Ivan Guzman: Taxes, Debt, Defense Spending, Kid Cudi, and the AL East

Sunday, 25 April 2010 09:07 by Ivan Guzman

Editor's Note: By giving donors complete creative control over gifts geared towards high-need K-12 students, The Generation Project hopes to facilitate personal connection between donors and the kids they are helping.  As part of that effort, we let some of the students that we hope to affect to use this blog to write about their lives, their schools, and anything else they find interesting. Our hope is that by posting kids' own words, we can give you, the donor, some insight into the interests and passions of the students you would be affecting with your gifts. To highlight the kids' own words, their posts are uncensored and unedited and represent the views of the kids and adolescents that authored them, NOT The Generation Project. 

This post was written by Ivan Guzman, a 16-year-old from the Bronx.  Read more about Ivan here, and see his archives here. 

Hello, folks.  Sorry it's been so long since my last post but when schoolwork calls, boy does it call.

Today I'm jam-packing this post with so many topics, your head might explode. (So that was a warning.  If you read the rest of this post your head might explode). In this blog post, I'm touching on politics, sports, gender-based double standards, and music. I'll also make a confession to anyone who has read one of my blog posts.

I'm going to kick it off with politics. This part was inspired by an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher I just watched, so if there are glaring similarities between my points and Maher's, it's because I was inspired by Bill himself. If you're a conservative, I could already see your eyes rolling at the thought of anything Maher's ever said, but hear me out (mostly because I, a liberal, still listen to your side no matter how ridiculous people look dressed up in Revolutionary War costumes).

Now, it's no secret that I'm not a big fan of the Tea Party protesters we've seen rise to fame lately, mostly because I think they have major holes in their arguments. Not tiny holes, I mean BIG holes. Those holes got bigger after I watched Maher's show earlier today.  Tea Party members want fewer taxes and reduction of the national debt, right? Simply put Tea Partiers, you can not have your cake and eat it too. (Trust me, I've watched many sitcoms, it's not realistic). If you want to lower our debt, your taxes will go up. If you want to pay Uncle Sam a little less come tax time, the debt will stay where it's at, or get even bigger. That's just the way it is. Listen, I'd like to be able to take two girls to the next school dance, but much like your wishes, it's not very realistic.

This brings me to my next point. If we want to cut the budget, we should cut defense spending. America spends more than every country in Europe (including Russia), Asia, Australia, and Latin America COMBINED on defense. This leaves me wondering, in defense of what? A terrorist organization that promises attack after attack, yet after 9/11 we've either stopped them or they haven't done anything? I know the counterargument is going to be: well, they haven't done anything because we've spent so much money on defense. Hundreds of billions of dollars on defense still seems like overkill to me, though, especially because most of that money over the past few years hasn't gone to stop terrorism, it's gone to invade countries we have absolutely no business being in (other than oil of course).  

Anyway, if we're spending this much on defense how come we haven't made light-sabres yet? Or jet-packs?

This will be my final point on the Tea Party members. These people might look like the Average Joes on television, but they are just the usual conservative foot soldiers who try to sell others on stuff that won't even benefit them. Meanwhile, the puppet masters reap the political benefits in the shadows (yeah, those same puppet masters who reaped the benefits during the Bush years).

Switching gears now, I want to talk about music. I'm a huge fan of Hip-Hop, I grew up with it here in New York City. Lately, there's been a bit of a renaissance in Hip-Hop. Many would call it just the natural flow of time, with older stars getting...well...older,  while new stars are being made. I am partial to a guy from Cleveland by the name of Kid Cudi. You might know him from his hit "Day N Nite" off his first album "Man On The Moon: The End Of Day". I really like Cudi mostly because he's not afraid to be different from other hip-hop artists. For example, he's not afraid to bare his soul on a song like "Soundtrack 2 My Life". He shows himself to be human and just like you, while many other rappers would rather portray themselves as superhuman. Simply put, I'm a big Kid Cudi fan.

Also, as you all found out in my last post, I'm a massive Green Day fan. Green Day just helped open up their own Broadway play based on their 2004 album "American Idiot". The play is the same title as the album and from what I've heard and read, it's fast, loud, and action-packed. Sounds like Green Day to me. So congrats to Green Day for having your own Broadway play, you continue to give those Gilman folks a reason to hate your guts.

On to sports. Baseball season just got started and I have very high hopes for my defending World Champion New York Yankees. I'm going to keep this short and sweet: we will win the East again. The Rays and Sox aren't nearly as good as us, and as usual I don't even have to mention the rest of the division. We've got the offense. As far as pitching is concerned, the only starter who really scares me is Javier Vasquez.  Yeah, I know he was 4th in the Cy Young Award voting last year, but New York isn't for everybody and Vazquez proved that it wasn't his cup of tea in 2004. Plus, he finished 4th in Cy Young voting in the National League, where the pitcher bats ninth and way more teams rely on small-ball than in the American League. The A.L. is just tougher, go ask Roy Halladay. On a final note, what's up with Andy Pettite's strong start? It's like he's trying to show everyone he's not washed up.

