1102s & Papers

Looking back at the past semester, I feel like I have greatly developed as a writer. English 1102 was much more challenging to me than English 1101. I made better grades on my papers in English 1101. I feel like this is because the papers that were required to be written in English 1102 involved more research and integrating that research with my thoughts. These types of papers were different to me and beginning with the Nickel and Dimed paper, I struggled integrating my opinions with facts from the text. The papers we had to write this semester required us to try and provide credible evidence and persuade the audience. It took me some times to learn how to effectively do this but I did. I also feel like my research skills have improved. I have also learned how to recognize reliable and credible sources which is important to in order to make sure you do not obtain false information. Also, I learned how “do research on research”. I discovered this in paper 3. There was a lot of research that I found that led to me to ask more questions on my subject, leading me to do more and more specific research. I feel like this helped me cover all things that people might question in my argument. I really learned the importance of revision. I know feel like that in order to produce the best possible paper, I must revise, revise, and revise. Finally, I learned how to make a sound argument. It is so important to use ethos, pathos, and ethos to make a strong argument that the audience can change their belief upon. Looking back at it, English 1102 was a great class despite the long nights that I spent writing papers.

If I had to live without one it would be.........

The electronic gadgets that are out today vary by size, shape, speed, type, etc. There are so many different types of technological “toys” that people own. Recently, I lost two of my “favorite toys”, my laptop and my iPod. These two items were my most prized possessions. After living without these items for some time now, I have come to realize that my iPod is an item that I can live without. Music is such a big part of my life and my iPod has kept going all through the school year. When I lost my iPod, I though I was going to literally die. I would feel weird walking to class without it, I didn’t have any music to listen to as I go to bed, and I didn’t have music to listen to when I wanted to work out. But when I really think about it, living without my iPod really is not that bad after all. There are so many substitutes for listening to music. Hanging out in the campus courtyard between classes provides me with the daily dose of music that I need. Also, there are other ways to listen to music that don’t require an iPod. I have been using my desktop a lot to listen to music. Sure it isn’t convenient as I can’t take my music with me as I leave my dorm, but it isn’t something that is imperative for me to live with. Living without a phone, laptop, or television with is much worse than living without an iPod. Although it was one of my favorite gadgets, I feel that I can live without it.

Question????

Currently, I work at CVS Pharmacy in Newnan, GA. Nearly every night that I work, several customers come in to buy Sudafed or CVS brand cold relief products. It is always the same question, “Can I get a box of CVS 12 hour? And make it the biggest one you got.” This cold relief product must be purchased from behind the counter because it contains pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine is a nasal decongestant but is probably more known to some customers of CVS as an ingredient to produce methamphetamine. I’m not saying that all people that by CVS or Sudafed Nasal Decongestant products are taking it home to make meth but there are some customers that make me wonder. Usually, as I work the late night shift, customers would make what a call “drug run”. About two to four customers would come in the store consecutively to purchase this product and not to make assumptions but they all have the look of meth users. They are only allowed to buy one box but some even ask me to allow them to purchase two and they will slip extra money. As I wonder if these customers are buying these products for the wrong intention, all I can do is ask for their license and long their personal information into the computer. I have no right to not sell it to them unless the computer rejects their license. Newnan is notorious for meth labs. The other day, the local newspaper reported a lab being discovered and I recognized the suspects in the mug shots as customers of CVS. This experience poses several questions. What can the government do to restrict the sale of these pseudoephedrine products? Should more power be given to managers of pharmacies so they can restrict customers from purchasing these products? Should this product be completely taken off the shelf? Why does CVS continue to supply this product when there is a reasonable doubt that these products are being used for the wrong reasons? Would CVS rather not take a popular product that produces earning off the shelf even though it is being used harmfully? How can we better track whether these products are being misused?

Ohhh the Media....Always making an argument!!!!

Wall Street Journal

The Cheers and Jeers for a Costly New Ballpark
Ailing Fort Myers Approves a New Spring-Training Stadium for the Boston Red Sox; Some See Boon, Others a Bane

The headline argues that even though a new stadium may bring an economic boom to a town, it may also be a wasteful and costly project.

