WE SURVIVED THE END OF THE WORLD--AGAIN!! Now What?

On the last known day on earth, if you weren't praying to your God or Gods, you were either partying it up YOLO-Style, making a list of all your enemies to tell off, making a list of people to apologize to, or you stayed home and hoped for the best with the Zombie Survival Guide in one hand and your significant other by your side. OR you were like my friend Kiara and posted again and again how stupid people are for believing the Mayans or false Nasa Reports and stuff. I watched TV, and just for fun, I watched "Shaun of the Dead" on Netflix only to realize that at 12:42AM NOTHING HAPPENED AGAIN!

 Not only am I bad at Math, but apparently so are The Mayans, who were obviously wrong and who would've gotten a calendar from me for Christmas had they still been around. The only good thing that came out of today were the funny memes on Facebook and tumblr.

The end was near for the twinkies, Gossip Girl (FINALLY- DAN WAS GOSSIP GIRL!!) but as for the human race, we'll be Okay.

Many People were probably prepared for the worst, since the Mayan Calender told us to, because their calendar ends on December 21st, which is a Friday, a good enough excuse for any idiot to proclaim "Ultimate YOLO" before doing something incredibly stupid, but since all that is behind us, we (those of you who aren't hungover, in jail or on a death bed) can look to the future! Christmas is coming, as is 2013, and with the new year comes new movies and stuff. Here's a list of stuff I'm looking forward to watching in 2013 as of right now. (And I know my new Editor-in-chief Gustavo is going to have me write about in the upcoming semester, because it's all Features. Consider this a preview for the Blog!)

1) The awesome book-turned-to-movie "Warm
Bodies"
If you look at the Youtube trailer, My copy editor Raf (who showed me the trailer) is responsible for atleast half the number of views its gotten. It's a zombie romance, and although it sounds disgusting if you try to visualize a zombie couple going "Lady and the tramp" on a lifeless arm, it's actually very well written and funny. I'm looking forward to it because as far as I know, no one has ever attempted a zombie genre like this. It's a bit hard to explain what it's about so here's the official trailer. Never thought I'd say this, but what a cute zombie! Look at those gorgeous, lifeless eyes!

2)  How I met your Mother season 9
We're getting closer to knowing who Ted's wife is in this romance story told in reverse. Season 8 ended with Barney finally proposing to Robin at the top of the "world wide news" building where Robin works as an anchor (yay journalism!) Now we know Ted and Robin can officially never be. The opening credit always has his two kids, a son and daughter (played by David Henrie and Lyndsay Forsenca--recorded in 2003!) listening on the couch as their dad rambles on about his dating life leading up to how he met their mother. Every season we get clues as to what she's into and who she might be, but writers on this show like to throw us viewers off, which brings me to my next show.

3) Pretty Little Liars 
People have been dying on this show since the first episode and all (well, most) clues point to the liars. The amount that these girls carry on their shoulders as high school seniors and dealing with the vicious text attacks by 'A'  is staggering. The last episode shown for the season was the Halloween episode, where Aria (beautifully played by Lucy Hale) was nearly killed on the Halloween Train where she was drugged and kidnapped by the 'A' team and crammed into a box with a dead body. This show is a must see, because the whole world is watching and trying to figure out who's 'A' and who else besides Toby (a boyfriend of one of the girls) and Mona (an ex-friend) are working for 'A'. I already knew you can't trust many in high school, but the amount of secrets everyone has is incredible. Nothing is what it seems and they can't even go to the police for help because, well, it's all very complicated thanks to 'A'.

4) Girl Meets World
I admit I flipped out when I heard that they are rebooting the '90s classic "Boy Meets World" with Cory and Topanga (played by Ben Savage and Danielle Fishell) raising their Teenage daughter in this new society that is pretty different from their when they were growing up. I have high hopes for this reboot, as do many other fans, which puts a lot of pressure on the writers to make this a great family show, while still dealing with teen issues. We all know reboots that suck end up losing a massive chunk of fans afterwards, (Rugrats: 'All grown up'--WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GROW UP?!) The only down side is that bad boy Shawn Hunter (played by the oh-so sexy Ryder Strong) won't be reprising his role as Cory's best friend. He tweeted that he might be in as a guest star but not as a cast regular. Damn.


5) A Haunted House
I saw Marlon Wayans apart of the credits and I knew I had to watch this. There's something about making fun of scary movies that he's so good at. Check out his new trailer, which some would think is stupid and immature. I'm not one of them.

6) Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
Check out this bad ass spin on a kid's folklore, it impressed me enough to want to watch the movie with my brother. Can you say 'Family Bonding'

7) Kick Ass 2

The funny superhero teen comedy comes back this summer as one of the summer blockbusters of 2013. not much can be said about the film yet, other than the original stars are coming back to reprise their roles. The official trailer isn't out online yet, but trust me, the original Kicks Ass.

8) Carrie

I'm especially excited to see the remake of Stephen King's 'Carrie'. It's one of my favorite Novels and it's just flat out creepy. Chloe Mortez, who's also in 'Kick Ass 2' as Foul Mouthed Hit Girl, Plays the bullied teen who takes revenge on all her cruel classmates who dumped pigs blood on her at Prom. I hate scary movies, but this is one I'd love to see, just to see how the director will be adapting it to the newer generation, and how violent and gorey it will be compared to the original with Sissy Spacek in the '70s, where even the most budgeted movies looked pretty cheap in theaters. It's scheduled to hit theaters in spring but thanks to the new technology, you can find out #WhatHappenedToCarrie on Twitter for the latest updates.

My List may be short but it's growing the more I find out how long I'm going to be sitting on my ass next year watching and writing, kind of like what I did this year. I love my Major, and I'm glad the world didn't end simply because I haven't been published yet outside of The Observer. I know I will one day, and that's something else to look forward to.

You can never know too much about Sex!

It's not how I would've spent my Tuesday afternoon on South Campus, but since I haven't taken Sex ed since high school, I figured "why not? You can never have too much information and I get a boxed lunch afterwards." Plus my friend on the paper Rogianne, and my Advisor Jen said that the one last year was really informative and funny, and they didn't disappoint this year either.

The two women running the seminar are authors and sexologists (how do you major in sex? can you minor in it as well?) named Dr. Joni Frater and Esther Lastique, who held nothing back when it came to having safe sex and the different steps both guys and girls can take to protect themselves, from condoms to getting tested after every sexual encounter, because as Esther believes, you can never be tested too many times. Their goal from the start was to erotically enlighten everyone. Knowledge is sexy!

