More tea, better health?

More tea, better health?
By Isela Reyes

You’ve seen it all over the place, in all those starbucks, or specialty drink stores, maybe even target. Wherever it may be, it seems like green tea has been popping up everywhere. And not just green tea; white tea, black tea, Tao tea and many more have been making its way to stores and starbucks alike. Is the sudden upswing in tea drinkers just people trying to mimic each other and jump on the wagon, or are they really drinking it strictly for the health benefits?

New research has been popping up about the benefits of drinking tea. Specifically green tea, also called Camellia Sinensis, has been used for vomiting, stomach disorders, diarrhea, as an antioxidant, to prevent dental cavities, to lower cholesterol levels, to reduce cancer, and as a stimulant. Green tea is a natural and cultural way of achieving health that differs from western medicine. Because it is all natural and has been proven to help people, the popularity of this drink has skyrocketed here in the U.S.

Recent studies show that tea can be a key part of a healthy diet for three reasons; it has no calories, it keeps you hydrated and because it is rich in phytonutrients which are plant based substances that are known to have health benefits. Studies also show that tea has more antioxidants than any other food and its benefits will help your health in the long run if ingested on a regular basis.

To reap the benefits of this antioxidant, phytonutrient rich tea, researchers recommend drinking four to five cups a day to really benefit from the tea. This will put you in the highest percent for protection against common illnesses like stroke and heart disease.

But reaserchers also advise that drinking so much tea is not without its bad side. Tea is strongly caffeinated, and that may pose a problem if you have conditions such as heart problems or high blood pressure, kidney disease, an overactive thyroid, an anxiety or nervous disorder, or a bleeding or blood clotting disorder. It is recommended if you have these conditions that you consult a health physician before making tea a regular part of your diet.
Also, some teas like green tea, has not been evaluated by the FDA for safety, effectiveness, or purity. This could mean that all potential risks and advantages or disadvantages of green tea may not be known.
Whether you are a believer of the benefits of drinking tea, it is not an altogether new idea. People have been drinking tea for thousands of years. It has only recently been popularized in stores everywhere because of the recent studies that show the health benefits. Whether you like tea or are just curious, try a cup today and find out for yourself whether it really is a pleasant drink, or just another way of taking your vitamins.

Pushing Daisies

Pushing Daisies
By Isela Reyes
What do you get when you combine a guy with freaky abilities, a girl who is alive but supposed to be dead, a private investigator who is not above using shady tactics to collect a reward and a bubbly waitress? You get a new hit TV show called Pushing Daisies.
Pushing Daisies is a show about a boy named Ned who realized he had the ability to revive dead people simply by touching them. But he soon realized that his ability was not without its pitfalls. If he touched that person a second time then they would die again, permanently. If he chose to leave them alive, it would result in the death of another person within close proximity. Fast forward a couple years and Ned has used his abilities to open up a pie shop. When a private investigator accidentally discovers Ned’s abilities, he convinces him to help him solve murder cases and in exchange he will split the reward money. But Ned’s life changes when one case leads him to his childhood crush…dead. Ned brings Chuck back to life and chooses to keep her alive. After solving her case, Chuck goes back with Ned to work in his pie shop and help solve the murder cases.
This show has got all the elements needed to make it a hit. It’s got a fresh new plot that is unlike anything out today, which help to give it its own sense of uniqueness. It’s great cast, amazing narration and creative writers mix together to give you a show that’s like a fresh breath of air compared to everything out their today.
If you are looking for a break from all the criminal, drama, and played out comedies, then Pushing Daisies is the show for you. I never watched Pushing Daisies until this assignment, although my sister tunes in to it religiously, but since watching it, I know where I am going to be every Wednesday night at eight.

A Vision of Students Today

By Isela Reyes

The video that was posted on you tube, A Vision of Students today, is a very powerful video for all that watch it. Created by a professor in Kansas State and student contributions, this video speaks volumes about our educational system in colleges across the country.

Every year students pay an exorbitant tuition fee for just being able to go to class. And it seems as though every year that fee continues to grow, at least it feels that way here at Sacramento State. One of the notes that a student raised in the video that really stood out to me was how her neighbor in class pays these large tuition fees every semester, and yet this person never shows up in class to benefit from those dollars they are paying simply to sit in class. And the worst part about it to me is that students pay these fees to go to a school that has so many students enrolled, that the ratio from students to teachers is unbelievable. The student who wrote that her average class size is a whopping one hundred and fifteen, made me stop and really think about what we are paying for.

Like her, my classes are also very large, large enough that in half of my classes my teachers don’t even know their students names. Although I know in other classes that average is much lower, like the student who said that only eighteen percent of her teachers know her by name. These days, students are just faces in a crowd to our professors, and I’m not saying it’s their fault. On the contrary, how can you blame them when they get classes so large that it would take up a good portion of the semester just trying to learn all of their names? Some professors really try to know their students by name despite this. Like two of my professors this semester, whose classes were so large but they still wanted to be able to know us. So they brought in their cameras and asked to take our pictures and write our names under them just so that they can quickly get to know who is who in their classes.

