Happy Birthday!

I wanted to take a second and wish a very Happy Birthday to Mark Twain. Even though he's not here to celebrate it, I still wanted to take the time to do this because he's one of my favorite authors. I've always liked his novels and have enjoyed reading them. I also love his quotes as they not only entertain me but almost inspire me.

Twain was very unique in the fact that he had a great sense of humor with his quotes but he spoke the truth through them as well. Take this one for instance: "The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." Although not one of his funniest quotes, it's really true. He's basically saying what's the point of being able to read if you don't read a good book?

Now, another reason I really like Mark Twain is because I'm "technically" related to him. I will say that it's pretty distant. Here's the relation as far as I can remember*: my grandma's (on my mom's side) great, great, great grandfather was a sibling to Twain's mother.  Yea, like I said, distant. But I'm not making this up! Maybe that's why I have a love for writing, haha!

*If any family members read this, please correct me if I'm wrong. I do believe that's correct as I've been told.

400

It's hard to believe that I'm writing my 400th blog post here on Reflections. I started this blog not really knowing what I was doing. I was pretty new to the blogging and social media culture. In fact, this was the first form of "social media" I had. Back when I started, I didn't have Facebook or Twitter, so I just communicated my thoughts and opinions to whoever would read them. Now, just 3 years, 400 posts, and many design/layout changes later, my blog has over 7,600 pageviews and has been read in 16 different countries, including the U.S. In addition, Reflections is set to break 1,000 pageviews for the month of November, a new all-time record!

My blog couldn't have been so successful without you! If it wasn't for you guys reading it day-in and day-out, it wouldn't be as successful as it is today. For that, I'm so thankful. Whether you agreed with my opinions or not, I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog (and will continue to read it). I'm hoping the next 400 posts and beyond will be just as enjoyable for you to read as the previous ones. I'm excited for what the coming new year has in store for Reflections and I hope you'll come along for the ride!

Coach K

I was hoping to get out of doing this but one of my readers pointed out that I should do a Weekly Salute to Coach Mike Krzyzewski. So here it goes...

I'll give "the (Blue) devil his due" for having the most wins in college basketball. It's a big honor for him and I know he's worked hard to reach this milestone. It's amazing to think that he actually didn't start off too well at Duke, going 62-65 and not even making it past the second round of the NCAA Tourney in his first five seasons.

After those "rebuilding years" Krzyzewski's Duke teams made a move toward the upper echelon of college basketball. Under Coach K, Duke has won twenty-five ACC titles, gone to eleven Final Fours, and won four NCAA titles; among other accolades. Even though I'm a UNC fan (and even though it took the other coaches to retire before he got this honor) congrats to Coach K on getting 904+ wins and congrats on getting my Weekly Salute.  

Busy Week

Wow, what a week I have in store. First off, this is the last week of classes for me. I honestly can't believe the semester is almost over already! I'm glad but now I have to focus on doing well on my final exams. On the brightside, none of my exams are cumulative. In other words, I'll just go to my class and take the exam based on the material I just learned, which will be nice. Another bright side is I'll get two behind me this week as my professors wanted to go ahead with them then. That'll leave me with three next week which is bad enough but not terrible.

In between all that I will have two back-to-back practices leading up to the Living Christmas Tree. After a break Wednesday, I will do six sold out shows in just four days! It's crazy but I always enjoy doing it. It's hard to believe that this will be my fourth Tree! It seems like just yesterday I joined the orchestra and did my first show. I haven't seen the entire show for this year (dialogue and all) but I think it should be one of the best we've ever done! I won't reveal anything in case you're going but I will say that, if you're not going, you'll definitely miss out!

On the one day I have a "break" from Tree rehearsals, I'll be going to the 94.7 QDR Concert for the Kids which is an event held at the DPAC to raise money for the UNC Children's Hospital. Proceeds from ticket sales go to this cause and I'm sure they'll have other ways to contribute as well. This year's show features Jason Michael Carroll, Jerrod Niemann, Brantley Gilbert, David Nail, and, yes, Scotty McCreery. It should be an outstanding show!

