Shark Fin Ban Video

This was a final group project for Writing For New Media, and my group members and I did a video about the recent Shark Fin Ban. I met with Senator Clayton Hee to learn more about the ban, and we also interviews a few locals to get their thoughts as well. My other group members were Madeline Bergstrand, Joana Gonzales, and Jessi Starr. Great job everyone!

Shark Fin Ban from Jessi Starr on Vimeo.

Bali: Perfect Paradise or Overrun By Loud Mouthed Aussies?

Bali is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It has pristine beaches, food and shopping for cheap, great nightlife, and amazing surf spots. One of the most popular surf spots is Uluwatu Beach, which lies on the southern part of Bali. Over Uluwatu is a large cliff, where you'll find restaurants, bars, surf repair shops, and photo shops where you can buy pictures of yourself surfing the big waves! Another popular surf spot in Bali is Padang Padang, and there is definitely a season for the waves. In the summer is when it usually gets pretty good size, but if you go during the winter, don't expect to see any decent size waves. But the winter is definitely a good time to go if you just want to lay on the beach and relax.

However, even though Bali is a tropical paradise for most people, the locals have been complaining that the island has become overrun by loud, noisy, Australian tourists. I have to admit that when I was living there, there were a lot of Australian tourists. Most of them were very nice but there were definitely some that were more obnoxious and somewhat disrespectful to the local community. One night while eating dinner at one of the local restaurants, there was a group of Aussie tourists that were being really loud and everyone in the restaurant kept looking over and glaring at them. It was clear that they had definitely been drinking, and when the waitress came over and started speaking broken english to them, they mimicked her by speaking broken english back. It was extremely rude and disrespectful and I felt bad for the waitress.

In recent news, locals have been complaining more and more about the Aussies spending their vacations in Bali and feel like they should go somewhere else. But Bali to Australians is like Mexico to Californians or The Bahamas to Floridians. It's super cheap and super close! The locals who surf in Bali also complain about how the Aussies will constantly cut them off when they're trying to catch waves. For me, I feel like the Australian tourists make everyone else look bad, like that all tourists are disrespectful toward the locals.

The number of tourists continues to rise each year, and in 2010 the number of Australian tourists increased by 30% to 400,000. Thailand used to be Australia's most popular tourist destination, but with a longer flight and more expensive ticket prices, it has quickly lost to Bali.

While some of the Australian tourists may be obnoxious at times, one group is obnoxious and rude all the time; and that group is the monkeys of Bali. If you ever go to Bali,beware of the monkeys. I was chased and growled at by these demon monkeys, and I heard stories from the locals about people who tried to feed them and ended up getting attacked. So be cautious of the Aussies, but beware of the monkeys!

More Chocolate Please!

Chocolate. It even sounds as amazing as it tastes. Now I have a huge sweet tooth, I mean I think I can safely say I'm definitely addicted to sugar. Chocolate is definitely at the top of my list of favorite things in the world, and I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't like chocolate. But there's actually more to chocolate than just it's amazing taste, there are actually many health benefits to eating chocolate!

Unfortunately, it's mainly dark chocolate that has all the health benefits, because milk and white chocolate have little content of the cacao bean and contain mostly sugar. That being said, eating chocolate in general (dark, milk, and white) makes people feel good, because it increases the levels of serotonin in your brain. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter responsible for an enhanced mood and acts as an anti-depressant, in other words, it releases the happy emotion in your brain.

Dark chocolate has far more health benefits than just making you happy. A small piece of dark chocolate is really good for your heart because it lowers your blood pressure and lowers your LDL cholesterol by up to 10%. Have you ever noticed that we crave certain foods when we're really stressed out? Well, since chocolate causes the brain to release more serotonin, that leads to significant reductions in anxiety when we're stressed.

So when you're stressed, depressed, upset, or when you suffer from high cholesterol or high blood pressure, eat chocolate! But not too much, because it is still high in fat and calories.