When thinking about the percent of Jewish Citizens within the US and that its like less than 5% really strikes me as weird. Because for example on Saturday when drving downtown with a couple of my friends; i was like oh lets turn on 93.9 for the christmas carols and i realized that i was the only one who was not Jewish in the car and for example a major connotation of Glencoe is just that all the jewish people live there and this just strikes me as interesting especially when on friday in class during our discussion one of the major controversal topics was where you grow up is who you become and it strikes me as funny when there are so little jewish people in the world and on the north shore there are so many jewsih people around and i could never think that that could affect my life and when i get older and maybe move away that things would be a lot different is a shocker.

Sometimes on sunday nights when im bored i like to watch 60 Minutes with my dad and tonite a women was interviewing a man on fast food these days and how many calories everything is and how these companies can keep competeing with each other and it really astonished me. I mean this woman seemed like she actually had no interest in the questions she was asking and what the interview was virtually even about but as i noticed calories intake has such a higher power on what people look at when reading a nutrion label that it really is amazing how different food is. For example they went to subway who actually showed there calories on the menu and it was really weird that after this women got this relatively plain chicken sandwich it ended up to be around 700 calories. But what bugs me is that when looking at nutritional labels on food most people look at calories and at nothing else and thats how they judge what to eat. But then they dont look at the grams of trans fat or all these mystery chemicals that are really bad for you and even though a big salad may have more calories than a small french fry when looking at the actual nutritional value they cannot compete so i think the way american looks at dieting is all wrong

In AIS this week we had the pleasure of going downtown to look at some cultural architecture and see The Crucible at the Stephan Wolf Theatre and when we went downtown i didnt really know what we were goign to do down there but when they said we were gonna like walk around and look at buildings i was like wow this is gonna be boring looking at old dirty buildings all day but when they said that we were looking at Native American architecture it just didnt strike me that there would ever be a numerous amount of hidden architecture aroudn the city. So when we went around and looked at the architecture i feel bad now bc i kinda again like many people do all day, looked over this beautiful and puzzling picture and i didnt really understand what was going on and it was cold and i wanted to get a starbucks so i kinda just looked at it and kept walking. But in class on thursday when we went back over the pictures and had to decide what they meant or symbalized it realyl striked my interest. Like for example those two statues in the park of the Native American on a horse with a head dress and how the tribes that inhabited the mid west NEVER wore head dress's seemed astronomical too me b/c u would never suspect a huge statue that took so much time and effort and plannign to end up ebing politcially and culturally incorrect and all the sterotypes we saw in the architecture really made me have a deeper understand for the native americans and how they really kinda started america in a way and there is never really much reference too them and with thanksgiving coming up i hope we can learn a little more about the true meaning of thanksgiving.

This week in AIS we have been working very diligently on our "Perilous Times" project with the numerous wars America has been related to what strikes me as interesting and also almost scary is how much money wars are. I mean we spend something around 50 million dollars a month on the war in Iraq and i don't understand what for. And although i dont understand why really we are still there when the middle-east has been in chaos for decades and what makes us think we can really change things, i mean maybe we can but why should we be having up to ten american casualties a month. I mean whats also frightining is where is all this money coming from. I mean there is just so many wasted money i believe the government is throwing away where we, America, have many problems of our own. I mean with these huge california forest fires and Hurrican Ivan near florida. I mean just really i was watching a movie comercial for some movie with will smith but it shows him in front of NYC or some huge bustling town but its completely empty and he says that god didnt end the world, we did. And i think that that is a very though provoking line in which the way we really do end the world and how these huge companies make all this money and eventually we'll be the consumers of basically three different huge organizations. I just think its funny on how companies disguise things like one needs them when its basic things one haves around there house. For example my mothers is the biggest consumer on the planet and put an infomercial and she will be on the phone in minutes but anyways an example is this new "Clorox anywhere hard surface tm" and its just so stupid like my mom was spraying it and i was saying mom you realize that that is basically just really watered down bleach and it is and its just so stupid. Also if the sales tax goes up to 11% in Cook county like where is this money going. And like the taxes around here are so much and yea we get a great education but then we go and spend around 5 thousand dollars on getting 2 like HD Toshib tv's in the main entrance that no one ever looks at but we can't replace a broken desk. Or paying $800 for a semesters worth of books and then the bookstore buys them back for half the price of what you paid and then sell it back in the fall for double what they paid you for it. I mean with all the wasted moeny and all the debt in the world should we be preparing for a perilous time?

This week in AIS we were talking about Mr. O'connors jury duty for a signifigant amount of time in call one day and what the bias's might be or are when lawyers pick who should be on a jury. And when Mr. O'connor brought up that alot of the time people pick a person who might not have such an extensive education as another person. And it got me thinking how corrupt that could end up for example if a case were very complicated or around those lines and no one on the jury could follow or no one could have the expierence to apply there opinions to give a fair trial. I've read numerous books by one of my favorite authors Jodi Picoult and in all of her books there is always a trial and i believe that she really captures and get down the lingo of a court room in her books and from that expierene i've started to notice when watching Law and Order and other shows or movies that have to do with a trial that just a simple finger pointed or an opinion shouted out before objection can be called can ruin someones life and it's interesting how corrupt or what a disadvantage a case can be at for a poor man.

Recently in AIS we have been discussing large corporations and the way at the grocery store when theres are a hundred different cereals in the breakfast aisle but really only three major corporations own them. I just think its sad that no small buisness's can really stay succesful anymore when all these corporations put products out in higher quanities, faster service, and lower prices. I mean how is a small family-owned business to survive. I mean when competition is so high and no one can keep up and even generics can't become needed anymore. I mean there are way too many choices for one person. For example my mom sent me to walgreens to get some toothpaste and when I got to this huge aisle of toothepaste i did not know which to pick. I mean I could opt for stronger enamal, whitening, or fresh taste but really they all work in the same way and really dont do that much. Also with shampoo and conditioner theres all these different variations and you see all these shampoo comercials that just are so cheesy and all saying like "oh if you use this shampoo and conditioner you'll become popular and beautiful." I mean in the end its all really the placebo affect where everyones brains syke them out like vitamin water, be relaxed, be focused, be energetic i mean really flavored and colored water cannot really make you more focused or relaxed. I mean the small business's also like this one street shermer in evanston used to have all these little stores that you couldnt find anywhere else and all thats left now is this one really old flower shop and a bookstore in a alley. I mean everything is big corporations or new stores that will porbably just close in a year. I mean what is the world coming to where all the stores left in 15 years are Starbucks and Walgreens.

This week in AIS we watched a very meaningful documentary titttled "Be Good, Smile Pretty" The movie was about a daughter going across America find information about her unknown father. By the end of the movie the daughter said that in a way she felt luckey because she got to know her father in a completely different way than how she would've if he was actually around to be her father. In a way she was luckey because in life one rarely ever gets to see so many pictures, or talk to their parents friends, co-workers, and family so deeply on their life. I think it's very interesting because one never really gets to hear what other people think of them because in life we all usually live in the moment so to hear what the close people around you think of you or the stories they tell from their point of view could be very interesting. And even though I would like to think that if I died people would have stories to tell about me and there would be alot to commemorate me on. But when you think about life is such a prescious thing and if you dont live in the moment or enjoy it while you can no one will ever be able to remeber who "that" kid was.