Book Review

Gym Candy tells the story of a high school football player from Seattle, Washington that is pushed a little too far to be successful. Gym Candy by Carl Dueker is one of my favorite books by far because its so relatable to my personal life.
   Mick Johnson started his football training at the age of four he was also put in school a year late so he always had the physical upperhand on all of his teammates. The reason Mick gets pushed is because his dad had a chance to be the best and he screwed it up. Micks dad was a awesome running back but when he was drafted by the chargers he didnt realize how much work it was too be good in the NFL and he was soon cut during training camp. Thats why Mick is pushed so hard. But the problem is he gets pulled up to varsity as a freshman, after being messed with and a big lose with him as the star running back he looks to find more power. So then he signs up in a gym and gets a personal trainner so he can get stronger. Gym Candy uses the theme of too high of expectations can break a person physically and mentally. Micks dad always wanted Mick to be the best person on the feild but his age altered how he played with older guys. Mick hated that the older guys were bigger and stronger so he soon decided that it needed to change. Carl Deuker will keep your attention to the book the entire time because of his fast entertaining pace style of writing. After Mick got his personal  trainner he got on steroids and grew bigger and stronger but then he got power hungry and started hating his apperace because of the acne side effects. In the end Mick trys to kill himself because he felt like a disappointment. I cant really relate to Mick trying to kill himself but I can relate to his hunger for power. Ive always wanted to get bigger and stronger like Mick.
     I give this book a 5 out of 5 because I could really relate to it and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading.

Current Connection 3.2

            

    Women Are Mistreated At Work? Even Women Don't Believe This Myth. A article written by Kyle Smith giving evidence that women are not treated any differently than men in the work place.  

"The assumptions behind these ideas are wrong. Says who? Say American women. It’s a myth that women are suffering on the job" (Smith). There is no physical evidence that women are being miss treated, however, there have been many verbal reports of it. When you look into the surveys though women seem very happy.
    "A Gallup survey says that, with one exception, no matter how you slice up job satisfaction, American women are equal to or ahead of men" (Smith). So a woman can not claim they are miss treated after what the surveys say. Of course women are sometimes miss treated but so are men. And it just proves that its not an act of discrimination on women.
       " Perception of sex bias at work is widespread, and yet it all but disappears when you try to nail people down on specifics" (CEO). It may be different for women and men with the jobs that they do. If a women did a blue-collar job she  may not be accepted and if a man did a hairstyling job he may not be accepted.
    Gender roles in the workforce are very controversial because different genders are more accepted for different jobs.
     So not only women can be treated wrong but men can be treated bad as well in the work force 

 

    

Current Connection 3.1

           Female workers' acceptance in traditionally male-dominated blue-collar jobs is a article written by Hellen T Palmer and Jo Ann Lee. The article explains how women are not treated as fair as the male workers are in Blue-Collar Jobs.

         In Palmer's and Lee's article they had taken surveys that were completed by 53 male supervisors and 327 male co-workers of four departments of a large government agency. All of the male supervisors claimed they didn't  treat female workers any different than they treated the male workers. Although, the male co-workers claimed that they treated other male co-workers more favorably than female co-workers. Even though the supervisors may not mistreat female employees, if the male co-workers do, it still leaves a negative impact on the female workers. More than likely female blue-collar workers are not treated as well as male blue-collar workers is because its always been know as a tradition and more acceptable for a man to do the rough and dirty work.

          Also Palmer and Lee said, supervisors, compared with male co-workers, reported more favorable attitudes toward female workers. So unlike the male co-workers, supervisors, prefer female workers over men. Supervisors don't actually have to work with the females unlike the male co-workers. So they don't have a problem with the females, but the men that have to work with the females probably feel insulted by the fact that a women can do the same work as a man. Its nothing against women but its always been known that the man does the hard  blue-collar work to support their family. But times are changing and women have changed, so the male co-workers shouldn't favor other male co-workers over  women co-workers because women blue-collar workers are no different than male blue-collar workers.
         Being a blue-collar worker is tough,  but someone has to do it and it doesn't matter if that someone is a male or female. Both male and female workers should be treated and accepted equally by their boss and by each other.

Current Connection 2.1

In an article entitled "Adrian Peterson's young son dies after alleged assault" posted on CNN news by Greg Botelho and Jason Hanna. Botelho and Hanna, write that a two year old boy who was reportedly the son of minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson died Friday of injuries he suffered after allegedly being abused.

Police report, Joseph Robert Patterson, 27 years old, had been charged with aggravated battery of an infant and aggravated assault. If convicted, Joseph could spend 40 years in prison; eventhough Joseph may have not meant to kill the child. I still believe he should spend life in prison. 40 years is not a suitible prison time for the crime he had committed.

