A Loving Home

Over the past eight years, since President George W. Bush has been in office there have been many issues.   One major topic is same-sex marriage. Not only do these couples want to get married, they want to raise a family like every other couple.  Same-sex couples should be allowed to raise a family, it shouldn’t matter what their sexual orientation is as long as they can provide a loving and supportive household.  Even though same-sex couples do not have the right to be legally married, that does not mean that they cannot raise a loving family

In general adoption agencies do not try to steer away gay and lesbian couples.  60 percent of all adoption agencies accept gay and lesbian applications (Gandossy).  The agencies do not believe that it matters and that as long as they fit the requirements of being a good parent that is good enough for them.  “The quality of the relationship between parents can have a profound impact on their child’s behavior” (Johnson, Suzanne). This basically means that as long as the parents are in a good stable relationship the child will have better behavior than a child with parents who do not have a stable relationship. Organizations such as the National Adoption Center, the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics all say that having gay parents does not affect children negatively (Gandossy).  Adam Pertman also says “There’s no rational reason to exclude someone (who clears the vetting process)” (Gandossy).  Everyone deserves a chance to raise a family, but many American voters are trying to stop this.

Of course discriminating Americans are trying to take rights away from gays and lesbians.  They believe that a household should have a father and a mother.   There is nothing wrong with having two mothers or two fathers.  None of them have though about single parents. The children in those households only have one parent figure and a lot of the time they may have boyfriends and girlfriends coming and going, which in reality could be worse for a child.

In this situation many Americans are torn about allowing homosexual couples to adopt.  In 2006, a study showed that 46 percent of Americans support homosexual adoption (Gandossy).  This is a large percentage and it keeps growing.  If Americans take away the right for same-sex couples to adopt it decreases the amount of potential parents.  In Florida’s past election they decided to not allow homosexual couples to adopt anymore (Johnson). I believe they should not discriminate against homosexual people who want to be parents.

Adam Pertman the executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute said,” There is no credible social science evidence to support that gay parenting – and by extension, gay adoptive parenting – negatively affects the well being of children “ (Gandossy).

True Florida is the only state that does not allow homosexuals to adopt.  Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi,  Tennessee, and Ohio are considering amendments against it (Johnson).  People need to stop trying to take rights away, especially since same sex couples don’t do anything to anyone else to try and hurt them.  The citizens of this country should stay out of other people’s business. They should allow Gay and Lesbian couples to live the way that they wish to live.

Admittedly I can understand people’s concerns about only having two fathers or mothers in family.  James Dobson who is the head of Focus on the Family said that “love alone is not enough to guarantee healthy growth and development. “ He also said “The two most loving women in the world cannot provide a daddy for a little boy any more than the two most loving men cannot be complete role models for a little girl” (Gandossy).  In a way I agree with his statements but has he thought about what other people could to help that? Most people do not think about the options that same-sex couples could take to help their child. There are so many opportunities for homosexual couples by having two mothers or two fathers is not going to affect how the child grows up.

Same-sex couples are not allowed to be legally married, but they are undoubtedly as capable as anyone else who wants to raise a family. In the United States between 8 and 10 million children are being raised in Gay and Lesbian households (Craft).  This is a high number to some people but to me it’s too low.  More people need to be more open to different people being able to adopt and raise a family.  Almost every state except Florida and Arkansas permits gay adoption (Johnson).  This needs to change, and within the next couple of years there will be a lot of changes hopefully this is one of them.  There are many children in need of loving and supporting homes; by allowing same-sex couples to adopt we create more and better opportunities for these children.

 

Works Cited:

Craft, Carrie. “Gay Adoption Basics.” Adoption/ Foster Care. About.com.                         5 Nov. 2008 

          <http://adoption.about.com/od/gaylesbian/ss/gayadopt101_2.htm>.

 

Gandossy, Taylor. “A New Take on the American Family.” Gay Adoption.                       27 June 2007. CNN.com. 5 Nov. 2008                                                                                     <http://www.cnn.com/2007/us/06/25/gay.adoption/index.html>.

 

Johnson, Ramon. “Where is Gay Adoption Legal?” About.com: Gay Life. 5                     Nov. 2008. About.com. 9 Nov. 2008                                                                                        <http://gaylife.about.com/od/gayparentingadoption/a/gaycouple                                 adopt_2.htm>.

