Our Writing Process

Blog experience

2009-08-05T15:13:00.000-06:00

I feel like the whole blog experience was a great one. It was my first time dealing with a blog and I had a lot fun learning about the whole process.

My Blog Reflection

2009-08-05T13:50:00.002-06:00

My overall experience with the English 150 blog has been a good one. I feel that the blog has offered quick access to the writings of the class's students and has also been an effective way to assess each others' works via comments. I personally appreciated the insight I was able to gain from the comments on my own blog posts; the comments enabled me to gain insight into the thought processes of an outsider reading my work. I feel that for a class this size the blog was a helpful tool in being able to view and assess each others' works, but I also feel that the group discussions regarding our projects were the most helpful to me in my learning process because of the more in-depth and knowledgeable discussion that they offered.

Class Blog

2009-08-05T13:35:00.000-06:00

My experience with the blog has been something new and interesting; I have never done anything like it before in an English class. Because I knew my peers were going to be reading my posts, it made me think and care a little more about what I was writing rather than just trying to get something down quickly for credit. As a result I think my writing skills progressed, because I put a lot more thought and time into the assignment then I probably would have otherwise. In addition, I think commenting on other people’s post improved my ability to critique. Having them comment on mine allowed me to see my writing from the perspective of others, and apply their advice into my writing.

blog reflection

2009-08-05T13:32:00.001-06:00

This term the blog has been awesome. It was nice to be able to see how my writing was affecting others and good to get some feedback on what to change. It was also nice to be able to get thoughts down in writing without over thinking them or trying to make sure everything was perfect. It made writing fun and helped to develop an ease as I wrote my actual papers. While I alwayswrite fast just letting my thoughts flow into the document, the blog has given me a chance to use my true voice and kind relax the dition in the things I write. Really cool experiance and a great way to do assignments.

Blog POST

2009-08-05T12:45:00.002-06:00

My favorite blog posts have been the introduction one for the papers. I really enjoyed these because later down the road with our paper I could turn back to my original blog post and pull things from that. These posts helped me with my writing and making my thesis for my papers. Discussions through comments and replies have helped me revise and look at my paper through my readers’ point of view. I do feel like I have participated in true discourse with my peers in this class, and I feel that it has made us closer as a class and has brought me new friends. Knowing that my peers were going to read what I would write didn’t change what I wrote because I was glad to get criticism on my work and then I could fix it and make it better. Thanks I really enjoyed doing this blog posts!

Blogs

2009-08-05T12:23:00.002-06:00

When I first heard about the idea of doing blog post for class I wasn't that happy about it. I have never been one for writing blogs in the past, even on facebook and myspace, and having to write one for class, in my opinion was just an pain. But then when I started doing them I really actually found that I started to enjoy what I was doing. Just having something where on a lot of things I was just able to speak my mind, and not worry about what was said was great. This gave me a chance to get opinions on my work that I was going to be handing in, and to decide, if after reading others opinons, if it was still what I wanted to work with. I have also found it interesting that now that I have started to work with blogs I have been helping some other people get their own blogs set up for important information. I can now say that I will really miss doing the blog post. It is a refreshing way to turn in homework, that keeps things interesting.

blogging

2009-08-05T12:14:00.002-06:00

When I found out we'd have to write all these blogs for this class I was not very excited; it just seemed like extra work. However, I think that it has proved to be one of the more helpful writing techniques. Many of my blogs posts have been building blocks to my essays and often times I find myself just copying and pasting things I wrote on my blog to my essay. Also the knowledge that people are going to be reading your blog was good training for writing towards a specific audience. I honestly didn't enjoy writing comments and replies because it is uncomfortable to critique people. However, I think getting complement comments on my paper did give me more confidence in my writing. One of my favorite blog posts was the ethos, pathos, logos; it got me thinking early about what appeals I was going to make in my argument and most of the words on that blog post ended up on my final essay.

Blog

2009-08-05T12:12:00.002-06:00

Personally I really liked the blog. It was really fun to be able to see what everyone else was doing for certain assignments. It really helped a lot when I was working on my drafts for the Rhetorical Analysis. It was a fun way to be able to communicate about ideas and things like that. It has really helped me by seeing how much I have improved in my writing throughout this semester. It was also really fun being able to see what other people were saying about my ideas or drafts because it helped me think of other view points. I had a lot of fun with it and I'm really glad we had to do it.

Blog on Blogs

2009-08-05T11:52:00.000-06:00

The blog as been a huge help this semester. Technology really is amazing! It's been so cool to be able to share drafts and ideas this easily. My favorite of all posts have been the drafts... seeing what everyone is doing is a huge help in the creative process. I feel like my drafts have been much better because I actually do them to be read and reviewed.

Blogs should be continued in this class. The End.

blog posts

2009-08-05T11:30:00.003-06:00

When I first found out that we were going to be exploring the world of writing via blogging, i was excited. I've never taken an interactive class or course, and the idea of getting graded online was one that intrigued me. The blogs proved to be an effective means of showing, reading, and evaluating everyone's writing. I feel that it has helped me become a better writer by getting inputs from fellow classmates on my writing. So, in the end of our blogs, I liked them and feel they proved useful to me. I would recommend Sister Cowley to keep on doing them for future classes.

Blog Posts

2009-08-05T10:35:00.002-06:00

When I first heard that we were going to do blogs for this class I thought it was a very weird idea and I had never blogged before. Even though I was hesitant to the idea, I enjoyed blogging everyday. I really liked the things that we wrote about and it was a way to express how I feel about different issued and ideas. It was also a very good way to get to know my peers. These blogs have also helped me very much because it gets me writing almost everyday which has strengthened my writing process. All in all I really enjoyed the blog posts this semester.

English 150 Blogs

2009-08-05T07:26:00.002-06:00

I actually really enjoyed the blogs. When I first heard that we were going to have a class blog I thought that it was really weird. It has helped me a lot because I can read what my classmates have said and see their view point on issues. I enjoyed commenting on others posts, but i didn't really like responding to them. I never knew what to say. I don't think that the responses helped me learn.

Last Blog Comment

2009-08-04T21:10:00.002-06:00

I've used blogs a couple times before actually and I've never really like them. However, I should say that I thought this time was more affective than previous times. For me, what helped me the most was being able to read other people's ideas or work. Commenting on posts didn't really seem to be useful for me. Because it kind of seemed like I just did it because I had to, not because it was actually helping. But I did like being able to read what other people were working on. I think that knowing I had to post what I was writing for everyone else to see maybe did affect how I wrote at those times. It made you look more closely at how coherent/organized my thoughts were so that I could make sense to other people. So I think that is one asset of using the blog. I also think it is a very effective means of communication so that the teacher and all the students can be on the same page as far as assignments are concerned. And it's much easier than typing a paper, printing it out, and bringing it to class. The only down side is that it can seem to be busy work at times, but I guess that's not entirely a bad thing.

The year's end

2009-08-04T19:55:00.002-06:00

Writing a blog for the last two months has been a completely new experience for me. I had never before written in a blog and I have to say I enjoyed the process. I was at first afraid thinking it was a waste of time, but I soon realized that it was quite the opposite. I was able to learn from my peers and their ideas and comments but at the same time it was a good way to write what I really thought about different subject matters. This blog allowed me to be able to write almost everyday and I liked that. It was a good way to relieve stress and just write about things in my own opinion and viewpoint. Overall the blog assignments was a great learning experience for me.

new ideas

2009-08-04T12:03:00.002-06:00

This class really has help my writting and especially this blog. I think a main thing for me that help with my writting was that this blog let me brainstorm. It taught me to put my ideas and thoughts out and have others feedback. That has definitely been my favorite part of this blog, hearing what others think of my ideas and also being able to tell others my opinion.

Hey Colter what are you doing tonight...You Know, just bloggin it up :)

2009-08-03T15:28:00.001-06:00

I really enjoyed having the blog assignments for this class. They really helped me learn how to put my feeling and thoughts into words for people to understand. While in high school the closest thing I had to writing this way was the once a year papers we were assigned on how our summer was or who our every day hero is. I’m grateful to have had this opportunity to further develop my skills by writing daily this semester. Another thing the blog assignments helped with was staying on task. I know that without it, I would have been up the night before a big paper was due writing it. I say keep with the blogs they help.

Jessica's Blog reflecting

2009-08-03T15:01:00.000-06:00

Before we started the blog assignments, I always thought that blogging about opinions was annoying and that arguments had no intellectual information to back them up. However, after participating in our classrooms blog assignments, I have learned to really enjoy reading what other people think about situations. I especially have enjoyed when we all wrote about readings from the globalization book because those opinions stemmed from research and opinion. I liked hearing the similar and different opinions people had about the same problems. My least favorite blog post was probably when we were posting our papers, and we were only reading people that we were assigned because there was too much information to read what everyone thought, as oppose to article responses, where you can read what everyone has to say. I feel like I have gotten to know my peers quite well and that we have participated in true discourse. The fact that my peers are going to read what I have written no longer bothers me, but instead I’m actually excited to see what people have to say.

.blogspot.com

2009-08-03T14:56:00.001-06:00

I absolutely love the class blog and having to post and comment on things. I think it is a great way to share the things we write and opinions that we have. It is a really unique medium that I have never used for a class before which is good because it escapes the monotony of turning in papers and doing pointless assignments. Even if I thought that the assignment was not very interesting, having to post it on the blog was exciting. Also, having people be able to comment was a help to be able to see other people's perspectives on what we have posted.

Child Labor

2009-07-31T12:12:00.000-06:00

Everything from the brand new shoes on your feet, to the baseball cap on your head to the bad your caring around your shoulder is the work of the some of the biggest name brands in the fashion industry. They look appealing, comfortable and of course fashionable, but no one ever stops and thinks where they actually come from and how they got on your body. You didn’t know how many hours it took to make that one garment or what they working conditions were like that they had to sweat over so you could look good for a day, and the worst part of it is that they are simply children. Child labor is a growing industry, which employs millions of children across the globe. Big manufacturing countries outsource to third world countries thinking that they can get cheap labor in producing their products. How ever they don’t realize the effects on the kids that they are exploiting. From their everyday schedule to their gruesome living standards and limited pay, this is not the life that people should have to be living in. With these conditions, it’s amazing that they are able to survive at all with the extreme conditions. With child labor, human rights are being exploited and unnecessary actions are being used to exploit these children. Even with efforts from different universal organizations such as UNICEF, their needs and demands are still not being met; there is always more that can be done to end child labor. Through different efforts and causes to end child labor, their basic human rights are constantly being abused and violated as they are forced into labor.

Child labor, a growing problem around the world, is a violation of everyone’s basic human rights. Every person is granted certain rights that are not allowed to be violated or taken away in any circumstance. For example, when was it ever right to push hundreds of children into crowded workrooms with heavy machine for long workdays? They are given little food and are unable to function and are putting their young lives in danger. With so many countries around the world involved with child labor, the global society needs a wake up call to reevaluate what they are sentencing their kids to do. In the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states,

“ Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political of other opinion national or social origin, property, birth, or other status,”(Weston).

Everyone, including children, is given rights that every basic human being is granted. Many however, claim that children are not eligible for these rights simply because they are not adults and that they don’t get the same protection and rights that everyone else does. Since no specific age is mention with the rights, it gives them every opportunity to encourage and promote child labor across the globe. However, there are still activists trying to get child labor to become illegal. According to the International Labor Organization, it states “the ‘child labor’ of concern is generally employment that prevents effective school attendance, and which is often performed under conditions hazardous to the physical and mental health of the child” (United States Department of Labor). It is saying that children are allowed to do work, such as family businesses or work that does not interfere with school or harm them, but as soon as any of these conditions are violated and the child is put in danger, that is when child labor becomes a problem and needs to be stopped. However most companies don’t care about the regulations or rules that prevent child labor and keep kids safe. They don’t agree with the basic human rights law or the fact that they are violating children. Many people take for granted that the live in the United States where child labor is completely unacceptable, and they never truly think about how children in other countries are constantly working in unfair conditions just to survive. Acclaimed photojournalist David L. Parker stated that “250 million children worldwide still labour (sic) to sustain basic needs”(Parker). It’s amazing that as many human rights activists there are in the world, there are still so many children forced into unlawful working. It’s a practice that obviously needs to be stopped and fortunately there are organizations that are trying to prevent this terrible practice.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Education Fund, is an organization whose efforts include preventing child labor around the globe. Their efforts are numerous and are really targeted towards creating a better environment for the children, claiming that “child labour as the rising tide on the international agenda”(Fyfe, 31). They are involved in many different programs and organizations to help prevent children from entering child labor. They created projects such as the “Mou Project”, which protected kids in the garment industry, to Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Children (BEHTRUC) project in Bangladesh, which allows children to receive, and education instead of entering the work force (Dukess). These problems create opportunities for kids around the world to be educated and to feel safe and protected within their own environment. This organization gives children the opportunity to be relieved of child labor and be able to actually grow up as children. UNICEF’S Executive Director Ann M. Venema said, “Children who are compelled to work are robbed of childhood itself,” (qtd. Dukess). With these specific efforts made my UNICEF, they are essentially giving the children back their childhood, a human right that had been taken away from them. Children across the globe have benefited from their great effort to end child labor throughout the globe. In UNICEF’S facilitating position at the 2002 UNGASS (United Nations General Assembly Special Session) opening they made a statement saying, “education is a human right and a key factor to reducing poverty and child labour,”(Fyfe, 33). Whatever their efforts maybe, UNICEF puts forth their best effort in promoting and trying to end child labor.

Another important organization to help end child labor is that of the ILO (International Labor Organization) works to create new programs in efforts to educate the world on the issues and tries to put an end to the child labor. One of their main missions, in association with IPEC (International Progamme on the Elimination of Child Labour), is to monitor child labor and to prevent children from working in inhumane conditions. Under their program called CLM (child labouring monitoring) they “mobilize and train community members to monitor child labour and link the monitoring activity to local government and official enforcement systems, especially labour inspection, so that the information on child labour can be used effectively,” (International Labor Organization). With this system and work to prevent child labor, they are clearly making a difference in what they want and what they expect to regard child labor. This is one of the programs used to help prevent child labor. They even instated an ILO convention in which they came up with specific rights about child labor that is unlawful land not allowed to be violated. For example Article 3 of ILO Convention 182 states that:

(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;

(b) (b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;

(c) (c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;

(d) (d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children. (International Labor Organization).

With laws such as these, that specifically break down and give information on what counts as violating child labor laws, one would assume that these wouldn’t be broken, however that is rarely the case.

North Korea

2009-07-29T13:57:00.000-06:00

Derek Mclea

English150

Ms. Cowley

7-28-09

North Korea

Throughout the years North Korea has always been viewed as the equivalent of a pest to the rest of the world. This view has been brought upon themselves for their irrational behaviors and terrible foreign relations policies. Within North Koreas policies and so forth there is a leader that is coordinating such actions, and this terrible person is ll-Jong Kim. He is indeed a vicious dictator that cares only about his military. He cares nothing about the well being of the people of his country or the rest of the world. The outside worldly views from the UN and the views of North Korea on what they do are totally different. North Korea believes that everything they do is for the best while the rest of the world views them as borderline terrorists.

