Copyright Matters

Fans give Elton John a standing ovation after performing the song, “Benny and the Jets,” which he wrote. Viewers watch the new Twilight movies because they know where they can find their favorite vampire characters. Readers buy the new Hunger Games book because they are aware that Suzanne Collins will be using her imagination and words to add on to the last book, which they could not put down. Copyrights specify material. They let audiences know what they are getting and from whom they are getting it. Without copyright, various problems would arise. Copyright is an important and vital legal protection that has been used for many years. It requires people to be creative and different when they are in the process of developing something. In return, this makes the world a much more interesting and detailed place. This legal right makes it so that everyone’s words and ideas are original. Thanks to copyright, those who work hard can earn proper credit for spending their time and creativity on coming up with something different and new. It makes each individual’s work more entertaining since readers and viewers will never encounter the same piece of work they have already observed. Without copyright, those who usually feel compelled to create something new, beautiful, or educational would most likely become discouraged from creating anything new. People would also become skeptical of letting others see their accomplishments from fear that viewers would replicate and take credit for their ideas. Copyright encourages people to find their own voice, present their different ideas and visions, and use their talents to make a name for themselves. Copyright gives individuals the right to be different.

 

-Katie Poole

Space Exploration Matters

 There are things that are known and things that are unknown; in between is exploration. -Anonymous

Outer space has always been a curiosity for the human race. The earliest people viewed the moon and stars with wonder and named the planets after Roman gods. The first astronomers viewed outer space through primal telescopes in the 17^th century and couldn’t believe what they saw. In the 1950’s amidst the Cold War, Americans and Soviets were also in a space race. Space was the next frontier. In 1957 Russia launched Sputnik as the first missile to enter Earths orbit. Since then Americans have put men on the moon, rovers on mars, and satellites among the stars. NASA has spent billions of dollars exploring and working to better understand space and what is in it. People know so much and yet so little about space. Space exploration matters because people have the need to understand. Who knows what beneficial resources might be found in space? It is amazing what modern technology has already allowed us to learn about space, but there is still so much more to learn!  A better understanding of the uncharted territory could solve problems such as pollution or yield a cure for cancer. The possibilities with space investigation are endless. It is important that people continue researching and exploring space to find out what we can harness. We now know that other planets than Earth in our galaxy can support . How amazing to find a way that people could adapt to living in zero gravity! Space exploration matters because without understanding space and exploring it we can never know what all can be done in space or what we could harness and use from space.    -Brianna Williams

Some information paraphrased from, History of Space Exploration, Solar Views.com, and The Space Race, History.com

Security Matters

Security is a vital part of society.  A feeling of security helps people function productively in their social roles and eliminates chaos.  Life is too valuable to spend living in the terror that it could end at any moment.  On September 11^th of 2001, the feeling of security in the United States was shattered by the hands of a radical jihadist group as thousands of innocent citizens were killed by the destruction of the World Trade Center and Pentagon building.  Our government, in retaliation, quickly took action to ensure its people would not have to live in fear of such violent attacks.   Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, national security in the United States has been greatly increased to both prevent similar events from occurring and to give the citizens of our country a sense of safety and well being as they attempt to carry on with their lives in an unstable world.  The United States, in partnership with many like-minded nations, has deployed thousands of our bravest and finest men overseas to combat the threat of worldwide terrorism and to help make the world a more secure place.  We have also strived to ensure the safety of our nation by improving the security in airports and other forms of public transportation.  The actions of the government against terrorism have made it possible to live without the constant threat of death or persecution looming around every corner, but the fight for security has not ended.  It is our duty as human beings to support the effort to bring the feeling of security we have come to know to the rest of the world and to help ensure that all the inhabitants of the world can live in safety and without fear.  Security matters.  -Dalton Williams

Freedom Matters

It should be of no surprise to anyone living in the world today that there is an over whelming number of people who take freedom for granted. For the majority of us it is something we seldom think about and is just a way of life we are accustomed to, especially those of us who are blessed to live in “the land of the free.” I so often wonder when we sing songs like our National Anthem if we truly think about the words and what they stand for. Or, are we just waiting for our favorite sporting or other event to start. However, if someone were to ask a former slave or a member of the armed forces past or present, a wrongly accused prisoner or Malala Yousafzai if freedom mattered, they would probably answer yes. Freedom matters because it is what our fore fathers fought for. Freedom matters because it is a right set forth in our Constitution. Freedom matters because of all the men and women who have lost their lives fighting for it. Freedom matters because of those who are willing to give up everything or stand up against anyone to get it. Our right to freedom or those who aren’t fortunate enough to have it should make us value it even more. To me, freedom matters because it is something I was lucky enough to be born with, and because of the selfless sacrifice of others, I have been lucky enough to keep.  - Katlyn Drain

