The Arts Bloom in Greece’s Second City

        Right now Greece is in an economic spiral, but in Salonika, which is about 320 miles north of Athens, the economy is thriving. There are new art galleries and nigh clubs opening, along with the International Film Festival being held there this month. Salonika is the cultural capitol of Greece and is drawing in the youth to come celebrate its success. The city, " Punctuated by palm trees and relics of antiquity, mazelike city streets open to century-old marketplaces, where ripe produce, freshly dismembered livestock and an extravagance of spices still form the city’s commercial heart", is capturing the hearts of travelers from around the world. There is also the nonprofit Dynamo Project Space, where new artists can go and become inspired. There are nightclubs on every block and the youth enjoys the joyous atmosphere that surrounds them. Maybe the capitol should listen to Koureas Grigoris who said, " “It’s better to have a place full of people who want to be out and listen to the music. Not everything’s about money".
         Writer Charly Wilder wants to show her readers that not all of Greece is in economic turmoil. Wilder's audience is the youth who have only seen the destruction of governments and economic recessions. The purpose of this article is to explore the wonderful city of Salonika and display everything that is has to offer. The article acted like a brochure, explaining some of the city's "hot spots" to visit. Wilder kept the article upbeat and filled with excitement to contrast the many negative articles written about Greece lately.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/travel/salonika-greeces-cultural-capital.html?pagewanted=1&ref=travel

Is the Era of the Motorcycle Over?

           I am not a fan of motorcycles; they are loud, unsafe, and occasionally tacky. From the first paragraph I knew that the author was a proud owner of four motorcycles and was certainly going to be biased, but the article took an unexpected turn. Frederick Seidel made the argument that the motorcycle industry is losing its customers to Apple. Motorcycles are now mainly for middle-ages men and Apple, "It’s their operating speeds that thrill. Young people cut a bella figura on their electronic devices". Seidel says that fifty years ago it was cool to own a motorcycle and now they are losing to Apple, so will Apple lose its customers to another product fifty years in the future? I don't think that will ever happen in my lifetime, but Seidel's argument made me realize that in the economy, companies benefit from others losses.
        Seidel's audience would be middle-aged men who enjoy motorcycles, and like him are disappointed by the younger generations loss of interest in them. His article mainly focused on the industry and how it is losing customers to Apple, but also to comment on the new Ducati motorcycle, debuting this week in Italy. His goal through this article is to get the younger generation interested in motorcycles, but for us a motorcycle would not be affected for our everyday lives. A motorcycle is a luxury item, when a computer is now a necessity for today's young adults.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/opinion/sunday/is-the-iphone-replacing-the-motorcycle.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Before I Fall

Falling Crime, Teeming Prisons

        The number of people in jail is increasing, while the crime rate is decreasing. The relationship was confusing at first, but then it made sense. The crime rate is decreasing because everyone who committed the crime is in jail, overpopulating the prisons. "The United States has 5 percent of the world’s population, yet 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.", this is pathetic. Is this because of incompetent parents, the area which we grew up in, or the bad economy? There are many factors that could affect this statistic, but none are mentioned in this article. "Spending on prisons has reached $77 billion a year" and now we have to wonder if we really want our tax dollars to be spent on criminals that probably have never paid into our government because they are spending life in prison. Prisons are now being used as a, "warehouse for people with drug or alcohol addiction", with less than half of the inmates being charged with a violet crime. We need prison reform.
      The New York Times editorial is very informative and influential. They want prison reform very badly and expressed everything in a short, but strong manner. I would not want to be the one in charge of prison reform, but this problem will not go away overnight. Prison reform was put on the back burner because of the weak economy, but its now or never to fix this ever-growing problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/falling-crime-teeming-prisons.html?src=recg

Can you become addicted to anything?

