Posse Foundation Nomination

Wednesday afternoon I found out that I along with nine of my fellow classmates was nominated to receive a Posse Scholarship award. Now just what the Posse scholarship is as follows:

The Posse Foundation has some kind of partnership with certain colleges across America that allows them to send certain children that they feel exhibit leadership qualities to attend the schools. From what I understand the tuition of those kids are all paid for, so all they have to worry about are other expenses. Each high school that participates in the program has its teachers nominate a number of students they feel have the best chance of winning the scholarship and from their they take part in this three round test that Posse uses to cut the number of applicants down. Only if you win do they decide which of your selected schools to send you to.

Now that sounds really great. Matter of fact, it sounds amazing. Yet, the number of catches that comes along with it makes this nomination one of, if not the largest double-edged swords I’ve ever been handed.

If you have been following this blog for some time or just know me really well, you will know that I’m planning out which colleges I’m going to shoot for. You will also know that my biggest picks include Columbia and New York University. I was fairly adamant about these colleges and I thought nothing was going to stop me from getting to my goal, lest the colleges themselves turn me away. This whole nomination throws a giant kink in my intentions. You see, should I get to round three and pass, I MUST go to the school they send me to. It's an early admissions process, thus I would have to withdraw my applications from any other school I put my name down for. Not to mention that all of these schools were schools that I’ve hardly heard anything about. And if that's not bad enough, my counselor would like to know by this Monday if the ten of us selected to go up for it are really committed to all of this. If we aren’t, then she would give our spot to someone else on the list (we are the ten with the most nominations from our teachers, so there are about five other people to pass it on to).

So I went home with one very basic yet scary thought. Do I let this chance go and take my chances with the schools that I’ve already looked into. Plus, pay all that money. Or do I take part, possibly win and be trapped in a school I don’t know much about? This is not the worst of it. All of the possible schools are NOWHERE NEAR NEW YORK CITY. So I’ll be trapped in a place MILES away from home, mad as god knows what.

After taking these past two days to think it over, I think I’m going to go for it. Even though none of the schools on the list were schools I was interested, but after looking at some, I have three I would not mind. Not only that, but if I do win, I can have more money to take more advantage of study abroad programs and the like. Not to mention, I hear that Posse provides a lot of support to their winners on campus (I have a general idea about what pertains to. Things like tutors and whatnot..)

As I was thinking about all of this, I went around asking a few of my teachers why they brought me into this. One of them told me that they knew I would be able to sell myself in the proper light when Posse interviews me and the majority of their answers was basically they felt I could do it. I asked my counselor which of the schools she thought I would fit best in and she told me that the thing with me was that she thinks I could be great in each of those schools. She continued on to say that it was up to me to pick my top three schools and talk to her move about later on. At this point, I have two out of the three selected and I plan to find her once the weekend is over.

Of course, I will continue to strive for my original goal. There is no guarantee that I’m going to win this at all. Its not logical to go on as if I’ve won anything yet. But now, I really should make arrangements to visit some of those schools to see if I like the feel or not.

Anyways, wish me luck everyone. I’m going to need it.

Idea for next ELP

Since next year is my last year as a MOUSE student member, I would like to end with a bit of a bang. For my next ELP (experimental learning project) I would like to make a program with cocoa. The program will simply be an internet browser geared for MOUSE students with a built in chat system, among other things. At his point, I'm just trying to see if this would actually be a realistic goal, but it would be a good reason to finally learn the programming language. Also, it would give me something a bit more original to present, not to mention expose me more to the world of programming. More details are to come regarding whether or not I'm able to go about completing this.

1st Ever Blog Carnival - Coming Soon!

As the title of this post may suggest, I am planning a 'blog carnival'. What a blog carnival is when you have a whole bunch of bloggers come together and guest post on each other's blogs. This is great for having new people get a taste of your work, and hopefully receive new readers. Now, I'm planning to hold this event for a week in July and so far I have 5 other bloggers committed to participating. If anyone else would like to jump in the fray, leave a comment and a link to your blog, or just shoot me an email. Anyways, stay tuned for more updates on the event to come.

Whats Your Own Personal Theme Song?

