TM-speak ruining America?

Every now and then I see something that makes me cringe. And this story did it. According to a recent Associated Press article, middle school teacher Julia Austin is noticing a new generation of errors creeping into her pupils’ essays. Things like “b4,” “ur” and “wata” — words that mean nothing to adults but are part of the teens’ everyday lives.

Welcome to the world of instant-message speak.This new “language” emerged more than a decade ago and is often used in e-mails and cell phone text messages; most teens are familiar with this tech talk and use it to flirt, plan dates and gossip.

But junior high and high school teachers nationwide say they see a troubling
trend: The words have become so commonplace in children’s social lives that
the techno spellings are finding their way into essays and other writing
assignments.

“The IM-speak is so prevalent now,” Austin, a language arts teacher at
Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Orlando, told the AP. “I’m always having
to instruct my students against using it.”

I think it’s fine to use this type of language in things such as text messaging
and instant messaging, but when it spills over into academia, that’s when
we’ve got a problem.

The fact that kids think it’s OK to use such language in research papers
concerns me. To think that they don’t know the difference between “ur” and
“you’re” is astounding. Perhaps they do know the difference — maB they R
just 2 laZ 2 chnge how they spek.

Regardless, it’s a disturbing trend that teachers must address right away.

According to the AP, some educators like David Warlick, 54, of Raleigh, N.C.,
see the young burgeoning band of instant messengers as a phenomenon that
should be celebrated.

Teachers should credit their students with inventing a new language that is
perfect for communicating in a high-tech world, said Warlick, who has

authored three books on technology in the classroom.

“I would encourage teachers to assign writing assignments that allow IM-
speak,” he said. “We need to respect the language to the point that we
sometimes allow it.”

Is this guy serious?

Respecting something that is a blatant error couldn’t be more ridiculous.

That’s like asking a cop to respect someone breaking the law. If you are a
teacher, you cannot allow your students to write improperly. You have to
encourage them and instruct them on the proper way to write and speak.

Anything less is a disservice to students and to our nation.

L.A.'s senseless violence

Charlene Lovett clutched an enlarged photograph of her daughter as she prayed with friends and relatives on a recent sunny day in Los Angeles.

The photo, which shows Cheryl Green’s infectious, bright smile in full form, is all Lovett has left to remember her daughter’s beautiful face — that and 14 years worth of memories.

Green, 14, was gunned down recently in Los Angeles, the victim of a racially motivated attack as she sat on her scooter talking to friends. Green was black.

The bright-eyed eighth grader loved junk food and watching Court TV with her mother, according to a story printed in Wednesday’s New York Times, and all she wanted to do on the day she died was hang out with her schoolmates.

Problem is, the neighborhood where Green lived is a war zone.

It’s not Baghdad, but it might as well be. There’s even a “do not cross” line drawn in this neighborhood known as Harbor
Gateway. In recent months, tension has grown so severe that blacks and Latinos formed a dividing line on 206th street with the understanding that neither side crosses.

Green didn’t cross the line that day, but she came close enough to lose her life.

What a tragedy.

How could this happen on the streets of America? And more importantly, who is to blame?

For one thing, the 204th Street gang, which is Latino, had harassed blacks and Latinos alike and effectively kept the two groups divided, according to the New York Times.

If this is true, why isn’t someone stopping this gang from terrorizing the streets of Harbor Gateway? If everyone knew this was going on, why didn’t the police do something to stop it?

Also, certain stores in this neighborhood were apparently “off limits” to blacks because the Latino gang had deemed them as such.

On the other side of the line, blacks had apparently been responsible for killing a Latino gang member before tensions rose between the two groups, and Latinos stepped up violence against blacks as retaliation. This according to an unnamed source for the New York Times.

Regardless, the city must crack down on these problems now. How many years have we heard about gang violence in Los Angeles? And now it seems to be getting worse. L.A.’s mayor, Antonio R. Villaraigosa, along with police officials, is promising to talk to the FBI about the violence with hopes of curbing it substantially. But will there be results?

Probably not.

Our country is facing many obstacles right now, but rising crime rates in major U.S. cities should definitely be at the top of the list of things to change. And as gang violence continues to increase, our politicians are assuring us that they are working hard to keep America’s cities safe.

I would love to see Villaraigosa explain to Green’s mother about winning the war against crime. L.A. is losing this war, and so is the rest of America. It’s just sad that innocent lives have to be lost in the crossfire.