It'll be a busy week but an exciting one as well. Please be in prayer for myself as well as the rest of the performers in the Tree as we'll minister to thousands of people during those four days!

Black Friday Madness

Black Friday always brings out the inner animal in shoppers. I hear some pretty crazy stories every year but I think this one's over the top. A California woman actually pepper sprayed fellow shoppers in an effort to get to the front of the line at Wal-Mart. About twenty people were directly affected by the spray and some others got whiffs of it in the air. No one required hospitalization and the woman made her purchase and left before police arrived.

Seriously, lady? Is there something at Wal-Mart that you have to buy? Quite frankly, there's nothing in Wally World that I want bad enough to pepper spray anyone over! 

Giving Back

Thanksgiving is the one time during the year that we can all pause and reflect on the things we are thankful for. I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my church...the list can go on and on. Many times, I'm so thankful for what people have done for me that I forget to give back. I've decided to change that this year: I'm going to give back to some worthy cause! I already have something in mind that I'm going to do and I know the recipient will be grateful. I also know that it will make me feel good to do something for someone else. It's a win-win situation!

My point in writing this is I hope you'll consider giving back in some way this holiday season. Whether it's helping a friend in need, volunteering somewhere, or donating to you favorite charity or church; giving is a great thing to do. Happy Thanksgiving!

Beef About Facebook

After looking at so many worthy stories for my Oops Award of the week, I decided to give it to Facebook. Why? Because of its stupid friend request policy. If you're an avid Facebooker, you probably know the social networking site has made changes to the way you can send friend requests; making it virtually impossible to send a request to someone who doesn't have mutual friends with you. 

This has happened to me a couple times and now Facebook has really upset me. I was trying to send a request to someone who I knew but didn't have mutual friends with. An error message came up and said the request couldn't be sent because I didn't know the person. I reported it and tried a little later. However, this time, it took me through this "checkpoint" thing and now I can't send requests or message anyone for two days!

I understand why Facebook is doing this but I think they've gone a little bit overboard. I haven't had any problems with this in the past as I'm friends with some of the UNC baseball/basketball players, among others. I sent a request to them (even though we had no mutual friends) and nothing happened.

This really makes me mad because I'm not one of those spammers or "annoying" people Facebook is targeting with these policy changes. I'm simply trying to friend someone, that's all. Plus, reporting the error to Facebook isn't really useful because they may never see your report and/or you have to wait a good while for the tech team to fix the problem. It's funny: Facebook's bio on their Twitter page says "Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected." How can we if our accounts get blocked by simply friending people?

A Turkey Day Salute

In honor of Thanksgiving, I wanted to salute the John Deere Company for their "Can-Do Project." The company is taking over 300,000 canned goods and building a full-sized scultpture of its new S-Series combine (pictured left). The combine is the world's most powerful and the sculpture will be a world record-breaking 60 feet wide, 80 feet long and 16 feet tall and will weigh nearly 170 tons when completed. At the end of the project, all cans of food will be donated to a local food shelter. What a great thing to do for others on this holiday!

Barbarism At UC Davis

I was watching the news and saw this horrific scene at UC Davis. Police, in riot gear, pepper sprayed students who were peacefully protesting tuition hikes at the school. The cops showed no mercy as the video depicts a group of students sitting with arms locked being sprayed by the officer. And I'm not just talking about a one time deal. The officer continues to spray the same students over and over, until you see their faces turn orange. According to MSNBC, one woman was even treated for chemical burns at a local hospital. The same MSNBC article said UC Davis police told them that students had until 3:00 p.m. to leave and, when they didn't, police moved in. That's the poorest defense I've ever heard in my life. There is no excuse for this kind of barbaric behavior. UC Davis police and officials should be ashamed of themselves for what happened.

