Book Review: Black Notice

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Imagine finding something that leads you to a path in which you thought you would know where it would lead you, but instead, you end up going on a hunt with dead ends and new discoveries. In the Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell, you can actually get a feel of that because she goes into detail that can make you picture it as if you were there. The Black Notice was constantly keeping me on my feet with new things added to the equation. The book is about a cargo that carried a decomposed stowaway, and the police, one named Pete Marino, and their medical examiner, Kay Scarpetta, were in charge of this case. What’s unusual about the body is that there is no cause of death nor identification on the person, except personal belongings and an odd tattoo that will eventually lead Scarpetta and Marino on a hunt. Eventually, they end up at the headquarters of INTERPOL in Lyon, France and are given more instructions, but this time it’s to receive secret evidence that can’t get into a certain party’s hands. Scarpetta and Marino, also, get the answer they have been looking for, which is who the body was. The body was a member apart of one of the rich families, the Chandonnes. Within this family, there is a lot that goes on and Scarpetta and Marino learn this through an INTERPOL agent. One of the sons the family is rumored to be a killer that the family is keeping hidden. With all that is thrown at Scarpetta, she finds out that her niece is somehow involved in the case that she is working on, so she must be careful when talking about the case. She realizes that she is putting her own job at risk because if it gets out what she is doing, she could potentially lose her job, lose her medical license, and receive harsh punishment. As I read through the book, I got to see Kay Scarpetta’s character change because, in the beginning, she was all sad and lonely due to losing her husband, but now she has a spark in her that craves for adventure and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. Instead of living in a world with regulations and rules, she’s getting a taste of what it’s like to break those norms and to follow her curiosity. This may lead her to be cautious, but her determination is overpowering her to figure out the back story behind the body, and when she’s well dedicated to something, she isn’t just going to stop and leave it be. She wants to get to the bottom in order to find closure on the case. While Pete Marino is mentioned in the book, his character stayed the same, stubborn, throughout the book. He did play a major role in working with Scarpetta because as a cop he had more access to certain databases than she might since she is only a medical examiner. In the book, he also helped her create theories and different perspectives that eventually led to new discoveries. Together as a team, they were able to figure out more with the body, and found new evidence on the body. In reading this book, there was a lot going on, but in a good way because there was so much suspense, and Patricia Cornwell gave it to you a little bit at a time. I think she did this because it would allow the reader to be able to process what was going on while keeping the reader hooked onto more suspense. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy thrillers, suspense, and crime because the author did an amazing job of tying all three of those categories.

 

The Big Questions

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“Where you going to college?” What are you majoring in college?” Sound familiar, they should. As a senior, these two questions are asked frequently by our relatives, especially during holidays and family dinners. Usually, I am unable to answer this question because I am very indecisive, especially when it comes to my future. This time, though, I was finally able to answer these two questions, and for certain family members that know me, they were pretty shocked that I had answers. For the question “where are you going to college?”, I have narrowed it down to only two options, University of Cincinnati and University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