Lawmakers Have Long Rewarded Their Aides With Bonuses
WASHINGTON -- While Congress has been flaying companies for giving out bonuses while on the government dole, lawmakers have a longstanding tradition of rewarding their own employees with extra cash -- also courtesy of taxpayers.
The headline argues that lawmakers also use tax payer money to give bonuses to their aides. This headline comes in light of all the commotion in Congress over AIG bonuses.
Stocks Open Second Quarter Strong Stocks rose Wednesday after better-than-expected data on manufacturing, housing and auto sales.
The headline argues that stocks opening stocks opening strong in the second quarter of the fiscal year is a positive sign for the economy. A strong stock market is always encouraging sign for the economy.
The NBA's Most Misleading Number How the Assist Became a Matter of Interpretation -- and Why NBA Alumni Say the Kids Get Too Many
The headline argues that assists are a misleading statistic in evaluating an NBA player’s performance.
The Onion
Team USA Happy To Be Back Playing For Money
The headline argues that Team USA baseball players only enjoy playing baseball for their personal teams and not for a meaningless world tournament.
Troy Aikman Becomes First Robot Inducted Into Pro Football Hall Of Fame
The headline argues that Hall of Famer Troy Aikman had the qualities of a robot when he played quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.
New Report Calls For Radical Food Changes
The headline argues that America’s production and consumption of food is one that needs to change.
TV Producers Running Out Of Types Of People To Have Dance With Each Other
The headline argues that television producers are running out of ideas for good television shows. The producers lack originality in creating new television shows.
AJC
Bill to allow clear-cutting near billboards defeated, for now
The headline argues that billboard opponents have gained a victory in trying to remove billboards.
Brooking’s reputation the draw for Cowboys
The headline argues that ex-Atlanta Falcon linebacker Keith Brooking’s experience and reputation in the NFL is the reason why the Dallas Cowboys signed him form free agency.
Playoff problem: Hawks lack quality road wins
The headline argues that in order for the Atlanta Hawks to have a successful playoff fun, they must begin to win games on the road.
'American Idol' puts the cork on another crooner
The headline argues that American Idol has many soft pop singers on the show and it is good that they got rid of those types of singers.
USA Today
Colleges are the ones fearing rejection letters
The headline argues that many students will deny colleges offer of acceptance this Spring because of economic hardship and other reasons.
Most teens aren't getting preventive health care
The headline argues that teens need better preventive health care. They are not receiving a sufficient amount of health care.
NCAA, colleges pushing the envelope with sports marketing
The headline argues that college sports programs are doing to much to market their collegiate athletics.
It's about time 'ER' is taken off life support
The headline argues that NBC’s ER is being overplayed and needs to be discontinued from television.

The Great Gatsby and The American Dream

The Great Gatsby takes place in the upper class area of Long Island. The main character, Nick Carraway, moves to Long Island and sees the rich lifestyle of the people he meets. This movie portrays the American Dream as a certain status or class. The characters in the film all live lavish life styles. The movie shows this by their homes, boats, and clothing. Also, there are multiple scenes of lavish looking parties. Nick Carraway sits back throughout the movie and just watches it all. He sees how the people of Long Island live their life. This movie portrays the American Dream as something you can only experience through living the lavish and rich life of the characters in the film. If you do not live a lifestyle such as this one, essentially this movie is saying that you are not living the American Dream. A prime example of this is the scene where Tom stops at a gas station to meet an old friend. The setting in the movie shows that the owner of the gas station is not living a lavish lifestyle. Tom tells the gas station’s owner to go away with him. I believe this symbolizes what this movie portrays as the American Dream. Tom wanted to take the girl away from the plain, old gas station and take her to Long Island so she can live the lavish and fun lifestyle or “American Dream”. This portrayal shows how the American Dream is sometimes caught up in the idea of greed. Yes, we all want to pursue our won happiness and make a good life for ourselves but as this film show, we can sometimes get caught up in having all the materials in the world and live a rich, greedy lifestyle which truly does not lead to happiness.

