Multi-Genre Research Paper

Prologue

Dear Reader:

I present to you an idea, a thought, and an experience that has marked my life and the life of many. I will try to convince you of this same feeling towards the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) movement and its benefits and implication to our society, specifically to our youth.

It all comes down to the experiences I have had in life and my observations that many of our young people lack the moral values, citizenship, and solidarity that I would one day love to see them with. I wish for a place where people would take care of others and watch out for them as they do for themselves. It may be a dream, but it is one I believe the BSA movement can help accomplish.

I have been part of the BSA for a few years now and I must say that I’ve witnessed first-hand what this dynamic, this style of life does to people. It’s a pleasure to see young people work together to achieve a goal, see them laugh and shout as they complete a task, watch as they learn to do new things that might help them later in their lives, and last but not least care and love their fellow Scout members as if they were all your own self.

Sincerely,

Geraldo L. Tosado

Introduction

The Boy Scouts of America live in Reality

                We live in a society that day by day becomes more dangerous and more unsettling to live. This is true for adults but even more for teenagers who have the worst part in this evolving society. Youth is exposed to all types of misleading environments that promote drug use, violence, unmoral and non-solidarity actions. And it is imperative for society to find ways to guide young people to avoid these types of lifestyles that in the end cause misfortune, sadness and even death for those who choose it. It is a fact that society upholds and believes that our youth is our future and by being so they become one of the most important aspects of modern societies.  A diversity of groups exist that uphold this mission, like the YMCA (Young Men Christian Association) and the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Of particular interest for this research is the BSA; their mission as an organization, what they have achieved, the problems they face, and the weighing of the positives and negatives that this organization encompasses.

BSA separates from many organizations in how they are organized. To quote,  “Instead of primitive individualism or nostalgia for a simple rural boyhood, the BSA in fact combined Victorian self-control and a contained virility with natural resource conservation’s adult-like efficiency, scientific analysis, expert management, and civic leadership” (Jordan 615). The BSA utilizes scientific data collected from sources of studies of young people that allow them to focus on what areas their members will like more or what areas they would learn more from. Having this sort of information allows the different branches of the organization to attract more young people as appealing to their interest facilitates their individual immersion to the BSA. Activities like Swimming, Laser tag and Camping come out on top for most of the young boys and girls (Boy Scouts of America). The key aspect of the BSA is to unite these activities with programs that promote leadership, solidarity, moral values, citizenship, and personal fitness, while doing it in a fun and engaging way (Handbook 11). It comes to account what a friend of mine, member of the BSA for over 15 years, has learned in designing these activities, “Keep it simple, make it fun” or KISMIF as he abbreviates it. This demonstrates what BSA has shown throughout the years that young people will learn and change through actions because it entertains them while teaching them new lessons and helps build character.

BSA is an organization that has many other programs that branch from it. One of these is “Exploring, Real-World Career experiences.”  Exploring utilizes a hands-on approach as young people who are interested in a certain aspect of their normal lives can choose to do so in a different manner. Exploring allows and works with Police and Firefighter stations, hospitals or other health providers, photographers, aviation organizations, business owners, and many other organizations and government agencies of daily importance to society to form posts (Exploring). These posts open the opportunity for young people, 14-20 years of age, to test what they want to be in life by allowing them to work and placing them with the actual people who fulfill those roles.  They also help the youth that participate in following career opportunities through the participating organizations that form these posts or by the granting of scholarships for youth candidates that wish to study.

