii girl was merely there for the show. Once again, the more attractive = the better. What if i was really interetested in the products and I wanted to know which was better, this Ad would be of no help.
The Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercial was cute...(even though I had to squint a little to see it because it was so old). This is what I call old fashioned! I like how it has sweet and simple.Nothing vulgar or sexual, just a little girl talking to cute cartoon chefs about how wonderful the cereal is! I think this is the type of commerical that I miss seeing on TV because now commercials are far too loud and obnoxious.

Valuable Speeches...

Booker T. Washington's speech, "Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are" was probably the most interesting article out of the three because I agree with both his thoughts and actions. He wanted both races to come together and work out their differences to get along in society. At first I thought it was weird that he was speaking in such a calm and polite tone because his people had been so degraded and mistreated. This showed me how wise his outlook on life was. He didn't want to get revenge on the white people, rather he wanted to create equality between them. He seemed interesting so I did a quick search on him and was surprised to learn that he went to Franklin High highschool, not to learn but to carry books for James Burroughs's daughters. (http://www.nps.gov/archive/bowa/btwbio.html). If I was turned down an education, and forced to carry other students book then I think my whole "peace process" with the white race would be the exact opposite of Booker T. Washingtons. I'm not saying that is the right way to do it, but I don't think I have the patience that he has to talk things out.
Elizabeth Stanton's "The Solitude of Self" was also interesting. It didn't shock me to find out that women were also degraded and treated differently than men. It was nice to know that things were being done and that a few people were taking steps to change things for the better. The speech itself was long and descriptive so that kinda put me to sleep.. I skipped around here and there to get the idea of what she was saying. Overall it made me realize that womens rights have progressed a lot since back then.
Mr. Abraham Lincoln's "The Gettysburg Address" speech wasn't about anything specefic it just mentioned that all people need to unite and notice how much was sacrificed for the countrys freedom during the Civil War. I felt that this speech wasn't addressing a certain group of people or a certain race, it was addressed to the people of the country....My favorite speech had to be Booker T. Washington's but all three had great depth.

What's so wrong with a black president?

Greg Gutfield sure has the guts to say what he said about black presidents. Who is he to set the "ideal" president for our people? Like all people, he has the right to have his own opinion, but with an opinion one should back it up with facts and reasons. Especially when he is so againest Obama and people of his "kind". We have had black presidents before, it isn't anything new but now our society is freaking out over the idea of having another one. Why? What makes a white president better than a black one? ( Obviously, nothing).
Honestly, I'm ready for a change in the presidents. If a White male president is the perfect president in people's eyes, then im down for anything else! Plus what happend to the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover?" Obama for example, just because he's not white doesn't mean he's not as intelligent and capable of doing a good job as a white man. (Note: I don't care much for him though) A person's skin color shouldn't set out red flags, the individuals character and actions should though. For Gutfield to say all this and especially add the ignorant remark about Hitler shows us how narrow minded he is. For me, I absolutely loved Clinton! yeah he made his mistakes, and has had fingers pointed at him but overall I think he was the man!! plus his good looks didn't hurt.... :D
The other article didn't surprise me, I mean why would it? Bush has done nothing but destroy both America and the Middle East. Thanks to him the United States is far into debt, and the innocent lives of thousands of people rest because of his actions. I'd rather not get political and spill the beans on how I feel about him and this subject ( Even though I think i've dropped enough hints) but overall I'm ready for a change. Seriously. I'm sick of death, war, and agony. I know I can't ask for complete world harmony but anything is better than what it is now. The new president can't possibly outdue Bush, so black or white, what do we have to lose???

Plagiarism these days

As human beings I think we're always searching for easier ways to get things done. We're always taking shortcuts to reach our final destination. A perfect example of that is plagiarism, the most common form of cheating. Instead of doing it the good old fashion way with a pen paper and your own thoughts, now completing a ten page paper is just one click away.
After reading the "Adventures in Cheating" article I was amazed at how much trouble some people go through to get the job done. At the end of the article I thought to myself, why not just cut to the chase and write the essay yourself if your putting that much effort into it. But I'm not going to lie sometimes I'm tempted to do it because all you have to do is copy paste the information and then you're done. Now that I've gotten older though, I've realized how severe plagiarism really is. There are a few times where I honestly can't tell if I am plagiarising or if I am just getting key facts from a site, so to be certain I ask someone. Sometimes I wonder what a teacher does when she finds plagiarism in a paper. By that I mean how can she tell if it was intentional or not. Off course plagiarism is plagiarism but there are times where it's unintentional. An example of this is when you need to get key facts about a subject like an exact number, many copy and paste this from a website not knowing whether they should cite it or not. With that said, I think that it's better to be safe than sorry so to eliminate a possibility of plagiarism it's better to double check before handing it in.
As I read through the first article I found it hard to believe how much work people put into looking for the right site to buy their papers from. The most outrageous thing had to be the whole "get papers that were written in 1981!!" how crazy is it. Is our society really that lazy? Let's say that plagiarism is 100% intentional and the people that do it are either too busy to write the paper, too lazy, have several deadlines on that same day or have a family emergency. There is another alternative to getting the work done without plagiarism for each of these excuses. If you've got time to order a paper written by your grandmother's classmate, then you've got time to write your own. If there are too many deadlines approaching, start on your essay in advance and set a daily goal for yourself. Let's say that there is a family emergency that you have to deal with, then email your teacher and let her know the situation and more than likely she will understand and work with you.
The argument in the article "Not That There's Anything Wrong With That" was a too extreme. Missy Chase Lapine sued Jessica Seinfeld for plagiarising some of her ideas. I think that's ridiculous because just because Missy Lapine mentioned that idea in her cookbook doesn't mean others didn't think of it. As I read about Jessica Seinfeld I noticed that she didn't really come up with those ideas and that it was a vast team of nutritionists and art directors that did. That seems a little weird. Why would she get credit for the book if she didn't write it or give any credit to the people that actually wrote it and more importantly why didn't they get the blame?