Kids in jail

Children under the age of 17 should not be put in jail for life without the possibility of parole. Three reasons I believe this: 1) Children are not conscious of their actions enough to hold something they do as a 14-year-old for the rest of their life. 2) They can be rehabilitated. I don't believe any child cannot learn to be a productive member of society. 3) Actions don't happen in a vacuum and I'm guessing there have been horrible things that have happened to these children that make them do what they do.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. There is a young woman in Milwaukee who faces this possibility for stabbing her step-grandfather. It seems that if the same money that it would take to keep this person in prison for the rest of her life was put to rehabilitating her, perhaps she would not need to spend the rest of her life in jail.

For a recent story on this, you can click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10scotus.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/53314487.html

For a lengthier report on the negatives of children in prison, read this:
http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/images/file/From%20Time%20Out%20to%20Hard%20Time-revised%20final.pdf

I'm more than willing to listen to arguments for keeping young adults in jail for the rest of their lives, but I have trouble coming up with any reason for why you would want to let these kids sit in jail.

Enjoy

Nothing like some gross out humor to make a blog even classier.

I will buy you a new life

There is no other way to jump into this than to spell it out. I moved from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to take a job that lasts one year, a job where I won't get paid more than $200 bucks a month, a job where I have to move into a house with 5 other strangers. Big changes? You betcha.

So, instead of bore you to death with prose, I'll go ahead and list the reasons why I'm nervous about this year, what I'm excited about and what I hope for the future. Allow me to indulge myself on this post and hopefully I can come up with some better stuff in the following posts.

Why I'm nervous:
I've never lived with a woman besides my mother, now I'm living with three and two other guys. I've lived with guys before too, and trust me, it can get shitty too.
I'm not getting paid all that much. My credit card bill for August was about double of what I'm getting paid here. That is quite the step down. I'm also concerned because I have quite a large college debt that is not going away anytime soon, and I feel like putting it off another year is not healthy.
I don't know what I'm doing in my job. I mean, they will teach me, but it is not something I have prepared for before.

Why I'm excited:
I have the opportunity to meet new people, in a new city and experience things that wouldn't have happened if I had stayed in Saginaw and worked there.
Milwaukee seems to fit me quite nicely. It is a big city, but it is a small big city. I think ultimately, Milwaukee is the kind of city I want to end up in.
My job isn't something that I would do normally after coming out of college with the degree I had. Journalism and comparative religion don't really lend themselves to non-profits, but I get to try something new. I like that.
I can reinvent myself. Not that I need to, but I also don't have to be stuck in the same ruts.

What I hope for the future:
While I would like to say I hope this leads to a job, I find a good social group to run with, and all that jazz, I understand that is unlikely. Instead, I want to enjoy this year, and always enjoy what I wind up doing with my life. Clarity rules.
I hope that I can learn something from all my roommates, and I am already learning things about myself since I got here.
I also hope to keep in touch with all those back in Michigan and where ever they go, as well as picking up some new friends in the process.

Thanks again, enjoy the day,

Zach

New posts to follow (I hope)

I have a lot to talk about and I have neglected this as a place in which to convey my feelings. No longer I say. I will work on getting more posts up and let you know how the trip to Milwaukee went.

Zach

Rooting for Roger

When Roger Federer won the French Open this morning, one thing the commentating team kept mentioning was the fact that everyone was rooting for him. Count me as one of them.

I confess that I cheat when it comes to watching tennis. If there is a tennis match on, chances are I'm not watching it. However, when it comes to the majors (Australian Open, Wimbledon, French Open and U.S. Open), I'm totally on board.

And I've always found myself pulling for Federer. Maybe it is the quiet confidence he displays. Everyone recognized he was, for a time, the most dominant force in the sport, but I can't remember a time when he showed up an opponent with a flashy celebration or trash talk. I'm not an crotchety old-timer who thinks there shouldn't be any celebration, but I respect the way Federer handles his business.

Secondly, more than any other time, I was rooting for Federer because he had never won in France. I would like to think Federer is the greatest of all time, but my severe lack of tennis knowledge really means this is a uninformed opinion. However, that being said, many with a more informed opinion also believe that Federer may be the greatest of all time, and if he were to really hold that title, he had to win all four Grand Slams. With the emergence of Rafa Nadal, it appeared that Federer was not going to be able to complete the career grand slam. While still able to cruise to Grand Slam semifinals, Federer couldn't no longer beat Nadal on any surface. To make a poor sports comparison, it was as if Federer had become the old, wrinkled Rocky, caught up to by a younger generation who had used him the standard for greatness. Federer had reached a career peak at 27.

Additionally, as a sports enthusiast, I love seeing history being made. I'm lucky enough to have seen Detroit sports teams win 4 Stanley Cups and 3 NBA titles during my lifetime, and Tiger Woods set new modern records on the golf course, and to me, it is exciting to see record books being rewritten. Federer, and Nadal, can do that everytime they enter a tournament, so it seems as if I am always rooting for them.