I have already gotten accepted into the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Now I wait for my acceptance letter from University of Cincinnati, which the release date on January 17th and 5:30 pm. I have already visited University of Cincinnati and loved the city and school, but still have to visit the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Now even though I haven’t visited that school I have a feeling that I will like the school because one of my close friends is currently enrolled at the school, and says that he loves it there. He also brought up examples as to why this school is for me, and just hearing that made me excited to go there. I also had a sibling go there, and he said that my personality would fit in at a school like Nebraska. With having a sibling that went there, my parents also liked it and stated how it has a nice campus, and that it isn’t just corn fields there. There are many activities for me to get involved in there. Another good things with these schools is that they are ranked to be good criminology/criminal justice department. This moves onto the second question of “what are you majoring in college?”. When asked this question, I actually want to go for two majors and maybe one minor, but that all depends on if I am committed enough. My first major would be criminology/criminal justice. I have always shown an interest in this area because crimes pull my attention immediately. I always want to know more about them, and see how they are solved. I’m interested in the evidence that is gathered, and then the different type of testing they do on certain evidence. That goes a little bit into forensics, which then leads me to one of my minor choices. I have always sparked an interest in forensics because I find it remarkable how machines are able to gather small particles off of evidence and be able to trace different information from that piece of evidence. It’s just insane on how we have the technology to do that, and how technology over the years has progressed to give us better information. Another minor that is similar to forensics, but it slightly different is forensic accounting. This is where you trace money from all over the place and watch where money moves when a card or transaction is used. I didn’t know this was a thing until recently, and as soon as I heard it, I immediately was pulled by what it is. I thought that was so cool to follow the money trails and see where it all ends up. That to me sounded so interesting because you get to see different ways from different criminals and kind of get a sense of who they are financially. Lastly is my second major, which is accounting. Accounting, although seems unrelated to the criminal justice world, is actually a key things to know and understand. Most FBI agents have a major in some sort of business degree because they have to take into account different motives. This degree would help in the field because when it comes to breaking down a crime scene, one must look from different aspects because many things could be thrown into the equation, and you need to be ready to come up with a hypothesis. When I told my family members, the answers I just talked about, many of them were impressed because most people hear the generic “oh I don’t know”. With having answered those two questions, as a senior, it puts me more at ease because at least I have somewhat of a plan.

California School Shooting

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Unfortunately, we are starting to live in a world where school shootings are increasing. A recent school shooting happened in Santa Clarita, California on November 14th, 2019. A 16 year old student shot up the school, killing two students, injuring three more students, and lastly shooting himself, but not killing himself. All this happened in less than 16 seconds. After this tragedy, there are several investigators that are trying to figure out the why aspect of his shooting rampage. The investigators don’t know how he got a hold of a .45 caliber or why he chose to do it on his 16th birthday. Within reading more on it, several of his former students said that he was a “normal” teenager and was never bullied. The investigators also came upon find a post on social media that was put under a fake account that said’ “Saugus, have fun at school tomorrow”. This lead them to further believe that the teenage shooter was the one that posted it, but they aren’t sure as to why it was never reported. They also looked into his family history, but what they found wasn’t completely concerning. In 2015 the shooter’s father had been arrested for domestic dispute with his mother, yet no charges were filed. Then two years later his father passed away, and on his online obituary it stated that he was a hunter. That was the only evidence they had on gun use within that family, but it wasn’t enough evidence for the motive on the why, so the question still remains unanswered. It’s hard for many of us to understand the “why”, and sadly many people, living in Santa Clarita,  will not get closure on that part because the suspect died a couple of days ago. 

https://abc7.com/suspect-in-shooting-rampage-at-saugus-high-school-has-died/5699170/

Whether we want to admit to it or not, school shootings are increasing to the point where schools are adding new techniques to our protocols. ALICE training is one of the new techniques being added to our lock down. ALICE training was created to help student and faculty safety for when there is an active shooter in the school. ALICE has been said to be highly effective and hopefully will hopefully reduce the number of kills/injured. 

