Uzbekistan photographer convicted of publishing an "unflattering" picture

            Photographer, Umida Akhemdova, was convicted of publishing a picture that was said to intentionally show village life, in Uzbekistan, in an “unflattering light.” She was found guilty of “slandering and insulting” the Uzbek people, but was granted amnesty in honor of the anniversary of Uzbek independence.

            People, artists really, are scared to state their opinion or show their work with the possibility that it could be seen as offensive or “against the government.” They can’t freely state what they feel or see. It’s almost like they are caged away from their true potential or their inner artistic reality. Akhemdova now doesn’t think that she would ever be able to sell or publish her work because of this incident and hopefully can have it repealed. She is a talented photographer and doesn’t deserve to have her work so cruelly judged for showing what she saw. It is understandable that they could see her picture as offensive, but artists show what they see. The world doesn’t have to share it, but they shouldn’t shut down what they don’t fully understand.

            If this had ever happened to me I probably wouldn’t take it well. I think that people should state their opinions. Show who they are and what they stand for. Fake isn’t real, and this isn’t a fake world. The world is real, why shouldn’t the people be as well?

(This is the picture that started it all)

Alexa Loo, a Canadian snowboarder's story

    Alexa Loo is a snowboarder from Canada. She grew up next to the mountains and took her first ride on a board at the age of 15, not racing until 6 years later. In the Olympics of 2006 she was going down her second run when she took a nasty fall and came in 20th place. Then, in early 2007 she tore a knee ligament. She then partnered up with two humble business men, the Kin brothers, and made herself into a hero and idol to young people everywhere. The Kin brothers became wealthy business owners and Loo's story was published and she went from school to school telling her story. She also won a World Cup silver medal in Australia, and will once again represent Canada at the Winter Olympics.
    This article shows how people like the Kin brothers or Alexa Loo can start off from something small or difficult and reach and strive for their goals. The Kin brothers came from China, didn't know any English, and yet still managed to start a small business which later grew off into several stores. Loo started as a kid just messing around, went to the Olympics, got injured, and still managed to push past that and reach her ultimate goal of competing in races (and another Olympics), on top of all that she teamed up with the Kin brothers and got a book published about her story which she now goes around and tells to other people. If something as hard as an injury like hers had happened to me, or even moving to a completely different country, I would have found great strength in this article. I find strength in it regardless. It just goes to show you that giving up is never the answer. No matter how hard life gets for you, you need to push past the pain and hardships to make something great out of them. I don't think that you should ever let something like this limit you or what you do in life, your goals can always be accomplished. You just have to try and work for them, and that's exactly what the Kin brothers and Loo did. 
   If I felt the need to see more into this article I would definitely look up her book, or even just look up Alexa Loo online. I'm sure you could easily find information about her and her life, her hardships, and her successes. We set goals to achieve them, she set goals to strive for them.

GoDaddy.com founder criticized for shooting elephant

                  GoDaddy.com founder, Bob Parsons, is under fire for posting a video onto his Twitter page of him shooting an elephant. The video was filmed March 8^th and shows him hunting an elephant on a farm and then after shooting it he is standing next to it and posing. The locals then crowd around the dead elephant and start cutting off pieces of its meat.

            Now the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has begun an online protest against GoDaddy.com and its services until Parsons “stops shooting animals,” according to their website.  Parson’s own website has been constantly bombarded with negative comments and protest against his cruel and inhumane video.

            Parsons claim that the only people that are upset by this video are animal lovers. That their hearts are in the right place, but that they just do not understand what it is that he is doing. Parsons claimed that he killed the animal for the good of the local farmers whose crops were and are getting destroyed by the elephants. The field that he is walking through in the video is flattened sorghum plants, which he said had been crushed by wondering elephants.

                  Parsons says that what he is doing is helping out the local farmers. If their crop is not harvested, they do not eat. He said that the he put the video up to show people “what goes on over there.” “There were people who walked 25 miles to get to that elephant,” Parsons said, referring to the food crisis that has often occurred in developing countries.

                  He said that the fact that the elephant provided meat for the people to be “a bonus.”

                  “They literally have nothing and they’re on the brink of starvation,” Parsons claims.

                  He has been traveling to Zimbabwe for several years, but only last year began actually hunting elephants “at the request of local farmers,” he said. And it is completely legal for him to kill them too. Also adding to the issue, Parsons has admitted to killing five other elephants.

                  Killing these elephants can be seen as a “helpful” thing to the villagers who see it has a way to help save their farms and crops. But, if he really wanted to help these people, why did he not just give the people some money or supplies? Or why could he not just set up a fundraiser for the people and used to money to set up a nonlethal and completely humane method of keeping the elephants away from their crops?

                  PETA says that Parsons could have used these methods instead of acting “like a little boy with a gun.”

                  In a press release, PETA said it was pulling its business from GoDaddy.com and their group even went as far as to label Parsons as “Scummiest CEO of the Year.”                  

                  Company spokeswoman of GoDaddy.com was asked if PETA’s boycott had affected their business to which she responded, “There has been no significant change in business.”

                  Parsons thinks that it takes guys like him to protect villagers from rouge elephants. But, it is not just the villagers who need the protection. Elephants cannot just be shot off or killed, whether or not it’s illegal. These beautiful animals need protection too. There has to be a humane way that Parsons could have taken in order to help the villagers with their crops and kept those elephants alive. A fence, a barricade, or even giving the elephants a safe location to roam free, but far enough away from the villagers crops that they would not have caused a problem. There are multiple solutions to every problem, and Parsons is under inspection as to whether or not he took the right one. And according to PETA and others, he did not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcX-2sgw070   (this is the video)

Mom injects her 8-year old daughter with botox

  

Kerry Campell (34) injects her 8- year old daughter with botox she has purchased online and also waxes her legs and bikini line. The mother claims she is helping her daughter to become a "superstar". And that by doing this for Britney now that the high hopes she has for her daughters future will come true. She seems to think that Britney will grow up to be a model, singer, actress, or some famous important person and that the treatment she is giving her now will give her an advantage in the future. Ridding her of wrinkles and helping to rid her of hair on her legs, bikini line, and other unwanted places.

