Diversity Article Summary

Since my last article was about how diversity is positive in schools and work places, the article i chose to do now is about how diversity management can be bad for you. People say that diversity management is the new way to deal with discrimination in the workplace. Many corporations are looking into getting more diverse management however, diverse management can be a means of evading hard choices about equality and justice at work. For real though. :)

Song Analysis

Song: Hurricane
Artist: Bob Dylan
Genre: Folk
Time period/year of release: 1966
What is the issue being addressed by the song? In 1966 A black man named Rubin Carter was convicted twice for the Murder of three people in a bar. After serving 20 years of 3 life sentences he was later released because of an appeal that said that the motive that was presented was discriminatory. Bob Dylans song gave Rubin Carter 2 more trials, and you could say Rubin is out of jail because of Bob Dylan
What is the song artist’s point of view or opinion? Bob Dylan protests the imprisonment of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. The song put together alleged acts of racism and profiling against Rubin Carter. Dylan believes it was a false trial and conviction.All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
Cite song lyrics (or music video images) to support and fully develop the artist’s perspective.All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy ni***r.
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
And though they could not produce the gun,
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.
Here's the story of the Hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world
What are contextual factors surrounding the writing of this song? (Were there any major social events taking place around the time of the song’s writing? Examples: war, oppression, economic crisis, social liberty success or struggle.)
This song was written right around the Civil Rights Movement. It was just 3 years after Martin Luther King JR's speech in D.C.
links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_(song)
Back up the artist: Bob Dylan had to rewrite his song, Hurricane, with altered lyrics because in the first song he references two men in robbing bodies, and it could have resulted in a law suit. However, Dylan's song helped federal judges realize that the based on racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure, which set aside Carter's conviction.
Peoples Reaction: There is no general reaction in America over this. It is mainly 2 sided. America was still pretty racist down in the south and some just wanted as many black people locked away as they could get, others were disgusted by the discrimination. Bob Dylan being one of them. With Bob Dylan drawing all the attention with his song, the focus was taken off of other stars protesting, like Mohammad Ali.
Aftermath: Up until 2005, Carter was the executive director of the Association in Defense Against the Wrongly Convicted. In court rooms now we are seeing a more diverse Jury. At the time, Carter's was all white.

Diversity Article

I read an article about diversity's positive impact in the workplace. Researchers have learned that diversity in a workplace can enhance creativity and group problem solving skills. Overall diverse groups perform better than those with more similarities.
I think N.U is a great school to go to because of its diversity. When a lot of people get their first jobs they can't handle the diversity and don't know how to act or treat people who aren't similar to them. Growing up with diversity all around us at N.U. has a very positive impact

Fort Hood

1. What are your thoughts, feelings, etc, as you read these articles?
I thought it was kind of ironic that the man who went on a psychotic massacre was a psychiatrist. What also amazes me is the amount of fatalities after massacres. I would think they would be much higher. I man has a gun while other people are helpless and he only manages to kill a handful of them.
2. What role do you think terrorism played in this massacre, if any? Why? Do you think that there was a terrorist organization behind the shooting?
3. What role did racism or religious persecution play in this incident? Why?
I'm going to answers this question as one. Maybe it was a coincidence that the man who went on a massacre was of middle eastern decent, because he was born and raised in America. But its also possible that his race and religion had everything to do with it, that's what everyone seems to believe.
4. Do you think a lot of Muslim Americans have the same feelings as this man? Why or why not?
Well i assume almost all of them do. But with this man being born and raised in America i would think that he would develop a liking for American people and not want to shoot them!
5. What do you think the military could have done to prevent this from happening? Why do you believe this? Were there signs that this man had the potential to do something like this? What were they?
I dont think there was much the military could do! After all the man was a psychiatrist. You have to be some what out of your damn mind to kill someone!! i think he was just a crazy head to begin with.
6. Talk about the leadership of Kimberly Munley (the woman who stopped the shooter). What did she do? How would you have reacted in the same situation?
What Kimbo did was really brave! She put her life in jeopardy to do a heroic thing. It's hard to says what i would have done if you put me in the middle of the massacre but i hope i would act as bravely as she did!
7. What does this incident say about race relations in America?
For me I've always wondered why people get mad over racial comments because i never do. If an Asian came up to me and said, whats up civil war? i would be like, tremendous knowledge of history my friend. Or if a black man said, hey white boy go eat some corn. I will say, great suggestion, i am in the mood for some corn after all.

