Domestic Violence: Is it taken as seriously as it should

When people think of domestic violence, in my perspective people look at it like it only happens in marriages where the husband is beating the wife or in a long relationship where the female is the victim as well.  My question however is what about the male.  Society see's men as the more dominant figure and the stronger one.  Males respectively should be raised to never hit a woman, but is it fair for a female to hit a man ? Even though her blows may not be as strong, there is still force behind that hit, and if the woman knows the man will not hit her in return is it okay that she may smack him or disrespect him when she is angry.  This happens all the time on college campuses, many girls in a sense actually bully the male. Even though he is stronger and could easily hurt her, in an altercation she uses violence. I feel as if no one takes it seriously if the male is being abused.  People would make a joke and laugh as if the male could not take control of the situation, when realistically he is trying to still be respectful.

Here is the link from a article of a man being abused by a woman in front of his two children.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bari-zell-weinberger-esq/its-time-to-acknowledge-m_b_8292976.html


My questions are:
1. If you saw one of your male friends getting hit by his girlfriend would you take it seriously?  or would you atleast try to help?

2.  Why do you feel as if no one takes it seriously when men are abused by their significant other?

3. In a situation where the female is clearly abusing the male, what action do you think he should take to stop her.

Staying Protected Safe Sex

Going to NCAT, you hear a lot of gossip some that may be true and some that may be halfway true.  Recently I heard a story about a male (a associate of mine) sexually involved with a female he hasn't known that long.  The female is slightly promiscuous and she is sexually active.  However the devastating fact of it all is that the female had two std's which was chlamydia and Gonorrhea.  The male did not know that she had these std's and it is possible he might have contracted them from her.  Personally I would be very upset if my partner had an std and did not talk to me about it first.  Although it does take two people to tango.  Meaning take care of yourself first, many students believe because we are in college they will not contact a disease if the significant other appears clean.  Many college kids who have been with their partner for awhile no longer feel the need to use condoms especially if the female is on birth control.  Many college students also receive oral sex more willingly without as much caution not realizing the dangers of how some std's are transmitted.


My questions are:

Whether you have known this potential sex partner for awhile or you have just met, do you ask them if they have/had any sexually transmitted diseases? and do you feel comfortable doing so?

Would you be mad if the person you were involved with gave you a sexually transmitted disease although you never asked them?

Views on "Views"

                This album really needs more time to be taken in, people are too quick to call something a classic or trash. I personally enjoyed this a lot which was a relief as my expectations were so high, and is why I'm giving it such a high rating. Drake gives us a taste of everything from Jamaican rhythms to slow reflective ballads. 

                For me the reason Drake will never please all of the people is because he's not inside a box, we all know he does different things besides the bear basics of rapping and pure rap fans will never truly understand there's more to a project than one specific thing. From the get go the opener is like a Buble/Bond movie soundtrack and it was so unexpected I genuinely didn't know what to expect when '9' popped up. Songs like U With Me?, Weston Road Flows, Hype, Still Here, Grammys and Views show us Drake can still go top tier with his bars and delivery whilst the crooning on songs like Redemption and Fire & Desire showcase what Drake does best in terms of his laid back night time driving catalogue. 
                I really love how the album captures the seasons in the sounds, it remains Diverse hitting highs and lows left and right and yet in my honest opinion remains incredibly cohesive. Worth the wait, give this one time people. 

Oh the places you will go...

I just recently came across a website that tells the top 100 greatest travel experiences. There was one story in particular that had me so excited I decided to plan a trip of my own with all my friends. I haven't taken any recent trips of my own, so I thought I would post my favorite from the website. Whether you read the story or not, I would like to know if you have taken any recent trips, if so where to, and do you have any stories from the trip?

http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/planatrip/inspire-me/lists/your-100-greatest-travel-experiences?page=al

Indian one horned rhinoceros (Shutterstock)

89. Spotting rhinos in Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal

For many readers, sitting atop an Asian elephant has been a favoured way to explore Royal Chitwan, allowing you to spot rhino, gaur, sloth bear and even tigers from a lofty spot. However, in recent years, a number of readers have raised concerns about the elephants' welfare, so you may want to consider a walking tour instead.

Make it happen: Chitwan is a six-hour drive from Kathmandu. Jan–Mar, after the long grasses have been cut, are best for wildlife viewing; Jun–Sept is very hot and wet.