I may be alone in admitting this, but I my own theme song. Its not something I play in my head as I enter rooms, or try to walk coolly to in order to impress others around me. Rather it is a song I feel best decribes my mental mindset at a certain point of my life. As rarely as I listen to this song, whenever it plays on iTunes when I've it on random, I always just think about how I am and simply just reflect on the meaning of the song. Anyways the name of the song is "Gotta Knock A Little Harder" by my favorite composer Yoko Kanno with vocals from Mai Yamane. For anyone who loves the anime "Cowboy Bebop" as much as I do, you'll notice that the song was the bebop movie's ending theme.

Now, before I give the lyrics and whatnot I just have to ask: What would be your theme song? List them in the comments.



Lyrics:

Happiness is just a word to me
And it might have meant a thing or two
If I'd known the difference

Emptiness, a lonely parody
And my life, another smokin' gun
A sign of my indifference

Always keepin' safe inside
Where no one ever had a chance
To penetrate a break in

Let me tell you some have tried
But I would slam the door so tight
That they could never get in

Kept my cool under lock and key
And I never shed a tear
Another sign of my condidtion

Fear of love or bitter vanity
That kept me on the run
The main events at my confession

I kept a chain upon my door
That would shake the shame of Cain
Into a blind submission

The burning ghost without a name
Was calling all the same
But I wouldn't listen

The longer I'd stall
The further I'd crawl
The further I'd crawl
The harder I'd fall
I was crawlin' into the fire

The more that I saw
The further I'd fall
The further I'd fall
The lower I'd crawl
I kept fallin' into the fire
Into the fire
Into the fire

Suddenly it occurred to me
The reason for the run and hide
Had totaled my existnce

Everything left on the other side
Could never be much worse that this
But could I go the distance

I faced the door and all my shame
Tearin' off each piece of chain
Until they all were broken

But no matter how I tried
The other side was licked so tight
That door it wouldn't open

Gave it all that I got
And started to knock
Shouted for someone
To open the lock
I just gotta get through the door

And the more that I knocked
The hotter I got
The hotter I got
The harder I'd knock
I just gotta break through the door

Gotta knock a little harder
Gotta knock a little harder
Gotta knock a little harder
Break through the door

Review: Flock

Flock is a relatively new "social" browser. I first heard about it when I was reading some magazine and now that its been two-weeks since I first downloaded it, its about time for me to tell you all what I think.

What is it?

Like I said before, Flock is a social browser. Basically you can connect to facebook, youtube, your blog and a lot more, all from within the browser – you never have to visit their perspective websites. It really is a lot of fun to play around with so go download it and have some fun, but here are some pros and cons first.

Pros

• Very nice layout. I’m really into programs that are aesthetically pleasing and this one did a great job at it.

• Easy first time transfer of Bookmarks and Folders from Firefox. This was great. In addition to that, integrating Blogger, Facebook, and my Gmail account was simple and just worked.

• When you first start up the browser it brings you to the “My World” page. The page consists of a RSS reader, updates from your intergrated social accounts, and your favorite videos from youtube. It also gives you an approximation of when it was last posted.

• You’re always in touch with everyone else thanks to a handy toolbar to the left of the screen.

Cons

• Once again this is in regards to the layout of the program. After being spoiled by FireFox’s ability to allow uses the chance to change up the way it looks, I’m starting to believe that every browser should be like that. Of course, this point is quite childish and is beside the point, I still must say that it would be nice.

• I’m not a big fan of the built in search box off in the corner. I don’t think I enjoy it looking through files on my computer. I have Spotlight for that.

• The blogging editor feels a bit odd to me – almost like its limited. Maybe its just that I don’t use it much, but I’m too use to the editor Blogger has to start.

• You’re always in touch with everyone else thanks to that toolbar to the left. (yes that is very bad at times.)

Bottom Line
I like it. Its not going to replace my Firefox anytime soon (and with Firefox 3 just released, it doesn’t stand much of a chance), but it is nice to use when I want to touch base with people. Of course when I don’t want to be bothered I have to stay far, far away from Flock. It would be way to bothersome to logout of everything only to log back on later. If you’re the type of person who can’t do without their social networking fix, by all means get it.

Sidenote: I hear Flock 2 is on its way soon, complete with some sort of interaction with Firefox 3 so who knows. Maybe then it might be able to fully win my web-crawling heart.

