I believe that organized team or club sports are very important in the development of children. Furthermore, I believe in the role that both good and bad coaches play in our lives and that the impressions that they make on us as children last a lifetime. I have played many sports growing up ranging from soccer, basketball, flag football, and baseball to karate and jiu-jitsu. Each of these sports has taught me to look at the people around me in a different light. For example, a team sport such as soccer or basketball strongly emphasizes team play and the ability to cooperate with your teammates where an individual sport such as Jiu-Jitsu highlights the more individual aspects of sport. One thing that is constant throughout all sports is mentorship, specifically coaches and the parents of the team who play a very important part in many aspects of the young athlete’s experience. There are many aspects in which the adults around younger athletes influence behaviors that stay with us through high school sports and when working together with others in college. For example, there are many parents that cannot handle how the coach deals with the team’s tactics, which most of the time means they want their kid to have more playing time or they want their kid covering a different position and they take their frustration out on the players, coaching staff, and the refs. These kinds of parents are terrible when it comes to having a good team vibe because they want their child to think they are better than the rest of the team which is not conducive to success. Coaches are another variable when it comes to teaching kids to behave themselves in team situations and how to work in harmony with other kids. Personally, coaches have played a large part in who I am today and how I handle personal losses and wins. Another thing that coaches help kids with is understanding their role in the overall team structure, for example when I first started playing serious club soccer, I thought I was going to be a striker/forward but as time went on the coaching staff thought that I would fit into the team’s playstyle better as a winger or a center midfielder. Without good coaching I would have probably stayed at forward and I would have never discovered the joy of playing midfield. On the other hand, there are still a couple of bad coaches that I have played for. I remember one time that I botched a throw-in for my team which ended up in the opposing team scoring. A good coach would have helped me to pick up my head and helped me to move on to the next play. Instead, this coach decided that yelling would help him to make his point that it was my fault the other team had scored. These kinds of bad coaches have helped me to see that not all authority figures hold power over me, and that even though he was my coach, and he is supposed to be level-headed, adults just like us kids have their own problems in and outside of their professional lives. It is important to have good coaching and a positive environment especially when kids are still developing in order to create positive habits when it comes to working as a team later on in life.

Reading has been around for many hundreds of years, some of the most loved works of art have been literary works of art. This is because books have allowed people to escape to their own worlds where they can imagine what is on the pages and come to love reading. Not only does reading provide entertainment, the ability to read and write at a high level has always correlated with higher levels of intelligence when compared to those who don’t. Why is this important, well according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress there have been studies that show reading levels have gone down over the span of the 2019-2023 school years. This might have to have something to do with COVID but I fail to understand why COVID brought reading levels down as parents should have encouraged young ones to read more.

According to an article by the N.Y. Times, schools are relying on new methods of teaching little kids to read words which do not teach the child the meaning of each letter but rather teach the kid to know what a word containing that letter looks and sounds like. This is detrimental to the child’s overall reading ability as it doesn’t teach them the inner workings of our language. Even though schools are doing a lackluster job at teaching children to read, parents pick up the slack and take it into their own hands, buying expensive materials or turning to a tutor in order to teach the kids reading. This all costs money and it can be difficult for a public school family struggling to make ends meet to give extra time and resources to teach reading.

Therefore, the problem remains and there is a cycle of illiteracy. What has to happen is the government should help schools to have a great plan when it comes to teaching our kids to read and write. This is so that we can help as many kids as we can and we secure a well-educated future.

Anyways, reading has always held a special place in my heart as I remember going to the book store as a small kid with my parents at the mall or going to the used books store where they had records and board games for sale. Reading books has also helped me further understand other peoples’ perspectives as each author has a different story to tell which they tell through their characters. Also, reading or the process of learning how to read really helped me and my sister when my family moved to Texas as I knew zero Spanish when I got here. Thanks to good teachers taking their time in showing us to read properly.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/opinion/us-school-reading.html

Driving plays a big part of our lives as we drive to work, school, practice, museums, the mall, parties etc. But for all the time that we spend driving a large amount of it is soemone stuck sitting in traffic. The average motorist in America spends a total of 51 hours a year stuck in traffic. This is equivalent to three days which might not seem like a lot but when you take into consideration the amount of people that drive these hours add up. There must be a way to maximize the efficiency of the average persons’ everyday commute, and some cities such as New York and Chicago have something that can be called a metro system. However, when compared to the transportation infrastructure of a city like Montreal one can clearly see that we have a lot to work on as a country.

