1920's Clothing

     The 1920's fashion was much different from that of previous decades. The cultural change after World War I was apparent in the clothing apparel. It represented more closely to artistic taste, by incorporating elegant designs, delicate fabrics, and a variety of colors for women, and a more baggy, slim and simple style for men. This reflected the sense of the party lifestyle, in which music, theatre, and exciting times were a staple for daily life. Women experienced a period called "the roaring twenties", in which the American population, tired from war, wore new and colorful fabrics accompanied with elegant jewelry, hats, and shoes to represent the joy they felt for the ending of the war. Men's fashion changed drastically. The once "sharp", tight suits were transformed for the young men to become slim and more casual, with unpadded jackets over the trousers, lighter and brighter fabrics then ever before, and an overall more baggy and relaxed look. Women's dresses were brighter and shorter than ever before, giving designers the leisure to experiment with different fabrics and colors. Shoes and stockings also played a larger role in clothing, which is also the cause of corsets becoming smaller, and the bra being introduced. Flappers, as these women were called, wore short dresses with a loose silhouette. Seams also rose to just below the knee, and the knee could be seen while dancing. The women also wore pantsuits, canes, and hats, whose style was named after the novel La Garconne by Victor Margueritte. This look was accompanied by the "bob" haircut, reintroduced by the actress Louise Books. Men took their influence from sports. "Plus" pants, taken from famous golf stars, were categorized by how far the pants fell below the knee before becoming tight around the leg area. The pants were topped with a colorful Fair Isle sweater (sweaters that originated in Scotland that had different colors and patterns.) Men also wore white trousers and V-neck sweaters around town, modeled after tennis players.
     The clothing makes a powerful mark in the first half of The Great Gatsby, which also takes place in the 1920s. The elegance and luxurious aspect is described in almost every chapter, with it being a significant sign for money. At Gatsby's party, the women are wearing elegant dresses accompanied with expensive jewelry, while the men are wearing posh clothing as well. The choice of clothing ties into the characters' desire to have exciting times by partying with alcohol and music.

Pope Resigns

     The article, "Who Will Be Next Pope After Pope Benedict XVI's Resignation?" was written by Cavan Sieczkowski in The Huffington Post on February 11, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church plans to resign from the papal office on February 28, 2013. This marks the first resignation of a pope in the Catholic Church in almost 600 years, with the last pope being Pope Gregory XII in 1415. Benedict was elected in April 2005, and announced Monday, February 11, that he would no longer lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. Traditionally, a Pope's reign ends with his death, and a mourning period continues. However, being that the situation is different, the College of Cardinals will meet to elect the next pope sometime in March. There are 118 electors eligible to vote for the successor as of January 2013, with Italy having the most electors, twenty eight, and the United States having eleven. A conclave, a meeting of the cardinals to elect the next pope, could occur early as mid-March. The conclave must begin fifteen to twenty days after the Pope's resignation, with the eligible cardinals, who are all under the age of eighty, casting their votes in secret at the Sistine Chapel. Two votes are held in the morning, and two in the afternoon, until a new Pope is chosen. The ballots are burned after each round, with black smoke signifying that there has been no decision, and white smoke signifying a new Pope has been chosen. Three Vatican experts told USA Today that the top five cardinal contenders include: Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa; Cardinal Marc Ouellet, former Archbishop of Quebec; Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan; Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture; and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, head of the Vatican's office for Eastern Churches.However, cardinals from Latin America are also in the running, because "The universal Church teaches that Christianity isn't centered on Europe." Also, two cardinals from Africa are each front-runners, which could possibly make them the first black Popes.

Colbert Commends NASA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tnq4TJYN7A

     In this video, Stephen Colbert satirizes the accomplishments of NASA about three years ago. He targets NASA, a United States government agency that deals with aerospace issues, by underplaying their accomplishments in 2010. Colbert wants to force a recognition of common sense, by using his version of President Bush's "bold challenge", which is"launching a probe to find oil in heaven before the decade ends", and showing how he "won" the popular vote in the online node naming competition, but lost the actual competition to the name "Tranquility". Colbert uses the satire technique of exaggeration, congratulating NASA on a great year, by finding "dramatic pictures from Cassini", "finding water on Mars", and their "dramatic discovery of a new administration that believes in science." He also exaggerates when saying that the node name of "Tranquility" will scare the aliens. Colbert also uses innuendo, by aiming the attack on President Bush, implying that the President only cared about finding oil in every inch of the planet, and if he could not find it, he would attempt to use NASA to reach the "oil in heaven." He also aims the attack at the fact that the President lost the popular vote during his election, but somehow managed to win the Presidency. Lastly, Colbert uses distortion to satirize the weight of astronauts. His prize for winning the popular vote was a space treadmill, that was going to be installed in the international space station to slim down the astronauts. Colbert says ,"It's Buzz Aldrin, not Butt Aldrin." He distorts the idea that in reality, astronauts fly to space to escape the scale in the bathroom, and feel the sense of being weightless. Colbert wants the viewer to realize that the NASA has not accomplished as much as it has praised it has. Also, its accomplishments were minor and their pretentiousness is a point to satirize.

