The Kite Runner

I can honestly admit that before reading The Kite Runner, my feelings toward Afghanistan were pure hatred for what they did to our country on September eleventh. However, it never crossed my mind to think about the innocent people living in Afghanistan and how their life must be. From reading this novel I have a whole new perspective and compassion for all the innocent woman and children living in turmoil in the third world country. The Kite Runner is definitely a form of propaganda, but in a positive way by giving Americans an insight to the real world of Afghan people and how their lives were taken over, ruined, and changed forever.
Before reading the novel I categorized all Afghanistan people as horrible and disgusting for wanting to hurt Americans as bad as they did. How selfish I was to never once think that not all of these people wanted to hurt America. I never though about all the innocent children who were being cheated from a childhood and education and not even make it past age ten. Never once did I think about people dying everyday from land mines, public executions, and being killed for no good reason at all. I now understand people in Afghanistan suffer everyday in their horrible life style and conditions they live in, living in fear of the Taliban and not surviving the day. The novel really made me gain a whole new perspective and feelings of sadness and remorse for all the innocent people. Their lives were once great and normal of not living in fear of death or land mines, they were peaceful and happy; but now their lives are much different. We are not the only ones who suffer, even though 9/11 was not fair the people in Afghanistan have it much worse because they live through it every day of their lives, and it seems there is no escaping it.
In the novel, the author tells a story of how good life was in Afghanistan before the Russian invasion and attacks of the Taliban. This is “good” propaganda because it will give judgmental Americans a real look inside the lives of Afghanistan people living in a third world country. Before in Afghanistan, people were happy and not living in fear of an enemy. However their world was turned upside down when their homes were invaded and many people were killed. The Kite Runner explains in detail many aspects of their lives were taken away and ruined. People lost everything and were forced to leave and make matters work on their own with their families. Traditions such as the “kite flying contest” were lost, buildings, schools, and even orphanages were burned down, and many people were being murdered everywhere. Their home of Afghanistan turned into hell, how would we feel if what happened to Afghanistan happened here in America? Then, people would looser their stereotypes and racial profiling against Afghanistan people would be forgotten because we would live through all the suffering and loss that they live through every day.
The novel is appropriate for both groups; Americans and Afghanistan’s, to prove to people there are a lot of innocent people living in Afghanistan that do not wish to hurt Americans. In fact, their wish is probably to live here in America away from the Taliban who murder people for fun and perform public executions to entertain people. Americans need to read this novel to understand there are children in Afghanistan who are being cheated a childhood, an education, and even parents. There are also many men and women who are being murdered in their homes, or taken to be murdered publicly for no reason. If American people read this novel, they will understand that the people living over seas live a life they will never experience, and it’s a very sad and difficult life. Especially for all the children who are in the orphanages, where they barely eat and live in horrible conditions, and even sold for money to rich Taliban who does god know what with these poor children. I am sure all Afghanistan people would want American to read this book, for them to be able to understand how their home country was destroyed. Hopefully, from this people will not discriminate and stereotype that all Afghanistan people want to hurt Americans, and their lives back at home are a lifestyle Americans will never experience.
This book totally and completely changed my opinion, it made me realize how American categorize all Afghans as “bad people” and the “enemy” because of what the Taliban did to us. However, did it ever cross our minds to think that there are thousands of innocent people living over seas that live this nightmare every single day of their lives? None of us probably do. The Kite Runner story really illustrates the life of Afghans before and after the invasion or the Russian and murderous Taliban. The main character Amir, his life growing up before the invasion was peaceful, and his home land was happy. However, it all changed after the invasion and they came to America and lived in the lower class of society since they were immigrants. For the ones who stayed in Afghanistan, their lives were changed by loosing everything and for some even loosing their lives. I have definitely gained a place in my heart for all those living overseas in the horrible conditions of a third world country. I wish in some miraculous way I could help them all, and free them from their life of fear, feed the people, and give the children a chance to an education and a normal childhood. There are so many suffering in Afghanistan, and I wish we could all work together to help the unfortunate who live a 9/11 nightmare every day.
The writer of The Kite Runner definitely wrote this novel as a form of propaganda; not to gain sympathy or give justice to the 9/11 attacks, but to make Americans understand the Taliban are not the only ones. There are many other innocent people, especially children, who live a life of turmoil and disaster with no escaping it. Americans need to realize this and stereotype and categorize all Afghanistan people as the “enemy”. This novel definitely changed my opinion and perspective on the Afghanistan, and hopefully people can read this book and feel the same way I do, by wanting to help all the innocent over seas.