Britney, an 8-year old pageant contestant, say that now she doesn’t cry as much and is even looking forward to a boob and nose job when she gets older. She thinks that what her mother is doing is helping her to become beautiful and more successful in the world of fashion and looks. This 8-year old girl willingly shares the dream of her life that her mother has pushed her into.

 But just where is Kerry finding all of these materials that she uses on her daughter? She orders and purchases all of the botox, wax, and supplies online. Kerry claims that what she is doing is totally safe due to the fact that she tests it out on herself before injecting Britney with it. She also says that most of the other girls in the pageants will use similar methods (botox and waxing) to help with their appearance.

Kerry also tries to justify it by saying that she hear other mothers at pageants talking about how they give their daughter a little extra to plump up their lips or get rid of any nonexistent wrinkles before a big competition (pageant). She says that she gives Britney the same stuff to better equal her chances in a pageant or contest. She says it would be unfair if her daughter did not have the same treatment or extra boost that the other girls will get as well.

It’s not uncommon for mothers to do this to their daughters. Whether it’s for a contest or a pageant or to even just help their looks out a little bit so that one day they can be a “superstar”. They do this to their little girls to help give them the superstar lives that they wanted for themselves. It’s like living through their daughter’s lives.

They will claim that by doing these treatments now they help to make sure that it won’t be a problem in the future. That they will make them have the look of a model in order for them to be a model. But, botox has only been claimed safe for adults, how could it be safe for teens or children, let alone 8-year old girls? How could they know whether or not the poisons and toxins released into their daughters for botox now, at such an earlier age, won’t in fact make them deformed or have troubles with a plastic, fake look in the future?

It could, for all they know, be making it so that their faces and skin will become tight and painful or scared for the rest of their lives. People don’t like looking at a magazine with the cover being a plastic faced Barbie doll. They like looking at a real girl, that has real beauty that isn’t fake or “helped along” by injections.

But the possibility of a bad ending doesn’t stop mothers from doing this to their little girls. It’s legal so we can’t do anything about it either. Daughters will continue to be injected with botox just so that their mothers can make them into their own personal little “superstars”. While injecting and waxing a little 8-year old girl is disturbing, it’s legal and until someone sees how dangerous or cruel this is, it will remain that way.

News Article Blurb and Link

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51451179-76/davis-conner-sarah-police.html.csp?page=1

     Sarah Davis was separated from her husband at the time and went to go pick up their two kids, (a two-year old son, and a five-year old daughter) at the house her husband had been staying at. Sarah had only recently become serious about getting a divorce between her and her husband,Stephen Davis. When she went to go pick up her kids an argument broke out followed by to gunshots. police found Sarah dead her car and Stephen had a gunshot wound to the head, but was still alive. He later died in the hospital on Wednesday.

My Extra Photojournalism contibution

(I couldn't resist. I had a lot of fun with my camera (: ) (I promise only to do a couple more....if I had room and time I would gladly post all my favorite pictures that I've taken in the Spring and Summer, but I don't, not matter how cool I think they are so...too bad)

 Anyway. This one was taken on my little walk this afternoon. My little sister decided to fight off the scary looking trees, and I liked how they all looked together, so...tada!

 Summer actually took this one (at least I'm giving her credit for her work...and she's 6) but I thought it actually looked pretty cool. (I'm sorry to say, but we didn't actually stop. Oh well! (she doesn't fully comprehend what a stop sign is, so I am not a bad example...yet)

And this is another photo masterpiece done by none other than Summer Martin. (last name excluded for safety precautions.) Pretty good for a 6 year old right? Guess she's starting to take after her big sis. :) (meaning me) Anyway, I liked how it captured something so simple in kind of a cool way. I guess it's kinda lame, but I liked it.

And last of all, my personal favorite, Summer climbing over the fence instead of going around. :) I told her that the sign meant that no horses could take that route today (we were on the horse trail) and she took that to mean that she was more than welcome to. (guess I should've explained a little better)

:) well, at least I put the pictures in, and they do look great if I do say so myself. Hopefully whoever read this was able to stand my humor throughout it. But, once it hits 9:00, I consider myself to be the funniest person out there. :)

Photojournalism

 So, this picture (well, all of them) I took while I was on a walk earlier today. This is one of the types of photos I like to take (obviously) and I thought that it looked really cool. It's actually pretty simple and plain. The regular house and tree showed darker, so it makes the sky seem bright, but not somehow.

 This is another one I took earlier today. I'm kind of a nerd for skys like these ones shown. I like the way each cloud contributes to this photos differently, but corrispondes the way it needs to so that it really brings the sky to life.

 Again, taken today. This one is one of my favorites. It shows a simple fence on the bottom, which, luckily, is actually really beat up. That's one of my favorite parts because it lets the light from the sky seep through its cracks.

 This one actually was supposed to show the hill more. I thought I could bring out the land and show how it blends or corresponds to the sky. Instead I got black on the bottom and bright beauty on the top. (and I love it!)

Lastly, (for this post anyway) is this simple pictue. I didn't intend on having it look this way. All I wanted was to get a picture of that weird looking cloud. It seemed really odd to me in comparisson to the others, but I think it's what makes the picture.