New Regulations on A New Kind of Cigarette

The Article For E-Cigarettes, the Regulatory Battle Now Begin by Sabrina Tavernise and Berry Meier published in the New York times on April 24, 2014, discusses the new F.D.A. focus on electronic cigarettes. E-cigarettes are a fast-growing industry which thus far has had little regulation.

The new F.D.A. proposed rules would allow the government more authority over e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco and other products. The big focus, electronic cigarettes is somewhat mysterious. Not much is understood about these electronic gadgets concerning health risks as they haven’t been around long enough.  They are proposed as a ‘healthier alternative to smoking’ because instead of actual smoke the battery at the end of the tube heats the liquid nicotine, which creates vapor that gets inhaled into the lungs. The excess cigarette vapor is emitted from the tail of the e-cigarette which helps uphold the illusion of real smoke.

While it is a step in the right direction, “the road map put off until later almost all of the trickiest issues, like whether flavors should be banned or television advertising limited.” Companies fight for the right to advertise without many restrictions and continually produce flavors used to lure children as well as adults. “The biggest issues may not be confronted for years. Companies will have two years after the new regulations go into effect to file applications to the F.D.A. for approval of their products. The regulation itself could take a year or two to go into effect, as the agency will have to sort through tens of thousands of public comments, including from industry. Then there is the chance that companies will sue, which would add even more time to the process.”

At the moment however, the biggest concern is just to put some regulation on a rapidly evolving market with no regulation at all. For the first time there will be a science-based agency watching over the function playing ‘gate keeper’. “It’s a step forward — but it’s not a giant step,” said Gary A. Giovino, a professor of health behavior at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

It is without a doubt a step in the right direction, however one can wonder whether the changes will come fast enough. The regulation being put into effect will take years to be put in place, years that could risk more smoking addictions in adults as well as our next generation. The regulations also won’t be addressing flavored cigarettes and other ploys to draw in a younger audience any time soon. It’s like getting a foot in the door, but the door won’t budge anymore. We’re getting closer, but not close enough yet.

Divergent *Small, but some spoilers

I recently finished Divergent, by Veronica Roth. Divergent is the story of sixteen year old Beatrice Prior, who lives in a world where everyone fits into one of the five factions. Candor, for those who believe in truth and honesty, Abnegation, for those who are selfless, Amity, for those who believe in peace and love and happiness, Erudite, for those who wish to peruse knowledge, and lastly Dauntless, for those who are reckless and brave. Beatrice, who comes from Abnegation takes the test after she’s turned sixteen that will decide what her permanent faction will be. However, the test comes back inconclusive, instead of coming back with one specific faction that she would belong to, she comes back with three. Erudite, Dauntless, and Abnegation.  Beatrice ultimately has to decide whether to pick between Abnegation, where her family and friends lie, but she does not feel she truly belongs. Or Dauntless, a faction she knows little of.

        I think the author makes Tris start out in Abnegation as a stiff because it gives her a more compassionate personality. While she does not feel she is completely selfless, Tris has many qualities that make her selfless subconsciously. For example in the simulation that determined her Divergence she throws herself in front of a viscous attack dog to protect a little girl. When her friend Al is bullied during training to become Dauntless there is a scene where he will have knives thrown at him because he continues to miss the target. Tris knows this is wrong and immediately steps in his place. Along from the fact that Roth wanted Tris to be in Abnegation so that she could have a divergent result, I think she placed her in Abnegation at the start to give her heroine a more versatile personality.

        It can also be said of Roth that she placed Tris in Dauntless to give her the brave personality trait. Through transforming herself into a Dauntless Tris learns the importance of bravery. She doesn’t realize it because it is so natural to her, but she commits acts of bravery all the time. After almost being killed during Dauntless initiation, she is scared of her attackers, but also seeks vengeance. She does not spend most of the book cowering, instead she is placed immediately in the role of the underdog as a “stiff” and therefore the least likely to be brave. She proves this wrong though in the paintball scene, where she climbs up the Ferris wheel to get a better view of the other team, placing her life in danger with each foot higher. Veronica Roth places Tris in Dauntless so that Tris can learn the importance of bravery.