There are a number of reasons as to why cities throughout the U.S have lackluster public transportation systems. Firstly, the average American city was not built with public transportation in mind. In comparison to America, Europe in the 1950s was also on the verge of switching to a car dependent society, but their governments and people wanted to keep the metro system. American cities were being newly built in the 1950s and governments opted to build their cities in order to accommodate for more car traffic. There are many places in the world where there are great metro systems. There seems to be one difference between these places and the U.S, the culture. Countries such as Japan, Canada, Britain and Germany view their respective metro systems differently than we do here in America. Here in America we tend to view our public transportation as if we are better than that. This is partly caused by charging low rates which attracts people of a lower income, and furthermore having less money means that the transportation company cannot upgrade over time. This leads to unpleasant surroundings for those that use public transportation and discourages others from trying.

In order to develop a better system of public transportation similar to the ones in other countries there are a number of things we have to do. There needs to be an overall shift in the publics’ opinion on public transportation. Public transportation needs to be seen as a viable alternative to cars not just a system put in place so that poor people can get around. Furthermore, the government should heavily incentivize the people to get on public transportation. This can be done by improving the overall quality of the transportation system of certain cities, this would surely encourage people to try. Another thing that the government could do in order to make public transport more efficient is to build more supporting infrastructure. This could be something as simple as building 10 new bus stops or it can be as complicated as introducing new train/subway stations and routes throughout the U.S. Finally I think that the U.S. could have the world’s most sophisticated public transport system we just need to be creative.

Sources:

https://www.vox.com/2015/8/10/9118199/public-transportation-subway-buses

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2023/01/10/these-are-the-us-cities-where-motorists-lose-the-most-time-and-money-sitting-in-traffic/?sh=68b8f5114f1d

For the personal is political blog I could talk about how immigration and how thanks to immigration policies in the early 1980s my dad’s family was allowed into the U.S. after leaving their home country of El Salvador and allowed to start a life in Puerto Rico. Other topics of interest could be how I volunteered in a warehouse as a school requirement and I helped to pack and sort boxes full of meal packs that would go to those in need in third world countries such as Peru and Haiti.

For the Civil Issues blog I want to talk about an issue that does not seem to be an issue in most other countries, public transportation. If the United States really took their time in crafting a reliable, high-speed, affordable railroad accessible to all everyone would benefit. Many other first world countries around the world have a good amount of high speed passenger trains, for example countries such as France and Spain have high speed rail that takes passenger from one side of the country to the other in hours. I think that another interesting topic for my civic issues blog could be how the U.S. as a culture rarely eats fruits and vegetables. There are many other countries in the world where fruits and vegetables are just part of the culture and not something extra that one eats to stay healthy.

Milan is a city in Italy, in Milan there are two professional soccer teams that play at the same level. First there’s Inter Milan which is characterized by the blue badge and there is also AC Milan which is characterized by the famous red, white, and black badge. AC Milan is in my opinion the more famous of the two teams but Inter Milan is also a very strong team with millions of supporters world wide.

Inter Milan was founded in  March of 1908, at this time the team was made up of mainly Italian players, but the teams name, Inter Milan, came from the fact that the players and management of the team did not want to exclude foreign players from playing on their team. I think that this is a very progressive thing for 1908 and for sports in general.

AC Milan was founded in 1899 so it is a little older than Inter. The club was in part founded by the English which is why the name is Milan and not Milano which is the city’s name in Italian. During the facist regime of World War Two the club was forced to use the name Milano in spite of democratic powers. The reason for their distinct red coloring was to strike fear in the hearts of their opponents.

Both of the teams have had great success in both international and domestic competition. Both teams are tied for second in the amount of league titles won, each have 19. However, AC Milan has more international league titles; having won 7 Champions League titles whereas Inter only have 3.