2nd Leadership Article

This leadership article i read was called, Self Confidence - The 4 Power Secrets. The article tells you 4 reasons why people might lack self confidence, then it shares what to do about those 4 things to gain confidence. The article said the 4 reasons we lack confidence are, we are hard on ourselves, we are negative, we focus on what we can not do, and we hate our body. As a whole, i believe the article is saying that you need to love yourself, and be positive and accepting in order to gain self confidence.

The article covers confidence in the category leadership. It is teacher you how to become a better leader by gaining more self confidence. I would say the article could be directed towards all ages. It isn't just children who are hard on themselves and hate their body. Both children and adults can think negative about themselves. Personally i try to stay positive but the big one for me would be focusing on what i can't do. I, like many people, prefer things going perfect and doing things perfect, but many times that is demanding too much which leads to you being hard on yourself. This is an important article about leadership because it goes back to the basics and teachers you how to become a better leader.

I think the 4 "power secrets" are absolutely true and are very common. It is much easier said than done though. They are kinda of common sense and i'm sure people have recognized that they are negative and hate their body but they need to learn how. The explanations of how, in this article are a little broad. People need to learn how to stop being negative but all the article says is, just be positive and you will no longer be negative.

Headbutt Article

1. What are your thoughts about this case? How did the video make you feel or think? Should the athlete be charged criminally for this act? Why/Why not?
What jumped out at me first was that it looked like the referee was looking directly at the kid in the act of headbutting. I think the boy should definitely be charged criminally because he's no longer a child and he is old enough to decide right from wrong. He has to take consequences for his poor decisions.
2. When competing in contact sports, should you have the same rights and protections as you would as an ordinary citizen regarding assault or should there be an expectation of violence? Why/Why not?
When going out for sports you know there is a possibility of severe injury. In football when the ball carrier is running you take out his legs (taring his ACL) to prevent him from scoring. But that would be different from tackling a kid and while he's laying there, you tare his ACL.
3. From each stakeholder perspective I want you to answer the following:
Here are the stakeholders: both players, each players parent, police (or state), teammates of both players, the coach, the athletic director and principal. FROM EACH OF THESE PERSPECTIVES I WANT YOU TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS SO YOU SHOULD HAVE 9 different stakeholder perspectives!!
How would this make you feel?
What would you want done about this situation?
What would you do about this situation?
As a parent i would feel obligated to do something about since no one did! The refs didnt make the call and neither coaches acted upon it. Me personally i wouldn't have retaliated because A) i've learned that it gets you nowhere. B) I would probably be in too much pain to do anything about it and C) i would probably get my as* whooped!! As i policeman i would check out this guys permanent record in school, see if he is known for acting out in violent behaviors. If this is his first "crime" i would punish him lightly and have zero tolerance if he does something like that again. If he has done things like it before than i would lock the chum up

Educational Leadership

This article talks about being a leader with a sense of humor. Having a sense of humor loosens up a person and is stress related. "A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done." A stressful leader is never one of the better leaders. Humor stimulates and impacts virtually every human system. (thank you thesaurus) the article says that being a leader in an educational institution requires a sense of humor, because administrators who are great leaders will do almost anything to help their students succeed, like getting dropped in a dunking tank or kissing a pig, or in our case, mr. and mrs. weber kissing.

I think this article has a large impact not only on educators but on everyone who reads it. They talk about how humor can also make a healthier body, and not only educators would like a healthy body. I believe the writer of this article was trying to make the world a more sociable place by injecting more humor into peoples lives.

