What I've learned...

Wow, I can't believe the semester is nearly over! Although this class was a little bit difficult for me(due to the amount of writing), I feel that I have learned quite a bit. What I really realized in this course was that writing an essay needs more time than I have given when writing my past essays. The multiple draft assignments really helped me become a better writer. There is always room for improvement, which is why this process was great. I also liked the opportunity this class gave to disscuss topics with my peers. It was very interesting to read other peoples opinions and study other writing styles. I felt that overall this class was a very positive experience for me.

I think out of all my essays that I have wrote this semester, the one that could use the most improvement is my first one. Seeing as I wrote it at the beginning of this class, I feel that I have learned much more and that I could improve it the most. It was the essay on the "no win" situation. I know that since I am now more educated on writing argumentative essays, I can successfully revise this essay.

Analysis Blog #3

"Address to Congress, December 8, 1941"

In Roosevelts "Address to Congress" he uses mostly concrete language. He is very descriptive and factual on what happened. It is very clear and to the point. It's like he is describing step by step what happened. He says things like, "The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces." I also noticed that he uses the word "attack" a lot and makes it clear that the Japanese are now enemies. He uses words like "unprovoked" and "dastardly attack" to describe what the Japanese did. His language was very exagerated, and it was quite clear that he knew that his audience was on he same side as him and shared the same feelings and thoughts. 

"President's Address to the Nation, September 11, 2006"

In Bush's "Presidents Address to the Nation" he uses much more emotional language to connect with his audience. It is also a much more slanted speech. His speech is drags on and on (unlike Roosevelts) and it is quite clear that it is less factual and more emotion drived. He talks about specific people that 911 affected and talks about the horror and caios of the day. It allows the audience to feel the emotions that they felt that day 5 years ago. It helps them connect more with his speech and makes us, as Americans, feel closer becuase of this one shared tragic event. And Bush uses that to make his point of revenge very clear. He says things like, "triumph" and "powerful" to describe America. And then uses words like, "murders" and "enemies" to describe the terrorists. 

Overall, I felt like both speeches had the same motive, and used much of the same language to get their points across. However, they did have some very clear differences such as Bush's being much more slanted. 

Pre-Reading Blog #3

"True or False: Schools Fail Immigrants"

At first I searched for Richard Rothstein on Wikipedia, but I was unable to find anything for him. So I decided to "Google" him. I found out that Richard is a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute. However, He used to be the national columnist for The New York Times. While researching him I also realized that he has written many books and articles from 1990-2009. Some of the titles are: "Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right (Teachers College Press and EPI, 2008) and Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap (Teachers College Press 2004). He is also the author of The Way We Were? Myths and Realities of America's Student Achievement (1998). Other recent books include The Charter School Dust-Up: Examining the Evidence on Enrollment and Achievement (co-authored in 2005); and All Else Equal. Are Public and Private Schools Different? (co-authored in 2003)." It became very clear to me that much of Rothstein's writtings revolved around race, equality, class, and immigrants. I then search for his article "True or False: Schools Fail Immigrants." It was origionally published in the New York Times in 2001. Due to the title and his past books and articles I believe that this essay will be about issues with the school systems failing immigrants. It will probably be a very well written essay due to his experience as a writer and with this topic in particular.

"It's All About Him"

I flipped through our book and it says that David Von Drehle is currently working as a senior writer at the Washington Post. He has also been a national political writer, a magazine stff writer, a New York bureau chief, and assistant managing editor! I then continued to search for him on the Internet. I found that most of his books are about criminals or crime or violence. He seems to be a very dramatic writer which makes things interesting. With the title being "It's All About Him", I think it will be about the criminals and what they think and why they do what they do. Or maybe it will be just focused on one specific case. Im not quite sure. But I do think it will be a esay/interesting read fo the most part. I look forward to reading it. 