        The traits that Tris inherits from being Divergent in both Dauntless and Abnegation help her to become a better heroine. Tris learns that being selfless and being brave are often intertwined. This is often true, not just in the Divergent trilogy. In many books the main characters heroism is influenced by their selflessness and their bravery often battling each other, and ultimately working together. Veronica Roth placed Tris in Abnegation and Dauntless so that Tris could learn two important traits that would help her later in the series.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

                Bossypants, the wonderfully creative and hilarious biography by Tina Fey jokingly tells the story of Tina’s life from young woman to the present. Often Tina jokes about how this book will teach you “to learn how to raise an achievement-oriented, drug-free, adult virgin” as she was raised. Silly jokes like these often come up, but I think it’s true. Through her autobiography we get to see how she was raised, and how her choices influenced her life now.

                Tina grew up in a normal town, where during her summers she attended a theater camp highly populated by, in her opinion, closeted teens and flamboyantly gay men. “That summer I got to know four families in which half the children were gay. In case you’re interested from a sociological point of view, they were always Catholic and there were always four kids, two of whom were gay. What Wales is to crooners, my hometown may be to homosexuals- meaning there seems to be a disproportionate number of them and they are the best in the world!” Out of her theater camp, Tina also became best friends with Karen and Sharon, who “had been a couple at some unspecified time in the past but were now just friends with asymmetrical haircuts.” Tina grew up in a home that was accepting and supportive of different peoples sexual orientation and while she isn’t an avid gay rights activist she does strongly support their movement and doesn’t believe there should be any discrimination towards them.

                For a while she worked at a Chicago theater company in which they specialized in improvisational acting. Tina loved it there, but one of her major problems with it was that they discriminated against women. “Each cast at The Second City was made up of four men and two women. When it was suggested that they switch one of the companies to three men and three women, the producers and directors had the same panicked reaction. ‘You can’t do that. There won’t be enough parts to go around. There won’t be enough for the girls.” To Tina, and as I am sure many other women, this statement seemed as if the directors and producers were frantic to put in an equal number for gender equality, and instead used a thinly veiled excuse for not enforcing women’s rights. Tina Fey never stood for any of that though, and instead went on to become the third woman in the Second City group, as well as head writer of SNL and star of 30 Rock.

                Many of Tina Fey’s lifestyle choices have influenced her in the way she represents herself in the media, the way she has such a funny outtake on life, and just in general the way she chooses to live. She jokes about how her wholesome childhood is how you can raise such an obedient kid, but I think there’s more to it than that. I think that Tina Fey shows us that by having a good childhood, and gaining perspective in meaningful human rights Tina shows us that we can be influential as long as we broaden and expand our horizons.

The Fault In Our Stars Revised Post ***SPOILERS!

The book, The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green is about seventeen year old, cancer ridden teenager named Hazel. Hazel’s life has always had a clear ending to it. But with a new medicine buying her a few extra years, Hazel’s got chance to live a little bit more.  In spite of this, Hazel continues to sit in her room reading her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, because most of her friends have abandoned her. The friends she manages to keep, she distances from so as not to hurt them when the time does come… That is until she begrudgingly goes to one of her support group meetings. Enter Augustus Waters, the most gorgeous, compelling boy Hazel’s ever met. Something about him draws her in and makes her want to open up. Augustus teaches Hazel, as well as the readers, that life is short, so we should make it meaningful and live it to the fullest. Through Hazel and Augustus’s adventures we learn about the bond between leaving your mark and leaving scars, and just how impossibly intertwined the two ideas are.

