Panhandling

Panhandling on the streets of Tampa, Florida has grown to where every median of the major intersections in the city has a panhandling begging for money. Some signs say “lost job; four children; need money for food” others state “who’s kidding, I just want a drink”. It has become quite a problem for the citizens of the City, but one that City Hall is not willing to address. Many citizens claim it will take one of the panhandlers getting killed before the City does anything. One citizen's group is trying to get a referendum on the April ballot to require the City to take action. The City of St. Petersburg, across the bay, ban panhandling from its streets. This just meant all of St. Petersburg’s panhandler’s moved across the bay to Tampa.

On a good day the panhandlers can make up to $60 at a busy intersection. They seem to have their spots staked out. The same young couple is on the corner of Gandy and Dale Mabry every day. The woman wears her hair in a neat blonde bun with clean white bobby socks, white tennis shoes , cuffed blue jean shorts and a shirt. She is clean and attractive and makes a person wonder what her real story is and why she is there.  Her male friend has a similar appearance. At the end of the day they walk off together to some unknown location to return again the next day.

If Tampa did not have adequate support services for the homeless, then I too would agree there should be a no solicitation on city streets. But there are quite a few outstanding organizations for these individuals to get a warm meal, clean clothes, and place to help them get back on their feet.  

The City Commissioners claim if they created a no solicitation law then the firefighters could not solicit twice a year for their causes. This is an inadequate excuse. The laws could be written to allow particular solicitation on specific days of the year with a permit. The reasons for the cop out are unknown, but if the City does not do something the citizens may take matters into their own hands.

Old enough to drive an ATV?

ATV's should be ban for any individual under the age of sixteen to drive. Time after time, you read in the paper where another child has been killed on a four wheel drive. Some have on helmets, others do not, but all have suffered a serious fall where their brain is injured and they die.  

The day after Thanksgiving, another such tragic accident took the life of a young girl that my sister knew from summer camp. She was riding around on the family farm with her sisters and cousins.  It was her turn to take a ride. She put on her helmet and drove off down the road, but as everyone patiently waited, she did not return. Her family went searching for her and found a deer had run into her or scared her during her drive. She ran into a tree. She died shortly thereafter. A young life cut short at the age of twelve because she was driving a powerful and dangerous machine that was not a toy. She should not have been on it by herself. If an adult had been on the vehicle and the deer came out, they would have better understood how to handle the situation. As a result, a person must possess a valid driver’s license to get behind the wheel of any vehicle propelled by a gas engine.

As people heard the tragic story of the young girl who’s life ended too soon, each was told of someone’s friend who knew someone with the same experience. One more life should not end in such a senseless tragic manner.

Incoming message

Whether one receive's voicemails, text messages, bbm's, Twitter tweets, Facebook posts or emails, we are always on our phones. Some people might think this is terrible and it is bringing our society down by making us less social, but I believe it is actually making our society more connected.


In less than a minute you can know where someone is. With cell phones, you have a constant form of communication with your loved ones. You will never go a day without talking to someone because of cell phones. Amy Gahran believes cell phones are changing our lives. She feels that they are changing the lives of the media as well. With one click of a button you can take a picture or a video of an event. With a smartphone, you can immediately upload the picture or video and in seconds everyone is informed.


Cell phones are shaping our society by providing us with information readily. You will always be kept up on news with your phone and you can always message your friends and family. Cell phones are advancing our world.

It is time to Speak Up

October is National Bully Prevention Month and during this month, CNN pointed out just how bad it can be for a person who is bullied. Bullying does not just take place in person anymore, it has, like so many other things, moved to the internet. Internet bullying is called cyber bullying. The various social media outlets such as Facebook and College ACB, have made it even easier for kids to bully each other. The risk of this new cyber bullying, however, is that the bullying can go global with just a click of the button.  

The humiliation that is brought on by cyber bullying can be life changing. A few weeks ago, a student from a New Jersey College committed suicide after he was the victim of being cyber bullied. His roommate took video tape of him having a sexual encounter with another male student and then posted it on the internet. The student was so humiliated by the event, he jumped off a bridge. The student was later arrested and regretted the joke he played, but the harm was already done. A life was lost. The interesting part of the situation with the student in New Jersey, is there was another student in the room with the individual who was doing the bullying. If she had just spoken up and stopped the attack, she could have changed the outcome.

I believe that today’s society encourages cyber bullying. Everyone in our society is competitive and superficial. They are only looking out for themselves. Everyone is willing to pick on someone else who does not fit the definition of “normal”, but a lot of times this is to hide their own insecurities with the issue of whether they are “normal”.  Bullying, many times, happens because a person does not like him or herself, so the person makes fun of others to help that person feel better about his or her own weaknesses. It takes a strong person to stand up to bullies, because they know if they say too much, the bully will turn on them next, but standing up to a bully will eventually cause the bully to break. If the girl in the dorm room had told the bully it was wrong to videotape his roommate, she may have broken the bully cycle and she could have saved a life.