Isn't this cute? It's squishy!

It was entertaining to watch and Drs. Frater and Lastique knew how to engage the audience by having kind of like an icebreaker at the beginning to see what we know and what we don't, who we got our facts from if we didn't or couldn't ask an adult we trusted growing up. Those who participated were thrown a hand grenade, but it's like those hand held stress release things. My number one source of information was my mom, and one of the things that's always stood out to me most was one of the first things she told me, which was not to use two condoms at once, which earned me a grenade for participation. Thanks, Mom!

This seminar actually taught me a few new things when it came to protection and prevention, like how Oil based lubricants can make a normal latex condom pop in ten seconds (what?!) because the oil messes with the latex, causing it to expand and break--something that no one wants to happen to them. So we as students were advised to use water-based lubricants. Frankly, lubes gross me out, but no subject was left un-discussed with these ladies.

Esther holding a condom for the room to see.

Obviously college kids party hard, so just like there's MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) there's the girl-rule of "Friends don't let friends sleep with creepy guys." The "official" rule was different, but I've had this rule with my best friend and club-buddy Carolyn when we would go on a girls-night out. Any substance that's considered fun normally ends up impairing your reflexes and decision making, so when you're drunk (or high!) and you want to do stuff, a condom would (most likely) be the last thing on their (and your) mind in the heat of it all. One thing they emphasized a lot about was that the pull-out method doesn't work at all, and can get the girl pregnant.

When they started to talk about condoms and genital care, their slideshow actually showed the actual guys'junk (some dude off the internet) and Joni demonstrated how to properly put on and dispose condoms. Apparently flushing them down the toilet is a huge no-no because it messes with the plumbing. who knew.

They also gave us a tip to make condoms feel better for guys who complain how it feels weird or bad, which was to use a water-based dime sized amount of lube on the inside of the condom for the guys. Again, who knew.

When it came to the female condom, I learned how awkward it looks without it even being in use, and honestly, those things made me think of a weird disfigured toothless mouth that some guy will look at and not want his junk anywhere near. It's clearly not for everyone. They also discussed dental dams, which is basically a latex sheet for oral sex, the only down side is that it's latex,not really see through, so you're navigating blindly. They suggested to use Saran Wrap, the actual sandwich wrapping brand because it's the only brand that doesn't have tiny microscopic holes in the plastic. Once again, Who knew.

Among the other things covered were non-latex condoms for those who are allergic, the scary statistics about STDs and HPV and how we as students should be more sexually responsible, because after all, not everyone deserves to get what we have.

BC offers free STD testing for students and they don't need to draw blood with needles. They can swab the inside of your mouth, for those of you who are too chicken to take the needle but are brave enough to sleep with someone one night and do your walk-of-shame down to the clinic in the morning.

Personally, if anything at all looks suspicious, it's not going to happen, or supposed to happen. There's a planned parenthood on University Drive, right by south campus, and another one by central and north if you want to get tested but missed the dates to do it. Those who are doing the walk-of-shame, your results can be anonymous if worse come to worse.

Apparently, Joni and Esther go around the country doing this, and even said they go to "America's Heartland" which is pretty much the country area between the fast paced east coast and the (probably just as fast paced) west coast and hear some crazy stories about how little those bible thumping country idiots (my words, not theirs!) know about sex and stuff.

The amount of people who don't  know the basics and are fully grown adults make me wonder why the hell haven't they tried to educate themselves. It's not hard, it's all over the internet and in several books. Infact, for more information on these awesome ladies and more safe sex tips, click here to educate yourself. Remember, knowledge is sexy!

So here are a couple of things I can say I learned from this sassy and funny boot camp

1) Oil and Latex don't mix.
2) They don't need your potentially infected blood to know if you have an STD, the warts say it all
3) Condoms can really mess up the plumbing--try explaining that to your mom!
4) Out of the 6 million new cases of genital HPV per year, 74% of them are 15-20 year-olds
5) Female condoms kill boners, so I guess it's doing its job..
6) flavored condoms are mostly scented
7) You can recycle Saran Wrap to your pleasure
8) Lambskin condoms have microscopic holes that can allow fluid through, so that sucks.
9) The average penis is 5.5 inches, so most men don't need magnums
10) One method of birth control that's 100% effective is abstinence

I survived a night in Retail Hell..a week ago tonight!

This happened a week ago, but still I worked it and survived. Read the clean version I wrote for my school's blog here!

From the very beginning when I first got the seasonal job at Sawgrass Mills Mall, I, as well as the other holiday hires, were constantly reminded how many days were left until black Friday. It's obviously the biggest shopping day of the year, so big that some stores open on thanksgiving night and stay open for a full 24 hours in hopes of increasing sales. While that may be good for business, companies are completely forgetting about us, the sales associates who have to work on a full belly of thanksgiving dinner and wash it down with an energy drink. I'm not saying that we're assigned a full 24-hour shift, but we're not happy trying to find a size small shirt for rude and rushed customers who clearly aren't a size small.

 Last year, a man named Anthony Hardwick petitioned to Target to reconsider the store's black Friday hours.  It's bad enough having to work long shifts for minimum wage on what's supposed to be a family holiday, but opeing at midnight or even a few hours before midnight on thanksgiving is just unfair. after he started the petition, his hours were basically cut, but he spent the new free time with his family. Win-win, he stays home with his family and Target continues to make money with other people who (I'm assuming) are like me and can't afford any hours to be cut, even if it's a family holiday.

My shift started at 10pm and ended at 7am, with an hour break. I brought an energy drink with me to work and shared with my new friends before the shift started, and I've never been happier to have all that caffeine in me wired at two in the morning, especially while talking to a woman who was trying a pair of jeans (which I knew weren't going to fit--can you say muffin top?) and her dejected face when she cursed herself in Spanish for having a fourth helping earlier that night.

First of all, Sawgrass is an outlet mall, which means in all languages that everything is on sale year round, but do the international customers know (or care) about that? NO! they yell and scream and knock things to the ground while looking for whatever it is they're looking for (to re-sell again, we're not stupid,) and get upset at us when they can't find something that they saw in a regular priced store.

I won't even mention how a religious holiday has been blown out of proportion for commercialism. You don't hear a lot of thanksgiving songs, but no one really wants to write a song about the pilgrims who stole land and killed (and raped) hundreds for food, let's just stick to tracing our hands on construction paper and drawing a rainbow colored turkey.