          Are you addicted to exercise? Addicted to food? Addicted to gambling? Researchers are proving that people can become addicted to anything that heightens the pleasure area of the brain.They are now examining brain scans from multiple tests, one being involved in women addicted to money. The scans proved that the women were happier when they received money, but also when they gave it to charity. The more money they received, the happier that they became. Rats are common "test dummies" and were used in an experiment involving cocaine. Drugs such as cocaine, lite up the pleasure centers and actually rewired the brain to increase cravings. You can compared the normal brain scans to the one addicted to cocaine and tell the difference, the addicted one's is lite up like the Fourth of July. Now doctors are considering if people can also become addicted to exercise. With the information they have now, the answer is pointing to yes because exercise releases endorphins and other "happy" brain chemicals and people become addicted to that happy feeling.
         Writer, Nicholas D. Kristof, is a very informative, but light - hearted writer. He jokes about his own possible addiction to exercise and keeps the tone light and enjoyable. He himself does now make any predictions about what future results might be, but is convinced that people can become addicted to anything. I found this article enjoyable to read and very interesting. I would like to see some of these brain scans to see for myself if people can really be addicted to anything.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/kristof-addicted-to-exercise.html?src=recg

You want to Track Me? Here you go, F.B.I.

         Imagine being followed by the government? Your every move is noted and every person you meet is open to investigation. This is Hasan M. Elahi life. When traveling back to America, he was questioned for months by the F.B.I., accusing him of having explosives and asking him where he was on September 12, 2001. Luckily, Elahi had his phone which had his schedule with detailed accounts of his daily events. He used this, and passing polygraph exams, to convince the F.B.I. that he was not a threat. So once he was cleared an agent told him to call whenever he was planning on flying, Elahi agreed, but he went one step further. Elahi set up a website with a complete schedule of his entire life, complete with picture of the places he had been, the flight number of every plane ride, satellite images of him walking down a street, and more. Elahi wanted to make sure that he was never accused of anything like this again.
       Elahi compares his website to Facebook because they both have picture and "status updates", but his site came first. Elahi is very brave to tell this story because many people could read the first three line and think that he is a terrorist, but that is not the case. He tone is a little sarcastic when talking about the F.B.I. and how they can now watch his every move. I find it a little creepy that he set up this website with pictures and wrote about his whereabouts in such detail. Anybody could see this information and what happens when a crazy person gets their hands on this kind of personal information, it's scary. I would never set up a website like this, but it seemed to work out for Elahi.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/giving-the-fbi-what-it-wants.html?_r=2

At Elite Schools, Easing Up a Bit on Homework

           We all know the burden of  homework and the toll that it takes on our stress levels. I am not a fan of homework and get very stressed out about it almost everyday. Lisa Waller, director of the high school at Dalton, is a very smart women. She understands the stress that homework puts on the elite students and focus' on the importance of sleep. It a very common thing to hear someone talking in the hallway about how they stayed up until two am finishing a paper. I am a fan of sleeping, if I could I would never wake up, but that is just not realist. I am so happy that someone is realizing how important sleep is to an average, stressed out high school student. "Denise Pope...looked at 496 students at one private and one public school and found that those with more than 3.5 hours of homework a night had an increased risk of physical and mental health issues, like sleep deprivation, ulcers and headaches", this is not a situation worth continuing. It gets worse, "In a separate study of 26 schools, Ms. Pope said, 67 percent of more than 10,000 students reported that they were “often” or “always” stressed out.", and this number will not decrease unless action takes place. Now I am not complaining about HHS workload a whole lot, especially compared to some of the elite New York private schools mentioned, but teachers never seem to understand that many other teachers give homework as well and soon it all piles up into a stack so high that a student is buried by their homework.
       Jenny Anderson, from the New York Times, seems to be a very understanding women. She sides with the students, believing that too much stress on a young student can cause some serious damage. Her target audience is students because they will agree with her beliefes. It was a nice article, with simple sentences, interesting statistics and a clear point of view. All school's should follow this trend of less homework in hopes for more sleep.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/education/24homework.html?pagewanted=2&ref=general&src=me