Julie

            Entering the second semester of my junior year, we had to choose an English elective to take. My friend Tory and I read the sheet giving us a brief idea on what each elective was about. Surprisingly the only one that actually caught our eyes was the elective “Blogging”. What better way to interact with the world and be able to freely state your opinion on worldwide topics? As a four-year senior, I have come to realize that being informed with recent news is hard to come by. Television isn’t one of the common activities that a Tabor Student invests time in, because they are busy working or spending time with there close by friends. By signing up for this class I expected to stay informed with recent news and be able to get more involved with our country. Especially at our generation, there is so much going on whether it is the war, presidential candidates or the controversy of global warming. I know this may sound pathetic and unpatriotic of me, but first coming into this class I was clueless on all of the topics besides war. Whether it was through articles, blogs, video clips or even the knowledge of the teacher or students, I quickly became aware of what was going on in the world. Not only were we able to gather knowledge of the outside world but we also became better writers. The style of writing encouraged was to state your topic, giving some background information then most importantly making sure to state your own opinion on the subject. This class has opened my eyes to many issues related to the power of the internet, world-wide news and you ability to have a strong opinion on anything.

           The topic for this blog was the effect of dress code. How students must wear the same style clothes, which takes away the ability to express themselves. I incorporated some brief ideas about how in a free world you should not feel oppressed. I feel as if Tabor students should look neat, but they should not take away the ability for students to look unique, or be themselves. I am angling my blog towards the side that dress code should be enforced but with more reasonable rules. Students shouldn’t have to completely change there style of dress to fit in a Tabor or to obey the Tabor rules. To go so far as to make all the students shop and wear the same style clothes is inhibiting our growth as individuals. With my four years of experience at Tabor, each year my identity through the clothes i wore had slowly diminished. For example, when we were forced to buy a blazer from blazerdepot.com. At this point when any girl wore pants, we would all look the same due to the oversized man blazer. Being apart of this class I was finally able to freely speak about my opinion on dress code. Also when I wrote this blog, it became a major discussion topic for that week. Students were able to side with my opinion and back me up in how my feelings were towards the dress code rules. This blog is a perfect example of the writing we had been trying to develop in this class. I was able to give some background information on the topic, stated my opinion then backed up my opinion with logical reasoning.

          As for spreading the word about taking the Blogging elective, I’ve already done so. It is a great way to keep informed with recent news not only from within the U. S but also other countries. Also, being able to hear the opinions of your peers, gives your mind the ability to ponder endlessly. I definitely believe that this course is a must do during your time at Tabor. Some ideas for next year would to take a week to introduce the website, how to use it and determine what you are looking for in a blog. Now that you have a semesters worth of blogs, you can use these as examples to show your future students how it should be done. Thank you for a great semester; it was one of my favorite classes this year! Have a great summer!

       For my blog this week I thought I would switch things up a little. For my statistics project I had chosen a topic of indoor tanning. I thought that the results would be interesting and shocking to the class. Within this project, I first created a survey for senior girls that addressed three questions. The first was, have you ever been tanning? Second, Are you aware of the risks of tanning? Lastly, Do you still go tanning, even though you are aware of the risks? After collecting my data, surveys showed that out of 56 girls, 45 of them had been tanning before. Out of those 45 girls who have been tanning, 39 of them surveyed to being aware of the risks involved with tanning. Also out of the 45 senior girls who have been tanning, 35 go even aware of the risks involved. Isn’t that a high percentage of girls who still go tanning, even with the knowledge of the risks involved?           Did you know…that there are two to three more times more UV light in a tanning bed then we receive on earth? Or that one tanning visit of 10 minutes does as much damage to the skin as 5 hours in the sun? Is all of this worth the high risk you put yourself at for cancer. Unfortunately, skin aging and skin cancer are the delayed effects that usually come to surface after many years. So, the damage done by this ultra violet rays emissions is not immediately evident. Think a four years from now, your skin starts to wrinkle, and the doctor is worried about a patch of skin on you back. Is it really worth it?

