Study links BPA to Obesity in Kids Summery

In the article "Study Links BPA, Obesity in Kids" Genervra Pittman discusses a common issue obesity in kids. Obesity is often talked about as an unstoppable issue, people usually think that  there is no way to control what kids eat. However Genervra discusses a new discovery that BPA a chemical banned in baby bottles is in fact used in cans and can cause deformations in the body. The main reason its bad for kids is because kids respond differently to chemicals, their bodies and hormones are effected. Dr. Leonardo Trasande from New york University says "Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental chemicals" meaning that chemicals change kids differently by stunting growth of hormones their brain and metabolism. "Unhealthy diets and poor physical activity are still the biggest causes of obesity" Dr. Trasande says but small chemical changes like this can change metabolism hugely.

The author Pittman believes that this is a great discovery and does not like obesity in children. He wants you feel the same by making children look innocent. He isolates kids from everyone else and says that they are "involuntarily" getting harmed. He wants you to believe that kids are becoming harmed by this a lot but fails to give any information about its affect on adults. I Think he did this to make the kids come across as more susceptible to this problem. Most likely it effects adults just as much as kids but most people reading the article are moms which means that most of them care more about there kid. 

When I read this article i felt a mixture of feelings, i felt both sad because obesity is such a shunned issue but happy because with one stoppable cause of obesity it will help stop it completely. With help of   people like me around the world if we that acknowledge that chemicals like BPA cause growth problems like obesity soon enough they will be outlawed and taken out of certain beverages and cans 

Ned Vizzini "Teen Angst? Nah!" final response

I have just finished an autobiography on Ned Vizzini called "Teen Angst? Nah!" The book is about Ned's experiences from 2^nd grade to high school. This book is a extremely original book in that no other book explains high school in such a easily relatable way. Other books, songs and movies promote you to dream about parties “true love” and high school “Angst”. This book takes all of those things and throws them down the drain. Ned talks about high school, girls and drugs that everyone can relate too but no other author can right like him. In the book there is only one theme that is easily compared to other books and movies: discovering yourself.

        

There are only two reasons why you go to school to educate and to get a job which both help you discover your self. Other things might be added to that as time goes on like your social life but mainly the only reason you go to school is to discover yourself. In “Teen Angst” Ned has many problems with this. In one part of the book Ned decides to smoke with a friend he believed if he felt it he would never need or want it again and he was right. He described it as simply a disgusting taste and he never smoked again.  Ned tries new things, gets jobs internships and goes through school all to discover himself.

Towards the end of the book Ned goes out with a girl the girl pushes him around yells at him and puts him down. At first he feels horrible he thinks about breaking up with her and then he finally does. But soon after it is made up and he realizes he truly did like her. It never explains what happens to them in the end of the book but well they lasted Ned evolved as a person and began to discover himself. By the end of the book Ned had no doubt created himself a paved future. He had a girlfriend was heading off to collage, Published a book and got a job working as a book reviewer in the New York times

Teen Angst Nahhh blog post

I am currently reading “Teen Angst Naaah” an autobiography of Ned Vizinni (author of “Its Kind of a Funny Story” and “Be More Chill”) in “Teen Angst” Ned tells stories about his life from second grade to collage. When I first picked up the book I expected a book to be like “Its Kind of a Funny story” with a kid facing high school problems like depression and drugs. However In “Teen Angst” Ned talks about him going through high school as this grade obsessed kid that ironically doesn’t fit with any high school cliché.

I kind of relate to Ned when he explains he school years. Not because I’m grade obsessed but I sometimes laugh at movies when high school kids are either dancing and singing everywhere, (like high school musical) or partying a lot (like 21 jump street). Instead teen years can be slightly lame compared to movies. In one of the chapters Ned explains a summer camp he went to. At the summer camp a friend invites him into the woods to smoke a cigarette. When he does it he describes the feeling as gross tasting, gross feeling, but was happy he at least learned to never smoke again. This chapter made me crack up because it goes completely against what high school is like in the movies.

I think although Ned Vizinni is telling a story from his own life he’s telling it to show that high school clichés are hardly ever true. He also is trying to get a point out to kids telling them not to listen to stupid movies and books that talk about drug filled high schools cause most of the time they are completely wrong.

"Am I Blue?" SPOILER ALERT

I have just finished an excerpt of the story " Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville. This story is about a 16-year-old boy Vincent who struggles in deciding on his sexuality. In the beginning of the story Vince is bathing in a dirty puddle he was recently pushed into by the town bully Butch Carrigan when he meets Melvin his new fairy godfather. At first Vince pushes him away as the antagonist to himself, but as the story evolves him and Melvin grow together and Vince starts to accept himself as “Blue”(or gay). The main theme of the book is acceptance not only acceptance of others but mainly of yourself.

             Through out the book Vince is faced with an important question of his sexuality. In a way he always knew he was gay but he couldn’t accept it. As the story goes on he realizes he shouldn’t be ashamed. In the story as Melvin explains all gays third wish that everyone would see gays as blue. He said, “They’d have to face the fact that there are gay cops and gay farmers, gay teachers and gay soldiers, gay parents and gay kids.  The hiding would finally have to stop.” Vince then asks if he could see that way for a while. When he does he is surprised to see that so many of the people in the café are gay. This one moment is very important for Vince’s change. He realizes that he is not the only person out there. I feel like I can relate to that at sometimes when I think I’m alone in the way I think or feel but then I realize other people feel the same way. This can be connected even further into the world. It reminds us that no matter whom we are or what we do there’s always someone who agrees with us. The authors almost telling us directly that we should never put our self’s or anyone else down because of how we think.

           

            In the end of the book Vince uses his last wish to make every gay person in the world blue so that no more straights could say they didn’t know any gays and no gays would have to hide. But then he realizes that some people might be treated bad by bullies Vince’s last wish is to make Butch Carrigan blue but to his surprise he already was. This small part wasn’t just a joke for the author he included it to remind us that we should never be put down by others calling you gay or stupid cause they might even be “gay” or “stupid”.