This last part of exploring has been under scrutiny by some because they claim government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol have taken advantage of this situation and are using this program to not only show the young people what they do but actually train them in realistic scenarios to become a border patrol or an agent for the government themselves. “It’s all quite a step up from tying a knot”, wrote Jennifer Steinhauser in her article in the New York Times, referring to the very different practices that accompany these border patrol trainings.  They treat the young boys as adults as they are taught to chase border crossers and “how to quiet an obstreperous lookout… “Put him on his face and put a knee in his back,” a Border Patrol agent explained. “I guarantee that he’ll shut up.”” It’s that type of environment that if you combine it with what a 16 years old girl says regarding the compressed air guns they use, “I like shooting them…I like the sound they make. It gets me excited.” One can understand the underlying criticism that Exploring receives in this part of their program because of the age of the young people participating in it. But, even this being so one boy said he liked “…the discipline of the program,” which was something he also said his life was lacking (Steinhauser). We must also bring to thought and remember that this is not the only aspect of exploring and rather a small part of the many posts that exist to guide and influence young people in their lives.

The progress and achievements of the BSA haven’t gone unseen or unconsidered by the government. Kenny Cupers in his article of Governing through Nature: Camps and Youth Movements in Interwar Germany and the United States claims such a statement. His tying of the Youth movement in Germany, which influenced young people enlistment for the war and in the acceptance of national ideals and thoughts, with the BSA in the United States shows how he believes the US government, is slowly doing the same. His main focus towards the organizations is “on their transition from relatively spontaneous activities of particular social movements, to objects of professional design, national-scale planning and intricate management.” He also claims that “Despite divergent contexts and political ideologies, youth camp development in this period (between wars) constituted a set of practices in which the natural environment was deployed to improve the nation’s youth, and to eventually reproduce them as governable subjects.”We notice how convinced he is that these young people activity has passed from a recreational hobby to an organized indoctrination led by the government to create controllable citizens (Cupers 214).

The Boy Scouts of America was built on the values, which include being morally just and reverent to God, that during these years of modern progress have not changed and has caused problems for the organization. In 1991 the BSA publicly prohibited the joining of any openly homophobic or atheist individual as a Scout of an Adult leader, as approved by a court (Decourcy). This decision has affected the organization in that it has seen a decrease in popularity and a decrease in public endorsement and sponsors for their activities as the world moves towards a more accepting era of homosexuals and freedom of ideals. This does not impede the normal activities of the organization to take place wherever there are groups that practice Scouting, and therefore the BSA promise to create young people with leadership and an awareness of the community never lets up.

We are then left to evaluate what part of this we believe more important, do the means to create better citizens overcome the plausible meddling of agencies in Exploring in order to create more agents for them for the future? Is the chance to take a kid off the streets and teach him some values, leadership and the importance of society better than the possible prejudice that a young person can acquire by training in terrorist scenarios that include a fully dressed actor in Arab attire and the chasing of border crossers that are usually Hispanics, the marginalization of Homosexuals and Atheists just because they don’t share your same ideals and orientation, and the possible national agenda of the government that supposedly manipulates the organization to create controllable citizens? The final decision is for each person to create, but I consider the positives are more than the negatives. To provide young people a chance to practice and experience different activities that promote the construction of character and his own maturity is a very valuable tool. But it is a tool that many young people grow up without ever having a chance at this and are limited to only what they by themselves could muster in their life. Now, is it wrong to lend them a hand so they can see how they can improve? No it is not, and that is what BSA stands for. I myself form part of the BSA for 5 years now and the experience and capacities I have gained through it are impossible to value. I can lead a group of people in any situation if need be, I know how to act in a moment of urgency, I have confidence in myself and my abilities, and it has helped me become much more aware of the society as a whole and what I can do to help. I have seen what kind of person it also helps people become and although the aspects I stated of the BSA exist, it does not hinder the organization the ability to create better citizens and people as a whole. And it is what and how these people are after being part of the BSA that makes it all count.

 

 

Bibliography

Boy Scouts of America, Handbook for boys (32nd Edition) (New York, Boy Scouts of America, 1925), p. 11.

“Boy Scouts of America.” Scouting. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. http://www.scouting.org/

Cupers, Kenny. Governing through Nature: Camps and Youth Movements in Interwar Germany and the United States. 15 Vol. SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC, 2008. ProQuest Social Science Journals. Web. 28 Apr. 2011

DeCourcy, Micheal. “Scouts Try to Keep Identity as Outsiders Knock.” The New York Times. 23 June 1991.  Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

“Exploring.” Learning for Life. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. http://exploring.learningforlife.org/

Jordan, Ben. “Conservation of Boyhood”: Boy Scouting’s Modest MANLINESS AND NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION, 1910-1930. 15 Vol. Oxford University Press, UK, 2010. ProQuest Central. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.