The countries surrounding North Korea are very distraught by what’s going within North Korea’s borders. One major issue that has raised the eye brows of many countries is the fact that North Korea has initiated their nuclear arms testing. This is widely frowned upon by the rest of the world and action regarding North Koreas actions is taking place immediately. Many negotiations have been sought after for the cooperation with North Korea and their nuclear arms programs but North Korea insists on proceeding with such a program because they have the well being of their homeland in mind.

wind turbines

2009-07-29T13:49:00.001-06:00

Sam Johnston

Wind Turbines
Windmills are an ancient form of power production. They have been used for irrigation in 5th century Persia and for grinding grain in the Medieval Europe. (Chiras) Electricity was first created from wind in 1931 and turbines were popular in rural America before they were replaced by transmission lines of the spreading power grid. (Chiras) Now in this day and age they are making a comeback. With theories of global warming along with predictions of oil shortages countries throughout the world are turning to the wind. Due to increased investments United States has recently become the leader in wind power producing 25,369 megawatts of power. (Seipel) Wind energy has been lauded as our savior from global warming and oil dependency. They have also been criticized for increased federal spending higher electricity bills. Who is right? Is wind energy environmentally friendly and cost effective? And if so how should the government influence the energy market. These questions and through analysis a conclusion can be drawn. Wind turbines are the future of energy and their construction should be maximized.
Global Warming is a sensitive issue and one that has the scientific community along with the general population divided. It is a fact that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which has the property of trapping heat (Farrar 8). Studies have shown that when carbon dioxide is released into a room it will block the heat of a given object and cause that objects thermal image to fade.(?) Greenhouse gases are not a bad thing in fact without them the average temperature of the world would be only .4 degrees Fahrenheit. (Farrar 9) It is a fact that human carbon dioxide emissions have exponentially increased in the past hundred years; these emissions refer to the increased burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. It is also a fact that atmospheric carbon levels have increased by about 25% in the past 100 years. (Lankford) It is also a fact that in recent years the earth has been getting warmer; the average temperature of the earth has gone up 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 150 years. (Farrar 7) The debate is has the increase in greenhouse gases the cause of global warming.
Environmentalists argue that the correlation between carbon dioxide increase and temperature increase is proof that we are causing global warming. They argue that unless immediate emissions reductions take place we could see various catastrophes. Polar melting is one of the biggest concerns because raised sea levels could cause flooding of major coastal population centers. (Farrar 47) Environmentalists also claim that increased heat will lead to increased tropical storms; they point to Hurricane Katrina as an indicator that global warming is getting worse. (Farrar 40) Others argue that global warming is a natural cycle and is unrelated to fossil fuel emissions. (Inhofe) They claim that much of the evidence used by environmentalists has been tampered with. (Inhofe) It is a fact that the media has been extremely slanted in favor of environmentalists and giving no thought to introducing any counter arguments. (Inhofe) This is called feared tactics; the media will make more money if they broadcast stories that will terrify people. (Inhofe) Although both sides have valid claims this issue is not as essential to wind turbine construction as most people think.
Although global warming has been used to argue for increased wind turbine production it is not the only validity. Even if carbon dioxide emissions aren’t causing global warming they still reflect a method of thinking that has failed in the past. We cannot treat the sky as an endless void where we can dump all our waste; it is this same attitude that caused massive pollution of our oceans when garbage barges where used. Fossil fuels may not have caused global warming but they still are not the best source of energy and they are a finite resource.
There are many different kinds of energy. Some have been used for hundreds of years and some are recent additions; however, all of them have advantages and disadvantages. Coal is one of the earliest types of energy and it is widely used in power plants to produce electricity. Oil is a popular energy choice because of it’s availability and it’s cheap cost. However a lesson from the past that we can take is that oil is a weapon that can be used to manipulate nations that are dependent on it. In 1973 OPEC initiated an oil embargo that crippled the US economy. (Fogel 2) This is a manifestation that our dependence on oil is a liability and should not continue. Furthermore, oil is a finite resource and it’s future availability is being predicted by experts. A common methed for predicting oil production is the Hubbert’s bell curve model. (Maugeri 202) This predicts that oil production steadily rises until it reaches a peak; after the peak production steadily declines. (Maugeri 202) This causes a roughly symmetrical bell curve graph. (Maugeri 202) This means that a severe oil crises won’t happen when we run out of oil but when we reach a peak of production, when demand is steady or increasing but supply is shrinking. So when will oil production reach its peak? Although Hubbert accurately predicted the America’s production peak he failed miserably when trying to predict the world production. (Maugeri 205) There are so many factors that influence oil production and this makes it hard to predict. However, the fact that production will decline after the peak means that we need to be ready otherwise we will have an energy crises on our hands.
Coal is a good choice for America because it is local and we control a quarter of total world coal. (fogel 24) The disadvantages to coal include it’s environmental effects. Global warming aside, coal has had negative impacts on the environment. Chemicals realized from burning coal include sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.(Fogel 27) This pollutants mix with moisture in the sky causing acid rain which is harmful to crops ecosystems and stone building (Fogel 27) Also like oil coal is a finite resource and cannot last us forever. Nuclear power offers cheap electricity that can be produced without any air pollutants. (Fogel 47)However, the buildup of nuclear waste and the possibility of meltdowns are risk factors that have caused experts to question it’s reliability. (Fogel 47) Furthermore, uranium is also a finite resource that will eventually run out. (Fogel 49) Solar energy is promising but it is the first type of electric production method that doesn’t involve a spinning turbine, because of this it is years behind wind power. Although these other sources have potential wind power makes the most sense. It is clean renewable and nearing economic feasibility. (Fogel 70) James H. Mailinowski of Pacific Gas and Electric says that: “Of all the emerging alternate energy technology, wind is the closest to true commercialization”. (Fogel 70)

radio

2009-07-29T13:46:00.004-06:00

Radio

“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” This powerful quote declared by the first president of the United States of America, George Washington, beautifully articulates the necessity of this cherished freedom to the well-being of the United States. Without it, America would certainly not consider herself the land of the truly free. The freedom of speech and expression is one that is coveted by all, and in recent times has proven to be one that is neglected by its possessors. Several recent events have sparked an uprising against the moderate restrictions on public radio. Events such as: Don Imus’ racial slurs directed toward the Rutger’s ladies basketball team, the Texas talk-radio ethnic slurs aimed at Hispanics and finally (find other example of radio offensive) The irresponsibility and flat-out immaturity expressed by these radio hosts have caused public outrage, and thus resulting in increased lobbying attempts to get legislation passed to limit speech on the radio. The reasons for these attempts are justified, however the proposed solution is not. America walks on thin ice when the decision is made to start restraining freedoms such as the freedom of unrestricted speech. Although people will choose to be offended over the radio’s decisions on word choices, the continual practice of free speech on the radio in America is imperative in order for all the liberties and freedoms practiced herein to be maintained.

The catalyst for this debate rising to the national level was the infamous verbal attack by Don Imus towards the Ladies Basketball team at Rutger University in early 2007. The result of the attack got Imus kicked off his own radio show for nearly eight months, and a reputation for being insensitive, and offensive. Imus degraded the black community, and offended the entire country. Now, in the aftermath of all this, many people are pushing for even more legislation to get passed that would further prohibit freedom of speech on the radio.

Speech on the radio already has its limits. According to Chris Reed an expert on broadcast radio, “Broadcasters do, indeed, have the same First Amendment rights that you and I do. But, the courts have held over the years, that because of the unique character of the broadcast medium, broadcasters' First Amendment rights are somewhat limited.” What this means is there are limited stations available on the radio to broadcast on, so naturally the government reserves the right to regulate what is broadcasted to the national audience. It is important to note that the radio already is not a completely free stream. Nevertheless, many people now are lobbying for even more restrictions to be placed on the radio. Many avid listeners of every day talk-radio feel that there are too many instances of racial and ethnic slurs occurring on the radio, and that it is time to start making more restrictions, and harsher punishments for those guilty.

In the case of Don Imus, the racist comments he made about the Women’s Basketball team at Rutgers really set the stage for the punishments of letting your tongue slip while on the radio. In addition to being fired for eight months, Imus was humiliated, forced to apologize, and scrutinized for the rest of his career. According to a poll conducted by MSNBC, 54 percent of America thought the punishment was about right, 32 percent said it was too tough and about 8 percent said it was not tough enough (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18209464/). This particular case set a precedent of radio cases like these in which the radio-host made a bad mistake, and launched into some kind of offensive diatribe. Another case similar to this occurring after the Don Imus expulsion from talk-radio was a Texas radio morning broadcast called “Todd and Don.” On this particular broadcast, the radio-hosts referred to illegal immigrants as “wetbacks,” thus resulting in no work or pay for two weeks for the convicted rradio-hosts. Many “Hispanic leaders” were not satisfied with this punishment however. Hispanics in the area lobbied to get these radio-hosts permanently removed from the radio air waves, and sited the Imus case as reason for more extreme punishment.

What these cases demonstrate is the public’s reaction to offensive words spoken on national lines. In nearly every case in which there is any sort of harmful rant, a universal feeling of discontent and outrage is expressed by all who hear it. The freedom of speech on the radio is one that can really prove offensive to listeners. When a radio-host has freedom to say what pops into his or her head, it isn’t unreasonable to assume people tuned in have the potential to be offended. Even with the few radio-laws prohibiting it, it still happens.

When freedoms granted in the Constitution begin to be distorted, the result is a gradual tilt away from reason. The liberty declared therein is inspired from God, and should be treated as a precious God-given gift. The very thought of trying to limit speech in America is preposterous, and if the steps are taken to do it by starting first with radio censorship, then the wonderful country known as America has already begun her downfall. Sexist and racist remarks are becoming all too common on the radio, who’s jockey’s delight in “bringing private behavior out into public,” and delivering the listener “the thrill of crossing that line,” this is all according to John Baugh, a professor of linguistics at Washington University in St. Louis.

Effects of child-targeted advertising

2009-07-29T13:42:00.000-06:00

Gabe Machen
Section 14
Katherine Cowley
7/29/09

Effects of Child-Targeted Advertising

In our society advertising plays a huge role in the economy, social life, and our general perceptions about products, people, and morals. The influence of advertising is everywhere. It pops up on billboards while we drive, commercials while we watch television, and side panel ads while surfing the net. This bombardment is all well and good if we know how to perceive deception and fraud in these ads. Unfortunately, our children have no such abilities and there is a need for exploration on just what effects dangerous advertising is having on our children’s perceptions of the different industries that target them. An article on the harmful effects of advertising on children stated that, “By the late 1970s, research indicated that children had trouble distinguishing between television programs and commercials. Most had little or no understanding of ads' persuasive intentions, thus making them highly vulnerable to commercial claims and appeals (Fox,1).” Obviously this could create a problem when it comes to buying food or toys as well as their future choices in the areas of smoking and underage drinking. It is important to examine just what kind of impressions our children our left with when we allow advertisements to enter our homes and what effects the advertisements have on their present and future choices. Although marketing has become an essential part of our society in general, the effects that advertising, especially specifically targeted advertising, has on young impressionable children are singularly negative as they promote greed and materialism while downplaying the dangers of risky behaviors. Research has shown that the advertising industry has had affected the rise of child obesity by astounding rates. Studies between the requests of children and their parents responses directly correlates with the things children see on television as well as the way they are presented for parents. With all the tobacco and alcoholic product ads on television children become more and more likely to smoke or drink underage as they get older. This, of course, is supplemented but the growing callousness in the attitude of parents towards such things as high school drinking parties and low-risk drug use. Children in this day make bad choices because of many factors but one of the biggest factors is deceptive advertising that causes them to think they need one of the many luxuries that plague this country.
The first and perhaps most presently dangerous issue is childhood obesity and the influence that advertising has on it. In Faith McLellan’s article on the subject she paraphrase’s from a Harvard Medical School Professor who “said that in the early 20th century, children did hard physical work in factories, with the result that companies essentially owned their bodies. Now marketers are attempting to own children’s minds (McLellan,1001).” This quote essentially shows exactly the problem with this type of advertising. Instead of simply presenting a product the advertising shows children exactly how to get their parent to buy the product. This method of advertising shows a direct correlation to the rise of obesity. McLellan makes this point as her article continues, “The relentless onslaught of advertising for food products contributed to the unprecedented weight gain seen during the past 2 decades in children in genetically stable populations (1001).” American advertising is even starting to have a poll on other nations and while Americans may have built up some type of tolerance for such horrible junk foods, places like China where the traditional food is very healthy are drastically gaining weight as American junk food seeps into their society. An article on the rise of junk food penetration in Asian countries said that, “a survey across six Asian countries including Malaysia conducted by Consumers International observed that there has been increased production and marketing of fatty and sugary food aimed at children (Kulasagaran,1).” This increase has resulted in a higher child obesity level which is the direct result of clever advertising. John Eighmey wrote an article entitled “Deception and Unfairness in Children’s Advertising” in which he outlined the main reasons that child-targeted advertising is deceptive.
1. Premium distracting attention from the product;
2. Brevity of commercials-insufficient comprehension;
3. Comparative advertising may leave deceptive impressions;
4. Stereotyping;
5. Excessive use of emotions;
6. Reliance on nonsense without product information;
7. Similarities taken too literally;
8. Deceptive juxstaposition of products with contexts or persons;
9. Unfamiliar terms or phrases; and
10. Global uniqueness claims. (Eighmey, 17)
These deceptive techniques contribute heavily to the food industry advertisements and are an important part of their methods. Especially number two concerning the brevity of commercials leading to an insufficient knowledge on the subject is important. If the commercial is so short that it shows only the good and not the overwhelming bad then how are we supposed to distinguish between those things that are real and those that are fraudulent.

