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Message: We think that the message should be that smoking is affecting many teens worldwide. People get addicted to cigarettes because of nicotine, a chemical in tobacco that makes your brain get used to it. Smoking teens try their first cigarette when they are in sixth or seventh grade. They usually have bad school performance, become isolated from their friends, have anxiety, have problems with concentration and focusing on schoolwork, etc. Smoking not only affects people that smoke directly, but second-hand smoking is a big issue too. Smoking gases affect the persons near the actual smoker, causing asthma and other respiratory problems. Although some cigarette companies are making campaigns, conventions in schools, putting banners in cigarette boxes, and more, still many teenagers try it, which causes many problems on the lives of teens.
How we will do it: The documentary should include many pictures that have a big impact on people. For example, we could use pictures of damaged body parts thanks to smoking or such. Also we could give some information that a normal person wouldn't know, such as statistics, graphs, or other things like that. The first part of the documentary could be like an introduction to the topic, here we could include a poem Aron wrote about addiction (posting soon here). A good idea would be to summarize the information we are giving so people get a good idea of what the documentary and also they would like to know what's coming after. The second part would include all the graphs and statistics because that's where we could include all the detailed and important main info. Finally, the third part could be the conclusion, with a 'Message' poem that Mr. R's class is writing, this shold have the biggest impact upo the reader. We could use some closing pictures and include the final message.
That's our idea on how the documentary should be like! Does anybody have any suggestions or comments?
Introduction
For the Teen Life Project I decided to focus on smoking, I look for information at Wikipedia. Smoking tobacco is inhaling smoke coming from the burned tobacco leaves. Some people smoke as an addiction, a ritualistic-purpose, to calm nerves or stress, or for pleasure. History tells that smoking came from the Native Americans and then expanded worldwide. Tobacco contains nicotine, a substance that people get addict with and for a short period it can increase alertness, memory, and mood. Nicotine can also increase anxiety and restlessness. Smoking is a huge way of increasing health problems, it can give cancer in different parts of the body like the tongue, the heart, blood, specially the lungs, and it can also give heart attacks and diseases.
Tobacco can affect people in body functions, physically and mentally, and in genetics. Tobacco can prevent oxygen going into the fetus and creating premature death, blood flow in the placenta is also reduced. When pregnant moms inhale smoke, babies can be born with a higher possibility of mental retardation. Smoking also increases the possibility of a heart attack, pulmonary diseases, and cancer. Studies have said that the amount and the time you smoke can vary the possibilities of getting a disease, the less tobacco you consume, the less the probability of problems. People who smoke prefer enjoying a cigar than caring for their health. Some people think that smoking calm their nerves and reduce stress, other people, especially teenagers, start smoking because their “friends” tell them it is cool.
Smoking cigars are not the only ways people can inhale tobacco, second-hand smoking also affects people beside a person who has a cigar. Second-hand smoking can cause asthma and the already mentioned cancers, ear infections, and sudden infant death. The addictive substance of nicotine is very difficult to leave because once you take it; it replaces some chemicals in the brain that if you try to leave tobacco your body parts feel strange so leaving smoke is difficult. Experts have also proved that smoking causes depression after the effects of cigars have passed.
I think that smoking has affected many people in the world. Nicotine is a very damaging substance even though it isn’t as dangerous as cocaine, crack, and other harmful drugs. I think that smoking has so many bad diseases that I can’t get an idea on why people has to smoke if they are risking their life and other people’s life in such a harmful way, don’t they feel ashamed of themselves? One of the things I mostly dislike from smoking are the people who smoke in public places and damage the air and the people nearby with such a useless and dangerous material. Another thing I don’t understand is why does people sell cigars if they know how much danger they cause?
What are People Doing to Prevent Smoking?
Now I’m expanding my knowledge about smoking, and as I told you, I will talk about what people is doing to stop or prevent others from smoking. My resource to answer my questions was at Wikipedia.
In some countries, some treaties are being sign. An example can be the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; it did a great work to prevent smoking. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control prevents people from smoking at indoor public places, some outdoor public places, public transport, and other public places; this will prevent to reduce the amounts of secondhand smokers. Some countries made illegal the sale of tobacco to underage boys, the minimum age is 16; other countries prevent the sale to under 18 and in 4 states in the United States, you must be 19 or older.
Cigarettes now have a high taxation to prevent people buying them. The taxes collected by boxes are used in prevention programs. The high taxation has made the people to decrease or sometimes leave smoking, due to the cost of a single package. In the United States, taxation can vary from place to place, some taxes are very low, but others might be high. For example, in South Carolina the taxes for a cigarette are 7 cents, while in New York the box can cost 7 dollars.
Some countries have different methods to prevent people from smoke; some boxes say the risks of smoking. In Canada, boxes include a card that tells how to quit smoking, there are 16 different cards. Also, in Canada and other countries, one-third of the box is covered by graphs, television ads, and pictures of people at the hospital. All these advertises have decreased the amount of smokers in a reasonably way, but there are still a lot of people to help.
Many things have been done to prevent smoking; these have made a lot of people who smoke to leave it. I think that the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control did a great job on eliminating smoke at public places; a lot of people were affected by secondhand smoking and now they can be relaxed in not putting their health in danger. From the high taxes, I think it has some advantages but disadvantages too. High taxes reduce the amount of people who smoke because of the high price, but I think that since nicotine is a very addictive chemical, it can make a lot of people to waste a great amount of their money in a box of cigars. I like the idea of the pictures and cards in the cigarette’s boxes, it isn’t very nice to see, but it makes a lot of people not to smoke.