Get more info on Chitwan national park: In search of rhinos

Views

If you know me, you know how obsessed I am over the famous Canadian rapper, Drake.  Over Drake's career, he has been bashed over how emotional his lyrics and songs are.  Me personally, I think they're real and I love it.  I've noticed how Drake has switched up his flows on past songs since his "overly emotional" album, Take Care, and how he seemed to no longer rap about his feelings anymore.  Being the fan that I am, I still loved it, but now people criticized how "hard" and "unoriginal" Drake was trying to be in his songs.  It seemed that Drake would never be able to completely satisfy everyone and he dropped his new album Friday night called Views.  This album was the "old Drake from Take Care" and now it seemed like everyone finally liked his work, even the anti-Drake fans.  Basically I feel that people wouldn't appreciate you until you "switch up" and change on them and Drake is a good example for that.  Drake is now the top hip-hop artist on all charts and the most successful rapper with all of his commercial, promotion, etc. deals he has received with numerous of top companies in America.

Who's your favorite celebrity?
Have you learned any life lessons from them?

Kobe's Last Call

Kobe Bryant's Last game was held in Los Angeles on April 13th  against the Utah Jazz. Coming into the game many sports watchers had to wonder one simple but crucial question. should they watch the Warriors potential record breaking game or the all time great Kobe Bryant's last game. Many others including me decided to watch one of our favorites ever lace up one last time. Coming into this game with intentions to put on a show one last time for his fans Kobe came out Firing. However Kobe just didn't seem to have it coming out. Bryant started 0 for 5 before finally scoring on leaning jump shot after an amazing block to finally get him on the board. For anyone that has ever watched Bryant play they know he can catch on fire quickly and so he did. Bryant then proceeded to hit 4 more straight shots after that. once halftime came around Bryant had a total of 22 points. With  about three minutes left in the game and the Lakers down ten Bryant was at 45 for the game. Most people thought the game was over but Bryant however pulled out another classic moment to add to his career ending on 5-5 shooting with 15 points and a game winner to give him 60 against the Utah Jazz. Bryant now holds the record for the most points scored in the last game of a players career.

Fuller House

If you are looking for something new to watch on Netflix, I really recommend watching Fuller House! I basically grew up watching the original television serious Full House, just like almost everyone. I really like how they decided to make a reunion show. Netflix released the full season a couple of months ago. I remember the first day it was released, I sat and binge watched all thirteen episodes back to back. They were all really that good and of course,
really funny. The whole original cast is in the new season, from Dannie Tanner, to Uncle Jessie's and Aunt Becky's twin boys, Nicky and Alex. The only people who are missing from the cast are Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, who play Michelle Tanner. Mary Kate and Ashley basically refused to act on the new season, saying they were just too busy, and also saying they just didn't act anymore. Even though they are missing from the cast, the new season is still amazing if you ask me.

• Did you ever watch Full House?
• Have you seen the new season Fuller House?
• If so, what are your thoughts on it? 

Moving To New Places

          Ever since elementary school I moved from one place to another. I moved during my 2nd grade year to Atlanta and moved to two different schools while I was there. The middle of my 5th grade year, I moved back to my hometown and I finished 5th grade and started my middle school year in my hometown until half of my 7th grade year. 7th grade is when I moved to Virginia and finished the rest of my year there. I was miserable there, so I ended up moving back to my hometown for my 8th grade year and for my first year of high school. I was happy to be home, but that all changed in 10th grade. I moved to Charlotte. I thought I would be there for the rest of my high school years, but I only stayed for one year and moved backed to my hometown for good.  Out of all of my years of moving, I was able to find Atlanta as my favorite place to live. I was building a lot of friendships and I liked how there were so many things to do there.
Questions:
- Have you ever had to move? If so, would you like to go back?
- If you never moved before, where would you like to move to?

Bullying

Recently a video has made its way all through the internet about a little girl being jumped and she eventually died in the hospital. Allegedly it was all over a boy. No one will really know what happened because a lot of the information behind it all has not been told. After people found out about this, everyone went crazy. I seen people on facebook, and twitter speaking about bullying and giving their opinions. A lot of parents were upset because they believe a lot could've been prevented, and basically they are sending their kids to school to learn only and to not get bullied, or hurt. I've never really been bullied before but I have definitely had to defend myself a couple of times against girls who wanted trouble. I do not tolerate bullying all, and if I'm ever in a situation where I witness someone being bullied, I will defend them.

Question: What are your thoughts about this story?
                 What are your thoughts on bullying?
                 Have you witness bullying, or been bullied?

