Sierra Visual Presentation

I believe this photo represents the black Americans in the South who are being masked to try and cover up the fact that America is still innately racist towards people with dark skin. My thinking about them being masked is to pretend we are all being treated equally when that is simply just not the case. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iuHZUWdgANgS3AEjNHExqm7L7zmZCnzi8UtaaTZES4M/edit

On Equal Pay

In my humble opinion, regardless of income taxes, every individual should be paid according to the judgment of the highest paid individuals. The highest paid individuals should give judgment specifically for the reason that they have been assured to be the most qualified to hold such privileged positions as proven in the past. These individuals, often white men in their middles ages and beyond, have appropriately come from the loins of the Founding Fathers, and therefore have the wisest perspectives on the subject of balanced pay.

Speaking to my own father on the subject, he believes in particular women should earn less than their male counterparts for the same amount of work, specifically manual labor, as women are not as physically strong as men are and therefore should earn less. He proposed women should earn 77c to the men’s $1, considering the mass of women’s muscle is about 30% less than men’s muscle mass due to the child bearing qualities a woman has as opposed to a man.

As for more intellectual work, women should be paid according to the women’s overall academic tendencies, such as more feminine pursuits such as fine arts, service, and nurturing positions, and paid less in positions that men should dominate with their masculine skills and intellect. Men should dominate where the work requires few emotions and more logic.

Becoming a millionaire is much easier than one would think. You don’t have to invest in stocks, find a cure for cancer, or even have any skills in the working world. There’s a whole industry out there dedicated to the farming, feeding, and showcasing of pseudo-talent for all the world to see. And you can be part of it too. All you have to do is write some lyrics.

Now, don’t get intimidated. A lot of people struggle to write meaningful lines that will strike the hearts of audiences abroad, but you really don’t have to put that much effort into it. Think about all the songs you hear on the radio. You don’t hear Justin Bieber singing about economic inequality or hunger in Africa. No, he’s still singing about that girl he met back in 2010. Long story short, people love simple words that they can understand and messages that aren’t too complex. Addressing serious issues with music is a waste of time because no one listens to the words anyway. Write about something people can relate to such as sex or drugs. It’s the only way to ensure that people will remember and understand your lyrics.

The next issue is the backing track, or the music you sing on top of. A lot of musicians try to pick unique chords that are rhetorically tied to the greater message of the piece, but who has time for that? There’s a short-cut in the playbook that’s been used over and over again since the 1960’s. It’s the I-V-vi-IV chord progression, and everyone from The Beatles to Katy Perry has used it at one point or another. If that doesn’t do it for you, then you can certainly just sample someone else’s song, or even just take out the words and add your own. 

Don’t worry if you’re not a good singer; the Digital Era has solved that problem for you! Professional sound engineers can auto-tune your voice and cut out any sloppy notes. Repeat the process eight to ten times and you’ve got yourself a record. Congratulations–––I’m sure you’ll be star.

Yik Yak and Bullying: Good for the Soul ;) by Eavan and Nate

The recent addition of a hip new app called Yik Yak has been turning heads across the nation. Yik Yak gives smartphone wielders the opportunity to post anonymously about anything to a public forum. Some have claimed that the Yik Yak allows harsh bullying and exposure to threats and violence to young crowds. We strongly support the addition of Yik Yak because we believe bullying is beneficial to children in their developmental growth. What ever happened to the expression “a little dirt never hurt?” Our children are being so sheltered that they are unprepared for the real world. Yik Yak exposes the harsh reality of the real world to children and allows them to see it in a safe environment. What’s a mean word here and there? Kids need to toughen up, and they should learn to fight back.
On the topic of bullying, we think it is necessary and should be actively practiced in all schools across America. Bullying is good for the entire human species. Those who are too weak to handle some of it will be eradicated, just as weak individuals die out according to Darwin’s theory. Yik yak is a good way of targeting those individuals who hide in the corners of life. They must be harshly bullied and ridiculed for not following the social norm. Overall, Yik Yak will create a stronger generation of teens and children who learn that bullying is good for the soul, and will only lead to a greater understanding of pain and suffering. We suggest that everyone should download the app Yik Yak so that we can achieve this reality of a brighter future for posterity.

A Vision for the Future by Lucas, Paul, and Noah

More than one-third of United States adults are “obese”. Every street you walk down and every store you enter has someone who is “overweight” in it. The number of people who are becoming this way in the U.S. is increasing exponentially. Soon the number of “fat” people will outweigh the inhuman, skinny improbabilities. This is they way people should be. Why is it that it takes so much effort to be skinny, but by doing nothing we gain weight? Obesity is natural. It is a sign of wealth, beauty, and self-fulfillment. Why conform to what the patriarch-fueled media and consumer-based America idealizes as a “normal” body which is obviously unrealistic? I vote to encourage people to eat like Americans instead of eating plants like primitive cavemen.

America has always been ahead of the rest of the world.  As the superpower of the world it is time we to take a stand.  For too long we have been ashamed of our mark of wealth and status.  As jealous countries criticize our bodily advancement, we have been creating useless programs to promote eating out dated food and doing forced physical activity.  It is time for us to be proud again.  Every pound we gain is a pound for freedom. The more we have, the more there is to love.