 At the first meeting that Augustus goes to, having been dragged there by his friend Isaac who is blind in one eye, Augustus explains that he had osteosarcoma about a year and a half ago, but for now he’s in remission. Augustus or Gus is asked to share what he fears most to which he replies bluntly oblivion. When Augustus replies that he fears oblivion, the support group leader, Patrick asks if anyone else can relate to Gus’s fear. To which Hazel, who never raises her hand, says, “There will come a time, when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything. There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you. Everything that we built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught. Maybe this time is coming soon, and maybe its millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was a time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be a time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows everyone else does.” When I first read this monologue Hazel says to her support group, there was just something about it that hit home. If you just read it once through you might think, “Oh, its deep”. And it is deep, there’s something haunting about picturing a barren world, where our existence is gone. But as Hazel says, the inevitability of human oblivion will come, and at some point we have to just accept it. People, events, places, none of it matter in the end. Life will end; life will go on without you. And nobody dares to pay enough attention because they’re too self-involved or scared to face the reality.

 One of Hazel’s biggest fears in The Fault in Our Stars is that when she dies she’ll hurt everyone. Hazel refers to herself as a ticking bomb. She fears that when she dies she will go off like a bomb, and all that will be left are the shrapnel, and other little remains. And quite frankly, Hazel doesn’t think that her life is worth the hurt, so she’s reclusive. Hazel only has a certain number of friends she talks to, and tries to only limit her interactions to her family. While Hazel may think this is a good idea, I would have to disagree. I don’t think it’s worth it to limit your time with people because, as Gus says in his goodbye letter, “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.” We can’t limit ourselves to new experiences and new people because we’re afraid of the aftermath when we’re gone. We don’t get to choose if we die, when we die, or if we get hurt while living, but we can shape our lives to have the best possible people in them, and the best possible experiences. And Hazel may be a ticking bomb, and so may many other people, but we can choose to have them in our lives for the short time we get, because life wouldn’t be worth it without them.

Throughout the book, there’s this unspoken constant urgency to make their (Hazel and Augustus’s) short lives memorable. But at the same time, there is a constant debate between being memorable and “leaving a scar”. You see, I suppose the biggest questions of the book are is it worth it to be remembered, if the memories are fake? Or is it worth it to be remembered it all that memories do are leave painful scars? During the development of The Fault in Our Stars there seems to be a fine line you can dance between, scaring people, and leaving a mark. Augustus is a perfect example. While Augustus wants to be remembered, (as I said before his biggest fear is oblivion) he also admires the heroicness of leaving people alone the way Hazel tries to. In Augustus’s death letter he asks his former favorite author to write Hazel a eulogy because Van Houten can actually put thoughts together successfully. “Here’s the one thing about Hazel: Almost everyone is obsessed with leaving a mark upon the world. Bequeathing a legacy. Outlasting death. We all want to be remembered. I do, too. That’s what bothers me most, is being another unremembered casualty in the ancient and inglorious war against disease. I want to leave a mark.” “Hazel is different. She walk’s lightly, old man. She walks lightly upon the earth. Hazel knows the truth: We’re as likely to hurt the universe as we are to help it, and we’re not likely to do either. People will say it’s sad that she leaves a lesser scar, that fewer remember her, that she was loved deeply but not widely. But it’s not sad, Van Houten. It’s triumphant. It’s heroic. Isn’t that real heroism?”  Even at the end of Gus’s life he hasn’t fully crossed onto either lines side. No matter how great a person we are, there’s still something so appealing about being remembered. But at the same time, there’s something so heartbreaking at leaving people behind. For some people the line that Hazel and Gus dance between is simple, but for many, especially Gus, it’s hard.

As we watch Hazel and Augustus suffer through their last days, we get to experience the way each character deals with what the aftermath of what their deaths will be. Hazel tries to limit the amount of people she spends time with; therefor limiting the amount of people she hurts. Augustus searches for ways to find himself worthy of the life he’s lived, and leave his mark as someone other than the cancer ride teen who lived a ‘heroic’ life. Watching both characters suffer through the possibilities makes me wonder if there can be a happy middle. Can we leave our mark without hurting people? Is it worth it to hurt people? Before I read The Fault in Our Stars, in all honesty, I felt the same way Gus did. Now afterwards, I’m confused. Maybe it’s good to be confused; it means I’ll go more into depth about it. I don’t know. I’m only thirteen; I still have time to think.  One thing’s for sure, I’m really glad I read The Fault in Our Stars, on top of it being humorous, and compelling, depressing, and even sometimes gut wrenching, it also made me stop and think for a couple minutes.

