Civil Rights by Robert Hernandez The Pros and Cons of Home Schooling by William Kirkpatrick Sports Update-Xtreme Football Extremely Bad by Steve Hughes Napster by Ben Loer What a nation we have become when in just the past half-century we have seen our fellow American citizens living in a cloud of hatred. We have seen the alienation of a whole race of people. During the 1950’s through the 60’s the African-American people in the United States of America (land of the free and home of the brave) were not given equal rights and even looked down upon like second-class citizens. I know that there isn’t anything that can be done about the past, but there is something that can be learned from it. I myself have never felt the stingy sensation of racism. But having seen actual video documentation and having heard first hand accounts of the movement. I can’t help but want to get the word out about the courageous people that helped for an entire race of people to become first-class citizens
Our story begins with a landmark case that I believe to have started the whole revolution. Plessy V. Ferguson involving a man named Homer Plessy who was put in jail for sitting in the white only section of a train under Louisiana law this was a crime. Homer Plessy argued that this was an infringement on his 14th amendment rights. Mr. Plessy was found guilty. This case didn’t have a happy ending but only lead to the gates being let open and the doctrine of separate but equal facilities for blacks and white to be able to continue. This lead to the Idea that segregation was A-OK in the good U.S of .A.
Then we continue with a second case that sheds some sunshine on the cloud of despair Brown V. The Board of Education. In the early 1950’s is when tempers started to flare on both sides. In Topeka, Kansas, a small black little girl named Linda Brown was told that she couldn’t attend an all white school that was only seven miles away from her house. She had to walk a mile through a railroad yard to attend her all black school. At this time there were many case like this pending in the Supreme Court. It came to be that the Supreme Court found the decision of Plessy V. Ferguson to be unconstitutional under the 14th amendment.
The next incident portrays the actions taken by many young people during this time. A decade later the fight for civil rights was still going strong. College students started to take charge and form their own alliances. They practiced the teaching of Martin Luther King Jr. by exhibiting nonviolent protesting. By organizing Sit-Ins students showed their disapproval with their treatment at local diner and eating establishments. The first sit-in was held at a F.W. Woolworth Company store in Greensboro, North Carolina. Four well dress young black men walk in to the store bought some items and then attempted to sit at the lunch counter. They were not served and asked to leave. Many protests like this were practiced throughout Mississippi and other states. On February 27 sit-in students in Nashville escalated into a brawl started by another group of white teens.
The protestors were arrested for "disorderly conduct". It’s kind of ironic seeing as how they were not in any way acting disorderly. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. said "They were just disobeying unjust laws"
I feel that none of us can really appreciate where our society is today until we can realize how far we have come to reach this point. I do reilize that I have left out many other wonderful people and organizations that lead the way for many people to live a better life. If you would like to learn more I urge you to search the internet for more sites. If we don’t learn from the past we are destined to repeat it.
-Robert Hernandez
As of early March, the infamous and much-beguiled Napster music company has agreed to implement a software screen that will prevent the trade of copyrighted music. According to the execs at Napster, the system will be able to protect against alternate spellings and coding of the files. The courts say that this arrangement is satisfactory—but the music companies aren’t buying it. As the lead representative for the prosecution puts it, no one has yet to design a system that someone else couldn’t crack. Napster has further acquiesced to their demands by stating it’s plans to go over to a fee-per-transfer basis, with copyright holders getting royalties.
What does this mean to the average Joe? Well, initially it’s caused a scramble of millions of users to get online and get some tunes before the pipeline is shut down. Almost everyone is heartbroken that their supply of free music is being killed; it seems to be a very small minority that wants to see the downfall of Napster as we know it. The long-term results, however, are more positive than those nay-sayers would admit.
Everyone in the country, and for that matter most of the world, is plugging in a connecting. Information is continually becoming easier and faster to access. Plus the surge of powerful portable MP3 players could soon make CD players obsolete. This is a good thing. The problem is that if music is so freely available through Napster and others like it, more and more people will begin to get all of their music off the internet and fewer and fewer will buy from retailers. If no one is buying music, musicians and record companies can’t make money, and if they can’t make money, no more music is going to be produced. I myself am an amateur musician hoping to one day produce an album and make some money. I was afraid of the implications of Naptser on the music world.
Napster was hailed by the public as one of the greastest developments for music listeners since the walkman. Even knowing that it may not be legal and the future ramifications it may have, almost everyone bought into it, myself included. I have a sizeable library of free, and quite possibly illegal tunes on my hard drive. The lure of free music was just so hard to resist. And despite everything I’ve said, I’m still sad to see it go. It’s for the best, though, and we’ve just got to suck it up and live with going back to the old system of shelling out our hard-earned money to keep our ears happy.
-Ben Loer
The XFL started on a high note at the beginning of it's season on Feb. 3. People were looking foward to the offspring idea of WWF chairman Vince McMahon but after that first week of teams with violent names and being paid more for winning, the whole thing started to suck.
Week after insipid week, 5 linebackers would leave the field on stretchers, one team would trash talk the other and someone would win. I feel this is yet another attempt to revitalize something that doesn't need to be healed. If football isn't broken, don't fix it.
(Yes, this was a sports editorial. Feel free to comment on the feedback section)
Next story: NBA heats up toward the finals
As the basketball season nears its close, two words hit the air in America: Play-offs. The play-offs again should be toss-up of different teams instead of the same old Bulls vs. Jazz which had continued it's streak until three years ago. Now we have almost equal teams everywhere in the country with no certain domination of the league. Some teams to keep your eyes on are listed with brief reasons why you should watch for them.
- Timberwolves: sure the team sucks but everybody likes to watch Carter in action.
- San Antonio’s very own Spurs: San Antonio has improved since its playoff loss to Phoenix last season. They've gained new trades such as Anderson, who should be an essential part of winning another Championship, as well as continually fantastic mainstays such as Robinson, Duncan and Danials.
- Jazz: the Empire Strikes back by taking over the West from San Antonio. You hate ‘em but you have to respect e'm.
- The Lakers: that unbeatable combination of O'neal and Bryant should help for a second consecutive title unless it's time for more hack-a-Shaq
(Yes yet another editorial but feel free to comment in the feedback section.)
-Steven Hughes
The Pros and Cons of Home Schooling
Pros
Home Schooling is less stressful than public schooling because there is not a huge class
of 30 kids all yelling in your ear at the same time like in a public school. You can move
at your own pace, on your own time and since there are such a small number of kids, the
curriculum can be customized to each student to fit his/her goals and needs. Plus, you
don’t have to switch teachers every year and your teacher cares whether or not you
are learning, not just do you look good on his or her resume. Not only that, NO HOMEWORK!
So you’re not staying up till 11 every single weekday working. If you work really
hard you can quit at 4, and you can get a snack whenever you want. The schedule is more
flexible so you can do things like volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.
Cons
Social isolation is one problem. However, getting involved in local youth programs can
solve this. Another con is that this will add another big expense to the family budget.
After all, teaching supplies and books can be pretty expensive. Also home schooling will
take a lot of time and patience on your parent’s part but if they don’t mind, I
say go for it.
-William Kirkpatrick