I felt like I was going to war, or about to play an intense game of Zombies on Black Ops. The parking situation was so horrible, people were actually double parking just to get their presents! I was dropped off, and even though I hadn't gone inside yet, I heard the rumbling of excited chatter through the walls of the emergency exit/employee entrance. It's officially Christmas.

The first few hours before my scheduled hour break, the store was a complete war zone. I'm talking clothes being grabbed off displays left and right not just by the demanding customers, but by us associates helping them. The line for the fitting room stretched alongside displays, and the line to check out was nearly out the door. It was the worst place to be if you were claustrophobic or had crippling shyness because of the wall to wall people who would ask you dozens of questions at the same time, and a lot of the time it would be the same question in a different language, which got very annoying. In my case, one customer asked another one of my co workers about the promotions we had for black Friday--the exact same question she asked me two seconds earlier, and when my co worker rolled her eyes, the customer huffed and said she wanted to make sure she heard right. things got more annoying when she went up to our manager, who actually saw the entire scene go down, and repeated the information again. I guess third time's the charm because after she talked to my manager, she hurried out of the store and blended in with the horde of people passing by outside.

During my break, as badly as I wanted to get off my feet, I had to see how the other stores around the mall were holding up, and some of them were really busy, just like the managers may have wanted. Others weren't so lucky, like the bookstore that was pretty much non-existent to the shoppers. Even Starbucks had a line wrapping around the already very small restaurant. Gamestop was a different kind of battlefield because of its small space and everyone clamoring to get the latest games and gaming accessories. Josh is going to have to settle for a sweater from Armani Exchange. I was stepped on just passing by the store, and shoved three times by parents who were trying to make the line, which resembled the lines outside for the exclusive night clubs on south beach.

As the night went on, the frenzy seemed to die down a bit. maybe because the caffeine was wearing off, maybe because the store only had extra larges and size 14 left, or maybe it was all the merchandise on the floor that made it impossible to walk, but things got relatively calm as dawn broke. I wasn't shoved or stepped on anymore and I could actually breathe and help recover the store as best as I can before the early birds who like to shop at the crack of dawn show up. By now the caffeine in my system had disappeared, my feet were sore, and I avoided all customers by walking away every time I saw someone look my direction. When I finally clocked out, I felt exhausted but accomplished. I survived not just Angry Thursday (Trademarked!!) but my longest shift to date. 

So you hooked up with someone from work...Here's what you do!

For the record, I have a boyfriend. Josh and I will celebrate 2 years next month, but my Editor-in-chief Kyle wrote an opinion about the "horrors of college dating" for our latest Observer issue, and it got me thinking about what happens when people just date. The hook ups and promises to call, but don't even get a text...Anyways, I stand by what you're about to read.

There's always going to be that one hot guy or girl at the office. Their personality may or may not be douchey, and if it is douchey and they're hot enough, it won't matter. How do I know? It's happened to me. Not the hooking up, but having a co-worker that's cute but he knows it and is full of themselves. I've yet to find a guy who's sweet and looks good, (that works at the office! not that it matters, but you know.) but a lot of guys are sadly full of themselves. (Yay for Josh for being different!)

Most of the times with these situations, physical attraction plays a big role in what happens, not to mention time and place. Plus there's that whole "forbidden desire" thing. A hook up can range from a kiss to going all the way, but what happens is ultimately up to you.

By what I've been told by my anonymous source (a girl who likes to gossip in my Psychology class, Let's call her "Crystal") the "aftermath" of a hook up can go either good or bad, depending if the hook up itself was good or bad. That right there is half lie. It's not just if the hook up was good or bad, it also depends on the boy or girl. So after the first kiss (whether it be at an office party drunk, group outing with friends (drunk) or whatever,) two things can come to mind, either "yay" or "ugh what the fuck did he/she eat?!"

If it went like my friend's experience, she described it as a breath taking, the universe stopped and she suddenly felt like she was living the perfect fairy tale moment where the music swells and they live happily ever after. This was of course weeks ago and she still recalls how the guy, let's call him "Ross", would leave her wishing it would never end.

But with the good also comes the bad. He said he'd text her after his shift, and he didn't, so she texted him, and had several days of not answering and him avoiding the shit out of her at work. Where was the prince charming with the perfect "kiss"? Our theory (we talk a lot in psychology) was that he never existed.
He wanted her, got her (twice because she initiated it the second time) and he left. It hasn't happened again, in fact "Ross" is acting like it never happened, which really bothered her because how can someone fake such a moment of pure bliss?

It's crazy to think these kinds of emotions were brought on by just a kiss, but here's a secret, "kiss" is a euphemism in this context. Yeah so this just got extremely personal for my friend and "Ross", who turned out to be just another horny bastard.

Here's some unbiased background on "Ross". Handsome enough, still in college, majoring in something I don't remember, a horrible human being and an obvious party boy who has probably broken dozens of hearts before hers. He's not a horrible human being, but players might as well be. If a guy knows that a girl's heart is not a toy, why do they keep treating it like one?



Anyways, now it's super awkward for her and "Ross" at work. It's as if it never happened, and she's suspicious that everyone knows about their indiscretion, not to mention the ego she's never noticed before on him. Take notice, boys, we hate egos. They were never that close before the incident, they just worked together. There was this one night where he called her randomly to try and get her to send naked pictures to him but she (made the right decision because she's got COMMON SENSE!) said No, and even after that happened, he acted like in never happened.

Clearly "Ross" is an asshole who only wanted one thing, and he got it twice. Poor "Crystal" is still heart broken and even secretly hopes he'll change and want her, but I told her not to get her hopes up, because logically, he's probably not going to come back for round three, especially if he knows how much she wants him to and how much she's hurting.

Now she'll act like it never happened, because according to "Ross" it was just a "go-with-the-flow" moment that won't happen again.

That's one way of dealing with he aftermath. Another way (that won't work because "Ross" is too immature to talk things out, even with a twice-in-one-night stand) would be to just be direct and confront them, even if they're being assholes. This goes for guys too, if we hook up and ignore you, it was because either it was good but it can't happen again or we'll actually be direct with you and tell you what's up or it was bad and it can't happen again. Let's be real, if it was good, we as girls save the number in our phones.

If the guy turns out to be another "Ross", then forget about him. He was lucky enough to have you before, and if it wasn't for him being such a dick, maybe there would be some kind of future there. Another word of advice is NOT to go for someone who's hot and cold, because that's just asking for trouble.