This is beyond ridiculous! I don't understand what gives police officers the right mind to do these things. I would like to know what that officer would feel like if someone sat him down and did the same thing. Enough is enough! If I was the police chief and saw this video, I would either not allow him to work on the force until he gets the proper training or fire him flat out, no questions asked. I've always thought that, unless officers are properly trained to use these weapons, they don't need to use them at all!

Let It Snow

I'm sure the winner of this week's Oops Award was not singing "Let It Snow" after this incident. A man in Alaska was charged with assault and criminal mischief after attacking a snowplow with an ax! The man was angry over snow that was blocking his car. In a rage, the man jumped in front of the plow, forcing the driver to slam on the brakes. After that, the disgruntled citizen reportedly swore at the driver and hit the plow's door with his ax.

Come on, man, where's your winter spirit? Plus, did you really think an ax would do any damage to the plow? Maybe the driver but not the snowplow!

Trouble In Carolina

With the Carolina Hurricanes in the middle of a two game skid and having won only 3 out of their last 10, I have to pose the question: is it time for Paul Maurice to go? I personally think he should and, quite frankly, I've been arguing this since the end of last season. In fact, I never really understood the reasoning behind his rehiring after Peter Laviolette was let go (the coach who got us our first Stanley Cup). Now, Laviolette is doing very well in Philadelphia, who has been a playoff contender for the past few seasons under him. Even getting to the Stanley Cup Finals a couple years ago.

Maurice did okay the first time he was in Carolina, leading the 'Canes to the Stanley Cup Finals during the 2001-2002 season. He was later fired as the 'Canes started off the first twenty games of the 2003 season with an 8-12 record. "Mo" was brought back after Laviolette's departure and, once again, he hasn't really done anything to show for it. The 'Canes made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009 but were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins who went on to win the Stanley Cup that year. Since then, the team has been metiocre. Last year, Carolina was in contention for a playoff spot right down to the last game of the regular season. A win would've gotten them into the playoffs but they lost 6-2 to Tampa Bay. This season, the Hurricanes started off okay but have been in a slump ever since; now tied for 14th in the Eastern Conference.

According to an ESPN article, the Hurricanes are pretty active on the phones to see "what is out there" but the writer thinks a player trade will come before a coaching change. I think they may need both to happen in order to improve. However, I think it really falls on the coach's shoulders. We have talented players but the coach as to do his job to build the team.

What do you think should happen? Vote on the poll to the right.

Fair & Balanced?

I woke up last Saturday morning and just happened to tune into this documentary on TV called "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism." It challenged Fox News' claim of being "Fair and Balanced" with some pretty good facts and evidence from a selection of their newscasts.

I decided to share some of the things the documentary pointed out:

-The film said that, according to a survey conducted by the University of Maryland and reported by the Seattle Times, Fox led among cable news channels in giving viewers "misperceptions of the War in Iraq"

-Over a span of a few months, analysts watched Fox and concluded that Republicans were used a whopping five times more than Democrats (over eighty percent)

-When that didn't work, the documentary showed how Fox anchors would cut the person's mic or do something else to get them to "shut up."

-The analysts also concluded that Fox News had a way of generating fear with some of its stories

The channel focused on the "happier side" of Iraq during the war, making it look like it was worth going to war with them because the U.S. was "improving" conditions there

Bill O'Reilly vs. Jeremy Glick

-Glick's father was killed during 9/11 but he still disapproved of the war

-O'Reilly used scare tactics and intimidation because he was in disagreement over Glick's position

-According to the film, O'Reilly painted Glick as a "conspirator" and later lied about and exaggerated Glick's comments in a follow up show

-According to the documentary, O'Reilly threatened and cursed at Glick off camera after the argument on-air

Carl Cameron and George W. Bush

-Carl Cameron, Fox News commentator, had an interview with then Pres. Bush

-According to the documentary, Cameron's wife actually worked on the Bush campaign

