CaringLess101
Teaching all individuals who aspire to be more apathetic exactly how to do so.
“I Am Troy Davis”
Just last week an alleged Georgia cop-killer was executed by lethal injection. The previous sentence should strike every American as wrong, not because of the reference to the death penalty; the morality of executing a person because of a terrible crime is debatable. Instead the scariest part of the previous sentence is the word “alleged”.
In a nation where citizens are considered “innocent until proven guilty in a court of law” it is frightful and appalling that 43-year-old Troy Davis, who had been imprisoned since 1989 after being convicted for allegedly murdering Georgia State police-officer Mark MacPhail, was executed after never having been proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Davis, whose lethal injection was administered on September 21, 2011, became a martyr for the movement opposing the death penalty and a symbol of the injustice of the courts.
Officer MacPhail, a 27-year-old US Army veteran, was off-duty, working as a security guard at a bus station in Savannah, Georgia when he heard the cries of a homeless man at the nearby Burger King. MacPhail went over to assist the homeless man who was being pistol-whipped during a robbery. The robber shot Officer MacPhail twice, including a fatal shot to the head. Troy Davis, the accused robber was executed this week based on a conviction where the evidence consisted of several witness testimonies, many of which were later revoked. A few of the people who testified later stated that they were coerced and strong-armed by the police force into confessing and testifying against Davis. Although he appealed multiple times, and postponed his execution date three times successfully, Davis was executed upon the fourth execution date despite the protests and opposition of the public.
Although as many as 700 protesters rallied in front of the prison where Davis was to be executed, the support of his cause wasn’t limited to other supporters of the anti-death penalty movement hosted their own rallies in cities from Atlanta, Georgia to Paris, France and around the globe. Davis’ sister, Martina Correia voices the global effect of her brother’s case: “They say, ‘I am Troy Davis,’ in languages he can’t speak”.
Even though the support and the protests seem mainly directed against the death penalty, there was an online eruption on Twitter and other websites about the pressing issue of the lack of sufficient evidence required to convict, much less execute. Even though most people are relatively unaffected by the Death Penalty, many people are find themselves expectant but also reliant on a fair and just legal system in order to feel protected and safe in court. The Davis case was significant because it demonstrated the ability of the government to execute a man on a spotty conviction in order to “set an example” to the American public. These intimidating methods aren’t democratic and certainly would have shocked and appalled several of the “Founding Fathers”.
As the nation moves forward and returns to its quotidian responsibilities it seems likely that Troy Davis’ case may be forgotten. It is the duty of American citizens, however, to assure that the nation doesn’t forget the man who died when the government chose to execute Davis despite the lack of sufficient evidence in order to prove Davis “guilty beyond reasonable doubt”.
18 November 2011
Social Animal
People who pursue love and success are often mystified by these two abstract paths to happiness. In his latest non-fiction book The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement, acclaimed New York Times columnist David Brooks uses a fictional narrative in order to delve into the mysteries of love and achievement. The Social Animal is Brooks’ third book, but his other two books also make countless references to psychology while delving into ethics and success in society.
The Social Animal follows the lives of two very different, fictional people, an affluent boy named Harold, and a mixed-race, lower-class girl named Erica. Although the book revolves around the fiction, its primary purpose is to analyze the fictional characters. Brooks spends more time writing about Harold’s parents and his childhood, but focuses more on Erica as an adult and in the world of business. Harold’s parents are described as attractive and fun loving, and Harold’s childhood is characterized by his athleticism and his social nature. On the other hand, Erica, a Chinese-Chicana girl, has a more difficult childhood because her parents are separated and her mother has a drug problem. Erica is admitted into a preparatory charter school, not through the lottery system, but because she goes to the board at her school and demands entry. Eventually, these two go to separate colleges, but Brooks does not write excessively about their experiences there. Harold and Erica eventually meet when Erica’s friend recommends Harold as someone who can help Erica’s start-up business succeed. In order not to spoil the story, no further summary will be included, but the interesting parts of Brooks’ novel lie not in the narration, but in the analysis.
As Brooks narrates the lives of these two characters, he examines the significance and psychology behind their experiences. Erica and Harold eventually meet and Brooks writes about how they initially met, and how they eventually fell in love. Unfortunately, Brooks isn’t as skilled of a fiction writer. As much as Brooks explains the emotions and experiences of his two protagonists, he is still unable to build a strong emotional bond between the readers and the characters. Instead, they serve as puppets that he uses to explain his theories and social generalizations of the world.
The hardcover book, published by Random House, costs about $16 on Amazon.com and is 424 pages long. Although it is very interesting, The Social Animal isn’t exactly a page-turner. Because it is split between narratives and analyses, the book is occasionally confusing and seems tangential and distracted often. But Brooks wasn’t trying to tell a sweet story about how a poor girl and a wealthier boy fall in love. Instead, Brooks delves into how these two fall in love and the psychology behind different periods of their lives.