 My Original Blog Post

Why Russia's Sochi Olympics Are a Battle Ground for Gay Rights

Why Russia’s Sochi Olympics Are a Battle Ground for Gay Rights by Laura Smith-Spark discusses the unfairness of Russia’s ban on gay rights in light of the Sochi Olympics. Ms. Smith-Spark brings up some very valid points protesting the ban of gay rights in Russia, and even goes so far as to compare it to the Nazi like era in Germany. While I wouldn’t go as far as her, I have to agree that Russia’s ban on gay rights is restricting, and offensive to many people around the world.

            Before Ms. Smith-Spark starts in on reprimanding Russian Policy, she reminds us that in Russia, people are not educated about what gay and lesbian people really are. Boris Dittrich, a Human Rights Watch’s advocate said, quote, “they mix it up with pedophilia, bestiality or even think it has something to do with the devil." Many of these beliefs sprout from the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church and the government spread misinformation about what being part of the LBGT community really is. And the Russian government isn’t looking to shed any truths on the matter any time soon, instead the Anti-gay Propaganda Law passed by parliament and signed by Putin banned the discussion of gay rights and LBGT relationships anywhere children can hear, and educate themselves. And if you are found to have talked about it, you can be fined or deported if you’re foreign. These misconceptions have leaded almost three quarters of Russia to think homosexuality shouldn’t be accepted by society. “While just 16% of Russians said it should be accepted, a recent Pew Research Center survey of global attitudes revealed.

By comparison, 33% of people surveyed in the United States said homosexuality should not be accepted by society, while 60% said it should. In Britain, only 18% did not favor accepting homosexuality, with 76% saying it should be accepted.” Perhaps even more horrific is that Russia says that its law against “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors” is to protect children. What are we protecting them from, the truth? By not exposing Russian minors to the truth, Russian government shapes the minds of young men and women who could have one day grown up to protest these wrong doing. Instead they restrict their knowledge on world issues.

 

                After reading this article, I realized that I take advantage of living in a first world country. With all of America’s flaws, it’s sometimes hard to see that we have more freedoms than others. I find it comforting to know that no matter what the government’s opinion on an issue, they’re not supposed to withhold the information from us and leave us in the dark, uneducated. I’ve always been in support of the LGBT community, and it’s ongoing community of acceptance, but I don’t usually stop and think about how bad it can be in other countries.

the Titan's Curse

The third installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Titan’s Curse, by Rick Riordan, follows Percy as he hunts for the trapped goddess Artemis, as well as his best friend Annabeth Chase. In the Titan’s Curse many characters try to search for freedom, and escape responsibilities, which sometimes may seem selfish.

                One example of this is Bianca di Angelo, a young girl brought into the world from another time period. Bianca is a sweet young girl, who has spent her life caring for her younger brother Nico, a task that has become a burden to her. While Bianca loves Nico, it is hard for her to continually protect him because it restricts her from having her own life. When Bianca is offered a spot in the elite group, the Hunters of Artemis, she gleefully accepts, leaving her brother and responsibilities behind. “I wanted my own life and friends. I love Nico- don’t get me wrong- I just needed to find out what it would be like not to be a big sister 24 hours a day”. While I know she is doing this for her own good, something I greatly admire, it strikes me as selfish. She really hurts Nico when she leaves him behind, and doesn’t leave much of an explanation as to why. By escaping her responsibilities she shows a more selfish side of her, which eventually eats her up with guilt and, SPOILER ALERT, (if you haven’t already read the book, which I highly doubt, because it’s one of the most awesome series ever!!!) she dies trying to rectify her guilt.