Steinhauer, Jennifer. “Scouts train to fight terrorist, and more.” The New York Times. 13 May  2009. Web. 27 April 2011.

 

Annotated Bibliography

“Boy Scouts of America.” Scouting. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. http://www.scouting.org/

This source provides detailed information about the vision, promise and objectives about the Boy Scout of America. It contains information about all of their programs from Cub Scout, Boy Scouts and Venturing and the different options they offer. It also provides a detailed description of how to get involved and what they can do for young people that participate in their programs. We notice the emphasis on the formation of a youth with values and morals brought along by their achievements, awards and recognition. I quote from the site, “It’s all about the boy you are and the person you will become”. Their goal is to make every boy scout a better citizen. It aims to touch him physically – in the camp craft and woodcraft of the outdoor life in order that he may have strength in after days to give the best he has to the city and community in which he lives, as well as to the nation of which he is a part.

Cupers, Kenny. Governing through Nature: Camps and Youth Movements in Interwar Germany and the United States. 15 Vol. SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC, 2008. ProQuest Social Science Journals. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.

This article sheds new light to the existence of the Boy Scouts of America. How this spontaneously formed organization now has a social importance that has transcended nature and the youth and now includes nation as well. It shows the ties with national interest and a supposed agenda for the formation of a structured citizen. It raises the comparison between youth organization of Germany, Boy Scouts of America and World War II.  It provides a space of personal analysis of the Boy Scouts organization and the formation of your own opinion on how really relevant and connected is what the article states. We all know the future is our the present day youth and anything that affects our youth should be a subject of debate, so can Boy Scouts really subject so much control over the quality of the people who participate?

“Exploring.” Learning for Life. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. http://exploring.learningforlife.org/

This reference contains detailed information and explanation about what is the Explorers program of Boy Scouts of America.  Here we see that the Explorers program is much more than only the training with guns that is criticized. Explorers form part of health, business, art, science, engineering, and communication organizations wherever they are, the only requirement is for it to be established by the organization to include an explorer post within it. It’s the way for young people to form part of the aspect of life that intrigues them and makes them feel like they contribute to their society. This organization promotes the follow-up of the career of the young people that assist under each division of the Explorers by offering intern ships and even scholarships on future studies of their members. (Business, science, health divisions)

Jordan, Ben. “Conservation of Boyhood”: Boy Scouting’s Modest MANLINESS AND NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION, 1910-1930. 15 Vol. Oxford University Press, UK, 2010. ProQuest Central. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.

This articles talks about the prolonged presence and importance of Boy Scout since it was founded. They make emphasis to the kind a person you become and the person you avoid becoming while being part of the organization. You learn values and moral while being entertained outdoors and participating in youth activities that promote the proper channeling of a young person’s potential towards good deeds. Discusses the many attributes that are specific for the BSA and are the reasons behind why it became the most popular outdoor organization when others were competing. To quote,  “Instead of primitive individualism or nostalgia for a simple rural boyhood, the BSA in fact combined Victorian self-control and a contained virility with natural resource conservation’s adult-like efficiency, scientific analysis, expert management, and civic leadership”, we understand the scope of thought that allowed BSA to endure, and why it remains the top in its category.

Steinhauer, Jennifer. “Scouts train to fight terrorist, and more.” The New York Times. 13 May 2009. Web. 27 April 2011.

