Gadsden, Alabama

GADSDEN, Alabama (CNN) — Police believe the mother of a 5-year-old boy and her boyfriend staged his abduction — which led to an Amber Alert — to cover up his death as a result of “physical abuse and trauma,” Sheriff James Hayes said Tuesday.

Death of boy tied to mother, boyfriend, police say – CNN.com

These stories are always sad.  How sick do you have to be to kill your own child?  It’s possible to “get rid” of a child in many other ways than killing.  Like adoption.  It’s sad how many of these stories you see on the news.  They’re all about parents killing their own children…blaming it on mental issues and stuff.  I don’t find that to be a legitimate excuse.  It makes me angry. May Geontae’s soul rest in peace.

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Brave Young Boy

A quick-thinking 9-year-old pulls over the family car on a busy highway and calls 911 after his mother falls unconscious.

Yahoo!

This is a pretty amazing story. Jimmy Stevens was a passenger in the car with his mother and two siblings. His mother passed out at the driver’s seat and it’s surprising to hear that his response was very calm. He climbed into his mother’s lap and reached for the break pedal and parked the car on the side of the highway. He then called 911. His mom woke up in the hospital, when she was told what her courageous son did. Everyone in the car turned out to be OK, thanks to the nine-year-old.

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Brave Young Boy

A quick-thinking 9-year-old pulls over the family car on a busy highway and calls 911 after his mother falls unconscious.

Yahoo!

This is a pretty amazing story.  Jimmy Stevens was a passenger in the car with his mother and two siblings.  His mother passed out at the driver’s seat and it’s surprising to hear that his response was very calm.  He climbed into his mother’s lap and reached for the break pedal and parked the car on the side of the highway.  He then called 911.  His mom woke up in the hospital, when she was told what her courageous son did.  Everyone in the car turned out to be OK, thanks to the nine-year-old. 

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Brave Young Boy

A quick-thinking 9-year-old pulls over the family car on a busy highway and calls 911 after his mother falls unconscious.

Yahoo!

This is a pretty amazing story.  Jimmy Stevens was a passenger in the car with his mother and two siblings.  His mother passed out at the driver’s seat and it’s surprising to hear that his response was very calm.  He climbed into his mother’s lap and reached for the break pedal and parked the car on the side of the highway.  He then called 911.  His mom woke up in the hospital, when she was told what her courageous son did.  Everyone in the car turned out to be OK, thanks to the nine-year-old. 

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Brave Young Boy

A quick-thinking 9-year-old pulls over the family car on a busy highway and calls 911 after his mother falls unconscious.

Yahoo!

This is a pretty amazing story.  Jimmy Stevens was a passenger in the car with his mother and two siblings.  His mother passed out at the driver’s seat and it’s surprising to hear that his response was very calm.  He climbed into his mother’s lap and reached for the break pedal and parked the car on the side of the highway.  He then called 911.  His mom woke up in the hospital, when she was told what her courageous son did.  Everyone in the car turned out to be OK, thanks to the nine-year-old. 

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Brave Young Boy

A quick-thinking 9-year-old pulls over the family car on a busy highway and calls 911 after his mother falls unconscious.

Yahoo!

This is a pretty amazing story.  Jimmy Stevens was a passenger in the car with his mother and two siblings.  His mother passed out at the driver’s seat and it’s surprising to hear that his response was very calm.  He climbed into his mother’s lap and reached for the break pedal and parked the car on the side of the highway.  He then called 911.  His mom woke up in the hospital, when she was told what her courageous son did.  Everyone in the car turned out to be OK, thanks to the nine-year-old. 

