The Death Trap

Taking 23 units in one semester is by far one of the stupidest things I have ever done, yet hopefully the most rewarding when it comes time for Commencement in May.
Before this semester started, I can honestly admit to having never read one single book my entire college career. How had I managed a 3.3 grade point average with no reading? I have yet to find out. This semester, maybe it’s my karma for never having read a book, I find myself consistently reading novel after novel. Less than two months into the semester and I’m already on my 6th novel. There’s the definite feeling of guilt after turning in assignments week after week that I’ve just slapped together because I didn’t have enough time. I sleep at 2am almost every night and wake up at 6am to finish homework. When I’m on a lunch break at work I read, when I’m in the bathroom I read, when I’m having dinner with my mom I read. But taking 23 units isn’t all bad. I can honestly say I’ve learned plenty of time management skills followed by quick and efficient study habits.

If you’re anything like me, you would have also registered for 23 units to graduate in May, even if it means French literature, Spanish literature, and biology all in the same semester. My word of advice to the younger college students: don’t wait till the last semester of college to take that one class that you absolutely hate and have been avoiding! It will come back and haunt you.

Now that I’m done with college (almost), I can acknowledge that I’ve been very fortunate to have made it in four years, but first and foremost: Don’t Rush. 23 units can wait.

The Poor and the Beautiful

This week I found myself in a consistent battle with my roommates trying to prove to me that Angelina Jolie and Adriana Lima are by far the prettiest woman on the planet. Who identified the characteristics of the most beautiful women on the planet anyway? It occurred to me that each one of my roommates said they would go lesbian for Angelina Jolie or Adriana Lima. I don’t know about that but I can definitely see how you can put Angelina and Adriana in the same sentence. Both weigh about 90 pounds and are enormously tall. But if you ask me, the most beautiful woman in the world isn’t composed of lip gloss and stilettos, but by intelligence and humility.

But my roommate continues to argue as I type my opinon. Angelina helps out the world, she adopts kids from like twenty different countries. Angelina Jolie is an ambassador for the United Nations and goes to third world countries to help the disadvantaged. Maybe I’m wrong…or maybe my roommate has been taken over by media that sensationalizes Angelina Jolie and puts her in the light of a hero.

She never gives it a rest. I was reading an article in The Press Democrat about a homeless man who passed away last year during the holidays. The impoverished man died after getting hit by ongoing traffic on HWY 101. After doing some research on the homeless man’s death in hopes of finding a relative to contact, authorities discovered this homeless man had been donating money to a charity organization to children in Africa. Breathtaking. So while we argue to find the sexiest and most worthy people on the planet, we should definitely consider the homeless.

The Autopsy

The importance of weekly events on a global level is hard but not impossible to define. This week, we finally discover the autopsy results of 14-year-old Takeimi Rao after her death a couple months ago while having a sleepover with three friends at her parent’s house. For those of you who are new to this story, the young 14-year-old was found dead the morning after having a sleepover under the supervision of her mother. Oddly enough, that particular night, the girls seemed to have what Rao’s mom thought to be an upset stomach. Rao’s mom was certain all that was needed was a little rest. That morning, Takeimi Rao’s mother found her daughter dead. The three friends were picked up and called for investigation, along with Rao’s parents. After weeks and months of testing and analysis, it was discovered that the girls had been drinking vodka. Intoxication had been a possible factor. This week, however, a new autopsy detected that the young girl hadn’t suffered from deadly alcohol intoxication but had suffered from drinking a deadly dose of a date rape drug. The three friends who had been at the sleepover reject having knowledge of any date rape drug usage and new investigations are being held. It’s been months since I first heard about this story and to this day I think one of these girls is lying. It’s definitely something to question. It is however also sketchy that Rao’s mother and step dad refuse to talk about the new autopsy results. Could it be that there was some abuse going on in the house that investigators have failed to acknowledge? Rao did have a step dad. I’m definitely not canceling out the possibilities.