Analysis Blog #2

"Race by the Numbers"

In "Race by the Numbers, Orlando Patterson discusses the census results from 2000. He claims that the people have been misinformed (causing ciaos) about the percentage change in the white population. Due to the definition of "white" many people were placed into the wrong category, causing this false perception that the white population was dramatically decreasing. While reading his essay I felt that he made a very valid argument and gave plenty of facts to back up his ideas. Patterson uses many persuasive strategies to win over his readers and prove his point. In my opinion, he used statistics, history, and political analysis all equally throughout his essay. However, I would say that his use of statistics when talking about the race percentages made his argument much easier for the readers to believe and understand. For instance, here Patterson talks about the true percentage of whites while using statistics to help validate what he is saying, “whites remain a robust 69.1 percent of the total population of the nation. If we include Hispanic whites, as we should, whites constitute 75.14 percent of the total population, down by only 5 percent from the 1990 census.” Numbers always help make an argument stronger if used properly like Orlando did here. 

"Family a Symbol of Love and Life, but not Politics"

In Eric Zorn’s "Family a Symbol of Love and Life, but not Politics” the issue of "taking family back" is brought up. I think this could mean a few things, but one thing he makes very clear is the fact that the word "family" needs to be taken back from all these conservative/ anti-gay marriage and abortion organizations such as Family PAC, and American Family Association, all who use it wrongly. He states that they have "Monopolized it for too long, turned it into shorthand for a social and political outlook that excludes rather than includes..." I totally agree with him. His argument is more than valid. He, along with many other Americans, believes in the freedom to live and love whomever you want. Family is a word that should bring people together, not separate and exclude. I love this quote and I think it works perfectly here, "Ohana means family. And family means no one gets left behind...or forgotten". It doesn’t matter what "type" of family you have, it's still a group of people who love each other for who they are. And no government organization has the right to tell us whom we can and cannot love. 

Pre-Reading Blog #2

"Race by the Numbers"

I first searched Orlando Patterson on Wikipedia. There wasn't a ton of information about him however,  I found out that Orlando was born in 1940 in beautiful, sunny Jamaica. He graduated from Harvard with a sociologist degree. Most of his work revolved around racial problems in America. His biography written by Harvard stated that, "His academic interests include the culture and practice of freedom; the comparative study of slavery and ethno-racial relations; the sociology of underdevelopment with special reference to the Caribbean; and the problems of gender and familial relations in the black societies of the Americas. He is especially interested in the ways that cultural processes relate to poverty and other social outcomes". Later on in his career, Orlando became very much involved in the development of his home country. He spent a lot of time dealing with Jamaica's economical and political issues, and figuring out ways to solve them. 
Orlando was a columnist for many newspapers such as NY Times. 
The title "Race by the Numbers"suggests that the article is probably going to be about racial issues or equality. Also, I think that due to the time period in which it was written, whatever Patterson might have seen our experienced would have greatly affect his writing. 

"Family a Symbol of Love and Life, but not Politics"

Eric Zorn was born in 1958. In 1980, Zorn graduated from the University of Michigan. He is a columnist and a blogger for the Chicago Tribune. Zorn seems to be on the more conservative side in all his writings. His columns dont seem to have any main focus or theme, he just writes about everything. He is married and has three kids. And it just so happens that both of his parents are teachers at the University of Michigan. He was also a co-author of the book " Murder of Innocence". 
 In his essay "Family a Symbol of Love and Life, but not Politics", I think the issues politics brings into a family could be discussed, or maybe just that fact that family is just about love and living life, and not caring or talking about each others political opinions?

"A Reassuring Scorecard for Affirmative Action"

I searched for Michael Weinstein on Wikipedia first but the person that came up didnt seem to match quite right. So I then search for "A Reassuring Scorecard for Affirmative Action" and found him. Michael is a columnist for the New York Times. He is a very opinionated individual. He believes that there is unequal treatment when it comes to women and minorities. And he thinks that 'affirmative action' is being misunderstood. "A Reassuring Scorecard for Affirmative Action" was written in 2000, so it is pretty recent. Based on the title and what I found out about Michael, I think the article will be about inequality and what he believes should be done to change it.  

"Kids in the Mall: Growing up Controlled"

Not having much luck with Kowinski, I decided to search the title of the reading instead. I ended up finding whole bunch of blogs people had posted in response to his writing. I found out the "Growing up Controlled" is an article in his book "The Malling of America". Kowinski's main discussion in this book is teenagers experiences in malls; and how that shapes/effects them while growing up. He also believes that teens spend way too much time in malls rather than being outside playing sports. I think that "Kids in the Mall: Growing up Controlled" will most likely talk about all the issues teens whole spend too much time in malls get into. He will probably also discuss the bad side effects on teens for doing so. 

