This was my first essay of the year, with the topic being anything in the education system. I chose to tackle the issue of "the reading wars", and I discussed the 2 main schools of thoughts that developed when it comes to teaching young children how to read; these schools being phonetics and whole language. The conclusion that I came to was that both approaches should be used together. While it does sound like a cop out, both have very real weaknesses which can be minimized by using the other approach, and one should not be chosen over the other.

This was an analysis of the episode "The Story of Gangstalicious Part 2" from the series the boondocks. Here I talked about how it satirized the rampant homophobia present in the hip hop community, in bothe the producers and consumers in the art. I find it especially relevant now, and I thoroughly hope everyone reading this is inclined to watch the episode, because from the bottom of my heart I can say it absolutely slaps.