Freshman Year

Freshman year for me has been an eye opener, and full of nothing but lessons learned. I can truly say that coming here has changed me. I use to be a shy person in high school, and just mainly focused on sports to bring me friends. First semester I struggled with getting out and making friends here, but they came naturally! I have met some really great people here. It's really true when they say college will bring out a side of you that you never knew. Here is totally different, but a good different! I absolutely love it here. I love who I am becoming, and  I am excited to see what the next 3 years here brings me.

Question: What changes have you seen in yourself so far while being here?
                  

90s and Early 2000s Cartoons

I tend to watch a lot of TV. My favorite thing to watch would have to be cartoons. This generations cartoons are not really interesting to me though. Nickelodean and Disney Channel really have downgraded when it comes to this. The new cartoons really have NOTHING on old cartoons. Some of my all time favorites are:

• The Proud Family
• That's So Raven 
• CatDog
• Rugrats 
• Doug
• Powerpuff Girls
• All That 
• Rocko's Modern Life
• Brandy and Mr Whiskers
• Kim Possible
• Lizzie McGuire
• Hey Arnold 
• Ed, Edd, and Eddy

And that's just a few! Although some networks have recently started to bring back some of these cartoons, it will never be the same. 

• Do you prefer old cartoons or the new ones?
• What are your favorites?

Catfish 

This week a very interesting episode of Catfish was aired. In the new episode an 18 year old girl, named Kayla, wrote in to Nev and Max saying someone named Courtnye had been contacting her. Courtnye claimed she had been talking to Kayla's father who had passed away many years ago. Kayla's father had hanged and killed himself in prison while serving a life sentence for stabbing and killing his girlfriend, Kayla's mom, while having a mental breakdown. Even though the story was widely publicized and a lot of people knew about the story, Courtnye knew information that no one else besides Kayla's family members knew. Courtnye live thousands of miles away making it hard for her and Kayla to meet face to face to discuss the conversations that she had been having with her Kayla's father. Nev and Max were of course very skeptical and spooked out about the whole situation. No one knew whether or not to believe Courtnye. Was she really able to talk to a dead person, or was she just some weird and crazy woman making the whole thing up. Finally Kayla and Courtnye were able to meet up with each other. Cournye was able to answer questions that no one outside of Kayla's family knew about. Everyone then really had no choice but to believe that Courtnye was indeed able to talk to the dead. 

  Have you seen this new and crazy episode of Catfish?

Do you really think that some people have the abilty to talk to dead people? 

Tattoo Controversy

Tattoo Controversy

There is a lot of controversy about whether or not having tattoos are a good or bad thing. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I do not think that people should judge others because they have tattoos. Many people think that because you are tattooed, you are trashy, unprofessional, dumb, unemployed, and other horrible things like that. I think that that makes no sense at all. Why should you judge someone just because they have art on their bodies and who are you to tell them that they are dumb for doing so?
I think that having tattoos are a great way to express yourself. I have a tattoo that is fairly big, starting at my shoulder, going onto the top of my arm, and ending almost at the middle of my back. I have a tattoo of many different flowers and butterflies, and I also have a tattoo that says "Faith". I think that my tattoo expresses who I am because I think that it is very girly and I really love flowers, and anything floral print. I love my tattoo , but many people say that I will regret getting it in the future, I think that they are absolutely wrong. tattoos are becoming very popular these days. The thought that a company may not hire me because I have a tattoo is crazy to me. Workplaces are not supposed to judge people because of their age, looks, ethnicity, or the way that they look, so why should they judge me, because I am tattooed? When I got my tattoo, I did think of these things, so I made sure that my tattoo is able to be covered when wearing a short sleeve shirt.
So the question here is, what are your opinions on tattoos? Do you have any tattoos, if not, do you plan on getting any, why or why not?

Lemonade

There has been a big uproar as Beyonce released her newest album called “Lemonade”. This was a very uplifting, cultural inspired album. Lemonade was released on HBO on April 23, 2016 as a visual album. There were mothers featured in these videos, such as Michael Brown and  Trayvon Martin mother’s. These were the mothers of the young black boys that were killed by police officers unlawfully. In the song “Sorry” that was released on the album she made a statement saying, “He better call up Becky with the good hair”. Many people took offense in this in the blogs and TV shows after her released and spoke badly on her for making this remark. I don’t believe Beyonce was trying to create a racial controversy, she was trying to bring light unto the fact that a lot of black women and others believe that caucasian and other ethnicity beside theirs have “good hair”. This is a big problem within the black community because there are many girls who don’t believe that they are good enough or beautiful enough because of the stereotypes of our hair not being “good hair”. Within Beyonce’s entire album she is explaining the greatness of our culture and the beauty in it. This comment also had a lot of people wondering who this “Becky” was and has Jay Z been cheating. There were many assumptions saying that this Becky could be Rita Ora, Jay Z artist. Rumors has started going around giving many pictures of Jay Z and Rita Ora being a little friendly. With the privacy of Bey and Jay, we will never know. Beyonce leaves her fans and many others with the thoughts of wondering and many rumors to be passed around. I personally don’t believe that Jay Z and Beyonce has had any controversy recently. Beyonce is a wonderful artist and is trying to give her fans things that they can relate to. She is a very artistic and amazing artist and her career is only getting better.