Campus Village

I hate campus village with a passion. For as much money each student pays to live here these dorms should be perfect, and the staff should be nice to us. Since I have lived in both building B and C, I have experienced a lot of bull shit and I am seriously fed up with it.
First of all, the meal plans this semester changed, and now your can only use your meals at the dinning commons, and not the student union or village market. That is just ridiculous, because I do not know anyone who enjoys eating at the nasty dinning commons buffet; in fact most people i know call it "the fece" instead of the "D.C". Also, when I moved into my new dorm my key did not work to my lock, so I had to leave my door unlocked when I left, and that did not feel safe. Then when the maintence came to fix it and gave me a new key, it did not work and someone had to come open my door; this was in august and still my lock is not fixed and I can't lock my door when I leave. For paying one thousand a month for rent to live here, I expect to be able to look my door and know my belongings are safe when I leave, but I am not. On top of that the other day as me and a friend were painting our paddles outside in the courtyard, a staff memeber of the housing corporation came to me and said I needed to stop and I am going to have to pay for getting just two drops of paint on the dirty ground that is covered in trash, ciggarette butts, and dried up eggs that people throw from their windows. I was so upset and frustrated, espically when the lady tried to take away my acess card. Then of course today as I come home from a long day of school and work at eleven in the night, my access card does all of a sudden does not work and my roomate had to come let me in; so frustrating. I am so done with campus village, done with paying so much for rent and not even getting my locked fixed yet. I can't wait to move out next year.

Teen People: The best Magazine

There are many magazines that are targeted for teenagers, but Teen People beats them all. I have been a subscriber to Teen People for two years; I absoulutley love this magazine. I have read every issue cover to cover, and sometimes even twice. Even though people assume all teen magazines are all the same: fashion advice, quizzes, and embarrassing stories; Teen People is much more, and better then any magazine in it's genre.
Teen People has so much interesting articles and stories; and all of them are on issues teens go through, such as suicide, sex life, abusive partners, and dealing with drug problems. Along with having many stories that teens can learn and gain knowledge from, there are also details about your favorite stars. In the magazine there is a section called "Star Tracks" where there are many photos of favorite celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Ashton Kutcher and many more, with funny little captions for each picture. Teen People also has articles every issue about good work outs and diets that are simple and easy to do at home. They give you pictures and details for all the work out positions, and give you a grocery list for good food to buy. The best fashion advice for fall, spring, summer, and winter is always in Teen People. They give the best clothes for each body type; this is my favorite part of the magazine. They do not give advice assuming everyone is slim and skinny, which is fair and gives all body types ans sizes advice on what skirts, pants, shirts, dresses, and jackets they would look best in. Teen People is without a doubt the best teen magazine out there. Every issue is filles with great stories from real teens and real situations, good advice on things most teens can't talk to their parents about, gossip and pictures of your favorite celebs, and of course the the best fashion advice. Every teen should be a subscriber to teen people, I recommend it to all teens and young adults, because Teen People is honestly the best magazine.

Suicide at our own SJSU

On our own campus here at San Jose State, a woman jumped to her death from the Tenth street garage. It has not been said who the woman was and why, but it was a devastating event that many students witnessed. Some students say seeing the body bag cover the woman on Tenth Street was a horrible feeling, others say the red asphalt was even worse. Just knowing that an individual was so tired of life and felt the need to end her life is a very depressing thought. Students and staff have witnessed this terrible tragedy, and the only question lingering in our minds is why? Why did that woman want to end her own life so bad that she jump to her painful death? Sadly, the only one who knows that answer is no longer with us.
It makes me so sad that there was no one to reach out to this lost soul, and make her change her mind. No one should feel there is no way out and the only was is to end their own lives. Suicide is not the answer, and finding these troubled souls is not that hard. I have had a few friends that have contemplated with suicide, and I am so glad I got to them in time; or else they would not be here with me now. I wish someone could have saved this woman, and let her know her life could be better with help and guidance. I know all our prayers are with this woman who ended her own life, I just only wish people could find another way to fix their problems with the many options they have; rather than ending their lie too soon.

Lindsay Lohan...Classy...Not Trashy

I really do not understand why people are always hating on Lindsay Lohan. I am a huge Lindsay Lohan fan, and it bothers me that people are always in her buisness and giving her untrue titles. One magazine calls her wild, another calls her a slut, and the numerous names Lohan haters give her. I believe Lohan has the right to do whatever the hell she wants. She is a grown woman, she is not a little baby anymore. There are millions of party girls all over that are juts like her and even worse that are not getting punished by the whole public because of how she acts. People are just always looking for ways to put Lohan down, and I do not believe it is fair.
Since her double role in "The Parent Trap" I was a fan; she did an amazing job in this film for being really young. From there her road to stardom began; she was an actress and also a singer and the public loved her. But how unfair is it when the more famous she got, the more the names began to spill. Lohan is young, famous and rich why can't she do what she wants. I am sure that any girl who had all that power would act the same way; even the girls that hate her. Lohan is living the dream life of many woman, which is why people hate on her so much; basically they are jealous. Lohan is an amazing actress, and people need to respect her; she is just living her life to the fullest like we all should be doing.