They should just stop selling smokes everywhere. It is really bad for kids and adults. It can harm them in many ways and can also harm un-born babies. People should not be able to get weed, cocaine or anything. All that should be stopped. Too many people die a year from all that stuff and there shouldn't be such things. You also shouldn't be able to make crystal myth from rubbing alcohols or anything! All this is bad and I don't know how people come up with these kinds of things.
And if you smoke, why? Ask yourself that and see what happens to you in the next year, you won't be good at running or anything. Many different changes will be happening to you and also ask yourself why you even started. Just trying to make you get attention and stick out, it’s not going to happen. Lots of students drop out because of this and lots don't like it. So why even bother starting.
Facts about Teen Smoking:
They tried their first cigarette in sixth or seventh grade.
They often do not perform well in school
They feel like they are not a part of the school
They become isolated from other students
They can’t perform as well at sports events
They feel like they have little hope of going to college
They feel like they need a job to support their smoking habit
They are reported to school officials for skipping classes
They start using other illegal substances
They begin experimenting with alcohol and other drugs
They experience pressure from home and school and use tobacco as a form of relief
Teen smokers enjoy trying to hide their smoking
About 3,900 teens under 18 start smoking each day.
Of the 3,900 teens that start smoking each day - 1500 will become regular smokers.
Those who smoke often have secondary behavioral issues such as violence, drug/alcohol use, and high-risk sexual behavior.
We are finding out that about 80% of adult smokers started smoking as teenagers.
They start to loose weight.
Teen smokers seem to be more emotional.
Blood pressure rises.
In 2001 about 28% of teens stopped smoking. Reasons are as followed:
The increase of cost in the retail price of cigarettes has gone up 70%
The schools have implemented efforts to fight the use of teen smoking.
There is an increase in youth exposure to both state and national mass media campaigns.
The truth on the effects of nicotine that are in tobacco products.
Tobacco and Athletic Performance
·Don’t get trapped. Nicotine in cigarettes, cigars, and spit tobacco is addictive.
·Nicotine narrows your blood vessels and puts added strain on your heart.
·Smoking can wreck lungs and reduce oxygen available for muscles used during sports.
·Smokers suffer shortness of breath (gasp!) almost 3 times more often than nonsmokers.
·Smokers run slower and can’t run as far, affecting overall athletic performance.
·Cigars and spit tobacco are NOT safe alternatives.
Tobacco and Personal Appearance
·Yuck! Tobacco smoke can make hair and clothes stink.
·Tobacco stains teeth and causes bad breath.
·Short-term use of spit tobacco can cause cracked lips, white spots, sores, and bleeding in the mouth.
·Surgery to remove oral cancers caused by tobacco use can lead to serious changes in the face. Sean Marcee, a high school star athlete who used spit tobacco, died of oral cancer when he was 19 years old.
Hey, I'm Aron, I'm doing the photography and the poems, please comment! I took some photos, don't really know which ones are good. Basically, I think we should keep the more blurred ones, as they go well with my poem.
Smoke
Clouds of smoke…
…drifting…
… drifting…
…wafting this way and that…
A shaft of light strikes the air, giving it an unnatural appearance,
A ghostly pale…highlighted by tendrils of light…
A slow breeze is gathering,
And pressure is building…
A rasped breathing reaches to the air,
Clinging to it for survival,
But the smoke is powerful…
The breathing becomes slow,
Ragged—weak,
Ragged….
Darkness creeps in unwanted,
Slowly seeping through gaps and hollows,
And gradually—almost imperceptibly—the breathing slows,
And thud of the heart-beat is all but gone,
But the smoke is far from vanquished…
It burns the mind
Ever burning…
Burning—until the body relinquishes its grasp
Hey Aron, this is Toni. I think you did a great job on the poem I really like it. When I herd that you guys would be writing poems I thought it was a cool idea but I thought it was going to be really hard to write poem on these topics, but you guys have done a great job! I like the pictures you took. Some of my favorites are the ones of the cigarette and the ashtray together. I like how in some of them you show the ashes. Well you have done a great job on the poem and pictures! I hope all goes well when the video gets sent. I am looking for a few songs to put in the video when I find a few that I think will fit I will post some links, and maybe you can let me know what you think!
-Toni
Thanks! It really was hard....
I have two more poems written, one is going through editing at the moment and the other is here. This could be one of the first ones, I guess, not really saying anything just grabbing the readers attention--like an introduction! It's really dramatic, sort of to be read slowly, with huge pauses.
Addiction…
A young girl…trembling in a corner
Clutching her teary face in her hands
Clawing at the walls with her yellow, bitten nails
Screaming….screaming at her prison
A young girl…locked in a prison of the mind
And yet there is no escape
No way, not unless she sees it
Sees the prison she has built
A young girl…muttering to herself
Muttering to herself about love
No-one understand
No-one matters
A young girl…
Wondering…
Whispering…
Waiting…
A young girl…
Lurking in the shadows
Calling out
Ignored
A young girl…
Grasping a packet with desperate fingers
Tearing it open urgently
Bliss
Hey Aron! It's Toni again. I Just read your second poem and I think it's great. It is my favorite one. I have been listening to a few songs and I have found a few that I thought would go good with our video. Please give your opinion on each song and let me know which one you think fits best.
-Toni
Hi Aron! I read both of your poems and I think they're really great! I also like both of the songs, they look pretty cool. The second poem is my favorite, but the first one is pretty good too, and the pictures just rock! Great work!
-Paula
Hey Aron! I like both of the poems. You did a great job on them. I really like the first one though and some of the pictures. Yeah and I will have a list of a few songs to.
Hey, Thanks for all your comments, I don't have time to check the songs atm (school) but I'll do it after school, also I think we should think about what form we are presenting: is it going to be a .ppt presentation? Has this been decided?
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