• How do you feel about the comment Beyonce made about referring to white girls as "Becky"?
• Do you think Jay Z has been messing around with Rita?
• If you've heard the album, what were your thoughts of it?

Transgender restrooms

            Recently, there has been a lot more in the news about the transgendered community. However, now the conversation has shifted from Caitlyn Jenner to something more relevant- allowing individuals of the transgendered community to use the same public facilities as those of us that are not. This conversation has sent the nation into an uproar.

           In order to take an accurate stance on the situation, one must understand what it means. “Sex” is what it means to be male or female biologically, whereas “gender” is how a person relates to that psychologically. Keep in mind that the term “transgender” does not necessarily mean “cross-dresser”.

             Many states like North Carolina, have passed laws that force transgendered individuals to use public restrooms that correspond with the gender on their birth certificate, not the gender they now identify with. Like many states, major corporations like Target, Lord & Taylor, and Barnes &Noble are getting in on the action. Target has introduced a policy that allows transgendered people to use the facility of their choice. Consequently, a petition has been circulated by the American Family Association, boycotting Target stores, which has accumulated almost 750,000 signatures.

              Much of the opposition of the idea stems from fear, ignorance, or both. The major argument is that it is unsafe to have what is technically a “man”, share restrooms with women and little girls, and vice versa. But ultimately, if a transgendered person is going to the restroom, it is for the same reason as someone who is not. If someone is going into public restrooms for purposes other than that, it could be anyone of any orientation- gay, straight, lesbian, transgender, or otherwise. Putting laws into place that infringe on the rights of the transgender community does not change that.

            

Amy Inita Joyner

There has been a lot of tragedies that has been going on lately and the story of Amy Inita Joyner was a heart breaking story. Amy was a 16 year old sophomore that went to Howard High School of Technology that had an altercation with other girls which broke out into a fight where she was seriously harmed and died. There are many stories claiming whether this fight was or was not over a boy but the results should have never ended in death. Amy allegedly went to the bathroom before class around 8:15 AM to talk about the situation but this escalated. Amy was jumped by a group of girls where her head was hit on the bathroom sink and she was critically injured. She was taking out of the school by the paramedics onto a helicopter where she was rushed to A.I Dupont Children’s Hospital. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The Mayor Dennis Williams said that the girls will be in serious trouble and would be doing a substantial amount of  time in prison. He was very emotional as he announced her death on and claimed “My heart bleeds for the family”. There are many students that said Amy was a very sweet girl and was easy to talk to. Some even said that she didn’t believe in fighting so the cause of her death being a fight was very ironic. Students mourned after the announcement of her death and classes was cancelled the rest of the school day. Wilmington police Chief Bobby Cummings spoke for the first time at a town hall meeting assuring the community the charges will be filed against the girls who were involved.  

• How think the girls should be charged or should it be taken as a mistake?

• If the girls are charged, should they be charged as adults or juveniles?

• How do you feel about the situation?

Deflategate

Deflategate  might be old news but it has been brought back up. For those of you that do not know what deflategate is, I am referring to when Tom Brady and the New England Patriots  got caught for tampering with game balls. They were accused of letting air out of the footballs so that it would be easier for Tom Brady to throw the ball. There is an NFL rule that there must be so much air in the football and the Patriots broke that rule.Many believe this helped them when the AFC championship and Super Bowl of 2015. After being caught the NFL suspended Tom Brady for the first four games of the  next season. After going to court the suspension was eventually lifted and Tom Brady played the full season. On April 25 2016 the US Court of Appeals reinstated Tom Brady's four game suspension for the 2016-2017 season.

This is a big deal to a lot of sports fan especially the Tom Brady haters. Some say Brady had nothing to do with it and that it was just the Patriots equipment manager. I am not exactly sure who's fault it was but either way its cheating and that is wrong. I personally think they should have left it in the past because I feel like everyone forgot about it, but now its a big deal again. Maybe Tom Brady will just serve his suspension and this will all be put behind the NFL and its fans.

How do you feel about cheating when it comes to sports?

Do you think he should serve the suspension?