Like Pete Sampras late in his career, I feel like Federer on his worst day is better than all but a handful of his competitors, however, the gap is always shrinking, and some cases, like Nadal, Federer has been passed. It is not a knock on Federer, it just means that he has been on the top for so long, he has forced players to improve to be able to compete with him. I see Federer having a two-year window of being able to win a major. At the end of that time, he'll be 29, which is a dinosaur in tennis years. And with Nadal only being 23 and entering the prime of his career, I don't see Federer winning more than two majors in the next two years. However, I would be pleasantly surprised if he does.

So congratulations Roger, the hard work you have put in to tennis finally gave you that elusive French Open crown. I hope you have just as much success in the future, but for now, enjoy the victory.

Entrance Music

So there are some reasons why you would want to be a baseball player: money, attention and playing baseball is your job.

All of those things would be cool to have, but I really think there is one thing that is completely overlooked by being a professional athlete. Theme music.

Going up to bat or coming out of the bullpen, baseball players have signature songs that make all the jock itching and spitting seem all that much more classy.

And unless you are a good husband, Mr. Zobrist, you can pick any music you like.

Unfortunately, this hasn't transferred into other areas of life. It is neither practical nor acceptable to walk into your office with the docile tones of Quiet Riot's "Cum on Feel the Noize" replacing the office muzak.

I feel this is a mistake. People already make assumptions about people before they even have the chance to meet them, so at least know what kind of music that person likes while they are secretly judging them.

Furthermore, almost anyone I have met has loved to talk about music. What better way to break the ice than to have a song or two to already talk about when you walk up to that cute girl in the bar? Imagine if your theme music matched hers, you already know you have something in common. Bingo-bango, instant match.

I guess this just could never happen. I would get too tired of listening to other people's crappy intro music and would just want to listen to mine over and over again. It might also be a little embarrassing if I had a little Abba playing when I walk into guys night.

I do dare to dream though.

I has blogs for other sites

So I'm working now with mlive. I've posted a few things via their blog, so if you want to check them out, I've included the link.

http://blog.mlive.com/textmessage/

Sneaky Famous

So a friend and I were discussing the band Fastball. Remember them. They had that one hit way back in the late 1990s, The Way. If you still aren't sure, I've brought visual proof.



My friend told me that that was the only song by Fastball she knew. I said it wasn't. I said she had probably heard two or three songs by the Texas-based band. I rattled off some songs, she downloaded them and, surprise surprise, she knew the songs.

We then began to talk about how Fastball had been able to accomplish such a feat. They are mostly forgotten, but they have a catalog that a high percent of the population would recognize.

They have become sneaky famous.

Sneaky famous happens when someone who accomplishes a recognizable feat without really getting the attention of the public. Sneaky famous is usually reserved for authors and inventors. Authors, while their names may be recognizable, are mostly just more faces in the crowd. If John Grisham stood in a lineup with other middle-age men, I wouldn't be able to pick him out. However, most educated people in America know what he does and many of them probably have read something by him.

Same with Facebook "founder" Mark Zuckerberg, who is known by anyone who spends too much time on Facebook. However, Zuckerberg probably doesn't get mauled walking through a grocery store.

Becoming sneaky famous is much more difficult as musicians. Example: One-hit wonders.

Now I am not old enough to remember days without the Internet or 24-hour cable news coverage, so I don't know a time when someone could become famous without being plastered across television, newspapers and Web sites. I assume that sneaky famous was much easier to accomplish about 40 or 50 years ago, but now it has become an art form, a skill.

I think this has become my goal in life. I want to do something in life that gets my name recognized, but I would be OK without the constant pressure of keeping up appearances.

Someday I hope to be famous, and I hope that you won't even realize it.

Rod Allen takes on Japan

It has been a while since I posted but hopefully I'll have more up this weekend. For now, you get Tigers broadcaster Rod Allen.

Think before you type

As a product of the information and social networking age, I am well aware of the different networking tools at the tips of our finger tips. I have a Twitter account and a Facebook account, and quite often, I find myself on message boards.

Now I understand that you get what you pay for, and by going on these free message boards, you get all the trouble that comes along with that. You find a lack of self-editing. Bad grammar, terrible spelling and poor word choices. Those problems, while they don't reflect well on the author, can be forgiven.

But the real sin is the fact that people go on these boards and say inflammatory things they would never consider saying to a person's face.

It was not funny when a 13 year old does it, so now it comes across as pathetic when a person in their 20s, 30s or 40s does it.

As a writer who hopes to one day work in the newspaper industry, I can tell those who do this not only bring down their credibility, but they bring down the credibility of everyone else who comments on the Web site.

Now I'm not asking everyone to become friends and hold hands, rather I'm just asking for people who choose to speak a differing opinion to think out a response longer than just saying, "Your dum and you sux."

Please just think before you post.