With this article we can see from a different perspective what is done in the Explorer Program.  We notice the dislike towards this aspect of the Explorers program to train with simulated guns for anti-terrorism and border patrol.  They criticize the age of the members that participate upholding that they are too young to be in that type of activity. They show the parallel relationship agencies like the FBI and the Department of Homeland security, in addition to local law enforcement, have with this program claiming it’s more of indoctrination than an activity. Emphasis is made in the area of anti-terrorism practices in which a person with Arab clothing acts out as a terrorism in a real-life simulation of a mission.  But, we must understand the concept that underlies the creation of these opportunities and it’s the chance for these young people to participate in what happens in the daily life of the citizen of the United States or wherever they are.

Genre #1: Quiz

Quiz:

1. What are examples of organizations that provide a chance for young people to grow as individuals as they acquire skills and confidence through the organizations programs?

1. Boy Scouts of America and the YMCA
2. PETA
3. FBI and CIA
4. Wal-Mart and Kmart

2. What is a reason that is presented in my work of why the BSA has had such success?

1. The lack of organizations that promote youth development
2. The BSA plans and organizes its activities and strategies through the use of research involving social studies of young boys and girls
3. They give money to new members
4. Young people are becoming allergic to concrete and cities

3. What are the Top activities that boys and girls rank higher for their enjoyment?

1. Basketball, football, and Baseball
2. Martial Arts, Track and Field, and dancing
3. Swimming, laser tag and camping
4. Volleyball, Boat rides and Horseback Riding

4. The BSA as an organization promotes teachings to the young boys and girls that join them, what are some of these teachings?

1. Proper dancing, good singing, and proper smiling
2. Leadership, solidarity, citizenship, and moral values
3. Aggressiveness, selfishness, and cruelty
4. Vandalism, hypocrisy  and violence

5. What is an existing criticism the Explorers, part of BSA, have to live with day by day?

1. The belief they are terrorists waiting to attack
2. That the Explorers expose young boys and girls to training not apt for their age
3. The Explorers misuse funding
4. There is no dedication by the leadership to fulfill objectives

6. According to Cupers, what is the real underlying motive why government promotes the BSA?

1. Government wants to extract money from the organization
2. The government uses the BSA as a tool of indoctrination, to create controllable citizens
3. The BSA helps the public image of the government
4. They get more votes if they publicly support the BSA

7. What year was the ruling in which BSA prohibited homosexuals and atheists to enter their ranks?

1. 1910
2. 1985
3. 2011
4. 1991

8. What is an example of a possible Explorer Post?

1. Firefighter Station
2. Pizza Hut
3. Hotdog kiosk
4. Supermarket

9. What characterizes the Explorer program from the BSA?

1. It is an affiliate program that doesn’t promote youth development
2. The Explorer program works with adults that which to see what they like in life
3. It allows young people to test what they want to be in life by allowing them to work and placing them with the actual people who fulfill those roles

10. This is a personal question with no right or wrong answer. According to what you have read and what you know about the Boy Scouts of America, do you share my view and are in favor of this movement because it promotes a greater good or are you against it because of what it also implies?

Answers: 1 – 1, 2 – 2, 3 – 3, 4 – 2, 5 – 2, 6 – 2, 7 – 4, 8 – 1, 9 – 3.

Genre #2: Recipe

Recipe for: A Better Future (ABF)

The steps to make an ABF are simple, but they require dedication and time to accomplish:

Ingredients:

1. One initiation ceremony in the Boy Scouts of America
2. Tying Knots classes
3. Camping lessons and demonstrations
4. Cooperation with group members
5. Lessons in Backpacking
6. First Aid lessons
7. Survival techniques
8. Camping trips
9. Leadership seminars
10. Communication tips
11. Good times and bad times with some difficulties
12. Survival Weekends
13. Activity Weekends
14. National Camping activities
15. Social Activities
16. Laugh and Cry
17. Passing years

To create the perfect ABF on a person you must begin with the initiation ceremony to any of the groups that make up the Boy Scouts. The group you join depends most of the time on the age and once over 14 years old you can decide on a few options, but what group you decide doesn’t change it much as the final product will be the same.

You add the classes and demonstrations of knots, camping, backpacking, first aid, and survival to the person that’s already part of a group. This creates a person that is prepared and is ready and anxious to take on any challenge that you throw his way.

