Gay marriage is wrong Current Connection #1

          I believe that gay marriage should not be supported no matter where you live.  An article on gay marriage laws in arkansas states, "marriage is defined as a union between a man and a woman."  When someone hears the word marriage most people would expect to see a man and a woman saying their vows and such.  Then there are the people that would see all the possible outcomes like, man to man, woman to woman, or the classic man to woman.  People need to go read up on some of the rights to homosexual marriages they are speaking of to others.  Some "Christians" are actually supporting gay rights, but in the Bible it clearly says that only a man and a woman should be binned together, forever.  In the article, 10 reasons why homosexual marriage is wrong, it says that one of the reasons it is wrong is because it "Denies a Child Either a Father or a Mother".  I understand that gay parents might be able to take care of there "children", but the best thing in life you can have is a mother and a father looking after you.  I know if I did not have my parents I would be in a lot more trouble like maybe, drinking, drugs, who know I could be in jail without the guidance of my mother and father.  So do people really want to deny children what they need most in this life.
          If a man and a man or a woman and a woman love each other that much they need to go out and see what else the world has to offer, in terms of opposite sex.  I believe being gay is a choice and not the way you were born.  “Being gay is bad. How wonderful it is that nobody has to be gay!”, this is a statement someone said to a reporter from Huffing ton Post.  Being gay truly is not just bad but also disgusting.  If you are gay you are making everyone around you very uncomfortable and confused.  A little child might walk up to a gay man and say what are you.  Then it will make everything uncomfortable.  "I was born this way" is a song by lady gaga that talks about gay people having the "gay gene".  Even if there is such a gene I am sure that if he or she saw the right female or male that gene should jump out of their body faster than a hiccup.  Sexual preference can be changed.  "People already learn to stop smoking, to give up certain foods, and not cheat on their husbands or wives" so why can't gays learn how to love the opposite sex.  Maybe there needs to be a patch they put on or maybe another invention, but come on people we need to stop this.  What if all people turn to be gay, then there will be no such thing as a baby anymore because no one will want to reproduce with the opposite sex.  Being straight is the way to go.  I might just be a stupid kid in someones eyes but that's alright.  I am speaking my opionion on this topic and I have a right to do that.  I will leave with these wise words from our book we all try to live by.  "Leviticus 18:22 - Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination."

The Harlem Shake (don't read out loud please)

    In 2011 there was "planking", in 2012 it was Gangnam Style, and now there is "The Harlem Shake."  KSLA News  states that "The Harlem Shake", "is one of the strangest video trends to sweep the web".  There are good reasons to assume that conclusion, but I believe it is one of the best things man kind has done to re-leave stress and loosen people up.  It all begins with a slow beat and usually is just one person dancing a little.  Then the bass drops and well you can watch for yourself (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0IJoKuTlvuM ).  I believe that the Harlem Shake is a great way to just have fun with friends and not worry about anything but just having a good time.  When "Neighborhood News"  Decided to go out and ask the people of Harlem about what they thought about the Harlem shake this is what most said,"That ain't the Harlem shake" or "that is knocking off our Harlem swag" and some would even say "it makes Harlem look Bad".  To the people of Harlem it is offensive, but to everyone else in the United States and even the world knows it is just a big joke.  I'm sure the people that are taking part in this new form of the "Harlem Shake" aren't trying to disrespect any of the people in Harlem.  These people know they are just making a fool of themselves and they are just living life and having a good time while doing so.
     The Harlem Shake isn't just a dance it shows how letting loose can help in many ways.  The Pioneer basketball team got its first win in conference and does anyone know what was going on in their locker room at Blytheville that night before the game?  We all did the Harlem Shake.  It not only made us less stressed, but I really believe it made us play better, just because of how calm we were coming out of our locker room before the game ever started.  When most people, like myself, see this video for the first time they probably think, "What the heck?!", but then they start realizing that it is hilarious.  “I never heard of the Harlem Shake, but I went on YouTube and was shocked at how popular it is and how many people watch these videos,” said company production manager David Martonosi, who thought doing a company video was a cool experience for all the plant workers."   This quote is from a "young company" from Michigan that crafts cabinets, named Woodways (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=I4GhKJExbbg).  Not only is this dance fun but it helped this company "boost moral".  What was once a boring job became a fun experience for everyone that worked there.  The Harlem Shake might be "one of the strangest video trends" ever in the world, but the video has set off a revolution in having fun.  The Harlem Shake can be used for "moral" or it can just let people be weird and have fun.  While others are having fun watching them getting their shake on.

