Death Penalty article response

Death Penalty's False Promise: An Eye for an Eye by Anna Quindlen is a hard hitting article on her thoughts about death penalties. Anna uses Ted Bundy as an example to base her opinions of death penalty on, and provides examples of the crimes he committed. Ted Bundy was a serial killer and rapist during the 1970’s. As early on as his teenage years Ted Bundy killed and raped over 30 young girls. Ted Bundy was executed by the electric chair at the age of 42, and people at the time truly believed that he deserved it.

Anna talks in the beginning of the article about how she followed along with the murder cases, and could see herself as being one of the victims. She concludes with the idea that death penalty is not right even in extreme cases such as Ted Bundy. The victim’s parents did want to see Ted Bundy die because they thought it would be fair, and other people also supported Ted Bundy’s death penalty. However Anna states “...not only because it consists of stooping to the level of the killers, but also because it is not what it seems.” She makes an agreeable point to the fact that killing a person just because they killed many people does not serve a justice.

Anna concludes her article with this statement “What he wants is for something as horrifying as what happened to his child to happen to Ted Bundy. And that is impossible.”. That statement helped prove to me that Anna is somewhat right. The victim’s parents feel that the murderer of their children should feel as much pain in dying as their innocent girl’s had, but what I think Anna is saying is the girls had such horrible deaths caused by Ted Bundy that it is almost impossible to do something just as bad.

Anna makes strong points that are agreeable. Death Penalties seems as if it is an easy way out for the criminal. Yes the death is somewhat painful, but that doesn’t make the criminal regret what they did. If they locked the criminal up in a high security prison then perhaps they would have enough time to reflect, wonder how good their lives could’ve been, and then regret their actions. In the case of Ted Bundy I feel differently. Ted Bundy escaped prison, had many court cases, and still continued his actions. I believe that the only way for Ted Bundy to be stopped was for him to be killed. He might’ve not regretted his life decisions, but if he was still alive he could have potentially always find a way to get back to murdering woman. Death Penalty should not be used all the time, but in extreme cases where nothing else can be done to stop a person such as Ted Bundy it was needed.

Living in 1838

So if you haven't heard of Old Sturbridge Village you should probably go back to my last post to learn what Old Sturbridge Village is about.
What not many people know about me is that I am a 4-H intern at Old Sturbridge Village! There are three types of interns at OSV. There are college interns which stay throughout the whole summer at the Old Sturbridge hotel, and they help out with all aspects of the village. Junior interns make up the majority of the interns. Junior interns help in cooking, with summer camp, gardens (sometimes), dying wool, and games. The next branch of interns is the 4-H interns which there is not as many of. These interns are from the 4-H and FFA programs, meaning that they have experience working with animals and plants. These interns are the same ages as Junior Interns (14-18). 4-H interns are very important at OSV, and have more responsibilities than junior interns. 4-H interns work strictly in the gardens, and with the dairy. Being a 4-H intern is an amazing experience, and one of my favorite parts of summer.

In case you are wondering, yes I do have to wear a costume. I am out in 80 degree heat in a dress, long apron, petticoat, long socks, and then my underneath clothes (basically shorts just and a tank top). No, it is not that hot. All of the clothes are made of cotton so it is very breathable. I do have to wear my hair up in a bun, and covered with a bonnet. The only part of my costume that is bothersome is my sun bonnet. This is a bonnet to be worn outside (which I always am) and have a huge rim that covers my face, and a flap that covers my neck. Being a 4-H intern I do not get a delicate straw hat like the other interns which is good because I hear they are a pain. That is just part of my summer wardrobe which I will probably never post pictures of. Winter wardrobes have so much more pieces to them, but are so much nicer looking so expect pictures of those.