College Napping- Scott

2009-07-29T13:32:00.000-06:00

Scott McGrath
English 150 Section 14
Kathy Cowley
July 28, 2009
College Nap Time
Late night study sessions and early morning classes’ leads to sleep deprivation and loss of attention. This is what many call the normal college student life. However, there are many different views on how this lack of sleep is not only harming college student’s bodies physically but affecting their grades and success as well. In doing my research I found many different articles that talked about how serious of a problem sleep deprivation is and its many different effects on the body. With many college students lacking the right amount of sleep needed don’t you think a nap would be a great way to help? In many different studies naps have been proven to help students be more alert and stay awake during class time. I think that if students need to stay awake late working on homework than a nap is a great way to catch up on missed sleep.
A major factor in college students’ lives is evolved around stress and time management. We all know how good we feel when you finish that long paper or map out your time just right so you can get everything done for the day. Elizabeth Scott an expert on stress management with college students stated, “And research shows that you can make yourself more alert reduce stress and improve cognitive functioning with a nap. Mid-day sleep, or a ‘power nap’, means more patience, less stress, better reaction time, increased learning, more efficiency and better health” (Scott). In this quote she is talking about all of the positives that come from napping and catching up on loss sleep. However, on the flip side there are some very serious symptoms that may result from lack of sleep as well. The reason I have narrowed my topic down to specifically college students, is because they are a rather large group that lacks the most sleep.
As stated in the Scotts’ quote, napping can be extremely helpful for the body to make it more alert and attentive. Doesn’t this sound exactly like something every college student could use? If by simply taking a short nap a day to make up for loss sleep over night and help you be more alert in class, wouldn’t this be very helpful? By napping, college students will be more alert in class and pay more attention to specific details which in return should show a positive correlation with their grades. By simply adding a few more minutes of sleep a day could largely change your overall out come or grade in the class. This is one thing almost all college students’ desire: better grades.
Increased alertness would really help college students with staying awake in class, paying attention, taking notes, reading, quizzes and tests. I know from first hand that when I don’t get enough sleep the next day it is extremely hard for me to stay awake in my classes and I don’t learn much because of this. “Research shows that a midday snooze can increase productivity and alertness” (Kliff). Imagine what it would be like if all college students took a midday nap everyday. Grades would sky rocket and the students’ mentality on college campuses would completely change.
Taking a nap will help increase learning which in the long run will help raise your grades. One study found that “researchers who have studied college students' sleeping patterns have found that ZZZ's translate to A's” (Anas). This study was done at Colorado Universtiy where they have made a new nap room for college students to catch up on sleep which in return will help them with their grades. This just shows how important it is to get the right amount of sleep when in college. I think that the napping room is a really good idea and more colleges should input these around campuses. Although it may cost more money to make nap rooms on college campuses, it will be improving students’ health as well as grades which will make the college look much better.
Sleep deprivation is not healthy for your body to function correctly and our bodies need the right amount of sleep. Sleeping is very good for our bodies and is needed to stay healthy. "Sleep is part of good health, as important as nutrition and exercise to overall well-being," (Wasowicz). This is a very strong point she makes, because people are always worried about watching what they eat and exercising but you never see people worry much about their sleep. This is very bad for college students who don’t get enough sleep because not only are the tired and run down the next day; they are harming their bodies as well. If more people looked at sleep in this manner I think that many would take it much more seriously and make sure they got the right amount of sleep per night.
If a quick twenty minute nap can really help increase learning, reduce stress, more patience and better health why doesn’t everyone nap? Many people think that napping isn’t helpful at all and that it can actually be harmful to the person. Many people whose “sleep is lighter and marked by more frequent awakenings. This situation is exacerbated by afternoon napping” (therapeutics). Frequent awakenings and lighter sleeping is a major reason why people don’t nap. Another reason many don’t nap is because many people nap for hours at a time and wake up feeling groggy and more tired than before. This is very common and even though naps are making up for missed sleep, they do not need to be much longer than twenty to thirty minutes. Naps longer than twenty to thirty minutes go into your later stages of sleep cycle and even into REM where the body is completely asleep and relaxed. Trying to wake up in the later stages of the sleep cycle will be hard and make you feel very groggy because your body wants to keep sleeping.

Am I Too Fat?

2009-07-29T13:31:00.001-06:00

We live in a culture where it is not surprising to go to the grocery store and while standing in line to buy your food you see all the magazines with the headlines talking about how this star is a size 2 and this other one needs to lose weight, who is only a size 6. There is so much attention given to weight and beauty that it seems as if the two go hand in hand. For many one might get the impression that for one to be considered beautiful in this culture then one must be thin by Hollywood’s standards. One only has to turn on the TV and they will see news reports on which stars in Hollywood are overweight (who may only be a size 4), which have the best bikini bodies, and which are the sexiest slim stars in Hollywood. Reality TV shows, which by the sounds of it are suppose to be showing reality, are giving people a very distorted view of what reality really is. According to a commercial for a new TV show on Fox it says that the average size of a female on a reality TV program is a size 2, but the average size of a women in the United States is a size 14. These so called reality shows are doing anything but showing what real reality is in the world. However, one has to wonder who this focus on weight and beauty is affecting the most in this culture? Continually studies show that the group of people affected most by all of this pressure of what size one needs to be is teenage girls. Teenage girls have become so affected by all of this pressure that now studies are showing that they are more affected by many psychological because of this pressure, such as depression and eating disorders. Although the media may help provide entertainment in people’s lives, the psychological effects, such as depression and eating disorders that it causes in the lives of teenage girls need to be noticed and understood.

Ok, so this is only the first paragharph of the paper. I am working on it, it is just I write different and I am not sure how much of this I am even going to be changing. So, please give me insight that you have on how I can change anything that you might not like in this or not understand. Thanks!

Homosexuality in the political process

2009-07-29T13:17:00.000-06:00

Homosexuality is a very touchy subject. It hits close to home with almost everyone. We all know people who come down on one side or another on the issues brought to the public arena by this lifestyle choice. We as a society have an obligation to be accepting of others. Acceptance of another for who they are does not, however, mean we should put aside our beliefs and accept everything that they wish to do or say for the sake of acceptance. Homosexuals are an obviously growing force in our country. They command a large voice that some would say dictate a disproportionate amount of public policy. Has the tone in the country changed as regards to homosexuals and their so called agenda? How has their growing influence changed the course of public policy? Do racial and/or ethnic views on homosexuals affect the way people of diverse ethnic backgrounds vote on those issues? These are the questions that will be discussed in this paper. The questions raised by the issues at hand are important ones to find answers to. We need to be politically aware of what goes on in our country, and the policies of the homosexual movement have the potential to change the course of our countries policies in ways that many consider the wrong direction.
The only way to understand the homosexual movement is to exam its origins. In the late 1980s a book was written by Marshall K. Kirk and Hunter Madsen detailing how the homosexual movement could become mainstream and detailing exactly how this could happen. Before this time homosexuals were “in the closet.” Theirs was a lifestyle not discuss in polite company. This book helped to change the way homosexuals presented themselves to the public. They presented three major ways in which to accomplish their goals: desensitization, jamming, and conversion.
“If gays present themselves-- or allow themselves to be presented--as overwhelmingly different and threatening, they will put straights on a triple-red alert, driving them to overt acts of political oppression or physical violence. If, however, gays can live alongside straights, visibly but as inoffensively as possible, they will arouse a low-grade alert only, which, though annoying to straights, will eventually diminish for purely psychological reasons. Straights will be desensitized.” ( "After the Ball - How America will conquer its fear and hatred of Gays in the 90s." - Penguin Books, 1989 pp. 147-157.by Marshall K. Kirk and Hunter Madsen) The desensitization factor of their agenda has been very successful. There used to be no instances of homosexual activity on television. One of the most popular sitcoms in recent years has been “Will and Grace.” This is a program that would have been, even in the 80s, too crude with a subject matter too taboo for television. It is now acceptable to announce to the world that one has same sex attraction. Something that even ten years ago was very controversial. People are now almost ridiculed if they “stay in the closet.”

2009-07-29T13:06:00.001-06:00

Everything from the brand new shoes on your feet, to the baseball cap on your head to the bad your caring around your shoulder is the work of the some of the biggest name brands in the fashion industry. They look appealing, comfortable and of course fashionable, but no one ever stops and thinks where they actually come from and how they got on your body. You didn’t know how many hours it took to make that one garment or what they working conditions were like that they had to sweat over so you could look good for a day, and the worst part of it is that they are simply children. Child labor is a growing industry, which employs millions of children across the globe. Big manufacturing countries outsource to third world countries thinking that they can get cheap labor in producing their products. How ever they don’t realize the effects on the kids that they are exploiting. In Latin American countries, the effects of child labor are astonishing and completely disturbing. From their everyday schedule to their gruesome living standards and limited pay, this is not the life that people should have to be living in. With these conditions, its is amazing that they are able to survive at all with the extreme conditions. With child labor, human rights are being exploited and unnecessary

Precautions are being used to make clothes that aren’t even needed.

Child labor around the globe is violating the basic of human rights and needs an evaluation about what they are doing to innocent children around the globe. For example, when was it ever right to push hundreds of children into crowded workrooms with heavy machine for long workdays. They are given little food and are unable to function and are putting their young lives in danger. With so many countries around the world involved with child labor, a certain definition needs to define what that actually means. According to the International Labor Organization, it states “the ‘child labor’ of concern is generally employment that prevents effective school attendance, and which is often performed under conditions hazardous to the physical and mental health of the child (United States Department of Labor). It is saying that children are allowed to do work, such as family businesses or work that does not interfere with school or harm them, but as soon as any of these conditions are violated and the child is put in danger, that is when child labor becomes a problem and needs to be stopped. However most companies don’t care about the regulations or rules that prevent child labor and keep kids safe. Many people take for granted that the live in the United States where child labor is completely unacceptable, and they never truly think about how children in other countries are constantly working in unfair conditions just to survive. David L. Parker stated that “250 million children

Worldwide still labour (sic) to sustain basic needs”(Street Children and Labor around the world). Some children are still in work because they need the money to survive, though they may be killing themselves to get it.

The reality of the working conditions is unbearable and the reasons that the kids need to work are once again alarming. The garment industry, one of the most popular forms of child labor within the world, is constantly looking to outsource because of the demanding marketing prices. In our society today, competition leads to the constant fall of prices and the lower the prices equals the continuing lowering the price of the workers, which leads to the exploitation of children in the labor force. The ILO (International Labor Organization states

...the competition between an increasing number of developing countries to win contracts has a downward effect on wages and working conditions in enterprises specialized in providing low-range articles - for which the production cost must be as low as possible. Only by filling a slot in the market for higher-range goods can these enterprises break out of this vicious circle in which production costs must be compressed for them to remain competitive. (United States Bureau of International Affairs).

This statement accounts for the rising number of child labor within the constantly growing and changing work force.

Deaf Schools Are an Endangered Species

2009-07-29T12:57:00.002-06:00

In the world today, people believe that everything needs to be integrated. This is not the best way of action in some circumstances. One of the major ones is for children who are deaf and cannot have hearing implements. The government is saying that it is too expensive to keep these deaf schools open any longer in this economy. They are starting to be shut down which will effect the deaf community more than the government realizes. Although these schools are very expensive, the effects that they have upon those who are deaf severely outweighs the costs.

Most children who have moderate to severe hearing loss who are not able to use hearing implements, such as cochlear implants, have lost one of the senses that is fundamental in their emergent literacy. This is so because they are not able to grow up in as academically challenging of an environment as hearing children. An academically challenging environment is cultivated by parents who teach their kids to do mathematics through games or puzzles, who help their children grow academically before they are sent off to school (McKenzie). Unfortunately the children who are deaf are not able to be fostered in such an environment because their learning is retarded over the fact that they cannot hear.

Children learn by example, they learn by listening to their parents talk. Sadly deaf children cannot hear so they can only learn through sight. Though if the deaf children are taught simultaneously through speaking and signing, they are able to learn faster and more efficiently because then sign language becomes their first language. In a study done at the University of Illinois and the University of Rochester by Jenny L. Singleton and Elissa L. Newport they found that:

Simon [who] is a deaf child whose deaf parents both learned American Sign Language (ASL) after age 15. Simon’s only ASL input is provided by his late-learner parents. The study examines Simon’s performance at age 7 on an ASL morphology task, compared with eight children who have native signing parents, and also compared with Simon’s own parents. The results show that Simon’s production of ASL substantially surpasses that of his parents. (370)

Simon is a perfect example of what should happen to children who are deaf. He was able to be taught early enough that he was able to perform to a better capability than his own parents. Sadly for Simon, there is not a deaf school for him to go to.

Simon is in a classroom where he teacher does not know full ASL, she only knows simultaneous communication which is not proper ASL, it is directly translated from speaking to sign, without any change of grammar to ASL grammar. On top of this, Simon is “mainstreamed with hearing children for Physical Education and Art classes and recess” (380). Being mainstreamed like this is detrimental to deaf children’s social abilities. The vast majority of the people, outside of his class for deaf students, are hearing and have hearing parents, so there has been no reason for them to ever learn ASL. Thus Simon and his fellow hearing impaired peers are left to fend for themselves for communication between themselves and their hearing peers.

This is what is going to happen to all of the children who currently go to schools like the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf in Wilson, North Carolina. This school is in the process of being shut down. Most people outside of Wilson, don’t even care. But the residents of Wilson are afraid that their community “will be lost, scattered and torn apart if the School for the Deaf closes as part of budgetary cuts proposed by the state Department of Health and Human Services” (Moore). This community has grown together. The majority of its inhabitants are deaf. This little town has become a family to its citizens. The state has proposed that they consolidate its two Schools for the Deaf into one in the middle of the state. This fact that they are even considering doing this is quite appalling.

Closing down these schools will force these families to make one of the largest decisions of their lives; they will have to choose between moving to an unknown city, or forcing their children to go to public schools. The Eastern North Carolina School for the deaf has a residential program that allows their students to choose if they want to go home either daily or weekly. It is not considered a boarding school, but has the capabilities of any hospital or boarding school. Some of the services that are offered at ENCSD, as stated in their school website, include “audiology,... child psychiatry,... independent living skills,... literacy, medical care, occupational and physical therapy, orientation and mobility,... sensory integration, speech and language therapy,... and therapeutic horseback riding.”

The ENCSD offers more than just a normal deaf school. The Reverend Daniel Johnson graduated from ENCSD and fully endorses the school saying, “deaf people feel the school is home” (Moore). The entire country needs to realize that although these schools cost more, the effect that they have upon the population and how they have helped a community come together and become a family, is more important than the extra money it costs to keep these facilities in use. The United States should not force people like Simon to endure through years of public school where no one understand them. America should realize how much these schools help the deaf community as a whole and support them more fully.

What do we owe Africa?

2009-07-29T12:54:00.005-06:00

No matter how much digging people do it seems that the roots of American racism are hard to reach. Slavery was part of the British Empire before the American colonies even existed, but sources say that British enslavement of Africans was more a matter of convenience and economy than of a stance of white superiority. This issue is certainly not dead, and cogent arguments range wide across it. Several years ago at the 2001 United Nations’ World Conference several African countries claimed that they deserved some form of reparations from the countries that mistreated their ancestors through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade years ago (Howard-Hassman p.1). These reparations are not likely to be granted because of the ambiguity of the history of the slave trade (Howard-Hassman p.1). Even so, the argument is interesting: if these reparations were to take place, who would owe the most to the mistreated African countries? Evidence shows that although the practice of African enslavement began on the British Isles, the American colonies were the ones who actually developed a racist attitude against the African people that led to the largest forced exodus of people in the history of the world.