                An example of a good cause to escape responsibilities is Thalia. Thalia is the daughter of Zeus, and being fifteen, almost sixteen, the Great Prophecy could very well be about her. However, Thalia doesn’t want that responsibility on her shoulders, because she’s afraid she could go rogue and turn on the gods if such power were to be put in her hands. Thalia instead, lets the prophecy fall on her close friend, and main character of the book, Percy. “I will not turn sixteen tomorrow. I will never turn sixteen. I won’t let this prophecy be mine.” While I think this is a very brave and sensible thing to do, I think she does not think about how much this will affect Percy. The prophecy being put on him, puts him in even more danger than he already is, and trust me, it’s A LOT. By basically giving up the prophecy and dumping the problem on Percy, Thalia forces something major and life altering on him. (And yes, I realize this was just a clever plot decoy to get Thalia out of the way. Smart one, Mr. Riordan. May I call you Rick?) Thalia shows that she can escape responsibility by pinning it on someone else.

                In the Titan’s Curse, characters desperately try to find their destiny, pushing away the responsibilities destiny may carry. Sometimes, like in Bianca’s case, it can be a bit selfish. Or like Thalia, it’s a noble cause, but it still does not bode well for someone else. Both ways, responsibilities are escaped, and there is always a negative side, whether it’s for the character who tries to escape them or not. Personally, I think that you should accept responsibility head on, because I find it’s easier to deal with problems when you have fully accepted that they are yours. You shouldn’t escape responsibility but face it head on.

Lillian Cheever, The Fault in Our Stars

Lillian's amazing blog post!

                After skimming through numerous blog posts, I managed to find one exceptionally great. This post was by Lillian Cheever, and I believe it was titled, “The Fault in Our Stars.” Now, a couple months back, I had read The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green as my YA book for the beginning of the year, and had absolutely loved it, so I was interested to see what someone else’s opinions on the book were.

                Lillian’s views on The Fault in Our Stars broadened my mind to idea’s I had thought about, but hadn’t really taken much time to think about. One idea focused on the book inside The Fault in Our Stars, An Imperial Affliction, which focuses on a cancer ridden teen like Hazel, Anna. “Although she never mentions feeling close to Anna, you can tell by the way she talks about the book and its characters that she does feel close to her. Most importantly, you can tell that she does care, mostly about the people around her.” Lillian says that she knows Hazel cares about her friends and family because, “she is so obsessed with figuring out what happens to Anna’s parents after she dies.” I hadn’t thought about it in those terms.  In my mind, they had kind of been two separate things that joined at a different point. An Imperial Affliction, or AIA as it is sometimes known, helped Hazel see that not all cancer kids had to do the typical ‘help me raise funds for cancer research’ thing, but instead could look at cancer in a more sadistic humor the way Hazel did.  I never really viewed it as a way Hazel could feel validation for leaving her family and friends behind. However, Lillian changed my insight on this point, and it made more sense to me afterwards. “She claims she did this because she really likes the book, but I think she made this effort because (since she connected with Anna so deeply) she thinks that figuring out what happens to Anna’s family will tell her what will happen to hers.”

                Another point that Lillian made, was in her conclusion. The whole concept of The Fault in Our Stars centers on what happens after you die, and living life to the fullest. B.A. or before Augustus (her amazing friend who opens her eyes to a whole new way of living life) Hazel tried to distance herself from everyone and everything, so as not to hurt as many people when she “kicks the bucket”. Lillian’s point on this is, “I believe that when you pass, people are glad to have known you, and yes, they will be sad, but it is part of human nature is to miss people or things, without that we would be much more heartless and careless.” While I think this is a valid point, part of me wants to disagree. And it’s the stubborn part that wants to block out feelings. I’m one of those people who are absolutely terrified by death, and when I was eight I watched my Grandpa die. I watch my mom sometimes, still be sad, and this big part of me wishes he hadn’t died just so that she wouldn’t be sad. I see Hazel’s point for secluding yourself so you don’t hurt many others, because I don’t want someone walking around for the rest of their lives with the weight of my death on their shoulders.

                I really enjoyed reading Lillian’s blog post, it helped me expand on my ideas on The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. Rereading this article made me remember how much I loved it, and I think I’d like to reread it again with this new perspective.