Social Awareness

Day 1:


Article title: Cat Bin Dumper Mary Bale, Fined For Animal Cruelty After Video Surfaces in England


       Lola the Cat received justice after she was dumped in a trash bin by Mary Bale. Mary Bale is a forty five year old bank worker from Coventry. She was fined $395 for harming a four year old tabby. Before Lola was dumped in the trash, Mary picked her up and began to scruff her neck. Lola was eventually found by her owner and was not hurt. Mary Bale received death threats on facebook. She has apologized, but says she did it as a joke. She also said that she thought Lola would wriggle out of the bin.


       Animal cruelty does not only happen in England, but it is something that occurs everyday worldwide. I don't understand why someone would treat animals like if they were nothing. Animals and humans have a lot of things in common. It's true that animals can't speak, but does that make them any different than us? Why would Mary Bale dump an innocent cat in a trash can? Didn't she ever hear of treat others the way you would want to be treated? I can't believe that she is only one of the hundreds of people who abuse animals. It's true that we live in a crazy world.

     Day 2:


Article Title: 3 families Homeless After Fire


       Three families become homeless after their lost their house in a fire. The fire razed through all three house at around 8:30pm. Mohd Fauzi was visiting his relatives when his brother Abd Ghani screamed for help. "I braved myself to rush inside my mother's house and managed to carry her out safely," he quotes. The Rescue Department came at about 8:39pm. The cause of the fire would be investigated.


       I am so shocked that you can be come homeless in a blink of an eye. After researching homelessness, I found out that there are anywhere from 700,000 to 6 million homeless people around the world. Approximately 44% are male, 13% are women, and 36% are families with children. Yes, children are also homeless. It makes me feel so bad that I take everything I have for granted. 

     Day 3:


Article title: Two Deaths Too Many


       Carl Joesph Walker-Hoover an eleven year old, killed himself after being bullied for several months at his Springfield charter school. Phoebe Prince was also bullied at school that brought her to the point where she committed suicide. Carl was a smart and enthusiastic athlete. Some students at his school said that he acted like a girl. He would often tell his mother that he hated the school. On the last day of his life, the school told him and a girl, who he had recently had an argument with, that they had to eat lunch together to learn to get along. That night, his mother found him hanging from the third floor railing.


       I hate the fact that bullying still exists today. Why can't people realize that words and actions affect people more than it seems? Will bullying ever end? Why do bullies think that they are better than anyone else? Is it just because they are bigger or stronger? I just wish that bullies would open their eyes and realize the dangers that they are causing and the consequences that will occur if things get worse.

Day 4:


Article Title: Gangs Grow, but Hard Lines Stirs Doubts


       It began as a party, but ended with a shoot-out. 2 gangs began an argument, then it ended with a death.Treasure Feamster, a 13 year old girl, died when the shots ranged. There is a high crime rate and an increasing number of gang members today. Lawmakers in Raleigh want to create a gang law similar to the law made in Los Angeles. The law  prohibits  public gatherings of two or more people suspected to be gang members. What police commissioner Edward F. Davis is focused on right now is getting the gang members who are actually shooting.


       Gangs are one of the things people fear today. You never know when you can come across them and the number of gang members are growing everyday. Parents sometimes don't even know if their child is in a gang. Although it is becoming very common, a lot of people know a little about what's really happening. I want these bad things to go away. I want to live my life knowing that nothing can go wrong. I know things like gangs will not go away easily, but if we take a step at a time, maybe we will make a difference.

Day 5:


Article Title: First Lady Laura Bush Lends Support To Bullied Gay Teens


Laura Bush is one of the many people who support gay marriage. After she left the white house, she began to continue to protest gay teens from bullies. She quoted," We've read cases of children on the Internet where kids are committing suicide. As adults, we have to be the ones who do something about it." Laura Bush also referred back to the recent suicide of Tyler Clementi. Laura Bush isn' t the only one who supports gay people. Hillary Clinton and President Obama, have videotaped messages of hope directed at gay teens.


I support gay marriage. I feel that anybody has the right to make their own choices, if same-sex people want to get married, who are we to stop them. Bullies should stop bullying gay teens, because they aren't better than anyone else. Everybody is equal. And like Joel Burgs said, "It will get better."

Media/News Immersion Reflection

       I have learned and realized many things during this experience. There are lots of social issues out there in the world that I'm not even aware of. Reading about the issues that I wrote about above, has made me become more aware about problems we face today. I realized that many people don't take action/ fight for what they believe in. I feel, after this experience, that we should not be so layed back. Many of us think that things will change on its own, but it isn't. We should change the world, even if it's in a small way.