One other thing that is very important is the purchase of textbooks. One student in the video said that he bought a hundred dollar textbook that he has yet to open. That is the one thing that bothers me the most after the high price we pay for tuition. When I first began school here at Sacramento State, I would by all of my books every semester so that I would be prepared with all the information that I would need to pass the class. Or that’s what I thought. Why else would our professors make us buy these books if they weren’t going to help us in school, right? Fast forward to the present and I am bitter about the fact that year after year, semester after semester I have spent hundreds of dollars on books that I rarely, if ever, used. I have a new method when it comes to books, I simply do not buy them unless by some miracle I actually have a professor who asks us to use our books to obtain information that they include in our tests. And you know what? I haven’t bought a single textbook this semester because I have yet to need or use them.

Why is this? We all need to stop and think about what is going on in our college campuses across the country. Why are students paying for an overpriced education in which they are forced to sit in overcrowded classrooms where their teachers will probably never know their name with an overpriced textbook that they will never use?

Christmas

Christmas

By Isela Reyes

My favorite holiday wasn't always Christmas. Every year as a child I would always look forward to Easter, because it was always a time of gathering, family, good food and candy hunting. What child wouldn't like Easter. I never paid much attention to Christmas, it just always came and went, noticable mosty in stores where crowds would gather to buy their christmas gifts for others. I think my change of mind came when I began working in retail.

I started working for a large scale retailer in 2004, and over the years I have begun to look forward to Christmas season. It's not just the actual day that I like, but the whole season and the anticipation that builds and leads up to the day. My favorite time of the year is the winter, and that adds to my love of Christmas. I love stepping outside in the biting cold, all wrapped up in layers of coats, sweaters, scarves, gloves and boots. Seeing your breath come out in little puffs of air and sometimes sliding on the frozen frost that sparkles on the grass like tiny diamonds. It's a beatiful time during winter and having Christmas in the middle of winter just adds to it's charm for me.

Now I realize what I am about to say next may be cause for embarrassment, but I have to admit that I love that really cheesy christmas music that department stores play during the holidays. I look forward to the day after thanksgiving when I come in to work and the christmas music is already on. Christmas music always makes me feel better when I may not be having so great a day, it always lifts my spirits and makes me feel happy again.

What I especially love about Christmas is seeing all the gaudy decorations that you see draped across people's homes and scattered inside stores. Why, just yesterday in my own store we recieved a bunch of nutcrackers, ornaments and tree cloths. Just looking at them filled me with anticipation of the coming season. I love seeing the cute little santa's and snowmen ornaments that fill up the shelves of stores, each different and unique. All of these elements combine to make my Christmas my favorite holiday and time the year.

NutriSystem

NutriSystem

By Isela Reyes

When my sister decided to get healthier she turned to a new eating program called NutriSystem. Designed to help you lose weight by controlling what you eat, the program promises results if used diligently. NutriSystem delivers a five week program of food right at your doorstep that consists of breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts. The program also allows you to have unlimited fruits and vegetables.

The NutriSystem program is designed to include low glycemic index carbohydrates and the right amounts of protein and fiber, yet still be low in fat. The glycemic index means that the program includes the good type of carbohydrates that will allow for you to still enjoy pasta’s and certain desserts without having to sacrifice them. The meals are to be eaten five times a day to help reduce cravings between meals.

Always skeptical of dieting programs, I nonetheless supported my sister’s efforts at a healthier lifestyle. I too cut back on junk food and began eating healthier to support her, and together we joined a gym to complement our healthier eating habits. Once the food was delivered and sorted, my sister began the system the following morning.

Fast forward to five weeks and my sister has successfully completed her first round of NutriSystem and was sufficiently satisfied that she continued with a new shipment. A little wary from her first round she was more specific in ordering her food choices as the first time around was hit or miss as far as food preferences went. Confident that she would now enjoy all her meals as she now knew what she liked from the choices, my sister eagerly began the second round.

Her eagerness to continue with the program came from her satisfaction with the system. Within three weeks my sister had lost thirteen pounds from sticking to the program, eating unlimited fruits and vegetables and including physical exercise in her regimen. I myself became more of a believer and was happy for my sister. The reason the program works is because it is real food, eaten in smaller portions throughout the day and includes more fruits and vegetables than a person would normally consume in a day.

Now I know at this point most people would think, isn’t that something that anybody can do at home without paying money to some dieting company? The obvious answer is yes, but for most people it is hard to do because it all stems from our daily habits. To stick to such a plan requires such iron will and determination that quite frankly is hard for anyone to stick to. The great thing about NutriSystem is that it is a program that can help get you on track and on the right path to change your eating habits. Once you have been through a few months of the program, your habits have already changed for the better and with the weight loss it is much easier to maintain healthier eating habits once you decide you no longer need to use the program.