Annotation At Its Finest

     The article "Copy of 'The Scarlet Letter' Can't Believe The Notes High Schooler Writing in Margins" was written on January 23, 2013 in theOnion.com. A mass-market paperback edition of The Scarlet Letter confirmed on Wednesday its disbelief that a high school sophomore from Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania, Phoebe Dobson, could write such misguided notes in her The Scarlet Letter book. The high schooler had numerous spelling and grammar mistakes, along with the fact she was able to misinterpret and complicate the book's straightforward plot. Phoebe had written down in the margins that the letter 'A', along with standing for "adulteress", also stood for "America", and that "red=success." She highlighted the entire first page of the book and many unimportant page numbers. Phoebe also not only circled the word 'cottage' every time it came up in the book, she wrote on page thirty seven that the novel might be an allegory for the Civil War, and that the novel's "black man", who represents evil, is a "random black guy who keeps showing up." Along with other mind boggling mistakes, Phoebe referred to the author of the book as Hemingway, and applied nail polish to the about-the-author page that was used to compare slightly different shades of burgundy.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/copy-of-the-scarlet-letter-cant-believe-the-notes,31007/?ref=auto

McDonald's is Sued

     On January 21, 2013, Jeff Karoub wrote the article, "McDonald's To Pay $700,000 To Settle Allegations Franchise Falsely Claimed Food Complied with Halal" in The Huffington Post. Dearborn, Detroit is home to about 150,000 Muslims, one of the nation's largest Arab and Muslim communities. It is also the home of the only two McDonald's in the United States that sells halal products. Halal forbids the consumption of pork, and requires God's name to invoked before an animal provides its meat for consumption to be slaughtered. Dearborn Heights resident, Ahmed Ahmed, a Detroit Health clinic, bought a chicken sandwich in September 2011 at one of the McDonald's that advertises halal Chicken Nuggets and McChicken sandwiches, but found that it was not halal. Ahmed's attorney, Kassem Dakhlallah, said there were no problems on the production side, but he alleges that the McDonald's sold non-halal products when it ran out of halal. "The lawsuit against McDonald's and Finley's Management Co. covers anyone who bought the halal-advertised products from the Ford Road restaurant and another Dearborn McDonald's with a different owner between September 2005 and last Friday. Since that would be impossible to determine, Dakhlallah said both sides agreed to provide money to community-based charities that benefit members of this group. About $275,000 is expected to go to the Huda Clinic, $150,000 to the museum, $230,000 to attorneys and $20,000 to Ahmed."

Observing Nature

     The wind is whistling. Squirrels are fighting over a fallen pine cone. The pool is being kissed with leaves from the nearby trees. The sounds of cars passing through the calm street can be heard from the backyard. The door opens and a 'beep' is heard. The aroma of food from the kitchen fills the air. As I am about to go inside, I suddenly hear chewing noises. Walking around the house, a group of three deers are seen in the neighbors' yard. The large deer is attempting to steal an apple from the tree with its teeth. The two younger deer await for their mother to steal their meal. My grandmother yells my name so that I can eat. The deer are scared and run away. As I go inside, the normal environment of technology surrounds me. The TV is on the highest volume, my brother is playing video games, my mother is on the computer, and I run to my iPhone. The amount of time it took to switch from a calm, serene environment to that of which we experience on a daily basis, took a matter of seconds. It dawns on me that if technology did not exist, our purpose in life would have dramatically changed. Although we are one with our technology, we must learn to keep in touch with our roots, and also be one with nature. The clarity and calmness in our lives is found in an environment unfamiliar with us, in which we must soon become acquainted with if we are persistent in succeeding in life.

Deaf Belgian Twins Euthanized

     The article, "Marc and Eddy Verbessem, Deaf Belgian Twins, Euthanized After Starting to Turn Blind," was written by Eline Gordts on January 14, 2013 in The Huffington Post. Assisted suicide is one of the most controversial topics worldwide. Last month, the first reported double euthanasia of twins worldwide occurred. Marc and Eddy Verbessem, 45, were born deaf and were slowly becoming blind. Fearing they might lose communication with each other, they decided to end their lives together. Belgium is one of the three countries, besides the Netherlands and Switzerland, that allows euthanasia for non-terminally ill patients. They permit euthanasia when a patient requests for it, and the doctor agrees that the patient is in an unbearable physical or psychological pain. Although the law permits it, euthanasia is a highly controversial topic, which was the probable cause as to why the first hospital the twins visited denied their request. It was reported that the twins were happy on the day of their deaths, and were cremated and buried together in identical urns. Judge Nicholas Kearns says, "It would be impossible to ensure the aged, disabled, poor, unwanted, rejected, etc. would not avail of this option to avoid a sense being a burden on their families and society."