The Bucky

2006-12-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

How Ignorant is Wisconsin?

On November 7th this year our wonderful state of Wisconsin came together in a general consensus to create an amendment to the constitution that banned civil unions and gay marriages. Notice I say banning civil unions in addition to gay marriage because that is not all the amendment states. Many went into this election casting their ballots thinking only of the gay marriage part of the amendment. This might have been in part due to the massive amounts of publicity towards the gay marriage campaign, but that was half of the amendment. When talking with college friends of mine, none knew that the amendment also banned straight and homosexual civil unions. This is why if you're not sure about an amendment, then you should not vote at all, but the problem was everyone thought they were sure and that gay marriage was the only issue addressed. Even after reading through the amendment (if any did) and voting, many still didn't recognize it.
The civil union and gay marriage amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution bans any type of civil union. Therefore, if a couple (homosexual or not) lived together for the past 20 years and received insurance as a civil union from their employer, they could no longer receive that joined insurance. Under state law, that business can no longer legally recognize their employee and his companion as a legal couple and cannot provide the two of them with insurance. It doesn't matter if this couple is gay or not. The maind point this amendment truly matters is so gay and straight non-married couples can receive benefits as a couple. This is key to a couple's survival and our vote on November 7th, excluding Dane county ruined many people's lives. I have a strong feeling that many of the fellow members in our state hadn't the faintest idea what they were doing when they voted yes on November 7th and this shows us how ignorant our state truly is.

2006-11-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

Research Narrative

Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to focus mainly on figuring out if the research question I selected is the right one for me. I have weighed many different topics to see if those would uncover more information, but they just didn't fascinate me as much as the topic of hurricanes intensifying due to global warming. I felt very confident when I finally chose my research question and now a couple of weeks into the project and research, I feel the same. There is a lot of insight on this particular topic because there are many debates over whether global warming is truly intensifying huricanes as of late. I might be gathering some biased information, but in general it all seems to be very scientific and straight forward.

I think the hardest part so far has been sifting through articles and gathering information that is not repetitive to other information I have already gathered. It is very time consuming, but at the same time, incredibly interesting. I am probably halfway through researching right now, and I plan on hopefully finishing the research portion by the middle part of next week. I found it easiest when gathering information to print off the articles and then read over them while underlining key points and arguments. Overall, I am succeeding at this project step by step and hopefully it will show in the end result.

2006-10-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

It's "Like" What?

Who knows who started it, but every one says it: "like". A four letter word that quite possibly could be the most used word in american dialect. The only thing is, we don't even realize we are saying it. If one was to listen to an everyday conversation, that person would probably hear a person say "like" at least 20 times in a 3 minute conversation. That's almost 7 times a minute! So why does our generation do this? It's simple, our generation is unsure of ourselves and using the word like makes us feel secure about what we say. The reason for this is because if we use "like", we aren't exactly stating whatever we are talking about directly, we are just describing it is like something. This something could be a past experience or something that is similar to whatever the conversation is about. We don't withhold the knowledge to be sure we are exactly right, therefore we don't say the definition of whatever we are speaking about. It's actually pretty sad if you think about how much one will say this word, especially professionals, such as professors or even english teachers. Is it a bad thing? I don't think it's that bad, but it definitely does not show one's intellect when used in abundance.

2006-09-28T00:46:00.002-07:00

Summary of "Potential Lesbians at Two O'Clock: The Heterosexualization of Lesbianism in the Recent Teen Film

Tricia Jenkins, graduate student at Western Michigan University, is the author of this commentary. This commentary is about the increase in the amount of lesbianism in teenage movies today. Jenkins expresses her aknowledgement on how increasingly fast movies are now being made with lesbian insinuations and actions built right into the plot. The idea that these movies are shaping our youth and in turn, our youth is shaping the production of these movies by their thoughts and feelings towards lesbianism. She expresses how heterosexual lesbianism is almost every male's fantasy and that has to do with a big reason for the production of these movies that contain heterosexual lesbianism. The only reason this is a big hit in movies is because almost half of the box office sales are from young adults in the age group between 16 and 24 years of age. This is the generation that is having the fascinations.
One might see this in movies, but not on mainstream television. Too many adults watch television and this would disturb a lot of parents and younger children viewing. This was found out the hard way when the Ellen show was broadcasted during the afternoon. Many felt uncomfortable having a lesbian as a host of an afternoon talk show, which led to the cancellation of it. Most likely you won't see another lesbian run a talk show for quite a while. A reason having Ellen Digenerous host a show might not have worked because she isn't viewed as the typical heterosexual lesbian that males enjoy watching. Jenkins refers to luscious lesbians as the type of girl males want. The sexy ones that turn the guys on. These type of characters are portrayed in movies such as American Pie 2 and Crual Intentions. These movies don't only show women in this form, but these movies are an incentive for young women to want to be like that to get the man of their dreams.
This is quite an interesting topic to say the least. It didn't even cross my mind the amount of movies that display lesbians. I know a lot of guys who really enjoy these movies and for this exact reasoning. It will be interesting to see the new fascinations addressed in teen movies in the future.

