Blog 9

Throughout our lessons on poverty portrayed by art, there weren't many modern day works so I decided to look some up for myself. In my research, I came across a lot of different works but one really stood out to me. A student was doing an assignment on modern deadly sins and one if them was poverty. To show this, she took a photo of herself and photoshopped it in a way that made me feel the pain of being trapped in poverty.

Met Trip

This trip to the Met was the second time I've been there and only time as a student from an actual art class. The difference between the first and second trip was the appreciation of the work. Most importantly, on my first trip the Egyptian exhibit is the one that I spent the most time looking at. On my second trip, I found my self admiring the same work and realizing more than I did the first time. Between the hieroglyphics and the jewelry and the tombs and the pottery that were all shown, my amazement still continues grow the more I view and learn about them. The Temple of Dendur is by far my favorite work in the museum. I find it unbelievable how Ancient Egyptians created this years ago without any help from our modern technology that we possess today. The hieroglyphics all over the walls is what interest me the most. To me, the Ancient Egyptians are the most skillful artist there ever was.

Post 7

Even though we've been on the topic of poverty, over our snow break, I finally had the chance to watch the movie The Interview. To begin with I've always felt that Seth Rogen and James Franco are funny to certain extent although I did keep my expectations up due to the reviews I've heard from my family and friends. When it was first announced that the movie was not going to be released due to the hacking of Sony by North Korea, my curiosity increased because I didn't think the movie was going to be that offensive toward Kim Jong-un. After watching the movie, I was shocked that people would even want to be involved in a movie that takes a serious matter way too far let alone the fact that it's now out on Netflix to the public to watch. The movie was funny in some parts but the rest was completely unnecessary and should not have been allowed to be out there. North Korea may or may not have nuclear weapons but if they do, this movie could have ticked Kim Jong-un off to the point where he did fire them. I think that the movie all together was a disappointment as well as a huge risk that could have been seen as a threat but North Korea if they watched it.

Build up others, Don't break them down

This picture depicts something that is missing from our society.... Random acts of encouragement. In a society plagued by bullying you should take the time to compliment at least one person per day. If everyone did this we would live in a happier and healthier place. 

words of wisdom❤️

Extra Blog Q2: The Giving Pledge.

In my AP English Class, I've noticed patterns in our curriculum that overlap with the topics we bring up in class discussion. In our Community unit, we are currently debating on the basis of ethics, morality, and what responsibility a citizen has in their environment among other things. The first passage I read was from Andrew Carnegie who based his economic decisions on a "Gospel Of Wealth" a philosophy that stated that those who are wealthy should be morally obligated to give back to worthy institutions who are less fortunate. Carnegie, in his day, reached an enormous amount of wealth by use of his steel company. Carnegie proposed that the best way of dealing with the new phenomenon of wealth inequality was for the wealthy to redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner. This approach was contrasted with traditional bequest, where wealth is handed down to heirs. Carnegie argued that surplus wealth is put to best use when it is administered carefully by the wealthy. Carnegie also argues against wasteful spending in the form of extravagance, irresponsible spending, or self-indulgence, instead promoting the administration of said capital over the course of one's lifetime toward the cause of reducing the stratification between the rich and poor. As a result, the wealthy should administer their riches responsibly.

There is a similar philosophy, or rather it is a strategy, among billionaires today. The Giving Pledge is a campaign to encourage the wealthiest people in the world to make a commitment to give most of their wealth to philanthropic causes like Carnegie and the major money men of his day did. The campaign specifically focuses on billionaires and was made public in 2010 by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. As of January 2015, 128 billionaire or former billionaire individuals and couples have signed the pledge. Many are concerned that this act of philanthropy on a large scale is just a way to have their mega-billionaires to have a legacy of philanthropy as Carnegie covered his scheming ways with a sheet of money. Others have argued that this project is ineffective as just imposing higher taxes on the rich would open up the flood gate to even more money going to the right organizations because less than 5% of the world’s billionaires agreed to this Giving pledge. This whole project has also been deemed as discouraging to the everyday denizen because it instills the belief that because these large money handlers are contributing to society, they don’t have to. Just because someone is not in the best financial situation, does not mean they cannot contribute at the local level and maintaining their responsibility in society.

The fact that these billionaires have dedicated their time and funds to this project is incredibly important even if it is being deemed today as a publicity stunt. It shows how important giving back is past absolute luxuries. Even though Warren Buffett's contribution of 99% of his wealth is a bit ridiculous to the everyday man, being an informed member of society who involves themselves by any means possible is the first step on a route to a stronger world.

Blog post 6

When the debate over immigration is is started, one of the main arguments is that we all started off as immigrants and that why we have different nationalities. But what those people dont realize is that when the thousands of people came to America, it was legal and important to the economy to fill jobs and bring more money in. Now that jobs are scarce, the need for immigrants is gone. Obamas immigration plan is only harming the people that are already here and natural born citizens. My mom was telling me about her friends parents who came here from India got their citizenship and now collect social security without working a day in their life here. How is taking away our money that we work hard for just to give it away to people who do nothing, even close to being fair? Obama care for another is taking away from the working class and giving to the poor. My friend lost her benefits and had to get obama care...she said that it's better than what she had before. Relating this back to poverty, obama is all for helping the poor but what many dont realize is that he is hurting everyone in the middle class and only help a few of the poor. Yes poverty is a major issue in the united states especially long island but what we're doing right now is hurting more than helping so it needs to be greatly improved.