Criminal Minds

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I have recently started watching a tv series on Netflix called Criminal Minds. I started to watch this TV show because I love to watch crime shows, and one of my good friends told me about this show. I am only several episodes into this series, so I am still unsure on whether or not I like it. For me, it takes a few seasons to know if I want to continue the series because typically the first two to three seasons are the determining factors. The reason being is because typically the first two to three seasons are known to be the best seasons, and if I don’t like those seasons, then I feel like the rest of the series is going to be just as boring and lacking as the beginning ones. Even though some may hate repetition when watching a tv show, especially when talking about crime shows, it’s a little bit different than the other shows because it’s a different department in the justice department with different techniques. Criminal Minds characters are apart of the BAU, Behavioral Analysis Unit, which means when there is a crime they use psychology and sociology to help figure out the suspect. They ask the questions “why or what” more often because they are trying to figure out how the person works mentally. They try to break apart one’s life to understand the motive and who the killer might be. I thought that was pretty unique because it’s interesting to see how people can take apart a person’s life by just looking at the crime scene. I had never realized that a crime scene could tell someone so much about another person. The way a person kills can help give an idea of what their past is because the crime scene is broken down into several different parts. It just amazes me that people are able to get inside the mind of how a killer might feel or act. Now talking a little bit on the main characters. Currently there is a group of main characters; these FBI agents are Aaron Hotchner, Jason Gideon, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, Jennifer Jareau, and a technical analyst named Penelope Garcia. Jason Gideon is a retired agent, but he was recently asked to come back to the BAU to help  Aaron Hotchner and his team. Spencer Reid is extremely smart in the sense that he can read faster than most people, has great memory, and thinks at a faster rate than most. Another character that I haven’t mentioned yet is Derek Morgan who has been apart of Aaron Hotchner’s team the longest and works side by side with Aaron Hotcher. Jennifer Jareau is in charge of talking to the public on what is going on whenever there is press at the crime scene. And lastly, Penelope Garcia is their technical analyst, which basically means she does everything and anything when it comes to computers. She tracks down money, background checks on people, and locations when she is needed. Within the show, the FBI agents work more together on coming up with ideas about the suspect, while Penelope Garcia, as mentioned before, works on the personal backgrounds to target certain people that fit the category given to her by the agents. As I start to get deeper within the other seasons, I am hoping that it will keep me entertained with good storylines and new scenarios.

Standardized Testing Becoming Optional

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The alarm on your phone goes off at 7am, and your sluggish body must get up and get ready for the long hours ahead of you. You make sure you get a good breakfast in, and immediately are on you way to school, but this time it’s different because all you need are number two pencils, calculator, and your admission ticket. Once you get there, you are told your room number and head into the room that you will be in for the next four to five hours. The teacher in the room passes out a scantron booklet and a booklet to you. Once everyone has one, the teacher then tells you that you have a certain amount of time to complete the section, and then it’s go time. Standardized testing has been around since the late 50s and is still used today for college purposes. Most colleges, if not all, have required either the SAT or ACT in order to get into their school, but there are some college cases where they don’t require either of the tests because they realize that this 4-5 hour testing doesn’t really show your ability in intelligence, let alone your characteristics. 

As a highschool student, juniors and seniors are required to take the ACT or SAT for college admissions. With that, many schools have ACT or SAT standards in order to get into their schools. Now while I get why they have these standards, I believe that the ACT and SAT should be optional. The reason being is because if you are like me, you tend to struggle with these standardized testings. I, personally, have never scored well on the ACT, and I studied everyday at the library for at least an hour and a half until test day. The first time I took the ACT, I got a 21 as  my composite score, and that hit me hard because all the schools that I wanted to go to required a higher score. With that initial score, I tried to do something different and decided to get two tutors; one for math and one for english, reading, and science. I met these tutors once a week and was given packets for homework, and on top of that, I was using my ACT book. I, again, had invested so many hours into studying for my next upcoming ACT test. Come test day, I make sure I have breakfast and get ready to leave for Wheaton Warrenville South High School. After five hours of testing, I leave that place with a sense of confidence that I did well on my ACT. A few weeks later, my testing scores were out, and my initial thought was that I was going to get a good score back. I thought, for sure, I had scored a high twenty/low thirty, but as soon as I saw my scores, I actually did the opposite and scored an overall 23. I was so infuriated because I had put so many hours into studying and saw two tutors, and I got nothing good out of either of them. It angered me because my ACT score did not reflect my intelligence. The testing started to make me underestimate myself because I felt like my college choices wouldn’t want me due to my score. At this point, I didn’t want to retake the test because I thought to myself “what was the point of taking it if I’m not going to do well on it?” I started to question my intelligence because the schools weren’t really going to see how good of a student I was due to a poor composite grade. As you can see, standardized testing can undermine one’s confidence, especially if they are a good student. It makes a high achiever student think lesser of themselves, which then causes problems in their work ethic and confidence. 

