From Contestant To Judge on "American Idol"

No one I know every speaks about American Idol anymore. Once one of the most popular shows across the nation, American Idol has fallen down a steep cliff. Its finale last year became its lowest-rated episode all time of when it attracted only 6.6 million viewers. This year, American Idol is trying desperately to attract more viewers by adding new elements to the show. Tonight, I watched as American Idol made history by featuring the first judge ever to have previously competed on the show. Adam Lambert, the Idol Season 8 runner-up to Kris Allen, had the opportunity to appear on the judges' panel for an episode in place of Keith Urban. Harry Connick Jr., one of the judges on the show, told Lambert, "I cannot stop thinking about what you must be thinking sitting behind this desk because you're the only person who's done this on both sides."  Lambert could see the show in a completely different light than any other judge having experienced the Idol journey himself.

While on the show, Lambert even recreated his audition by singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" in front of his fellow judges Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. After "auditioning" once again, Lambert claimed that he had forgotten just how many nerves everyone faced during the audition process. That moment reminded him of his life before fame; he was able to empathize with the contestants like no other judge before him. Today, Adam Lambert is fronting Queen, a gig not given to just your "ordinary singer".  After season 8, no one on American Idol has even gotten close to achieving the fame of Lambert or some of his predecessors, such as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, or Jordin Sparks. Maybe American Idol should include more of these successful former contestants on the judges' panel to attract more viewers? The show would have a completely different vibe and would probably be more interesting to watch.

Media Clearly Making Strides with "Transparent"

While watching the Golden Globes on Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many meaningful awards given out. For the first time in history, Golden Globe was awarded to a show with a leading transgender character. Amazon's Transparent ended up winning for both Best Comedy Series as well as Best Actor (Jeffrey Tambor). Now that Transparent has gained public attention and praise, more people are likely to check out the show. After all, 19 million people watched the Globes. It is almost guaranteed that at least some of those people will want to watch Transparent now that it "must be good".

Jeffrey Tambor winning Golden Globe for Transparent

If more people watch Transparent, Amazon's streaming service will also gain an influx of new viewers. Amazon now has its own Orange is the New Black, a popular show which also includes a transgender character. I hope Transparent isn't just Amazon's token show. Instead, with any luck, it might motivate more writers/directors to take risks with shows and not just to write a slight variation on the classic cop show.

Hopefully, Transparent will also inspire people to become more accepting of the transgender community. If the Hollywood foreign press can accept transgender people, why can't everyone? Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year old transgender girl, committed suicide on December 28 since her parents refused to accept her true identity. We need to prevent an incident like this from happening again. People don't have to understand, they just have to accept. After all, my cousins' father is transgender, and he only admitted his true identity years after getting married and having children. It is a concept that everyone in my family struggles to comprehend, especially my aunt and cousins. Nevertheless, they have chosen to be accepting simply because it's the right thing to do.

Disneyland Disaster

Disneyland has always been known as the Happiest Place on Earth. However, it recently experienced a major scare when a sudden measles outbreak started spreading across Disneyland and Disney California Adventure at the end of December. Despite being declared eradicated in the United States in 2000, the virus has reappeared in the USA due to people getting infected overseas before traveling to America. Yet, one or two cases doesn't cause an outbreak. The spreading of the virus is linked to people choosing not to vaccinate against measles, which is a major issue.

The "Happiest Place on Earth"

Many parents these days haven't experienced measles themselves. They don't seem to grasp just how dangerous measles can become. About 1 or 2 out of 1000 people diagnosed with measles will die. There is also no treatment for the disease. Vaccines seem like the easy solution. However, some people have been misinformed that vaccines lead to Autism and other serious health problems, which is simply not true. The more people who choose not to vaccinate, the higher the risk of the virus spreading. Babies under the age of vaccination have no defense against measles. People need to understand that just because the disease hasn't been around in the United States in a long time doesn't mean it can't still become a danger. In order to protect everyone, we need higher awareness of the dangers of measles and the safety of vaccines. If even the Happiest Place on Earth can take a turn for the worse and become infected, measles is clearly still an issue.

Winter Break Is No Break

As the holiday season has been winding down, I have been struggling to get back to a normal routine. At least I don't have much homework! However, my cousin has not been so lucky. Knowing she has tons of homework left to do, she keeps getting more stressed as she gets closer and closer to heading back to school on Monday. Why did her teachers feel the need to give out lots of homework over break? It turns out that students need breaks, and assigning homework over a break is cruel and unnecessary. Breaks should be breaks, not extra time to do additional assignments.

My sister is home from college until the end of January. She, unlike my cousin, has no homework. Yet, my sister has about a two or three week longer break than my cousin. That's lots of more time do work. Instead of doing homework, she is catching up on much-needed sleep, spending time with family and friends, and traveling. My sister is even planning a trip to Europe for the summer. Her break has been a real break from work, as well as an opportunity for her to take time for herself. In fact, taking time for oneself is extremely important for one's personal growth and development. Despite not doing schoolwork, my sister still learning about herself and the world around her.