I can actually taste this while I write

What do I look for in a restaurant? Well of course taste, variety, cleanliness, quality, short wait for food, and most importantly, the most bang for the buck. Usually when you go to a restaurant, you get what you pay for. How full you get depends on how much money you are willing to spend. I get the most bang for my buck at Zaxbys. Their food is so satisfying and they provide their customers with a variety of items in order for you to get a filling, healthy, and delicious meal for a reasonable price. When I order a wings and things, I am pretty much done eating for the day. Zaxbys main adversary, Chick-fil-a, is no comparison to Zaxbys. Yes, Chick-fil-a is good but it does not fill and satisfy as much as Zaxbys does. Also, Zaxbys provides celery sticks and carrots and other healthy foods to go along with their wide selection of chicken. If a plate full of chicken and is not good enough for you, then Zaxbys also has a wide variety of different salads and dressings. They also provide grilled chicken for those who want to stay away from the deep fried and fatty foods. Also, all Zaxbys that I have been to are extremely clean and they are very well decorated. Their restaurants have an old throwback look as they have many pictures and signs from America’s old days. These objects make you feel like your eating in an old time diner back in the 1960s. In conclusion, if you want to get high quality food for a quality price, Zaxbys is the way to go.

Please Let us Learn

Recently a good friend of mine was telling me that Georgia State University was considering cutting classes about sexuality. These classes include subjects on queer theory, intersex etc. Georgia State University is a state school and is funded through tax payer money. Many tax payers are complaining and asking the school why their money is going towards classes of these subjects. Isn’t Georgia State a school and at a school don’t you learn about various subjects varying from chemistry to math to sex? What is the big deal here? How are people supposed to be educated about controversial subjects? People shouldn’t be taught that these subjects are wrong and you should not learn about it because it is controversial. We should all have the opportunity to learn about these subjects if we want and then make up our mind on what we want to believe. These courses should not be stopped being taught because they are controversial or many people don’t believe that they should be talked about in school. We are not forced to take these courses so the school is not violating any of our rights. I’m pretty sure that these people don’t even know what exactly is being taught in these courses. They just know that it is about a subject that they don’t agree with and they believe it should be banned from school. Not everyone has the same beliefs and morals and we should not withhold others from learning something because we do not believe that it should be taught. It is ridiculous how far people go to try and keep certain controversial beliefs from being taught. The bottom line is, no one is forced and if it is something you would like to learn, then you should have the opportunity to learn it.

Big Brother is watching us...00-)

In the olden days, one would hear the news by word of mouth. Some people even had to travel thousands of miles to spread word about something happening to another town. As time passed, news traveled from print to radio to television and now to the internet and your telephone. The technology out now enables anyone to make, break, and shape the news. From Youtube to iReports on CNN, American citizens everywhere can now report breaking news from their camera. The American Dream is the pursuit of anyone to do whatever they like and with technology being so advanced, citizens recording and reporting news events is a fulfillment of that. I do not believe that it is a good thing for citizens to report the news for several reasons. One, more and more rumors and false reports surface on the internet. These stories reported but uncredible sources spread like wildfire on the internet and for a citizen to record the famous actor out on the town with a woman who is not a wife it ruins him. The use of cameras by citizens invades many people’s privacy and even though they may catch people doing criminal or unjust things, I still think that camera use by citizens is wrong. Also, I believe that because so many people record and report news stories on the internet, there are so many videos on the internet that have biased views. For example, the video blogs have many people voicing their opinions on important stories and events going in the world and some them do not present the right facts in their news reports because of their biases. These biases lead to viewers of these videos to be misinformed. This mainly occurs in the political world; mostly when people would post videos and stories about the political candidates and their views. In the end, the use of cameras and webcams has its pros and cons. It protects us, but it can also be our worst enemy.

Shhhhhhhh...Don't tell my secret..

1.) The PostSecret website is not your average internet hotspot. When I initially got on the website, it made me think of those annoying yet humorous chain emails that I would receive from my old great aunt who just learned how to send an e-mail and wanted to show off by sending everyone a funny message. The site’s messages did not really intrigue me. Honestly, I don’t really get most of the humor. Some of it was funny, but most of the secrets did not get to me. Also the site was not very visually appealing, as it consisted of a black background. There is nothing on the site that could jump out and grab the reader’s attention.
2.) The images were good visual manifestations of the secrets because of the irony used. The pictures and the messages correlated well and told a story that would bring an lol to any reader. For example, the fourth postcard a very happy couple but had the wife’s darkest secret written on the card, she having another husband who is in prison.
3.) The importance of the writing is to state the secret being held by the person in the image. For example without the writing, image 4 would be a happy couple and no one would know that the woman had a husband who was in jail.
4.) The images were the first things to jump out at me. Of course, images appeal to the eyes before words do. So naturally, I looked at the images and then read the writings in order to see what the secret was.
5.) I think this secret is arguing how some people blame on their problems on the government. Believe it or not, some people who are out of jobs put the total blame on the government and poor George Bush. True, the president did make some mistakes…..ok maybe not some, a lot of mistakes but you can’t blame him for all the trouble in your life.