History is a tricky thing because it can be easily misinterpreted through the eyes of the historian who is from a different time and in a different situation than the people he is studying. This is most certainly the case with the study of American racism. Racism is, and has been, such a hot issue that historians such as Carl Deglar have had a tough time viewing the past in the context of those times without relying on the knowledge of the eventual outcome of the particular issue (Breen 25-26). In other words, it’s difficult to not view every action and law against an African slave as overt racism, because of the well-known outcome that eventuated from various actions. Author Rhoda Howard-Hassman notes that even the simplest issues dealing with racism and slavery are hard to understand. She notes that the estimates of slaves transported from Africa during the era of the slave-trade range from 12 million to about 100 million slaves forcefully taken from the continent (Howard-Hassman p.2-3). This being the case, it is much more difficult for the historians to pinpoint the exact time and place that racist attitudes emerged from the practice of slavery. It is necessary to view arguments and counter-arguments of this issue to gain the fullest understanding of the evidences and interpretations of evidences that can lead to the most realistic opinion of how and where racism developed.

Winthrop D. Jordan’s book White over Black: American Attitudes toward the Negro explores the development of racism in America from the years 1550-1812, and it is a common springboard used by other writers and historians to leap, not only into the analysis of Jordan’s work, but also into the issue of American racism in general. In his analysis of Jordan’s thesis, Karl Westhauser notes that Jordan displayed the necessary understanding of the subject by realizing “that to discover the origins of American racism, he would first have to trace the development of English attitudes toward Africans (Westhauser p. 112).” Jordan began naturally from the beginning – the British ideas of the Africans during their first encounter in 1550. The darkness of the color of the skin of the African peoples was of extreme interest the Englishmen because it was so far from anything they had ever seen. This meeting came at a time when the difference between white and black – light and dark – in the mind of the Englishmen carried heavy significance. Jordan notes that “White and black connoted purity and filthiness, virginity and sin, virtue and baseness, beauty and ugliness, beneficence and evil, God and the devil (Jordan p.7).” Jordan explains that this was not an uncommon train of thought among different peoples and cultures. This being the case, Africans naturally found themselves to be the most beautiful while the white Europeans weren’t attractive to them in the least. Their views were “inverse to the European’s (Jordan p.10).” Despite the difference in opinions regarding the beauty and meaning of different colors, the two cultures didn’t automatically regard the other as fitting a specific role – the Europeans didn’t “[prejudge] the Negro as a slave, at least not as a slave of Englishmen. Rather, Englishmen met Negroes merely as another sort of men (Jordan p.4).” The view of racism that assigned the Negro to the position as an inferior human being designated for work as a slave didn’t come along until relations between black and white men were much more developed.

From this realization Jordan researched and proved “that English ideas about black people were fluid well into the seventeenth century, grounding the rise of racism in contingency rather than the certainty of hindsight (Westhauser p.112-113).” Jordan’s interpretation of the development of racism eschews the idea that the American colonists’ attitudes were already founded upon the idea of white-supremacy when they established the colonies in America. To further the point first illustrated by Jordan, Westhauser states that the British’s practices of slavery and attitudes of racism only correlated with the development of that in the colonies to a certain degree. He notes:
Yet some doors that closed in the Americas remained open in England, creating meaningful opportunities for black people and for the development of race relations. Most importantly, no legislation establishing slavery was ever enacted in England; the laws enacted in the colonies found no parallel at home…. English courts had to decide over and over again, case by case, whether to uphold rights of property or of liberty; their decisions differed from one case to another. (Westhauser pp. 113-114)
Westhauser’s evidence buttresses Jordan’s idea by proving that in statutory law the British didn’t enact anything of the same magnitude and racial discrimination that the American colonies did. If the Americans received their racist attitudes from the British then it would have been more likely that the British would have displayed a similar amount of brutality and racism towards Africans that the Americans did.

The American colonies inherited the idea of slavery from the British, but how the Americans fused all Africans to the position as slaves and thus created white-supremacist ideals requires some investigation. Perhaps it was bound to happen to some degree, because even the British developed racist attitudes toward Africans, although these attitudes weren’t near the same degree as what the Americans. However, this idea supposes that even if America was bound to develop some form of racist attitude, they still had power over how deep they would allow this racism to run in their society. Considering that the American colonies and the British differed in the extent of their racism then it also leads to the idea of the possibility that each society was actually in control of whether or not racism developed and found place in their statutes at all.

Meditation

2009-07-29T12:04:00.002-06:00

In societies throughout the world, there are many problems emerging as a result of the downturn many economies have taken in the last several years. There is one in particular that has affected many people even though they may not even realize its influence. What is this problem? Stress. Stress and anxiety are two very well known issues which have been around since man can remember. They are unavoidable. Any kind of emotional or physical threat can cause stress or anxiety in a person, resulting in irritability, fatigue, headaches, loss of energy, or high blood pressure and heart rate. If stress is not managed properly it can have a serious affect on a person’s well-being mentally and emotionally, as well as physically. There have been many different suggestions for stress management presented by doctors, specialists, mothers, fathers and friends. Popular methods for stress reduction include exercise or medication. However, there have been alternative means of medicine that doctors have been experimenting with for many years now. One alternative to medication is meditation. Doctors have been researching its affects on high blood pressure and heart rate due to stress.
While many people still think of meditation as a bunch of “humms” and “owms” that hippies or Buddhists practice, there is much more to it than that. It is more than just sitting cross-legged on the floor. It is an intellectually based exercise to help focus and concentrate on oneself or ones conscious (Robert). Buddhist meditation is one of the oldest forms of meditation that originally was practiced for religious purposes to become closer to nature and God, and calm one’s mind. The art of Zen takes practice and discipline in order to perfect the meditative processes. (Masao 122). What doctors have been researching more recently are the actual psychological and physiological affects that meditation can have on someone. Experiments and research has led many doctors to believe that meditation can be used for more than just “finding oneself” or getting to know a god. Meditation can be a useful practice for the treatment of stress and anxiety because of its calming affects which can reduce heart rate and blood pressure. Many people may not think it is a very practical means of alternative medicine for anxiety or stress but when practiced seriously and correctly meditation can be calming for more than just the spirit of a person. It can physically and psychologically calm their body and mind (Hyuk 190).
There are many different types of meditation that are being found to be very affective for stress management. One of which is transcendental meditation. Transcendental meditation is a more modern method of meditation that was first taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi from India. It involves the use of a sound or “mantra” that is meant to draw ones attention back to a specific thought or idea. As the mantra is repeated it is supposed to focus the mind and awaken the less active parts of the brain (Michaels 1242). When applied by patients with anxiety this type of meditation can help them focus and take control in order to slow breathing and heart rate.

Withdrawing the troops

2009-07-29T11:45:00.000-06:00

The War in Iraq has been going on for years and since the very beginning of the War there has been major talk and debate about the withdrawal of the troops. The debate over the withdrawal of the troops has been one of the biggest controversies in the last few years and has been one of the major factors in the Presidential debates. Throughout the war there have been many similar and many different reasons for keeping the soldiers there and reasons for bringing them back. In different times of the war there are different reasons for pulling them out and different reasons for keeping them there. Recently the troops in Iraq have been withdrawn and they have begun to come home. This should not happen. The U.S. soldiers should not leave Iraq yet, the job is not done. Since we are leaving, Iraq is going to be overrun by the terrorists and they will win. If we leave now, we lose. If we leave now the country will go down and all the amazing soldiers who have given their lives, will have died for nothing. There has been so much progress that has been made in Iraq, it doesn’t seem right to dispatch the troops.
A big reason that we have decided to bring the troops home is because of the recent high number of terrorism and violence in Iraq. In the last few months the number of violence and terrorist attacks have gone up a lot. If we pull out now it shows that we are giving up and giving in to terrorism. It shows that we lose. An example of the this is shown in the Los Angeles TImes when it says, “The announcement came just hours after a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck a crowd recruits outside an interior ministry compound in Baghdad, killing at least 33 people and wounding 61. Especially by making this announcement to withdraw the troops right after the attack, it shows that these attacks have won and we have lost.
People who say that the troops need to come home have many reasons for this belief. They say that the troops are fighting someone elses War and it isn’t fair. They also say that the situation in Iraq is worse than ever and that it isn’t getting any better. They think this because of all the bad publicity of the War and because the news does not announce all the good things that are happening in Iraq, they only talk about the bad things and the deaths. In some ways these people are correct because there are a lot of soldiers being killed for something that is hard to see. “The time and conditions are right for coalition forces to reduce the number of troops in IRaq.” U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said in a prepared statement. This was a major quote for citizens who believe we should be withdrawing the troops but what they don’t see is this quote doesn’t show what these times and conditions are right to leave right now based on why you believe we are at Iraq in the first place.
At the very beginning of the war the reasons for withdrawing the troops was mainly because people did not believe that we should be in Iraq in the first place. They believed that it wasn’t out war and that we never should have gone there. This is based off of many things including september eleventh. Many people disagree on September eleventh being a good enough reason for the U.S. to go to war and that is completely a personal thought. I personally believe it is more than enough of a reason to go the War. September eleventh happening showed how dangerous and powerful the terrorist were getting and they needed to be stopped. By going to War with them, we were able to go to stop them from attacks on our nation. We put the terrorists on the defensive so they could not have attacked us. This has worked very well and has increased the safety of the U.s. citizens a lot. Going into the War there were beliefs of weapons of mass destruction which was the intel that we were given. If this was true and the terrorists did have such weapons than of course it was right to go to war. Going to War increased our safety and the citizens of the world.
Recently, the Troops have been seen as not needing to be in Iraq and are becoming, “sitting ducks.” They have been thought of as sitting ducks because the soldiers have recently become more like a police force in Iraq than soldiers because the enemy does not wear a uniform and it is almost impossible to see who is a terrorist and who isn’t. Even though these soldiers have become more of a police force, it is still very necessary for them to be there because they are keeping the peace and keeping the country under control.
It is not time for the U.S. troops to come home, the job is not done. They went there for many reasons and one of them was to free the citizens their from a tyrant and this we have done but in doing this we have created a lot of problems. Before we leave we need to clean up the streets until it is totally free from terrorists. We have created a mess in Iraq and we need to help clean it up rather than just leaving it. The country needs a justice force to keep things in controls because it is not ready to govern itself. Even though they want us to leave, that doesn’t mean that we should. There has bee many celebrations and even a national holiday made for when the U.S. troops have begun to leave.

Steps Toward Socialism: The American Pilgrimage

2009-07-29T11:27:00.000-06:00

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement [sic] of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation."
President James Madison (1751-1836) speech, Virginia Convention, 1788

Eleven score and 13 years ago, our founding fathers pledged to each other their "lives, [their] fortunes and [thier] sacred honor" (Declaration of Independence) and embarked upon the great experiment known to us as The United States of America. It was to be a true republic; a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" (Gettysburg Address) guided by divine providence. It was a dream that they shed sweat, blood and tears to achieve. It was a dream defended on the battlefield, in the courthouse, and in the hearts and minds of our earliest patriots. It is a dream realized.
Today there are more than three-hundred-million people lucky enough to call themselves "Americans" and lay claim to the unparalleled heritage of our great country. People from all nationalities, races, and tongues have journeyed here just so that they too might be a part of this great dream and claim the promised blessings of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (Declaration of Independence) for their posterity. Through hard work, determination, and a little inspiration they let our capitalist (free) economy work for them.
I love America. I have been a student of its history, purpose, and theology since I was a boy. I feel especially blessed to be an American after the two years I spent living in the heart of Russia. I learned the Russian language, culture, customs, and history and feel so very fortunate that our country has been spared their dark heritage of tyrants, bloody revolutions, and communism.
As a student of the histories of both of these nations, it not only became apparent to me that there were reasons for the rise of the Soviet Union, but that similar trends exist in the United States today. Trends that if not halted, I'm sorry to say, will lead us down a long and destructive road toward a fate similar to our Soviet friends. Many of these trends may seem harmless, or even appealing such as "socialized medicine." But behind the campaign promises lies a threat to our hard-won liberties. Although appealing, this progressive movement toward socialism must be halted or our great nation will find itself slowly robbed of its liberties and freedoms in the name of "security" and "welfare."
It shall now be our opportunity to explore the histories of Russia and the United States in order to compare, contrast, and decide for ourselves what our future shall be. As one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, once said, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

Post Traumaic Stress Disorder

2009-07-29T08:00:00.003-06:00

During this past year, President Obama has spent billions of dollars to stimulate the economy in order help the people our nation get back on their feet and have confidence in our government once more. For the most part, I appreciate the effort. The one thing that he left off of his list though was our soldiers that continue to fight a war, even though they have already returned home. They are fighting a battle with an illness called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Also known as PTSD, hundreds of thousands of veterans struggle through their normal ever day lives with symptoms such as flashbacks or nightmares of the traumatic event, hyperventilation, anger or even suicidal thoughts and the list continues. What are people doing to help these veterans through their struggle? The answer is sometimes nothing. Our government has only limited resources to help. Our veterans deserve better. Although spending more money on PTSD stricken veterans would cause a greater national debt and deficit, the United States Government needs to help up those who have fought for our freedoms by providing the necessary funding for specific treatments that are proven effective for the recovery from this terrible disorder.The government has programs and treatment facilities for those with physical wounds. They will pay for disability and treatment and rehabilitation costs but what about those who come back with all of their limbs and no physical scarring but have deep emotional wounds that are not visible to the naked eye and cannot be corrected with surgery? We should be doing all that we can for these soldiers to assist them in their recovery. They shouldn’t have to suffer in silence because their wounds are not apparent to those around them.

Many people do not understand what exactly Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is and rightfully so. It is difficult to understand because the disorder can present itself differently on a case by case basis. The Mayo Clinic defines it as, “a type of anxiety disorder that's triggered by a traumatic event. You can develop post-traumatic stress disorder when you experience or witness an event that causes intense fear, helplessness or horror (Mayo). This definition however does not give specific enough symptoms or criteria to categorize someone as having the disorder. According to the American Journal of Nursing, there are six separate criteria, each with its own subcategory that one must meet in order to qualify as a PTSD patient. The criteria are: “The person has been exposed to a traumatic event; The traumatic event continues to be re-experienced; There is a persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responses which were not present before the trauma; Persistent symptoms of arousal as indicated by…difficulty sleeping or an exaggerated startle response; Duration of [the previous] symptoms for more than one month; A significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning (Clark 28).” These specific criteria aid in narrowing down those who are candidates of PTSD from those with a one time response to a traumatic event. It is so important to realize the symptoms of someone with PTSD in order to help them get treatment. For veterans of older wars, PTSD was not recognized as a disorder during their service in the military and most often, those veterans have no awareness that it even exists or that they can receive help for their condition.