Naturally there is a grandiose rivalry between these teams as they are both in the same city. In Milan there are diehard fans of each team and I am sure that there is occasional violence between fans.

In terms of players both teams have and have had great talent. Starting with AC Milan, they have had great defensive players like Maldini who also contributed to the 2002 Italian victory in the World Cup. Inter Milan has also had its fair share of superstars with the like of defender Zanetti and forward Samuel Eto’o. Currently though Inter Milan have forward Lautaro Martinez who played a pivotal role in Argentina’s recent 2023 World Cup victory.

To conclude, Europe has a rich footballing history and it is something that the large majority of the U.S. population have no clue about. Football is such a large part of the culture in Europe that one can say that it is part of their commonplaces. I hope that in reading this blog the reader learns something new and expands their cultural knowledge.

September 11, 2001 is a day that is held in high regard by millions of Americans. It was a day of tragedy, confusion, and shock. Many people still vividly remember where they were at the time they heard the news of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. The attack on our country took the lives of over 3,000 first responders and people that were working in the buildings. Out of all of the images that came from this day I think that there is one that stands out over all the rest.

This is Macy Borders, she was an employee at a Bank of America branch in the towers. This photo was taken in the lobby of a nearby building after the collapse of the south tower. I think that this image captures perfectly the sentiment that those in proximity to the attacks must have felt. Macy was one of the lucky individuals that survived the attack even though she worked in one of the buildings. Emotion plays a huge part in this image for multiple reasons. The first reason is that the viewer can see that the woman is in a state of trauma as she is covered in dust and must have experienced some serious shockwaves from the blast and the viewer feels for her.

The second way that emotion plays a part in influencing how the viewer perceives this photo is that the blurry or dusty background makes the image have a sense of imminent danger. Even though the image was taken in a building relatively far away from the trade center there is still a very large amount of debris in the area. The image captures perfectly a candid moment that could never be replicated artificially.

The woman is very nicely dressed because she was working at the twin towers which were very nice and hosted a plethora of businesses. Her outfit was ruined by the attacks, no one expected something like this to happen leaving the entire country outraged and confused. Thankfully Macy Borders survived the attacks on the World Trade Center but the attacks left her in a very dark place turning to drugs and rehab. She eventually recovered but was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 possibly caused by all the carcinogenic material she inhaled and was covered by on 9/11.

I think that images like this one that are captured in moments of immense stress make very good pieces of art because it is impossible to fully recreate the emotion felt without it being obviously faked.

Juventus is an Italian team in the 1st league of Italian soccer, Serie A. They currently sit in second place after Inter Milan. The team is based out of Turin which is in northern Italy. They are one of the oldest teams in the league and they are the team with the most league titles. Juventus was founded in 1897 as Sport-Club Juventus. The team saw lots of success from the 1920s all the way through the 1990s. They were the first team to win all three major UEFA competitions which were the UEFA Champions League, The Europa League, and the Europa Conference league. They have dominated Italian league soccer for many years and still continue to do so currently holding 36 league titles.

The team is owned publicly with the main stock holder being the Agnelli family who own 34 percent of the team. The remaining 66 percent is owned by the Lindsell fund and by other investors.

Juventus has had its share of talented players and they have played major roles in the discovery of major talents such as French midfielder Paul Pogba who won the World Cup in 2018. Also they had arguably the best goalkeeper in club history, Gianluigi Buffon who led his team to a World Cup win in 2006. They also have had the pleasure of acquiring one of the world’s best players ever, Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 for a world record transfer fee for a player over 30 years old.

Juventus is a part of two rivalries. The first one is called the Derby Della Mole and it is against club Torino who also come from Turin. The rivalry is more based on the fact that both teams are in the same city rather than it being based on how competitive the games are. The second more intense rivalry is called Derby d’Italia and it is played against Inter Milan. The rivalry is intense due to the fact that these teams often compete for top position in Italian league standings.

FC Dallas is a soccer team that is currently in the MLS. The MLS is the soccer league of the United States and it has been around since 1993. Since then they have added 29 teams throughout the U.S. and Canada. FC Dallas was established in 1995 and they were given the home of Frisco Texas. Originally the team was named the Dallas Burn due to the fact that Texas is known for having very hot weather and oil fields. The name changed to FC Dallas in 2005, along with the name change came a rebranding of the team’s colors and its logo.

