So-Called "Governer"

Just this past week, Illinois' so-called "Governer", Rod Blagojevich, was arrested for attempting to sell Barack Obama's senate seat postition to the highest bidder. Illinois continues to prove its corruptness. The person who was supposedly working to make our state a better and more succesful place, cares more about the money that it can offer him than the people that live in it. This disgusts me! But what I am wondering the most is what this will mean for our newly elected President, Barack Obama and our country's future with him. What if this scandal was uncovered before Obama was eleceted? This is a major question and I think that Obama would not have won Presidency becuase the Republicans would have used this against him and gotten more votes for McCain.

What is truelly crazy is that Blagojevich, despite his crimes, is still allowed to choose the next senate representative. Fox News writer writes in an article, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/13/illinois-democrats-reeling-blagojevich-scandal/, that "sixty-six percent of Illinois voters" think that there should be an election held that allows the people of illinois to vote for the next senator for the state.

I think that Obama is going to be faced with major difficulties in the future. People are already questioning his possible involvment in this scandal which means that he is already posing trust issues and he has not even technically "entered" office yet. Yikes!! I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens...

Pressures Pushing Us To Our Absolute Limits

Henry David Thoreau addresses his writings to those who are "dissatisfied" with their lives. Even after the evaluation of the typical day in the life of a New Trier student, I believe I would categorize myself as "satisfied" with the life that I live. After the class discussion of New Trier's pressures to live a life full of academic, athletic, artistic extra curriculars, etc., I decieded to make a list of my own schedual, which is something that surprisingly enough, I have never done. I found that the "typical" student's day very closesly resembled that of my own: the early mornings, academically filled school day, physically and mentally tiring extra curriculars, large amounts of homework and miniscule amounts of sleep. How I am able to accomplish school, sports practice, voice lesson, ACT preparation tutoring, homework, and a sufficient amount of sleep in one day, is beyond me, but I have been doing it for so long that I do not even think twice about it. It is engrained into our minds at a very young age that the only way to be successful later in life, is to work ourselves to our absolute limits throughout highschool and college. But is this so wrong? I cannot decide whether the evaluation of my daily schedual has been beneficial or just disadvantageous for myself. Although I am aware that my highschool days are supposed to be the best part of my life, what is the hurt in working harder now so that I can live a more comfortable future. The pressures that students are dealing with at New Trier are, in my opinion, only going to help us succeed in the real world (if you consider being well-educated, and financially well-off to be success).