FEAR AND ALLERGIES IN THE LUNCHROOM

It's 1 p.m. at Mercer Elementary School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and Lena Paskewitz's kindergarten class is filled with the happy hum of kids getting ready for their favorite part of the day: lunch. Caleigh Leiken, 6, is toting a pink Hello Kitty bag her mom has packed with goodies: strawberry yogurt, string cheese, some veggies and a cookie. But there's one childhood staple missing—a PB&J. Caleigh was diagnosed with a peanut and tree-nut allergy when she was just 7 months old. Nuts are a no-no at her table in the Mercer lunchroom. Her allergy-free friends can sit there, but only if their lunches have been stored in a special bin and carefully inspected by the teacher. Home, too, is a nut-free zone for Caleigh. When she goes trick-or-treating this week, her candy will be scarier than any costume; she won't be able to eat any of it for fear it's tainted with peanut residue. For Caleigh's mom, Erika Friedman—whose other two kids also have allergies—food can seem like an enemy. "We plan everything," says Friedman. "It's our job—actually, everyone's job—to keep them safe."

There was a time when food allergies were of little concern to the medical community. Today about 11 million Americans suffer from them, and many scientists agree the numbers are climbing. Most significantly, peanut allergies—among the most dire—doubled between 1997 and 2002 in children under 5. "Clearly, the number has increased in the younger population," says Dr. Hugh Sampson, a food-allergy pioneer at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in N.Y. "We suspect that [in the future], the numbers in general are going to increase." Allergists say they're now seeing more children with multiple allergies than ever before, not just to 1950s staples such as milk and wheat—but to global foods we have adopted since, like sesame and kiwi. And allergies many kids outgrow—like those to eggs—seem to be lingering longer than they did in the past.

Parents of very young children now worry over the introduction of each new food, on alert for the first signs of trouble, such as rashes, diarrhea and vomiting. Deaths are rare, but the most-sensitive kids' throats may swell and completely close up if they're exposed to the wrong foods. Even if your school-age child is allergy-free, you still have to be concerned about inadvertently triggering an allergic reaction in one of your kid's friends or classmates. Dairy-free birthday cakes are de rigueur these days, as are no-peanut Halloween parties.

This is a story that revolves around allergies and how they have and will continue to effect children. This is an example of investigative reporting because it looks at more than just the main angle. They take on many aspects of how allergies effect people in different enviorments. They also span over many years by using reports that range back up to ten years.

Time Well Spent

Confession runs dry
faith is hope during the day
truth is false at night

Memory, a curse
a sense will never fail
the mind is too strong

worker bees can leave
even drones can fly away
the queen is their slave

Public Records

State Facts For Students

Well to be honest this didn't take that long to find. I was having a real difficult time that finding a public document that didn't have to to do with a people search or credit card information. So eventually i just typed up free public records in the search engine and there was a whole list of free public record info. after a thorough search i couldn't decide if a FBI's most wanted list constitutes a public document so i just went to BRB's free resource center and looked for a good site that would, at least in my mind, relate to public records. So i found something from census bureau and easily found good stuff.

In the Dreamscape of Nightmares, Clues to Why We Dream at All
The patient was a 37-year-old man who had been physically abused as a boy by his schizophrenic mother, often while he lay in bed trying to fall asleep. Nevertheless, he had grown into a reasonably normal, gainfully employed adult, and he thought that the worst was behind him, until one night he awoke to find an intruder rummaging through his dresser drawers. After that, his nightmares began — terrifying, recurrent dreams in which the intruder was a middle-age woman and a knife dangled with Damoclesian contempt from the ceiling fan over his head.

By all evidence, outrageously bad dreams are a universal human experience. Sometimes the dreams are scary enough to jolt the slumberer awake, in which case they meet the formal definition of nightmares — bad dreams that wake you up. At other times, they are even worse. The sleeper thinks the nightmare is over, only to step into Your Nested Nightmare, Chapter II. Whatever the particulars of the plot, researchers say, nightmares and dreadful dreams offer potentially telling clues into the larger mystery of why we dream in the first place, how our dreaming and waking lives may intersect and cross-infect each other, and, most baffling of all, how we manage to construct a virtual reality in our skull, a seemingly life-size, multidimensional, sensorily rich nocturnal roundhouse staffed with characters so persuasive you want to ... strangle them, before they can strangle you.


