Matthew Shepard- Controversy

Matthew Shepard died because the men who beat him with "homophobes." Unfortunately, however, they were/are not the only ones. The Westbro Baptist Church are famous for their "GOD HATES FAGS" posters and hateful beliefs that they try to force upon the world. Well when they heard of Shepards's story, what did they do? They showed up at his funeral with personal posters of Matthew and pretty much said that they were glad he was dead, and glad this happened! The people of this church are not the only who feel this way, but they are the "face", I guess you could say, of the Homophobes. The death of Shepard is a controversy because he died because he was gay. simple as that, and people really just have a hard time accepting others.

Matthew Shepard- Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMOacBkfMq0

This is a link to a video found on Youtube.

This video is made by a "random" person who heard about Matthew Shepard's story and was outraged by the hate in the world. It tells exactly what happened to Matthew Shepard and has pictures alongside it. If this video doesn't make you cry, then I don't know what will!

Matthew Shepard- Trial

These are the 3 suspects that the court thinks were at fault for the death of Matthew Shepard. In this picture, they are waiting to be arraigned on Oct. 9, 1998. Russell Henderson is on the far left, Aaron McKinney is in the middle, and Chastity Pasley is on the far right, crying. Henderson and Aaron are going to serve life in prison- for murder. And Pasley was sentenced to 15 months- two years for being an "accessory" to the murder.

Matthew Shepard- bio

Matthew Shepard was born in Casper, Wyoming on December 1, 1976, and died on October 12, 1998 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Shepard moved to Dhahron with his family after his junior year in high school, and graduated from The American School in Switzerland (TASIS) in May, 1995. Shepard Studied political-science his first year at the University of Wyoming, in Laramie. He had gotten into drug use in college, and his friends think it may of had something to do with the time he was beaten and raped on a high school trip in 1995.

Negative Stereotype for our Society

Probably the most common stereotype of our society is that everyone eats McDonald's and is severely obese. Unfortunately, this is a very bad image our society has gained.I have a ton of foreign friends that I have asked what their first impression of Americans were before they knew the reality of it all. Immediately they said "Americans are fat and greedy!" Maybe one day we can prove this stereotype to be misleading and non-accurate.

Positive Stereotype for our Society

This picture is supposed to represent how our society is known as "The Melting Pot." It's known as this because America has people from all different cultures and races. Our land was known as "the Land of opportunities" and because of that, people were very attracted to the idea that you could potentially be anyone you wanted to be! So there are people from every culture and race in the world living in our lovely land of opportunity- hence- "The Melting Pot."

Negative stereotype for myself

Although I chose being a "girly-girl" for my positive stereotype, I also believe it to be my negative one as well. I failed to mention the bad traits of this stereotype because I thought it would have more affect in this post. Typically people can see girly-girls as self-conceited, ditzy, and annoying. If this is the stereotype people see me as, then these traits are just some of the opinions the world has towards me. Yes, I know in my last post I said it was good to have this "label," but it comes with both good and bad opinions.

Positive Stereotype for Myself

I am a "girly-girl." There is no denying that. I take pride in being a girly-girl because I know that I am comfortable with simply being a female! The typical stereotype of a girly-girl is usually trendy, overly happy, smiley, and friendly. I honestly don't see anything with those adjectives!

TOMS Shoes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evbs3ilpqwU&feature=player_embedded

TOMS Shoes stands for "Tomorrow's Shoes." Many think this is just some trendy shoe that is just popular for right now and (like every other style) will just fade away in 5-10 years. I beg to differ. This shoe company was started by Blake Mycoskie in 2006. On his trip to Argentina, he found that all the kids had no shoes to protect their feet from the rough soil. Seeing this made Blake want to help, so he decided to start a shoe company (TOMS) that would match every shoe purchased and go to the children in Argentina. The slogan, "One for One" soon came about and on his first trip back to Argentina, Blake brought 10,000 new pairs of shoes!

You may wonder, "Why Shoes? Why not food or shelter?" Although those things are important, no one really understands the importance of shoes. Many schools in developing countries do not allow a student to be barefoot in their school, so with no shoes, there's no education. Also a leading cause in disease is soil-transmitted, and with no shoes, the disease can penetrate through bare skin. And of course there is the obvious reason; without shoes, feet are easily cut and without protection, they become dangerously infected. Shoes are an essential part of living. Blake Mycoskie understood that and did something about it, creating a brand that changes the world; TOMS.

I "connect" with this brand because it actually puts my money to a good cause. Often times I can spend too much money on clothes, shoes and even food without thinking twice about where exactly it's going. With a purchase of TOMS, i don't feel guilty about blowing $50-60 in one day because I know that I'm helping kids who need shoes way more than I do.