Current Connection Rap and Stupid people

  People today are more into music like Lil Wayne, Drake, 2Chainz and many more, but does it really make you stupid to listen to these artists' music?  A website called, "Angry White Dude" (angrywhitedude.com) states, "Interesting that Beethoven is at the top of the list for intelligent people while Lil Wayne is most popular for mouthbreathing knuckledraggers."  I do not believe this statement is true at all.  The men and women that listen to Lil Wayne, or other rap artists, are so called knuckledraggers (a.k.a idiots).  I know plenty of people that listen to rap and still are intelligent in every way possible.  I even listen to rap music and I would like to think I'm not a knuckledragger.  "Relationship between intelligence and rap music.....diction...wordplay...Literary Devices....i think there is a number of things you can tie together with Intelligence here..." This comment was left on yahoo answers about this same subject.  It is obvious that rap has some form of intelligence in it.  I mean if someone can rhyme lyrics together and say them without messing up then I would think you would have to be pretty smart to move your tongue fast and say all the words right.  There is also the fact of wordplay and literary devices, some of us don't even know exactly what literary devices are.  So I conclude that if you listen to rap music you will not become stupid, but it could be possible that you could have already been stupid to begin with.  The point is no one should blame the music they are listening to on how smart or dumb they compared to others.  They should take ownership for their intelligence or stupidity.
     Many people think that rap is stupid, but it takes alot to create a good rap song.  "Don't make an opinion on me if you don't know nothin' about me." This is a quote by Lil Wayne to all of the viewers that do not believe in him.  Most people that say that rap makes you stupid are people that haven't given rap music a chance in the first place.  Some rap is about sex and stuff like that but other rap is used for things like being against something or not agreeing with a statement or something like that.  If people today would just give rap a chance I believe that they would enjoy it as much as the "knuckledraggers" have for many years.  Rap is something that gets people ready for sports events and could also get someone ready for a serious event.  It is not all fun and games some is serious and if you are a "hater" then just try to see it from our side that enjoys rap for music, not for the fact if it makes us stupid or smart.

current connection Life isn't Perfect

     In this beautiful world we all have to go threw a wonderful thing called life.  Sometimes it does not go our way at times and that is what happened with Katie Crews.  Crews is a college student attending UACCB. She was involved with the Circle K club at the college and never missed a meeting.  She was so involved the members of the Circle K club voted her president in April, but then, disaster struck. Crews was in a car crash and had to be transferred to Little Rock (broke her leg and shattered her pelvis).  She could no longer attend the club meetings she loved.  I have also had a time that I could not participate in something I loved. In fact, that moment is happening to me right now.  About three weeks ago I had to go into surgery for a cyst that was on my lower back.  The doctor told me that they would have to go in and cut it open and clean it completely out.  I knew I would be out of basketball for a little while, but I had no idea I would be out for the rest of the season.  In the Three Rivers Edition it says,"she missed too much school to remain president". That is basically the equal of not being able to even sit on the bench dressed out for your teams games.  Every home game I go and support my team, but only in my warm ups.  I never really understood what I had until it was taken away from me. Crews later said in the article, Batesville college students rally after friend's loss,"God always lets people cross paths for a specific reason",and that is how i feel about my girlfriend, Lauren Creighton. While I was in the hospital she took care of me when my mom and dad went to work.  She would even come over and stay with me just to keep me company so I wouldn't feel lonely. After I got out of the hospital she was still taking care of me.  Lauren has been driving me around, because I had to be on high active pain killers for at least two weeks that disabled me from driving.  I would not have been able to get around without her help.  In this crazy world your life is not going to be perfect, but if you can find someone that can help you threw the bad times, then that will make the good times that much sweeter.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/dec/06/batesville-college-students-rally-after-friends-lo/?f=threerivers 

Looting for the Lootless

Looting can be something that is ok to do, but when someone crosses the line of what they need to what they want, that is when it becomes horrible.  New York Daily News interviewed people about "thieves steeling flat screens" and posted them on their website, www.nydailynews.com.  "People were running in and out of Rent-A-Center carrying these big flat screens. They were holding on tight," said witness Aisha John, 20. Aisha was just one of the people they interviewed after the event.  When others where interviewed they said things like "Look, they've been looting our wallets for too long,", which , in a way, is true, but another thing someone saw was people grabbing bags of diapers and wipes for their kids because no stores were open to go buy them.  If no store is open to go buy things that a person needs for their family they will go into survival mode and go loot what they need to stay alive and well.  Looting is something that can be fine at times but when it comes to steeling "flat screens", instead of taking things that are appropriate to take in this time of need, is wrong and should not be done.