 

Johnson, Suzanne, and Elizabeth O’Connor. The Gay Baby Boom : The                             Psychology of Gay Parenthood. New York, NY: New York UP, 2002.16.

 

 

Distance VS. Sprinting

            Swimming has always been a part of my life, and I’ve been through it all.  I went from being a sprinter to a breaststroker to a butter flyer and then eventually what I am today, a distance swimmer.  There are mainly two types of swimming, sprinting and distance. They both require a lot of the same commitments but both also offer diverse things. Distance and sprinting are both alike but people don’t know how different they are.

            Even though they are different types of racing both need a large amount of time commitment and dedication. No one type of swimming is easier than the other; they require the same amount of training at the same amount of difficulty.  For both distance and sprinting you need to know what you need to do to become faster.            The biggest reason why distance and sprinting are different is because sprint races are shorter and distance races are longer.  Distance races only involve freestyle while sprint races can involve all four strokes. Sprint races can take twenty-two seconds when a distance race could take almost twenty minutes. 

Knowing that distance swimming requires a tremendous amount of endurance; the practices are longer and the workouts are longer.  They have to keep themselves motivated throughout a workout, keeping their arms and their legs moving as they glide through the water. Dan Benardot worked with the 1996 Olympic team and he knows a lot about endurance athletes. “It appears that the endurance swimmer can work harder” (Benardot). The physical make up of a distance swimmer is the complete opposite of a sprint swimmer.  Distance swimmers are lean and don’t have a lot of muscle mass, they are considered toned athletes.  The breathing method is also different. Distance swimmers have prolonged breathing and take long deep breaths.  Distance swimmers could also do sprinting events because they need to sprint at the end of doing their long events.

Sprint swimmers require muscular recognition, which means that when they train they train their bodies to recognize when they need to go fast in a race. The workouts are shorter but they are quicker than distance swimming.  They create wake as they propel themselves through the water like a rocket, allowing them to go as fast as they can. The body make up of a sprinter is a lot more muscular than a distance swimmer they are more built. Also, sprinters take shorter breaths because in their races they don’t have time to waste, even to breathe.

Distance swimming and sprint swimming are both very different. They are similar in ways because they involve hard work.  The majority of the time, though, they are extremely different.  Swimming is difficult sport and every event that there is requires dedication, no matter what it takes.

 

 

Works Cited:

Benardot, Dan. “Distance Swimming.” Health Line. 7 Dec. 2008                                        <http://www.healthline.com/hlbook/nut-distance-swimming>.

My Influence

            There are always going to be people who influence you, but they won’t always be there for you.  My mom is my rock, she is that one person in my life that influences me and I know will always be there.  She  has been through so much in her life from losing her father to battling cancer. Also, she takes care of my family and supports me in everything that I want to do in life.

            The first reason why my mom is a positive influence on my life is all of the battles that she overcame.  When I was just an infant her father passed.  My mother was very close to her father all throughout her life.  It was hard for her to overcome that, and she still thinks about him today.  She has many memories about her father.  They would take long car rides through the busy city of Chicago in a red ford mustang, despite that she has 4 sisters her father would always make time for my mom. 

Despite that she also battled cancer when I was fourteen, when she found out she was at stage four.  She went through chemotherapy and radiation.  I’ve never seen someone so sick like they were on their deathbed, so had almost no energy. Coming home from school she would be on bed rest, her face as pale as the white walls of a hospital.  The room would smell like bleach and citrus and she would wear a bright blue, red, or a multi-colored scarf around her head because of the hair loss. Water was always by her side because of dehydration. She has overcome obstacles that many people do not normally face, and she is still able to balance a family along with them.

            The second reason why my mom is an influence is her ability to take care of my family.  She balances taking care of my sister, my brother, and me. My brother needs more attention because of his disability.  She helps my brother with eating and getting ready for the day, and she always makes sure that he looks his best and that he is well put together. He always wears some sort of band t-shirt with dark colored jeans.  My mom makes sure that he is always involved in activities like power soccer, baseball, and floor hockey.  Even though she does all of that she also manages our family home inspection business alongside my father.  She books the jobs and helps my dad with the paperwork.  She also works another part-time job for families with kids with disabilities on top of that, and yet she still finds time for all of us. 

