Cell Phone: The Cursed Gift

There has been multiple debates over the allowance of cell phones inside the schools. Teacher, parents and students have all voiced their opinions as to why cell phones should or should not be permitted in the schools. When you dissect the issue and look at the recent trend of school shootings, it becomes clear that cell phones are necessary.

For instance, There was a school shooting at Episcopal High School of Jacksonville recently, where Spanish teacher Shane Schumerth opened fired on the school principal and headmaster Dale Regan. Rumor has it that Shane and Dale were involved in an ongoing love affair that ended tragically. Shane fired Dale, and in retaliation, Dale returned to the school shortly after lunch break with an assault rifle concealed in a briefcase. He went to Dale's office and opened fire, before turning the gun on himself. No students were injured in this incident.

Students who owned cell phones were able to call their parents and tell them about the tragedy. Parents were afforded the relief of knowing their child was not in harm's way, thus being able to get to their child in a timely fashion.

This was not the case for the infamous Columbine school shooting and stories similar, where it took a while before authorities were notified, allowing the culprits to murder and seriously injure numerous people. I really believe that if there were more cell phones readily available, law enforcement and emergency medical personnel would have been able to respond to the incident more swiftly, thus saving more lives










Cell phones are a curse because they cause a distraction for students while in classes, for drivers while on the road, and in some cases for medical facilities who claim cell phone usage interferes with signals inside of hospitals. Some people use cell phones for illegal purposes, some perverts take pictures of people in class without the other person's permission, and for various other reasons. However, they are absolutely necessary for calling help as mentioned earlier, and for other things such as: sending and receiving emails, surfing the internet and more. What a complex invention.

.

Love, Probabtion, and RICE CAKES???

Apparently there is an on-going war between Rihanna and Chris Brown's new love Interest, Karrueche Tran. Rumors are flying all over the place about a tweet that Rihanna posted on her twitter page allegedly dissing Miss Tran. The tweet consisted of a pack of rice cakes dressed up in large hoop earrings and sunglasses, with the caption, "Ima make you my b*tch". Lots of people took this as a cultural or racial dig of sorts, because Karrueche Tran is of Vietnamese decent, and rice cakes are commonly associated with her culture. It is said that verbal viral shots were fired from Karreuche, with Rihanna being the target. This time, Karreuche referenced herself as being Angelina Jolie, and Rihanna being Jennifer Aniston. Whether Rihanna's tweets are personal shots intended to assasinate Karrueche's character remains to be revealed, but fans of Rihanna and Chris Brown are obviously taking things very seriously. Karreuche has received multiple threats, some even go as far as being death threats. One fan wrote, "I hope Rihanna beat the dog s-t out of you." Things have gotten so far out of hand, that now Karreuche refuses to leave the house without being accompanied by Chris Brown's body guards.

[[Love Triangle??]]

 Meanwhile sources close to Rihanna say that Chris Brown and Rihanna have always secretly hooked up since a judge placed him on probation and ordered him not to go near Rihanna for at least five years. A companion of Karreuche stated in an interview that Karreuche and Chris Brown are in an open relationship

Is Chris Brown over Rihanna, the jury is still out on this verdict, but pictures surfacing of the two ex lovers paint a vivid picture that sexuality and [lust] is certainly still in the air between the pair. Rihanna reportedly had an interview with Us magazine and confessed that despite their differences in the path, she is still very much in love with her ex boyfriend, Chris, and has forgiven him for attacking her. Rihanna and Chris brown have ended speculations that they have been recording together, with the release of two songs online featuring each other. Rhianna's Birthday Cake, and Chris Brown's new single Turn Up the Music. The pair have also been observed as being very "touchy feely" in the past two weeks, which leaves us with the question, where was his girlfriend when all of this was going on? Most importantly, has Chris brown made a come back? Do you think the media, the fans, and the critics have forgiven Chris Brown for assaulting Rihanna prior to the Grammy Awards in 2009? I have forgiven him, and moved on. What do you guys have to say about all of this...Drama?

Chris Brown Performing with Rihanna: Birthday Cake!

The Tweet Heard Around The World

CNN contributor Roland Martin was tweeting during the Super Bowl, and ended up making some controversial comments that were interpreted by some people as homophobic and disrespectful. Martin,at first, defended himself against groups like GLAAD who worked tirelessly to get him fired. Eventually Roland Martin apologized for his remarks, however, CNN ended up suspending him indefinitely. On a show titled Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz and his entire panel argued about whether this as the right or fair decision for CNN to make. Some issues raised were the fact that other commentators have gotten away with more risqué comments, and CNN may have been a bit too harsh. Others argue that Twitter is supposed to be a person's private life and as citizens of the United States are afforded the freedom of speech and/or expression.