During junior year, parents and the school make the ACT or SAT seem like a huge deal because this test is one of the main factors when admitting students into colleges. Many colleges base their decisions off of these testing, which in my opinion is naive of them because these tests aren’t even testing your true intelligence. These tests are only testing what you know in a time span of four hours not four years. I believe that your high school GPA says more about you than your ACT or SAT scores. In a study done by Matthew Chingo, he found out that those with a higher GPA had a better chance of graduating college. For example, a student with a high SAT score but a somewhat low GPA only had a thirty nine percent chance of graduating, but a student with a high GPA and a low SAT score had a sixty two percent chance of graduating from college. The reason being is because standardized testing only tests to see if you are a good test taker, while your GPA gives the college a sense of what you are like in a classroom environment. Your GPA shows your ability of thinking critically, attaining goals, dedication, and perseverance. I’m sure other students would agree with this because I’m guessing if you gathered a group of highschoolers and you asked if they had a good GPA but a low SAT or ACT test scores, there would definitely be a few or more hands raised. As much as I would hate to admit it, I, too, fall under that category, and let me tell you, I am a hard worker, but for some reason, I am not a good test taker when talking about the ACT or SAT. With this being a common issue within our generation, I think colleges should take into account that your “smart” kids aren’t always going to test well, especially in a tight time span. They need to realize that the GPA gives a better depiction of a student than the standardized tests because the GPA is over a span of four years, while the tests only last four or five hours. 

After several years, there have been reports of schools who have a ‘No ACT/SAT policy”. With that, they want to focus more on you as a person because they believe a test score shouldn’t define you. One school who has taken this action is Hampshire College, and when they did, they raised the standards for applications. As a result, the college received quality rather than quantity because the applicants were more motivated, mature, and disciplined. Hampshire College, also, had an increase of thirty one percent in class diversity because they wanted to know who you are as a person and not a test score. With this increase, the diversity was able to enrich the educational experience more than most schools. A school should always have a high percentage of diversity because others experiences and views can promote a healthy society and personal growth. Another school that followed roughly the same path with the exception of making SAT or ACT optional was the University of Chicago. This school, similarly to Hampshire College, believed that test scores shouldn’t define who you are. This university wanted to give all ethnicity groups a fair opportunity in applying. The reason being is because not everyone has access or the money to receive help from SAT or ACT tutors or classes. Even though both standardized tests try to make it fair for all groups, there is still a disadvantaged for lower income families which are the resources to get help. With an optional test policy, both colleges were able to get a better grip on a student’s likelihood for success because they focused more on the GPA and the essays that shed light on who the student was as a person.

While this might take years for all universities to have an optional testing policy, I believe that the schools should focus more on the essays, recommendations, and GPA with an additional piece added to the equation. This new piece would be a test, but instead of measuring your “intelligence”, it would give the school a better understanding of who you are and your characteristics. With this additional test, it would allow the schools to see what type of people are applying to their school because when colleges are looking at you, they are more interested in the type of student you are hence why many colleges require a letter of recommendation and GPA. The colleges want to see if you are a perfect match for their school because each school holds different standards for their students in order to assure success. Colleges want to help you succeed, and with a personal test, they can get a better more realistic picture of who you are. As briefly mentioned, a letter of recommendation should be required because it gives the college a different view of how others perceive a student when in a classroom environment, especially since teachers are the ones who have first hand experience with students. If you think about it, most college’s admission staff don’t personally meet a student face to face, it’s all done through a computer, but with the help of a letter of recommendation from a teacher, it gives the admission staff a better understanding of a students behavior and personality. 