Currently the government has specific protocols on which diagnostic tool to use and then treatment is essentially up to the individual. The Department of Defense implements a program called the combat stress control program which educates those individuals in recognizing the early symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This program includes a list of questions that can be asked to determine if the individual is experiencing PTSD. What they do not have however are the numbers to veterans being treated for the disorder, or how many they expect to treat in the coming years (USAO 2).”

In a report given to the Committee on Veterans Affairs in the House of Representatives, the government acknowledges that at least, “15 percent or more service members returning from [current] conflicts will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (5).” With approximately 180,000 troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, that is 27,000 soldiers that will come home with a debilitating mental disorder (wikipedia).

Capital What?

2009-07-29T03:33:00.000-06:00

As Americans, we view life as precious, sacred, and above all else the single most important thing to protect. But what happens when the thing we value most is stripped away from us without any sound or notice? Pain. Revenge is for seen therefore, nothing else but and eye for and eye will satisfy the demand for it. But is taking a precious life for another to justify the demands for misdeeds the correct way to perform properly? The founding fathers of the United States would have to say other wise. Upon writing the constitution, Tomas Jefferson gave all of man kind inalienable rights, rights that can never be taking away, “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” these three elements formed the foundation to this country and the way we view freedom. Although capital punishment, or the death penalty, justifies the demand for murder, it should be abolished because it was and will forever be unconstitutional.
To understand where we are now, we have to understand where we have been. It’s believed that King Hammurabi of Babylon, during the early 18th century B.C, was the first to establish death as an appropriate ends for punishment. This was then adopted later by many other civilizations such as the Romans with death by beating, burning, crucifixion, drowning and impalement. Although these seemed very harsh for uncivilized civilizations, it was a most common practice in the entire world. It wasn’t till about the 19th century that Henry VIII of England issued punishment for crimes small and large to be death by hanging. This “new and improved” way of capital punishment carried on into the U.S. for about two hundred years until the last hanging of 22-year-old Rainey Bethea on August 14, 1936. During this time, however, techniques to capital punishment like the electrical chair in 1889 were adopted and punishments like beheading, and burning alive was abolished due to “cruel and un usual punishment.” During the 1930’s executions in the U.S. hit an all time high with an average on 167 deaths per year. This statistic seems shocking, but fortunately, it declined until it reached 37 deaths in the year 2008. Use of the electrical chair lasted until 2008, where Nebraska, became the last and final state to abolish it due to its cruel and unusual stature. Unfortunately, this was not the end of capital punishment. Lethal injection, or death by poisonous chemicals in the blood stream, become the most common way to kill prisoners from its first appearance in 1977 to our current day (ProQuest). It was supposed to be a better alternative to hanging, the gas chamber, fireing squad and elocution that was cleaner, clinical, painless more human and therefore a more acceptable form of capital punishment. unfortunately, The controversial issue that stands today is that is lethal injection, like other capital punishment techniques used in the past, a cruel and unsafe way to execute a person?
To know where you stand on this issue, you have to understand what exactly lethal injection is and what its procedures are there of. Webster’s dictionary defines it to be a liquid that is introduced into something forcefully resulting in death. This liquid, or sometimes referred to as a “cocktail”, is currently used in almost all states in the US as a means to capital punishment. This three drug cocktail contains sodium patroulm-wich knocks the patient out resulting in unconsciousness, pancruronium bromide-which causes muscle paralysis, and potassium chloride-which stops the heart ending the person’s life due to cardiac arrest. Unfortunately potassium chloride can possibly wear off before the person’s heart stops resulting in extreme physical and mental anguish. The worst part is that because of the other two drugs used with in the cocktail, the victim is bound in a chemical straight jacket and cannot tell anyone that he or she is in pain. In fact, amnesty international notes that TX has banded the use of these chemicals on animals because of the extreme pain they can cause. This kind of mistake in procedures is not an impossible thing to occur. For example, the execution of angel Diaz added urgency to this case. Tom Head, writer for about dot com on guide to civil liberties, said, “Lethal injection executions generally end within 15 minutes, with the inmate unconscious after the first 3-5 minutes; Diaz' took 34, and he was conscious for at least the first 25. A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Corrections initially claimed that Diaz felt no pain during the execution, but a coroner's investigation belied that claim.” so was Diaz tortured to death? Head goes on to explain, “Eyewitness reports indicate that Diaz was still moving and attempting to speak (or, perhaps, scream) more than twenty minutes into the execution, suggesting that he was still conscious and in pain. Diaz would have remained partially paralyzed by the injection of pavulon, a muscle relaxant administered shortly after the pentothol. His death was almost certainly slow and excruciatingly painful--and with his body frozen by the pavulon, he would have had no way of expressing that pain.” University of Miami surgery professor Leonidas G. Koniaris added, "This raises the possibility people are being tortured and you can't see it because they are paralyzed… I'm not sure a civilized society should be doing this."

The Affects of NAFTA on the Mexican worker/farmer

2009-07-28T23:13:00.000-06:00

For as long as its existence as a nation, the United States has always been advanced, both economically and technologically. It was here that the first telephone rang, the first light bulb gave light, and here where planes first left the ground. As time moves on, and Americans progress, it would makes sense that jobs would as well. The U.S. farmer became the industry worker, who moved up to business man, who will continue to strive for advancements. Somehow, over time, our ideas of what a working man is composed of has changed, and somehow the hard working American man began to be looked down upon. As educational advancements become more conceivable for many Americans, citizens of America are sill in need of jobs, whether agricultural, industrial, or other. Unfortunately for many of these Americans, jobs in the workforce (especially Industrial), have become scarce. This is because some Americans have become “smarter” and discovered how using people less fortunate than themselves can work to their advantage. So they began coming up with ways to use workers from countries with less developed economies (such as Mexico) to their advantage- because they have become accustomed to having what they want, at the cheapest price available. To help those in favor of sending the American man’s job out of the country, businessmen and government officials created an easy way to transport goods in and out of America: The North American Free Trade Agreement. Thanks to NAFTA, U.S. factory jobs have been taken across the border and handed to Mexican men, women, and children; all of whom work for no set minimum wage. Thanks to NAFTA, Mexican farmers are going out of business because Mexicans can now import their food from huge American corporations with no tax. The overall affect: NAFTA has been harmful to the workers and farmers of Mexico.
Ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1994, NAFTA, “Was designed to remove barriers and increase trade among the United States, Canada, and Mexico… [which would] promote free trade between the United States and other nations,” (ABC-CLIO). Critics of this agreement saw its creation with both favors and flaws. With globalization becoming more and more popular, economist and national leaders liked the idea of lower trade tariffs and barriers. Gregory Mankiw, a professor of economics, took part in pushing NAFTA through to the senate. On the subject, Mankiw said, “Outsourcing is a new way of doing International Trade…I think outsourcing is a growing phenomenon, but it’s something that we should realize is probably a plus for the economy in the long run”. This bold statement made by Mankiw leads to one obvious question: How long is “the long run”? It has been thirteen years since NAFTA came into effect, and we don’t even seem close to reaching the “long run”.
Exploitation of cheap labor in Mexico has been an ongoing reality, and with extinct tariffs, the practice is becoming quite common. In fact, one of the main reason people opposed the validity of NAFTA was because they said, “the pact would result only in a massive transfer of U.S. and Canadian jobs to lower-paid Mexican workers” (Grolier). It’s true that NAFTA created many more jobs for the Mexican worker, but was this really to his or her advantage? Working for no set minimum wage, but only a price that would never be allowed in the United States, Mexican workers work in sweat shops for hours at a time, hoping the work they put in will pay off enough to feed their family. Personally, the idea of feeding impoverished families is great, but at what cost are these families being fed, and has having new jobs given them that heads up? The answer is no. A study conducted by the Labor University of Mexico, concluded that the purchasing power of Mexican citizens has been declining ever since 1994, the year that NAFTA was put into effect. NAFTA not only significantly decreased their purchasing power, but also contributed to an increase of unemployment in agriculture and small businesses because those fields could not compete with U.S. imports (American Decades). This means that not only has NAFTA shifted the United States’ economy, but also the Mexican economy, and none for the better. While companies can afford more products, this isn’t necessarily a good thing. It just confirms that American companies are cashing in on the hard manual labor of poor factory workers, who slave away and ridiculously low prices. And why do they get to slave away? Because companies know that they can get away with it, because there is no minimum wage enforcement in Mexico as there is in the U.S.

International Adoption

2009-07-28T20:44:00.000-06:00

International Adoption
Orphanages have been on the earth since 1729 when Ursuline nuns began an orphanage in North America after Indians killed all adults in Natchez, Mississippi (ProQuest). Ever since then adopting a child has become more known by U.S citizens. In the year 1949 author Pearl S. Buck began the very first adoption agency to deal with international and interracial adoption. American families adopt 20,000 children from former countries every year (Spivack). This agency which was known as “Welcome House” promoted and pushed for the adoption of Asian Children (ProQuest). International adoption began in the 1950’s after the Korean war. Americans began to adopt children who were known as Amerasian due to the fact they were half American from men of the military. International adoption sparked again after disturbing photos were released of Romanian orphanages, and it began an effort to save children there(Spivack). If international adoption was promoted in the 1950’s it should be even more so promoted in this 21st century.

Beth Nonte Russell is the founder of Big Mind Publishing and expressed her concern that even though China claims to be concerned about the ratio of boys to girls there is still an odd overwhelming number of girls in orphanages (Russell). Going back to the “one child law” this could be the reason for the great number of females in orphanages. Members of the Chinese society are only allowed one child. In China it is more honorable to have a son, therefore parents give up their child if it is a female. Russell goes on to state, “It seems that China is more concerned with its image than the welfare of its children.” Also due to this one-child policy “missing” girls, as Russell calls it approaches five million each year. Russell said pertaining to the high rate of abortions each year in China and 70 percent of them estimating to be females that, “National pride is more important than getting these children into loving homes.”
International adoption has so many opportunities and benefits. First off it gives a child the opportunity to be part of a loving and permanent family. It has been proven and many experts agree that institutionalism is harmful to a child’s physical, emotional, and intellectual development. Even highly funded orphanages can not offer the nourishment and development that permanent homes can. Statistics have also proven that children who grow up in institutionalism, also known as an orphanage, has a higher rate of suicide and drug abuse (Spivack). International adoption really does give these children opportunities that they would never even dream about. There is no alternative that can give the same opportunities for a child then having a real family that will help them reach their potential. Spivack says it best when she approaches the topic of international adoption when she states, “it is important to reinforce the notion that a child needs far more than a roof over his head to grow and flourish in his life-children need families who will love and nurture them-in order to grow into secure, productive and happy adults.” As one can see international adoption has never ending benefits yet some still believe international adoption is risky.
Spivack explains the risks of adopting from overseas and it becoming more difficult, expensive, and potentially heartbreaking. Foreign adoption brings its own difficulties. First one being mainly that the parents must meet the legal requirements of two countries. Spivack stated, “The most daunting and potentially devastating, hurdle in international adoption is assessing a child’s health in the face of incomplete or faulty medical information.” Most of the children coming to the United States come from countries with poor medical systems and where pregnant women lack prenatal care. Also some believe that the lack of individual care in an orphanage causes many of the delays of physical and mental developments (Spivack). All these statements are true and heartbreaking but is this a good enough reason to stay away from international adoption? Isn’t this more reason to adopt foreign to help this child in need? Yes, in some instances parents are lied to and adopt a child that needs more care then expected but in more situations than not , through international adoption the child you receive is one that you will help grow strong, healthy, and feel loved.

ADHD: Medication vs. Behavioral Treatment for Children

2009-07-28T10:13:00.000-06:00

According to The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 3% to 5% of children suffer from ADHD, but many experts claim that statistic is actually closer to 8 to 10%. This means that in a standard classroom of 20 children, 2 of those students would be likely to exhibit symptoms of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. It is an issue that is becoming more and more prevalent with each generation, and parents are at a loss of what to do to help their children. While ADHD cannot be cured, many methods of treatment have surfaced that have had success in helping these hyperactive individuals function better in social settings. The two main options for the alleviation of symptoms are, A.) a variety of stimulant, non-stimulant, anti-depressant, and high-blood pressure drug medications , and B.) behavioral therapy. While drug medications have many potentially risky side effects (which has pushed many outside the medical field to strongly advocate behavioral treatment), I believe that a combination of drug medication and behavioral therapy is the best way to encourage a child’s self esteem, performance in school, ability to make friends, and success in the future.
In order to decipher the best option for treating a disorder, it is obviously important to be very knowledgeable of the condition itself. After years of research and testing, what exactly causes ADHD is still a factor of obscurity. Studies have shown that ADHD has a strong genetic component; children are more likely to develop the disorder if one or both of their parents have it (or had symptoms in their childhood years). A staggering one-third of all fathers who had ADHD in their youth have children with ADHD. It is also known that in many cases of ADHD, the root of the probably seems to stem from a neurological perspective; the affected children tend to have dysregulation of neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that are used to transmit messages between nerve cells in the brain. In addition, there can be abnormal functioning in the nerve pathways that regulate behavior, and particular sections of the brain may be smaller or less active than normal. It is also suggested that other external and environmental factors can contribute to the development of ADHD. It is not uncommon for this behavior disorder to be diagnosed in children who had a low birth weight, a head injury to the frontal lobe during infancy, whose mothers smoked or drank alcohol during pregnancy, or who were exposed to lead or other various environmental toxins.
The most common symptoms in children are: inability to concentrate, easily bored/frustrated with tasks, constantly moving/restless, impulsive, forgetful, disorganized, avoid activities that necessitate a sustained effort, excessive talking, defiance, and problems with anger management. Because of these symptoms, many children have trouble with schoolwork, and are unable to thrive in social situations (they struggle to make friends, and have a hard time maintaining healthy relationships with family members and mentors).
Many speculate that ADHD is not a real disorder, that it is simply a fabrication of everyday characteristics and typical childlike behaviors. I know from experience, however, that this is not the case. My younger brother, who just turned 7 years old a few months ago, was diagnosed with ADHD this past year. Since the age of one and a half, he was a handful for my mother and father, and I’m not talking about the normal “terrible toddler” stage that every child goes through. He was constantly running to a fro; even with a large family of six of us to look after him, we could never seem to keep tabs on where he was. At night, getting him to sleep was an impossible task. After hours of trying to calm him down, we had to resort to getting locks for the outside of his room in hopes that he would stop sneaking out and eventually fall asleep. But he would just scream endlessly and kick the door so loud that we were getting complaints from the neighbors who could hear his tantrums through the night. In church, he could not sit still for even five minutes during a meeting. His Sunday school teachers could not handle him; he would fidget excessively, make a mess of the room, and talk excessively and blurt out things during the lesson. It was the same scenario at school but worse, because with a classroom of at least 20 kids, it was nearly impossible for his kindergarten teacher to pay as much attention to him individually as his behavior demanded. The first day of school he was sent to the assistant principal’s office, and nearly every day following that for the entire year. Sometimes he would even spend the entire week in ISS (In-School-Suspension) because he was so out of control. It got to the point where the school called my mother and requested that he be removed from public school and enrolled somewhere else where there were other children with Landon’s unusual “special needs”. Because he could not sit and focus, and long tasks were daunting to him, he was unable to learn to read and became increasingly behind the other children academically. Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is real. It is not an exaggeration, a result of bad parenting, or a lack of discipline. It is a true struggle that kids and their parents are going through across the country and all over the world. As I have watched my mother, I have seen how difficult it is to decide how to help your ADHD child, especially when there are so many options out there each with their own set of pros and cons) while simultaneously being judged and told she was a bad parent with no control over her own son.
When it comes to drug medication for ADHD, the most commonly prescribed (and typically most effective) are stimulants such as Ritalin, Adderall, Dexedrine, Concerta, Focaline, Metadate, Methylin, and Vyvanse. These medications have been used for the longest amount of time and therefore have the most research to back up their effectiveness. These drugs are believed to work by increasing dopamine (the neurotransmitter associated with motivation, pleasure, attention, and movement) levels in the brain. They help ADHD symptoms by increasing the ability to concentrate in addition to suppressing hyperactivity and impulsive actions.
While stimulants can be effective, for some patients the side effects outweigh the benefits. Some common side effects are loss of appetite (capable of causing unhealthy weight loss), headaches, upset stomach, irritability/mood swings, depression, dizziness, racing heartbeat, and tics. A few of these became apparent in the case of my brother, particularly the loss of appetite (he started to lose so much weight that my mom had to take him off the medication during the weekends so he would eat), as well the upset stomach and some minor tics. Also, stimulant medications may also cause changes in personality. Some children are become withdrawn, listless, rigid, develop obsessive-compulsive habits, or are less free-spirited and talkative.
It is crucial that an extensive medical exam (specifically an electrocardiogram) be performed before prematurely being prescribed to any stimulant medication. Because if your child has a heart defect/disease, high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism, glaucoma, or high levels of anxiety, they are at risk for even more serious side effects and even death.

