Sal

= = Believe...
 * 1) I believe in responsibility, in taking responsibility for your actions.
 * 2) I believe in music, that it can inspire and free us.
 * 3) I believe in friendship, that a good friend can help you through any problem.
 * 4) I believe in luck, that a little luck can take you a long way.
 * 5) I believe in family, that we need people there to support us.
 * 6) I believe in rewards for a job well done.
 * 7) I believe in loyalty, in sticking close to those close to you.
 * 8) I believe that time really does fly when you’re having fun.
 * 9) I believe that all people are equal and deserve the same rights.
 * 10) I believe that Link will someday defeat Gannon for good.
 * 11) I believe that with enough training, anybody can become the Pokémon League Champion.
 * 12) I believe that in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
 * 13) I believe in peace, that war is never the right answer.
 * 14) I believe that there is an end to Nazi Zombies; you just have to be good enough to get to it.
 * 15) <span style="color: #015a01; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px;">I believe that with enough practice, anything can be achieved.
 * 16) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px;">But most of all, I believe in myself.

<span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Who's To Blame?

The murder of Larry king was a controversial and complicated issue. There are many sides that can possibly take the blame, but, these are my opinions. I believe that the majority of the fault should be placed on Larry. Brandon and the school also are to blame. The school knew about Larry’s disturbing style and behavior. They knew students did not like the way Larry dressed and even some teachers were complaining. One counselor, Mrs. Epstein, was even defending and protecting Larry. She brought him dresses and supported him, and ignored the complaints of students and teachers. Mrs. Epstein is also openly gay. But, despite all this, the school did not know how far Larry had taken the sexual harassment with Brandon. Brandon was from a broken home. His father had shot his meth addicted mother ten years prior to the incident. Violence is what he grew up around and knew. And after being harassed, he became so angry that he snapped, and planned Larry’s murder. Although he was pissed off he still went home, slept on the decision, and carried it out. He knew what he was doing was wrong, he was just to pissed to care. I place the majority of the blame on Larry. He liked the negative attention he received from dressing and acting gay and pushed further and further to get it. He pushed his rights to far and if he acted normal, he would have never been murdered. He sexually harassed and humiliated Brandon in front of his friends. Even if murder is never the answer and it was terrible what he did, you have to see that Larry messed with the wrong person. As I said before, there are other to blame. But Larry King’s death was, in part, his fault. But murder is unacceptable regardless of the situation, and I believe Brandon should only be tried in a juvenile court, because the event occurred when he was 14. I do not believe he is beyond help, but it seems that people want to see him burn for his supposed “hate crime”. People just wanted to make an idol out of Larry, when it seems to me he was just craving attention. At least he has it now…


 * 1) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Get a car
 * 2) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Graduate high school
 * 3) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Get a job
 * 4) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Become a millionaire
 * 5) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Own a house
 * 6) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Move from California
 * 7) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Go to collage
 * 8) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Visit Europe
 * 9) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">See Metallica live
 * 10) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">See Roger Waters live
 * 11) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Join band
 * 12) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Tour countries with band
 * 13) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Solve a murder case
 * 14) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Defend somebody in court
 * 15) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Find the Triforce
 * 16) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Catch every Pokémon
 * 17) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Beat all riends in Halo and Black Ops.
 * 18) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Change my name!
 * 19) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
 * 20) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Meet the members of Metallica
 * 21) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Play on stage with Metallica
 * 22) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Meet Ozzy Osbourne
 * 23) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Meet Roger Waters
 * 24) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Collect every Beatles album
 * 25) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Beat Skyrim
 * 26) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Build a time machine
 * 27) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Live in Germany
 * 28) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Turn into a jet
 * 29) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Bomb the Russians
 * 30) <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Crash into the sun, Now I’m dead! //**__LIKE A BOSS!__**//

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #015a01; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Photography Essay <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #015a01; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #015a01; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sontag brings up some interesting points about the negatives of photographs; however she doesn’t see the positives images can have. She claims that only written word can bring about a clear understanding but text alone cannot help one understand. In my opinion, Images can serve a lot of different purposes than text. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #015a01; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sontag says that one never understands anything from a photograph. She says this because one can never know what is happening before the picture was taken and after. A picture can’t tell a story, it can only show us one second of time in a small frame. Text can grant us an understanding of the whole story and it can also show the innermost thoughts of a character. The book Harry Potter by J.K Rowling can show us the thoughts of Harry, while the movie can’t, besides that the directors of some of the movies messed up. Text, in some ways, is better than images. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #015a01; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While text has its positives, imagery does too. In the words of the brilliant teacher Mr. Geib, “No writer, no matter how good they write, can help us visualize something better than a photograph.” A picture can do what the imagination can’t, show reality as it is. Sometimes photographs can even shock us with their reality. Pictures of dead bloody soldiers can show us the true horrors of war, but it can’t tell us that soldier’s story. Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” shows how violent war can be better than any script or book. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #015a01; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Text can’t show us reality because the images it gives us are not real. To get a clear understanding of a story you need both images and text. Lewis Hines photographed child labor and showed how terrible it really is. The poor work conditions, the overworked children. It got people’s attention better than any newspaper article could. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #015a01; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I agree with some of the points Sontag has. But I think she should open her mind to photographs a little more. How she thinks that images are polluting our minds and turning us into “image junkies” is not true. Photography isn’t enslaving us and rotting our brains. I admit, not all images are used in good ways. People need to use images more wisely. Photographs are not evil; people need to see reality as it is, not as it can be described.