After this you add in the communication and leadership portions to create a person that can not only take on any physical challenge you throw his way but can also work in teams and can now cooperate as part of society in a better manner.

You then implement Camping trips, survival weekends, activity weekends, national camping activities, and social activities and you promote the formation of a person that will learn to live through good times and bad times, will cherish the laughter and tears that may have come from this process, and will take the years as they pass as a process of learning and further maturing into having ABF. ENJOY!

Genre #3: Collage

Second Genre: Collage

I chose to write this collage because its a way to represent the life of a Boy Scout in a colored and different way. We can see how it sometimes come in from a small age in our search to be something in life and this same desire creates a feeling of curiosity that makes us want to learn. We learn from the people that have come before us and acknowledge that we are part of the history of humanity and it is our duty to continue this. We join the BSA because of what we know we can learn; the values and life lessons you acquire as you participate actively in the activities they promote and make available.  We must remember this organization is nation-wide and through careful planning and logistics they are able to reach every member. Through this they are able to help mold what young kids are able to grow up to be, by building character through actions and preparing them for the future.

Genre #4: Interview

Interviewed individual: Bernardino G. Gonzalez

Questions and responses:

1. How long have you been part of the BSA?

I have been part of the Boy Scouts of America Organization since 1992, so that’s 19 years

2. Would you say it is an experience that every young person should live through? Why?

Yes, because it provides opportunities for growth with strong leadership skills and strong values

3. Regarding your own experiences, what do you think is one or more of the invaluable lessons one can learn while being active in the BSA?

One of the best things you can obtain from the BSA is the Strong moral values. These will help the person to become a great citizen.

4. If you were to say one thing that you can confirm the BSA has helped you done or fulfill, what would that be?

The BSA has helped my growth in more than one area. It has helped me to become a good professional and has played a big role in me to gain the ability to work with people in a great way.

5. If I were to present to you the evidence that the BSA has against it for being homophobic and anti-atheists, in addition to the controversy of the Explorers training with guns as if they were adults, would you say the BSA is wrong and should face the consequences?  Are these accusations enough for people to think the BSA is not worth having anymore? Expand on answers.

First, exploring is a different program oriented to a career, the career is the one that the sponsors choose and these careers are in the arts area, education, environment, but also law enforcement, military and so on. On this kind of matter the people are not informed properly and talk only the things that they read from the tabloid press.

The Boy Scouts pursues the values that are contained in the scouts code, promise and law, and one is their members believe in God and are reverent to him. It is also a private organization and they have the right to choose what kind of members to accept and people need to evaluate if the organization can represent them at the moment they choose to join. It’s the same with the thing of not accepting homosexual adult leaders.

A very important part about BSA is that we believe in timeless values, and not everything that the society accept are the right things

6. What, to finish, is your idea and thoughts about the BSA and its weight and effect on society?

It’s an organization that has been more than 100 years serving society and making leaders for the future, leaders like Neil Armstrong, Gerald Ford, Shane Victorino, and a lot of others including Presidents of the United States.

Genre #5: Memoir + Epilogue

Deadly Love

       It was mid afternoon, where the sun had a couple of hours left, when me and my girlfriend headed to my car to go to our night activity of a bonfire with our fellow friends and members of our local Boy Scout of America Crew.  We were to practice, discuss and teach different outdoor skills and survival techniques for our upcoming survival weekend where we needed to survive in the wild for three days with limited resources.

       After a few hours when the sun resided under the mountains the only light visible was that which sprouted from the bonfire and a few scattered flashlights of some of our friends. The chicken we had prepared was cooking in a handmade oven of carton and aluminum foil (yes it actually works) and a few different vegetables were also cooking wrapped in aluminum foil. The fumes from the burning wood and dry leaves beneath our oven bothered my girlfriend. As an asthmatic, I quickly advised her to move to a position contrary to the direction of the wind so the fumes wouldn’t bother her. But, I guess it was the whole dynamic that was unfolding where the games, jokes and stories caused everyone, including my girlfriend, to have an awesome time and ignore my advice and her own logic to avoid the fumes of the fire letting herself be caught by the constant cloud of smoke that came from the fire.

