I found this article off of the People.com Latest News Blog.

Fighting Violence

This article talks about how Lauren Conrad, from the Hills, is using her profits from her beauty line to help end the cycle of dating abuse and violence. Twenty dollars from every $22 "Have A Heart" necklace sold will help fund the project.  I really liked this article out of the many on People Magazine's Blog because it is an issue that really is not talked about that much.  Lauren is only 22 and because the highest rates of partner violence are for woman ages 16-24, I think her contributions mean a lot.  Being 17, I think about this concept daily, not so much partner violence right now but just for the future.  I really wish the news that she was doing this would get out and that everyone would buy the necklace and make the contribution.

This is a blog taken from Jamie Lynn Spears' network.

Jamie Lynn

This interested me because I have been following the Spears family since I was around 10 years old.  I used to LOVE Britney Spears when I was younger and would listen to her all the time.  Also I would watch her sister, Jamie on nickelodeon.  Now that I am older I do not follow the celebrity's the same way I did before but now I like to read about their lives.  I read a lot about Britney's downfall and now I have been interested in Jamie Lynn and her baby and fiance.  This blog was interesting to me because it was talking about how Britney did not like Jamie's Fiance, Casey and it was the first time I had ever heard that information.  In a lot of magazines they are saying how happy Casey and Jamie Lynn are and this article talks about a small affair Casey had while Jamie was pregnant and also how Jamie was happy to get away from Casey for a little while.  I like to read about this stuff even though it really has not effect on me it, it is just very entertaining.

Are we really the dumbest generation?

I strongly disagree with the claim that we are the dumbest generation.  While Mark Bauerlein has a ground to stand on with his comments, there is definitely ways to argue most of them.  To start, Bauerlein claims that we do not and do not want to read books.  While this might be more true now than it has in the generations past, what is not put into consideration is the reading we do that is not in books.  While searching the web or reading stories online, everything is reading.  The web, well most of it, does not SPEAK to you.  Reading does not have to just occur in novels but occur elsewhere also.  Second, his statement about spelling is inaccurate.  While some of us, not even all of us, do write like that to our friends online we also have learned and know how to type and write correctly.  The number one thing that Bauerlein wrote that really got me upset was when he said that we use the internet to not store information but just pass it along.  I completely disagree with this statement.  When used the correct way, the technology and internet sources are a much better way to really learn the information.  It not only gives you facts on what you want to learn about but it will give you primary sources, videos, etc.  Ever since I have began using the internet compared to learning out of a book I have remembered so much more.  I can relate everything I have learned to a certain project I created or a video I have watched.

The Newsweek article that was presented by an alternative perspective began by listing facts that when asked, people in our generation could not reflect on.  While this could be true, this does not mean that that makes us dumb.  I am sure we could find facts that the older generations would know nothing about too.  Also, the writer points out that our generation, Generation Y, cares more about where to find information than actually storing the information.  I disagree with this fully and do not like that we keep getting accused of not storing any knowledge.