 

The Pink Ribbon

    The pink ribbon, one of the most well known images in the medical world.  For those who have no idea what this ribbon means or represents consider yourself lucky, but for most of us, including me, at least one of our friends or family members have had to deal with that pink ribbon.  When this ribbon pops up it represents breast cancer.  For the past six years of my grandma's life she has had to deal with the chemo and the doctors and the traveling that you have to undergo during treatments for breast cancer.  My aunt has also been suffering from this condition. The worst feeling in the world is knowing that one of your closest family members has cancer. At the same time it is a great feeling knowing that they fought through it and survived this terrible disease.
     The pink ribbon has been known in my family for at least six years.  First my grandma got diagnosed with breast cancer and had to get her hair all cut off and had to get a wig.  It was a sad day in my family to hear that my grandma may die from cancer just like her husband and my grandpa, who died from a different kind of cancer.  The next person that had breast cancer in my family was my aunt. Not long after she came back to Arkansas from California she had been diagnosed with it and since then both my grandma and aunt have over came the horrible disease. 
      When someone thinks about a pink ribbon some think about the month of October for breast cancer awareness month. Some think about just the cancer its self, but the people that have had people in their family die or get diagnosed with it then all you can think about, or at least all I can think about is my family members that have been through it and it makes me think about things like, what if I had cancer tomorrow?  Could I fight it or make it or would I die?  And I could only imagine the physical and mental pain that that individual that has cancer has to go through.  I am just happy that I have had survivors that I can look up to and be proud of and still get to see their beauty.  Every year ,in the month of October, I wear pink to show how lucky I am to have family members still here on this earth that has survived this horrible disease.

current connections #2 John L. Smith and the Razorbacks

It all began with a guy and a girl and their relationship. One of these individuals was the Head Coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, his name was Bobby Patrino.  A Coach that had a job as the Atlanta Falcons head coach went to the Arkansas Razorbacks to improve the program. And to him, the assistants, and the fans of the Razorbacks he did just that with ten wins last year the Hogs were hoping to improve to the National Championship team that Hog nation despotically wanted.  Then that is when the relationship between Bobby and a young lady got involved   Bobby Patrino had had sexual relations with that young lady.  At first he lied about the accusations but then he came clean and that is when the NCAA and UofA said get out.  Which left the Razorbacks without a head coach that they could look up to and to teach them.  After about a month or so Hog nation got their answer for a new head coach his name was John L. Smith.  Everyone including me thought this would make us just as good if not better with him stepping up as the Razorbacks' head coach, but then the truth set in.  After losing three straight games to UofLM, Alabama, and Texas A&M Hog fans were furious.  Most fans were asking if Smith would be fired and when if he was, but Long, athletic director for UofA, confirmed to the fans that he was backing Smith and was going to let him run things until the end of the year.  His exact words were, "I am sticking with Smith until the end of his contract".  Hog fans were not happy about this decision and I was not happy with it in the slit-est.

     John L. Smith is one of the worst punishment coaches there is, in my opinion.  When players come off the field Smith tries to act like a coach but the players have so little respect for him they just walk right past without even a glance.  If you go and read more articles about how the players think of Smith more than half say they like him a lot more then they did Bobby, but is that because Bobby was a coach before a friend or is it because Smith lacks that drive to push his kids to their ability like Patrino did when he was there.  As a fan of the Razorbacks I do not think they are in the condition they use to be in and they also look like they lost some pride and without pride a football team can not survive, especially in the South Eastern Conference (SEC).  I believe that Smith is trying to hard to be a friend and not enough on being a coach.  He is more like an image then an actual coach. I mean when I would watch Bobby on the sidelines it did not matter if it was an important game, an easy game, if they were up by 25, or down by 25 he was always in their faces trying to make them a better football team.  And now when I watch a Hog game it is like Smith just babies them.  I have not seen one occasion when Smith got in someones face and just screamed and telling them what they did wrong.  And trust me this team has to be doing something wrong to be losing by the massive amounts every game.  I play football myself and if I did something wrong I knew that when I got to the sidelines I would not be babied.  I would be sat down and told why or why didn't I do something.  As far as respect if one of my coaches told me to do something I would go do it after saying "Yes Sir".  The worst part about having to watch this as a fan is that it looks like our Hogs have given up on the season already.  I can see it when they walk out of the tonal and I can see it how they play.  That kind of attitude does not come from the players themselves it starts out with the coaches attitude towards his players and team. 

        John L. Smith is a coach that seemed like he knew what he was doing at the beginning but then we saw his true color in the way he handles adversity   In my opinion, as a Arkansas Razorback fan, is that we should get a new coach that has that special "WANT" to win.  A coach can not just kinda want to win they have to know they will win no matter what.  As a guy that has grown up watching and supporting the hogs through good times and bad, I have to say that this year has by far been the hardest on me to stay fateful to my Razorbacks.  As the call for them Hog gets smaller will the Hogs do anything to keep that spirit of Razorback football high. 

http://www.rantsports.com/ncaa-football/2012/09/26/john-l-smith-gets-backing-of-arkansas-razorbacks-athletic-director-jeff-long/