Game seven of the series, Celtics up by more then twenty points in the third quarter. Rondo goes in for a lay up, Marvin Williams throws himself at Rondo. Flagrant foul, or a mistake? The whole playoff series between the Hawks and the Celtics displayed numerous unsportsmanlike conduct on both sides. The Hawks clearly a younger team challenged the mentality of the mature Celtics team. Was the behavior throughout the series acceptable? Personally, I was not surprised when Williams close lined Rondo. The Hawks, a streaky team, took advantage of the Celtics in their inability to control their emotion. Celtics have the talent and have executed throughout the season, but now it comes to playoff time- can they maintain their focus? I have faith as devout Boston sports fan, but find it hard not to be skeptical after the shocking results of the Super Bowl.  When it comes down to playoff time, competitiveness can be converted in a positive or negative way. Athletes must have the ability to identify the opportunities, if done intelligently, of their actions, reactions, and strength in character. The Celtics had too much to say, and the Hawks fed off of their words rather than actions. With the next playoff series coming up, I think its best to let their actions speak louder than their words. So do I think Williams foul was flagrant? Yes, given the high emotional circumstances and a young team, he let his emotion get the best of him. With the Celtics up by twenty-three points, Williams obviously took his frustration out on Rondo in an unintelligent way. I hope as a fan that the Celtics are able to channel their emotion in a positive way through the leadership of KG and Paul Pierce. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjuCPIjdGlc 

Springtime at Tabor is a drastic change in participation, emotions and climate within the community. The warm weather and the knowledge that the end is near, fills the students with high spirits. Frisbee and manhunt games or constant trips to the beach are common activities. The sun shinning as my friends scream, “the UV rays are at 7 high, lets lay out!” Living in Heath dorm as a boarder, the girl’s free blocks usually consist of taking trips to Uncle Jon’s or catching some rays on the track. The 7 a.m. alarm clock no longer has the same bothersome affect it had on us during the winter. As the days slowly fade one by one… the constant reminder that graduation is near keeps everyone excited. Springtime brings relief and happiness as most of the seniors have figured out there college plans allowing them to finally take some weight off their shoulders.

Springtime is by far the best season at Tabor. Fall and winter do not have the same lively affect on students as spring does. Spring brings warmth and happiness, but most importantly it is the season right before summer! Events such as prom, school dances, prize day and graduation are keeping all the students busy. Personally my year so far has been great, a little slow but still making the best out of my last year. However the last couple weeks my emotions have altered drastically. The anticipation that I must make the most out of the time we have left. The next few weeks especially as a senior, are going to be some of the greatest in my life. Being surrounded by your closest friends, living on the beach at a beautiful school with the constant warm weather. It doesn’t get much better then this!

Even with nine months of suffering, nothing can ever replace the happy emotions a mother experiences when their child is born. It was a wonderful day for Kassie Hopkins when she was handed her newborn son after his birth at the Heartland Regional Medical Center on March 28th. However she had an strange feeling within her that day, but she went on to bring her son to his new home. Else where in the hospital Mary Jo Bathon had given birth to a son on the same day, leaving the hospital with a similar eerie feeling. These odd feelings were eventually justified as a phone call was made a few hours later, when the hospital called to explain there had been a mix up. The switch apparently happened when the two boys were taken to get circumcisions. They had both wore identification, but somehow the IDs were removed and unconsciously put on the wrong baby. “We genuinely regret the circumstances surrounding the discharge of these infants. Fortunately, the situation was quickly identified and corrected within hours,” said hospital spokeswoman Staci Bynum. However for the mother’s the apology was not nearly enough. They have decided to sue the hospital, asking for monetary damages of more than $50,000 each and a jury trial in a Williamson County court. If you take a second to put yourself in either Kassie or Mary Jo’s shoes, how would you feel if you had taken someone else’s newborn home? It is completely irresponsible of the hospital to make a mistake like that, especially with it involving babies. Now the liability and trust you have within that hospital has completely diminished. The women’s attorney makes a great point …”I think it’s outrageous, if they aren’t careful with babies, then what are they careful with?” I believe that the court should be required to tell the hospital to investigate what led to the switch to ensure it doesn’t happen again. The hospital needs to look into what happened, admit to it and fix the problem so it will never happen again. It is a terrifying possibility for any new parent for a newborn baby switched a birth. It can not happen again!

