District Assessment Writing Task

   The youth of today has a luxury that wasn't sophisticated decades ago. They have access to technology that has changed lives, and especially development of lives. A popular belief is that technology is detrimental to the youth's behavior and academic development, but a cohesive study done by Mizuko Ito and her team called the Digital Youth Project shows a completely different view on this topic.

 
The authors' prove that technology is actually creating more stable to be adults for the world, and not deterring them. The summary of these findings include both views - affirmative and negative. However, more examples of affirmative text are found, An example of this is "The research shows that today's youth may be coming of age and struggling for autonomy and identity amid new worlds for communication, friendship, play and self-expression." This text states that youth are finding their own expression through technology and that is helping them combat self-esteem issues and making them more confident, which can make them succeed in school and a career. This statement contradicts the negative statement : "Many adults worry that children are wasting time online, texting or playing video games." The researchers show the study as direct proof to why the youth isn't wasting their time online. If anything, it is helping accelerate their social development. "The digital world is creating new opportunities for youth for youth to grapple with social norms, explore interests, develop technical skills and experiment with new forms of self-expression." 

   
Another example of how the study contradicts the negative view is when it describes why youth uses social media especially, and why technology in general quite often. Not only is it interesting for youth to explore new sites and inventions on the World Wide Web, they can extend their hobbies. For example, a teenager who loves to draw, and would like to professionally produce one day, can expand on his/her skills using programs on a computer and/or tablet, then share their work on Facebook and Deviant Art. They can gain positive and negative perspective on their work. 

   
Overall, this cohesive study validates the affirmative argument that the youth is becoming more confident and expressive through technology using statistics from the findings to prove a very valid point. This study gives so much insight to technology - something people still don't understand.

"Taming of the Shrew" Film Review

"The Taming of the Shrew" is a play that features complicated relationships from all angles. The most recognizable one is between Petruchio and Katharina, who both have their similarities and differences. The 1967 film adaption, in my opinion, shows the features of Petruchio and Katharina's courtship and eventual marriage in a different light than the play.

The courtship begins when Petruchio learns of Katharina and how Signor Baptista, a very wealthy man, wants to marry her off because of her violent behavior. She even goes as far to hit her younger sister Bianca. Even though Bianca's role in the movie was largely reduced when compared to the play, Katharina's jealousy still shows. Petruchio finally meets Katharina and practically forces her to marry him after attempting to win her over with reverse psychology tactics.
After discussing the dowry, Petruchio and Katharina wed that following Sunday. Petruchio embarrasses Katharina by showing up late and she reconsiders the marriage. When she hesitates to say yes to her wedding vows, Petruchio kisses her and the priest says the vows.

The nature of the relationship is shown as Petruchio "taming" Katharina by disagreeing with her. He sees this as a way of discipline, and actually seeing this shows a darker undertone to his intentions. Katherina gives in to these "teachings" in the play, but in the movie it seems to be portrayed differently, that Katherina is toying with Petruchio and actually isn't becoming submissive.

Overall, I believe that because of the changes in the film adaption that it shows a different view on the "Taming of the Shrew". Some see it ass an offense to feminists, and some see it as a reflection of the view of the people in the 16th century but all can agree that it's a classic play.

Small Town Girl in a Big City World : An Autobiography

To most people, moving to a whole new time is a nightmare. You have to leave everything you are familiar with behind and eventually you begin to miss the little things you never thought you would. The smell of dew right after it rains, the yapping of the dog next door, even the long walks that it would take to get anywhere in the neighborhood.

A lot of people can relate to that feeling. I'm definitely one of those people! I grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, a small town about twenty minutes away from Washington DC. Even though the town has a fairly large population - around seventy thousand people - I lived in a neighborhood called Chestnut Ridge, with a population of about one thousand seven hundred people.
I naturally became one with nature, and it makes a lot of sense, considering my backyard was part of a forest. I would always be climbing trees, watching deer and rabbits frolic around, or just sit in the lawn of grass and play with my stuffed animals. Being outside was always very peaceful for me, even at a young age.

When I was ten years old, my mother old me that I was moving to New York City. To say I was shocked was an understatement. New York City is a concrete jungle - the closest place to nature is Central Park. I couldn't imagine leaving behind all of my friends and not be able to go to middle school with the people I grew up with. Not only that but I was leaving behind family members as well. I was so determined to stay that I tried to explain why Maryland would be a better place to live, but it was done - we were moving, whether I liked it or not.

During the five hour drive to New York, I was constantly trying to think of brightly of the situation. The last days in Maryland were spent packing in a storage facility and also connecting with family and friends as much as we could, It was heartbreaking for me to know that I wouldn't see these people as often as I used to. To keep my mind off of how much I'd miss my hometown, I tried to cheer myself up by hoping that middle school would be great, that I would adjust well to city life.
All my wishful thinking didn't come to fruition unfortunately. New York was totally different and new. As soon as I saw the lights of Times Square, and all of the people walking quickly on Park Avenue, I instantly knew that everything was fast-paced. I remembering wondering where all of the trees and fields were, and how all of the streets sort of looked the same. I liked my new house, but missed the close relationship I used to have with my next door neighbors. Middle school was also hard for me because the curriculum was different and more advanced, so I struggled trying to juggle adjusting to each new aspect of my life.

After the new year, my mother told me that we were going to be moving again - to Los Angeles! I wasn't that surprised since my mother had often talked about moving to this city even when I was still living in Maryland. I just figured it would happen when my mother retired and what not. Now I was excited to move to the place where all of my favorite celebrities lived and where it would be nice
and warm. I knew that California was full of nature so I was psyched to be able to hopefully live around parks. I'd never been more excited in my life.

Although I'd been through a lot of hardships in New York, in hindsight, I'm very happy that I got to learn how to accept and adapt to change. I now believe that if you can accept changes in life and just work with them, you will be happier and everything will pay off. I finally moved to Los Angeles, and I've never felt more welcome and like I belong in a city. It just comes to show that good things really do come to those who wait.