This is the lead and nut graph for a story that i found particularly interesting. It revolves around bad dreams and the architecture of dreams in general. I found this so interesting because it seems to give at least a little insight into a subject that is some what of a disconcerting topic for me. Regardless it is a good article with an anecdotal lead that sets the scene that grabs the reader. Good facts and structure, and i especially like the ending, "If you feel yourself falling, spread your arms and learn how to fly, " very colorful ending

A CNN Blog of Politics

My Blog

My favorite blog is that of CNN political ticker. the main reason is because it has a chance to express itself without political remorse and at the same time it allows itself to have real meaning. the blog itself consists of various political views from various places but at the same time has actual meaning from people and places. the blog itself consists of political jargon rapped up in rhetoric but at the same time has something to offer those that are willing to listen, really it has to do with polotics and anyone that has a concern about that matter woould have a care to look

previous posts
Draft Gore group steps up efforts

WASHINGTON (CNN) — With roughly three months until the first wave of voters weigh in on the 2008 presidential candidates, Al Gore supporters are stepping up their efforts to persuade the former vice president to jump into the race.

Draftgore.com published an ad in the New York Times Wednesday with an open letter to the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee strongly urging he throws his hat into the ring.

"You say you have fallen out of love with politics, and you have every reason to feel that way," the letter states. "But we know you have not fallen out of love with your country. And your country needs you now — as do your party and the planet you are fighting so hard to save."

"Many good and caring candidates are contending for the Democratic nomination," the ad continues. "But none of them has the combination of experience, vision, standing in the world and political courage that you would bring to the job. Nor do they have the support among voters that you enjoy and would lead you to victory in 2008″.

The group also claims in the letter it has amassed 136,000 signatures for its petition urging Gore to run.

The ad comes two days before Gore finds out if he has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring attention to the dangers of global warming. The winner is set to be announced on Friday in Norway.

The ad also comes a day after Gore backers in California began a campaign to get the former vice president on the state's Democratic primary ballot. The group needs to amass signatures from 26,500 registered Democrats in the state — 500 from each congressional district — by December 4 to successfully place Gore on the ballot.

Meanwhile, Gore himself continues to say he has no plans to run for president again.

Responding to the ad, Gore's spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said the former vice president "truly appreciates the heartfelt sentiment behind the ad, however, he has no intention of running for president.

"He is involved in a campaign of a different kind—a campaign to educate all Americans about the climate crisis and what we can do to solve it," she added.

– CNN's Alexander Mooney and Steve Brusk

Former attorney general hires influential lawyer

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has hired influential Washington attorney George Terwilliger to represent him as a probe continues into allegations he misled lawmakers about a controversial surveillance program and illegally let politics influence hiring and firing decisions at the Justice Department.

Terwilliger tells CNN his firm is "assisting Judge Gonzales as we assist many companies and individuals when they are cooperating with investigations. It is always unfair for anyone to assume that hiring a lawyer represents anything other than common sense."

Obama: Clinton vote on Iran shows 'flawed' judgment

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton Thursday for her vote in support of a resolution calling an Iranian group a terrorist organization, saying it exhibited the "flawed" judgment she used during the vote to authorize the Iraq war five years ago.

The resolution, which declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, could be used by President Bush as a "blank check" that he interprets as authorization to take military action against Iran, Obama said.

"We know in the past that the president has used some of the flimsiest excuses to try to move his agenda regardless of what Congress says," Obama told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

When asked by an audience member at a campaign event Sunday why she voted for the resolution that the questioner said authorized military action against Iran, Clinton said, "The premise of the question is wrong," and went on to argue that the measure calls for the terrorist label so that sanctions can be imposed.

The sanctions, Clinton said while campaigning in New Hampton, Iowa, will in turn "send a clear message to the leadership" and lead to stronger diplomatic efforts.

Narrative Story & Plot

Drug Trade, Once Passing By, Takes Root in Mexico

When she gets her high, Lupita Díaz says she enters a sweet illusion of peace, a respite from her pain and self-loathing. She lies on her back in a meadow on the edge of town here with other addicts, looks up at the stars and plays aimlessly on a battered blue harmonica.

unrise brings a crashing sensation. Her joints ache. Her mouth goes dry. She has cold sweats, jumps at shadows, hears voices in her head. She is willing, once again, to prostitute herself to get $5 for another hit of crack cocaine or crystal methamphetamine. She has been an addict for years, and her slight body is nearly worn out. She gave away her two children to others to raise.

apologize about my tardiness, better to be late than never.
at any rate this is very much a dramatic narrative, it tells the story of a woman who is struggling with addiction, and how she needs to get high everyday in order to stay normal, so to speak. The main function of the story is to tell about a small town in Mexico and how drug cartels have made a haven for drug addicts out of small cities, Such as Zamora, which in turn creates a rise in crime. Sad and compelling the human interest element kind of grabs you and makes you read the rest of the article.