 Don't be like "Crystal" and cling to something in the past, because while you're thinking of what you both shared, he's thinking of what line to use on the next unsuspecting girl. Ultimately, They're not worth it.

Are you brave enough to see Sinister?

This was also published in my College's blog!

This movie is not for the faint of heart, it’s made several people become nocturnal days after seeing it. Sinister is the most appropriate movie title for this chilling film. If you look past the obviously edited-for-the-sake-of-the-plot shots, it’s a visually graphic and intense movie from the very beginning that can get anyone either ready for Halloween or sleeping with all the lights on.

The Movie is centered on a True-Crime Novelist Ellison, (played by Ethan Hawke) who makes the brilliant decision to move his family to a house where a family was brutally murdered in months before. Things of course start to get strange when Hawke’s Character finds old super-8 films that are labeled as innocent home movies, like “Hangin’ out”, “BBQ” and “House painting ‘12”. Spoiler alert, every home movie shown is a movie of how the previous family was murdered. While watching the movies he discovers a couple of strange symbols in the films and a demonic figure along with them. As the movie goes on, the symbols turn out to be a part of a pagan spirit named Bughuul, who eats children’s souls. As Hawke’s character finds out more about the demon, his kids begin to act strange, particularly his daughter.

If it wasn’t obvious before, this movie does NOT have a happy ending. In terms of the immense graphic violence and having an intense fear of silence during scenes when it’s just an 8mm projector and the audience, this is one of the movies that really stick to your mind long after you leave the theatre. It came in third place opening weekend with 18 million, behind Argo and Taken 2.

There were a few Horror movie clichés here and there that took away from the plot throughout the movie. Moving to a haunted house, the main character being unfazed by all the grim crimes and details of the deaths of the families, and of course the paranormal entities having some sort of interaction with innocent children, just to name a few. Nothing popped up in the middle of darkness, but complete silence had movie goers squirming in their seats as they anticipated the face of Bughuul to show, which will be etched into the memories of the audiences forever. The ending and beginning of the movie is similar, except the “home movie” shown makes the audience believe that they will be BugHuul’s next victims. Everyone is urged to either stock up on nightlights or RedBulls to avoid being next, even in the comfort of your nightmares.

My first roadtrip with a bunch of almost-journalists to Daytona!

What happens in Daytona stays in Daytona! Not really, I got alot of stuff on video and what do you expect when a conference is held at a hotel on the beach and it's all expenses paid? We party like Journalists. so this is what happened from what I can Remember....

DAY ONE

There were five of us. Kyle, our editor-in-cheif, Gustavo, the managing editor (second in command) Rogianne, the south campus bureau chief, Alexa, our design editor and Me, the features editor. The plan was to meet early in the morning on south campus, and our Advisor Jen would drive the rental car down from west palm where she lives. That plan quickly went to hell when
1) both the guys were late to meet us and
2) the car wouldn't start in Jen's drive way.
Kyle was the last to arrive, but Gustavo had overslept, so we piled into Kyle's death trap of a car and drove over to Gustavo's to wake him up. After a few minutes of waiting and a fun pic with the girls infront of his house, the girls piled into Kyle's car. Since I'm not exactly comfortable in it, I rode (and bonded) with Gustavo to Jen's in west palm, where she figured out what was wrong with the car (absolutely nothing, the car key was plastic and clunky and she didn't know how to turn it on, the woman she called for help didn't understand the problem and neither did Jen's husband. Everything was good by the time we got there.)
 It was 9:45 by the time we finally left Jen's in the van and to prepare ourselves for the long ride up, we entertained ourselves. It was awesome, because it felt like we were going to disney world, but it was the "Florida College System Publication Association's 53rd Annual Awards Conference in Daytona. The title is a mouthful so it's FCSPA for short. anyways we did this. Kyle is the one on the phone, Gustavo is next to him, Rogianne is next to me and Alexa is in the passenger seat.

If you couldn't tell, Kyle pranked called some girl from Gustavo's job about her degree at FIU. always the Prankster. These guys are like Pauly-D and Vinny, bros til the end, completly inseperable. So adorable!

The rest of the trip up was pretty chill, and by the time we got to the Hotel, we missed the welcoming. The day was still early, so after checking out my awesome room and eveyone else's we went our separate ways until dinner, after all, we just spent like four hours in a mini van. we got our name tags and journalistic goody bags Alexa and I went across the street so could get cheap and cute flip flops. The shop was adorable and pretty cheap. We met with Rogi at the pool after checking out (and nearly being knocked over) the beautiful powdery white sandy beach that was right outside my window, then we hung out in the indoor fancy jaccuzzi. This is when things get kind of college-y. After the Dinner with a bunch of other community college newspapers, we (as in the staff and I) went up to the guys' room (because they shared a room and all the girls got their own room!) and found out what the guys did while we were at the pool
 and beach. They were buying tons of cheap beer. That's right, how many underaged drinkers were in that room? Three out of  Five, and I won't say which three, or post the massive collection of emptied bottles from the two night trip. That's on Gustavo's instagram. I can almost taste the bitter, foamy beverage settling on my tounge the more I think about it. Bud Lite is the drink I'll forever associate with Daytona. I eventually made it back to my own room and found myself feeling a bit homesick, since the only thing I had brought from home was the stuffed spock Josh got me. Tipsy thoughts left me thinking about life, love and what would've happened if there was one of those awkward office hook ups happening. We don't work in an office, but still. AWKWARD!! 

DAY TWO
My alarm went off at 8am, but after remebering just how much everyone drunk the night before, I didn't expect anyone to be up. Turns out I was the last one up and out of my room. I tried to eat breakfast with everyone across the street at Denny's but I got there late and only snacked on Gustavo's toast before the first workshop of the day, which happened to be held by a Multi-media Journalist from the Orlando Sentinel. It was absolutely gorgeous outside, but we had to be inside for th workshops the majority of the day.

If you can't see the picture, it's me holding the microphone from the speaker, which says Orlando Sentinel. That dude was awesome and finally gave me an official title for my career, which is Multi-Media Journalist, because I would love to work for an online newsoutlet, like Yahoo! or The Huffington Post, things like that. the speaker talked about all the kooky and fun things he reports, like a star wars convention, a bacon-off, which is exactly what it sounds like, and other fun features stuff. I didn't see much of the group on the second day. I was still slightly hungover from the first night and everyone wanted to attended different workshops, like Alexa for Design, Kyle for some kind of group exercise, Rogi for something I can't even remeber, and Gustavo for sports reporting. We got a pretty gross boxed-lunch, and mingled with other colleges. I didn't eat it, making me hungrier, crankier and desparate for a nap, so I ditched the Editor's roudtable (which was all the editors that came get together and discuss their problems, share Ideas, and network.) for take out breakfast (The grand slam for 6 bucks!) from Denny's across the street and a four hour nap before the big dinner and awards banquet.