Time to Reunite

As I sit here and watch two “professional economic experts” (one republican and one democrat) duke it out on CNN, I wonder to myself the importance of their conversation. I mean all they do is yell and rudely interrupt each other as they make their opinions be heard on national television. One says were not in a recession yet, while the other says we are nearing a great collapse that has never been seen in a country before. All their bickering just frustrates me and the same thing goes on in the US House of Representatives and the Senate. As we all learned in economics class, it takes a while for a stimulus package or change in spending to affect the economy. We all know that our economy is in a bad state whether we are in a recession or not but no one is doing anything about it. I have been hearing talk about a so called “rescue plan” since October and yet no one in Washington will let go of their bipartisan differences and genuinely work together to quickly come up with a plan. Everyday that passes without a solution just deepens our economy’s wounds. This is a problem that greatly affects our daily lives and I hope someone in D.C. can do something about it. Politicians must set aside their bipartisan biases and work together to keep our country on top of the world. We voted for change and as a result were promised hope and change for a new united America. Time will only tell if what we voted for comes true.

To Believe or not to Believe

As a believer:
Farhad Majoo provides good evidence toward his conviction of facebook being a very useful tool for social communication. Majoo uses his prior experience with facebook as an example. He states how facebook is such a convenient way to stay in touch with his family in South Africa. He is able to see their daily activities with one click of a mouse rather than trying to picture his family’s story through phone conversations. This example is a good enough reason to believe Majoo’s argument for facebook’s usefulness. Pathos is used by Majoo’s example as it works on the reader’s emotion. The reader feels connected to Majoo in the fact that we all would love to communicate with our family and see their daily activities. Majoo also says that facebook is good for networking to sources in his job. This is also a very good reason to believe his argument. By Majoo providing these two good examples for the good usefulness of facebook, the reader is strongly persuaded to believe his argument and change their views about facebook.

As a Doubter:
Farhad Majoo also states many cons of the use of facebook, as a matter of fact there are more cons in his article than pros. The evidence used by Majoo for facebook being a bad social communication tool is extremely weak. Majoo does not provide good reasons for us to dislike facebook. Majoo states that many people did not like facebook because it is too hard to maintain. This is not a good reason for readers to change their minds about facebook. It does not appeal to a reader’s emotion or morals. In the last paragraph, Majoo tries to provide another good reason for one of the cons of facebook but he contradicts himself. Majoo's example, Kate Koppleman, states that facebook is bad because it shows everybody’s business and information and uses someone’s thoughts as an example. She states that she does not like facebook because it is too revealing but she herself uses it to look up people she does not know. The example’s has contradictory views and the reader can not take her quote as a valid evidence for us to change our views on facebook.

Defining "The American Dream"

My mother and father came to America for a better way of life. At the age of one, I traveled with them to a new, foreign land from the tiny islands of Trinidad and Tobago. I was too young to understand that this move was the biggest moment of our lives. My family is an example of the American Dream. The American Dream is a promise made to every person on earth, no matter their race, gender, heritage, or nationality that it is possible for them to accomplish any of their goals, ambitions, or dreams in their life. The American Dream does not discriminate against its receivers. It is an open invitation for people to come to this country and be anything they can be as long they work hard. Our founding fathers created this American Dream in the Declaration of Independence by promising every man life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This promise endowed to us by a bunch of men in 1776 has opened the door for us to fulfill our dreams. My family and I have succeeded in fulfilling the dream. We came here with nothing but the clothes on our back. My parents did not have jobs, shelter, or anything. It was a big risk to take for us to leave Trinidad but it shows how much confidence my parents had in the American Dream. Look at us now, my parents have good jobs, a nice house in the suburbs and have been able to put me into college. Yes, there are many speed bumps and potholes in the road to fulfilling the American Dream but opportunity of living the American Dream is worth it.