Origins of Racism in Colonial America

2009-07-22T13:46:00.003-06:00

My topic explores how racism took shape as white-supremacy in the American colonies. I want to know specifically if white-supremacy existed in such a strong state before slavery was passed as statutory law. I think that it's possible that racism could have developed as a way to justify slavery in respect to the Constitution. My argument is kairotic because many people are still unfamiliar with the origins of racism in the colonies. Racism is an issue that Americans still deal with everyday, and I think that exploring the origins of this issue is an important thing to do.

I think that statistics from the time period will be helpful in my argument. If I can find statistics about African-Americans landowners and slaves, I may be able to incorporate that into my argument. Statistics in history often legitimize a claim or argument.

Comparison by degree will also be helpful to me in my argument. I plan on going through the history of colonial American beginning at about 1600 in order to compare the degrees of racism that were apparent from that point until slavery was made lawful. This will give me the proper insight and credibility in my argument because my issue specifically deals with events in relation to time.

North Korea's nuclear agenda

2009-07-22T13:37:00.002-06:00

I decided to do my issues paper over the issue within N. Korea's nuclear agenda. They have been rebelling against the rest of the world reguarding their nuclear weapons program for years and they need to be humbled. This issue is very important to other countries around the globe because they sense N. Korea is a threat.

Deaf Schools in the US

2009-07-22T13:06:00.000-06:00

My topic is about deaf schools and their capabilities on helping their students be able to grow in a hearing world after graduation. The major issues in my topic is the fact that some of the deaf schools in the US are being closed because of budget cuts. My argument is kairotic because there has been a lot of debate around the subject of the deaf school's closing and I think that if I can prove that the capabilities of the deaf schools truly help those who are deaf then the school's might not shut down. I will also be comparing the school's in the US to those in possibly the UK but I have not been able to find very much information on that front yet.

The three types of arguments that I am going to use are: definition by class or category, statistics, and cause and effect.

I think that the definition of exactly what a successful deaf school is would be very helpful so that people can be aware that they are very successful which would be backed up by my statistics and then I would use cause and effect to show how the closing of some of the deaf school's has been traumatic for the kids and how the kids who have been able to continue through the deaf school programs have been able to excel.

September 11, 2001: Adrienne

2009-07-22T12:41:00.003-06:00

I decided to research whether the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center justified the US attack on Iraq. I knew that i wanted to do one about the attacks but wasn't really sure how to narrow it. I finally decided to research if it was reason enough to attack Iraq. I will be able to argue by using cause and effect, authority, and antecent and consequence.

racism on radio

2009-07-22T12:40:00.002-06:00

For my issues paper I decided to go with is: should radio speech be restricted by the U.S. government. I chose to do this with recent speculation of critics regarding Don Imus' attacks on the Rutgers girls basketball team. This is narrowed because I originally went with Racism is still very much alive in the U.S., and that's pretty broad. Major issues are: people choosing to get offended, and speech being free. This is very much an issue, and it's a bad one, because limiting freedom of speech is a slippery slope nobody wants to go down. This will help because it is a controversial issue.

Homosexuality in the political process

2009-07-22T12:36:00.002-06:00

I was going to do the effects of Barak Obamas candidacy on the passage of prop 8. I had to narrow it to focus on the effects of differing racial views on homosexuality as regaurds to politics. I belive that I can argue using definition by class or caatagorey. i can also use comparison by difference.

Depression in Teenage Girls

2009-07-22T12:07:00.002-06:00

The topic for my paper is going to be on how the media affects depression in teenage girls. I had original just wanted to do a paper on the affects of the media on teenage girls, but that was to big of a subject. I would like to take the stance that the media has a very negative affect on how girls view themselves and then puts them at higher risk for depression. I am still doing research so I haven't come up with all of the arguments yet, because I haven't had a lot of time to do research, but I would love to look at if the affect that the media has in America is different then in another country, like England. I just feel like this could be fascinating if I really do the research right.

College Napping: Scott

2009-07-22T11:37:00.003-06:00

My research topic is College Napping. I was just going to do the art of napping however that is much too broad so i narrowed it down to focus on bus college students and napping. The major issues on my topic are simply are naps good or bad. I have found many articles that show the pros and cons of napping so there is a lot of information to look at for both sides of the argument. This is a popular topic and many have different views about short naps. Some arguments i can make it that if you take a short nap a day than you will be more attentive and do better in you school work. Another argument is that a short nap makes you more tired and groggy and doesnt help for catching up for lost sleep.

2009-07-22T10:49:00.001-06:00

My general topic is NAFTA. To narrow it, I am either going to focus on the negative affects on Mexican farmers, or the negative affects on U.S. factory workers. Critics of NAFTA say it has caused U.S. companies to send jobs from the U.S. to Mexico, because labor is much cheaper there. So businesses are taking advantage of Mexicans, and many jobs have been taken away from low wage jobs in the U.S. Also, small Mexican farms have suffered because of businesses.
I could argue that moving your business to a country that has no minimum wage is morally wrong and should be a punishable thing. I could also argue that NAFTA has caused American jobs to be lost, and wages to lower at jobs that could have been transferred across the border

My Research Topic

2009-07-22T10:37:00.002-06:00

For my topic I knew wanted to do something about meditation, but I was having a hard time focusing that into an arguable issue, so I decided to make the main issue about alternative medicine and more specifically meditation. There is still some controversy about whether or not meditation can be a physiological cure or treatment and thats what I'll be focusing my argument on. A few types of arguments I could make would be a contradiction: either meditation is useful as a type of alternative medicine, or it isn't, or comparison by degree: meditation could be a useful treatment for some issues but not all, or I could argue about the definition by class or category: meditation is just one means of alternative medicine that could be helpful. All of those types of arguments are kind of what I want to focus on in my thesis and could be important arguments in my paper.

PTSD

2009-07-22T10:30:00.003-06:00

My topic is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how the U.S. Government needs to better recognize the signs and symptoms in order to diagnose and treat war veterans. What I want to do is talk about the history of PTSD in the military and narrow it down by coming up with a specific treatment that I think is the best and argue that the government should provide funding and rehabilitation. As of right now PTSD is too narrowly defined which makes it hard for veterans to receive treatment for it. I also want to argue that they need screenings for all soldiers when they return home from war. As of right now, there are too many soldiers who go without treatment because they either do not understand what PTSD is exactly or that they are nervous that if they have it, they will not be able to return to active duty. The different arguments I think that i will use are testimony, authority and cause and effect. I think that this will be really effective in arguing my point.

Weed

2009-07-22T10:28:00.002-06:00

My research topic is about swimming more than anything else. I may need to broaden it to athletes in general but for now i want to go with swimming because as a swimmer I have knowledge of the sport and what could be conducive to excellence. I want to emphasis, indtead of the rising problem with marijuana in athletes, the properties of the drug that may in fact help athletes improve especially in respect to technique. Obviously I will be including health concerns that go along with it as well as the moral issues behind breaking the law. Word of Wisdom may also play a part but that depends on the prospective audience. Arguments could be a moral issue over performance enhancers or a comparison between users and not.

Issues Paper

2009-07-22T10:08:00.002-06:00

I have decided to do my research paper on the War in Iraq. Specifically pulling the troops out of iraq. It is an issue that has been talked about ever since we entered the war and has just recently begun to start. I plan on talking about both sides of the issue as why they should stay and why they should leave. In different times, there have been different reasons to stay and to leave so I will talk about the issues. It has been a huge issue and was one of the major issues talked about in the presidential debates.

Capital What?

2009-07-21T17:22:00.000-06:00

I’ve decided to do my issues paper on capital punishment and how it’s unconstitutional. Unfortunately, I think I need to better narrow my topic because of how broad it is. The three major issues this topic faces today is, does it go against our unalienable rights, is it morally sound, and is there a better solution to this problem. Some of the argument is that it prevents the taking of an innocent lives, it in fact does not make society safer, and that it’s a just consequence for those who choose evil. I think because I have so much research to work with that the difficulty of this paper can go ether way: easy because it helps me look at all points to the issue, or hard because the overwhelming amount and how broad it is. Also, because the church of Jesus Christ for later day saints “neither promote nor oppose capital punishment (go to http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/public-issues/capital-punishment)” I find that this topic will be very interesting to research because the choice I am now presented.

My Research paper

2009-07-21T17:19:00.002-06:00

For this project, I am going to investigate the use of sweat shops and the fashion industry. I haven't exactly decided how I am going to narrow it down, but I'm debating between a specific area or a specific company to research. I think it would be interesting in both areas, but am leaning more towards a company such as Nike or Disney.

I feel like I could discuss how the big companies are violating the human rights of the people working and how it compares to wages in America. I could then talk about how this is cruel and unusual punishment and no one deserves this kind of treatment supported by real life examples(testimonies). I could also argue how certain regions are affected by this kind of work and if it is useful and affective.

Adoption from China

2009-07-21T16:00:00.002-06:00

For my issues paper I am writing about the controversial topic of adopting a child from China. This doesn't seem as if it would be controversial but new guidlines and rules have made it extremely difficult to adopt. Through this topic many other subtopics come up like interracial adoption and the pros and cons of that, and also international adoption. Also i will mainly be focusing on the proven facts of the childs life being adopted to an american family and the "new life" as some scholars call it that these children get.

ADD/ADHD: Medication vs. Behavioral Treatment in Elementary Aged Children

2009-07-21T12:02:00.000-06:00

My research topic is ADHD/ADD, and I am narrowing it to focus on medication vs. behavioral treatment for elementary aged children. I will examine the positive and negative effects of both routes, and determine which I think which I believe is a more successful path.
The major issues of this topic are the controversial arguments of whether medication is a benefit or a detriment to the child. While medication can help some aspects of the child’s struggles, it can also have some very negative side effects, including stunted growth, weight loss, sleep disturbances, and an increased risk of becoming addicted to illegal stimulants later in life. In addition, many argue that medication is not a cure for ADD, it is simply masks the symptoms and does not help the child change. Research has shown however, that even the most dedicated of doctors and parents who choose to solely use behavioral methods, have had little success.
I think the most important thing I can do in this paper is to deeply analyze the cause and effects of both medication and behavioral treatment, and from there weigh the pros and cons.

Issues paper

2009-07-21T09:18:00.002-06:00

My topic is Wind Turbines and I've narrowed to the potential benefits and problems that could be associated with them. I've found very good information in the HBL website especially the opposing views section. Since this is a very polarized issue opposing viewpoints are valuable. I haven't decided what my argument is regarding wind turbines I have always been all for them, but I've been discovering a lot of economic disadvantages to them in my research. Some potential argument for pro-wind turbines include, they are better for the environment (I personally still don't know if I believe in man made global warming, but I do believe that it isn't good for the planet to release all of the pollutants that we do), they are a renewable source of energy, they would lessen our addiction to foreign oil (some of the money we spend on oil so it ends up in the hands of terrorists). Some arguments against wind turbines are, they aren't economically feasible if the government spends money on them it only increases peoples taxes and electric bill, and they kill birds.

source 4

2009-07-17T15:29:00.004-06:00

Harry Potter and the Soucerer's Stone. Dir. Chris Columbus. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe. Warner Bros., 2001.

Source 3

2009-07-17T15:28:00.011-06:00

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Dir. Chris Columbus. Perf. Richard Harris and Maggie Smith. Warner Bros., 2001.

we are #1

2009-07-17T15:28:00.010-06:00

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Dir. Chris Columbus. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe. DVD. Warner Bros. Pictures , 2001.

Source 4

2009-07-17T15:28:00.009-06:00

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Dir. Chris Columbus. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Harris. Warner Bros., 2001.

Source 4

2009-07-17T15:28:00.005-06:00

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Dir. Chris Columbus. Perf. Richard Harris and Maggie Smith. Warner Bros., 2001.

source 3

2009-07-17T15:22:00.009-06:00

Muhlestein, Daniel K. "Subversion and Containment in Orson Scott Card's Xenocide." Literature and Belief 23.2: 89-110.

Source 3

2009-07-17T15:22:00.008-06:00

Muhlestein, Daniel K., "Subversion and Containment of Orson Scott Card's Xenocide." Literature and Belief 23.2: 89-110.

Source 3

2009-07-17T15:22:00.007-06:00

Muhlestein, Daniel K. "Subversion and Containment in Orson Scott Card's Xenocide." Literature And Belief 23.2: 89-110.

traditional journal article

2009-07-17T15:21:00.005-06:00

Muhlestein, Daniel K. "Subversion and Containment in Orson Scott card's Xenocide." Literature and Belief 23.2: 89-110.

Source 3

2009-07-17T15:21:00.003-06:00

Muhlestein, Daniel K. "Sudversion and Containment in Orson Scott Card's Xenocide." Literature and Belief 23.2: 89-110.

source 2

2009-07-17T15:12:00.008-06:00

Kipling, Rudyard. " 'Wireless'. " The Oxford Book of English Short Stories. Ed. A.S.Byatt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. 110-126.

