Teenage Reckless Driving

Introduction:
Many people underestimate the severity of teenage reckless driving issues. These people also believe that, if they are of age and passed the driving test, teenagers are more than capable of driving safely and taking care of themselves. This is true for some new drivers, but most take months before they are comfortable with handling a car. I am not suggesting that we raise the driv#1ing age, but I do believe that we need to do a better job of educating new drivers about safe driving habits. Teenage reckless driving is a serious problem on today’s roadways and we need to do something to change that.

Area of Support #1:
This section will focus on a study that focused on teen driving behavior. I will discuss the findings of the event-triggered video intervention system used in the study. Its results show that most of the problems that the teenage participants encountered were coachable events; meaning that giving new drivers feedback on these events could prevent them from happening again.

Area of Support #2:
This section will discuss some of the laws and regulations relating to new drivers that different states have. It will also include data from these places to see if the new regulations made a difference in teen driver safety. The answer to making the roads safer for everyone may involve enacting new laws regulating new drivers.

Area of Support #3:
This section will talk about the distractions that teens are more susceptible to, which include texting and peer pressure. Both of these issues are all too present in a teenagers driving experience and lead to thousands of fatal accidents each year. We need to stress the importance for teens to give their undivided attention to the road and no one else.



Area of Support #4:
The last section will focus on Neurological research on the teenage brain and explain why teenagers are much more likely to give in to dangerous behavior. I will discuss how understanding this information could help us work around these immature tendencies to help solve the problem.

Conclusion:
Teenagers do not only face external distractions and inexperience while driving, they also have a mental crutch that makes dealing with these issues more difficult. Though many people are not aware of it, teenage reckless driving is a huge danger not only to the new drivers, but also to all the other drivers on the road. The laws that try to prevent unsafe driving behavior are not effective enough. We need to test new laws and new forms of education to try to help teens make better decisions on the road.

A Mask on the Face of Death

I found this essay very intriguing. I never new how big of a problem AIDS was in Haiti. Selzer did a great job of giving a lot of new, shocking facts about the disease and the effect it is having there. The numbers and percentages were astounding. I understand that AIDS has spread all over the world, but I thought only countries in Africa would have problems to this extent. Selzer also did a great job of presenting the full size of the issue without directly saying it. The numbers of people who came to the hospitals and clinics for AIDS care spoke volumes about the state that Haiti is in. Another thing I liked about the essay was how Selzer visited so many different places and questioned many different people about the topic. he did an excelent job of thoroughly researching the issue and getting opinions from all sides of the spectrum. As he put it, he "fastened [himself] to this lovely fragile land like an ear pressed to the ground." I was surprised that he went to such lengths. Starting off the story in a brothel was a great hook. It really surprised me when I found out why he was actually there.
The fight against AIDS is a difficult one and may seem impossible to win. This is especially true in counties such as Haiti where the disease is spreading so rapidly. I agree with the two doctors that Selzer quotes who believe that only education could slow the growth of the problem, but this will only work if the populous will accept the information provided.

Unspeakable Conversations

I thought that this essay topic was very interesting. It is amazing that these two groups were able to have civilized discussions about such a serious topic that they are both passionate about. Johnson must have had an even harder time because this topic could have effected her existence.

Reading Comparison

Though it may not seem so on the surface, Mirrors and Shooting an Elephant connect on a deeper level. They are both first-hand accounts of troubles that the author has experienced. Both struggle to psychoanalyze themselves and find that they act differently because they are concerned with what other people will think of them. Mirrors focuses on the author’s physical deformation and how she tries to hide it from the world so that she is not laughed at. Grealy finds that her physical appearance was controlling her life and determining how she acted around other people. After her surgery she knew that she had changed, even if her family wouldn’t admit it. It wasn’t until she had lot looked in the mirror for a long a time and forgot what she looked like when she finally began to act herself. When she forgot her fear of being laughed at, she returned to normal. In Shooting an Elephant, Orwell talks about how the view of the “natives” controls his actions. He too does not wish to be laughed at, and he lets this fear control his actions. The Indians expect him to prove his superiority and authority that he is supposed to have other them. He begins to make decisions by looking at what the crowds want. Both authors act differently because of their interest in other people’s opinion, but they don’t realize this until afterward.

The Bombing of Nagasaki

This author had the very unique experience, one that only a few people have ever witness. His description of the explosion was interesting in how sometimes he made the blast seem almost beautiful, while at other times he described it as horrifying. One example is how he compaired the first mushroom cloud to a flower; going into detail about its color and shape. Another example is when he described the second mushroom cloud rising as a "decapitated monster growing a new head". I think that this is a very effective way to describe what the author saw. The colors and smoke formations would have been anm incredible sight, but he still understood that this bomb had killed millions of people and had a much uglier truth to it.

Shooting an Elephant

In the beginning, I thought this essay was going to be about Orwell's personal relationship with the locals in India. He made it very clear that he cared about what they thought of him and that he was hurt when they made fun of him. I also thought that the story of him shooting the elephant was just used as an example of his concern for the public's approval. In the end; however, he was really just using the elephant story to show how all Europeans felt when they were occupying another country. How the native's opinion of them was a very important factor. As Orwell stated, "For it is the condition of this rule that he shall spend his life trying to impress the "natives", and so in every crisis he has got to do what the "natives" expect him to do." In other words, Orwell, and others like him, were constantly under scrutany from the locals and were determined to prove their superiority and to not be laughed at. Orewell probably shouldn't have shot the elephant, and he didn't want to, but the crowd's will "made" him do it.

Beauty

Beauty, by Alice Walker, was very similar to Mirrors in the sense that the author wrote about her struggle with overcoming a physical deformation that she sustained at an early age. She was taughnted and ostrisized just like Grealy was, and was obsessed with regaining the "cute" look that she once had. It was easier; however, for Walker to hide her flaw from the public and, unlike Grealy, she was able to improve her looks with surgery.
I thought that Walker did a great job of setting up the transition of her story with descriptions of some past experieces that showed what her life was like before her "accident". Her format of skipping from memory to memroy was also very interesting. It enabled her to quickly discuss many different phases of her life while still getting her point across.

Mirrors

Mirrors was a very interesting and compelling essay. I couldn't even imagine going through the hardship that this woman had to endure. It is no surprise that, for many years, her thoughts were clouded by self pitty and a urning for a normal life. The fact that she had a twin sister that was able to live a life that she couldn't must hae been maddening. I am surprized that she didn't go insane, as I surely would have. She had the right to soley blame her physical differences for her unhappiness because, without them, she probably would have lived the average, happy life that she could only dream of.
The pysical pain that she experienced in the hospital and the emotionl pain she felt out in public could truly be felt through her words. I think she did a great job of explaining these emotions and her feelings throughout the story. I find it amazing how she was able to psychoanalyze herself with so much detail. Everyone knows how easy it is to admit one's physical flaws, but how hard it is to come to terms with our mental foults. Her selfpity and obsession with her looks was a mental fault, but one to be expected from such a young person in her position. It must have taken a lot of thinking and soul searching in order for her to write this paper. I was glad toward the end of the story when she had a revelation and was finally able to overlook her physial flaws for the first time.