Rags-to riches

This week in my blog I'm going to talk about my favorite basketball player's life story which is Dwyane Wade. Dwyane wade was raised by his single mother Jolinda. Wade's mother was struggling to take care of wade and his siblings so she was forced to be on welfare causing Wade and his five year old sister to bounce from their mother's and father's place. Due to low income Dwyane wade quote: "There was no birthday presents or Christmas gifts," Wade says. "you just didn't ever ask for what you wanted. It was my mission as a young kid to overcome being poor. I had so many dreams so many aspirations." When Dwyane Wade was 8 years old his sister Tragil changed the course of his life by simply tricking him onto a bus ride to his father's house. Dwyane wade took a liking to his new home, new family, and new friends, but as soon as Dwyane wade was getting comfortable in his new home his Father Dwyane Sr. Moved his family to a house in the south suburbs of Chicago. Frow Wade: "It was a rough suburb, but it was a big step up," Wade says, "you could go outside late at night and you wouldn't hear gunshots." This new environment allowed Wade to play basketball with his stepbrothers and their friends. Wades Senior year was very difficult. Although he was dominating on the basketball court, which managed to earn him seventh place in Illinois' Mr. Basketball voting, His father Dwyane Wade Sr, and stepmother were having marital problems which made Wade's life very stressful but he stay positive and did everything he could to get out of poverty by getting tutored for the Act by several schoolteachers to meet the requirements necessary to play basketball in college. Wade had to sit out his freshmen year of college due to missing the Act score by 1 point. Wade finally had the opportunity to play during his sophomore year at Marquette and showcase his game. Wade immediately made waves which led to him getting Drafted by the "Miami Heat" in 2003. It was then he accomplished all his goals he set out to do and made it out of poverty and other obscecules he had to face during high school and college. So his message is to never give up on your dreams because anything is possible.

Poverty

Many families are living in poverty around the world including: Mexico, Haiti, Afghanistan, and many other middle east countries. These people walk around bare foot because they aren't able to afford to buy shoes. The parents of theses families living in poverty are unable to buy food to feed their family members due to the little income the family is bringing in. By the entire family not eating it causes them to become weak and often sick. This is a major problem across the globe because these families are unable to work due to starvation and their bodies feeling extremely weak. However, I don't have sympathy for all of them because many of them choose to live in poverty and not work. They just become lazy and want the whole world to feel sorry for them and donate money that they work hard forever single day of the weak instead of trying to find solution to this problem which is looking for work even if it's a part time job. This will get money in their pockets and if they gradually accumulate enough funds they'll be able by a cheap apartment, have food in their bellies, and they'll be clean, but I do have to say many people don't choose to be this they just loose their job and they are unable to pay their bills and the bank kicks them out of their house into the street. Now these people I feel really sorry for but the thing is you don't know who to believe because I have seen people soliciting for money on the streets and then they job into a brand new car. So the point I'm trying to get across is be careful who you give your money to because you never know if they they are poor or not.

Teen pressured to do things they don't like doing

Many teens today are pressured to do things like trying drugs, drinking, stealing, or even distructing privite property. These teens do these things to fit in even if they don't want to do these things. In my opinion I believe you should do what you feel is right to do instead of doing these stupid things to fit in with the low life kids who have to be followers to get attention instead of being a leader. For example, I see many of my old friends from middle school who smoke "pot" and I tried to convince them to stop by telling them how bad it is and the ways it affects you negatively, but they are so addicted to "pot" they just ignore what you say and do what they want. So I just gave up and decided they weren't the right friends for me and met new kids who make the right decisions like me and lead by example. So I suggest that everyone makes the right decisions in life and led by example because in the end it will benefit you in positive ways like a college education, intelligence, and many people will respect you for this.

Peer pressure in Teenage drinking

Many teens get involved with drinking because they believe that's the only way their friends will accept them in to their group, but really if my so called "friends" thought drinking was a way of showing that you're cool I would immediately find new friends who were good role models and led by example by making the right choices and doing well in school instead of getting involved in driving. Teenage students who get involved in drinking tend to see their grades in school plummet dramatically,begins to have unexcused absences, may get in fights with other students. Also teen alcoholics often have difficulty getting along with authority figures such as teachers and principals, as well. Teens often become withdrawn from their family, and the problem getting along with authority figures leads to frequent arguments with parents. Another fact about teens who decide to drink is they often also get involved with drugs due to their obsession of Alcohol. Teens who are involved with Alcohol mainly get involved with doing marijuana.Teenage drinking statistics also tell us that teens often drink when they are depressed, believing that alcohol will make them feel better. They do not realize that alcohol is a depressant. Instead of making them feel better, it actually makes the depression worse. Teenage drinking statistics tell us that a disproportionate number of teen alcoholics suffer from problems such as physical and sexual abuse, eating disorders, and undiagnosed or untreated psychological problems. Teens drink in an effort to self-medicate. So I suggest that all teens say no to drugs and obsessive drinking like me.