Finally, one long overdue political point that may be a bit blunt: if Scott Brown was a woman and had nude pictures in some magazine years ago, he wouldn't have won that Massachusetts Senate race. It's true that nothing was really showing in Brown's Cosmo photos, but if Brown was a woman the criticism would have been through the roof. It also drives me crazy that the right can use sex appeal way more effectively than the left.

Now my confession.  If you've read my older posts you'd know that I'm a politics nut, a huge Yankees fan, and a massive Green Day fan. Today you find out something new about me. I am (and have always been) a huge wrestling fan. I've loved professional wrestling for as long as I can remember. I was a huge W.C.W. fan in the 90s, even though I was about 5 when the Monday Night Wars got going, and to this day I am still a massive wrestling fan. I love talking watching it, talking about it, and reading about it. Boy, does that feel good.

Finally, if you like what I write here, you should read about my wacky real-life antics on Twitter. Follow me at twitter.com/iMgDuDe25. Signing off folks, I look forward to the next one.

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Starting Philosophy Young

Sunday, 18 April 2010 12:45 by Eli Savit

If you're a thinker, a wonderer, or a philosopher--or if you were as a child--you need to check out this New York Times article about philosophy in elementary schools.  The article details a program in which professors and students from Mount Holyoke are working with Massachusetts elementary school students, using children's books as the basis for discussion about deep philosophical questions.  

I won't recap the whole article here, because you really should read it for yourself.  But here's an excerpt from a second grade class's environmental ethics discussion after reading The Giving Tree:

Most of the young philosophers had no problem with the boy using the tree’s shade. But they were divided on the apples, which the boy sold, the branches, which he used to build a house, and the trunk, which he carved into a boat.

“It’s only a tree,” Justin said with a shrug.

“The tree has feelings!” Keyshawn replied.

Some reasoned that even if the tree wanted the boy to have its apples and branches, there might be unforeseen consequences.

“If they take the tree’s trunk, um, the tree’s not going to live,” said Nyasia.

Isaiah was among only a few pupils who said they would treat an inanimate object differently from a human friend. “Say me and a rock was a friend,” he said. “It would be different, because a rock can’t move. And it can’t look around.”

This gave his classmates pause.

Simply put, this program sounds like pure awesomeness.  Asking deep questions, struggling with hypotheticals, and challenging and reformulating one's own notions and beliefs is what learning is all about.  And the human tendency to wonder and to think deeply starts very young.  As a second grader named Autumn said in the article: "We can say things about what we believe and stuff.  It's what we feel and what we think."

Although the program in Massachusetts is run by philosophy students and professors, it's the kind of thing that can be easily and effectively replicated at schools across the country.  The books involved--The Giving TreeFrog & Toad TogetherMorris The Moose--can all be purchased for less than $10.  The questions raised in these books--what is the nature of courage?  How can we maintain a belief in the face of contrary evidence?--are sure to spark discussion and debate among children at any age.  As an ancillary benefit, encouraging children to think deeply about a story's underlying themes will only bolster students' appreciation for reading and literature.

So, check out the full article at the New York Times.  Then, if you're so inspired, come back to The Generation Project and pledge a set of books to help spark a philosophical debate in a low-income classrooms.  It's cost-effective and meaningful.  And, because it will spark children's own ideas and beliefs, the possibilities are limitless.  

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Now Hiring Interns for Summer 2010!

Tuesday, 13 April 2010 14:18 by Jessica Rauch
The Generation Project is hiring summer interns to work on a variety of projects and priorities throughout summer 2010!  If you're a college or graduate student seeking experience with a cutting-edge education nonprofit, please consider applying to work with us!

The document at the bottom of this post outlines the summer intern application process and the various duties for which interns could be responsible, including: 

  • -Marketing/Advertising/PR
  • -College Initiative Director
  • -Event Planning
  • -Research and Grant Writing
  • -Executive Assistant to the President
  • -Website Development

Because some intern candidates have a variety of skills to offer and are seeking a wide range of experiences, it is possible to work on more than one category of priorities.  Final responsibilities will be determined based on both the most pressing needs of The Generation Project and the degree of interest of selected applicants. 

Application Process
1. Submit a cover letter in the form of an email addressed to the President, Jessica Rauch, at jessica.rauch@thegenerationproject.org. In the email, applicants should include why they hope to work for The Generation Project during summer 2010 as well as the skills they hope to develop through the internship.
2. Attach an updated resume which includes academic GPA and relevant experience.

Available Internships
Because The Generation Project is web-based, it is possible to participate in a summer internship in one of our regions (Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Washington, DC) or virtually (from anywhere with an internet connection).

For more information about specific positions that are available, please download the following document:

The Generation Project Summer 2010 Internship Positions.pdf (339.32 kb)

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