Avoid the Freshman 15

 You are preparing for college by packing up your clothes; buying new decorations for your room and worrying you are going to gain the dreaded “freshman fifteen”.  The “freshman fifteen” is known as weight students gain their first year in college.  I know it is definitely easy to eat all the time while attending college, especially at a school such as SMU which is a large city with a multitude of places to eat.  Especially, on campus at SMU there are three cafeterias, many off campus restaurants within walking distance of the campus, and, of course, all the snacks each students keeps on hand for late night snacking.  One of a student’s biggest goals, as a freshman, is learning not to eat all the time.


Just because a lot of people in the freshman dorm order Jimmy John’s or run down to Mac’s Place to grab a snack, at any time of the day or night, does not mean you have to join them.  In an article I read online, it stated new college students gain weight because eating is part of their new found freedom.  New college students can eat whenever they want without anyone to tell them to stop.  Also, they crave sugary snacks to keep them awake to pull the late night studying sessions which come with freshman year.  The combination of sugary food and late night eating is not a healthy habit to start for these students.

However, there is some good news to the “freshman fifteen” myth.  The article states students do not actually gain fifteen pounds.  On the average, the students usually only gain eight pounds.  Students gain weight because they do not know portion control.  Also, students do not have the same structured lives they did at home.  They are living on their own terms and their own times.  So for many, snacking happens more often.  However, one of the main reasons people gain weight is from drinking sugary sodas and energy drinks.  They use the caffeine in the drinks to pull all nights, but each drink contains at least 100 calories and many contain a lot more.

Freshman students in college must watch their eating and drinking.  The students do not want to go home over break having gained weight.  Each student needs to take care of his or her body and enjoy the college experience.

Studying from a Kindle?

Textbooks are an essential in every student’s lives.  They contain the information needed to learn the subject.  However, textbooks are very expensive.  To cut down on costs, Clearwater High School in Clearwater, Florida is piloting a text program.  They are replacing all hardcopy textbooks with textbooks in electronic format on Kindles.  As said on TBO.com, the school bought over 2,200 Kindles, enough for each Clearwater High school student to have one.  The school administration believes using Kindles will advance technology use in the school with students.  In addition to having easy access to their books on the Kindle, they can look up material quickly on any subject they are studying at the time.  It is like having a library at each student’s fingertips.  The school board discovered it is cheaper to load each Kindle with a book than to buy the actual hardcopy of the textbook.


I believe using Kindles is a great idea.  It is the way of the further in learning.  In addition to saving each student’s backs from carrying backpacks filled with heavy textbooks, it allows students to look up additional resource information other than just what is found in the textbook.  Additionally, each student has the option to take out a $20 insurance policy in case something happens to their Kindle, instead of having to make their parents pay $177.60 if it is lost, stolen or broken.  The students are finding the biggest issue they are having with the Kindles is the Kindle becomes demagnetized if it touches a cell phone.  So if the Kindle is placed in a backpack near a cell phone, the Kindle no longer works.  The school is working with the makers of the Kindles to fix this problem.  The school’s major concern with the Kindles is making sure the students do use them to access inappropriate websites.  There currently is a block on the sites to prevent students for accessing information which is not appropriate for them or a classroom setting.  It is anticipated the program will spread to more schools next year.  My only regret is the Kindles were not available at my high school so I did not have to tote around an extremely heavy backpack all day. 

Staying Strong

        Having values instilled in a person creates a strong individual.  In the book Zeitoun, Zeitoun was raised in Syria where his family instilled strong values in him. He had a strong work ethic, he took care of the ones he loved and he was ethical and moral. Those strong values turned out to be the cause of problems for Zeitoun during Hurricane Katrina.  Instead of leaving with his family when the hurricane approached New Orleans, Zeitoun believed it was his duty to stay behind to help others and those he cared about. He also believed it was his duty to make sure nothing happened to his business or his property that he had worked very hard to build.

    

        Unfortunately, because he stayed behind Zeitoun was subjected to terrible things because he was a Muslim and ventured out to help others. The soldiers in charge viewed his Middle Eastern background and the fact he was ventured out to the homes of others as a bad thing. They charged him with a crime he did not commit and placed him in a holding cell meant for an animal. Zeitoun did not let this behavior by others break him as a person; he remained true to those he cared about. He held on to his moral beliefs in a higher being to save him from his captures so he could see his family again and help those in New Orleans. After he was finally released from the prison, for a crime he did not commit, he returned to New Orleans with his family. He continues to help those he cared about rebuild their homes and their lives. Even when his country failed him, Zeitoun did not fail his country.