"Crash"

Roger Ebert was born in 1942. He is a American film critic and screenwriter. He is best known for his film review column in the Chicago Sun-Times. Ebert was a man who had no problem speaking his mind, often insulting other peoples work. He would say things like, "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it"(Wikipedia). So, knowing what I do about him now, Im assuming that "Crash" will be a film review. 

Analysis Blog #1

The Declaration of Independence

"The Declaration of Independence" was written in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson, who bravely took on the role of being the "voice" for the American colonies. The main reason for this document was to state and explain why the American colonies' were choosing to separate from Britain. Jefferson talks about how mankind are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", which in this case the King of Britain was not granting to the people. In his plea for the colonies' independence, he gives a long list of the King's ignorant behavior which shows lack of respect towards the people and their rights to prove they have good reason to be set free from the so called "tyrant". Thomas Jefferson created a great argument for the people allowing them to break free from Britain and establish their own independent states. I think that his argument was so good because he felt so strongly about the situation and felt pressure to defend the people and their rights. "The Declaration of Independence" is such a huge part of American history, and truly was one of the most influential documents of all time. 

Sex And The Cinema

The essay "Sex and the Cinema" and it's strongly opinionated author Edward Epstein, propose an interesting view on nudity in films. He claims that movies that want to succeed and be a "top grossing" film should stay away from nudity. Epstein gives examples such as Shrek 2, and The Incredibles to prove his point. Neither films had any nudity and were strictly made to be an all-around family movie. At first I was confused by this, I would have thought that with the way the media portrays "sex appeal" as being "In", it would be the opposite. Plus actors usually get paid much more for sex scenes and nudity. However, once I continued to read his points it made more sense. He states that movies, which are rated R or NC-17 due to nudity verses violence, are much harder for big sellers such as Wal-Mart to put out on their shelves. This is because of the "family atmosphere" they want and have created in their stores. Also many television stations will not play adds for these movies for the same reasons. This doesn’t help the movie get noticed which in the end doesn’t help it make money or even come close to being a "top grossing" film. Although I felt like he made a good argument I would have liked for him to have listed some of the movies that contained nudity and compared the amount of money they made to a movies, which did not contain nudity. Actual numbers would have defiantly made his argument more believable and compelling. 

No-Win Situations

In "No-Win Situations" Alfie Kohn discusses the problems of competition and the damage it causes for those who engage in it. He talks about how all sports are designed for there to be a "winner" and a "loser", which in turn causes feelings of dislike towards opponents. He explains that this holds us back from doing our best. Kohn also believes that those who are involved in competition, especially children, unconsciously start to view everyone and everything as an "enemy" or their "competition", not allowing for trust to come easily. This creates major psychological issues and affects a person’s life enormously. Therefore, Kohn suggests that humans should instead engage in activities that don't revolve around "beating" someone. Rather, activities that encourage group effort or games that are just about having a "good time". I found it very interesting how in his experiment with non-competitive games, all the girls preferred them, but only two-thirds of the boys did. Overall, Kohn makes a good point and gives the readers something to think about. However, I don’t necessarily feel that competition could ever be dismissed. People thrive on success and the feeling of achievement. And competition is only natural. 

Pre-Reading Blog #1

First, I researched Paulo Freire on Wikipedia and read his biography. He was born in Brazil in 1921. Paulo's family wasn't wealthy and he had a tough childhood. Due to this, Paulo ended up falling many grades behind in school. However, once his family life took a turn for the better Paulo continued his education and enrolled in Law school. He then got accepted to Bar but denied the acceptance and instead decided to teach the less fortunate how to read. I understand why Paulo would want to do this since he probably felt compassion and empathy towards these people since he too dealt with poverty. 

The "The Banking Concept of Education" was a chapter in Paulos book "Pedagogy of the Opressed". It was targeted towards those invollved with education. Mr. Freire was extremely liberal and had no problem showing it in his writings. 

Paulo Freire believed in spreading knowledege through educating. His audience was those who were uneducated but willing to learn and teachers practicing old methods. His book is focused on teaching the less fortunate. 

The title "The Banking Concept of Education" suggests that banking is related to education. I think that it may be the relationship between knowledege and a bank account.