It wasn’t long when my girlfriend complained to me, while coughing, that she was feeling bad with a little pain in her chest and an increasing bother of the fumes of the fire. I asked her if she had her medicine for asthma with her incase anything happened and she told me it was in her car that was in my house. We stayed in the activity a while longer until I decided to take her to my house so she could call her mom and head over to her house. Little did I know what was going to happen.

On our way to our way to my house I was thinking about her condition and hoped it would not get worse. When we arrived at our house, minding we have been over a year in a relationship, I helped her unload some stuff from my car to her car but I asked her gently if she would spend some time with me before leaving to her house. We decided to sit next to each other in her car so when she wanted to leave or her mom called she could leave hastily. We started to talk to each other and then we started to kiss and I was telling her how much I had loved this time I had spent with her. I ran my fingers down her body over her clothes as she closed her eyes, I grasped her skin as to let her know I was there for her and I then proceeded to kiss her with great passion, slowly reaching her neck and telling her how much I loved her.  As it seems, this emotional journey for her at her current state was too much as she told me to stop because it was getting hard for her to breathe. I did, knowing what she had been through in the bonfire. Sadly, this was not enough, after a couple of minutes passed her difficulty breathing didn’t get better and it actually got worse. I knew I had to keep my calm, as the trainings I had received in First Aid and emergencies had taught me.

A few minutes passed and  I kept watching over her. I then noticed she was being unresponsiveness were it appeared she wasn’t even breathing. I shook her to get her to listen to me and I asked her where her asthma medicine was, as I recalled she had told me earlier it was in the car but exactly where in the car was it. She told me, barely being able to, that it was in a bag in the back of the car. I immediately went to search for her asthma inhaler but I could not find it, by now she was in a sort of trance were her eyes were closed and only her mouth was opening so slightly that her words barely reached my ears. I unloaded the contents of a couple of her bags unto the car floor until by the third bag I finally found it. I then proceeded to pick her up from the car and put her atop a pool table I had recently bought, so she could lie down and get fresh air so she could take her medicine. She took the medicine but after 10 minutes passed she had not gotten better, and where the only response I had gotten from her was that she could still breathe but she was getting progressively weaker. “This medicine had worked previous times, why wasn’t it working now!” I thought to myself, “I may have worsened my girlfriend’s condition by wanting to show some affection”.

The problem that also came over my mind was that of her mother had always warned her about such events and had always reminded her, to a point of being bothersome, about her delicate condition. And for me to arrive with her in these conditions to her house was almost, in any other situation, out of the question. But as seeing she was only worsening I could no longer wait and decided the best decision, for her health, would be to take her to the hospital after going to her house and notifying her mom.

I took her up in my arms and placed her in the passenger’s seat and the first thing she told me was she wanted to fall asleep. A surge of emotions fell over me as, also being a student in biology, I am aware that lack of oxygen in one’s body causes sleepiness and once that happens I could only imagine maybe she could die! I urged her to please not fall asleep and to tell me anything and answer my questions as to keep her mind active and not let sleep overcome her. The distance to her house was 15 miles and on the way there I was looking at the road while going at 70mph and every other second looking at her to see how she was. We arrived at her house and I went to her mother’s bedroom where she was in her bedclothes and proceeded to explain what was happening.

Her mother without saying a word got up and dressed herself and her other young son of 7 years of age and went to the car with me so I could go to the hospital. During the whole way there not one word was murmured, not one thought found expression nor feeling were shared. I knew why it was, her mother was overly mad; enraged I would dare to say, because she is someone who believes if a proper warning was given, being the warning of her asthmatic and weakened lung condition, then there is no limit to how she may react. Once in the hospital doctors attended her and diagnosed an inflammation in her esophagus with extensive swelling in her alveoli. Upon being informed by the news a small sparkle was seen in the corner of her eyes; tears were beginning to build up ready to continue their respective course. These tears were a combined feeling of sadness and disappointment regarding the situation and her mother. She was placing blame on herself for what was happening. I went next to her to tell her this was not her fault and to remind her how much I loved her. These events that happen are just part of life and are what we need to grow up as a stronger couple.

