9/11

I can't believe it has been 8 years already since the towers fell. I was talking to my Mom about it and she actually told me that my cousin's neighbor and friend was there when the attacks happened and he actually took some of the most famous pictures of the event. His most famous picture of the second plane hitting the tower was actually on the cover of time magazine. For more information check out his website and hear his views on the topic!

http://www.owerko.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&a=1&p=0&at=0

I have to warn you though that he also took some powerful yet graphic shots of people desperately jumping from the towers. Just be aware but also remember this is real life and it actually happened so please be respectful. I think that even though this event knocked us down, it also brought us so close together as a nation.

My College Experience

So because I wasn't here for sociology class on last Friday, Mr. Smith has asked he to write an extra blog. Why was I not in class? I left school early (sorry Mr. Smith) so I could go visit my girlfriend at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. So I'm lazy and instead of driving 5 hours I took a 30 minute flight and an hour bus ride. Of course I get so excited to see my girlfriend when I get there that I get off the bus and forget my suitcase. It drove off with it so for the first hour I was with my girlfriend (whos name is Danielle so I'll just call her that from now on) I spent trying to get a hold of my suitcase. I finally got it back and the weekend began. She showed me her dorm, which at first I thought was small but then I got to thinking of all the fun stuff I could do with it. I could get bunk bed and then there would be so much more room for activities! But anyways, she introduced me to some of her new friends and then we walked her classes. Let me tell you that if you think traveling in Stevenson high school is bad...just wait till you get to college. I think I walked 4 miles in total. That night we went to a couple parties which was pretty fun but then we just got tired and walked back to go to bed. For the rest of the weekend I just basically was like a college student having fun on the weekend. It was really fun and I'm glad I got to experience it. The sad part is that 3 days later a student was killed after he was hit by a car crossing the street right next to where Danielle's dorm is. I crossed that same street three days earlier. Scary Stuff. You should always live life to the fullest!

THUG LIFE

So after I started to read the article about the sociologist who went into the projects to study the gang, I was so interested. I really wanted to see what the hell would happen to this person who was just walking into basically a gangs territory and asking them right away, "Whats it like to be poor and black?" I would never in a million years think of doing that. There was a serious risk of him getting killed, yet he was so persistent that he actually gained the gangs respect! I thought it was supposed to be hard to get the respect of a gang. But then again he did risk his life just to get some information. I had such a respect for him after that and I admire how he did what he thought was appropriate to get information for people.