            The third reason why my mom is a big influence is that she supports everything that I want to do and be.  She has always been my number one fan when it comes to my triathlons. When I would cross the finish line I would see her standing there holding a water in one hand and a banana in the other and then she would have a huge grin across her face and give me a hug as I collapse in her arms.  I always have support from her with swimming in college because she knew that it was something that I always wanted to do. She was able to help me receive my scholarship because she knew that I could get one despite what my coaches had said in the past.  My mom wants the best for all of us, and she will do anything she can to help us get where we want.

            My mom has overcome many things in her life, but she always tells me that she doesn’t know what she would do without us in her life.  My mom is the backbone of our family and she makes a huge impact on my family and my family makes an impact on my mom.  She is always the one that we go to for anything and we know that she will always be there. 

Starting New

            As nervousness swept over my mind I closed my eyes and allowed the water to submerge my body.  I sprinted away from the wall, arms pumping, legs kicking as fast I could I raced for the ball.  Barely beating out the other player. I threw the ball to the teammate trailing in my wake.  With almost not enough time to break away from the opposite team I let myself go to get in front of the goal to make the first shot, without hesitation. 

            I fell in love with water polo when I started playing my freshman year in high school.  I’ve played a lot of sports, but nothing was like this one.  I used to be on a state winning team, and I used to be in the starting line-up.  Until the day I had to end it.

            Throughout my water polo career I’ve only had one water polo coach, and I knew him for four years prior to high school.  He excelled in science and at one point on his life he wanted to be a doctor.  Being a Spanish teacher he always had a good connection with kids.  He was someone that I trusted and that I could go to about anything, until the day came that he didn’t care about anything or anyone but himself.  He would come to morning practices looking as if someone hit him upside the head with a bat, but that was our water polo coach with a hangover.  He would cross the line with some of the girls on the team by flirting with them and everyone was too naive to do or say anything about it. When he stopped caring about the well being of the team, I stopped caring.

At that point he would make it obvious that he didn’t want to be there.  Whenever we would be warming up for practice or doing a swim set he would be over talking to the boys coach or helping out the boys team, and that wasn’t fair.  We all knew that he wanted to coach the boys more than us, even though we go to state every year and we always have gotten in the top three.  That didn’t make a difference.

            Once that started happening I would end up talking back to him about petty things and that was not my nature, that’s when I realized that I needed to make a change in my lifestyle.  He realized that I had more in my life than just Water Polo, so he stopped putting me on the starting line-up and would only put me in when we were against teams that even the less experienced players could beat.  I couldn’t take it anymore.  I was heavily involved in triathlons and my triathlon coach was expecting me to make the USA National Triathlon Team; I couldn’t let someone down who truly cared about me, not only as an athlete but also as a person.

            The day finally came when my water polo coach came to morning practice and yelled at everyone to, “Move their asses and to stop slacking off”.  It was not only the last straw for me; it was the last straw for our captain. She walked out of practice because he said that she was the prime example of someone who doesn’t care, when in reality he was the one who didn’t care.   That was the same day as my best game and the same day that I quit.

            That afternoon I walked onto the pool deck, headphones blaring Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard” in my ears. I allowed the music to drown everything out, because I knew that it was my last game and it was against our archrivals, Libertyville.  He did not start me, but I didn’t expect him to so I knew that when he eventually had to put me in I would go all out.  I wasn’t in the first two quarters and we were down by four goals, and then after halftime he called my name, “Elyse! Get in, you’re doing the swim off”.  Without hesitation I made sure my cap was tight around my chin and I walked to the farthest end of the eight-lane pool.  The referee blew his whistle and I jumped into the now freezing cold water.  I treaded there, waiting for the whistle to blow; then I was finally off. Neither my arms nor my legs ever felt like this before; they felt as if they were making me fly, and then I got the ball first.   I swam away from my team’s end of the pool to the opposite side and I received the ball in front of my arm strokes. I was placed face to face with Libertyville’s goalie and I shot the ball past her.  I continued this striking streak throughout the game.  I was able to make about 75% of the shots that game, ending the game in the score of 16-6, Stevenson.  