OLPC 2.0

Currently there are plans to release the next version of the OLPC laptops in a few years (I read 2010 somewhere). After reading about the features that it is (hopefully) to have, I just can't wait for it. Its to come with touch screen capabilities, will cut down on power consumption, and will look more like an e-book rather than an actual laptop. I'll definitely be keeping up on the details as they are released but for now I'm wondering how in the world am I going to get my hands on one when the time comes...

NYSCATE Metro Conference

Saturday I went to Rye Brook, New York for NYSCATE's 1st Metro Conference to show off my wiki once more. It wasn't too bad. We had a fairly small amount of people in the room to present to - apparently we went up against a big shot in the educational technology world, so I was happy to even get one person. As a matter of fact, my fellow presenter and I stood outside our room to try and persuade passersby to come in and take a seat.

The little band of people we did end up getting were a great group. They were very engaged and had some great questions - even one that had me stomped for a while. Things had slowly moved from the projects to what MOUSE was all about. They were very interested in the program and so we had showed them MOUSE's tenth anniversary video. All in all, I simply had a good time there.

Aside from all the work I did, I also ate a bit too much food. See, on the way up to Rye, I had gotten a cheese croissant. I haven't had a croissant for some time and I wanted to have one again. It was great and it set the tone for the rest of the day. At the hotel we went to, they had a whole bunch of little cheese croissants all over the place. And I went stupid. I kept eating those things like there was no tomorrow. When our work was done and we went out to lunch, I finished most of my meal, but I just couldn't go all the way. My stomach refused to. It got so bad that I could not stand to look at my plate any longer. And it didn't help to have people egging me on to finish. They even brought a brownie to tempt me (hope you're proud of yourselves). Now, while that brownie was one of the best looking brownies I've ever seen in my life, I could only have one bite and oh what a sweet bite that was, yet it was with that bite that my coffin was sealed. I walked out of that place in shame and defeat, but on the bright side I lived to see another day in which I'll continue my crusade on food.

By the way, we videotaped the presentations so be on the lookout for a possible "podcast" of it soon. Keyword being "possible". I may be too lazy to put it up, thought I would like to.

MOUSE Report On Wiki Project ~ Download

I've just finished my report on what I've been working on for these past few months. I was suppose to do this a few weeks ago, but I've been too busy. Its 8 or so pages long and sort of puts many of the blog posts I've created here into a nice consolidated document.

If anyone is interested, I've attached the file to this post so you guys can check it out. Please give feedback if you do.

MOUSE Project Documentation

Hunter course

I had forgotten to write this up before, so here it is. I got into the French class I wanted. It begins sometime in late August. I guess i should start doing more French now hmm?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Pokemon Platinum???

I just got a call from a friend of mine informing me that word on the web is that a new entry to the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl series is coming out. Him and I both spent like 10 minutes afterwards just yelling in happiness. Anyways not much is known about it so far, but whats being said is that there are new forms to certain Pokemon, a new area called "Battle Island", and the underground is now wi-fi enabled. I'm really not too sure about any of this at this point, but I will keep my eyes and ears out.

Yet still, this does not take away from my one and only wish. MAKE A GAME IN WHICH WE CAN TRAVEL TO EVERY REGION!!! Really would that be so hard? They did it in gold and silver and surely we can do it again. Just make sure that there is good story line for each region - I don't want to run around the Pokemon world fighting people without an interesting point. If they can do this I would be willing to give an arm and a leg to get a hold of it.

Amazing all of this happens when I thought to myself "I don't need to buy a DS. I can live without one." So much for such sentiments...

ITP Spring Show

Monday night I went to NYU for the ITP Spring Show. It was an exhibition held by the Graduate Students in NYU's ITP program and MOUSE was invited to go and watch the presentations. When we got there the exhibit was the entire floor with the students projects scattered about. All of the visitors were given a map of which projects were where and were then allowed to go where ever the wind took them. I must say that I had a great time - walking about the place with no real aim other than checking out other people's work is quite relaxing and intriguing. I should do things like that more often.

And now here are some of my favorite exhibits:
The online flowers - This project was of a plastic model of a plant that was connected online. The basic premise is that you can go online and take care of your friends plants and they can take care of yours - it's a part of the whole social networking craze. During the demonstration I was shown how when you water a plant, it lights up with blue lights and happily announces the fact that it's being watered. Afterwards though, the presenter decided to show what happens when someone kicks your plant. The plant then lights ups but this time it complains about the pain.

