The Claim: Never Blow Your Nose When You Have a Cold

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/health/10real.html?_r=1&em

Anahad O'Connor

This title should be changed to Really? Are You Serious? Did you actually write this article? I’m not sure when this article went bad for me, was it the absurd picture or scrolling down to the end of the page and seeing it was only four paragraphs. For a New York Times article I expect much more information from a well-known newspaper. I also expect after the headline don’t blow your nose there would be more information behind this statement. But there wasn’t. Did they try run experiments with people to see if it worked? No. This article was not just poorly written it is just such an unnecessary article. Anahad O’Connor should have asked a friend on the paper to help them find an article topic.

No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else

A hilarious, but serious issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/world/europe/23crapstone.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1233032400&en=11a2bd70cd486544&ei=5087%0A
Sarah Lyall



This was a tough topic to write about and make it a good article but Sarah Lyall made it happen. This article is about street and towns names that are inappropriate. Lyall starts the article with,
"When ordering things by telephone, Stewart Pearce tends to take a proactive approach to the inevitable question 'What is your address?” This town is called Crapstone. Crapstone, England. Lyall works off this name and puts in personal experiences that a restaurant owner has encountered over the years with there town name. She then did her reseacher, mostly Lyall googled in "most embrassing street address or towns" and put in some quick facts. After that she went into a serious part in her aritcle, about if this is apportiate and how people in Crapstone feel. Lyall started the article off strong and ended it that way too. She ends with a quote, "Still, when strangers ask where she’s from, she admitted, 'I just say I live near Plymouth."(Meaning she's too embrassed to admit where she is really lives.)



I would recommand reading this article if you need a laugh. =D

He's Leaving. Really.

Think of the most hateful article you have ever read. Well, I'm pretty sure that this one tops it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15collins.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1232341200&en=4096f0e7da13a6ef&ei=5087%0A
By Gail Collins

Alright, even for a non-political follower, right a way I knew that from the title it was going to be about President Bush. Whether you like President Bush or not, the way Gail Collins criticizes him is without a doubt completely unnecessary.

I guess, in what I'm about to say is going to defend Bush in his actions as President, but I am defending him by the hateful words used in this article.


If you have ever played on a sports team, been on a cast for a play, or any situation where you have second guessed someone, well then you know it is very easy to second guess anyone on a decision they have made. In this op-ed article Collins uses the words, "entire nation" and "everyone" frequently. Well, even though it is her own opinion when your writing about a topic as serious or important as this one you should think that not everyone agrees with your opinion. Bush did not win the 2000 election or 2004 election by just one vote. The American people voted him in, and America thought he was the best candidate at that time.
“Just seemed like yesterday,' he said(President Bush). I think I speak for the entire nation when I say that the way this transition has been dragging on, even yesterday does not seem like yesterday. And the last time George W. Bush did not factor into our lives feels like around 1066."

For some people, but not all when you read an article you can tell the tone the way the writer has written the article. From this article I get the tone sarcastic and hate. No love. Right now he is still our President, and we must respect that.

On the way this op-ed was written. Well if you are not a fan of President Bush most likely the reader got a great laugh out of the article and agreed with Collins and walked away from the computer. Collins mentioned things about President Bush from the Iraqi War to Hurricane Katrina. Her ending not only entertained the reader(which any writer wants to) but disrespected our President on so many levels. Here is Collins ending ...

“My fellow Americans, before I leave you next week I want you to know that ...

A) “Although things have gone very wrong, I take comfort in the realization that Dick Cheney was actually in control from the get-go. Honest, I never even knew half the people in the cabinet.”

B) “Laura and I have come to realize that all things considered, retirement to a mansion in Texas is just totally inappropriate. And so we take our leave to begin a new life as missionaries at a small rescue station in the Gobi desert ...”

C) “Surprise! This has all actually been a bad dream. It’s really still November of 2000 and tomorrow Al Gore is going to be elected president.”

Otherwise, the best possible approach for a farewell address might be for Bush to follow his father’s lead and just not give one."

But you know, maybe I am just over reacting to this article and Collins is dead-on with everything she said. But when I fininished reading this article I got that gut feeling that it was wrong. And the saying goes "go with your gut feeling."

Hanukkah is not a "Jewish Christmas"

http://www.newstimes.com/ci_11284747?IADID=Search-www.newstimes.com-www.newstimes.com

By Nanci G. Hutson
Staff writer

I thought that this was a very interesting topic to write about because most often people around the world do think that Hanukkah is similar to Christmas, almost as if you could compare the two. But, the thing that Hutson tries to show in her article is that Hanukkah and Christmas are nothing alike and they shouldn’t be compared.

Hutson starts off this article by giving background knowledge on both Christmas and Hanukkah. But mainly she goes through how Jewish people will spend Hanukkah; she pulled quotes from people in different areas of CT that the Danbury News Times cover. What Hutson really tries to show is how the Jewish religion and Christian religion are incomparable and that Hanukkah should no more be called a “Jewish Christmas.”