She was put on an oxygen mask and was given asthma medicine by intravenous application, in order to achieve a faster response. I was beside her as her mother remained with a cold shoulder and only spoke the necessary. Limited to only expressing what little she could, her mother ignored the cries of approval and acquaintance of my girlfriend; of her daughter. I damned the fact her mother was making this about herself when her daughter, a person we both loved, was in a dangerous situation.

Due to her state of health she swallowed her tears and remained silent. Closing her eyes as the last tears left her eyes and slowly reached the soft edges of her face where I proceeded to collect them and whispered to her ear to remain calm. One must never give for granted what one has and the experiences of every day hold for a brighter and better future in one’s life. Love, enjoy and wonder with those people you hold special, because you never know when a swift gust will make it all disappear. I sometimes question myself what if that day, her condition would’ve been worse, and if I would’ve affectionately killed my girlfriend. I stop there, because I do not want to know nor think how my life would have been without her.

Epilogue

I hope you have had fun reading and looking at Multi-genre assignment as I had writing and preparing it. This method really helps show and expresses a topic in ways that entertain and appeal to the senses and is not just another big wall of text. Example of this last one was the Collage and the Recipe as they show a picturesque and funny way of expression.  I really hope and wish that you now understand more about this movement and what it is about. I tried to make sure you noticed a felt a little bit about everything that involves being a Scout, in specially my memoir that even if it encompasses a distinct situation in my life I was prepared and ready partly due to my preparation with the Boy Scouts.

I must be frank and admit to not knowing some of the problems the BSA faced in our modern society. But I knew, and was further convinced while doing this paper that the good the BSA does to the people who practice it goes beyond what difficulties it faces. I feel I accomplished a good job of making the BSA a little better known and by doing so I feel I have put my two cents into the growth of this movement.

I have another wish before I say good-bye and it involves anyone who reads this paper. I propose that you give the BSA a chance starting with yourself. Check and see how you can form part of any local Boy Scout group or wait when you get married to have kids and place them in the BSA and live, enjoy, and learn together with him, as I am sure you will never regret doing so.

Best of luck on your future,

Geraldo L. Tosado

Graduation Approaches

Two weeks are left for the en of my 4 years of my bachelor’s degree. It feels as if it all went by very fast, but in retrospect I notice that it was in fact 4 years that included many classes, experiences, and moments that I will not forget. I thought about writing about these last few weeks but I had restrained myself because there a few people talking about it and it would feel repetitive, but I feel I must speak my mind for personal reflection.

A chapter ends and a new one begins. It seems almost funny because everyone is all excited we finished. But, what exactly did we “finish”? The end of college years seems a very good mark to celebrate but it feels like not enough. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I feel like these days are just normal days like any others.  This is due in part because I got accepted to a school of medicine and I know what is waiting for me around the corner and my life is usually a simple one where not many weird events happen. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I live a happy life but I find the happiness in the simple things.  I have thought and have been thinking of what it means to enter a school of medicine and the fact that it is a decision that will affect my life from the first day of medical school up until I retire has made me think that maybe it’s time to lighten up? Should I not realize that I have to make the best of these last few days, weeks, and months as they are the last “free” ones I’ll have. I guess I should but who can with finals and the hardest semester I have had to face during my 4 years of college, that is partly due to not having the same motivation to finish my classes as other semesters and the classes I took are somewhat harder than the rest. Nevertheless I’ll push for the ending of this semester and do the best I can, but I’ll make sure to enjoy the period between this ending and the beginning of the new phase of my life.