Language Matters

Is it possible to imagine a world without language? It would be void of almost every part of our modern culture. All of the luxuries people enjoy would cease to exist. Everything from literature to cultural diversity would not be possible. It is language’s power of communication that has allowed mankind to interact with one another since the dawn of time. Every aspect of human life depends on a language of some sort.

Foremost, our ability to form languages and communicate has allowed humanity to embrace writing as a form of expression. Without language, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and even J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone would not be possible; however, because we understand each other through language, we are able to explore elements of the human condition such as honor, tragedy, and love through works such as these.

Another part of humankind that is affected by language is culture. There are many different ethnicities and races, and an important part of these groups is their language. Whether they speak English, Chinese, Spanish, French, or one of the thousands of other languages in our world, language is a defining factor of a culture. It gives each group a sense of heritage, and allows us to see that, though we are all human, we are individuals with rich histories and backgrounds.

A life without writing and culture would be unimaginable for a civilization such as ours that depends on these things every day. As a result of our need to express ourselves, language matters. -

Nicholas Johnson

Justice Matters

According to dictionary.com, justice is defined as “the administering of deserved punishment or reward.” With the many tragedies this nation has faced, including the 9/11 attacks, and the shootings at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and the theatre premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, justice has been on the minds of many people. However, people tend to have different views on how justice should be served. For example, some people believe the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for convicted murderers, while others believe it is cruel and unusual. Regardless of how justice should be served, I personally cannot think of a single person who would say that justice does not matter. It can be very frustrating when justice is not served. As a result, some people take justice into their own hands by seeking revenge to obtain retribution for the wrong done to them. Their judgment is clouded by emotion, which usually only leads to more problems. Without a formal justice system, this would become an even larger problem. That is why it is crucial for our country to have a justice system that is swift and accurate, so that justice will not be left to grieving families of murder victims or survivors of rape who have lost their sense of security. Justice does so much more than punish a criminal. While it cannot bring loved ones back who were taken away before their time or retrieve stolen property, it can bring peace of mind and closure to those who have been wronged. –Kaitlyn Tew

Charity Matters

The dictionary defines charity as “provision of help: the voluntary provision of money, materials, or help to people in need.”  Ultimately it is an act of kindness. It allows people who are very fortunate to help those who are less fortunate. Most people’s toughest daily decision is what they are going to wear the next day or what they are going to eat for dinner. But there are some people in the world who only have the clothes on their back and don’t know if they will even get to eat dinner. Charity can change this. It can mean giving someone a few bucks, or giving him or her a place to stay. Yes, there are some people in the world who are too proud to receive charity and think that it is a way for rich people to show off how much money they have, but that is not always the case. Charity is usually an act of the heart.

There are many different charities that have been created and that help people daily. There is also a very wide range of charities. There are charities that help fight poverty, care for orphans, and even promote breast cancer research and that is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m sure that there has already been a charity created for any issue imaginable. There are large charities that function throughout the world, and there are community charities that only focus on the needs of people within a community. These types of charities are very important because in most cases donors know the person they are helping, and this makes it even more special. This just goes to show how many good people there really are in the world. I am positive that the world would not be near as good of a place without kind people giving charity.   - Hannah Palmer

Science Matters

Science is an incredibly important field of study.  Science affects our everyday lives and especially impacts people with cancer.  After losing an extremely close family friend to lung cancer, I can vouch for getting tested for cancer.  He had quit smoking 20 years to the day that he found out he was in the later stages of cancer and only lived for another 8 months. If he would have consistently gone to the doctor for screenings, he would have stood a much better chance than the death sentence he was delivered.  It would have been much easier to stop what he thought was a spell of bronchitis if he would have been to the doctor in the past year.

Thanks to scientific research, deaths due to cancer have steadily decreased since the 1990’s. Studies have shown that death rates have declined by almost 23 percent for men and 15 percent for women since 1990.  Without science, these rates would be showing an opposite trend. Doctors and patients have become more responsible about getting screened for cancer.  If a doctor finds cancer early in a patient, the chance for survival greatly increases. 