Seeing the change in my sister for the better has made me a believer of NutriSystem and that it can change your eating habits for the better. People may choose to mock dieting systems as a ploy to cheat people out of their money by praying on their desperation to lose weight. While I agree that there are a lot of scams out there, I believe that NutriSystem is a great program and if anyone were to ask, I would recommend it and tell people how it helped my sister.

You Tube

You Tube

Isela Reyes


You Tube is a website much like myspace, in which people can log on and make videos of themselves and broadcast it online. You tube has quite literally become a cultural phenomenon since it exploded onto the internet scene in 2005. It was created my three friends who were all previously Paypal employees. They decided to create a website where people could go online and post, upload and share their videos with other online users. By allowing people to record and post their own videos on the website, the possibility of being viewed by millions is very much a possibility.

You tube has created an endless amount of possibilities for many entrepreneurs who use the website as a means to further their careers by posting videos of their products or business ventures. It is also used as a means for exposure by musicians who are looking to be discovered. The group Ok Go is a perfect example of this. They posted their you tube video of their song Here It Goes Again in which the whole video consists of them moving around in harmony on a bunch of treadmills that are lined up together while they do tricks on them. Since then, they have had their song become a hit worldwide and were even asked to perform at the MTV Music Awards.

Although their can be some positive things about you tube there are always the negative aspects that come along with an open internet site. Since its creation, you tube has had some issues with the content of videos that are being posted. To combat this, the website has posted some restrictions such as some videos only being allowed to be viewed by those eighteen and older if the contents are offensive to some. There has been a large outcry about you tube and the negative postings that are on the website. Some examples include postings by people that show others engaging in physical violence, sex, drug use and even animal cruelty. Some countries who do not approve of you tube have gone as far as banning it from their country, such as Brazil and Morocco.

I believe you tube can be a great way to express yourself and to people across the world. However I do believe there are some people who abuse the website, and when I mean abuse it I am referring to posting inappropriate videos that may contain violence, sex and drug use. This is a website that has millions of people logging on each day, and a large portion of them are children. The last thing we as adults want to do is expose them to those over video postings on the internet. I think it’s great that there are some restrictions to prevent this from happening but there are always ways to get around those. I think they need to reevaluate what the best way to allow safe, fun postings for everyone.

As a journalism student, I think you tube can be a great tool when looking for a story. You tube can give you a great lead on a story or it can be the story. This website is a great way for journalism students to find story ideas and leads. It’s also a great tool for professional journalists. However, they should express caution when using these as a basis for a story, as anything that is posted could be fictitious or simply a prank.

Peter Schrag

Peter Schrag
By Isela Reyes

Peter Schrag was born in Germany and came to the U.S. at a young age. He was raised in New York, where he attended public schools. Schrag graduated from Amherst College in 1953 and has been a lifelong journalist, writing for over forty years, most notably about education and other public policy issues. Schrag began his career at the El Paso Herald Post where he was a reporter and has worked for other publications including the New Public, the Atlantic, Harper’s, the New Nation, and the New York Times among others. Schrag has also worked for the Sacramento Bee where he held the position of editorial page editor for nineteen years and where he still writes weekly columns. One of Schrag’s books, Paradise Lost: California’s Experience, America’s Future was awarded New York Times Notable Book in 1998.

To be honest, when we were first given the assignment to profile a columnist, I was not sure who I would choose. I gather most of my news from the internet, much to the horror of one of my professors and his “generation” as he so worded it in class one evening (not Fitzgerald). Therefore, I was unsure of who to choose. I don’t follow any one news publication religiously; rather I gather my news in snatches from whatever newspaper, internet article or TV news that happens to be on or near me at the time. So when I happened upon a review of Peter Schrag, it peaked my interest because of how he expressed his writing about California education. It is no secret to Californians that the school system is suffering from overcrowding, lack of resources and teachers, but Schrag addresses these very same issues with the understanding of someone who has spent years studying them and whose own children attend.

In his book, Paradise Lost: California’s Experience, America’s Future Schrag addresses this very same issue, but goes back to what he states are the origin of this issue. In his book, Schrag writes that California was the leading state in everything from politics, to education to speedy freeways, but that has given way beginning in 1978 with the passing of proposition 13, which was a tax-cutting initiative, which began the downfall of California’s classrooms. Schrag argues that California may very well be the perfect example for the rest of the nation of what may become across the country if it is not properly addressed. He states that California has been the leading example for the country as a state that has adopted every controversial method first and that continues to be the leader in adopting new measures before anyone else. He also believes that if the issue of California schools continues unchanged, it may also serve as an unfortunate example of what other states will become as well.

Schrag has been writing for California for years addressing not only the issue of education but politics as well. Having served at the Sacramento Bee for so long he also serves a number of publications who continue to post his articles. I chose Schrag because he addresses issues as close at heart to me as a Californian, as a journalism student and as a member of this society.