What is your favorite genre of music, and why?

My favorite music would have to be Country, Rap, Acoustic rock, Christian music, and all other types of
music. The only reason I listen to all these types are rap is to pump me up, acoustic rock is when I’m in a
mellow mood, country is when I feel a little sad . But one of my favorite bands right now would be Rocket
to the Moon and A Day to Remember. From country it would have to be Jason Aldean and other country
singers. Rap it would be Wiz Kalifha, a little of Mac Miller.
Lulu Gutierrez, Weslaco East High School
Teacher: Minerva Hinojosa

The genre of my favorite music is a lot. It’s a rapper who took it to the top, but this year he didn’t win a
Grammy award in the music awards. He is a trip for real no lie, but then he’s a good singer. He was in the
singing group for like two years and has made over a million songs already and like 4 albums and he is a
flow master I think who ever reads this should check him out a YouTube and its young money boy.
Christopher Garcia, Weslaco East High School
Teacher: Minerva Hinojosa

I don’t really have a favorite type of music. If a song comes out on the radio and it catches my attention, I
find out the name and the artist or group who sings it and I then download it off of iTunes and put it in my
iPod. Eventually these songs of different genres become what I listen to on my spare time.
Stephanie Villarreal, Weslaco East High School
Teacher: Minerva Hinojosa

My favorite genre of music is rock because it fits me and when I listen to it I feel good and relaxed; it’s just
my type of music. Don’t get me wrong other types of music are good as well but, I like rock a lot more then
any other type. It chills me out and I can jam to it!
Elias Urbina, Weslaco East High School
Teacher: Minerva Hinojosa

My favorite genre in music is country music, because the singers express their feelings. Country music is
different because the entire singer’s relate to their child hood. They also relate to their family members.
They also relate to Iraq and how family members react when they’ve been told that their love ones aren’t
coming back home. They express their love life’s and make you think about “falling in love” at such a
young age. They make you realize that life can be too short so why waste it on being tied down to just one
person.
Ruby Garcia, Weslaco East High School
Teacher: Minerva Hinojosa

I value music and friends most in life, because with music, it helps a lot of us through things in life and it
gives us
My favorite genre of music is mainly rap. I love to listen to rap music because it makes me feel like I can
face any challenges that I have. But I also listen to sad love songs when I’m feeling down because it makes
me see what the artist wrote the song about and why. Rap music is okay to listen to it’s just all the bad
word’s that makes kid’s parents hate it. To me it don’t matter what type of music I listen to as long as I’m
satisfied with the artist and the song that’s all that matters to me. I mainly listen to rap and my friends
that know what I listen to think I’m ghetto but I’m not; it don’t matter what type of music you listen to.
Katherine Cottongim, Weslaco East High School
Teacher: Minerva Hinojosa

My favorite music is all kinds. I love music and its got to be in us because I use it so we can relax. When
we’re mad I hear music and it calms me down. Or if you just want to listen to music for the fun its all good.
Many people relax just listening to music once in a while because they just want to chill. When you are
frustrated sometimes music changes your mood. That’s why I think music is a big roll in my life.
Jesus Martinez, Weslaco East High School
Teacher: Minerva Hinojosa

Listening to music makes us feel good, and has myriads of benefits.

One of the easiest ways to improve your life is to add more music to it. When you listen to music, your
brain releases the “pleasure chemical” dopamine. This is one of the reasons why music has played such an
important role in societies throughout history. It’s also why people often list music as one of the top five
things that is most pleasurable to them.
Music has many benefits in addition to releasing feel-good hormones. Here are some of them:
 It reduces stress and lowers anxiety.
 It can bring us back to the present moment. That is, it makes us mindful which is one of the keys
to happiness.
 It increases motivation.
 Listening to music can help reduce pain.
 Research shows that people who combine music with a healthy diet and exercise get better
results in achieving wellness.
However, with our busy lives, listening to music is often something that gets pushed to the side. The good
news is, there are ways we can incorporate more music into our lives.

Below you’ll find 12 easy ways to bring more music into your life.

1. Wake Up to Music.
One of the keys to becoming an early riser is to make waking up in the morning as painless as possible.
And one way to achieve this is to wake up to music. Luckily, there are apps for that.