The team does not have many uber-famous players but they have acquired some talents over the years. Currently they have a mixture of older more experienced players who have been around the club for many years and many new young stars such as Jesus Ferreira who also plays for the U.S. National team. One thing that FC Dallas does well is develop players from a young age and tailor them to play in an intelligent manner. Two examples of players that have made it through the youth program and are currently playing in Europe are Weston McKennie who plays in the best league in Italy for Juventus and Ricardo Pepi who plays for the best Dutch league for PSV which is a good team.

FC Dallas has a couple of rivals, Houston Dynamo and Austin FC. This is because all three teams are from Texas and there has to be a number one team in Texas. Other than that there is a rivalry with Colorado SC due to comments made by players towards fans.

I have a connection to FC Dallas because I played for their youth program for many years up until my senior year of high school and I have made many memories and friendships from playing soccer.

For my Evolving Ideas essay and TED talk I will be talking about immigration policy and changes in the immigration system as a whole. Specifically how they have changed throughout the years in terms of the kinds of immigrants being let into the country at given time, how policy changes have affected families with small children, and also the effects of covid 19 on the immigration system.

The story that needs to be told is that of working class people moving to a different country in order to provide a better life for their families. These people face many challenges and take risks before arriving to the U.S. where they might be denied due to a certain policy change. It is important to have some idea of what other people experience in order to further understand each other and communicate on a deeper level. Knowing how policy changes affect many peoples livelihoods might help some to see immigrants in different ways other than the stereotypes of what they hear.

I think that this is a subject that I have some experience with; in Texas there is a large population of latinos who have either immigrated or someone in their family came to the United States under different policies and under different circumstances. I know many people that are children of immigrants or immigrants themselves who have been affected by different policy matters. Also my parents are immigration lawyers so I have been around this subject all my life.

Policy changes in immigration are nothing new, the government first implemented a change to their immigration laws in the 1870s, the first major change which was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1888. These changes were did not impact immigration in a large way because at this time in history there was no numerical limit on the amount of immigrants allowed into the United States, only qualitative ones. I think the best place to begin observing the changes made to immigration policy is in the 1940s because this is when the Bracero program was put in place. Before this there was a quota system used to restrict immigration and it favored Europeans and prohibited Asians.

The book I will be using for a part of my speech is called Measuring Change in Immigration Policy by Suzanna Challen, the book criticizes policy saying that there needs to be change in policy to reflect the supermajority influencing policy making in the senate.

Manchester City is a London based football club, they were founded in 1880 under the name of St. Marks, they were named Manchester City in 1894. They have a deep and interesting history as well as some of the most passionate fans in all the soccer world.

As of 2022 the club was named the world’s sixth  most valuable club in the world by Forbes. The club is owned by City Football Group Limited which is a private organization that sells parts of the club to different companies and groups. This is different from the other teams discussed throughout this thread because the other teams have all been owned in part by the fans who come together to make important decisions that affect things such as stadium conditions. The privateization of the ownership of soccer teams is something that has become increasingly popular. I think that teams should be managed by fans so that quality stays at the highest level that it can for the enjoyment of fans.

As a team, Manchester City has had great success in recent years. The arrival of Pep Guardiola as manager completely changed the way that the team performed. Under his guidance and with the help of new additions to the team Manchester City has been one of the winningest teams in recent history. The most recent win being the 2023 Champions League title.

When thinking of iconic players to play for Manchester City there are a couple that have had great impacts on the team at the time they played. One of these players is Sergio Agüero, Agüero played for City as a striker from 2011 to 2021. He led Manchester City to multiple league titles during his time at the club. Manchester City also has a surplus of young talent at the moment. Their newest addition being Erling Haaland, Haaland is a Norwegian striker. The impact he has had in the year and a half he’s been on the team is as follows. He led the team to a league win as well as leading them to a Champions league title in 2023.

I think it is safe to say that City has some of the most passionate supporters in all of soccer. They have supporters all over the world, but they also have fans of other teams that strongly dislike the team due to allegations of cheating and spending money they never had.