-The film reported that no other news station allowed a "conflict of interests" situation to take place

John Ellis and the 2000 Bush Election
-Ellis was a freelance political advisor (and Bush's first cousin) contracted by Fox News

-He declared Bush the winner against Gore before the recount took place on the news channel

-Prompted other news stations to do the same which was unfair to do before official count came in

-According to analysts in the film, Democrats who did appear were often nobodies who were deemed "weak" and "easy to defeat"

This is just a sample of the many things the documentary noted about Fox News but there were many more. According to the Wikipedia article I found, Fox fired back at the creators of the film, saying they infringed upon copyright laws by using some of their broadcast material without permission. If you don't believe me or want to refute what I've just said, check out the video below beforehand. This is a part of the same documentary (using some of their live broadcast footage) which features how Fox News attacked John Kerry during the 2004 Presidential Campaign (courtesy of Outfoxed.org).

Although this documentary was made six years ago, this problem still exists at Fox News. Everytime I'm flipping through and watch the station for a few minutes, they almost always have some kind of negative story surrounding Democrats and a more poistive one surrounding Republicans. If a debate is going on during a show, I quickly recognize which side the anchor/host is on because they will always interrupt and intimidate the opposing side (especially with politics). This is horrible journalism, in my opinion, and we shouldn't have it freely propogating through our society. Still not convinced? You can watch the entire documentary here and decide for yourself.

Works Cited 

Greenwald, R., Busby, L., Gilliam, J., McArdle, K., & Smith, D. (Producers), & Greenwald, R. (Director). (2006). Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism [Motion picture]. USA via: Google Videos 

Outfoxed. (2011, October 9). Retrieved November 16, 2011, from Wikipedia.org 

Image courtesy of Fox News Channel

Pa and Bobbie

This Weekly Salute is for two people: my grandma who I affectionately call "Bobbie" (you'll find out why in a minute) and my grandpa, J.T. White, otherwise known as "Pa" to all of us. They were grandparents on separate sides of my family. My grandma on my mom's side and my grandpa on my dad's. They both meant so much to me so I decided to write and celebrate their lives.

First, my grandma. Let me start off by saying I feel kind of bad I didn't salute her earlier but now is a good time to do so. She was an amazing person! She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill (smart lady) and became a RN (registered nurse). I started calling her "Bobbie" several years ago after changing it from "Baba" which was what I called her when I was younger. I'm not exactly sure why I called her "Baba" but it stuck ever since the first time I did so. She was also a great woman of faith and an active member of Grey Stone for over a decade. In fact, I have her to thank for introducing my mom and I to the church; so every Grey Stonian reading this has her to thank for that, haha! I have to mention that I get two things from her: love (of sorts) of school and being on a soapbox. Those were two distinguishing characteristics of her's and I think she passed them right down to me! She died in February of this year but I will always remember her and the great legacy she left behind.

Next, my grandpa. He was one tough customer but he also had a caring side and would help you out anytime you needed him to. He served in the Navy during WWII and even saw Gen. Douglas McArthur sign the Treaty of San Fransisco, ending the allied occupation during the war. Funny thing was he was so proud of all that, he bragged about his service right up until he passed away. He was married to my grandma for sixty-seven years and they seemed to have a very happy marriage. One lasting memory I will have was the time my high school, Northern, had a lockout and subsequent fights outside. When we were finally released from school, I saw my grandma and grandpa outside waiting. Normally, if was just my grandma but he was there too and he grabbed my hand as we walked to the car. I'll never forget the display of how much he cared for me that day.

Although these two wonderful grandparents are gone, I know they're in a place that's much better than our world and I will see them again someday. So, rest in peace "Bobbie" and "Pa" you will be missed!

Best Interests?