Propaganda...It's Everywhere

Propaganda: The spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause or a person. Ultimately, propaganda is a common situation amoungst people, corporations, and espically the media. When companies compete for the best sales or numbers; propaganda definitly comes into play. Lately, I have come across many situations of propaganda; and all occured in my sorority.
Our sorority is an institution; it is an institution based on sisterhood and love, however when it comes to all the sororities being sisterly together it is almost impossible. This last weekend was fall rush, the biggest event of the year. Since sororties live by "recruit or die" fall rush is very important, and is the time to interest as many girls to join your sisterhood. It has been a history of our house that other sororties look for ways to get us rush infractions and convince girls with rumors that our house is no good. They use deragatory rumors and false information to make girls percieve the wrong idea about our house and not even think about joining. This is very rude and unfair for other girls to spread rumors about our house just to increase their own recruting numbers. Without recruiting girls, our house will be ruined; which is why this form of propaganda against our house is very irritating. With girls searching for idead to get our house rush infractions and brain washing girls to join their house and not even take a look at ours is not sisterhood what so ever. Propaganda is a major problem in the Greek panhellinic sororities at our school. Unfourtanatly, it is always against our house.

The Publishing World

Without the publishing companies we have and the publishers that work there how would we ever get books? Basically we wouldn't, these companies work to supply the demand for books for all people. This world of publishing is only going to grow and evolve over the years, because the supply for books is growing anf growing. Without the publishers schools wouldn't have any books, companies wouldnt have manual's, people wouldn't be able to get a copy of their favorite books, and the list goes on and on. Our society depends on publishing companies to produce the supply and demand for books and everything else.
In my furture, I have already decided I am not having children at all, so passing on all my books to my grandchildren is not an option; but I will definitly not be throwing them in the garbage either. I have tons and tons of books too, from my first Dr.Suess books, disney books, Goosebumps, and my most precious chapter books that my grandma passed on to me. I want to keep these books in the family, and pass them on to either my niece or nephew. I do not just simply want to throw them away because many of my books have special meaning to me, and remind me of my childhood and my grandma. I know I will definitly be passing my beloved books onto a close child in my future family that will appreciate them and take care of them; as well as passing them on to their children too. I would never throw any of my books away, and I believe no one should. Books are to be valued, and not to be used to build a fire or fill up a grabage can. Which is why I plan to keep all my books, and keep them in the family as well.

Making the Band...With no Record Company?

Of course nowdays, when a band wants to make it to the big time in their career they turn to the many record companies. The record companies are the people who gurantee you fame and money, which is why getting signed to a record label is the dream of all beginning singers and bands. But what if there were no such companies of record labels to promote your band, what would you do? How would you get others to know about your music and listen to it; how would you promote yourself and get compensated for your music? If I had a band, (which I did at one point in my life) we would promote ourselves without a record company by reaching out to the people and advertising ourselves as much as we could.
First of all, starting a band does take money; money to pay for any equipment, gas money for driving to gigs, and to make your first cd for people. What me and my band would do first is budget what we have to buy instruments and equipment; then we would play at as many gigs as possible, and for free. By doing this, people will begin to recognize you and listen to your music more; by playing in parks, festivals, fair's and even carnivals or birthday parties, and most importantly battle of the bands shows. By playing all over constantly people will notice your band, and perhaps grow to like it and say "Oh yea they played this song the last time I saw them, I like it too it's catchy". Then after you have promoted yourself, and probably broke, you make a demo cd of one or two songs, preferably the two that you play most at your shows that people seemed to enjoy. After making this demo, at the next ten or twelve gigs, you have a close friend of the band sell your cd's to the people for a cheap price of five or seven dollars. Hopefully, you will sell all your cds and people will enjoy your music more and more. Then after all of your cds are gone and you have made profit, it is assumed people enjoy your music and want more; so you make a full cd of twelve or ten songs. By then big time gigs will want you to play, because they have heard so much about you from the people, and the radio ask fot your demo and you get more promotion from that too. In time, you are playing arena shows and making money off your cd and the people love you. You have fans now and you have a buisness of making your music for people to enjoy.