Final Cut

Mexican culture is family. It’s being home and feeling the warmth of comfort and love. It’s the smell of sweet milk chocolate in the morning and homemade cemas (wheat bread). It is knowing that your parents and loved ones will always lend you an extra pair of helping hands in time of desperate need. It’s neither violent nor selfish. It’s not criminal or abusive. Last and foremost, Mexican culture is not just having children for lack of contraceptive, but for love of family.
Whether Mexican culture is understood or not, it is still definitely judged and interpreted like any other culture. It may be frowned upon or stereotyped based on individual poor action taking. The truth of the matter is, not everyone understands the causes of countless damage done to cities and people in Mexico. Not everyone bothers to learn about the hardships Mexican people undergo. Even more depressing, not everyone bothers to learn about how to help. But regardless there’s definite lack of global knowledge in the America. The same lack of knowledge that is responsible for promoting unethical cultural assumptions.
The widely used cosmetic brand MAC launched a new collection last September in collaboration with the infamous fashion brand known as Rodarte.

The brand featured inspirational colors linked to the cultural aspects of Mexico.

But how can someone truly understand what defines the cultural aspects of Mexico if they’re not culturally tied to it to begin with? Mexico is much more than sombreros and folk. Mexico is much more than the green, white, and red. Mexico has a history. Whether that history is good or bad is up to those who have experienced it to answer.

The recent line featured different products including a sheer white lipstick called "Ghost town" and a pink blush named "Quinceañera".

The name might not necessarily sound offensive, but to those who have lived something incredibly life changing it means the world. To those who have been a part of a real ghost town of murders and harassment it is hard to be desensitized of such terms.

Bertha Garcia, mother of Brenda Castillo, shared the joy of her grandson’s birth, Kevin. Kevin rest in her lap, just one month old, smothered in what seemed to be nothing but peace and harmony. At sixteen months today, he knows his mother only from the fliers his grandmother posts day in and day out. This is one of the stories of many.

Surprisingly, MAC didn't do such a great job distributing proper names to all of their new products after emitting a frosty pink nail polish as "Juarez".
Juarez is a city in Mexico in which there has been continuous involvement in the rape and murder of innocent women and children. The increase of this criminal activity has increased dramatically as the increase of maquiladoras (factories) has gone up. A little before August of 2009, Juarez’s murder rate was considered to be the highest in the entire world, exceeding places like Caracas and New Orleans. In the year of 2008, there were 1,400 murders and more than 2,500 deaths over the same period in the year of 2010. As if that wasn’t enough, these women and children are never bothered to be looked for…they are never bothered to be found. Today, more than 200 are still missing. It’s sick to think they’re still being tortured. It’s sick to think they’re still being kept hostage to fulfill a group of degenerates’ needs. But what was everything but sick was MAC’s line of cosmetics.

What MAC failed to demonstrate and teach was that Juarez is an increasingly impoverished town that suffers of high rates of countless murder.
Gisela Simental shares her experiences in an article published in January of 2010. “I lived in Juarez for most of my life, and one of the things that you often see are children on the streets. These kids are on the streets late at night and during school hours because they have to help their families. The way these children grow up is very harsh -- they are faced with reality from a very young age. Their families are probably very poor and do not have another choice but to make every member of the family work. Children are brought up that way, and have no idea how this will affect them in the future. They understand the responsibility of a job and the need to get money to survive even though they might not know what it feels like to be in a classroom at school. They have no other choice but to work and leave education aside. How will they do better in the future if they are not provided with education right know?”
Education and law enforcement and two among many important issues that have driven Ciudad Juarez from a stable stage, to one of dramatic chaos.

After the issue with MAC’s new line cosmetics, it did however raise a very important point: People have become ignorant of such issues.
Even though through countless surveys, four in every ten Americans say they follow news about world affairs on a close level, many respond “don’t know” to questions about any recent news events. Learning about cultural issues is not a separate discipline, but a perspective that informs and modernizes every discipline. One of our great strengths as a nation is our creativity and determination to lead the world, and using this as an advantage to help fix or help change criminal activity in other places could be phenomenal.