            After the game I prepared myself to tell my coach that I couldn’t be on the team anymore, but I still didn’t know what to say.  How do you tell someone that you’ve trusted in the past that the reason why you’re leaving their team is because of them? I didn’t, but I knew that I needed to tell him the truth and not try to make excuses.  

            I walked up to him steadily, he was behind the scoring system when I found him and he was looking down at what he was doing and didn’t look up the entire time I talked. 

            “ Hey Coach.”

            He said in his sarcastic tone, “What do you need?” He didn’t even flinch to look up at me.

            “ I can’t be on the team anymore, it’s starting to take a lot out of me and the way that you’re treating me and some of the other girls is wrong and-“ He cut me off.

            “Fine, turn in your caps.” He said as he walked away. I slowly put my caps on the scoring table and walked away without looking back.

            The next day I got the paper on a Friday morning, and I turned to the sports section to look at what story was written about our team that game.  The headline read: “Sawka Shuts Down Wildcats”.   As soon as I read that I knew that I didn’t have any hard feelings about quitting the team, because I knew that my coach was too immature to handle his job, and I knew that I was doing the right thing all along.  It made me realize that I shouldn’t let others influence the way I act or think because they have their own insecurities.  That experience made me a stronger person and now I know that no one, not even a coach can tell me different.  I was able to make my triathlon coach proud by making the USA National Triathlon team.  I now know who true coaches are. 

Bowling For Columbine

This documentary is interesting, it is about gun control.  Many of the people in the movie are ignorant.  They say that they want to protect their families by keeping a gun in the house, yet when a crime happens or an accident happens the kids get the gun from a relative.  The constitution says “right to bear arms” but people are abusing that power now, instead of having just one gun to protect themselves they have multiple guns.  By having so many gun is a household it raises the chance of an accident or crime happening. It’s to easy for people to get a hold of guns and when they do big tragedies.

My Top 10 Websites

1. Facebook

2. NMU

3. Alternative Press

4. National Geographic

5. Rolling Stone

 

These are the only websites that I visit besides “Facebook” and “NMU” I look at the other websites for the future job that I want as a professional photographer.

The New President

It was announced last night as millions of Americans sat, huddled around their televisions waiting for the announcement of the new president.  Barak Obama will be the president for at least the next four years, and i thank god for that.  For me and my family it will benefit us, because of his policies on people with disabilities and college students.  He will make the changes that this country so badly needs.  Hopefully we can break the racial barrier and we can get past all of the slurs.  The rest of the world is starting to move past it, why can’t we? It shouldn’t matter what color is skin is. He will make amazing changes for this country and I know that the rest of the world is rooting for us.  They know all of the crap that we had to deal with Bush in office and now we need someone to clean it up, Obama is the one to do it.  It’s a shame that he has to be the one to clean up someone elses mess but we’re the people who elected bush. I’m glad that we’ve learned our lesson.

10 Pet Peeves

1. People who wear swim caps the wrong way

2. soccer moms

3. stupid girls

4. stupid girls who think they’re smart

5. Girls who think they are badasses

6. Screaming Children

7. People who walk REALLY SLOW!

8. People who just don’t know how to drive

9. People who are in love with celeb’s

10. People who try to talk shit to you in an e-mail of some sort but don’t know how to spell

Opinion- Obama as President!

THANK GOD!!! As I watched the election yesterday I was nervous in the beginning with McCain receiving most of the electoral votes. Little did I know that Obama would win by a landslide. I got a huge waft of relief that came over me when I found out who our president will be.  Our country will eventually be put back on track and hopefully recover from Bush.

Debating

1. Triathlons

2. Politics

3. Animal Testing

4. Global Warming

5. Swimming

6. Women in Society

7. Sports

8. White Sox

9. The Bears

10. Snowboarding

 

Sometimes I feel that i need to know more about the topic that I am arguing because I don’t want to get stuck into a corner.  I like debating because it helps me voice my opinion and it allows me to really tell people what I think and go against what they are saying.  Debating really helps people think about the topic even if they are just listening, because then they can hear different points of view and they can really think about things.