Me personally, I feel as if the decision CNN made was a sound decision. It should never be acceptable for anyone to make a comment that is disrespectful for any given group of people or person, and it's time that these commentators take responsibility for some of the hurtful things that are said about other people. Especially when you are representing a company such as CNN and other large news stations. People need to understand that the words of workers can potentially cost the company large sums of money, and whether you are on the air or not, if you say something in a situation that can be heard or read by millions of people, if it's negative you ought to be able to pay the consequences of your actions. CNN did the right thing. Maybe this will set the standard for some of the other anchors on what they should or should not post on social networks.

I want to hear from you? What side of the argument do you stand on. Leave your comments below.

VH1's Reality Check

         I believe I'm like millions of viewers who have ever wondered if Reality Television was real or fake. I've always assumed a camera followed a group of "interesting" people around and brought back an explosion of drama. It wasn't until watching Vh1's Love & Hip hop that I had an epiphany. I came to realize that there's no way anyone's life could be as juicy and as exciting as the lives of the cast of the hit reality show.
      Well I caught up with the latest episode titled Reality Check. This episode featured the show's stars giving their own unscripted views of their lives, the lives of their cast mates and the show. First up was Chrissy Lampkin. Homegirl was livid about the fact that the show painted her in a negative light. Chrissy got so mad as to quit the show when cameras weren't running. Her reason? She feels as if the show instigated and fueled the ongoing beef between herself and cast mate Yandy Smith. Tonight's episode gave viewers a first hand experience of Chrissy's real emotions. "The reality about this show is, a lot of this show isn't real." said Somaya Reese. Erica Mena feels as if "the show was edited to make her look bad." After plenty of untold drama and behind the scene clips, the episode wrapped with the producer, Mona Scott Young wrapping her hands around a crying Erica and reminding her that, "Life is about growth, and these shows don't represent everything you are."
     I think that about sums it up for the viewers. While reality shows feature real people instead of actresses and actors, the story line and focus of the show is heavily scripted and edited thus taking away from the authenticity of real life. This leaves me with the question: Is Reality TV [really] keeping it real? You be the judge.

Reality TV...REALLY?

Jersey Shore is back for it's 5th season. I repeat Jersey Shore is back for it's 5th season. ((picks up remote and changes the channel)) LOL. I'm not really sure why they call this a reality show. Whose reality is it? Wait...please don't tell me that there are real people out there who use drinking as a form of pain reliever for a Urinary Tract Infection. ((hint: see a doctor Snooki)). Is this what has become of our entertainment system? Its alleged that VH1 pays almost $100k per episode for the cast of Jersey Shore to drink and have sex all day. I wonder how much they are willing to pay a College student to sit around and read books all day? BTW does anyone watch the show?

To TWEET Or Not To TWEET...

Guy goes to the club with some friends. Guy meets up with HOT chick at the club. Guy leaves club with Hot ((AND NOW VERY DRUNK)) Chick. Someone takes a picture of Guy holding on to Hot Chick leaving the club, and posts these pictures on Twitter which is also linked to Facebook. Everything goes viral, Girlfriend of Guy breaks up with him. Guy tries to explain to Girlfriend he was only trying to help Drunk Chick get home safely.  Girlfriend does not want to hear any reasoning because she is "TOTALLY HUMILIATED" by her Facebook friends...UGH!! Sounds familiar? I'm wondering why people even still have Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc? Is it just me or does these social media sites seem to be breaking up more relationships than affairs? Why is that? I'm wondering if there should be a line drawn between dating and social media? Am I just tripping?

I've seen numerous friendships and relationships ripped to shreds because of social media. Whose to blame? Some people get so offended if a partner, friend, FWB, associates etc. ignores a friend request, does not follow them back or posts on their wall. Is it really that serious? Is the American culture becoming influenced by these social sites so much that the culture itself becomes crippled because of it? Are we as a people taking things to far by blending personal life with social media, or is this the way things should be? People as a whole have strayed away from the dynamics of the social network and have somewhat become engulfed in the drama of it all.

What ever happened to the site where friends come together and look at each other's high school year book pictures, laugh about it and catch up on lost time? Now there is this new trend of internet thugging, FB beefing, and millions of micro managers floating around cyber space. Are people beginning to lose themselves to the Internet? Relationship decisions are being heavily influenced by these social networks and it leaves a person to wonder when enough will truly be enough.