First Amendment Test

Rebekah's score: 23/30

Reagan's score: 24/30

I was surprised to learn that the government is not required to review major news stories. I figured that they censored many of the headline news we see but they don't get prior viewing or editing privileges. Another thing I didn't know is that the First Amendment does not protect Obscenity but protects things such as profanity and indecency. I also learned that news organizations are allowed to publish information on minors if it is newsworthy. While I have seen stuff of t.v. about many cases involving minors, I didn't know that they are treated the same as an adult on the news. Minors stories and information are not censored.

This May Vaguely Deal with Dress Codes

I have always had a certain degree of disdain for dress codes. I feel equal disdain for public indecency, to be sure, but I assume there is some happy medium between the two. Call me an iconoclast, but it seems the average school board seems to miss this fact. “God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board,” in the words of Mark Twain. My dress code complex may have been born out my Catholic school experience, in which I spent the majority of my education in Lands End polo shirts with “Notre Dame de la Baie” emblazoned across my chest with a pleated plaid skirt swinging below. I served no less than twelve detentions for not wearing socks, as I had foolishly forgotten that a flash of bare ankle easily scandalized Victorian Wisconsin. The sloths of the school praised the uniforms and exalted the evil overlord of a principal who enforced them. They no longer had worry about “what to wear” or “designer labels.” I despised these people. These heathens had never worried about what to wear or about these “designer labels” (yes, the fictional labels that high school faculty invents to justify dress codes. I will eat my generic shirt if I ever see Wisconsin dairy queen waltzing down the locker-lined halls in an Yves Saint Laurent gown, Galliano overcoat, and Manolo Blahnik stilettos.) These people could buy and wear Lands Ends polos without an enforced uniform. They could wear filthy pajamas out of pure laziness. I would never tread on their right to be complete and utter pigs. But I wanted to “express myself” (terrifyingly trite, I realize) through dress. I wanted bizarre hair and to wear a decent pair of heels without white, wooly ankle socks cramping my toes and my adolescent style. It may seem petty, but as an awkward, tin-grin freshman it meant the world. When attempting to speak to other students, I became tongue-tied and uncomfortable. I would have fit in with the cast of Lizzie McGuire with freakish ease. The only way to make any sort of statement short of carrier pigeons or interpretive dance was through dress. So upon arrival at our fair NCSA, I freed myself of the plaid and collared bondage of my former life. But the omnipresent dress code would not fade. Ballet classes had them, as did modern and drama. Daily, I was again forced to blend in with like students, in pink tights, a black leotard, and slick bun. But as it was in the days of yore, I needed to remind myself of my own humanity and freedom in simple ways. This time it was not with socks, but rather hair. My hair is a an absolute mess, and I give myself a little pat on the back every time a ballet teacher comments on how unprofessional I look because of it.
I realize that in the last 488 words I have not come close to doing the proper blog entry. Essentially, the dress code here at NCSA is constitutional, but there are more important things to learn from blathering on as I have. The more important realization that the school has made me face—although I’m sure ResLife wishes for the opposite—is that freedom is the only important thing. As Albert Camus said, “Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.” With foolish rules (dress codes included) heavily enforced, students feel they must break them as a reminder that they have control over their own lives. Generally speaking, the rules that are broken end up causing some sort of harm to the student. With more freedom, students could stop “reminding” themselves by wearing messy buns and smoking cigarettes, but instead productively and creatively use that freedom to live fully.
But I suppose I am projecting here.

Freedom of Religion

Marijuana anyone?

The United States historical treatment of the Rastafarians constitutionally guaranteed right to use their religious sacrament, marijuana, have been unequal which violates the separation of church and state. Today, Rastafarians do not have the religious right to smoke ganja because it is seen as violation of the United States' drug laws. For Rasta’s, smoking cannabis is a spiritual act, which is paired with Bible Study; they consider it a sacrament that cleans the body and mind, heals the soul, exalts the consciousness, facilitates peacefulness, brings pleasure, and brings them closer to Jah (their God). Many religions make use of a sacrament (a substance with sacred and spiritual significance), the most well known being the Christians use of wine as part of Holy Communion. I myself would argue that it is unfair for the government to grant permission for the use of some religious substances over alternatives. The US Supreme Court has ruled that laws against marijuana trump religious freedoms regarding use of banned substances. The case not only touched the Rastafarians use of marijuana but involved American Indians who use peyote. Despite the long tradition of using marijuana as a sacrament throughout the world, it remains illegal. This situation is disconcerting in the United States, since the prohibition on the religious use of hemp clearly violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

ANNUAL AMERICAN DEATHS CAUSED BY DRUGS

TOBACCO ...................400,000

ALCOHOL ........................ 100,000

ALL LEGAL DRUGS .............20,000

ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS ..........15,000

CAFFEINE .........................2,000

ASPIRIN ...........................500

MARIJUANA ...................... 0

Source: United States government...

National Institute on Drug Abuse,

Bureau of Mortality Statistics

What Speech Should Be Protected?

In the First amendment it clearly states that as Americans we have the freedom of speech, to say and express ourselves in basically anyway that we choose. However, when it comes to a point where someone is saying something that is hurting other people, most Americans do not take it too lightly. At the Westboro Baptist Church, they believe that it is okay to go and protest about how they don’t think it is right to be a homosexual, along with many other vile topics that they choose to continue to protest and argue about. Voltaire once said, “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it.” This quote is one that is looked upon as something that all Americans should agree with and defend, but this kind of speech is the kind that takes it too far. Regarding the limits of freedom of speech, I think that there should be definite restrictions on things, such as the Westboro Baptist Church, may say. However at this time I do not think that there really is anything being done about it, since the first amendment at the time that still protects all of their rights to say what they want, no matter how violating and hurtful.

-Connor Senning

I Believe in the Best Days of My Life

By: Musette Strong

I believe that people wish their life away too fast. I believe that the average human being wants the next best thing. When you're 10 you can't wait til you're 13, when you're 13 you can't wait til you're 16, when you're 16 you can't wait til you're 18, and when you're 18 you can't wait til you're 21. It usually involves the teenage years that you wish away. They say that your teen years are the "best days of your life" and if that's the case, why do we want the next "best thing"? For a lot of teens they can't wait for their next smoke, their next high, their next driving experience. their next party, their next hook up, their next whatever. We all wish life away too quickly. Even I'm guilty of it. You only get life once and I don't think we want to get to the age of 80 and look back and say "where did it all go?" That would be really sad. I personally don't want to do that. I believe that every moment should be spent as it's your last. You never know what could happen two seconds after you get off the phone with your mom or dad. Life should be filled with good memories and not-so-plastic smiles. I believe that one day I'll be the grandma who sits in her rocking chair and say that I fully lived out every moment of my life and knew exactly what I was doing. I will be happy. I will be laughing. I don't want to tell the stories of the "good ol' days" because I believe that every day should be a "good ol' day" and I never want that to end.