As hard as it is to get rid of SAT/ACT completely, if schools made it optional to high school students, they would be able to focus more on you as a person. The reason being is because these standardized test scores make you into a number of false intelligence rather than your true intelligence and characteristics.There is more to you than just a test score number.. Plus, there are a handful of highschoolers, similar to me, that have a high GPA, yet don’t do well on standardized testing even though they put in the extra work to do well on the test. Then when it’s time for colleges to look at your application, you might be turned down because of one thing, your score. That to me seems unfair because the ACT or SAT don’t determine who you are; that comes through your high school GPA, college essay, and/or letter of recommendation. There are some colleges who are starting to realize this, which is why they have a no ACT/SAT policy or optional testing policy. With more schools becoming like this, they are upping their standards for admission, which is ultimately showing them the characteristics of different students because of the quality applications they receive each year.

College decisions

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Recently, I have just about finished my college applications to all my schools. As I started to think about my college choices for when I get accepted, I came upon the thought that the schools in Ohio are the ones that I for sure want to get into. The two schools that I applied to in Ohio are The Ohio State University and University of Cincinnati. 

I can’t really explain what this feeling is and as to why Ohio because many people when they think of Ohio they have the same reaction as if someone had said Illinois or Indiana. The reaction is that these states are boring and there’s not much in these states, but for some odd reason, something is pulling me to Ohio. I feel like there’s something in Ohio that is waiting for me to explore/discover. With this feeling, I know that maybe I can improve and get the degree that I want with no hesitation on my part. Maybe there are opportunities there that will help my get to my career goal, but I won’t know until I go there. I will get a better sense and hopefully more reassurance when I go to visit these schools. I am visiting University of Cincinnati this coming Monday, and I am excited to see if this is going to be my school for the next four years. They are known to have a great criminal justice program, which has ties with many of the federal agencies. With these federal ties, the school might have more to offer with better education and hands on experience. In November, I will be visiting The Ohio State University to get a feel on which school I like better, assuming that I get into either of the schools. The Ohio State is also known for their criminal justice program, and offers didn’t pathways within this degree, which could open more doors for me. Each school has very good intentions for me, which is very reassuring because my career is what matters to me most since I want to start working in my field right away.

 Another thing about Ohio is that I have family out there. My uncle is a professor at The Ohio State University, and his family lives nearby, which would be a huge plus because then I will still have people that I can go too if I ever need anything. Also, my favorite cousin, who is a year younger than me, is closeby, so I can talk to her whenever because we don’t really see each other that often since we live in different states. I trust Olivia with everything and anything, and oftentimes, I am either texting or facetiming her. She helps me with a lot of personal things and gives me great advice, which can be harsh at times, but it’s good to hear the truth than hearing generic advice. With having her close by, I can then stop by to talk to her, and we can go out more. 

With these factors, I feel like my decision making for what college is a lot easier because I have never had this strong of a gut feeling for anything. This is a huge thing for me because I’m usually the type of person who second guesses my decisions and has trouble making a decision. With choosing a college in Ohio, I know that I will feel right at home there for my next four years.

Is Amazon becoming too powerful?

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Think about the last time you ordered something online, chances are it came from an Amazon warehouse. This multi-billion dollar company is dominating the online sales world, but are they becoming too much of business power house? Amazon was founded in 1994 by a man named Jeff Bezos, but popularity for this company didn’t happen right away. It took many years for the company to build up to where it is now and because of that it has opened many departments. 

As the years went on, Amazon continued to grow and out bought many of the companies. Amazon is one of the most widely used companies because it caters to almost if not all of our needs. According to CNBC, as of July 2018, Amazon was ranked number one for retail ecommerce sales with a percentage of 49.1. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/12/amazon-to-take-almost-50-percent-of-us-e-commerce-market-by-years-end.html With this percentage, you can see how much Amazon is used because it dominates the eCommerce market when compared to its “competitors”. No other company even came close to Amazon’s percentage of retail eCommerce sales. This shows how convenient Amazon is to the average person nowadays because many people would rather order online with a fast shipping date than go to a store or use a different company that has a longer shipping date.