I wish more schools across the country understood that breaks should truly be breaks. Assigning lots of work over a break only takes away from the holiday cheer. Studies even show that too much homework may be detrimental to a student's academic achievement. Schools need to take students' personal lives and health into account and limit the amount of work handed out over breaks. Breaks are breaks, not extra work time.

Have Yourself a Merry 40s Christmas

With Christmas Eve only a day away, I'm sure we all keep hearing the same beloved Christmas songs almost everywhere we go. I can't walk into a store without listening to "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" play in the background at least once. Year after year, it's always the same old songs. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", like most of the other holiday songs that play constantly, traces back to the mid-20th century. In fact, the majority of our top 30 most-played Christmas songs of all time were released back in the 40s and 50s.

Most of these songs were written right after the end of World War II. During that time, people probably wanted to celebrate the war victory as well as move on to happier things. Everyone would finally be home for Christmas. Those decades also became the time of the baby boomers' childhoods. For the baby boomers, those songs represent memories of childhood happiness, economic prosperity, and overall nostalgia. It is no surprise that they are still popular today. Are we ever going to create new holiday hits that reach the same heights as the songs of the 40s and 50s? Maybe the songs go hand in hand with great periods of American history. Until we have another one of those time periods that sparks immense creativity and inspiration, I think we might stick with the same old songs for a long time.

Two Years Since Sandy Hook Shooting, Still No Progress

Two years ago, on December 14th, 2012, twenty-year-old Adam Lanza murdered 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. After two years, the families of the victims are finding it even more difficult to cope with the losses of their loved ones. Nicole Hockley's son Dylan, only age six, was shot and killed by Lanza at Sandy Hook. Hockley claims that after two years, "The shock wears out" and "denial becomes more of a reality." Hockley realized that there was a bigger issue at hand: gun violence. She, along with many other families of the victims, hoped there would be more progress in terms of gun protection at this point in time. Hockley recently joined a non-profit organization called Sandy Hook Promise, aimed at protecting people from gun violence.

However, school shootings are still a major issue across the nation. In fact, throughout the last three months, there have been 16 school shootings. 5 of those incidents occurred within one week, with each shooting taking place in a different state. Our country needs to find a way to greatly diminish this number. Whether it comes down to having stricter laws regarding gun screening or somehow reducing the number of guns sold, I'm not sure. It's just clear that something needs to be done. Unfortunately, according to US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was almost killed after being shot in the head in 2011, Congress has done nothing.

Yet, the families of the Sandy Hook victims didn't just want to stand by and wait. If nothing had been done to limit gun violence in 2 years, how could these families be sure anything would be done at all? Nine of the 26 families of the victims decided to take action. They just filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer, distributor, and seller of the gun used by Lanza in the shooting, claiming that the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle was a military weapon that should not have been made available to the public. I think it's a great idea for these families to try to make a change when it comes to gun violence. I just hope our country will soon do the same.

Traffic Stops By Caring Cops

With all of the protests taking place across the nation after the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, many people have become aware of the issues surrounding police brutality. Of course, many cops throughout the country do their jobs very well and handle tough situations appropriately. Yet, police forces seem to be on edge. Some want to make the clear statement that not all police should be viewed in a negative light. In fact, I came across a very uplifting video that made it impossible for me to be angry with all police. In Lowell, Michigan, a police officer named Scot VanSolkema pulled over many drivers for minor traffic violations (that they would almost never normally be stopped for). He slyly asked the drivers about their plans for holiday shopping, specifically about what gifts they had not yet crossed off their shopping lists.

As VanSolkema gathered information about the gifts, many "elves" listened in as the information was recounted. They rushed through a nearby store to pick up every item the drivers mentioned. Then, they hurried back to VanSolkema at the traffic stop before immediately dashing back to the store. Officer VanSolkema happily surprised the drivers with the gifts, and to say the least, the drivers were delighted. Many claimed that their "bad days turned into good days" after this simple act of giving. One of the drivers, Salvador Galeno, mentioned that his daughters wanted an Xbox One. VanSolkema, of course, surprised Galeno with the wonderful present. Galeno added that "he wouldn't have been able to afford such a big purchase."  VanSolkema and the Lowell Police Department gave him with the opportunity to provide his children with an amazing Christmas surprise.

Clearly, many police have good intentions. This video made it apparent that the Lowell Police Department is trying to develop stronger relationships with its citizens. There are obviously issues with some police procedures, as is evident through the deaths of both Eric Garner and Michael Brown. However, we can't ignore the good intentions of other police departments across the nation. Even if Lowell police intentionally released this video to shed a positive light on police during a difficult time, they are nonetheless giving back. More people, not just police, should get into the holiday spirit and start making people's days brighter. We should all learn a lesson from VanSolkema and the Lowell Police Department: turning someone's day from bad to good is as simple as wishing them a Merry Christmas.