Season's Greetings!

     The month of December is always a joyous time due to the many holidays that take place. Whether it’s celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, it is a time where we all enjoy as we have fun and spend time with our loved ones.

     Christmas is a Christian holiday that honors the birth of Jesus Christ, a holiday that is celebrated by millions worldwide. Customs include tree decorating, exchanging gifts, caroling, cookies, drinking hot chocolate and eggnog, spending time with the family and of course setting out plates of cookies and milk for the one and only- Santa! Christmas is also an international commercial phenomenon, helping to spread some holiday cheer. This includes holiday movies, talk shows, songs, shopping sales and more! Some famous Christmas T.V. showings include Disney’s Christmas Parade and Ellen Degeneres’s 12 days of Giveaways.
http://www.history.com/topics/christmas

     Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish holiday celebrating the victory of the Jewish people over religious persecution of the second temple in Jerusalem. Also called the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, food, games, gifts and of course- spending time with the family! The story of the Hanukkah “miracle” traces back to the second century B.C. According to the story, Judah Maccabee and the other Jews only had enough oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for only one night. However the flame continued to burn, lasting eight days, giving them enough time to find a new source of oil. Being seen as a miracle the menorah became a symbol of the Jews unwavering faith. During Hanukkah, children also play a popular game called the dreidel, a four sided spinning top with a Hebrew character on each side.
http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/hanukkah

     Kwanzaa was created in hopes that people of African descent would keep and share their cultural heritage. The word Kwanzaa is taken for the phrase of “matunda ya kwanza”, or “first fruits” in Swahili. Despite it being celebrated in many different ways and forms, Kwanzaa celebrations typically include music, dancing, storytelling, African drums and many traditional foods. The seven days of Kwanzaa emphasis a set of ideals (also known as Nguzo Saba) put forth by Dr. Maulana Karenga. The Nguzo Saba are values of African culture that help the communities of African-Americans and on each of the seven days, a candle is lit for each principle.
http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/kwanzaa-history

     Despite the holidays all coming from different roots they all include spending time with the family and having fun!

Spending the Holidays at Disneyland

     As the shuttle bus pulls up on the curve of ‘the happiest place on earth’, I no longer could hold in my excitement as I step out to have my eyes lay upon Disneyland. As my family and I walk down the sidewalk, I reminisce back to when I was just a little girl just like it was my first time visiting the theme park. My parents said that I was just like a kid in a candy store. 

     My cousin hastily drags me as she can’t wait to start on the rides. We wanted to go on every ride there was, especially Space Mountain. We quickly got into the inside corridor of the building as I see the largest model of a space ship I have ever seen. My cousin and I step into the seats as the cart begins to move forward. I can feel the wind blow against my face as we stat our ‘adventure through space’. The cart ran up and down the track as images of the stars appear before my eyes, just as if I were actually in space, where I feel as if I am able to touch the stars. My adrenaline started to race, as if I were in a marathon where there was no end. When it can to an end, I slowly stepped off the ride as my feet have finally stepped onto solid ground where I would try to find my balance as my head was throbbing with excitement and my heart beating so fast it was as if I was going two-hundred miles per hour.

Despite the rides being one of the best parts in Disneyland, I can't help but fall head-over-heels for the parade and shows. Due to this being the time for the holidays, it was made suited for the occasion. Followed by the sweet sound of Christmas songs, the floats follow behind, having a showcase of dancing with all of the beloved Disney characters following behind. At California Adventure, my family and I were able to watch the new World of Color Winter Dreams with a Frozen special addition. The World of Color also included a sing-a-long, where I was able to hear the little kids around me singing at the top of their lungs. I absolutely loved seeing the beautiful lights and water as they would shoot up into the night sky.

Arranged Marriages

In a perfect world, everybody would marry for love. But it isn’t always that way as reality makes its way through. In some parts of the world, young girls, not even teens, are whisked off to be married to a completely unknown man. Child bribes are striped to their childhoods, education, health, future and their basic human rights as they a forced to be wedded to a stranger.  “Child marriage happens because adults believe they have the right to impose marriage upon a child. This denies children, particularly girls, their dignity and the opportunity to make choices that are central to their lives, such as when and whom to marry or when to have children.” (Too Young To Wed). These young brides aren't able to achieve anything as they are already married, never experiencing the feeling of falling in love or going to school and hanging out with friends.

Being married at such a young age, they don’t know how to do anything besides cooking, cleaning, taking care of their children and serving their husband. They won’t have the chance to go to school and get an education, learning about math or history. From childhood, their fate has already been decided, as they have no control of their lives, being nothing more than a puppet of the parents who arranged the marriages.  “A child bride often enters a marriage with feelings of fear and powerlessness.” (Too Young to Wed). Their lack of control over anything can create great emotional and philological damage. 