Wheelchair art - This one was made for wheelchair bound students. A wheelchair is loaded up with motion sensors and so when you move around in it, you end up drawing on a paint-type program. This was so much fun. I sat down in the chair and at first it was a bit weird to move around - I've never been in a wheelchair before.
But after a while I got use to it and was able to make more detailed artwork (I wrote RA instead of just making random lines all across the screen.) The selection of colors was nice and basic, but the really cool thing was how to change back and forth between them. There is a lever to the right of your head and you have to move your head to press it. The first press gets the cursor moving and then you just have to wait for the cursor to come to the color you want at which you then press the lever once more to select it.
Just being able to run (can I really use this word?) around in a wheelchair was fun. Not to mention that project itself was a great idea.

Karaoke
This was fun. You take any phone that connects to the internet, go the to the site, and then you can your friends can sign along to random songs. Just like in a real karaoke bar. As you sing, the animations on the screen get more and more dramatic and colorful, depending on how loud you get. The real distinct thing about this project was that if your phone has a camera, you can then make your own music videos of yourself signing and upload them for others to see.

Anyways, here are some pictures from it:



The creepy wooden mirror - as cool as it was, it still messed with me. A computer senses movement and positioning to "reflect" shapes of whats in front of it with the little chips of wood. I'm still not sure how it does what it does, but I feel like I've seen one of these before.



Had no idea what this was when I first saw it and I still don't get it. Lets just call it "art" and move on please.



Screenshot of the game "Frosty goes to Hell". People have some odd imaginations....

This blog's direction ~ 100th Post

I've been thinking a lot about this blog's future direction. I was asked where I planned to take this thing last week and taking the time out now to talk about it now since this is technically my 100th post fits perfectly. At this point, I'm just am going to let this blog go in whichever direction the wind takes me/it/us. I think that my choice and the reasoning behind it makes perfect sense. I view it as a baby. I'll nurse it and allow it to grow into whatever it may. I feel that tooling it towards a certain goal would limit the original point of the blog - giving me an online space to write about anything I choose to. If it ends up focusing on something naturally, then that would be perfectly fine.

Now that thats out of the way, I know that I have not been blogging a lot this week. I've been busy with my schoolwork lately, so I had to cut somethings out of my schedule. However, here is what I've been working on for this blog:

• I'm playing around with the idea of doing posts that come together to make a series. I have two ideas in the chute, one of which is coming along fairly alright. I'm still not done with it though.
• I'm still trying to see how I should go about putting my notes for languages up. I'm trying to come up with a general format that would (hopefully) be useful to most people. Plus, I'm not too sure if my quality of notes is that good as well.
• Last but not least, I'm thinking about beginning to podcast. After all of my work last week, I really do think that podcasting would be something I would like to soon add to the blog. I would most likely podcast presentations and conferences I go to/do for MOUSE. This may be more important later in the summer with everything that is soon coming up.
  

So yea. I have some things coming. Just be patient, and you'll see!

Hunter Courses for Fall 2008

I handed in my applications for the Hunter College classes next fall today. I the classes I signed up for, in order are an intro to French class, an urban sociology class, and a political science class. You see, last night my mom and aunt went to some meeting and as I was waiting for them, I received an email from the College Now office at Hunter, telling me that the applications were due the next day. I had completely forgotten about it and rushed home to get the papers together. It was as I filled them out that I realized that I needed a few other things from my school, such as my transcript, PSAT scores, etc. There was nothing I could do at that point, so I left it alone till this morning - I ran to school, got a copy of my transcript and was about to look for my PSAT scores when in my mind told me to call the people at College Now to make sure that I really needed to get all of that stuff. So I called and low and behold, it turned out that since I took a class there already, I only had to fill out the application - everything else was not necessary. In other words, all my worrying and rushing was pointless. Not to mention, I was skipping over my internship because of it.

So relieved and somewhat ticked at myself, I headed up to Hunter, handed in my things and just went home. I had wasted too much time already plus I had schoolwork to do, so I did not bother going to the library. I'm only allowed to miss one day per semester, but my justification for my so called deviance is that I'm more than likely the only child in my grade willing to give my internship extra time during my vacations (for example, I went in two days last week. Just to help out..). I do this for two reasons - first is that I truly enjoy my time there and second is that just in case something big comes up (like it did today) I can explain the situation to them and they'll know that my not coming in is in no way not because I didn't want to.