After asking some of Santa Rosa’s community members how they felt about the issue being raised by MAC cosmetics, some said “It sucks that the police force in Mexico won’t admit to a serial killer problem or even a cult & that USA companies hire these woman and won’t protect their own workers...makes me sick.”

Alaina Chenette-Barton of Santa Rosa emphasized “Mexico isn’t the only place that this is going on. This has been happening all over the world. It saddens me and somehow needs to be put to an end immediately!”

Naming a shade of pink nailpolish "Juarez" emphasizes the extensive cluelessness and insensitivity on behalf of the brand, and the general population.

Hundreds of cases have gone and continue to go unsolved and uninvestigated.

MAC further promoted their new link with a secondary nail polish shade "Factory". Coincidentally, most of the women and young girls who have been raped and murdered in Juarez have disappeared on their way to or from work at the town’s factories.
MAC continued to apologize for some of the titles given to their recent products and has consistently been trying to win back offended customers.

As a result, MAC planned to donate all profits to women organizations that aid Juarez. Despite the fact that their new line caused controversy, it was able to remind its consumers and followers that cultural issues do exists and go neglected. The fact that even offended people were able to speak up about their cultural issues demonstrates an interest of change in their own community, a change that should be wanted in every community that suffers of even the most minimal social issues.
Ciudad Juarez may not change its criminal activity, women may not be found, children may not be helped through educational or labor support, but if people care to read and learn about these things, then awareness has been raised.

Giving Juarez a Little Makeover

The widely used cosmetic brand MAC launched a new collection last September in collaboration with the infamous fashion brand known as Rodarte.


The brand featured inspirational colors linked to the cultural aspects of Mexico.


But how can someone truly understand what defines the cultural aspects of Mexico if they’re not culturally tied to it to begin with? Mexico is much more than sombreros and folk. Mexico is much more than the green, white, and red. Mexico has a history. Whether that history is good or bad is up to those who have experienced it to answer.


The recent line featured different products including a sheer white lipstick called "Ghost town" and a pink blush named "Quinceañera".


The name might not necessarily sound offensive, but to those who have lived something incredibly life changing it means the world. To those who have been a part of a real ghost town of murders and harassment it is hard to be desensitized of such terms.


Bertha Garcia, mother of Brenda Castillo, shared the joy of her grandson’s birth, Kevin. Kevin rest in her lap, just one month old, smothered in what seemed to be nothing but peace and harmony. At sixteen months today, he knows his mother only from the fliers his grandmother posts day in and day out. This is one of the stories of many.


Surprisingly, MAC didn't do such a great job distributing proper names to all of their new products after emitting a frosty pink nail polish as "Juarez": a city in Mexico in which there has been continuous involvement in the rape and murder of innocent women and children. As if that wasn’t enough, these women and children are never bothered to be looked for…they are never bothered to be found. Today, more than 200 are still missing. It’s sick to think they’re still being tortured. It’s sick to think they’re still being kept hostage to fulfill a group of degenerates’ needs. But what was everything but sick was MAC’s line of cosmetics.


What MAC failed to demonstrate and teach was that Juarez is an increasingly impoverished town that suffers of high rates of countless murder.


This does however raise a very important point: People have become ignorant of such issues.


After asking some of Santa Rosa’s community members how they felt about the issue being raised by MAC cosmetics, some said “It sucks that the police force in Mexico won’t admit to a serial killer problem or even a cult & that USA companies hire these woman and won’t protect their own workers...makes me sick.”


Alaina Chenette-Barton of Santa Rosa emphasized “Mexico isn’t the only place that this is going on. This has been happening all over the world. It saddens me and somehow needs to be put to an end immediately!”


Naming a shade of pink nailpolish "Juarez" emphasizes the extensive cluelessness and insensitivity on behalf of the brand, and the general population.