2006-09-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Analysis of "The Numbing of the American Mind"

This essay by Thomas de Zengotita really made me realize how ridicilous my life is. The ideas brought up throughout the entire reading were completely true in every aspect. Our nation is moving on every single day, whether that is by being incredibly busy and not paying attention to things around us for more than a couple of minutes, or is by not having the time t realize what is going on in our world today. There is so many options in our world that we take the time to decide what kind of options we want and then there is no more time to appreciate things that used to be appreciatable, like wolves in the wild. The nation is constantly moving on in everyone's own direction. The September 11th attacks were a huge thing for a couple of weeks, but then phased in to the norm of everyday life. The points made of our our nation is full of reaslistic and unrealistic things points out that we truly don't know the difference all the time, but we think we do. We are living in an incredibly fast world and everyone doesn't try to forget the attacks on Sept. 11th, but we do. We just don't have time to sit down and comtemplate what really happened for longer than a couple of minutes. This is how the nation works. It's not that we are bad people, it's just that is how we were raised in such a fast pace nation.

2006-09-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

The Transition

When students move from high school to college, it is incedibly difficult for them to adjust. Granted, some deal with it easier than others, but in general it is a tough move to make. There are many ways for students to cope with this change, but the easiest way is to get involved.
There are over one hundred different clubs and organizations located on campus at Wisconsin and welcome week offers many different opportunities to get involved and meet fellow freshman. Staying so involved often makes time go by quicker and one also does not have to think about home as much, so there is less of a homesick feeling. Another factor when making the transition is to live in the dormitories offered on campus. This is a great opportunity for students to leave his/her door open and just meet different people. One can meet their lifelong friend at college or their soul mate by living in the dorms. While meeting new people and staying busy, students should still find time to call home and talk to their parents. This is good both for the parents and the child. It gives comfort to your parents and makes them know their child is safe.
When making the transition from high school to college, remember, be yourself and have fun. If you get involved you will meet people and remember to study. College is a little more difficult than high school and requires students to study to succeed. College is a time for self-discovery and should be the greatest years of one's life, both academically and socially.

2006-09-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Give it Up (Halloween 2006)

When college students in the Midwest think of Halloween, they automatically think of Madison, Wisconsin and our beloved State Street bash. This year that might not be true because of changes being made to keep down rioting, but Mom and Dad, don't get your hopes up too high. The bash will still go on like it has every year except with a few adaptations.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz is trying to make the annual event less chaotic and calmer by blocking off State Street and adding a five dollar cover charge. Like this will honestly work! Not a chance. Adding that cover charge and limiting the number of people on the street will only make all the college students more aggravated. Think of the ones that won't get in; what will they do? Sure some might go to Langdon and start a party of their own, but some will also start riots in retaliation. Also does anyone ever notice that the only time rioting starts is when the police force everyone out at three in the morning? Pepper spray in the eyes and tear gas aren't the nicest combinations of moving people and attempting not to piss them off.
I strongly believe that the real solution to this whole fiasco is to not do anything. Okay, so police presence is definitely needed and so are lights, but when it comes down to dealing with the rioting, which I might add has been completely over dramatized in the papers and news, just let it die down by itself. People will eventually get tired and go home before 6:00 a.m. When the city sets a time for everyone to go home, they make an effort to stay until that time. Just like a high school student and his/her curfew. Stay until the bitter end. With no set time, people will go as they please and you are almost guaranteed no rioting and a peaceful night.
I don't know about Mayor Dave, but I would rather clean up State Street a little later in the morning than cause himself and the city another Halloween embarrassement.