But if I’m being honest, the real reason why I choose this article to blog about is because of all the comments this article got. If you are unaware with what comments means, it is with any online article for the Danbury News Times(and most newspapers) you can leave a comment on the article. This article has already had 75 comments by noon. The majority of these comments were not to tell Hutson how much they like her writing or how they loved the topic of discussion but to cowardly fight online about religion and the celebration Hanukkah and Christmas. This comments were racist and downright mean.

Quotes like this is what is wrong with America, espically around the Holiday Season.

“Jesus was a Jew. You pray to a Jew. You worship a Jew. If Jesus wasn't killed, you'd have no Christian religion. Next time you meet a Jew, go up and say Thank You. Until then, go crawl back under your rock, you puny-brained religious bigot.”

“Hannukkah Chanukah, how many ways are there to spell 1 holiday? or is it holidae? who knows. All I know is menorah's stink, dradles are boring, and Jews love pennies because it's the closest thing to gold they have. I heard an old folk tale that the grand canyon was created by a few Jews looking for a quarter. It just might be the truth”

The point I am trying to make in this post is be careful what you right about or how you write something because sometimes the way a reader interrupts something in your writing may not be the way you wanted the reader to interrupt.

Bad Times Stories

http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/first-the-bad-news/?ref=opinion

The article Bad Times Stories is an op-ed piece written by Judith Warner from the New York Times paper. This op-ed piece is about her life as mother and her parenting skills. After tragic times such as 9/11, the Holocaust, and most recent the tragedy in America the death of a Wal-Mart employee on Black Friday due to aggressive shoppers are all topics her 8-year-old Emilie daughter has questions about. Warner is struggling about how she needs to approach these issues with her daughter because Emilie is traumatized by these events. She's scared and is always thinking about these horrible times inside of thinking about all the happy and positive times ahead of her. She wants her mother to share more of her knowledge about his topics but Warner can't do that because the truth of these events is too much for an eight-year-old to handle.

"It is the thing that runs through her mind as we drive in the car and she considers the landscape around her. ‘What does Wal-Mart look like?' she asked me on Wednesday, searching for clues in the storefronts of Northwest Washington.’ A great big store, with groceries and clothing and auto supplies, and electronics,' I said. 'So it’s like Best Buy,' she said, as we drove past Best Buy. 'Not quite like Best Buy. ''Is it near here? ''There’s no Wal-Mart near here,' I said. 'That store was on Long Island.' 'Oh!' she gave a great sigh of relief. 'That’s really far away.'""I would never have expected the Wal-Mart incident to lodge itself so deeply in Emilie’s mind." Warner tries to keep the world away from Emilie such as the paper with grotesque pictures or the news on television because she is so young. "This is why I fought getting cable TV for eight years. This is why I leave the newspapers folded up, photos down." Warner feels like this is the right solution, but she knows her plan of keeping these things from Emilie can easily be revealed in school to her.

My reaction to this article was initially “Wow” this young girl is her own worst enemy. She is in the middle of a stage of too young to get away with things but not old enough to know everything. It's hard to protect young children from these event that have happened in the United States but all parents have to face these issues because if they don't hear about it at home there going to hear it at school, and at school the parent can't help the child know right or wrong or just not to be scared. I think Warner is doing the right thing by hiding pictures from the paper because images like that could stay in her daughter mind forever. But I think Warner needs to step up and tell her daughter about these issues a little more in depth, because the real truth is, if the parent doesn't tell them someone else will.

Gay Marriage Is Ruled Legal in Connecticut

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/nyregion/11marriage.html?pagewanted=1&sq=CT%20allows%20gay%20marriage&st=cse&scp=2

Definition of Marriage: the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc (Take from www.dictionary.com)

I think alot of dictionary's, websites, books, ect. will have to change their definition or view on marriage, because on October 28 there is no turning back from legalizing gay marriages. Marriage will have a whole new meaning then just the tradition wedding of a man and women. What will dictionary's come out with? ... to live as husband and husband, wife and wife, husband and wife?

In this article from the New York Times written by Robert D. McFadden it is about how only 3 states out of 50 states have legalized gay marriages (Connecticut, Massachusetts, and California). If this law is passed it will take effect on October 28, 2008. But this law is not easily going to be passed, already this law has encounter problems and angry citizens. People already are saying "ban gay marriages". Connecticut's own Govern Jodi Rell has openly said she disagrees, even though she says she will "uphold it" she has flat out said she disagrees with it. I'm not sure if that was a good thing for her to say or not as a Govern.

I feel that McFadden makes a good a point in this article when he says is this something these people can "control" or are they "powerless". That is a question no one will ever know, but if gay marriages make people happy, what is so wrong with that?
"Garret Stack, 59, introduced his partner, John Anderson, 63, and said: “For 28 years we have been engaged. We can now register at Home Depot and prepare for marriage.”
After reading this quote my heart in a way went out to these people. For 28 years they have been together but couldn't have an official marriage, its going to be a hard law to pass and a hard law not to pass.

heyheyhey=D

welcome to my blog

I'm in the period 5 journalism class

-Sports Editor-