A Risky Consideration

Every student must remember last year's presidential election; walking through the halls of New Trier seeing all the hipsters rocking their Shepard Fairey Obama T-shirts, seeing political pins on students' backpacks, and witnessing the student election (which Obama happened to win by quite a large margin actually). It was clear from all of the excitement that Obama, without a shadow of a doubt, had the young people's vote in the bag. Everyone in America was at least somewhat interested by Obama's promise of change; it was the goal of his campaign altogether.

The thing that I find most interesting about Obama's youth-aimed campaign is how amazingly it actually worked. Obama managed to get more voters under 25 years old out on election day than ever before (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1700525,00.html). Young people love Obama. It's a trend, and high school students love to follow it.

So, when I came across this article the other day, I couldn't help but ask Why, Obama? Why?

Obama is considering cutting short one of the few things that ALL teenagers, no matter what gender, race, clique, and age love. What could it be, you ask? Summer vacation.

No decisions have been made yet, but the fact that Obama has even announced that he's considering this is extremely risky. With such an incredible following of students, I would never guess that Obama would introduce something like this so early in his term.

While it is true that the school calendar, based on the agrarian calendar and farming months, is a little bit outdated, reading this article really made me think about what reactions would be like if it actually happened.

How would you all react if your summer vacation got cut short?

Best Female Video Goes To...

So basically I'm watching the Video Music Awards on MTV right now (Green Day is performing..w00t!!), and something just happened that shocked me more than I can believe. The award for Best Female Video was announced, with nominees Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Lady Gaga, P!nk, and Beyonce. (www.buzzworthy.mtv.com). The presenters came out, listed all of the six deserving women, and announced the winner....Taylor Swift.

She walked up to the stage, and shyly accepted her award. She went on to thank everyone for allowing her to have the award despite her background in country music, seeing as how the VMA's are a usually pop-dominated awards show. Now I'm not a huge Taylor Swift fan, but I'll admit that I think she's sweet and she's worked hard to get where she is today. She may not have deserved the award as much as...I don't know, Beyonce- but she deserved it nonetheless.

However slightly upset I was that Taylor Swift won the moonman, I was forced to defend her the second I witnessed what happened next.

Kanye West strutted on to the stage.

(Now we all know where this is going...)

He forcefully took the mic straight out of Taylor's hands, put it to his lips, and began to praise the woman he believed should have won the award. Check it out.

The poor girl didn't even know if that crowd was booing Kanye or if they were booing her. Nobody should have to go through that, especially when they're receiving an award for something that they've worked really hard towards. It should have been a beautiful moment for her, but it was ultimately ruined by Kanye's self-righteous need to let the world know his opinion. What did he expect? That they would just give Beyonce the award because he said so? Because she was his favorite? Even Beyonce looked horribly embarrassed by the whole situation.

To be honest, this post is kind of starting to remind me of my last one on Spencer and Heidi Pratt. Now don't get me wrong, I think that Kanye West has a hell of a lot more talent than Spencer and Heidi in every way, but his conceit is just as obnoxious as theirs. What makes him think that his opinion is so important? Does he not realize that being such a jerk undermines his talent so incredibly? I might actually be a Kanye fan if it weren't for his disgusting personality, and he doesn't seem to realize how much it affects his image. Grow up, Kanye. And apologize.

King Spencer Pratt?

I'll admit it, I read quite a few gossip magazines. From People to Us Weekly to OK! Magazine, I pretty much will always read the weekly celebrity gossip if I can get my hands on it. Although I will say that two people I cannot stand to read about, even if what's being said about them is horrible, are Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. They honestly give a new meaning to the word obnoxious.

At the beginning, I thought that their stunts and horribly posed tabloid pictures were some kind of elaborate joke to gain social status. In fact, I was sure that they were kidding. Nobody could be that delusional; maybe they were poking fun at how mindless American culture has become, maybe they had plans to turn themselves around and use their influence to do good things. I would have guessed anything, but never that they were actually serious.

Recently though, it seems that their behavior has gotten out of control. Most famously, the "I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" stunt, in which the couple complained that the show was "torturing" them and that only Jesus would save them. Upon quitting she show, Spencer Pratt made the statement, "The only way we got through it was praying. Jesus delivered us" (www.abcnews.go.com).

The thing that I found most shocking, though, has been Spencer Pratt's recent decision to change his name to "King Spencer Pratt." England has a queen, why shouldn't there be a King of America? And he has so righteously nominated himself for that position.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the King of America: Spencer Pratt.


Is that really how anybody would want to be represented? Of course, it's a complete joke and I highly doubt anybody will take his ridiculous delusions seriously, but the fact remains the same. Is this really what we want to see as the face of the United States?

Nobody is going to hail "Speidi" as the leaders of the nation, but at this point I am beginning to believe that they honestly think they are. It is no stunt, it is no elaborate plot; these people actually think they are that important. This joke has gone way too far, and it's an embarrassment to the entire nation now.

More Reckless Means...More Mature?

I actually had a pretty hard time this week thinking of something to blog about- something that both caught my attention and related to my life. Wasting away attempting to read all of those boring, uninteresting articles on those boring, uninteresting news sites, finally something struck my attention. A headline reading "The Teen Brain: The More Mature, The More Reckless." Immediately I thought, This can't be true- I know kids that do reckless, dumb things; and there's no WAY that they're more mature than me. I continued to read the article. There was a lot of scientific stuff in it, talking about how the "gray matter" of the brain gradually decreases as teenagers get older and progress into adulthood, and how it is replaced with the more mature-thinking "white matter". Apparently, a person's brain doesn't fully finish developing until he or she is 25 years old (Time Magazine Website). Or at least that's when the minimum amount of gray matter is left in the brain. So really, adulthood doesn't truly come until the age of 25. I like to think that I'm pretty grown up now at the age of sixteen, but wow, 25? That's a stretch.

Anyway, the writers of this article studied a research paper conducted by psychiatrist Gregory Burns, in which they polled 91 students aged 12 to 18 and asked them what kinds of risky behavior they partake in on a regular basis. After the students completed the surveys, the researchers did brain scans on them, and the results were surprising to say the least. As it turns out, contrary to popular belief, the students that admitted to partaking in the most reckless activities were also the ones with the highest amounts of white matter in the brain.

Talk about a shocker.

The writers of the article went on to explain how teenagers that are too mature for their age tend to test their adult-like limits in order to find a comfortable living niche that accounts for their untimely maturity. This could easily be misunderstood as reckless behavior. I get that; there certainly is that select group of reckless, misunderstood kids that act out just because they want to know what they're capable of.. In my opinion, that is the group of kids that this article is referring to as recklessly mature. There is also that group of incredibly stupid teenagers that make impossibly unintelligent decisions just to fit in and get attention. In my opinion, that is the group of kids that wish this article was referring to them.

I'm still not so sure if I agree with everything this article says, but it certainly was an interesting read and I'm glad that a lot of "misunderstood," stereotypical teenage behavior is finally being brought into the light and understood. What I'm trying to say is, the next time your parents yell at you for doing something stupid, you've got a pretty good excuse.