Blog Prompt #3: To sag or not to sag; That is the question

As I am sure many of you know, there is a new law taking surge across the country that enforces how we as citizens should dress. Imagine that, the law telling you how you can wear your clothes or what you should wear. Yup, I'm talking about the sagging pants law. The law is spreading like wildfire all over the nation, which means our representatives are approving it.







The “Baggy Pants Bill” states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to appear in public wearing his pants below his waist and thereby exposing his skin or intimate clothing.”


Here in Florida the the Prek-12th Grade Education Committee unanimously approved Sen. Gary Siplin's "pull up your britches" bill (SB 302). It next will go to the Senate floor after the Legislature convenes its regular annual session in March.


Youth who let their drawers droop to expose underwear, G-strings or worse at school will first get a verbal warning for their first offense but then face suspension if they keep doing.


Recently, Dr. Phil took up the debate featuring the Ying Yang twins and members of the Hip Hop Government. The argument around sagging pants, inevitably turns to point the finger at hip hop as the culprit for this phenomenom. Hip Hop Government, whose mission is to "Mobilize people of the hip hop culture to use their vote for positive change for political, social and economic concerns" has teamed up with Dallas' City Hall and launched a "Pull up your Pants Campaign."









The year after I graduated from high school Florida began to aggresively implement the uniform code, stripping away the ability to express oneself's identity, and ensuring that boys were paying attention to the teacher at the front of the room who was teaching a lesson, and not on the girl next to him whose shirt was so low cut, he couldn't concentrate on learning. The argument for learning was obviously much stronger thatn the one for freedom of expression and identity because today I find myself buying white, blue or burgandy polos and khakis or jeans and all the students look the same whereby making it a safer learning environment for all children. And all because parents couldn't make sure their girls weren't dressing like hoochie-mamas and their boys weren't dressing like gang members. OR, they were encouraging their kids to dress that way and were buying it for them.

So where do you stand on this issue? Fad or Fashion? Disrespect and Disgusting? Are you tired of seeing boxers, underwear, and thongs hanging out and no one doing anything about it? Is it time for the government to put their hand in making sure that people are "respecting" themselves by implementing a law that tells us how low we are allowed to wear our pants?

Blog #2: Inspirations of Change

I was left with such inspiration after reading Ana's comment (which I think was her first blog entry that she mistakenly placed as a comment on my blog :) ) Ana, even if it wasn't your intention for everyone to read your prompt, those who did read it (as I know many of my younger freshman did as they made comments to me in class about it), were left inspired, as I was.

And so I want to continue with this idea of change. Change is a difficult task, it is a scary one, it means letting go of your comfort zone and all you know and hoping that change will be better. Change = Revolution to many. Change never begins with bad intentions, it always starts for the better, but what may seem like a bad change to some, is in fact a good change to others. It's all about perspective.

For instance, we look at the situation in Cuba. It began with the idea to change, the idea of revolution, it's intentions were initially good ones, and there are definitely people that still believe that it was a good change, it was for the best considering the state of the country prior to Fidel. It's all about perspective, where you stand in life, in status, in class, etc., etc. No one wants to go from more to less, or high to low. Sometimes, though we may not have a choice, right.

I for one, have had to make many changes in the course of my life. By the time I graduated high school I had gone to 4 different elementary/middle schools and 3 different high schools. Adaptability is definitely a trait you learn along the way. In my life I have lived in 4 different states and lived in 15 different homes/apartments. Every single one of those changes was difficult, without a doubt, and along with those changes came sacrifices of certain things, but because of these changes, I have learned so much about the world around me, the diversity of different places, the looks of different people, the voices and slang of different tones and languages. They are changes that have become a part of my identity and one more piece of me.

Blog Prompt #1: Welcome to BLOGGING!!

It's the beginning of a new semester and with that comes the stress of delegating classes, studying, tests, maybe work, family, friends, personal time and fun time and trying to be successful in all areas. Have you ever really thought about how you manage everything in your life? Really thought about it; broken it down sort of thing? Maybe you don't have time to really think about how you manage your everyday life, and maybe it isn't that important to you to think about it. But if you're not thinking about how you manage your life and just going with the flow, chances are you probably don't really think about other issues.

And it's more than just thinking about issues, it's challenging, questioning, analyzing and exploring issues. Breaking them down into pieces and examining them. Just like a business person or accountant would do with numbers, or how a biologist/chemist would do with cells/atoms and elements.

If this is your first time writing in a blog I challenge you to examine, question and analyze this idea of writing your thoughts, opinions on an internet blog as a journal. How does this make you feel? Consider the fact that you have security settings that you can manipulate and that you are being required to do this for a class rather than a decision you have made on your own. Consider its purpose and your audience. The style of writing you should adhere to.

If you have had a blog in the past, your own, or for another class, then I challenge you to examine, question and analyze your experience with having a blog. Consider why you had one, how it made you feel, and how you manipulated the security settings for your own sense of security. Consider changes you may make. Consider how writing a blog may have helped or hindered your writing ability.

So this is your very first blog prompt/journal entry for the semester!! Are you excited? LOL! Probably not, but that's ok. Maybe, hopefully, eventually, you will begin to actually enjoy this process. Just remember: Always think outside the box!