 

Everyone if not almost everyone uses Amazon. I as well fall under that category of Amazon users because my family uses Amazon for almost everything. Amazon has proven to be more efficient for my family because many of us are involved in activities, and with the help of Amazon, we can order anything off of their app with just one click of a button. Amazon caters to almost all of our needs such as auto parts, technology, movies, food, toys, etc. The food aspect was recently added a few years ago to Amazon because Amazon bought Whole Foods. That was a huge thing for my family because sometimes my mom would get sick or was too busy to go to the store, so she would order off of Amazon, and a few hours later it would show up at our door well packaged. Amazon is also how my dad orders gifts for Christmas or birthdays because it’s less time consuming and shipment is a lot faster than most companies. With loyal customers like my family, Amazon starts to get more powerful because eventually it will start to open up new departments online, which unfortunately will force other competitors to go out of business.

With being as big as Amazon is, this company is able to outlast any competitor in a new industry because they have the resources and money to do so. In an article called “Amazon too powerful?” by Joe Harker, he states “They report that what makes Amazon so threatening to other companies when it enters a new industry is its use of data analytics, they know where you live, what shows you watch and what you buy. Having access to this allows them to understand a customer base better than their competitors and present themselves as a convenient and reliable option.” http://www.perspecsnews.com/read/business/amazon-too-powerful/r1gJvxVs2z/rkgkyx66nG By stating this, you can see that Amazon can beat any company since they are able to sell the same product but for a cheaper price and a faster ship date. Amazon also has useful resources to them such as data analytics, which is a huge advantage because they are able to use that information to get the buyers attention causing the customer to keep adding things into their cart. With an advantage as big as that, Amazon is able to keep their customers because the company can show the person alternative options that are similar to their recent purchase. This will eventually cause Amazon to dominate in that industry out-beating all the “competitors” it had in the beginning. 

While Amazon seems to be getting more powerful, there are some who believe it is becoming less relevant to our society. In an article from Fast Company, Cale Guthrie Weissman stated, “Jennings points to numerous tweets–most of whom come from the loud but incestuous media twitter circle–of popular accounts imploring their followers to break ties with the company. (A search of Google Trends for the search query “cancel Amazon Prime” shows a spike last December, followed by a steady decline.” https://www.fastcompany.com/90272794/bezos-backlash-why-people-are-canceling-amazon-prime-memberships By quoting this, the author is letting it be known that Amazon, who thought they dominated the industry, started to show signs of declining in sales. The reason being was because at the end of Black Friday and Cyber-Monday, Amazon showed a visual of their profits from just those days in order to show their dominance in the business world. Once people started to see their post on their profits, many wanted to cancel their memberships with Amazon and started supporting small companies. Amazon’s competitors even started to openly discourage customers from using Amazon. This caused a huge controversy for Amazon because they lost a lot of business, and unfortunately, the company did take an economic hit from the strike.

As Amazon continues to grow, it will gain more and more power through the business industry. This company is also able to grow due to its loyal customers because Amazon can satisfy the public with reasonable prices and fast shipping. There are some who may disagree that Amazon is becoming powerful, but their evidence isn’t enough to back up that theory due to the fact that the Amazon incident took place during a small span. Amazon will continue to dominate its competitors due to the money and resources it has access to, and because of this, Amazon will gain more power over newer companies and remain the powerhouse for online shopping. 

About Me

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My name is Bella Gehrs and I am the third oldest out of seven children. I have five brothers and one sister. I am closest with my 2nd oldest brother, Daniel, because we are very similar in humor and personality. My siblings ages range from 4-23 years old. With a big family, I am constantly moving because I have to drive my siblings to their sports and other activities and do pickups for my parents.  Continue reading About Me