The stress of getting into college, was not much of an issue for a large group of my friends this year. in fact every single girl in this group had already fully commited themselves to attending a certain college as a junior. My club soccer team consists of 18 girls who all have commited and most who have recieved scholarships to a variety of division one colleges. Many people over look the hard work of an athlete. The dedication an athlete puts into a sport is more then anyone could imagine. These 18 girls have been playing soccer since they were 4 years old. Some who were on the B team for most of their lives and some who have not stopped progressing from the day they started playing. The hours and sacrifices they had given up to play a sport which they loved and wanted nothing more then to excel in.         A typical week for these girls consists of three, two hour practices… usually on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then for the weekend, a practice saturday morning and usually a scrimmage Sunday afternoon. This schedule lasts every single season… summer, winter, spring and fall. Along with the numerous practices, are games which are either in a Maple league, Region 1 league or a College Showcase. Despite how much time these girls dedicate to soccer, they always make sure to put their school work first. They are able to stay on top of things, balancing out a compact schedule. Being a student athlete is not an easy task, especially with the dream to excel in both areas. These 18 girls have not had a break from working hard… its constant and its something they finally got repaid for. The feeling of success is indescribable. The thought that after all your years of hard work, you finally get rewarded. There are girls who have commited too some of the top schools in the country, some not just only for soccer but for academics and personal hobbies. Colleges like Duke, Clemson, Texas Tech, Boston College, Boston University, Dartmouth to name a few. I feel as if many people are mislead by the idea of athletic scholarships or commitments. The idea that academics are not even a factor in whether or not they are accepted into a university. We’ll i can say it from the personal experience that student athletes are hard workers on and off the field. Everyone one of the girl’s on my team have earned there college commitments and scholarships through there relentless determination in both soccer and school.

Sports at Tabor have always been fun also entertaining to both play and watch. The variety of sports that Tabor provides, allows students to try new things. Also with the rule of having to play at least two sports a year, encourages the students to challenge themselves. This is the case at most prep schools. For instance, my cousin JJ started playing lacrosse as a sophomore at Governors Academy about 7 years ago. Recently JJ has graduated from UVA having played 4 years of lacrosse there and was named captain of his team for his senior year. Currently he is playing the men’s professional lacrosse league. Thinking back to how this all started, JJ was forced to play another sport in the spring. I’ve had many conversations relating to this topic with JJ and he always made it clear that he never had intentions of actually enjoying lacrosse, he had always had his mind set on playing football because that was the sport he always knew and loved as a child. However with the encouragement to try out different sports JJ had found his true passion and something he definitely excelled in for many years.

      So you’re probably asking yourself, what am I trying to argue? Well as a Tabor student, I had been deprived the opportunity to play a different sport. This is actually a situation for quite some students at Tabor. The school understands that soccer is a very large factor in my life, leaving on closed weekends, or even on weekdays for practice or games. I put in a great effort to play the sport because its what makes me happy, a game that I love. However, as much as I love playing soccer, I had had a great time playing lacrosse my freshman year. As a senior I really was looking forward to the opportunity to play a sport that was a lot of fun and would keep me in shape throughout the spring. When it came time to sign up for sports, the Athletic Department did not allow me to sign up for lacrosse. They said that since soccer would be a conflict during two of the games, it was not fair to the rest of the team if I wasn’t fully committed. That is something I completely understand, but it’s a situation that many of the students who are athletes at Tabor have. I believe that Tabor should be more lenient in allowing athletes to play other sports, even though they may be more committed to another. If the student makes an effort to try and lessen there schedule so they are able to be more committed to their current sport, there is no reason why Tabor should deprive them of playing. Relating back to my statement earlier, Tabor’s rule of having to play atleast two sports a season is in somewhat meaningless in this situation. They encourage you to play other sports but then take away that opportunity if you have a few conflicts.

     I love playing sports and staying active. Competition is something that keeps me motivated and focused. Currently I am in senior conditioning, and competition is far out of reach. For future reference, I hope Tabor realizes that this situation has to be fixed, and that with more athletes allowed to play different sports can only better the program. With the introduction and the allowance to be involved in different sports, it can only benefit the student, such as JJ.