/Mind Closed 😀

BIG CARS

Since I did a post about small cars I had an urge to make a post about BIG cars. With the current mind set of fuel economy and more and more people advocating for fuel efficient vehicles this car is evidence of such a change.

I don’t know about any of you but everytime I see this car in our roads I don’t understand how someone can afford to take this car off for a ride in today’s economy. Apart from the fact that it’s a clear sign that the person has money it shows the person likes pleasure driving. I’ve always had the urge to ask an owner of a Hummer to pay for the gas of my small car to see what they say.

This car in difference of the Smart car only gives 9-12 miles per galon of fuel and comes in at a whopping 8600 points (It’s like driving an elephant). It was first manufactured in 2002 as an option for all terrain vehicles that gave high mobility as a multi-terrain vehicle. It’s the public version of the military Humvees that were produced by GM since 1979.

The news for us advocates of fuel economy and justice (yes I call the Hummer an injustice) is that it has halted production in 2011 and will only circulate the Hummers that are already produced and by 2014 it will be “killed” from the market. This is due to a change in a legislation that will make vehicles above 8500 pounds have to follow the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard (CAFE), which limits the MPG that a vehicle can give.

NBA Playoffs

Yea Baby!! I love the NBA playoffs. Basketball is my sport and after an interesting season and a very interesting start for this playoff series, I can’t wait for this to keep going on. Many surprises have occured up to now. The Los Angeles Lakers, the defending champions for 2 years in a row and the #1 (best record in West conference) San Antonio Spurs have been eliminated from the playoffs and sent on packing to their homes for the off-season so they can watch the rest of the games from their house. Both were a big upset for each team because the Lakers, for example, were expected to win for the third time in a row with a heavy weight on the shoulders of their star player, Kobe Bryant. In addition, the Spurs were not expected to be defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the last seeded team to enter the playoffs. But it all happened and it will force these team to rethink what they need to do for next year. Either trades of players will happen, changes in the coaching of the team, or a new game plan are all possibilites that these team have to think over in the off-season.

After watching those games I am further convinced that teams now in the NBA are not only star-based as it was a few years ago, when the teams with the 2 or 3 star players was the one ussually doing the winning. This is because of the young talent that is emergin lately and that many teams have been eager in drafting. You start to see that the younger talent is able to keep up with these star players that have been playing for a few years and become a more important factor to have on a team. Young players have more energy and promote a game that is more entertaining even for the fan base.

Basketball – O’Neal

I have to speak my mind about this situation as I believe it is the biggest expression of disrespect towards the basketball, in the form of the NBA, as a sport and as an organization.  The NBA has a fan base and the teams that compose it take decisions that aim for the best of the team by trusting a player and his abilities to play the game in exchange for money.

I have watched the NBA ever since I can remember and I grew up being a fan of the person in issue right now, Shaquille O’Neal. This player in his first years of being in the NBA was known as the best Center the NBA has ever seen and in those years will go down in history as one of the best centers ever to play.  But I began to notice a decline and a certain desinterest by his part towards his game as years passed reaching a peak in the second season he played with the Miami Heat after he had left the Los Angeles Lakers two years back. O’neal began to gainweight and became slower as a result, progressively affecting his game and getting to the point where he could not play a whole game and was only productive about 15-20minutes a game.

This last part was what made me ponder when he decided to go to the Phoenix Suns after he failed to win with the Heat. He went to the Suns as a supposed promise that with him the Suns were going to win a championship, even if they traded off other important parts of the Suns team in order to make space for Oneal. Final result of this trade and promise was the same that was happening up to that point. The suns did not win the championship, with O’neal only being a small part of the team but a huge part in a decision of the Suns management for a promise to win.

To avoid being repetitive I’ll just add he did the same thing with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics (this one the team for this season). O’neal continued to ask for big bucks and continued to be traded as a promise to win a championship but he never took into himself to get back into shape to play. This is what I conider direspectful, how a player can live with the fact teams try to construct a team around him to win and how he never cared enough to put more on his behalf.