Stupidity of Blue Tape

The minute I heard about teachers being demanded to have blue tape on their boards because it's researched that is helps students learn efficiently in classrooms I laughed so hard because I never heard something so ridiculous in my life. Like really? How can blue tape help a student learn, if anythIng it would distract students from succeeding in the classroom due to the bright color. Also students succeed in class based on how they perform on test and quizzes, homework, projects, and classwoek which has nothing to do with Blue tape. So that just goes to show you students can succeed in classrooms with or without blue tape on the white board. I know I can succeed without Blue tape on the white board because I have good study habits and I know how important school is towards my future, this is what pushes to complete my homework every night even though if I'm not in the mood to homework. So those are my thoughts on blue tape being put on white boards to supposedly help students succeed lol.

ASGARDA

Asgarda is a group of women from Ukraine who are victims of trafficking and gender oppression. The women seek complete autonomy from men. Residing in the Carpathian Mountains, the tribe is comprised of 150 women of varying ages, primarily students, led by 30 year-old Katerina Tarnouska. Reviving the tribal traditions of the Scythian Amazons of ancient Greek mythology, the Asgarda train in martial arts, taught by former Soviet karate master, Volodymyr Stepanovytch, and learn life skills and sciences in order to become ideal women. Little physical documentation existed on the tribe, until recently, when renowned French photographer, Guillaume Herbaut, met the Asgarda back in 2004 in the midst of the Orange Revolution. I can sorta relate to these people I took karate for eight years and operated different kind of weapons including: Bo staff, kamas, nun chucks, sword, sticks, and The sai's. These women all live with one another and have moved themselves from regular society and live in the mountains with each other. The reason they all moved away is they all have the same believes and wanted to start a group to express themselves in my opinion a weird and awkward way lol :D That's everything on this specific subculture called Asgarda

Drug addition and usage

Many people do not understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. It can be wrongfully assumed that drug abusers lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop using drugs simply by choosing to change their behavior. In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting takes more than good intentions. In fact, because drugs change the brain in ways that foster compulsive drug abuse, quitting is difficult, even for those who are ready to do so. Through scientific advances, we know more about how drugs work in the brain than ever, and we also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated to help people stop abusing drugs and lead productive lives.
Drug abuse and addiction have negative consequences for individuals and for society. Estimates of the total overall costs of substance abuse in the United States, including productivity and health- and crime-related costs, exceed $600 billion annually. This includes approximately $181 billion for illicit drugs,1 $193 billion for tobacco,2 and $235 billion for alcohol.3 As staggering as these numbers are, they do not fully describe the breadth of destructive public health and safety implications of drug abuse and addiction, such as family disintegration, loss of employment, failure in school, domestic violence, and child abuse.

What Is Drug Addiction?

Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her. Although the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people, the brain changes that occur over time challenge a person’s self control and ability to resist intense impulses urging them to take drugs.

Fortunately, treatments are available to help people counter addiction’s powerful disruptive effects. Research shows that combining addiction treatment medications with behavioral therapy is the best way to ensure success for most patients. Treatment approaches that are tailored to each patient’s drug abuse patterns and any co-occurring medical, psychiatric, and social problems can lead to sustained recovery and a life without drug abuse.

Similar to other chronic, relapsing diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, drug addiction can be managed successfully. And as with other chronic diseases, it is not uncommon for a person to relapse and begin abusing drugs again. Relapse, however, does not signal treatment failure—rather, it indicates that treatment should be reinstated, adjusted, or that an alternative treatment is needed to help the individual regain control and recover.

What Happens to Your Brain When You Take Drugs?

Drugs contain chemicals that tap into the brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. There are at least two ways that drugs cause this disruption: (1) by imitating the brain’s natural chemical messengers and (2) by overstimulating the “reward circuit” of the brain.

Some drugs (e.g., marijuana and heroin) have a similar structure to chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, which are naturally produced by the brain. This similarity allows the drugs to “fool” the brain’s receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages.

Teen Pregnancy

Teen Pregnancy is one of the most difficult things a teen may face in their life If the choose to have a child in their teenage years. In my opinion I think it's so dumb to have a kid a young age because you're just maturing and developing into an adult. Also many teens are still in school and involved in sports or different groups schools have to offer and with a child they will have to give-up these things to raise the child. For example, on Teen mom and 16 and pregnant you see these teens lives flip up side down when having a child because they aren't able to attend college or persue their sports careers because they don't have the time or money to attend school and better themselves. Teens these days just don't think about the consequences of having a child at a young age. They put a lot of stress on their Parents and additional family because they are the ones who most likely have to come up with the funds for clothing, food, and addition supplies. So if you choose to have sex at a young age I encourage you to use protection.

Introduction

I'm a 17 year old student @ Ft. Lauderdale high school. To be honest I'm not much of a blogger but I guess I will try it out since it's a grade lol :D Lastly, I'm a 6'4 center on the varsity basketball team and plan to play basketball at the next level.