Some apps, such as the Alarm Clock Xtreme app, let you choose any music as your alarm tone. The volume
slowly increases until you have no option but to get up (or wake up your entire household). If you’re not
sure what song to choose for your morning alarm, here are three options:
 Grieg’s “Morning” from Peer Gynt
 “Morning Has Broken” by Cat Stevens
 “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong
2. Integrate Music Into Your Morning Routine.
Evan Carmichael—founder of Evan Carmichael Communications Group–explains that turning on music is
part of his morning routine. The music gives him energy which he’s going to need to fulfill his mission of
making the world a better place. Carmichael has a playlist consisting of about 20 songs which he calls
“The Believe Playlist” which he plays in the mornings.
In addition, as I write in my “30 Time Saving Hacks, Strategies, and Techniques” post, time yourself as you
get ready in the morning by making a playlist of songs that you like and using the songs as a timer. Here
are two examples:
 Give yourself one song to brush your teeth and scrape your tongue.
 Give yourself one song to make coffee and prepare breakfast.
3. Play Music During Your Commute.
For a lot of people, their daily commute is one of the biggest energy and happiness drains of their day. In
fact, studies show that cutting out an hour-long commute each way gives people the happiness equivalent
of making an extra $40,000 a year. It would stand to reason that making your commute more pleasant will
go a long way toward making you happier.
Although you may feel that you have to be productive during your commute and get some work done,
given how destructive your commute can be to your well-being, it’s probably a better strategy to do
something you enjoy during that time.

A great idea is to use your commute to listen to music that you love. After all, there’s research that
shows that listening to music increases happiness. Having a more positive commute will help you to be
more productive, and put you in a better mood, for the rest of the day.
4. Make Routine Chores Fun With Music.
Most people hate routine household chores, such as cleaning, folding laundry, and putting away the
groceries. Therefore, they tend to procrastinate on doing these things. In my post, “Stop Procrastinating
By Making It Fun”, I explain that when a task bores you to tears, one way to get yourself to carry out the
task is to ask yourself how you can make it more fun.
One way to make routine chores fun–or at least more fun– is to turn on some music. In fact, you can select
a few songs that you love and tell yourself that you can only listen to them as you clean the kitchen. You’ll
probably end up having a kitchen that’s so clean, you could eat off the floor.

5. Play Music As You Exercise.

Studies have shown that listening to music while you exercise does all of the following:
 It distracts you from the physical discomfort of exercising.
 It makes you less aware of your exertion.
 Songs between 120 and 140 beats per minute (bpm) make you work out harder.
If you don’t know the BPM of a song, look it up online. You can use the site Song BPM.
6. Play Music at Work.
Listening to music at work increases accuracy and speed. However, the kind of music that should listen to
depends on the type of work that you’re doing.
 If your work involves numbers or attention to detail, listen to classical music.
 Listen to pop music if your work involves data entry.
 If your work involves solving equations, listen to ambient music.
 If you need to problem-solve at work, listen to dance music.
7. Take Music Breaks
As I explain in my post, “25 Ways to Have Fun at Work”, most people need an energy boost in the
afternoon. Why not do as Microsoft does? They blast music at three o’clock when everyone’s energy is
starting to slump. Some people get up and dance, and everyone claps when the song is over.
Convince your boss that this is a good way to raise morale and foster camaraderie in the office.

If you work at home, give yourself music breaks. For every 50 minutes of work, get up, turn on some
music, and dance around for ten minutes. You’ll be getting a mini-workout and you’ll be giving yourself an
energy and mood boost.

8. Listen to Music Before Bed.

Studies show that songs with a slow tempo can help you to fall asleep. Lyz Cooper of the British Academy
of Sound Therapy explains that you should look for songs that have 60 beats per minute (BPM) or less if
you want to relax. She adds that you should ideally choose songs that remind you of a happy time.
9. Use Music Strategically to Control Your Moods and Emotions.
In the book Your Playlist Can Change Your Life: 10 Proven Ways Your Favorite Music Can Revolutionize
Your Health, Memory, Organization, Alertness and More, the authors recommend that you use music
strategically throughout the day to control your moods and emotions.
They suggest using a five star system to rate the songs that you listen to, based on different emotional
states, such as the following:

 How relaxed does this song make me feel?