Midterm for Sociology Class ~ Factors of America's Working Class Dilemma

I was looking through my old papers and I found this one. Figure since I put up my final, I might as well put up the midterm, which I do believe I either got a B+ or A- on. (I'm leaning towards A- being the correct grade...) Anyways, here it is.


Factors of America's Working Class Dilemma

This country has a problem, one that can possibly change America’s economic processes. This problem is what can be done to help those that are thought of as the working poor. In the book Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich joins the poor working class to gain an insider view of what these people have to go through everyday as apart of her social experiment. From what she experiences one can see just how acute the issue has gotten. Studies such as Ehrenreich's have always prompted people to seek out whom to blame for the existence of this problem, as they search for a solution. However, the blame for all of these people's situations cannot be placed solely on one factor. There are many contributors that helped lead the poor to their current state of limited success, some of which include the sets of conditions they were born into, the corporations they work for, and ultimately their own actions.

Class is one major agent to consider when looking for the root of this problem. In recent years, there has been talk that the American middle class is slowly withering away, leaving America with heavily polarized rich and poor classes. In junior US senator Bernie Sander's article The Collapse of the Middle Class; he discusses some of the problems the middle class is facing and what that could spell for the whole country. "…The United States is rapidly on its way to becoming three separate states. First, there are a small number of incredibly wealthy people who own and control more and more of our country. Second, there is a shrinking middle class in which ordinary people are, in most instances, working longer hours for lower wages and benefits. Third, an increasing number of Americans are living in abject poverty -- going hungry and sleeping out on the streets." In this quote, Sander sums up the state he feels this country is in. He then goes on to explain some of the reasons why this has happened. Obviously, the lack of a middle class would mean that people would fall under the rich or poor label, without much room to move about on an economic scale. As a consequence, it would make it harder for anyone that is considered poor to level the playing field and advance into the rich class, creating even more of a social stratification between the classes.

The issue of race can be thought of as a subset of class, or can even be looked at as an element all on its own. As Barbara Ehrenreich writes in her book, “Unlike many low-wage workers, I have the further advantages of being white and a native English speaker. I don't think this affected my chances of getting a job, given the willingness of employers to hire almost anyone in the tight labor market of 1998 to 2000, but it almost certainly affected the kinds of jobs I was offered.” (Pg.6–7) One can see how the race card plays out in this example. The significance within the fact that it was not getting a job that was changed, yet it was the kind of job that was altered is that it shows just how race can hurt or help the opportunities given to someone in their life time. These opportunities of any kind become increasingly more important when one is living in any situation of this kind.

Education also takes a toll on these people's lives and the chances that they are given. In the textbook, Sociology: The Essentials, authors Andersen and Taylor explain schools as “...sites where social interaction between groups influences chances for individual and group success” and education's place in society is that it “fulfills certain societal needs for socialization and training; 'sorts' people in society according to their abilities.”(Pg. 355) These two statements reflect the symbolic interaction and functionalist viewpoints respectively. The majority of the poor have access to educationally weak schools, and by using the logic of the two previous statements, it is clear to see that the result of attending such schools is that you would not be fully taught how to perform in the world around you. And because of that, you would have a handicap of sorts while living life – one would be in the position of which no real life chances would manifest themselves in.

The businesses that employ them have a role in all of this as well. More and more companies are paying their workers less than what is truly needed to live on, as well as cutting back on extras like health care. They have created a sort of cycle that keeps people trapped within and makes them unable to move to any other job that may just allow them a way out of their despair. “Wal-Mart, when you're in it, is total – a closed system, a world unto itself. I get a chill when I'm watching TV in the break room one afternoon and see... a commercial for Wal-Mart. When a Wal-Mart shows up within a television within a Wal-Mart, you have to question the existence of an outer world.” (Pg. 178-179 Nickel and Dimed) Ehrenreich could feel this way because she was only being a visitor to this life style. If she were to stay out of necessary, she would not feel that level of shock. She would become use to it and start to overlook all of the other quarks like those around her. They would continue on with their lives, not paying attention to the subtle conditioning taking place.