When writing for the New York Times, Brooks often focuses on politics and culture, not psychology. Yet Brooks explains the theories and studies of social economists, psychologists and a variety of other professions as if he had studied each himself. Brooks writes about the Greek word “ethos” and its connotations, and seamlessly switches back to narration before describing “heuristics.” These fluent tie-ins help the reader better understand complicated principals by relating them to the characters. Brooks proves to be a very capable writer in multiple fields, and The Social Animal is an indication of his ability to dissect life and explain it by its parts.
Although Brooks did not write The Social Animal for the high school student demographic, Paly students should definitely put it on their reading list if they are interested in psychology or if they want to read a story about the secrets of success and how it happens.
Book Review
Title: The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement
Author: David Brooks
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)
10 November 2011
Edutone Tablet Review
“This is written on th nmy edutone tables ta withougt the “bavckspace’. Thee oberly smaell kebyoard makes buttons impoisesible to type with.”
Two minutes and twelve seconds: the time it took to write those two sentences on my Edutone Tablet, using the keyboard-case and starting from the blank lock-screen (while the tablet was turned on). The Edutone tablet was designed for classroom use but because its software isn’t specialized for education, and its hardware is poorly designed and cheap in feel, it seems unlikely that this tablet will ever be helpful in real classroom settings.
Two minutes and twelve seconds may seem like a short amount of time, but if a teacher had to ask students to do that twice in a class period, and this teacher taught 5 periods a day, 190 days a year, this teacher would spend almost 35 hours every school year waiting for students just to begin writing. Almost a day and a half of a teacher’s life would be wasted in one school year just because of the inefficiency of using the Edutone tablet in a classroom.
Upon first glance the Edutone tablet inside its keyboard-case looks kind of cool. The leather folding case has a strap with buttons to keep it closed, and once open, this same strap can prop-up the tablet like a computer screen and there’s a keyboard inside the case. The tablet snaps into the case but can be pulled out to be used alone, and the tablet is equipped with both a front and back camera.
These elegant aesthetics are misleading; the keyboard isn’t full-sized and therefore typing speed and accuracy is jeopardized (hence the typos above), the cameras are low resolution, and when trying to snap the tablet out of the case, the screen sometimes briefly detaches from the rest of the tablet.
Other problems with the tablet also relate to its physical hardware. The tablet has mostly on-screen buttons, but while using an App, often times the only available buttons are the physical ones on the tablet itself. Unfortunately, these buttons are tiny and located very close to each other on the side of the tablet, and are barely accessible when the tablet is connected to its case.
The Edutone tablet was a prototype, running on Google’s Android software, and using the Android App Market. The Edutone tablet wouldn’t be completely deplorable if didn’t cost a small fortune of $300, a price-tag outrageously exceeding its value. The Apple iPad, a pioneer for the tablet industry, is thinner, lighter, and more elegant and advanced than its Edutone competitor, and therefore warrants the few hundred dollars extra in cost. Other companies such as Samsung, Blackberry, Motorola, and Amazon have created their own tablets, most competitors of the Apple iPad run on the Android platform, and are cheaper, such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire for $200. Edutone’s tablet won’t stand a chance amongst these competitors if they send their current prototype into production.
The Edutone tablet was designed for educational purposes, yet at $300 it hardly seems cost-efficient, and instead of providing students with a platform for learning, it seems to work best for playing tedious games or browsing the internet. Even the E-mail app is poorly configured for the tablet; the screen when in the “Inbox,” shows too many messages, causing a cluttered look. Edutone apparently created its own app which is imaginably for educational purposes, but it requires a account or membership to use.
The tablet couldn’t be used realistically in a classroom because the software isn’t specialized for education. Instead, it provides excessive freedoms and would simply serve as a distraction if issued to students. Aside from being a distraction, the Edutone tablet is difficult to use for educational purposes. Although students find it difficult to type on the keyboard or use the internet, they have no trouble downloading games and distractions.
Ms. Wojcicki, a journalism teacher at Palo Alto High School, gave her students each a tablet which they could use in class, but she found herself repeatedly asking her students to put away their tablets when she was lecturing. Many companies have tried to create innovative technology for teaching, but Edutone fails to create a tablet that would serve any purpose other than as a distraction to students. Austin Hake, a sophomore in Ms. Wojcicki’s journalism class, confessed to the distracting qualities of the Edutone tablet, causing him to miss important lessons. “Although these tablets are a fun distraction, I find it difficult to see how they could be used effectively in a classroom setting; the teacher may want me to read an article on the tablet’s browser, but instead I can play the popular game “Angry Birds” and not learn anything,” said Hake.