The world is mechanizing, and in a decade many physical jobs will be done by machines. Why should we as a people be deprived of screen time in order to “play” outside, doing strenuous activity we are against? We should be inside spending more time on our screens so we can learn to utilize the technology we will use for the rest of our lives.

The human race is evolving.  Our weight gain protects us from diseases.  According to a study by the CDC, and reported on The Journal of the American Medical Association, “overweight” people are 6% less likely to die from any cause.  Who’s to say what is “healthy?”  We store fat for a reason.  The more energy our body has, the better off we are.

I dream of the day when every adult in the world is 300 pounds; from the Burger King line in Alabama to the smallest village in the jungles of Africa.  There will be no more starvation.  We will give up on torturing our bodies with painful exercise.  We will all live in a utopia of guilt free pleasure, where everyone is happy of one another’s bodies.

Skinny people will become weird and ostracized after they have oppressed the plump for centuries. Their way of living is unnatural and frankly, it’s unhealthy. Why are they viewed as attractive? It is unfair. Large people shouldn’t have to work to obtain a fit body that the majority of people find attractive. The skinnies should work to change what they are attracted to because soon those “large” people will be the only options.

As the world’s population grows more obese, more people will begin to see how this is the natural way of life. No longer will people spend countless hours trying to slim the body fat they so desperately need, and instead they can turn their attention to more important things in life. Is it a coincidence that in the movie WALL•E, the space-faring humans are all obese? No, they were able to achieve space travel so quickly because they didn’t spend time worrying about being called fat in negative and derogatory ways. Simply, they were happy the way they were, and were thus able to push the envelope of scientific discovery much faster. Accepting obesity will be, as the first of many space explorers said, “one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind.”

Obesity has perks across the board, from health benefits to ways it can increase technological developments. I look forward to the day where magazines no longer glorify the skin and bones models and superstars, but instead begin to publish pictures of real people, rolls and all. I am against those who believe that because they have no fat makes them healthier individuals. I have a dream that my future children live in a nation where they will not be judged by their time to run a mile, but by the content of their character. I am pro-obesity.

Not So Balanced, by Danielle Laverdiere & Lucy Alexander

In order to get the most benefit out of Junior year of High School, it is necessary to take as many hours of standardized testing as possible in order to stimulate the seventeen-year-old brain. Juniors are not at all busy; they aren’t taking any advanced classes, don’t need to worry about any other standardized tests, and have plenty of time before they start their college search process. The timing in May will greatly benefit juniors by giving them a sense of purpose with nothing else to do during this month. Fortunately, this year in many states around the country, a brilliant new test, the Smarter Balance Test, has been created to appeal to this necessity. Maine, for example, has proudly decided to implement this test into its curriculum for juniors, and this decision is heartily supported by the thousands of juniors across the state. This test offers nine hours of testing, because the longer the testing, the more stimuli the brain receives and the harder the student will work. The longer that students are able to sit still in their metal chairs, the more likely they are to be more successful later in their lives. The longer a student will sit, the more focused and peaceful the student will become. But this testing is not old fashioned pencil and paper testing, which is too complex and archaic for the seventeen-year-old modern mindset to understand. Instead, this test offers an interactive computer interface that, instead of having to select a multiple choice answer, which can sometimes lead to much debate and guessing for students, students are able to use the variety of tools provided to find answer choices faintly highlighted within a text, use a very effective and easy to use pop-up calculator, or use their stimulated brains to draw their answers on the computer interface by using an interactive and useful trackpad system. Although some may say this test is a slight burden, juniors across Maine will see how this test benefits them personally and helps them in their career path. Smarter Balance testing both makes students smarter and more balanced! What an amazing thing!

Woman in Professional Sport by Breanna and Cat

Baseball has been America’s past time ever since its rising popularity in the early 20th century. Great legends include Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Lou Gherig, and Yoggi Bera. These athletes would never have been recognized as such if women had been allowed to play. Luckily, America said, “leave sports to the men, and keep the women in the kitchen”.

Women are inferior to men based on the strong scientific evidence of stereotypes. Due to the overwhelming emotional episodes experienced by women because they were physically unable to play, America developed a version that would be perceived as easier. This sport is known as softball. Not only do women not have to run as far, they do not need to hit it as far as men either. It is crazy to think that any woman could outrun a professional athlete such as Big Papi.  The large yellow ball makes it easier to see because women’s eyesight is of course not as good as men’s. The pitching mound is also closer to home plate because it has been proved rather difficult for women to throw the 90 feet typically seen in baseball because they are weak.

Finally, girls will also grow up knowing that they are not as strong or as athletic as boys are simply because they are girls. They also will not be able to dream of playing in a stadium filled with cheering fans because it is common sense that American people would rather watch athletic, strong men play instead of weak, boring women. Why even give them a chance when it is likely that the outcome will not be of great success. Who would even pay a women to play baseball? And if women were to be paid, they would not make nearly as much as a male athlete because women are only allowed to be paid $0.75 to a man’s dollar. There is no way a woman could ever be as successful or as wealthy as a man through the sport of baseball because they simply are not strong enough, they are too emotional for the game, and care more about their uniform than “getting the job done”.