Glogster

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Final

http://bhanderson.glogster.com/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest/

It's the Best I Could Do With What Little Logic There is Behind Either Side...

We sit intently on the couch, watching. We wait with impatience as the names scroll across the bottom of the screen; each character leading us closer to the impending victory. One by one the names scroll by; it seems like the goal we wish to achieve is impossible; just out of our grasp. Then, we see it. Just six letters in and we know our wish has been granted: another snow day. But wait; didn’t we just have one? And another just a few weeks prior? And how could you forget the two cancellations we had just one day into week two of the second semester? The one that spawned over 300 comments on your Facebook page after a refusal to cancel for a third day? With only four snow days built in to our schools schedule, this could present quiet the dilemma. The question will undoubtedly arise of how to make up the omitted days.  Viable options encompass everything from adding on days at the end of the year, effecting our summer release date, to attending school on Saturdays, a practice already in effect in many cities across the eastern seaboard. The best option would appear to be to allow an exception for these days, for two reasons: many student’s families have already made plans for summer vacations that could be effected by these extra days, and if we were to go to school on Saturdays, it would interfere with your student’s and faculty’s religious obligations.

School is by far the most important thing we will ever attend, and succeeding in school is invaluable for our life’s pursuits. Should a vacation really get in the way of school’s importance? And why should religions far less popular than (in the US) Christianity get in the way of our students education? While these seem like minute things in the grand scheme of our school year, they are both very important repercussions of a decision to extend our time in school.

The Caribbean: alluring, breathtakingly clear seas, enthralling, white sand beaches, beautiful, bronzed bodies, and a prevalent vacation spot among families and children in our schools. Along with being sunny and warm, it’s also an expensive place to visit. As of 7:27 on 13 February 2011, the cheapest flight package for a family of four was 352 dollars per person from Kansas City International to Nassau International in the Bahamas. The flight would leave on 24 May 2011, and return on 01 June 2011. If you’re staying in a foreign country, you’ll probably need facilities to stay at. The absolute cheapest hotel I could find was 87 dollars a night for a room with two double beds, and not much else. The total price, before you even get in to any attractions, activities, and dining, is 2,191 dollars. Not including money for clothes, if need be, or a passport, which is absolutely necessary to travel to the Bahamas. Even if you could cancel, you would most likely have to pay an airfare cancellation fee, or it could even be nonrefundable, or you already put down a deposit on your flight. We all know about the hassles with big airlines, their lack of customer service, etc, etc. Would you really want to ruin a families well thought out and meticulously planned vacation, or take away their money in fees for a trip they never even went on; money that could contribute to the taxes and donations that fund your education system? But I don’t think that this would eclispe the outcry for having school on Saturdays.

One of the greatest rights bestowed upon American citizens is that we have a right to freely practice whatever religion we choose. It was the reason why our ancestors came here in the first place; to escape religous persecution. In the last few years, this right has been slowly being narrowed toward followers of the Christian religion due to fear of other religions, and just by the shear number of Christians in the United States. Something that would further impede on this right is attendance of school on Saturdays. Celebrated by followers of the Jewish religion, The Sabbath is their weekly celebration, comparable to Sunday for the Christian faith. Held from sundown Friday night to sundown on Saturday night, it is a day to pray and study; a day of refrain from their daily cares. They attend a service on Saturday morning, where they read and study the portion of the Torah for the week, along with an accompanying portion taken from the Prophets. As a public institution, you cannot just cater to one religion. Despite Christianity’s popularity among Americans, there are other religions in this city. If I wanted religious days off, I would be in a private school run by a church, not a public school run by the city, county, state, and country made up of different faiths and beliefs.

There are a multitude of choices to make up our missed days, but these two listed are not reasonable in any way. If you can find a choice that would at least not interfere with religious obligations or expensive, well planned trips, then I would be more than happy to endorse it.

AOW #1

I write to you today in lieu of an astounding occurrence; one that could have been prevented if it had not been for harsh misjudgment and a false sense of conservatism.  Ms. Doyle Byrnes and four other students were dismissed from your school [Johnson County Community College]’s nursing program after a so-called “disruption to the learning environmet”. This “disruption” was the simple act of Ms. Byrnes taking a photograph with a human placenta. Now, you say, “Why, that’s intolerable. Who knows whose placenta that is? What if she were to come forward and claim it?” Well, from the only photos of the accused circulating around on the internet, how could a woman identify her placenta from a grainy, poor quality, black and white picture? I know I could not. But my own personal attention to detail in poor quality images holds no ground in this case What about the fact that Ms. Byrnes was doing nothing even slightly questionable in the photo.  She was simply holding the tray, smiling in a conventional way, appearing, overall, very professional. Was she wearing the placenta on her head? Was she juggling with her own bare hands (mind you, she did have gloves and a surgical coat on in the picture)? Is she even handling the placenta with her gloved hands? Yes, there is a hook or some type of surgical device in it, but it appears to be assisting in the overall image, not just for the fun of poking it. Keep in mind that these students are not the stereotypical “giddy” school girls. They conduct themselves in a professional manner and they are very career minded. Ms. Byrnes is intending on wedding in August of this year, with yet another intention of relocating to Virginia with her new spouse to pursue her now possibly doomed career in registered nursing.  How could one obtain a job in registered nursing or even gain entry to another willing nursing program with that kind of poorly judged black mark on her records? She will be the leper amongst her peers; cast out for doing nothing wrong. So tell me again what was wrong with this picture? About the only defense you would have left is the “religious morality” stance, which is not even remotely viable in this context, for your university is a public institution; open to any and all people looking for higher education. In conclusion, I would ask that you to please repeal your decision because there seems to be no factual evidence behind it.  

A Bra is a Women's Undergarmet; Not a Nickname.

I do recollect the apprehension I felt as I wondered into fourth hour newspaper class. I had heard through our school's seemingly never ending grapevine of students and students prior that he was a funny fellow, and that they had many great memories of his class, predominately from his newspaper students. Another thing that had come to my attention (mostly spoken through a low murmur, as though it was an exceptionally infectious ailment) was that he had a knack for jokes, nearly always at a student's own personal casualty. I was not made aware of the severity and cruelty of the jokes, however. I was to now fend for myself, clinging to the hope that he would not be the barbarous, atrocious man I had made him out to be. I determined my seating arrangement to be just adjacent to Mr. Allen's desk, where there was currently no others sitting. I looked up at the clock, menacingly ticking down the seconds, getting ever so closer to the black mark of three-quarters-after-ten. It was now forty-four minutes after ten. My anxiety increased as the seconds droned by. Promptly, at ten forty-five, the bell rang. Mr. Allen looked up at his new victims through his small, wire rimmed glasses. We went through the generalized greetings and explanations of the class. He seemed kind enough. Still, my angst disapproved of subsiding. At last, we advanced to the selection of our first pages. Mr. Allen, in his typical humor, deemed it necessary to develop a nickname for his new subjects. We went down the list of pages, with him haphazardly picking kids and assigning them their nicknames.

Then came my name.

He contemplates, looking thoughtfully at his computer screen. His hand begins to rub his chin.

Nothing he thinks seems the entice him.

Then it comes.

He begins to type.

Just three letters. B-r-a.

Bra. My new nickname was Bra. Great, just fantastic. Unfortunately, it stuck. I eventually conjured up his own nickname; Mallen.

But to this day, I still despise that nickname. But hey, that class was great.