 How happy does this song make me feel’
 How energized does this song make me feel?
 How motivated and inspired does this song make me feel?
 How focused do I feel when I listen to this song?
You’ll be creating awareness of how different songs influence your feelings. Then, create a playlist for the
different feelings and emotions that you want to feel. For example, a “Pumped Up Playlist”; a “Relaxation
Playlist”; a “Get In the Flow Playlist”; and so on.

Match your playlists to specific daily tasks so that you can use music to function at your best throughout
the day.

10. Play a Musical Instrument.

As I explain in my post, “How to Make Yourself Smarter In One-Hour-A-Day”, what’s even better than
listening to music is learning to play a musical instrument. Playing an instrument does all sorts of good
things to your brain, and multiple brain areas are enhanced. Plus, who doesn’t want to be able to call
themselves a musician?
11. Choose Music Venues on Your Nights Out.
When you go out on the town with your friends or your significant other on the weekends, do something
music-related. You can go dancing, go to a jazz club, go to a concert, or even go to the symphony. Bond
with the people you care about over music.

12. Create a Music Bucket List.

Create a bucket list—or a list of life goals– just about music. You can include things such as the following:
 Build a classical music library.
 Become an expert on your favorite music genre.
 Form a band.
 Go to a Celine Dion concert.
 Learn to dance salsa.
2.2 Agriculture and its contribution to poverty reduction

There is a lot of evidence that agriculture can contribute to poverty reduction beyond a direct effect on farmer's incomes.

Agricultural development can stimulate economic development outside of the agricultural sector, and lead to higher job and growth

creation. Increased productivity of agriculture raises farm incomes, increases food supply, reduces food prices, and provides greater

employment opportunities in both rural and urban areas. Higher incomes can increase the consumer demand for goods and

services produced by sectors other than agriculture. Such linkages (or the 'multiplier effect') between growth in the agricultural

sector and the wider economy has enabled developing countries to diversify to other sectors where growth is higher and wages are

better.

Diversification outside of agriculture is important to a country's development. This is particularly true in rural areas where about

70% of the world's poorest people live (IFAD 2011a). Haggblade et al (2002) estimate that across developing countries, as many as

a quarter of the rural population is employed full time outside of agriculture, which constitutes 35-40% of rural incomes. This is not

only a pattern amongst the wealthier rural population - the poorest 20% of the population earn an average of 30% of their incomes

from non-farm sources (DFID 2005).

2.2.1 The agricultural sector in economic growth and transition

The general pattern for least developed countries who diversify and reduce poverty is:

 Early stage: agriculture is a large share of gross domestic product (GDP) and food is a high percentage of the
poor's expenditure.
 As agricultural productivity increases, the non-farm sector develops and countries are less dependent on
agriculture for their economy (although this may not occur in all areas of the country, where the non-farm
sector is not as well developed).

 Agricultural growth contributes to wider growth and poverty reduction, to what degree is dependent on the
changes in productivity and the size of farms. Increases in land and labour productivity can be central to
pro-poor growth. Initially land and labour productivity must rise to reduce poverty, but land productivity
should rise faster... to create additional employment on farms which benefits the poor and leads to demand
for non-farms goods and services.

 As growth increases, there are more employment opportunities outside of agriculture, and labour moves
outside of agriculture thus wage rates for farm labourers rise. At this stage, it is important to increase labour
productivity to maintain food supply and prices.

Agricultural productivity can therefore be seen as a first step or engine of growth leading to greater income for a country. It is

interesting to note that historically no poor countries have reduced poverty only through agriculture, but almost none have
achieved it without increasing agricultural productivity in the first instance. Agricultural growth is an essential complement to

growth in other sectors (DFID 2005).

Three sociological explanations for why rates of conventional crime are higher in
urban than in rural areas are tested with cross-sectional Japanese data for 1970.
The three explanations ascribe the higher rates of urban crime to (1) the degree of
urbanisation and populated density, (2) the greater rates of migration and population
growth in urban populations, and (3) the differences in demographic structures
between urban and rural areas, urban areas having greater proportions of young
people. Eight indicators are used to test six hypotheses for six crimes against
persons and property, with the 46 Japanese perfectures as units of analysis.
Measures are taken to constrain the degree of multicollinearity that exists among the
independent variables.