The Best Show in America

"America has voted and the favorite dancer of America is...” this is part of the reason why the show "So you think you can dance" is the best show ever. Not only because America gets to participate in the judging, but also for its many genres of dancing have had the participants performed. I have never seen so many amazing routines performed on one stage, and I have watched a lot of dancing performances in my days. It's no wonder this show has been voted number one show in America, and even beat out American Idol.The show is a replica of American Idol, except the participants are dancing instead of singing, and there are different judges. The show gets closer and closer to a winner ever week, as one girl and one guy with the least amount of Americas votes are eliminated. This voting process is what gets the American audience into the show, because they get to choose who becomes the winner; at least that’s what got me and almost everyone I know addicted to the show. Every Wednesday at eight in the evening the show begins, and you are glued to your seat the entire time, the dance routines are all so riveting. The dancers dance in such a wide variety of genres from hip hop to Australian tango. Each performance by all the dancers was breath taking, and left me watching the episodes over and over again on my Tivo trying to learn my favorite routines."So you think you can dance" is entertaining from the very first episode as you watch the armatures who try out dance their way and scare the judges away; actually the most hilarious part of the show. All the way to the end when you they are four contestants left and you are voting to hopefully get your favorite dancer to win. Luckily for me this season my favorite did win; Benji, and I contributed almost two hundred votes for him. This show is definitly without a doubt the best show in America, it deserves its title; and I know I am not the only one anxiously awaiting for next season.

The Downfall of the Emmy's

Growing up, I probably watched the emmy's maybe three or four times. Not because I did not like the show, because honestly I enjoy award shows such as the MTV video and music video awards. I did not enjoy the Emmy's because the people me and my family believed should have won in the category never ever did. It seemed in every category the more older nominess won, maybe because they were old, or becuase they have a lot of experience and deserve the award. I just never found it fair that the nominee that actually deserved the award never won the Emmy.
In an article "And the Winner Is...Not You, Dear Emmy Viewer" by Simon Dumenco states the facts that the Emmy's just are not fair, and the older and wiser always win. They say the Emmy's are based on the peoples votes, but are these voters really voting fair? Obviously not, if the Emmy's use their campaigns mailings sent to voters to persuade them to vote for who they want to win. This is not fair since most voters have not even watched a single episode of any of the nominess, which causes them to vote for who has been publicized the most. By doing this the nominee who truly deserve the award does not win. The Emmy corporation has a habit of giving the award to the nominee with the better life time achievement, not for the achievement in that one year; which is how it should be. The Emmy's are just not fair to me which is why I choose not to watch the show, and I'm sure many others feel the same way.

Addicting Reality TV

When it comes to being a media consumer, I consume at least four hours a week of reality TV. The phenomenon of reality television shows have taken over the air waves. There are almost a hundred reality shows on television, and almost all of them are addicting to most people.
Growing up I used to only want to watch cartoons and kid shows like “Sesame Street” and “Barney”. I then went through a stage when I never watched TV because there was nothing that interested me on TV, and I never had time. Now, since the invention of reality TV, I have to watch TV when my shows are on. The two reality TV shows I am addicted to are “Laguna Beach the real Orange County” and “So you think you can Dance”. Now every Wednesday and Thursday from seven to ten o’clock at night I am glued to my television. There is something really mysterious to me about these reality TV shows that make them so addicting.
You have to admit I am not the only one addicted to reality shows. It has been proven reality TV is the most popular and most watched shows on the air waves. Besides TV drama series such as “Desperate Housewives”, “Law and Order”, and the soap operas, reality shows have the most viewers. There is just something about watching normal living working people on TV doing crazy stunts for large amounts of cash on “Fear Factor”, families switching wives on “Trading Spouses”, and people displaying their singing talents on the ever so popular “American Idol”. These shows are addicting because they are people just like us on TV, so viewers can relate to them. For me, “Laguna Beach” is so addicting because I can relate to all the characters and drama, since all teenagers experience the same drama throughout their young lives. When I watch this show I feel like I am watching a show of my own life as well because I can relate so easily to the characters, besides the fact that I don’t live on a beach (I wish). As for the other show I am addicted to: “So you think you can Dance” is definitely one of my favorites because I love dance. I am so addicted to this reality show because I love dancing, so to watch other dancers dance in all types of genres was very entertaining.
People love reality TV because it is very entertaining and viewers can easily relate to the people; which make these shows so addicting. These shows certainly have me addicted; I even plan my schedule around the times my shows come on. I love reality TV, and I am glad it is here to stay; I’m sure a million other Americans agree that reality television is the best invention yet.