Source 2

2009-07-17T15:12:00.007-06:00

Work Cited
Kipling, Rudyard. "Wireless." The Oxford Book Of English Short Stories. Ed. A. S. Byatt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. 110-126.

source 2

2009-07-17T15:12:00.006-06:00

Kipling,Rudyrad. Wireless The Oxford Book of Short Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Source 2

2009-07-17T15:11:00.004-06:00

Kipling, Rudyard. "Wireless." The Oxford Book of English Short Stories. Ed. A.S. Byatt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 110-126.

Source #2

2009-07-17T15:11:00.003-06:00

Kipling, Rudyard. "Wireless." The Oxford Book fo English Short Stories. Ed. A.S. Bryatt. Oxford: Oxford Paperback, 1998. 110-126.

Jennifer Jessica Macy Derek

2009-07-17T15:03:00.002-06:00

Sporee, Dennis J. Perceiving the arts Introduction to the Humanities. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.

Source 1

2009-07-17T15:01:00.005-06:00

Spore, Dennis J. Perceiving the Arts: An Introduction to the Humanities. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006

Source 1

2009-07-17T15:01:00.004-06:00

Sporre, Dennis J. Perceiving the Arts: An Introduciton to the Humanities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2006.

source 1

2009-07-17T15:00:00.006-06:00

Sporre, Dennis J. Perceiving the Arts: An Introduction to the Humanities. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson: Prentice Hall, 2006.

Source 1

2009-07-17T15:00:00.004-06:00

Work cited
Sporrre, Dennis J. Perceiving the Arts: An Introduction to the Humanities. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2006.

my publishing process

2009-07-17T11:20:00.002-06:00

I published my Opinion Editorial onto Facebook. I made it into a message and invited many of my friends who I thought would benefit from reading it to read the message. I was satisfied about how easy it was to publish it and get my work out there. My friends really liked my work because they could relate to it in some way or another and that is why I invited them. I think of my writing a lot differently now that I published it and has benefited others because it gives my work a sense of professionalism. It is a good feeling knowing my work can touch peoples lives.

Publishing

2009-07-16T01:44:00.002-06:00

I really want to be able to have the parking department read my paper. I have yet to come up with a really good way for them to do that other than having it published in the Daily Universe. Although I think that it would be really fun to have my paper in the DU, I'm not sure if that is the best way to get a response from the people I want to appeal to. I guess that its a start though so I have submitted my paper to the Daily Universe and hopefully I will see it there soon. If it does not end up in the paper however, i have been able to share my paper with various other BYU students, in hopes of them being more interested in my cause.

Sharing my Opinion Editorial

2009-07-15T15:30:00.000-06:00

I decided to post my opinion editorial in a note on facebook. I was surprised how many people actually took the time to read it. I wrote my opinion editorial on the unfair housing restrictions regarding visitors in Wyview Park. Several of my friends on facebook also live in Wyview, and the majority of them commented on how they agreed with my opinion; they too wish the policy would change. On the other hand, a couple people said they disagreed with me. They thought the rules were completely reasonable, and understood why the University has instated such strict guidelines. Sharing my editorial with a real audience made writing more interesting, because it felt more like my opinion meant something and was influential in some small way.

sharing my opinion editorial

2009-07-15T15:27:00.001-06:00

I thought a good way to share my opinion editorial would be to share it with some of the guys on my floor and get feedback on the paper and the issue. The guys in my dorm are in the same situation as me so I am interested in what they think of the issue. I also have posted my paper on facebook to get the thoughts of fellow BYU students. Since I plan on publishing this in the daily universe it will be shown to BYU students so showing it to BYU students now and getting their opinion is a great way to see what they think on the issue.

Recycling: one apartment at a time

2009-07-15T15:27:00.000-06:00

As I was writing my opinion editorial (on recycling) I was sharing information about the topic with my roommates. I didn't want to publish my article on facebook, because it probably wouldn't effect people the way I intended it to. So instead, I just shared the final draft with my roommates, both of whom knew nothing about recycling previous to meeting me. I was content with the way it turned out, and was glad I could share it with people who would listen to and respect what I had to say. Because of my recycling, my roommates and I now all recycle, we even have a little recycling drawer in the kitchen. Life's good.

opinion editorial response

2009-07-15T15:23:00.001-06:00

The experience I had with completing my essay with Google.docs was rewarding in that my eyes were opened to a possible examination of a future with writing. I liked the experience of posting my essay online for people to read, and I think it would be cool to be a journalist or perhaps a blogger. People responded to my article positively, after all it was a decent essay that I shared, so overall it was a good experience. As for sharing it, I e-mailed it to close friends and family to read and help me out with the essay, before I submitted it to The Daily Universe, which I hope to do.

Publising Opinon Editorial

2009-07-15T15:21:00.000-06:00

I decided to share my opinon editorial with the girls on my floor who also came from the same diverse background that I am from. I thought it would be nice to get there input on the subject matter and their reactions to my argument about diversity. After reading what I wrote, they agreed with my argument about lack of diversity and wanted to know what they could do about it. When we discussed it, we thought that it would be in our best interest to share my paper with BYUSA and the student body president. So I am currently in the process of sharing it with both of those organizations. As excited as I am that everyone responded so well to my article, I am hesitant to share it with a higher school organization.

Sharing my O.E.- Scott

2009-07-15T15:20:00.001-06:00

For sharing my opinion editorial, I thought that I would email it to some guys in my dorms and get more feedback on my paper before I decided to send it into the Daily Universe. I havent gotten any feedback yet, but i am hoping to get some responses that will be both positive and negative to help me see both sides of my arguments through the eyes of my own peers. If I get more positive and people agreeing with my paper, I am planning on sending it into the Daily Universe for further review. Hopefully by next time I can do a follow up and i will have more feedback and know what the next step I am going to take with sharing my opinion editorial.

publishing reflectiong

2009-07-15T15:20:00.000-06:00

I wrote my article with BYU students in mind. Since I plan on publishing with the Daily Universe I didn’t have to change my work at all. I’m very excited about publishing because I am very interested in the issue that I wrote about and I am interested to see how people will react to it. Because I always had BYU students in mind I was able to adapt my work to my audience. For example I quoted President Hinckley and the scriptures which wouldn’t work for most other audiences. I also had to make sure that I was absolutely clear that I stood with the church 100% to avoid any unpleasant retaliation.

Sharing the Honor!

2009-07-15T15:17:00.000-06:00

This was very interesting to me. When I looked over the paper that I had written I decided to us it as an example for an Enrichment thing in my Ward. I am in my Ward's Relief Society Presidency and am in charge of planning ward enrichment activities. So I decided that this topic, since we are all BYU students, would be a very interesting topic to present to all of the other girls in the ward. I am very happy with the way that it turned out. It got a lot of girls thinking about how they are living the honor code, and if they are not following certain guideline listed in the honor code. It got people thinking, and asking questions about themselves and others. I am hoping that I will have some more affects in the future and people will do more then just talk about following the honor code, but will actually follow it more. I even thinking about doing this it really got me thinking about if my writing was something that other people would understand. Was it something that others could relate to? While most who read this could understand what I said, it is interesting to see how some don't follow it and disagree with everything you said, no matter what it is that you said. Doing this is really going to make me think about my finished writing product in the future and how it relates to the audience.

PG-13 is becoming the new R publishment

2009-07-15T15:14:00.000-06:00

My original plan for publishing my article was to just share it with some of the people in my ward, but after discussing with six of them yesterday on the way home from Harry Potter they thought that I should try and it get it published through the Daily Universe as a letter to the editor. We found it horrible that Harry Potter was only rated PG and we discussed how we don't want our kids or our cousins or siblings seeing that until they are at least 13. I loved being able to talk to others about it and get a reaffirmation that there are a lot more people who do agree with me. It was just reassuring and made me want to do even more with it.

opinion published

2009-07-15T15:13:00.005-06:00

I published my paper on facebook and I haven't recieved any feedback yet. It will be interesting tto see the take my nonmember friends from home have on it. As my opinion editorial had a lot of religious aspects to it I feel like it may be difficult to understand some of it but I hope it will give them a better knowledge of BYU and its workings. If it is well liked I may want to take it further but I kind of doubt that. Mostly I think I will be getting kind comments from friends who didn't even read the whole thing as opposed to general feedback. It was kind of interesting to take a step back and consider which people I wanted to read this paper and what response they may have to it.

Published my editorial

2009-07-15T15:13:00.004-06:00

While contemplating where to publish my opinion editorial I was stuck. There was always the facebook option but my topic really wouldn't have an effect on my friends since I wrote about bringing your children to class, and most of them are around my age. So I decided to submit a summary of my editorial to the Daily Universe. I figured that would be the spot were most parents who are also students would be able to read it and i would be able to maybe get my argument across and hopefully make a difference.

I'm published!

2009-07-15T15:13:00.003-06:00

To publish my opinion editorial, I went onto facebook and made a note. I tagged all of my friends who are BYU students and asked them to read, then respond to my paper. I was really surprised at the responses that I got. Almost everyone said that they love boy bands and that they stil have all the music that they listened to back in the 90's. I didn't think that this was one of my best paper's ever, but everyone said that it was well done so that made me feel better about it.

Publishing Thing

2009-07-15T15:13:00.002-06:00

I am currently taking steps toward the publication of my Opinion Editorial. I have given a copy of it, after discussion, to a close friend and ranking soviet in BYUSA. I am also currently trying to condense my editorial as well as include new insights so that it will be fit for submission to The Daily Universe and other possible on-campus areas of publication.

I am happy with what I've written and am excited about the new additions. I have been able to sway many people, and hope to be able to reach out even further through publication.

Publishing My Opinion Editorial

2009-07-15T15:12:00.002-06:00

I currently don't know for sure if my essay will be published but I submitted it to be published in the Daily Universe. I think it is an applicable topic that all students could relate to, as well as staff in general, so I hope that more people will be able to read it. If it isnt published in the Daily Universe I think I might publish it on Facebook where I know people will undoubtedly be able to see it. I am interested to see just how many people feel the same way I do about the lack of clarity about he interet policies. And I also think it's a good way to let people know about Besafe and its resources.

Wheres The Opposition?

2009-07-15T15:12:00.001-06:00

After I had been given the assignment to publish my opinion editorial somewhere so that the public can see, I instantly thought of face book. Between me and my friends we like to argue; therefore, when someone has an opinion they post it on their profile notebook hoping for a potential argument. When I posted my article, “No More Good Byes” an opinion about the MTC drop of policy; I was bombarded with comments from all over. Most of which were just complements like thank you and good job but other actually agreed by saying, “My 4-year old cousin came down with swine flu and she made a complete recovery. I'm sure if a young child can fight it off, a 19-year old man would definitely be able to do the same. I don't get how longer goodbyes somehow increase the missionaries' chances of getting swine flu. . . Where's the logic in that? (Comment from Aubrey Henderson)” I thought this was interesting to see, although, I would of liked a little more opposition from my friends. Hopefully I’ll get to participate in some heated discussions in the near future.

Friends Are Afraid

2009-07-15T15:11:00.001-06:00

Looking back on my opinion editorial, I am happy with what I had to share in my final piece. So far, I've received some input from the people that have read my editorial and the responses have been overwhelmingly positive, although, this may be due to relations I have with these people; most of them know me personally, many share my same viewpoints, and many would probably be slow to criticize anything that I write because of their relationship to me.

I think that so far I've tailored the publishing of my editorial to an audience that already shares opinions that are similar to my own. In the future I would like to present this article to an audience that isn't so familiar with the arguments I've posed in my piece. After all, that's what my intended audience was when I wrote that editorial. I've learned that pieces of writing only catalyze new thought when written to the proper audience, and then shared with that particular audience; presenting an article to the proper audience can be just as important as writing to the proper audience.

The trouble with generalization

2009-07-13T14:27:00.000-06:00

In the article, “Why you can’t sit down to eat without making a statement,” Author Scott Canon attempts to make the point that locally grown and organic produce is better than buying from big growers. The arguments that he uses to make his case can at times be compelling, however he misses the point when he makes gross overstatements and sweeping generalizations. His audience is most likely to believe his point already and it feels like the rampant fallacies in his rhetoric are excused by this.
He gives a lot of credence to the power of the consumer. While he never does openly state this point, he does say things like, “Purchasing McNuggets is a tacit endorsement of Big Agriculture,” and, “Picky eaters are every bit as influential as politicians.” Statements like these make it seem as if the consumer is all powerful. He forgets to mention that people on a budget can’t always afford organic produce. Not to mention that most produce from a farmers market is also more expensive.
There is also a lack of reality in this piece. The idea that we consumers can control the market in any sustainable way borders on the fanciful. The movie industry is a perfect example. For years the most popular movies, those that consistently sell the most tickets have been the more family friendly ones. Yet, despite the data that these movies make much more money than less family friendly ones, Hollywood continues to crank out movie after movie that demoralize our society with their eroding values. To assume that we can consume that which, in many areas, is not readily available is not a sound argument by any means.

Water bottles: Simple Convience or wasteful Hazard?

2009-07-13T14:15:00.002-06:00

In Joshua Ortega's article for The Seattle Times: Water Wars: Bottling Up the World's Supply of H2O he argues that the growing use of water bottles in the nation and the world is dangerous. He brings out stats and factual information that establish credibility and hook the reader. He points out the dangers the plastic that goes into these water bottles present and describes the wasteful process that water bottles go through when being made. He comments on the lack of recycling and points out that because of all these billions of water bottles our landfills are filling faster than ever. Ortega uses his credibilty to hook the reader with solid facts, after which he describes dangers of the water bottle-drinking practice and moves smoothly into educating the reader on how each of us can make a change. Ortega's devices permit the reader to see evidence of the travesty of water bottles and helps us to realize and contribute everything we can do to help.

Ortega uses wonderful imagery as he portrays, for the reader, the gargantuan amount of water bottles used in this country and the small percentage of that number that is recycled yearly. Through his relatively short and simple writing style he creates a clear picture of an overflowing landfill that is bursting with bottles while the recycling bins have a few measly plastic containers in them. Towards the end of his paragraph he connects this neverending pile of trash with his previous argument about the fact that this water is actually more unhealthy than tap water. The effects of this imagery creates an emotion of disgust in the audience which was clearly the writer's intent. We, as a people, do not enjoy trash, hence, our blatant disdain for professions like janitor on garbage man. This argument that Ortega makes, appeals directly to the disgust we already feel for trash and garbage in general. The connection to unclean water just solidifies our agreement with him and pushes us away from any desire to partake of this unhealthy, trashcan-filler.