While the structural indicators measured at an ecological level are not powerful in
explaining inter-perfectural variations in rates of homicide, rape and arson, they are
significantly associated with larceny, robbery and assault rates. Multiple regression
analysis ascribes greatest weight in explaining the variation in rates of property crime
to the higher proportion of young adults in urban populations, and to the higher rates
of migration in these populations
Topic 5: spending money

As the year draws to a close, it leaves us in grand style with many festivals for
people of all religions to enjoy. When we talk of festivals the one thing all of us enjoy
is the festivities and celebrations linked to it. Every festival has had a historical
and/or religious origin while some are linked to seasonal changes but one thing
common in all is it brings together people from all walks of life and offers a sense of
belonging for religious, social, or geographical groups. It is this particular aspect of
festivals that make the celebrations truly grand.
Back in our school days, festivals meant break from school, time to feast, get new
clothes, toys and catch up with your near and dear ones. Diwali would be the time
when our parents would be saving up to buy some new things for the house. Back
then there was certain of kind of innocence linked to the way in which we celebrated
all those festivals. It was more inclusive and even people with limited means could
join in and enjoy the festivities.
As with everything else the passage of time, the advent of globalization and a
booming economy has had an impact on the way of our festivals celebrations today.
Today people have better pay and can afford to enjoy the luxury of buying new
clothes, gadgets etc. throughout the year rather than wait for the festivals to make
such purchases. Festivals have today become a time to flaunt your riches. Festivals
celebrations have become more self centered and moving away from its tradition. It
is more of instant gratification now. The traditional way of festivals celebrations is
slowly taking a backseat now. The simple things that would give us pleasure in
celebrating festivals back then no longer enthuse us now. Today the equation has
shifted towards money. Money equals happiness. So for more happiness you need
more money. For more money you need to work more. Today you wouldn’t be
surprised to find people working on festivals and concentrating on their careers
rather spend time with their families. It is this change that is unwelcome because at
some point in future we would even forget the reason behind all these festivals. We
would be celebrating all our traditional festivals similar to Valentine’s day, Father’s
Day, Mother’s day, etc. all commercially driven.
 Ten Ways to Avoid Car Accidents
 Pull into traffic slowly. Stop, Look, Listen. Be aware of blind spots,
including those in rear view mirrors and behind windshield pillars or highway road
signs. Also, when at an intersection making a right-hand turn, look both directions at
least twice before proceeding. Vehicles can appear almost out of nowhere very
quickly, so exercise caution when pulling into a busy intersection.

 Watch for red light runners. Count to three before entering an

intersection on a green light. Look both ways and be sure no one is trying to speed
through a yellow light. Exercise caution when passing semis. Truck drivers have a
large blind spot on their right-hand side, so be especially careful when driving next to
an 18-wheeler. If you cannot see the truck''s side mirrors, the truck driver cannot see
you.
 Keep at least one hand on the steering wheel. Reduce in-car
distractions such as changing radio stations or CDs, cell phones, eating or
momentarily taking a hand off the wheel. A gust of wind, pothole or a blown tire
could send the vehicle into another lane and cause a serious accident.
 Watch for kids. Children and animals have a habit of suddenly popping out
from between parked cars and into roadways. If you are driving in a residential
neighborhood with kids present, watch carefully and slow down.
 Perform engine maintenance regularly. Avoid sudden stalls or other
vehicle failure by changing the oil regularly and keeping tires properly inflated.
 Scan 12 seconds ahead. Always concentrate on the area where you will be
driving in 10-12 seconds. For highway driving, keep positioned far enough from other
cars so if someone were to suddenly stop or swerve, you could avoid them.
 Look backwards when backing out. Fender benders in parking lots are
all too common, so look out for cars leaving parking spaces. Don''t depend on mirrors
alone -- physically look over your right shoulder while steering to alleviate blind
spots mirrors can create.
 Do not tailgate. Leave a three-second cushion between you and the car in
front of you and begin your journey early enough so you don''t speed to make up
time. As tempting as it may be when in a hurry, tailgating is a major cause of
accidents.
 Be courteous to other drivers. No one owns the roads, so treat others
with respect and report any suspicious driving activity to authorities.