Scientific research is also making large strives in children with malignant cancers.  Scientists and doctors have increased the life expectancy of kids born with cancer.  In the mid-seventies less than 60 percent of babies born with cancer lived to see their fifth birthday. That number has since skyrocketed to the 83 percent that it is at now. Science has proven to save lives, especially in the field of cancer research, and will continue to improve life expectancy in our country. - Drew Bartlett

Ignorance Matters

Ignorance- The lack of knowledge or information.

To be born with the capability to learn and comprehend is a blessing. There are some people who are born with no understanding and grow up always needing help. To be independent is a great thing. While some people are born ignorant,  some people just act stupid for attention. Later on in life they will wish they had not done so. Everyone is ignorant to a certain extent. There is nobody who knows everything that there is to know. Ignorance is not just a blank space in a person's mind. It is just simply a place in someone's mind where knowledge has not been filled. I wish all people had the drive to want to learn and do better in life, the drive to better their futures. Some truly believe that ignorance is bliss, meaning if you do not know the true meaning of something, then it can not affect your view in life. I can see where people are comfortable with this idea; people have their own opinions and they do not want or need anyone trying to differ from them. Then there are some people who are oblivious to everything and believe everything they read without using critical judgement. You really should not believe everything that you read.  People often get mad with ignorant people because they don't have enough patience.  The most common type of ignorance is people who are close-minded. They do not like for others to interfere with their everyday lifestyle. Everyone should take other people's beliefs and ideas into consideration, whether they match our own or not.  We should all learn how to be patient with ignorant people; it might not always be their fault. - Albree Olive 

Music Matters

Music gives us a release of emotions. Lyrics in the music do more than just give the beat a purpose. They express a feeling that cannot be seen. Some artists use their music to release unbearable anger they have accumulated. Eminem explains in many of his raps about how others have doubted him and how he strived to be the best ever to quiet these critics. Others want to show their love and affection for someone through beautiful harmonies and heartfelt lyrics. Words are the most power tool in the world. No matter how bad we might think that our life is, we can always turn to music to free us from the pain.

Music has no definite origin. Instruments have been recovered dating back thousands of years ago. People were telling stories in rhythmic beats even before then. The modern age in music began in the 50s with the introduction of “Rock ‘n Roll”. So-called country music has been around since right after the civil war, originating from the bluegrass music of settlers in the Appalachian Mountains.  The origins of Hip-Hop can be traced through jazz and blues music in the early 1900s.

Music is an international language. Even if people do not understand the words, they can feel some kind of emotion in the beat. There are unlimited genres of music in the world. Ranging from the hard rock sound of Metallica, to the smooth voice of Marvin Gaye, to the classic changing of tempos from Bach and Beethoven, each person has a preference. People are defined by the type of music they listen too.   - Connor Martin

Movies Matter

Movies play a big role in our culture.  From going with friends to the theatre to spending a night around the TV with a stack of favorite movies and popcorn, it’s hard to imagine what life would be like without movies.  The first motion picture was made in 1878, The Horse in Motion, by Eadweard Muybridge.  Since that first film, movies have continued to impact us in various ways.  Whether movies make us cry, laugh or scare us to death, they affect our lives in some sort of way.  Movies can teach us things as well, such as language, hardships, things about different cultures, etc.  They increase our basic knowledge, though we may not see it.  Movies let us escape from reality for a few hours and let us get lost in an imaginary world, and sometimes it is nice to have that escape.  They may also affect our moods; when we are sad we tend to watch sad movies and when we are happy we tend to watch comedies or feel-good movies.  Studies have shown that we are also very influenced by the types of movies we watch.  Some teens who watch violent movies frequently have been shown to be more likely to commit some type of crime or have anger issues.  The bottom line is movies affect the way we think, act, and see the world. - Lauren Barber

Television Matters

Television has changed the way society views politics, entertainment, technology, and family values. It is interesting to think about where society would be today, specifically family values, without the invention of television. Although television has been a key source of information since it was commercialized in the US in the 1950’s, today it has changed the way families view what are, and what are not, acceptable family values. 

Americans spend about one-third of their free time watching television, more than the next ten most popular leisure activities combined,. The average American teen spends about 20 hours a week watching television, with the most viewers coming from low-income households. Because television viewing increases in pre-teen years, adolescents are the most vulnerable of them all to exposure from inappropriate sexual content, if not monitored carefully by adults.