I wore my new dress thanks to the wetseal, and that was the 10th floor hallway. My room was way at the end, like the shining. Kyle wore a replica of Michale Jackson's Beat it video, and he wore it with pride as he went and accepted most of the awards that we won, which inclluded first place for best design and general Excellence. it was a great night for BC. Kyle even did the spin when he accepted the first award. His fearlessness is something to admire, and his sanity throughout somethings is something to question. I'll totally miss him when he graduates.

There was a dance held for us and it was nice to just dance and let go with everyone, even if there were some bad dance moves here and there. At the same time as the dance, the hotel held a kareoke night, so after a long-island iced tea--courtesy of a very nice guy who from Palm Beach State College--Rogi, Alexa and I sang the oh SO popular kareoke song, Don't stop Believing by Journey. I like to think I wasn't all that messed up. The girls had my back.

The guy holding my phone was named Scott, we never got his last name. we did, however, nickname him McLovin, from Superbad. From what I remember, he said he'd only joined the paper two weeks ago and was offered this awesome trip. I don't even remember what college he was from! I hate to say it, but as much as I responsibly drank with my co-workers, I don't remember much else, other than mingling with our rivals from Miami Dade college, who ended up being really gracious about the dozens of awards they won comapred to us. Two girls from The Reporter, Claudia and Chelsea, actually hung out with the guys, and I tagged along simply to finish my beer because kareoke made me thirsty, and we totally hit it off. Not sure how the guys felt about it, but I didn't care when it was happening and I don't care now. It sucks that the theory girls talk was proven, but Women talk way more. At the stroke of 2am, I left the party in the guy's room, simply because of a famous and true quote from How I met your Mother, Nothing good ever happens after 2AM.  So I went to my room and set my alarm for 8am again because we were supposed to be meeting in the lobby to leave at 9.

DAY THREE 

I woke up at 7:45 surprisingly well-rested, but I shifted over and saw my suitcase and all my clothes scattered on the bed closer to the window. I wanted to feel more at home, so there was a mess on the floor on one half of the room. I got up, showered and started packing because I really wanted to see the goregeous beach one more time before being stuffed into the van and going back down home, which I was excited to do because I had plans with Josh, but I didn't want to leave this all expenses paid paradise. 

Yes, I bought 5 pairs of shoes and like 7 different outfits, even though there were two shirts I didn't wear. repacking everything plus the flatiron in the bathroom was hard, but I found saturday Morning Cartoons, so I felt right at home again. I was ready to go home. You don't see much from the pictures because the actual pictures are kind of big, so I made them smaller. Eventually I finished everything and got to take in the sights one last time. I met up with everyone who was oddly quiet, and for a second, I panicked and thought I made a huge ass of myself, but I saw Claudia from the night before and she told me what happened after I'd left. again, Women Talk. and Laugh hysterically. I won't say what was said, but I'm glad she was safe with her situation. We traded numbers, and I'm still going to try and find her on Facebook, later. After that little hilarious conversation, I made my way to the beach and took these: 

We finally piled into the mini van and head home, and although I didn't anticipate the amount of homesickness I'd have, I didn't want to leave. No one was coming back next year because everyone would've graduated by then. It was an intresting learning and bonding experience. We won awards, found out who's a bigger partier and got some tips on how to design an even better newspaper.

It was a pretty awesome, slightly fuzzy weekend.

Pitch Perfect made me want to sing and dance, until I realized I'm bad at both.

I actually got a chance to see the funny movie at sawgrass almost two weeks ago, thanks to the preview screening. I can't get the cups song out of my head!

At a glance, Pitch Perfect may seem like someone took the concept of Glee and made it into a movie. Well that initial assumption is wrong because unlike Glee, that features high school kids singing through their everyday problems, the movie centers around a cappella college level competitions between the boys top singing group appropriately called the treblemakers (one of the many puns in the movie) and the girls group called the Bellas(LOL at the fact that Kendrick's first movie was in twilight with that whiney character Bella... )It’s like glee in the sense that they’re singing the musical’s hits, the group has a collections of freaks, geeks and weirdo’s, and there is one obnoxious (but undeniably talented) star who lives and breathes songs that are decades old. 

But unlike Glee, the lead Beca, excellently played by Anna Kendrick (And Can I just say I love the makeup done for her the entire movie?! Bravo!)  reluctantly joins the Bellas after being cornered (Literally) by co-captain Chole, played by Brittany Snow with a flattering red dye job. Beca offers a new take on the old music the Bellas sing, and while everyone else is on board, co-captain Aubrey, played by Anna Camp, insists that traditional songs from the 70s is the way to go. The movie is a funny look inside the cut throat college a cappella world. The Bella’s top rule is not to fraternize with the enemy, which would be the very handsome trebles, (and Beca’s love interest) Jesse, played by Skylar Astin, and the captain of the treblemakers (haha!), Adam DeVine, who also stars in Comedy Central's post college slacker comedy 'Workaholics'

There’s more to the movie than just competition, it touches on issues such as love, trust, restoring a reputation and acceptance, something that both Beca and Aubrey fight for. The movie also features fresh faces, most notably the break out star Rebel Wilson who plays the crass and hilarious Fat Amy. Wilson had a small role in 2011’s bridesmaids. 

The premise is a bit tired, getting the rag tag group of well-meaning a cappella singers ready to compete against the boys group, while battling within their own group. Even though the montage of both groups doing ridiculous, meticulous and just funny workouts last about three minutes, you know there is only one group who will humiliate themselves on stage. one way they keep eachother on their toes is competing in a Riff-Off

 It’s got that adult sense of humor mixed with lame-but-funny puns with America’s top 40 soundtracks. The singing wasn’t auto-tuned and no one lip synched, it was pure talent on the screen. It did considerably good during its limited release in 335 locations nationwide before it’s released all over on Oct. 5^th. It’s a move a studio like universal has never done, but the move proved profitable results with 5.2 million over the weekend.

