Friday, May 17, 2019

Censorship In Iran



Based on a true story about a journalist who gets detained and brutally interrogated in prison for 118 days; the journalist Maziar Bahari was blindfolded and interrogated for 4 months in Evin prison in Iran, while the only distinguishable feature about his captor is the distinct smell of rosewater. An interview and sketch that Maziar did with a journalist on The Daily Show was used as evidence that Maziar was a spy and in communication with the American government and the CIA.

Freedom of expression and of information will always be the world’s most important freedom. If journalists were not free to report the facts, denounce abuses and alert the public, how would we resist the problem of children-soldiers, defend women’s rights, or preserve our environment? In some countries, torturers stop their atrocious deeds as soon as they are mentioned in the media. In others, corrupt politicians abandon their illegal habits when investigative journalists publish compromising details about their activities. Still elsewhere, massacres are prevented when the international media focuses its attention and cameras on events.

1) Why are some politicians and governments afraid of a 'Free Press?'




Friday, May 10, 2019

Monday, May 6, 2019

Prom: Back to the Future?



Prom season usually means stretch limos and super-extra promposals. But where did this time-honored coming-of-age tradition even come from? Whembley Sewell breaks down the timeline of Prom's racist and misogynistic backstory as well as the teenagers who have fought against it for decades.

What is the History of Prom in the United States? How has it changed/ evolved? How do you feel about the future of the traditional dance?  Why?

Friday, May 3, 2019

Chewbacca Obituary



British actor Peter Mayhew has died at age 74. He was best known for playing the beloved Chewbacca in the “Star Wars” series. Here’s a look back at Mayhew’s best on-screen moments as the galaxy’s most famous Wookiee.  Read his obituary.

An obituary acknowledges the loss of our loved one, expresses the pain of their loss and the joy that their presence among us brought.

According to James Loewen in his book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Sasha and Zamani are two aspects of time as expressed in some Eastern and Central African cultures. Sasha are spirits known by someone still alive, while Zamani are spirits not known by anyone currently alive. The recently departed whose time overlapped with people still here are the Sasha, the living dead. They are not wholly dead, for they live on in the memories of the living ... when the last person knowing an ancestor dies, that ancestor leaves the Sasha for the Zamani, the dead. As generalized ancestors, the Zamani are not forgotten but revered.


Your assignment: write your own Obituary. Follow the steps outlined in the linked article. Assume you live to be at least 80 years old. What will you have accomplished? Who will you leave behind? What will your legacy be?

Have fun at Prom this weekend...  don't be a statistic!