Baby boomers were the first people to really benefit from the introduction of television in the 1950’s. However, at that time, there were only three major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) in existence, and those networks typically aired local and national news, game shows, and soap operas. If other TV programs aired, such as westerns and medical dramas, the programs were family-oriented and sexually explicit content was not allowed. The influential difference from then and now was the tight control of content and limitations placed on the few networks available for individuals to watch. Early on, networks were careful to center programs around the family, and it was known to top level executives that parents would be concerned with content children adolescents were allowed to watch.

Studies show that television affects adolescent sexuality and social development. In a Kaiser Family Foundation study, 76 percent of teens said that one reason young people have sex is because TV shows and movies make it seem normal for teens. TV programs should provide sexual knowledge and awareness of the risks involved by being sexually active, but it should not support heavy exposure to sexually oriented television where young teens mimic the sexual themes from the shows they watch.  –Katie Staggs

Transportation Matters

No matter what type of area you live in, transportation does matter. The United States would not be a strong economy without it. If living in an urban area such as New York City, then transportation is needed because the city is far too big to walk everywhere. They have taxi cabs and subways, but they are not always available due to the amount of people who live and visit there, so a car can be handy. If living in a rural area, transportation is also needed, but for the opposite reason. A rural area is usually very small and spread out, so walking is not always an option. Rural areas also do not usually have taxi cabs and subways, so a car is needed. A car can also be useful anywhere if there is any type of emergency. Cars, subways and taxi cabs are not the only forms of transportation. Boats help if traveling out of the country and planes help with this too, but also like trains and buses, boats can also help people travel inside the country. Walking and bicycle riding are also methods of transportation, but not usually for extremely long distances. Really, all of these methods of transportation can get you anywhere that you need to be. Without transportation, there would also be problems because most people would not be able to go to work, go on vacations, move to different places, travel, or visit friends and family. We, as people, rely on transportation for everything. New and better types of transportation, such as cars, are always being made for us as consumers. - Jessica Wilson

Racism Matters

Racism is a characteristic of some people that should be long gone. Mostly Southern raised Americans participate in this act of racism. Racism is not necessarily always against African Americans; it can be against any person being such as people from Mexico or another country. Racism should not be tolerated in any part of the world. Many Americans do discriminate against people just because of their race, religion, or even where they are from. People have just created a stereotype of black people being criminal or of lower class. Racism should not be a problem in today’s society. America needs to be more mature than to still discriminate.  - Dustin Gean

Water Matters

Water is the most abundant resource on Earth. Humans are made of mostly water and need it to survive. The argument I want to raise is not about the importance of water. The argument I want to impose involves how humans manipulate water for their own gains for profit. What I mean is that people need water to survive and without it we would die. I find something wrong in the fact that people use water for personal profit. Can companies not just make water for free? We have all these bottles of water to choose from, and yet some of the companies bottling the water trick you into thinking they are pure when they only contain tap water with minerals. Others are purified but use salt in them to make you need more water. Survival is hard enough, so why do we charge for something so abundant and vital to our lives while also manipulating it for profit? I find something wrong in that. I understand charging for soda and other drinks that are modified to be about taste and sensation, but doing so for something as basic as water seems unethical. Our world is based on economy, and people are so used to it that this seems ok. Of course those companies who make the water bottles need money in order to continue production, but most of them bottle many other things besides water. Take a look at the Coca-Cola Company, for example. They make assorted drinks and make money off of that, but when it comes to water why charge at all?  Surely they get enough income to support their business, so why charge on something so vital for survival? Water matters to us for more than survival, but when we pay for it it reduces our funds needed for other necessary things. If it was free, we could be using our money for better things than to pay just to survive. Water is not a resource to be manipulated into earning profit for already rich companies at the expense of the people. Water is a resource that humans need and it should not be abused.  - Michael Fitzsimmons