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Untitled

Some reasons why women get less pay: * Women are more likely than men to suffer job interruptions to care for family, and these interludes keep women from advancing at the same pace as men. * Historically men have had a higher level of education than women, so their higher compensation reflects that. This is changing, though. Nearly one-third of women ages 25 to 64 held a college degree in 2004, compared with about 11 percent in 1970. The future looks more promising: Today more women than men are graduating from college, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Only three in every 10 men who enter four-year colleges graduate, compared to four out of every five women. In addition, more than half of all bachelor’s and master’s degrees are awarded to women. * More men are in jobs that pay more, so women, on average, get paid less. Only eight women served as Fortune 500 CEOs last year, and women held only 6.4 percent of “top-earner positions,” according to Catalyst, a New York City-based nonprofit research and advisory organization that focuses on women and work. Catalyst estimates it could take 40 years for women to achieve parity with men in corporate officer positions. * Women gravitate to jobs that traditionally pay less than the careers where men dominate. For example, doctors make more than nurses and construction workers make more than clerks. * Women voluntarily exchange flexibility for salary by working part time, flex time or otherwise limiting their promotions or career advancements. This translates into smaller paychecks.

Bridging the pay gap between genders: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance

So this article was pretty interesting.  It related to the reading “Hunger as Ideology” in that it describes the differences in genders.  I don’t agree with the first reason though.  I mean, of course a man cannot get pregnant as a woman can.  But besides maternity leave, the woman shouldn’t be the primary support for the family.  A man should be able to take care of his family, not just financially.  Yet, sometimes women do not challenge themselves enough.  Of course if they are happy with their job, then its fine.  But if u complain about salary and you only work part time for more flexibility in your schedule, then that is your decision. 

“For women who are just starting out, avoiding a gap between what you
and men are paid can simply be a matter of picking the right career.”

“What I tell my female students is, ‘Why be a dental hygienist when you can be a dentist?’”

It’s true.  If your looking for money as a major priority in your job search.  Then look for a better job.  Sometimes, it doesn’t have to do with your gender, just whether you are in the highest position with the highest pay.

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Julie the Bartender

So I would say this women is pretty clever to pick out such a location as a bar to observe a working-class community in a suburb near Chicago.  I think its the wide variety of folks that come to the bar that helps her pick that specific spot. Also, this specific community contains all the same group of people with many of the same views on topics such as politics and money.  Working as a bartender, she holds the position as a participant observer.  Her role is to play the opposition that triggers arguements.  Her main goal of this piece is to explain that in our society, people place themselves in their own class culture.  Julie Lindquist believes that in the United States there is a lot of mobility between classes.

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Not going to hide

Lance Bass’ boyfriend, Reichen Lehmkuhl, says he and the former ‘N Sync star have been dealing with threats ignited by his new memoir about the trials of being gay while serving in the military.

Lance Bass’ boyfriend: ‘Not going to hide’ – CNN.com

I had to read this because I used to have the hugest crush on the former NSync member, Lance Bass.  Anyway, if you read this article, you will see the torture his boyfriend Reichen went through in the military when people suspected his homosexuality.  I hate to see this cruelness in the world especially over something like this.  Just because a person has a different preference of what they find appealing.  If it’s not harmful towards you, why should it matter??  I don’t think being homosexual makes you any less of a person.  Good luck to this couple.

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The Achievement of Desire

Throughout this story, I had been asking myself why this person was making the gap between school life and home life so much bigger than it needed to be?  I think in some ways, it is necessary to seperate home life from school life, but Richard looked into it too deep I think.  It’s normal for a teen to go home and not talk to their parents about what is happening in their school, whether it is regarding what they learned in their classes or something having to do with thier peers.  It seemed as if his mother had tried several times to get involved and understand his interest in his education.  She definetly supported the fact that he was striving for education rather than working, as most of her relative’s children were doing.  There are a few lines in the story where it demonstrates the interest Mrs. Rodriguez has in Richard’s reading.  She asks “What are you reading?” and “Tell me all about your new courses.”.  He doesn’t respond with any enthusiasm to tell her about school.  If this is a continuous role play between a mother and a son, as a mother, I would not want to speak with my son if I were to kept getting shunned as his mother was.  Personally, I feel it is necessary to keep a daily conversation between parents and children about thier lives.  Whether the son is asking his mother how work was or the father is asking his daughter how school was, the curiousity is a strong connection in the family’s relationship. 

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