Some of the songs covered were Kelly Clarkson’s since u been gone, and Rhianna’s Don’t stop the music, along with the mesmerizing mash-up of Bruno Mars' 'Just the way you are' and Nelly's 'Just a dream'. The soundtrack has four and a half stars already on iTunes and is worth the money if anyone is into fun, danceable music.

Overall Pitch Perfect had its genuinely funny moments thanks to mega- scene stealer Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick’s sarcasm against Anna Camp’s pristine attitude, which can very well give glee’s Rachel some serious competition. 

The Shore gets shut down: How will MTV survive without it's 'T-Shirt time'?

This was also published in My School's Blog!

Jersey shore is cancelled? Maybe there’s hope for MTV, but I highly doubt it.

The news of Jersey Shore being cancelled brought on cheers and jeers from teens and young adults around the Twitterverse. Sure, there’s not going to be any more ‘T-shirt time’, GTL (Gym, Tan, Laundry for those of you fortunate enough to have lived under a rock for the past few years) or grenades (if you didwatch the show, this is a good thing).  But the cancellation of the eight Guidos and Guidettes got a lot of attention, good and bad, while they were on the air. Is this a sign that MTV is starting to go back to its roots of being MUSIC Television? Don’t get your hopes up! In an interview with Entertainment weekly, executive VP of programming Chris Linn made a statement about the new series of shows for the fall. “As you know, we’ve always taken a portfolio approach. We have numerous other franchises that continue to do well, from Teen Mom to The Challenge to Awkward, so we’re excited about the diversity of franchises. We have a number of new launches, like our new scripted series Underemployed on Oct. 16, we have the new reality series Catfish on Nov. 12, and a ton of new series in the pipeline. As fantastic as it’s been for Jersey Shore to burn as brightly as it has, it gives us the opportunity to put efforts behind our new series.”     

So why is it really being cancelled after six seasons? It’s not (just) because Snooki (Nicole Polizzi, the wildest of the bunch) had a baby boy with her boyfriend Jionni, and not (just) because The Situation (Mike Sorrentino, the oldest member of the group at 30!) had a stint in rehab and is coming back to the shore house sober for season six, but because it was just time, according to Linn. I think it was a strategic move on their part, because this phenomenon had maybe a year or two left tops before they started doing crazier and stupider things just for shock value and milking the ratings for everything it’s got.  If viewers still want their Snooki fix, her spin-off show with cast mate JWoww (Jennifer Farley) has been renewed for season two, which will probably focus on Snooki’s parenting skills with her new born baby boy, Lorenzo.

It’s been a crazy ride for the shore cast. UNICO National, a service organization of Italian Americans, has asked MTV to cancel the show before because of their portrayal of stereotypes of Italian Americans, and their use of the term Guido, which is an ethnic slur towards Italians. Even the governor of New Jersey said the show was negative for New Jersey and encouraged everyone to see the famous shore for themselves rather than watching it on MTV. 

 It’s definitely not the first time MTV has gotten controversy over a show. Teen Mom is still on and going strong, even though there were reports all over America that girls were getting pregnant on purpose to be casted in Teen Mom 2. Whatever happened to Music being played on MTV? My advice to MTV is if they won’t play Music, drop the M, and replace it with an R for the many reality shows it’s known for showing.

This over hyped show of college-aged kids (excluding the Situation) partying hard, getting into bar fights, public intoxication and on again-off again relationships are the reason why so many loved to hate them. Still, the cast was charismatic and actually had moments of sincere friendship and introduced new vocabulary to us. It’s hard to say they won’t be missed, but it’s a win-win situation. They get their lives back to normal (whatever that is for them) and we only have one show left on MTV that seriously needs cancelling.

How I survived the rain--or the "catastrophic" tropical storm Issac

My first day of quarantine was full of frustration to say the least. I use the term quarantine because my house happens to be the only house on the block with the window shutters up, blocking out the rain, strong winds and happiness. My mom and brother had spent all late afternoon and early evening putting up shutters around our Miramar home without my help because even at 20 years old, I still have the ability to whine like my glory days of 14. (FYI, I whined about how stupid it is to be scared of rain and wind, which is essentially what the STORM is.)

I woke up to my loving boyfriend calling to ask how hard it was raining. He's calling from West Pines, a twenty minute car ride. Even though he called at 9:30am, my window made me think it was midnight thanks to the shutters. He and I had plans to spend the storm together watching movies in my room, but paranoia must have had my poor mom up all night because she stopped me before I could pick him up. I couldn't risk opening the door without the possibility of down power lines and getting struck by lightning. (Let me take the time here to just say that if you're planing to live at home during college before switching to a real university, DON'T DO IT.) There goes my romantic Sunday. As much as I hate to admit it, even though it was just rain,  my overprotective mom had a point, it was dangerous to drive, most of my neighborhood driveways were flooded with standing water. I was already having car troubles and Josh has been recovering from his car accident for almost three years..we can't risk it.

My Sunday was doomed to be spent in the house with my mom and brother. Here's some background on my family which no one really knows; My parents got divorced a year ago, so to keep us afloat, my mom works A LOT. I see her for maybe twenty minutes on a good day. We text often so it's not like she was a complete stranger to me. My Brother just started his junior year of high school, he plans on becoming a cop when he graduates, so he's in and out of the house a lot. we're also text savvy. With my school, work and social life always meshing, I'm out of the house a lot too, so when we all had breakfast this morning, the weather seemed to effect everyone's mood. Grouchy, irritated, hungry and bored. We were trapped in the house, like well, anything trapped that desperately wanted out. I'm so bored I can't think of a simile! With tensions high and patience lower then normal, I couldn't hide my boredom from my stressed out mom and annoyed brother who's friends were outside because it was just windy. Friday and Saturday were great, spending time with my boyfriend is always fun. It was Sunday that kind of, pretty much ruined it.

There's always next weekend (optimism rears it's ugly head.) Next weekend seems so far away!

I turned on the TV only to have all my local channels focused on the meteorologists, which I suspect is the only reason they would want to become weather men/women is to report on disasters or "catastrophes" such as this storm, and keeping people locked up in their homes like they're hiding from zombies. Plus disasters have a way of bringing people together in a twisted way. I quickly grew bored of the drama on the News and pushed aside my boredom and frustration by watching a Danny Phantom re-run. My fascination for this series is a bit weird, but it's what makes me happy and for the next hour and a half, it entertained me.