Hundreds of cases have gone and continue to go unsolved and uninvestigated.


MAC further promoted their new link with a secondary nail polish shade "Factory". Coincidentally, most of the women and young girls who have been raped and murdered in Juarez have disappeared on their way to or from work at the town’s factories.
MAC continued to apologize for some of the titles given to their recent products and has consistently been trying to win back offended customers.


As a result, MAC planned to donate all profits to women organizations that aid Juarez.

Article Outline

I. Introduction: The Launch of Something New
A. The widely used cosmetic brand MAC launched a new collection last September in collaboration with the infamous fashion brand known as Rodarte.

1.The brand features inspirational colors linked to the cultural aspects of Mexico.

a.) What colors exactly depict Mexico?

2. The recent line featured different products including a sheer white lipstick called "Ghost town" and a pink blush named "Quinceañera".
a.) But what exactly was so controversial about the booming brand's new cosmetic line?

II. Body: What caused controversy?
A. Apparently, MAC didn't do such a great job distributing proper names to all of their new products after emitting a frosty pink nail polish as "Juarez".
a.) Juarez? A city in Mexico
b.) Impoverished town that suffers of high rates of rape and murder of countless girls and women.
B. Naming a shade of pink nailpolish "Juarez" emphasizes the extensive cluelessness and insensitivity on behalf of the brand (and the general population).
a.) How many cases go unsolved/uninvestigated
C.MAC further promoted their new link w/a secondary nail polish shade "Factory".
a.) Coincidentally, most of the women and young girls who have been raped and murdered in Juarez have disappeared on their way to or from work at the towns factories.
D. MAC continues to apologize for some of the titles given to their recent products and has consistently been trying to win back offended customers.
E. The line, inspired by Laura and Kate Mulleavy's launched soon after their road trip through the Southwest.
a.) How are road trips often misleading to Juarez?
F. Other??

III. Conclusion: So what??????
A. As a result, MAC planned to donate all profits to women organizations that aid Juarez.

A Small Dose of E.B. White

"Mr. Highstone, being himself a practicing farmer, knows one important truth about country life: he knows that farming is about twenty per cent agriculture and eighty per cent mending something that has got busted. Farming is a sort of glorified repair job. This is a truth that takes some people years to discover, and many farmers go their whole lives without ever really grasping the idea. A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus. The repair aspect of farming looms so large that, on a place like my own, which is not really a farm at all but merely a private zoo, sometimes months go by when nothing but repair goes on. I can get so absorbed in the construction of a barn door that I can let the spring planting season go right by without ever opening the ground or sowing a seed. If I were engaged in making myself self-sustaining, I should perhaps be a little wider awake; but I know, from experience, that at any given moment of the year I would be found doing the wrong thing, and with a dull tool. I mention this because the weakness in Mr. Highstone’s book is not in his plan for subsistence but in the people who are going to carry it out. In spite of all his warnings, there will be plenty of them who will get sidetracked, probably along the line of some special hobby, hitherto unindulged. I have been fooling around this place for a couple of years, but nobody calls my activity agriculture. I simply like to play with animals. Nobody knows this better than I do — although my neighbors know it well enough and on the whole have been tolerant and sympathetic."

Before I even realized what the title of White's piece was, I had thralled upon the idea that it was an article on his experience in regards to farming. Something mentioned in class was that you could write a sentence on something completely tragic, yet it could have that small hint of hopefulness or happiness for that matter. "Farming is a sort of glorified repair job." Ironically, the sentence connotes a sort of positive feel to farming. Because the writing in general is very personal, it allows for its readers to better grasp the concept as a hobby rather than a task. A good writer always says what he thinks, and E.B. White definitely captivates this sense in his writing. In this small piece, he reflects on pure honesty: the honesty of what farming is for him, the honesty of what farming may be portrayed as to others. He mentions he gets easily distracted without even getting to the actual farming part, something most "How To" writers might not admit. As a reader, I think it's safe to say the writing has to be personal.