Progress?

I see a SUV laughing at a hybrid car in the past,

Too bad this trend won’t last,

Now I see a little finger mocking the SUV,

Because now going green is the key.

I think a change is underway,

Hybrid cars are here to stay,

The past and present show a lot of change,

But in reality these two generations have similar range.

Forever cars have been markers of class,

Now the best ones are the ones that haul (expletive).

I wonder why we always have to point fingers,

While this terrifying economical crisis still lingers.

This was a"creative" poem I tried to show progress in the US. Back in the day, SUV were far superior to a hybrid. Hybrids were known to be nerdy, and inefficient. Now that has turned 180 degrees. Many people are switching to hybrid cars not only because it is more cost efficient but also because they believe that it really helps the environment. In reality, we would have to do a lot more than drive hybrid cars to save out planet. I really believe that a hybrid car is trying to inference a social status. It is not saying "I have tons of money" but rather "look at me, I care about the environment. That's why I think the US is repeating itself. As we have learned from the Great Gatsby, cars are a sign of social class. When Jay and Daisy are in the car together and they drive past Jay, they are showing a sign of upper class. Back in the 1920s cars were just hitting the market, and only the wealthy. Even though Tom is very wealthy himself, Jay and Daisy feel are trying to show that they are higher than Tom because they are riding a car together. In todays world, cars are true symbols of social class. With so many different car companies and products, it is very easy to say something about your class. Someone with a Ferrari is definently trying to say something about how much money you have. the US has not changed a whole lot because we still use cars as status symbols.

Do you believe in Miracles?

I know I recite lines or reference the movie Miracle quite often in class and it is time i bring it up again. It is playoff season for baseball and all other spring sports. That means improbable upsets occur. One enormous upset presented itself when #3 Brother Rice lost to unranked Andrew high school in baseball. This was a colossal upset because many "experts" had Brother Rice winning the state title. the game was not even close; Andrew beat Brother Rice by a score of 12-0. Patrick Gannon, Purdue bound pitcher for BR, was shelled on Saturday, letting up five runs in the first inning. if he had won hte game he would have become the winningest pitcher in Brother Rice history with 28 career varsity wins. Now he is stuck at 27 and tied with the record. This was not the only upset of the weekend. This next one did not occur on the diamond, it happened on clay... clay tennis court that is. Only a few hours ago, Robin Soderling, the 23 seed, beat the worlds number one player, Rafael Nadal. Okay, so what a number one seed lost a match, thats not the half of it. Rafael Nadal had Never lost a match in the French Open until today. He was a career 32-0 on the clay courts of the French Open. These two upsets show anyone can win on any given day and Yes miracles do exist.

Articles on Brother Rice loss
Nadal loss

Junioritis

Its that time again where nobody, and I mean nobody wants to be in school. (except for Adam Gutman). Now that the seniors are gone school just won't feel the same. I'm not talking about how us juniors are now the oldest on campus but it should be summer time and not study time. Last year i felt this way too. I know a bunch of seniors and whenever they get the chance they tell me how they are going to be sleeping in, going out, and not having a care in life. All I can think is how i will be studying for finals over the weekend when I really should be chilling and playing baseball. Next year we will be the ones getting out early and loving life. Next year is a long time ago and I want to be done right now. Finals are going to be killer for me. It seems like my grades are border line in every class and finals never really help your grade so I am expecting the worst. All I'm saying is these last two weeks are going to be two of the toughest of my life. 

It's All a Game

For our American flag assignment, I thought about all the American flag themed things I have in my house. At first I was going to take a picture of a picture but it wasn't original. So I thought of something else. I didn't think of it until Saturday morning while playing baseball. I took out my baseball glove and began to play catch when the thought came into my head. On my glove I have an embroidered American flag. Then I thought what it meant to have a flag on a glove. I came up with: baseball is very tightly knit to America. It is called our National Pastime for a reason. That reason is because it is an American game. It was founded in America, it was played solely in America for many years, and it is a our oldest professional sport. I think the flag embroidered on the mitt is supposed to resemble how close America is to baseball. Baseball is a game of struggle and failure. A person who gets a hit three out of ten times is considered successful. America is a lot like that. To separate from England and to get where we are now took struggle and time. Although the US is the most powerful country in the world, there were and are many struggles Americans have had to face. We had to struggle for our freedom, equality of races and religion, and peace in other countries and even our own. baseball and America are very similar because you may lose a battle but you can still win the war.