At lunchtime I found a few movies to watch varying from bad chick flicks to very bad chick flicks, to Scooby doo 2: Monsters unleashed. I finally had lunch but I kept feeling trapped, a bit claustrophobic because of the lack of  being outside, so I took a nap while watching Futurama on comedy central, only to be woken up again by my boyfriend who was checking in, like he said he would. He wasn't thrilled to be cooped up at his aunt's house with his kid cousins during this cuddle weather either.

I was quickly running out of things to do, and options to eat. We had a bunch of canned food to outlast a zombie outbreak of three years, but I wasn't going to eat out of boredom, I'd already done that twice. I painted my nails, organized my closet, finished a book and played an IQ game on my phone. an hour passed during all of that.

the rest of my day was exactly that. finding ways to pass the time without actually spending time with my family. not that I was against it, it's..complicated.

There's  no school tomorrow, so my first day of school is cancelled, and I only have classes Mondays and Wednesdays so I only have school once this week, and being the typically and tragically broke student, I don't have much options other then to stay at home and figure out when I work, which is at the villages of Gulf stream down by the beach.

Atleast I have somewhere to blog my boredom, one of the perks of a struggling Journalism student. As I spoon feed myself Nutella and watch The Simpsons on Fox's Animation Domination, I momentarily think about what tomorrow will bring. A boyfriend who missed me, a drive to Tamarac to drop him off, fresh air filled with rain.

Atleast today is over.

How laughter is the best medicine

This was my APA formatted Sociology research paper for last semester in Professor Schwarz's class. It was fun to write a pretty interesting topic. My next paper is going to be just as interesting, entitled "The mind of a shoplifter: why they do it" but until then, here's my first research paper to get a 96% (wrong format for the references!)

They say he who laughs last laughs the longest, and according to several sources, that may as well be true. ^[1]The effect of laughing has been linked to blood vessel expansion in our blood flow and can explain why people with a better sense of humor have a longer chance of longevity. It’s a universal feeling of contentment when we laugh, even if the joke is on ourselves.

Not to forget the concept of ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ but ^[2] Dr. Michael Miller, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland believes that a good laugh along with regular exercise and a good diet can greatly increase blood flow. In a study featuring 300 perfectly healthy men and women, they were shown clips of a comedy movie one day and a more stress inducing clip of an action movie another. ^[3]The difference was that when they were watching the stress inducing clip, their blood vessel lining constricted, reducing blood flow. This proves there is a link between mental stress and blood vessels constricting. In contrast, when the volunteers were shown funny clips, the blood vessels expanded, the same way they expand during cardio work outs.  ^[4]There was a 30-50%difference in diameter of the vessels between laughing and stressing. This also shows how emphatic people can be.

It’s hard to laugh when you can’t breathe, so imagine being diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD and still laughing heartily at whatever comic is on comedy central. ^[5] The center for disease control and prevention say that COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the US and over 12 million suffer from it. Those affected have an increased chance of becoming depressed and suffer from anxiety. ^[6]Research has already suggested that laughing can improve any mood and strengthen immune function. It can also help expel stale air from the lungs. So after a study done by ^[7]Kim Lebowitz Feingold of Ohio State, patients with COPD who laughed at the funny clips shown to them had fewer sick days, but in a twist in the study, those patients who laughed more had more air trapped in their lungs because of reduced usage. Obviously those with COPD have more sick days so this study was a good start towards overcoming it. Maybe in time, all the patients will need just medicine and a few hours of comedy central. Optimism can go far.

Laughter releases endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller, and suppresses epinephrine, the stress hormone. ^[8] Studies have shown that it can increase the number of T-cells which attack viruses, increases gamma interferon, a blood chemical that effects the nervous system and immune system. It can also help patients with disabilities cope with their illness. ^[9]Carol Swell (1996) interviewed Patty Wooten, owner of Jest for the health of it! a business that helps with therapeutic humor programs, observed that people who laughed at disability-related cartoons had already come to terms with what they have. Not every joke is appropriate though, everyone heals through laughter at their own pace. And not everyone is in the mood to laugh after they’ve gotten terrible news. When dealing with depressed patients, ^[10]Wooten is still the optimist.

“What they're going to have to look a little closer for is the joyful moments, the playful moments. I encourage them to believe that it's still possible to laugh.”

It doesn’t take a genius to know that laughing is good for you, not just your body but your state of mind, and laughing at yourself could show some humility and bring down some people’s egos. ^[11]For example, in 2009 Comedy Central’s longest running show, South park spoofed celebrity rapper, Kanye West as an arrogant, belligerent, jerk who didn’t get the play-on words of the fish stick joke one of the boys had come up with, and gets frustrated with everyone calling him a gay fish. ^[12]Kanye wrote on his blog that the episode hurt his feelings but he’s working on his ego and thought the episode was hysterical. Laughing at yourself is just as important because no one like a person who has an overblown ego, or someone who can’t take a joke.

Personally, I think there’s more to it than just a good laugh. After a tough day at work or school, most people relax by over eating to cope with a bad day. It almost seems like unwinding in front on the TV is healthier than eating a massive meal to make up for all the times you were hungry throughout the day. Sitcoms have a way of lifting the spirits. It’s not the most conventional thing to use as medicine, it certainly won’t cure cancer or anything but because the research is so young, it’s nice to see doctors and scientists thinking out of the box.                                                            Work Cited

^[1-4] European Society of Cardiology (ESC) (2011, August 28). Laughter has positive impact on vascular function. ScienceDaily.

^[5-7] Ohio State University (2011, August 2). COPD patients with sense of humor feel better, but laughter may be bad for lungs. ScienceDaily

^[8-10] sowell, C. (1996). mdausa.org. Retrieved from http://www.mdausa.org/publications/Quest/q34laughter.html

^[11-12] http://rapnewscenter.blogspot.com/2009/04/kanye-wests-reaction-to-south-park.html. (2009, april 19).

Cheer camp or Boot camp? The story of an almost-cheerleader continues

Conditioning started this week for the new school year, and the only way I could be any more pain is if we did the exercises in stripper heels. So far, I'm the only girl "on hold" that's been exercising and learning chants and cheers with the other actual members of the squad. Since the Lady Seahawks don't advertise alot, (or at all, really) there's only five of us total. They're hoping to get potential new girls to join at the freshman frenzy next week.

I can't perform at the frenzy because I'm not officially on the team, and I (might) be with my fellow Journalists with The Observer booth in the back. If you recall, I'm going to try out again in a few weeks after my dancing skills have improved, (or have gotten better to the captain's standards.)