Being married to a complete stranger, having no say will leave the young brides to be emotionless, living as if they were stuck inside a dead corpse where they are able to feel nothing. Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.” Young brides shouldn't be forced into marriages in which everyone should be able to pick the one they love, the one they are going to marry.

Examples include the young girls of Afghanistan.17-year-old Humaira Taiba who is soon the be in an arranged marriage with a 45-year-old man, causing her to want to commit suicide. “I don’t want to marry the man who is 45 years old, the same age as my father,” says Humaira. From a young age, women are married off to honor promises made by their fathers and/or grandfathers. Women are married and traded off to be owned by males, treating them as if they were property.  Young brides shouldn't be forced into marriages because everyone should be able to pick their spouse as we the people have the right to choose who we will marry.

Information/Picture Sources
http://tooyoungtowed.org/blog/?lang=es
http://www.irinnews.org/indepthmain.aspx?indepthid=28&reportid=69984

Teens and the Internet

     Internet usage can traumatically have a negative affect a teenager’s academic performance as it is constantly in use. The internet plays a major role in a teen’s life as they use it in terms of social media, homework help, research, music downloads, video games and a source to watch movies and videos. Internet usage in a teenager’s life can be used to their advantage, depending on how it is put in use. Teens often get sidetracked by the internet, taking them away from their main goal, such as completing their school work. But when used in the right way, it is proved to be a helpful asset as students them complete their school work.

     A research done by “Bayraktar and Gun (2007) found that secondary and high school students’ grade point averages decreased as their disturbed use of the Internet increased.” Many studies have proved that internet usage has a negative impact on the lives of teens, affecting many aspects of their life, such as the way they see things. Other research has shown “increased availability of Internet access in educational environments has raised the recent question of whether disturbed Internet usage can be related to some academic variables.” The study has also raised questions about the effect of internet usage in classrooms, affecting other academic aspects such as school participation, paying attention to classroom surroundings and their ability to learn. This could also affect the student’s attitude towards school and their peers. Despite the many cons of internet usage affecting a teen’s academic achievement and other aspects of life, internet usage can also provide many pros. The internet provides great entertainment and aids personal needs. A balance of how and how much the internet is used needs to be found in order to have success. When used in the right ways, the internet can be used to their advantage as it is a tool to help students excel through school and homework.      

     Teens who are internet abusers will become the next generation of workers who will only achieve minimum wage due to their poor academic performance. But when a balance of productive and distractive internet usage is found, teens will get what they need and achieve high and outstanding academic performance, becoming our next generation of doctors, lawyers, engineers and nurses. High academic performance is crucial to a teen's life, setting them up for a successful future. The overuse of the Internet can create a chain of cause and effect, having one thing lead to another. Poor academic performance from the internet can also lead to the loss of sleep which can affect daily actions. Teens are easily distracted by the internet, having endless things to keep them entertained.

Internet Abuse Among Teenagers Article

Picture Source

Community Post #1: Exposing Hidden Bias at Google

     Ever since the beginning of time, the men in the world have dominated our society, taking on business, sports and other areas of expertise, leaving little or no room for women to go into these areas of work. The lack of diversity in these major companies have caused women to face the problematic issues of discrimination and injustice. 
     Farhad Manjoo, the author of the article "Exposing Hidden Bias at Google" writes about the discrimination of gender and race as he compares the statistics found. The article states that "over all, seven out of ten people who work at Google are male. Men make up 3 percent of Google's engineering employees and 79 percent of its managers. "By looking at the demographics of the employees, one can immediately see the great significance of the number of male employees to those of women. Based on preconceived notions of women and their ability to only complete the straightforward tasks, men still do not see women being on even grounds as them concerning things such as capabilities and education.

     Google's lack of diversity is not completely their fault as to the lack of interest of computer technology. To improve the diversity with the company, Google has sponsored programs in order to promote it to women. Other attempts made include the workshops being set up in order to   to change the variety of gender and race. "And so they are undertaking a long-term effort to improve these numbers, the centerpiece of which is a series of workshops aimed at making Google’s culture more accepting of diversity."The simplest things and efforts can make the biggest impact. With a more diversity in the company, it provides a perspective s from not only one mind, but hundreds, with different views and takes which all could be affected by my gender, race and culture.
    The hidden bias is to be defined as "reflexive preferences that shape most people's world views, and that can profoundly affect how welcoming and open a workplace is to different people and ideas." Hidden bias are to be found all around, which isn't something to be noticed quite often. As they constantly show up in our daily lives, we can sometimes be accustomed to not even seeing it. Because it is so natural, we don't even notice it. But because of the bias and discrimination within the technology companies such as Google, conflicts concerning the diversity of employees are coming to view as it must come to an end, where companies and not a majority of males. 

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