My schedule as a 4-H intern consists of working in the garden for the morning, early afternoon, taking the calves out for Meet the Calf twice a day, and the late afternoon milking the cows, and feeding bottle to the calves. My favorite part of the day is when I do Meet the Calf. Meet the Calf takes place in the morning and the afternoon every day. What I do is put a halter on the calf, walk it out of it's stall (or field), and take it outside so visitors can pet the calf. I have to talk about the calf all while making sure the calf doesn't get to overwhelmed by the crowd of people. I also help with milking in the afternoon. Yes, I actually milk a whole cow by myself, by hand. Half the time there is another 4-H intern to help, but I am often alone. On average there is 3 cows, 2 are milked twice a day, and 1 is milked once a day. The milkmaid will talk, and milk our best cow Betsy who is nearest to the watching area. That leaves us to milking Button the cow in the back, and who likes to kick. Milking is not so bad, but it is hard work. In the end it is all worth it because I get to make the bottles, and feed them to the calves. By that time of day the village is a half hour to closing time so there is little to none visitors. The only part I do not really like is cleaning the milking buckets after. The buckets are made of wood so to clean them you must rinse them under cold water, and use a knife along the rim to get all of the milk out. It is a really long process that I dread doing, but sometimes the milkmaid will scrub out the buckets leaving me for more time to play with the calves!

I am really missing summer, my internship, and my calves right now so I am going to start posting my favorite stories about working over at Old Sturbridge Village, and I promise they won't be as long as this one!

me in my winter wardrobe with my calves 

pattern of one of my summer dresses 

Old Sturbridge Village: throughout the months

Old Sturbridge Village is a living history museum located in Sturbridge MA depicting what life would be like in 1838. When you walk in it looks like you are in an 1800's town. Visitors are allowed to walk all around, go in the houses (restored from the 1800's), and participate in activities. The village is open all year long, and there is a variety of events constantly going on.
 In March-June new calves, and lambs are born, and the gardens are getting ready to be planted. There will typically be 3 calves a year and around 20 little lambs running around!
In June-August the calves are out, the cows are being milked, and gardens are in full bloom. There are many fun events like antique car day, Redcoats vs Rebels (the re-enactment of the civil war), and many many more! Old Sturbridge Village also puts on a farmers market on the weekends during this time of year.
 August-October is harvest time at the village. The gardens are finishing growing, being harvested, and put to bed for the winter. As it gets colder the winter dresses come out, the foliage is spectacular, the cows are being dried off, and the calves are bigger. During harvest there is also an abundance of apples! There is an event in October that is the village's final event of the year for all farming aspects. At this time all gardens are done being harvest, it is the last days for the interns for the year, the last meet the calf events, cider is being made, and apple tasting is going on.
November is a slow month and the only big event is Thanksgiving.
 Once December comes the village is back to business. The village only will open Friday-Sunday evenings for Christmas by Candlelight. Christmas by Candlelight is by far the biggest event at Old Sturbridge Village (red coats vs rebels second). During Christmas by Candlelight the village is all lit up with lights and lanterns. There is 1800's hot chocolate, and mulled cider (which you can make little spice bags to put in), Mrs. Cratchit's Christmas dinner being made, ornament making, toy train making, gingerbread house contest, Santa in his workshop, carolers, story telling, bonfires, sleigh rides, dancing, local groups preforming, and so much more!
January-February is quiet with not many events going on, but very pretty to go for pictures.
If you are interesting in visiting, and want more information the website link is here: https://www.osv.org/

Redcoats vs Rebels Encampment on the Common (August)

 Doc or Blue - one of OSV's old lineback oxen (gone now)

Freeman Farm at Dusk

 Redcoats vs Rebels Calvary horses in Fenno Barn Pasture(August)

Redcoats vs Rebels encampment near the church (August)

 Freeman Farm barn 

Watermelon growing in Freeman Farm garden

2015 OSV calves left to right: Sid, Tom, May (early August)

The Cattle Herd (2 oxen, 3 cows, 3 yearlings)

Center Village Common with foliage (October)

 Looking onto Fenno Barn Pasture (October)

Foliage over Towne house garden (October)

Center Village (October)

Church (October) 

2015 OSV calves left to right: Tom, Sid, May (November)

Cooking in the Freeman Farmhouse kitchen (November)

Covered Bridge (November)

Towne House (November)

Center Village common (November)

Parsonage House during Christmas by Candlelight (December)

Fenno Barn Pasture (December)

Inside Parsonage Barn during Christmas by Candlelight (December)

Christmas Tree for Christmas by Candlelight (December)

Lantern and Towne House during Christmas by Candlelight (December)

