Winnetka Police: Profiling, or Protection?

So on my morning commute to New Trier today I had an interesting experience. My friend, let's call him Zane, picked me up at around 10 AM because we had a late start. Our conversation on the way consisted of racial profiling in the North Shore, and specifically familial profiling. For example, if someones family has had a history with the police, the police are more likely to profile you as a bad person. Which is complete BS in my opinion.

Anyway, we are crossing the bridge to the East side of Winnetka and a police officer lights us up. Naturally, we wondered what we did wrong. But, being the lawful citizens we are, pulled over nonetheless. After he took our ID's and registration he walked back to his car to look us up in their system. We both have clean records, spotless. So, we are thinking to ourselves, 'okay, he just wants to scare us a little and make us more cautious drivers' (we eventually got a warning for "improper lane switching"... Once again, total BS, in my opinion. (They didn't even hand it to us, they just left it in the drivers seat)

Five minutes pass and he finally comes back.

 "You boys got any weed or anything you wouldn't want me to know about?" 

"No officer, we were just on our way to school" 

"So you don't mind if I search your car then, right?"

"No sir, go ahead"

We had nothing illegal in the car, and felt comfortable letting him search the car. So, now there are three, yes I said three police cars with their lights flashing all around our car. People are driving their kids to school gawking at these two teens, we were on a very busy road. And it was a very, very, very uncomfortable situation. The officer patted down Zane, but not me... Interesting. He then proceeded to search the car along with our backpacks, obviously finding nada. They spent close to fifteen minutes searching, and when they concluded that we were not the kids they were hoping for, they just said "OK, go". That was it. No handshake. No other explanation. Just an angry stern look, as if they had failed at their job. 

Isn't their job to be protecting citizens, not profiling them and trying to get them in trouble? Apparently not in Winnetka. 

If you were in this situation, do you think you would have let the officers search your car? Why, or why not? What do you feel about profiling? Do you think it is prevelent, even in a community like Winnetka? Please leave your comments below!

Girl Scout Cookies: A Stoner's Delight

Any girls out there selling those delicous Girl Scout Cookies, listen up! I'm going to let you in on a little secret as to how you can maximize your profit, while minimizing your time. Who loves baked goods more than the muffin man? Stoners. Stoners are the easiest group to appeal to when it comes to selling... really anything I guess. From baked goods to goods that get you baked, stoners are great costumers. 

"On Monday, Danielle Lei and her mother set up shop outside the Green Cross store with the cookies. With the store's blessing, Lei sold 117 boxes in two hours." 117 BOXES?? My sister would sell that many boxes for her whole time as a saleswoman. But, Danielle made that number in just two hours. Wow. This story proves two things: one is that Girl Scout cookies are a go to munchie, and two is that this mom wins most ingenious saleswoman of the year. Not only was she trying to sell cookies, she said she wanted to expose Danielle to the drug and let her understand what it is and who uses it. She asked not to be on camera, but she said she is using selling Girl Scout cookies to show Danielle around town, and give her real life buissness scenarios. 

I think it is brilliant, but there are others out there who disagree. How could you expose your child to something as harmful as marijuana? That parent should be shunned! But Mrs. Lei actually proved that the most harmful thing that happens when you smoke marijuana is you want to eat fatty foods. And then play some video games and or watch a movie while eating said fatty foods. My hat is off to you, Mrs. Lei, thank you for brightening my day. 

What do you guys think about this? Do you care? Would you let your child do it? Please leave your comments below!

Politics: How Much Do You Care

As I stumbled around the Interwebs, I came across this video of CNN's Jake Tapper interviewing Obama. He (Tapper) uses a very casual interviewing process, by conducting the interview in a factory. Tapper also began the interview by discussing how Obama's daughters choose to not talk about politics, an interesting start to the conversation. I pondered as to why Tapper would have started it this way. I may be wrong, but I think Tapper did this because he was trying to connect with a wider audience. It let the younger audience, especially those not interested in politics, stay engaged because they saw the smiling President admitting his own daughters do not care about politics. Hey! Since the Presidents daughter's don't care about politics, why should I?

When you make the audience think in this way, you actually further engage their attention. You let them connect their own lives to someone famous, and therefore they listen more to what that famous person has to say. I think it is a brilliant tactic, and it kept me engaged as well. In my American Studies class, we discussed how to interview people earlier this year. Everything is about appealing to your audience. If you can do that, then you will make the most out of the interview.

Do you, like Obama's daughters, not care about politics? Why, or why not? If you have a neutral position, what did you think about Tapper's choice of entrance? Was it effective? Why, or why not?
Leave your comments below!

Don't Do It

As many of you probably know, something tragic happened over the weekend. 

Sarah McCausland, 19, of Winnetka, and Evelina Martin Brown, 20, of Seattle, were struck and killed by the car in Tivoli, NY. 

Words cannot describe the pain and sorrow I am feeling right now, and will be for quite some time. Sarah was such an incredible woman, talented beyond anything you could imagine. I had the opportunity to become close with Sarah last year, since we were in Lagniappe Potpourri together, and ended up spending a lot of time with the same friend group. Her warmness and affection spread like a wildfire, and everyone loved Sarah. Honestly, I cannot find a single person who had something negative to say about this amazing human being. Sarah loved music, spending time with her friends, and living life in the present moment. Like me, she never worried about he past, and tried not to worry about the future. Her kind heart and open arms were always accepting of me, and everyone around her. No words can describe Sarah McCausland. She was beyond anything I could formulate into a single sentence. The only thing that brings me comfort is that I will see her again soon. Just to sit down, over a pot of earl grey tea, and discuss the hypocrisy of humanity. Sarah, you will be missed, and I will cherish the fond memories we've had together forever. I know your soul lives on, and I know you are singing your heart out with Frank and the boys.  