There has been a lot of concern with a recent murder of mother and her two sons, in a small town of Texas. The killings occurred at the home of Terry and Penny Caffey on Saturday morning. The house had been burned down, but through the ashes authorities found the body of Penny Caffey, 37, also the bodies Tyler Caffey, 8, and 12-year-old Matthew Caffey. Despite the gunshot wound in the father’s head, he was able to crawl to a neighbor’s house to seek help. Meanwhile, flames consumed the Caffeys’ home with the bodies of Mrs. Caffey and their two sons inside. It was also made known through the police that all of the victims had been shot and stabbed multiple times.

         Currently four suspects are in custody, and through one of these victims questions began to arise. Charlie James Wilkinson, 19; Charles Allen Wade, 20; and Bobbi Gale Johnson, 18 were named the suspects. However one of the suspects was the Caffey’s juvenile daughter. Police are wondering if the teenage daughter’s anger over a forbidden romance may have caused the 16-year-old to kill her mother and two brothers. It was revealed through the father that the juvenile and one of the suspects were dating and were forced to break up. Investigators later found the Caffey’s daughter hiding at the home of one of the suspects.  It was not clear from the account which of the suspects she was dating.

From many sources within the town people had nothing but sweet things to say about the family. “I just thought the whole world of the family,” said Carl Johnson, 75. “They were good Christian people. [The father] was like a son of my own.” 

        One of the greatest things about high school is having the ability to express yourself in any number of ways; academics, athletics and the arts are just a few of the different ways you can do this. Another way that you can express your individuality is through the way you dress. However, I feel as if our ability to express ourselves through our clothes has been greatly infringed upon by our academic institution. Tabor Academy has always had a dress code, and I too believe it is important for the students to up keep a neat appearance. But, the over bearing way it has been enforced in recent years is not only uncalled for, but has left me feeling a little oppressed. This country is known as “the land of the free” and Americans have enjoyed the freedom of expression for hundreds of years. These basic freedoms are one of the many things that make the United States so exciting and unique.

       Girls at Tabor are now required to all buy blazers from the same clothing web site. This causes us to all dress alike. Obviously there are many other dress code requirements, but I feel like this is the most ridiculous. High School is a time to explore and express yourself in any number of ways. This exploration and expression will help form who we are later in life. I believe we can all suffer through the stifling of our individual expression. Furthermore, the enforcement of these rules has affected the efficiency of the faculty. Instead of being solely concerned with being professors they have taken a Gestapo-esk form making sure everyone is in dress code. The faculty should be more concerned with their lesson plan for the day and less concerned on oppressing our individuality.

        In conclusion, I fully support everyone having a neat appearance while in the academic center. A dress code is certainly expectable. But to go so far as to make all the students shop and wear the same style clothes is inhibiting our growth as individuals. It does not allow us to express ourselves how we wish and it takes away from the faculty’s effectiveness as mind shapers. I know our theme this year is “Globalization”, but being more like communist Russia than America is not a plausible example of this motto.

         The other day at First Baptist Church of DeKalb in NIU’s hometown, red ribbons were passed out to several dozen people who attended a morning service. February 14th 2008, marked a tragic day for Northern Illinois University. Gunman Stephen Kazmierczak killed five students and wounded 16 others in a lecture hall before taking his own life. He was armed with two handguns and a shotgun, while entering a classroom from a side door onto the stage. He then shoots from stage into the group of students. After firing for about 2 minutes, Kazmierczak then kills himself.

          According to authorities, Kazmierczak had had a history of mental illness and was off his medicine for several weeks before this tragic event occurred. The police have been trying to put together the reasoning behind the attack, but nothing seemed to have been adding up. Students and Teachers knew Kazmierczak as a “bright, helpful scholar”, but he had been at a mental hospital before. A former employee at a Chicago psychiatric treatment center said “Kazmierczak had been placed there after high school by his parents. He used to cut himself and had resisted taking his medications.” But even saying this Kazmierczak did not fit the profile of the campus killers of the last few years. He was well liked by his professors even to the extent that he was made a teachers aid. His grades were good and he was no problem in his classes. He belonged to a few campus organizations and held elected offices within these organizations. He was in fact a normal student. What made him a killer? That may never be known. What we do know is that a normal graduate student with the world ahead of him decided this was not enough and on a dark February day made let his demons control his world and bring his and others to an end.