 I like to think I've come far in training and chanting this week, but the major cut back in calories have me a bit woozy. Here's some (slightly questionable) things I learned my first week at Cheer( and sometimes boot) Camp.

Monday: Boot camp
The heat in Miami can make even the tannest girl pink and give a killer farmers tan. We didn't even get a chance to stretch our legs, because our captain believes its best to do it after a workout. After the campus run, (which is basically running around south campus in 90-something degree weather) I was second to last, but was huffing and puffing like a kid at fat-camp, something I'm extremely mad about. It was then that I learned about the rule about which fruit, veggies, teas, juices and salads are acceptable in the diet (man, I hate that word!) I'm now on. I'm also prohibited to eat after 7pm. Usually that rule is around 10pm at my house because dinner is served at 7. I won't dig into the Nutella chocolate jar, I won't have pizza for dinner because mom felt lazy and there's nothing in the fridge (but frozen pizza and a variety of hot pockets), But I sure as hell will eat after 7 if I feel like fainting from hunger.

Tuesday: Cheer Camp
Still sore from Monday's exercise, (sixteen hours of sleep, and I still felt like I slept on pins, needles and rocks.) We ran around campus again, but thanks to the rain (Florida' crazy weather comes through for me!) we ran three-fourths of the campus, and I learned the cheers and chants and practiced with pompoms! The only things I learned (that greatly affected the cheers and the girls,) was that since the school isn't insured, we can't do any kinds of acrobatic stunts, in case we get hurt, in which case, we all have waivers to prevent us from suing the school. (Not me, I'm insured but not willing to drive to Hialeah for a signature!) The other thing I learned is that there aren't any kind of scholarships for cheer and dance--so practice everyday 10:30am to around one is pretty much voluntary. Crap. At least being on The Observer gives me scholarship opportunities. It really sucks for the girls, though. They work really hard.

Wednesday: Boot Camp

We did the lake run (one lap=one mile) but because I've been pretty slow running my first two days, our captain decides to motivate me. We run, but I'm in front the entire time. If I stop, we all go back to the beginning, No matter where we are on our run, and start over (campus runs are about 3 and a half miles) I could see it o the girls' faces, silently pleading with me not to stop running and to jog as slowly as I can. I felt so bad for them, I'm not even on the squad yet and I'll be responsible for their soreness! This made me run the lake on south campus twice a total of two miles in about nine minutes.
Thankfully light rain cooled us off as we ran, and then met back at the lake to do other exercises, we did squats, sit-ups and suicide runs--which I'm guessing whoever thought of the name, actually committed it after an hour of it. Although we were all in great pain, we bonded and gossiped, like all girls do. I learned more cheers and chanting. Even though I wasn't really supposed to learn the official BC Cheer! I caught on quickly, because it was only claps and snaps. Before we left, we were asked to write a list of ten things we want to accomplish individually. My list ranged from becoming a better dancer, to interviewing celebs and writing cool stories for either print or media news outlets.

Thursday: Cheer Boot
Assuming she was tired of being thwarted by the rain, we practiced in the storm. Actually it was because we needed supplies for the display poster they were going to display at the frenzy on Monday, so we drove to our local Wal-Mart, Avoided the big display of Nutella Chocolate, drooled at the appetizing scent of subway, found the arts and crafts we wanted, budgeted and got glittery goodness for the poster board. since that took up more time then we thought, we decided to get our smaller less time consuming exercises out of the way. Unfortunately about a minute in, a storm hit, but since we lost a lot of time shopping, we stuck it out for 10 minutes in thundering hard pouring rain. we did squats, jumping jacks and some calf work out all while we are all completely soaking wet. Guess who didn't bring an extra change of clothes, and has to work in a few hours? This girl! My blow dryer wasn't prepared for the mess I bought home, and after that disaster, I did the most logical thing I could think of. I called out, snuggled up in bed and watched Danny Phantom because rainy days are meant to be spent inside watching awesome cartoons.

Friday: Art camp
I'm saved from a full four hours of practice because of my obligations as features editor at the paper, so I stay for about half that, which is basically the cardio part of practice. We didn't get to that because of our poster board project, so the time I had for working out was spent sprinkling glittery stars and eating one of the various healthy snacks. By the time I had to go, the board needed a lot of work but the girls handled it. They're really understanding and stuff, promising a great workout next time they saw me. So I went on home to change. There was no way I was going to the meeting in gym clothes, even if I didn't work out. Just not in me to look bummy when I'm with anyone outside my house.

Since Monday, I've lost two and a half pounds! The bonding is great, the girls aren't catty or bratty, and our captain truly has our best interest at heart. Sure the dieting is something to get used to, as is waking up early for a god-awful run, but I saw the much sought-after uniform and pom-pom set. So I'm keeping my eyes on the prize.

Betty Smithey's release only brings out questions

According to ABC News (that was featured on Yahoo's homepage), Betty Smithey, the nation's longest serving female inmate was sentenced to life back in 1963 for killing a 15 month old baby on new years day.

Photo credit over here


First off, I know how annoying babies can be after a few hours, but to kill one? I can't imagine what she was thinking right before she stopped a life that barely begun, let alone the aftermath that followed. Smithey had a history of mental illness when the indecent happened, which makes me wonder why anyone would leave their infant daughter (by the name of Sandy Gerberick) with someone who is mentally unstable on New Years Eve.

Originally, she was sentenced to life without parole, but she kept appealing even though at the time Arizona law said only an acting governor can grant clemency to an inmate, which is what acting-governor Jan Brewer did by lowering her sentence to 48-years to life.

She told the board of executive clemency that a letter of forgiveness the victim of the mother sent her 19 years after the murder inspired her to turn her life around.

If that doesn't what will? and I think the mother of poor Sandy probably hated herself for leaving her infant with her, in fact it's not even mentioned if they were related or even acquainted. It's been half a century and the details of her case aren't mentioned in the media, which just furthers the many unanswered questions, the biggest one being that maybe it's for her own protection?

Well, her release is getting mixed reactions from America. Everything from "wow I can't believe she survived in prison for so long for such a horrible crime!" to "wow she killed a baby, she should have stayed in there for life!" and with that, many arguments questioning the system and whatnot.

Personally, the blame is on both Betty and Sandy's Mother. but if the family of the victim can find it in their hearts to forgive the murderer, then maybe, there's a bit hope left for the vicious and grudge holding world we live in.