This tragic incident happened because of a single persons misjudgment, and down right idiocy. The woman who hit Sarah was driving while intoxicated, and it was not the first time. Carol Boeck, 63, of Red Hook, N.Y., struck Sarah at around midnight Friday night. Police later arrested Carol after she fled from the scene. She will be facing felony charges, and her bail is currently set at $100,000.

This post is directed towards Carol, and others who think drinking and driving is "okay". 

It simply is not. And if you decide it is "okay", or that you are an exception. You are not. The decisions you make directly affects innocent people, and the loved ones of those people, and the people around them. Think twice the next time you go out and drive drunk, you will regret it.

Rest In Peace Sarah. I love you, always have, and always will. 

Thank you for all the happiness and joy you brought to my life, and the lives of everyone around me. 

Civil Rights: A Controversy for Generations to Come

As an American, what do you think your number one civil right is? Take a second to think about it, make sure to consider all types of civil rights... Now think about that right, and gain an understanding as to why you considered that as your number one choice. What would you say if someone suddenly, without reason, took that right away from you. Stripped it away forever. How would you react? I would be furious! Well, time and time again, we have seen this happen in America. Now, America is not the only country guilty of limiting civil rights, some countries don't even allow their citizens any rights. 

Well, in 1942 during the heat of WWII, President Roosevelt executed Executive Order 9066. This was essentially a deportation of Japansese Americans to internment camps for the duration of the war against the axis powers. In class, we learned that an Executive Order is a temporary law that the President creates when he feels neccessary. Congress may either choose to veto the order with a two-thirds  vote, or not. And then the Supreme Court may or may not review the order to decide if it's Constitutional or not. This order lasted the duration of the War, and it left many innocent Japenese-Americans homeless and without jobs or income security for generations to come. 

How would you justify that order? It was time of War, then it's okay, right!? Or was the President and Congress merely afraid of political disruption? Targetting the Japenese-Americans just to create a scapegoat for the public to deem an enemy. Please leave your comments below!

Chakra Mediation and Balancing

Chakra meditating may be the best thing I have ever done. Over the past two years I have been in deep research about the seven Chakras what they do to the mind, body and soul. Check out the attached photo!

Chakras are points of contact in the body where your sub conscious focuses massive amounts of energy. These energy points can control everything from your attitude, and emotions, to your physical ailments and indigestion. In order to open these chakras, you must find a guided meditation video to lead you through the steps of deep chakra meditation. Each Chakra has its own designated musical note on the C major scale. When you open your Chakras you feel an immense amount of relaxation, and numbness. Your whole body is working together, and you slow down to focus on your breath. You realize that you are just a speck in a much larger universe, and all energy flows through you before passing on to another person. Therefore, you must focus on positive thinking, and positive outlooks on life, because the love you put out into the world you will receive ten fold. After you have opened your chakras, you feel re-energized and enlightened. It helps with depression, insomnia, relationship problems, etc... And is especially helpful when you are stressed out in school (New Trier).

The point of opening your Chakras is to open your subconscious to the endless possibilities that you are not aware of when you are awake and conscious. You slow down your thoughts, and are able to sort things into boxes and understand why things are the way they are. If you are struggling with what the meaning of life is, or just want to experiment with meditation, I highly suggest you try out some guided Chakra meditations. You will not be disappointed. 

Please leave your comments below!

What's Up With Rodman?

Before reading this, you will need to watch this three minute video. You will be just as baffled as I am, and it will engage you in this blog post.

Okay, your back. WHAT IN THE HECK?! Dennis, my man, you can't be doing that, can you? The White House most definitely does not think so, in fact White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney expressed his anger earlier this week, "I'm not going to dignify that outburst with a response," Carney said during his daily briefing. The Obama Administration claims they have no ties with Dennis Rodman, and are incredibly upset with his outburst. The man brought in question further on in the interview, Kenneth Bae, is an American Citizen who was sentenced to a North Korean Labor camp without any legitimate reason. Rodman, who later apologized and said his outburst was because he was drunk, replied, "I don't give a shit. I don't give a rat's ass what the hell you think." Not only did Rodman make himself look like a fool, he also is putting an American Citizen's life at risk. By talking trash about Kenneth Bae, he is only hyphening up North Korean officials to do worse things to Bae than put him in a labor camp. 

Rodman claims to be friends with the North Korean Dictator, Kim Jung Un. Clearly, Kim Jung Un does not care much about family, so I guess he should take all the friends he can get. But I would be careful if I was friends with such a powerful person, powerful people tend to be compulsive and do things without thinking them through. The next time Rodman tosses back a couple of screw drivers, and decides to be interviewed by CNN, I'm afraid he will say something bad about North Korea. What will happen then? How will Kim Jung Un react? I would air on the side of caution, and say not well.

What do you think about Rodman's spectacle? Do you think he just wants publicity, or is he genuinely friends with the dictator of the most feared nation in the world?