I would agree completely with what this article is saying. Humor can help teach children social skills and that's what educational leaders are trying to do, teach. There has also been tons of studies about humor that would back up this article. i read of one study that said kids more familiar with humor are able to see things through different layers of meaning, or what i like to call, thinking outside of the box.

Weekly Article Summary

This was a pretty tough article to fathom because they didn't do a great job of explaining what went down but here's what i got out of it. Some teenagers accidentally threw a ball onto a 44 year old man's lawn, and the man confiscated it. It must have been a pretty sweet ball because he would not give it back until a 28 year old parent walked up to him and asked for it. When the 28 year old approached hm, the 44 year old attacked the parent and bit him through his lips. Apparently the bite went all the way through the parent's mouth.
This news falls under the oddity category. Everyone loves a good laugh over something unusual and i would say that chomping through somebody's lips over a toy ball is extremely unusual. i would like to take this time to say my thoughts and prayers go out to the 28 year old man who tragically lost his lips.
There's not much to say about this situation. What the man did was horrifying, crude, vulgar, yet inspiring. He is currently in a county jail, police say what he did was a 10 year felony.

4th Blog

It's hard to talk about someone who lives by the characteristics or traits the author/main character in my book lives by, because he is so unique. I tell ya what, there aren't many people who run 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days. This guy is one of a kind, but there are MANY people who live by his beliefs. He believes that running is the cure to almost anything, emotionally or physically. As he continues the 50 marathons he keeps meeting new people who have established running groups across america. One of the groups were women high on running, or WHOR's. I got a chuckle out of that. People are inspiration usually because they do something incredible that you dream of achieving. When they achieve this goal it's encouraging to you and brings hope back to you. Thats all i can come up with. Theres not much to relate to a man who never stops running.

3rd blog

In the latest chapters I've read, one of the marathons Dean was running was in Iowa! it was cool to read about where he was running and the people he was meeting, because knew the places and most of the people! The plot of the last couple chapters was changing the nations health. Everywhere Dean went there were people telling him that he's influenced them to begin a group to encourage kids to run. One of those people were Governor Mike Huckabee, who passed a law in Arkansas where lunchrooms could no longer serve pop or candy. Even mike knew that wasn't going to solve the overweight problem, just help it. Huckabee said, "Mandating better school nutrition and stuff like that is a step in the right direction, but the key to truly solving the problem is efforts like yours Dean." Taking pop and candy from lunch will not totally stop kids from drinking pop and eating candy. But if you have a leader like Dean, then you're not being told or forced to run, your doing it because your favorite leader does. Huckabee also said, "We need role models to inspire others. That's what motivates people to change their lifestyle. Kids have to want that for themselves. No law can make a kid want to eat right and exercise. But You (Dean) do it every day by setting an example"
Back in the day, which was a Tuesday, on a very easy quiz which i knew all the answers to, a young man hollered my name asking for an answer, specifically the answer to number 5. I just ignored the kid but he kept on yelling. Therefore i said, shut up, i dont know. Thus being an ethical decision! thank you

2nd Blog

I knew that running 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days would be unbelievably hard, but i was only thinking about the exertion it would put on you body. As i get further into the book i realize exactly how hard it is on Dean Karnakes, the man running. After running 26.2 miles Dean cant go lay down and nap. Right after he finishes the race, the press surround him and kids are also asking for autographs, and this usually lasts a pretty long time. then he has to go home and eat and take an ice bath and all that post race stuff. since every marathon is in a different state, he has to hop on a bus and drive hundreds of miles to the next location, usually arriving at the hotel around 1:00 am. he averages 4.5 hours a sleep a night during this 50 day time. I never took into account all those little things aside from just running. its pretty intense.

1st Blog

I started reading 50/50, a book about a marathon runner who runs 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days. People run the marathon along side him, which makes him feel like a great leader. but he doesn't feel so great when people start passing out and dropping while they're running becuase they have ran too hard. throughout the book he will share with us secrets to achieving great endurance and how he accomplished this remarkable feat. I already admire the guy for what he did and i've barely cracked open the book. i'm looking forward to reading farther into it.