*Editor's note: Picture credit goes to the New York Times.

iPhone, woohoo!

Five hundred dollars for a phone? I’ve been asking myself that question since Apple announced its ultra-cool, über-sophisticated iPhone Wednesday. Would I actually pay $500 for a phone?

Well, yes, and I’m not ashamed to say it either.

That’s because the new iPhone is more than just a device to call your friends and loved ones — it’s also an iPod, a computer that runs Apple’s latest operating system, as well as a fully Internet-ready machine that lets you see actual Web sites, not just text.

You can also watch movies, play games and do a host of other things on this little machine, which is hardly bigger than a standard iPod.

The iPhone, introduced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during his keynote speech at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco, will operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.’s Cingular Wireless network and will start shipping in June. A 4-gigabyte model will cost $499, while an 8-gigabyte iPhone will be $599.

Pardon me for a moment while I gush, but this thing is cooler than cool. Logging on to Apple’s web site to take a peek, I could hardly contain my excitement as I thought about holding one in my hand.

It has a touch screen and features both portrait and landscape modes, which means when you rotate the device, the screen automatically compensates without pressing any buttons.

For instance, when you want to watch a movie or browse the net, rotate it for the landscape mode, or if you want to use the iPod feature, turn it right side up and the screen rotates once again. Every other function is controlled via a high-tech, super sensitive touch screen, which means no more ugly number buttons to push.

Awesome.

Apple has long been the leader in announcing amazing devices that have people wondering “how did we ever live without this?” I remember my first Apple experience with the old “Apple II E” machines in the mid-1980s — remember the the little green screens that let us play games like Pong and Solitaire? Back then those things were cutting edge.

Now, Apple has once again gone the extra mile to bring the world a truly inventive product that will forever change the way we think of cellular phones.

Already the Internet buzzing about this product, just like it was several years ago when the first iPod rolled off the assembly lines. But there are critics, too.

Some say the cost is way too high for a product “just to make phone calls.” I say those comments are from people who have never experienced the magic that’s unleashed when owning an Apple product for the first time.

Call me an Apple snob, but I truly believe their products are the most innovative and sleekest in the computing world. And now that same state-of-the-art creativity is being transcended into the world of mobile phones as well.

Brilliant.

I'm back, and so is the crime

Well, after a brief hiatus I thought it was time to bring back the blog. Here's an entry that also doubles as my column for the News-Times this week. Enjoy.

The war in Iraq isn’t the only battle America is losing right now. There’s a war going on here at home, too, on the streets of just about every major city. And local law enforcement officials from Los Angeles to Minneapolis are buried with unsolved crimes.

According to a report this week in “Newsweek” magazine, “A recent surge in violent crime is creating anxiety at the Justice Department and posing potential political problems for the Bush administration."

No doubt this issue will become yet another nail in Bush’s weak, inept presidency.

The report continues: “ The 3.7 percent rise for the first six months of 2006, cited in a new FBI report, was greater than expected and included a 9.7 percent spike in robberies. (Minneapolis and Oakland, Calif., saw jumps of more than 30 percent.) Police groups say the surge comes at the same time the White House has drastically cut aid for state and local law enforcement programs. ‘We don’t have the support from Washington,’ says Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton.”

What’s wrong with this picture? The chief of police in America’s second largest city feels abandoned by the federal government, all the while billions upon billions of dollars are being sent to Iraq to fund the “war on terror.”

And America’s streets are themselves becoming war zones.

Government figures show the FBI has shifted agents off standard criminal cases to work counterterrorism; the bureau has 994 fewer criminal case agents than it did on September 11, 2001 — an 18 percent drop.

According to “Newsweek,” “(A Justice Department rep says it’s “highly unlikely” the crime increase is tied to federal funding, but they’ve dispatched teams to investigate.) The numbers have also caught the attention of top Democrats on Capitol Hill.

In a recent letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, Judiciary Committee member Sen. Dianne Feinstein called the crime increases “alarming.”

That they are.

Yet our nation’s leader is hell bent on winning a war that has been deemed unwinnable by top generals around the world.

What about domestic problems, Mr. President? Don’t those matter, too? We can’t “cut and run” from our own streets and let criminals run rampant all in the name of fighting terrorism.

Not only is Iraq in turmoil since the U.S. invasion there, but it appears that America, too, is losing her grip on civility.

Go figure.