Poverty Matters

Many Americans like to work towards the “American dream:” having a loving family, a nice house, a supportive job, and, on average, 2.5 children. However, during their hard work driving for this goal, many tend to forget about the people who are never given a chance to even begin working towards for a future like this, those that are known as the impoverished. Now, why exactly does poverty matter? You could be telling yourself that these people aren’t necessarily a part of your life, so they don’t really matter, right? That is one way to look at it, but caring about these people grants a much more rewarding experience. Donating to charities, food banks, and other organizations that help the poor allow them to live better lives and experience or get things that they are normally not around or not able to afford. Donating can also give you a feeling of self-fulfillment, knowing that you gave something that you had in excess to a person who needed it much more than you did. Also, we must understand that these people are human beings just like me and you, many of which who didn’t even choose to live in poverty. Because of this, we must feel like it is one of our duties to give to the needy. Supporting charities and similar organizations can only cause good and can create a stronger human race. Eventually, we could even live in a world where poverty is a just thing of the past. - Cameron Graybill

Education Matters

Education is very important. It is a gateway to a successful life. People with higher education generally have bigger incomes, bigger homes, nicer cars, but it is more than just material goods. Education allows you to have an advantage over those who do not have one. The more knowledge people have, the bigger their world seems to get. Knowing more and being exposed to more creates an opportunity to better understand the world they are living in. Someone with more education can watch the news and more than likely learn more from it than someone who does not. To get a job that does not involve working at a fast food establishment or any other low wage business, one must have a college degree. It is getting harder and harder to find just an average job that was once so easily found. Is that a challenge set to get to people to go to school and get an education? It very well could be. Not to say that people who do not have the opportunity to go college or the one’s with low wage jobs are “stupid”, but for them life is harder because now they are having to work twice as hard to get by and make ends meet. People who have the opportunity to go to college and take it do not have to struggle as much to make financial ends meet.  On the other hand, everyone who goes to college may not receive the paycheck they thought they would get, but it is still better than those who do not get an education. With this in mind going college may not be the easiest financially, mentally, or emotionally, but in the end more people come out on top and it is worth it. - Lauren Moore

Technology Matters

Everything that we interact with on a daily basis is technology. The computer I am using to type this blog post is technology. It surrounds us, and no matter what you do, you cannot get away from it. Technology matters because we would hardly have anything we have now without advances in technology. It makes our lives easier in many ways. Technology also helps us to further our own knowledge in many ways. In astronomy we use telescopes to see things never seen before to help us understand more about the universe. None of this would be possible without the advances we have made in technology. Efficiency is another big role that technology plays in our lives as well as the world as a whole. We can do much more much faster now. Computers and the Internet make gathering and producing as well as researching information almost instantaneous. Technology is increasingly getting faster, more efficient, more qualitative, and much more inexpensive as new advancements come. New technology helps us produce things in industry quicker and better than previously. Before Henry Ford came up with the idea of an assembly line, things were produced one at a time. The new assembly line made it so that one person made one modification and sent it to the next person, who then made another modification, and so on until the product was done, and by that point the next product was ready for the next piece until it was also finished. These ideas and many others from great thinkers make technology continue to excel and grow exponentially. Technology is what shapes this country and the world. - Cynthia Massey

Climate Matters

 

Climate changes matter because as climate changes, so does agriculture, the environment, along with many other things. As the climate’s temperature increases, icebergs begin to melt from the north which floods the surrounding lands. This also hurts the lives of many animals that live on the icebergs. Temperature increases can also hurt agriculture by being too dry and not getting the nutrients they need to produce. If the climate is too cold or too hot, agriculture can be shortened, and we would have a shortage of food. The depleting of the ozone layer is affecting the climate by not stopping the Sun’s harmful UV rays. This is one of many reasons why Earth’s climate has hotter temperatures than normal. The climate change affects so many things involving the environment, one of the main things being hurricanes. When the weather warms, the ice bergs will melt and cause the sea water to become less salty. This will in a matter of time cause the current to mess up resulting in animals routines messing up. Today forest fires are just an everyday occurrence. In some states this is because of the warm weather changes we are starting to experience. When the trees burn they not only affect the wildlife living among them, but they can also make the people in the surrounding cities have health problems in the future. It can also affect the nature by cold droughts. For example, the depression was a significant cold time in history because when it hits that fast people do not know how to react and that caused people to die of hypothermia. - Jessica Vines

In the first episode of HBO's new drama, The Newsroom, after a personal and professional crisis leads him to restructure and reformat his cable news program, the lead character proclaims to his staff, "Everything Matters!"  The truth of that statement is never more clear than in the months leading to a presidential election.  During the fall semester, 2012, students in a first-year composition course at the University of North Alabama will be talking in this blog about things that matter to them and to their generation - indeed, to their futures as Americans and world citizens.