According to police,the south Dakota law enforcement, prosecutors,law enforcing bodys of power, are considering filing additional charges against Patterson in light of the boys death. Filing additional charges would be the right thing to do for Adrian's justice. When you take away  a mans child it is like taking away part of himself. No matter what they do to Patterson, Peterson will never have his son back, so they need to give Patterson the worst punishment possible.

How is Adrian, handling his sons death? As soon as the news came out of the boys death, Adrian Peterson took to twitter to express his gratitude to his family, fans and the "fraternity of brothers" in NFL for their support. To be the nationl icon and idol that Adrian is, he still had to reach out to the public for comfort, like most people Adrian didnt take to his 2 year old son's death very well.

You cant help but wonder what he is going through right now. Everyone loses loved ones and it leaves a hole in our heart. Adrian probably loved his son more than anything in the would and it was taken from him. Joseph Patterson needs to be in prison for life and we should pray for Adrian and his family.

Work Cited

Botelho, Greg. "Report: Adrian Perersons young son dies after alleged assault."CNN U.S. Web 1 Oct. 2013

Current Connection 1.2

 In a recent article, "School Hours Should Be Shortened", written by student, Maheeta, she states teachers give kids way to much work to do, it will give students time to do other activities and teachers would also have a relaxed break. School should be shortened by at least two hours a day.

 

In the second paragraph of the article Maheeta states,  "at school, teachers absolutely ear bash students with endless bundles of work." Almost every 14 through 18 year old, high school student, can agree with this statement because they can relate to the endless amounts of home work assigned every night that they just cant quite understand; teachers try to cram everything into their heads at once.

 

In the third paragraph of the article Maheeta claims, that if school hours were shortened then the students grades would boost. With the long hours school days that we have right now people are dreary before test and cant perform as well. Also many students blare out what teachers have to say because they are so exhausted from the long day.

 

From the 2013 school board committee reports of Arkansas; the committee agree that teachers are not getting as much from the students as they had expected. If the school hours were shortened teachers could get more activity from the students because they are less fatigue. More importantly students will care more.

 

I know for a fact that school hours should be shortened because I am a high school student that suffers from fatigue and exhaustion. High school needs a change.

 

If you look into this hard enough I feel like you will believe me even more. Also I know that you can relate to this because you were once in high school or you are now.

Current Connection 1.1

http://www.globalpartnership.org/who-we-are/the-value-of-education/ has an article called "The Value Of Education" showing that the most effective way to reduce poverty in a country is by using the process of learning, called education.

      Countries with low education tend to suffer the most from, a lack of material or wealth, called poverty. "In short, education has the power to make this big planet, known as the world, a better place." Creating more schools with advanced licensed teachers could revolutionize the world. It could help the poor countries gain wealth and knowledge at the same time.

      "Education is more than reading, writing, and arithmetic." It is the most important investment a country can make in its people and in its future. Because it does not only reduce poverty it also reduces inequality.

       Communist countries, countries led by one leader, prefer equality so education is key in their life. Education gives everyone a fighting chance to succeed in a career and allows equal opportunity for less privileged people to get a good jab and make something out of themselves.

     Many of us don’t realize how important education is to a individual since our country has a great education system, but while it seems like it’s nothing maybe it’s the reason that our country, the united states of America, is on top.

       Education decides the wealth of any country no matter who runs it.

The Boston Bombings

       Usually when you hear of a terrorist attack you think of a Middle Eastern race but, in the Boston bombings case two  young Russian radical brothers set two bombs off during the Boston marathon. They had expected a higher death rate but only a couple died and a few others injured in the terrorist act.  They had finally caught the two brothers but the older one was killed in combat and the younger one was captured and taken for questioning.                                                                                                                                                      I can relate the Boston bombings to the 9/11 attack that took place on September 11, 2001. Because they were both acts of terror by radical religions. "How can they hate something that they don't understand?"  Timothy Hinckley asked  that question after he found out his daughter died in the Boston bombings.  After the 9/11 attacks many family members were wondering how such a thing could happen. Many people wondered how the airport security could be  manipulated so easily since there are so many checkpoints required before getting on a plane. So one thing both terrorist attack had in common were that they both left questions behindfor the family members of the deceased. Mark Cambridge said "what's the point in them attacking us if we haven't done anything to them?" That same statement stands for the 9/11 attacks we hadn't  done anything to them but they felt the need to attack us.                                                                                                                                                 "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." That's the golden rule that everybody claims to follow. But if everybody followed that rule then there wouldn't be any terrorist attacks. So obviously the terrorist attacks are not acts out of the religion they're  acts out of anger towards our government and country. "They do not realize that we are people just like them."  That was a statement made by John Hampton after the Boston bombings. John was one of  the workers at the marathon during the Boston bombings. After hearing that I realized that he was wrong. They know we are people just like them but they are selfish and believe that we are corrupt people.           Maybe one day America will realize that we are hated by many people and we need to step up our security. The Boston bombings and 9/11 are just proof that our security is slacking.



Htttp:www.bostonmarathon/bombings/news.edu