Along with being trapped in the on going bubble that is the larger corporate beings, comes the element of poor treatment of workers. When Ehrenreich was in Maine working as maid, she experienced what probably is the most physically demanding job out of all that she attempted during her experiment. After describing the role that a connection to others that one works with (which for her is physical one) she then wonders about just how clueless to their pain the homeowners and bosses are. “Do the owners have any idea of the misery that goes into rendering their homes motel-perfect? Would they be bothered if they did know, or would they take a sadistic pride in what they have purchased – boasting to dinner guests, for example, that their floors are cleaned only with the purest of fresh human tears?” (Pg. 89 Ibid) Many of these businesses take advantage of their workers in many different ways, so its understandable to ask if they really know what is going on or if they do and they somehow do not care, so long as profits are to their liking. All of the massive workloads break the workers down to the point where they cannot complain, all the while keeping them under sociality's label of ‘poor’.
However, even though the conditions of the job can be horrible, people sometimes has no choice but to stick with the bad jobs they have. “Why does anyone put up with this when there are so many other jobs available? ... But there are some practical reasons for sticking with The Maids: changing jobs means a week and possibly more without a paycheck...” (Pg. 115-116) This is simply a matter of logic. Many people live paycheck to paycheck and to not be able to depend on it would be a disaster in those households. The 'security' of staying where one is located is preferred over the uncertainty laced with going into the process of changing jobs, unless it was absolutely necessary.

The actions of the poor themselves need to be analyzed. Everyone has a responsibility to take ownership over his or her own lives. Many who consider the poor has a factor of their own problems focus on the thought that “poverty is the result of early childbearing, drug and alcohol abuse, refusal to enter the labor market, and crime.”(Pg. 203 Andersen & Taylor) This theory does hold some truth. It does not make sense to add on to your plight with children or abuse of substances. While these were just examples, they point out the need for the realization of responsibility. There is also the culture of poverty theory, which calls for the main causes of poverty are “the absence of work values and the irresponsibility of the poor.”(Pg. 204 Ibid) The interesting thing about this idea is that people think, when using it, that poverty is passed on from one person to their children and so on.

Lastly, along with the need for added awareness within the circle of the poor, the social conscience has to be stirred. Ehrenreich one night sat around watching television, getting a peak at the world outside of her self-inflected predicament. After contemplating about this world she concludes with this statement: “...the poor have disappeared from the culture at large, from its political rhetoric and intellectual endeavors as well as from its daily entertainment. Even religion seems to have little to say about the plight of the poor...”(Pg. 117-118, Nickel and Dimed) Another way to think of what she wrote is that the poor are the ‘pink elephants’ in the room. And while almost everyone has an opinion on them, no one really voices their thoughts out loud, leading to nothing real or concrete ever being done.

The social view of the poor cannot be over looked as well. Many of those who only see one window of the poor feel that they are just in the way or they are a waste. Ehrenreich once ventured to ask some of co-workers why the people whose homes they clean treat them with such hostility and cruelty. One of the replies was: “They think we’re stupid… They think we have nothing better to do with our time.’”(Pg. 100 Ibid) Another was “”we’re nothing to these people… We’re just maids”. Both responses indefinitely reveal why they are handled as sub-humans. Being looked down upon can be thought of as another cause of the situation because it adds to the mental segment of the issue.

Ehrenreich then carries on to explain what happened to by people she did not even know. “Then there's the supermarket. I used to stop on my way home from work, but I couldn't take the stares, which are easily translatable into: What are you doing here? And, No wonder she's poor, she's got a beer in her shopping cart! True, I don't look so good by the end of the day and probably smell like eau de toilet and sweat, but it's the brilliant green-and-yellow uniform that gives me away, like prison clothes on a fugitive.”(Pg.100 Ibid) From simply having the maid uniform on, people around her passed judgment on her. This type of behavior is one of the first things that need to be curbed, if people are to help the poor.

In the end, the existence of the poor is still, very much so, a reality. A reality that seems to have no real end in sight. And due to the impossibility of locating a single subject to fully place the blame upon. This issue has to be looked at has a whole and not segmented. Once the whole is understood, we will stand a better chance at helping to eliminate poverty all together. Such a goal is going to be a difficult one to reach maybe even not possible, but it is still better than just sitting around not doing anything. The ‘pink elephants’ will not be silent much longer so it is indeed better to start creating a plan before time runs out.


Works Cited

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. 2001

Sociology: The Essentials (fourth edition)– Margaret L. Andersen and Howard F. Taylor, 2007

The Collapse of the Middle Class by Rep. Bernie Sanders, 2003
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/09/04_sanders.html