What 09' Brings Us: May Edition

Its our last full month as Juniors at good ole New Trier. It is starting to become crunch time now which means, Final Exams, End of the year projects and tests in pretty much every subject and of course the return of our Junior Theme. School work is one of the primary things to focus on this month along with: the ending of regular season for New Trier spring sports, Blackhawks playoff run, and the on-going quest of trying to find alternative sources of energy.
This month is a very heavy month school work wise. All the teachers are assigning the last minute work in the last three weeks of school. In the next three weeks I have to read three books, do two projects, take four or five quizzes, and study for finals. This will all be happening in the last few weeks of the regular season for Spring sports. For baseball, I don't get home until 8:00pm some days and that puts me in a tough spot to do all my homework and watch my favorite shows (depending on the day). It is very easy to get caught watching tv and lose all energy before the homework is completed. Then I have to rush in advisory, during free periods, or even at the end of Gourmet class. I'm just letting you know that these next three weeks will be very hectic.
Sports are a very prominent subject right now where ever you go. Major league baseball has started up, playoffs for Hockey and Basketball are in progress, and high school sports are coming to a close. About an hour ago, I watched to Blackhawks errupt the United Center with a shocking 2-1 victory in overtime against the Vancover Canucks. About three hours before that the New Trier baseball teams demolished the Evanston Wildkits 11-1 in five innings after being destroyed by them on Tuesday. A little revenge was on our minds today and we stuck it to the Wildkits with 8 runs in the fifth inning to complete the slaughter. I don't know how any other sports went today but it is New Trier so we probably won...no offense to any non-Trevian viewers. With school work piling up and sports fever rising these next few weeks will be very tough.
Also, I thought it would be a good idea to bring issues from other classes into the American Studies horizon. In Geoscience we just watched a documentary on global warming and what is happening to our environment. What I came out with was that we, humans, are comsuming more energy and products than the earth can produce. This has resulted in the deliberate change in climate in the polar ice caps and many other places around to globe. I was actually kind of scared after watching the film because it made it very clear what will happen because of actions. One thing I really remember from the film was that if we keep living that way we do, the earth will end up like mars, a rocky, cold planet, with no life. It was also interesting how if the history of earth was put into a calender for one year, humans would be only around for fifteen minutes of earth so far. And since our stint on earth, we have put some incredible strain on our planet which is threatening millions of different species, including our own, every day. I thought this is a very interesting topic and I know it won't be solved in a month but any advances in finding alternative energy sources would be very encouraging for me.
That is my preview for the month of May and look for my June edition, which could be my last preview sadly.

Stay classy North Shore

El Fin

Finally at 9:30 I have made my final edits for my Junior Theme. I am still not done though, because I have to finish my bibliography and make sure I get all of my drafts together. Looking back on the Junior Theme process, it really wasn't all that bad. I think I was just afraid from the connotation of Junior Theme than the actual process. While working on my research and paper, I was interested in what I was learning because I got to choose what to research. on the otherhand I am still glad to have it done with. Tomorrow I will give it to the writing center and and then make my final final edits and turn it in on Tuesday. Overall, I would have to say it was not all that bad...For now. A good grade on it would really top of the whole thing so Mr. O'Connor or Bolos if you are reading this just remember what I am saying...Just kidding...but seriously.

I'm a Lucky Guy

I thought I would blog about something other than Junior Theme for a change. It was just yesterday afternoon in Orland Park, IL when I realized how lucky I am. I was in Orland Park for baseball game against Sandburg High School. They were ranked 8th in the state and we were 17th. We ended up slaughtering them 12-1 in 5 innings. It wasn't the game that made me feel lucky, but it was during the national anthem when it struck me. I was lined up on the 1st base lie with my team listening to the song we call our national anthem and I looked down the line of my teammates and saw a bunch of lucky guys playing the sport they love. The best part of it all is that we are able to play for New Trier, the program with them most wins in the state of Illinois. I am so lucky to live in the community I do, have the friends I have, and the opportunities I am given in this school. It all came to me at that moment when I finally realized there are a bunch of people who don't have a percent of what I have and they still live their lives to the fullest. It really shocked me to think about teenagers in third world countries and even in Illinois who live under the poverty line and still live each day. I am going to continue to think about what privileges I am given and also, if I am having a bad day I can just tell myself it's not so bad and stop feeling sorry for myself.