2015 calf May in Fenno barn pasture for Christmas by Candlelight (December)

2015 calves Tom (in back) and Sid (December)

Standardized Testing in America

             Standardized testing has become more widely used in education within the last decade. Standardized testing is suppose to be a fair, non discriminatory way to measure how much a student has learned. The test is set by state standards to determine what students should know. Educators from the state create the test questions, test them out in a field group of students, and then are put into the test. The field test responses are judged based on how gender, and race of students effected the response. The questions that pass the field test are then put into the test. Once the test is taken students are graded based on the state standards. This way of testing is unfair for students. Students should not be measured based on standards that people set. Students have different mentalities, teachers, and ways of learning that could be variables in what could cause students to do poorly on these tests.
    As a student my Massachusetts state test is the MCAS. We usually take this test between the months of March and May. Ever since 3rd grade we have had it drilled into our heads that we will take this test once a year for grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 8, and 10. We have also been told that colleges look at these tests, and if we fail the test in 10th grade then we will not get into college. Yes, teachers do tell their 3rd grade students that if they fail the test in 10th grade we won't be accepted to a college. That is a huge amount of pressure building up on students through out the years. Sure enough this year is my 10th grade year, and the very last year of MCAS. As I am in my last year with MCAS my brothers are starting their first year of standardized testing with the PARCC test. The PARCC test is the new version of MCAS except taken online. PARCC stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. Why should 3rd grade students take a test on getting ready for college? The companies that distribute the tests claim that these tests are "stress free" for students. This is in fact the opposite. Students get easily stressed out because we know that we are not ready for the test. In elementary school I spent the majority of the year doing MCAS prep, taking old MCAS tests in math, and English, and doing open response essay questions from the previous years. I can distinctly remember my teachers going onto the smartboard, pulling up the rubric for the open responses, and reading past open responses grade 0-6 , and the class would always laugh at the 0 or 1 responses. Spending most of our year reading old test questions is not preparing us for the new test questions.
         Standardized testing should no longer be in the schools. Students should not have to be pressured into taking a test that in the long run will not affect their careers. Adults such as educators or politicians spend their adult lives working to make the future better for the kids of the next generations. The problem is that educators try to make our education system better by using old ideas. Our education system was set up in in the enlightenment era. This is the 21st century, and we need a new system of education which eliminates standardized testing.
 

Standardizedtests.procon.org

Standardizedtests.procon.org,. "Standardized Tests - Procon.Org". N. p., 2016. Web. 31 Jan. 2016.

Bee

I have no idea how I managed to get so close to this bee! I took this picture this past August at my neighbor Ruby's house. Surprisingly I managed to capture this with my iPhone camera. One of my personal insect photos I have taken!

New Year's resolution prompt for class

The excerpt by John Tierney is using statistics to show that the majority of people will break their New Year's resolution. If someone with a New Year's resolution was to read this excerpt, they will have higher chances of breaking their New Year's resolution rather than succeeding. Unlike the excerpt the article by Tara Parker-Pope is encouraging people to go through with their resolutions. Tara Parker-Pope also says that most people will not succeed in their resolutions, but that is why she includes tips for succeeding. I agree with her statement that if you have too many resolutions then you will not have enough willpower to finish them all. To really succeed at a New Year's resolution you need to be able to focus on accomplishing it. If there are too many things you wish to change, then you will give up before you can change them all. 

My tendency is an obliger. Being an obliger I am able to meet my outer expectations, but not my inner. What I mean by that is that I can keep other people's promises to myself, but I am not able to keep my promises to myself. I put other people expectations for me before my own. This gives my personal New Year's resolutions a higher chance of breaking. This can be an obstacle when accomplishing goals because it makes it harder to achieve my personal goals. If I know that someone expects me to achieve a certain goal, then I will be more likely to achieve. I hope that this does not affect my career goals, but I doubt that it will. 

My Header Photo

I thought that I should explain my header picture. I took this picture this past summer at Camp Marshall where I was a CIT (counselor in training). One night after we had a luau cookout, every person at the camp got to make a wish. We would light our candles, make a wish, and put the paper lantern into the water. Many of the lanterns caught on fire or sank, but in the end the meaning behind it was really special.