Halloween

Halloween is celebrated in about 20 countries around the world. Within those few countries only about three-five celebrate this holiday the same was as America. Most of the countries have little traditions like lighting a candle, putting bread out on a nightstand and other things related to "keeping the dead away". However America seems to take this holiday somewhat to the extreme considering how other countries celebrate it. In America we decorate our houses and have parties and send children out in the night dressed up as fictional characters so they are given candy. Have you ever really thought about how crazy that sounds? Now I love Halloween as much as the next person but I just don't understand the big deal about it. After researching it I found that this holiday originated in Ireland and the 'trick-or-treating' came from mumming a medieval practice in which people would dress up and invade homes and do dances and other spiritual acts in honor of the dead. I find this interesting because this one event done many years ago was passed on and is now an important part of America's Halloween culture. 

Dog Banning

I recently saw this article ( http://news.yahoo.com/pit-bull-vote-aims-settle-disputes-over-breeds-140242481.html  ) on Yahoo discussing the banning of pit bulls in a town in Colorado. This article talks about a women in Colorado who owned a pit bull and was forced to get rid of it because of her towns law against have pit bulls as a pet. A voting with be held to decide if the town should keep this law. In my opinion I think that this law is very unfair. What this town is saying is that basically every pit bull is dangerous. Which of course is not true. I know many people who have pit bulls as pets and the dogs are all very friendly. I understand that the reason for this law is to protect people, but it isn't fair to eliminate a whole breed based on a stereotype. I believe that one of the biggest reasons that pit bulls are known as violent is because of owners of the dogs who raised them irresponsibly, causing the dogs to become violent. Now that pit bulls have the stereotype of being dangerous no one wants to own them so they are often given to irresponsible owners. I think that this law should be removed and that instead people should look at the owners as well as the dogs when trying to find reasoning for a certain vicious act from an animal.

Spanish Exchange Students

Earlier this week Spanish exchange students arrived at Charter and will be staying with some of our students. I think it is an amazing opportunity for students from Spain to come to America and experience our everyday life and compare it to theirs.
The exchange students came Thursday night and were able to participate in some big activities at school like the pep rally and the homecoming dance. I noticed that during the dance on Saturday night the DJ was incorporating some Spanish songs into the music he was playing. I thought that playing those songs was a great thing for the exchange students to feel more comfortable and for the Charter students to become exposed to different Spanish music.

Feminism or "Man-Hating"?

This is a video of Emma Watson's speech from the United Nations "He for She" campaign to raise awareness for feminism. In this speech Emma Watson mentions many factors involving feminism. One thing that Emma made a good point on was the lack of men involved in feminism. I agree that this is part of the issue as to why feminism is not always seen as a good thing. I think that feminism has become known as equality for women only. Which of course isn't true because,as she said, feminism is about equality of both genders. I think that in order to change feminism from a women only campaign to a gender equality campaign people need to be more informed about what feminism really is. That is why I was very happy to see this video. I think that Emma Watson does an amazing job of explaining how feminism is about both genders equality. She also makes a very good point by explaining how this affects men as well. Like she said, men are seen as weak or 'girl like' if they show emotions. This needs to change in my opinion. I think that gender equality is something that everyone should be able to have as a right.