I'm sure you've all heard of the big scandal going on at Penn State. In the wake of that, both the university president and legendary head football coach, Joe Paterno, have been fired. This sparked outrage among students at PSU who subsequently rioted in the streets. Paterno had already announced his retirement shortly before the news of his firing came but it obviously wasn't enough. In case you've been living under a rock and didn't know, this who scandal began after reports surfaced that a former head coach under Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, sexually abused boys in the PSU locker room. Now, eight years after the incident, the scandal came to life. Paterno came under fire because this happened on his watch and he was notified of the situation. He told Penn State officials of the incidents and pretty much did nothing else in response.

The Board of Trustees fired Paterno as well as the president which begs the question: why was then graduate assistant (now assistant coach) Mike McQueary not penalized? In fact, he gets to keep his job and even coach at the Nittany Lions' game against Nebraska this Saturday. I may be ignorant on some of the details of this situation but how come nothing was done with McQueary? I mean, he was the one who saw these alleged incidents happen. He did notify Paterno and other officials but, still, he should've notified the police about this. I guess all could have (and should have) notified the police but if one goes they all should. McQueary should be fired as well. It's almost like the board is setting a double standard. They fired Paterno and others for not reporting this to authorities while not firing McQueary who supposedly saw it happen and did not report it to the police.

All in all, I think everyone involved did wrong and I just hate it for the kids who were involved. It's ashame that things like this happen in our world so much!

UPDATE: Penn St. put McQueary on paid administrative leave Friday. Reports say that he has left State College, PA as a result of receiving multiple threats. It's still just a slap on the wrist (not to mention he gets paid as well).

The Will To Play Golf

In one of my PRT classes, we're studying about social issues that surround sport on a daily basis. One in particular is people with disabilities. As a homework assignment, we had to watch an ESPN "E:60" video about a man, Mike Reeder, who fell in love with golf and had one big dream: to play "The Old Course" at St. Andrews. In case you didn't know, St. Andrews is the most storied golf course in the world. Located in Scotland, the "Old Course" has hosted numerous legends including Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods.

So, what was stopping him? He served in Vietnam and ended up being involved in an attack that amputated both of his legs instantly. After two years in the hospital and numerous surgeries, Reeder was released from the hospital, married, and found a job in the music industry. While in the music biz, he worked with the likes of Carlos Santana and was even nominated for a Grammy.

He later quit the music biz to be a stay-at-home dad, where he soon became fascinated with the game of golf. He met another man who quickly became his friend and playing partner. They made a pact to go to Scotland and play at St. Andrews. However, his friend died from lung cancer before they could make it there. But, with determination, Reeder did make it to St. Andrews and became the first person in a wheelchair to play the course. Congrats to Mike Reeder who gets my Weekly Salute!

P.S. My words alone can't describe this remarkable story. Please take the time to watch the video of the full story below...

That's Gotta Hurt

You see this a lot in movies but rarely in real life. A Fayetteville man was arrested and charged after hitting a woman on the head with a frying pan. Police said it started when the woman allegedly threw a grape jelly jar at the man's head after he told her she could not take his bags while they packed to leave.

The man struck back by hitting the woman on the head with the frying pan. The woman, who was in a recent car accident previous to this incident, was taken to the hospital and released. Detectives charged the man with assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a woman. He was released after posting bond.

Magical Performance

The new show "Anderson" hosted by journalist Anderson Cooper, featured a group of kids who all stuttered. One of the kids, sixteen-year-old Phillip Garber, said on the show that he was told by one of his professors to keep quiet during class so he "wouldn't disturb" the other students. Despite this, Garber and a few of his counterparts going through the same thing got together and formed a singing group called Our Time. Let's just say that professor might backtrack on what they said after this!

I chose this as my Weekly Salute because it really touched me. I'm taking a class on diversity and inclusion in school this semester and we've been talking about including everyone regardless their race, gender, religion, disability, etc. We've also talked about educating those who may not be comfortable with including people like these kids in normal, everyday activities. It's very important that, regardless of who the person is or where they come from, we treat them all with dignity and respect.