PLN 6

In the article "Arenas, Crittenton suspended for rest of season" by Brian Mahoney of the Washington press, Mahoney states that Gilbert Arenas and one of his teammates have been suspended without pay for the rest of the NBA season for pulling guns on each other while at the Verizon Center. Mahoney says that all of this started on the team airplane while they were playing a card game and has been carried forward to this incident. Arenas, who is currently playing for the Washington Wizards, said that it was wrong and he did not know what he was doing. Commissioner David Stern says that he had to suspend him for the rest of the season because we do not need people, especially professional athletes pulling guns our walking around with guns in the first place.

I am using this in my paper because this little incident shows that Arenas thought he could bring a gun to his place of work and pull it on one of his own teammates and not get caught, which shows that he thinks that he is above the law. Many times the teams don't address some of these situations. In this case, the Wizard's organization has backed the commissioner saying the poor judgment "stands in contrast to everything Abe Pollin stood for throughout his life." Abe Pollin was the Wizard's owner who died last year and is one of the most well-known owners in professional sports history. This is a concern for Arenas because a lot of people, and the Wizard's entire organization, looked up to him as a role model, but when people start hearing about how he treated one of his own teammates, as a joke, he will never be looked up to again.

PLN 5

In the article "Tale of Tiger's Infidelity More Than Cautionary" by Tonyaa Weathersbee states that Tiger Woods does not like to be called "black". This professional golfer said that it bothers him when people call him black, because he thinks he is more Cablinasian – as in Caucasian-black-Indian-Asian. The writer says that Woods is trying not be a stereotype but ends up being exactly that because he does not think of himself as black and that he likes white women. After Woods crashed his SUV on November 27, suspicion came that not only was he drunk, but was he seeing other women. Only 10 women have been accounted for but not only did he have sex with them, he lost his trust with his wife and with all of the people who look up to him and watch him. Later on in the article they talk to some of the women he was with and they proved that Tiger was cheating by texts, or just by memory.

I am using this in my paper because not only did Tiger cheat once or twice on his wife, he cheated at least ten times and now that number is growing to be almost double. This situation shows that he has no moral values where his marriage is concerned and that people will no longer be able to look up to him as a role model for being a good person. He will be looked at like the guy who was keeping his "private" life private for many more reasons that anyone ever suspected.

PLN 4

I just read a blog by Dan Mass on the Littleton Public School website titled "Dr. Warschauer visits East and Hopkins." The question he asks is, are computers a waste of time and money? I am currently a ninth grader attending Arapahoe High School, and in my English class all of us have our own computers we use. I think that computers are not a waste of time or money. If we get computers for elementary schools and middle schools it will keep them ahead of the game because in high school and college, you use computers a lot. You will be writing reports, setting up power points, and doing research. Instead of carrying around heavy text books for every class, you can carry a lap top and access all of your text books will little effort. Computers are the technology of the future and if we do not teach kids to use them correctly, they will fall behind. Computers also gives kids a new way to do things and new ways to explore.

PLN 3

I just read "Robber sticks up pot shop, leaves weed behind" by Howard Pankratz in the Denver Post. This article is about a man who tried to rob a Denver medical marijuana dispensary at about 12:58 p.m. yesterday. A police spokesman said that the man entered through 4101 E. Wesley Ave. and just started to look at products. After the man picked some products he approached the manager and pulled a gun. He said he was not going to pay for what products he took. For some reason though, he left without the product and left in a car with a Colorado license plate of 873-OWC. The suspect is described as a mid-to-late 20s, 6 feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds. People that were in the store while the robbery was happening said that they recognized the man who tried to rob the store.

This matters to the world because people are stealing and robbing stores for drugs that are meant for people who are seriously sick. This matters to education because in school they teach us that drugs are bad for you and there are people out there trying to rob marijuana stores because it is now so readily available. This really does not matter to me because I do not use drugs and I never will use drugs. But, this does matter to our community because if people are robbing stores for pot what else will they be willing to do next?

PLN 2

My change the world paper is based on my opinion that professional athletes do not deserve to be looked up to because of the way they behave and some of the things they have done/do. One example of this is that athletes think they are above the law. Just last week a huge story was being built up because Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards thought it would be funny to bring guns to work. Instead, another teammate and Arenas got in an argument and they both pulled guns on each other. Professional athletes also do not deserve to be looked up to because of the drug use that is involved. Another incident that just happened last week is that Mark McGwire admitted he used steroids after he denied it for years. My last reason that professional athletes do not deserve to be looked up to is that they have no basic moral values. Again, just recently everyone is talking about Tiger Woods and his 18 plus "girlfriends". This example shows you that even the best golfer in the world and even the best athlete in the world has no respect for women, especially his wife.

This subject matters to the world because a lot of people think that these athletes are or were the best in the world at their sport at some point in time; but when they hear about all of the stupid stuff they do everyone will think about that athlete differently. This matters to education because in school they teach you that drugs are illegal and bad for you, do not mess around with guns, and for a guy, do not ever miss treat or abuse women. This matters to me personally because I look up to one of the best, if not the best goalkeeper in the world. How do I know that he might be doing something stupid in England that I do not know about and will be let down to find out. Kids need to figure out that if they think all professional athletes live a perfect life, they do not.

PLN1

The internet is changing the way I think because it narrows down a search to a very specific topic. Instead of reading through tons of books and material to find what I'm looking for, I can just hop on the internet and find exactly what I'm looking for. It is easier and much less time consuming. I think it is easier way to find other things that are related to your topic on the internet through links. This helps because it gives you other ideas about your topic that you may not have thought of. However, when researching on the internet you need to be careful that what you think is a good resource actually is. The internet gives me access to things that are happening around the world 24/7.