8c: Water Wars

2009-07-13T14:12:00.000-06:00

In an article called Water Wars: Bottling Up the World’s Supply of H20, written by Joshua Ortega, an author and comic artist, Ortega addresses the harmful effects of bottled water and the rising privatization of one of the world’s natural resources: water. This was published in The Seattle Times in 2005 where awareness was newly being spread about “going green.” He outlines the facts and negative effects of the privatization of water, bottling it, and then calls the reader to action while giving achievable solutions to the problem. Ortega conveniently and effectively uses different techniques and tools to grab the reader’s attention in order to inform and persuade the reader to make a change and use tap water as opposed to bottled.
With in the first four words of the article Ortega has already grabbed the reader’s attention. “Clean, unpolluted, affordable water.” He uses a fragment, which is usually considered a bad thing in writing that should be edited, but in this case, it is used to create impact. The diction also allows for an image of clean fresh water to flow into the reader’s mind. This sets up the rest of the article nicely because he dangles that idea of clean affordable water in front of the reader and then proceeds to explain that it could soon be taken away if there is no action taken to preserve the free access to water that is necessary to us all. No one can live without water, and this first fragment reminds us of that. The reader is unknowingly being set up for disappointment from the idea that our water could soon be unaffordable and therefore inaccessible to us all.
Ortega makes many logical appeals using statistics, numbers, and facts that are meant to shock the reader. As he begins to describe exactly how plastic water bottles are made and what they are made out of, PET, he gives the statistic that “17.5 kilograms of water [are used] to produce only 1 kilogram of PET,” which is only slightly ironic until he states that, “In fact, more water is used to make PET bottles than is actually put into them.” The irony of that statement is surprising to the reader. It creates a measurable image in the reader’s mind that allows them to see just how much water is used, and perhaps wasted, to produce these water bottles. When those kinds of facts are presented the reader becomes more and more informed as to what goes into the production of plastic bottles and is then committed to finding out what other things come from this seemingly convenient way to carry water.
In order to help the reader understand that bottled water may be convenient at the time, but ultimately less than helpful for consumers, he calls it a “Band-Aid solution.” We all know that band-aids help to protect an injury, but they are not what actually help it heal. They merely cover the damage, though the injury can still get infected even with a band-aid. This analogy helps illustrate his argument that there is a problem with the privatization of water, but it is still giving the companies more power and making the consumers vulnerable and helpless. This serves as another realization for the reader.

2b - Oversimplification of Globalization

2009-07-13T13:53:00.002-06:00

In her article, “The Global Monoculture,” Canadian environmentalist Maude Barlow makes her case for localization of entertainment and culture while trouncing the idea of globalization. As the article was first published in Canadian Perspectives magazine, of which she is on the board of directors and writes an introductory letter that is published in the opening pages of every issue, she relies on her authority and familiarity with her readers in order to effectively make her point to her intended audience. With this as her background, in this article, her tone is apparent from the beginning as she stacks the deck in her favor by distorting and ignoring contrary views and oversimplifying the issue of globalization to make it appear completely negative; this technique is effective to her target audience, but probably not so much to other readers.

In the beginning of her article, Barlow’s diction immediately begins to create the tone of her argument. She uses the word “monoculture” instead of “globalization” in attempt to make spread of one culture seem like a negative instead of a positive thing. She exaggerates and claims that “the global monoculture has infiltrated every corner of the Earth (italics added).” Moreover, she further advances her negative view on globalization of culture by saying that “North American corporate culture is destroying local tradition, knowledge, skills, artisans and values (italics added).” As she states these claims, she backs it up with no evidence, and doesn’t suggest that the cultures may just change to coexist with the spreading culture in the world. Already apparent is her tactic of oversimplifying the issue and creating an either-or situation in which North American corporate culture would be forced to not spread at all, or “destroy” every culture it comes into contact with.

She continues her argument with a similar tactic of making the issue of globalization as black and white as possible. One way that she does this is by making an overstatement of people’s opinions, and not providing any information as to where she got this idea and what gives her the authority to say it. She says, “Many societies, particularly indigenous peoples, view culture as their richest heritage, without which they have not roots, history or souls.” This again makes western culture corporations look as though they are destroying all other cultures that they come into contact with. Barlow makes this statement without a quote of anybody whose culture is threatened, such as an aborigine. Instead, she merely trusts that with her background, her readers will trust what she has to say and recognize her as an authority on this issue.

Farther into the article, Barlow brings her Canadian background into the picture to tug at the heartstrings of her readers. As she does this, she again makes a claim without using a direct quote, and uses her own diction illustrate the picture that she wants the readers to see. Speaking of a “1997 ruling in which the US successfully forced Canada to abandon protections for its magazine industry,” she says: “Former US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky triumphantly declared that the decision would serve as a useful weapon against other countries’ attempts to protect their film, books and broadcasting industries (italics added).” Without giving the exact quote of Ms. Barshefsky, Barlow creates somewhat strawperson situation and is able to shape the situation into what she wishes her readers to see by using certain words to create her own message. An exact quote may not have seemed as ominous as Barlow’s self-interpreted, oversimplified, and therefore, distorted view.

Earth to Ehrenreich

2009-07-13T13:39:00.010-06:00

Cameron Roberts

Sister Cowley

English 150

15 July 2009

Space

UFO's, aliens and spaceships, according to Barbara Ehrenreich, extra-terrestrials along with Wal-Mart, are on-route to go through with their evil plan to invade planet earth and destroy all of the inhabitants. Barbara Ehrenreich feels very strongly that the world-famous company known as Wal-Mart is going to eventually overrun every business in the United States, and take over the planet. To fully understand her viewpoints concerning the atrocities of Wal-Mart, one must first analyze her roots. Barbara Ehrenreich is a feminist, democratic socialist, and political activist with very firm viewpoints. In addition to this she is a widely read columnist and essayist, and the author of nearly 20 books published world-wide. Keeping all this in mind, it is helpful to note that she is a passionate writer who likes to voice her opinions.

To further articulate her points and demonstrate how big of a problem Wal-Mart is to us earthlings, Ehrenreich uses several different writing techniques to her advantage. In order to rally her audience with her to revolt against the oppressive space regime known as Wal-Mart, Ehrenreich employs personification, vivid imagery and allusions to convey her belief that Wal-Mart is a company influenced by evil space-men.

The first tool that Ehrenreich likes to use is personification as it adds to her style as a writer and uniqueness. For starters, the title of her essay "Wal-Martian Invasion," is an instant attention grabber on her audience. This immediately shows the reader that she feels contempt towards the giant corporation. Ehrenreich uses personification to make the work more lively and to further connect with the reader’s emotional side. Another good example of Ehrenreich’s usage of personification is in the quote “But a creature afflicted with the appetite of a starved hyena doesn’t have time for niceties.” Ehrenreich likens Wal-Mart to a hyena, which is a wild-animal notorious for its scavenger tendencies. This technique is very effective in the work because it forces the reader to envision Wal-Mart as a wretched company that is like a hyena in that it manipulates and exploits to get what it wants. The last example of personification lies in the quote “No one knows exactly when the pod landed on our planet, but it seemed normal enough during its early years of gentle expansion.” Ehrenreich compares the founding of Wal-Mart to the beginning of a seemingly friendly space invasion of earth, which eventually turns malicious. This quote is so effective because it makes the reader feel duped, like they should have realized what was evolving out of this company. As a result of this the reader sides with Ehrenreich furthermore, and thus Ehrenreich establishing her Ethos for the rest of the essay.

Another technique Ehrenreich uses to convince the reader to ally with her is vivid imagery. Throughout this particular essay, Ehrenreich is constantly painting a picture in the reader’s head in order to assist in complete understanding of how astronomical she believes this Wal-Mart threat to really be. One good example of her using vivid imagery is contained inside the quote “by the year 4004, every square inch of the United States will be covered by supercenters.”With this particular line, Ehrenreich designs a near Doomsday-like picture. A world with no tall trees, or even green grass is an image that’s near haunting. However, it’s one that Ehrenreich constructs in order to get her reader fearful of a world to come that would be nothing like anyone has ever seen. By doing this, Ehrenreich gets the support of her audience by citing a universal fear as something that’s completely possible if things were to stay the same. Which at the same time she also establishes her Pathos for the paper by attacking the reader’s fear, and thus appealing to the reader’s emotions “Wal-Mart will be in trouble long before that, of course, because with everyone on the planet working for the company or its suppliers, hardly anyone will be able to shop there.” This quote is another great example of Ehrenreich appealing to the reader’s emotions. By saying this in the essay, she forces the reader to imagine a world of conformity and uniformity, which is designed to inject fear, thus convincing the reader to desire to take a stand against a world dominated by Wal-Mart. Another mental image this quote creates is one of speculation. Ehrenreich makes the reader view a working-class enslaved by Wal-Mart, and forced to work and suffer for this perpetually-growing company. By creating these intimidating visual images, Ehenreich gets the emotional support of the reader.

Another tool that Ehrenreich likes to use is allusions. She alludes to several things throughout the short essay, but opens with references to the 2004 presidential election. With this first allusion, Ehrenreich confirms any doubts for her support of the Democratic Party and its candidates. “Now the conflict’s gone national as a presidential campaign issue, with John Kerry hammering the mega-retailer for its abysmally low-wages and Dick Cheney praising it for its ‘spirit of enterprise, fair dealing and integrity.’” Throughout the essay, ehrenreich bashes Wal-Mart, and makes it safe for the reader to conclude that Ehrenreich is aligned with the Democratic Party. Nevertheless, the real intention of Ehrenreich by opening up with this quote is to show how this issue has gone global, heating up both sides of the spectrum. It works as a nice prelude to her piece, laying down the grounds for her controversial issue she is a bout to tackle.

Barbara Ehrenreich is a firm critic of Wal-Mart. She makes it known to all who read her piece that she believes now is the time to change before this corporate titan expands anymore, and gets further out of the people’s control. In attempt to rally her audience with her and revolt against the oppressive space regime known as Wal-Mart, Ehrenreich employs personification, vivid imagery and allusions to convey her belief that Wal-Mart is a company influenced by evil space-men.

Wal-Martian Invasion

2009-07-13T13:22:00.005-06:00

The article “Wal-Martian Invasion” was first was published in The Baltimore Sun in July 2004. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author, voices her opinion on the constant growth of Wal-Mart and its inhumane acts towards its employees. She writes with the intent to persuade the people who read The Baltimore Sun to work together to stop this economic giant from taking over the city and America. The majority of Ehrenreich’s argument is focused on the metaphor that Wal-Mart is just like an alien invasion. “No one knows exactly when the pod landed on our planet, but it seemed normal enough…” These are words the author uses to describe Wal-Mart’s beginning. “Earth to Wal-Mars, or wherever you come from: Live with us or go back to the mothership,” is Ehrenreich’s final plea for her readers to see the problem that Wal-Mart is creating in our world and to put a final stop to it. Ehrenreich also uses plenty of different images to scare the audience into seeing her view. Among these are images of employees locked in a store at night and unable to find a way out in the midst of an emergency, or Wal-Mart being a sweatshop just like those in third world countries. These are not positive images and the author knows that they will help sway the opinion of her audience. Ehrenreich, through these rhetorical tools and strategies, opens the eyes of her audience to the effect of Wal-Mart on today’s world.
Ehrenreich uses her alien analogy throughout her whole article. From the title to the ending sentence, she keeps this image in our minds of Wal-Mart being a strange and possibly dangerous organization. “This could be the central battle of the 21^st century: Earth people vs. the Wal-Martians.” Here, the author groups all the people on earth together. This makes the audience think that if they are human, they should be fighting against Wal-Mart, the only enemy. Grouping all “earth people” together also will make some people feel like they are abnormal and strange if they don’t agree with Ehrenreich. They will want to be like everyone else and will start to see Wal-Mart the same way that the author does.
One reason why Ehrenreich dislikes Wal-Mart is because it is so large. She tries to illustrate this point by saying that Wal-Mart is bigger than General Motors and is richer then the whole country of Switzerland. This is a strong image; one company is richer than a whole country? She pairs this information with an overstatement that will make her readers scared about what Wal-Mart is doing for the future of America. “My thumbnail calculation suggests that by the year 4004, every square inch of the United States will be covered by supercenters, so that the only place for new supercenters will be on top of existing ones.” This is a really strategic way to persuade her audience because there are 20 Wal-Mart stores within a 27 mile radius of Baltimore. The people who read The Baltimore Sun will be able to picture this fairly easily because they can see how the shopping centers are popping up everywhere.

Benefits of free trade

2009-07-13T13:17:00.000-06:00

Article: We Need Sincere Free Trade
By Johan Norberg (page 101)

Why import from other countries what you can artificially produce at home? If you can grow oranges in Canada in the middle of winter, why not do that? Every location has its advantage, and, according to Johan Norberg, trading without tariffs is beneficial for all. Norberg’s argument is not only set up to show the benefits of free trade, but to convince those who were opposed to free trade prior to reading the article
To begin his argument, Norberg paints a vivid picture that alludes to the problems taxed trade creates. He describes the scenario as such: “On my way back from a recent vacation, I passed by three big sugar mills. There is nothing strange with that-except for the fact that I spent the vacation in southern Sweden…Sweden has a very short summer, the soil is frozen for several months, and the cattle have to be indoors most of the time. Not your ideal place for agriculture, you would think,” (101). Johan Norberg’s use of imagery is a very effective way to open his argument. As the reader, it’s very easy for me to picture myself seeing what is being described. Norberg wants the readers to be appalled by the situation he is describing, and they easily could be. This first paragraph leads directly to the argument that without the European Union protecting its farmers, there is no way that sugar mills would ever be set up in a country as cold and frozen as Sweden.
Because Norberg is a Swedish native, the reader naturally trusts his knowledge on the EU’s protectionist laws. Being the educated man that he is, Norberg knows that his audience will take his argument more seriously if they can trust what he is describing to him. After making this appeal to pathos, Norberg dives straight in to presenting relevant facts and drawing logical conclusions. Although most all of these facts are effective, he does make a few generalizations in his arguments. In the follow up paragraph to his introduction, Norberg states, “Swedish farmers along with others in the European Union enjoy a comfortable lifestyles, at the expense of poor countries in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America.” This is a generalization because I’m sure not every person (especially farmers) in Western Europe lives a comfortable lifestyle, and not every single person in Eastern Europe, African, or Latin America lives a poor life. Norberg uses this generalization to control the reader’s emotions, and make them feel either angry at rich people for taking away others chances at productivity, or guilty for being one of the rich.
(more to be added here)
To sum up his reasoning, Norberg makes a reference to the U.S.’s previous president, and turns is quote into a rhetorical question meant to stimulate the reader, get them to really thing about all the facts they have been presented with, and hopefully get willing to do something about it. Quoted from George W. Bush, the passage reads, “Perhaps America needs a presidential candidate like the one who in 2000, said, ‘I intend to work to end barriers and tariffs everywhere so that the entire world trades in freedom’…That candidate was George W. Bush. Where did he go?” This rhetorical question was crafted to make people upset at the situation, and get them to research more on the EU tariffs.