Final Blog

Well 16 short weeks later and we are finally here, the last week, the end, summer! It sure has been one heck of a ride, not only in this class but in all my other ventures. It seems at the beginning of the semester that the end will never come, but as soon as you get on a roll the end come swiftly. It honestly crept up on me and I found myself a little unprepared for this week, and completely overwhelmed. For example I was up until 6:30 in the morning doing chemistry homework and quizzes; needless to say I’m a bit tired (haha). This class was certainly not the easiest class I have ever taken by any means, but I am glad I took it. Being able to read and write adequately will carry over into all avenues of my life, academically and professionally. Prior to this class I hated reading with a passion, although this class didn’t completely change my opinion of reading, it did help. I find that the subjects we researched and read about in this class were more relevant, unlike the reading I had to do through Elementary, Middle and High School. I hate reading but I love research (if that makes any sense). For example although the research paper was very time consuming and stressful, the topic of Nuclear Power in Iran was exceptionally interesting, and it kept my attention throughout the assignment. I think the ability to properly do research is something I am going to use for the rest of my life. Although I’ve done research projects before, I never put time into truly understanding how to adequately do research and grasp the concept that I was researching. Research papers aren’t by any means my favorite thing to do, but I think one every now and then won’t kill us. It’s going to be weird not writing a blog every week, I think I might continue doing it just to maintain (haha). I also like reading everyone else’s blog; I find it very helpful to read about what your peers are thinking, because it gives me a better understanding about the subjects we are discussing. I have been taking more classes this semester than any other semester, I am enrolled in 23 units, and it is hard to give any, one subject the attention it deserves. Rather than improving my understanding of a few subjects thoroughly, I understand a lot of different subjects vaguely. I do not recommend ever taking this many classes, sure it’s good to get them over with, but it takes away from living life. I completely regret it in that regard, it has stripped from things I should be doing at this age and I will never take this many classes ever again. I just wish I could focus on a few subjects that fit my major, rather than work on a ton of subjects that don’t catch my interest. I just wish I could’ve had more time to put into this class, so I could have gotten the most possible out of it. That being said I did learn a lot, and I’m glad I took this class. Good luck to all of you, and have a good summer!

My Writing

I do feel as if my writing has become better because of this class, and I feel as if writing now comes easier to me as a result of this class. For example I used to get 500 word essays assigned to me in High School, and I would freak out as if that was a lot of writing, and now I write over 500 words just on these blog entries every week. I like writing more now as a result of this class, because before I would be worried if something sounded right, and now I just love putting my thoughts down and expressing them through my writing. This class has carried over in to my other classes in that regard and it has helped me with format and substance. I’ve had to write countless essays in my other classes this year and those assignments are better because I know how to structure an essay. The tests we do in Political Science are only two questions every time, but those two questions have many questions within and in order to answer these questions fully you need to develop an entire essay that communicates your thoughts, the teachings of the class, and research you do on your own. Well now that I have an idea of how to properly put these down on my paper it has increased my grades dramatically. I always had the problem that my thoughts always sounded better in my head then they did when I read them aloud off of paper. In other words my essays and paragraphs didn’t fully communicate my thoughts. Now after I read my own essay, I realize that it sounds the same being read as it did in my head. This is very important because I can now thoroughly communicate my thoughts through writing and I feel that this is going to be a much needed skill throughout the rest of my college career as well as throughout the rest of my life. I was never completely lost when it came to writing, but I never felt adequate enough to where I was comfortable writing essays and assignments and turning them in. I feel that taking this English class has given me the confidence I desperately needed to help me complete assignments and communicate thoughts. I use writing on a day to day basis, and this was a much needed class for me. I benefited not only in my academic life but in my home and social life as well. My Mom is a teacher with a master’s degree in English, and My Dad is an administrator with a master’s degree in education. I always felt embarrassed to present my essays and assignment to them, in fear of them picking it apart. Now I am happy to show them my assignments, because rather than criticize the essay and point out all my mistakes, they just help me fine-tune my writings. I have had to make some pretty important emails as of late, and I feel now as if I can adequately communicate my needs or concerns through the email, and whoever is receiving can understand exactly what I am trying to say. All in all I am glad I took this class, it has pushed me in the right direction.

Research Project ups and downs

For some reason every time I hear or read the words “research project” I cringe, mainly because they have not treated me well in my past experiences. That being said when I start them I find them to be interesting and compelling (as long as I somewhat enjoy the subject. I had to do a research paper my first semester at Antelope Valley College on a classical composer, needless to say that research project did not help my opinion on research projects in general, and I tend to make assumptions that I’m going to have a miserable time whenever I am assigned them. However I have matured since my first semester and I find now that research projects can actually be a good way to express something you might feel strongly about. You can give opinions and back them up with facts that you researched, this is what makes research papers so powerful. Usually when you try to make an argument in person with someone of opposing ideas, you usually have limited ammo (I know I do). But when you research a topic and write it all down, there is no room for counterpoints, and people have to read the paper in full before they make assumptions. I realize I am making it sound like a “persuasive paper” and not a research paper, but you can argue and make valid points in research papers, and people not even know it. I am glad (kind of haha) we got the assignment and choice of the modern day topics involving Iran. Ever since we were attacked on 9-11 and declared the “War on Terror”, I have become very intrigued with Middle Eastern countries, and it became such a relevant topic ever since that incident. I realize Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan are all very different countries, but ever since the eye of America was turned to that particular region of the world, it has become something we now pay attention to. For example, before the war happened I honestly couldn’t find the Middle East on a map, let alone know what was happening over there. I think we need to realize that we as Americans do have it very good compared to many other countries, and I think we tend to jump to a lot of conclusions about other countries and cultures because they are unfamiliar. That aside, I think there is a lot of mistreatment and corruption going on that is against humanity, and when dignity and humanity is being tampered with I think that gives us the right as the most powerful nation on Earth to step in. I have chosen the topic of “Iran’s Nuclear Power Program” because that popped out at me as a subject that I would like to research. Also because I think Nuclear power raises a lot of eyebrows, and given the recent events in Japan I think it is a topic that deserves and needs a lot of attention. As far as the project, as of now it is going ok, I need to do more research and it is turning out to be a very hard subject to grasp. Other than that I should be ok.

My Online Communication Style

Growing up in the “tech-savvy” society that we live in today, I find it necessary to be updated on online communication styles and lingo. If you’re not up to date you can become lost very easily in all our forms of online communication. I am not completely in love with all of the different forms we now have of communication relating to the internet, so I try not to spend too much time glued to my computer, and I think this is communicate through my use and choice of words when I’m communicating online. That being said I do use the internet in various forms in order to communicate, like Facebook, skype, texting, email etc... Some people love to use letters to express whole words to try to make what they are saying smaller. I think this is somewhat ineffective, because when I get a text or email filled with these abbreviations and symbols I get lost and ultimately don’t know what the person is trying to say. I abbreviate as well, but not to the extent that I make the email or text hard to read. I have noticed that I usually go into detail when I am communicating through the Internet. I do this because I am a pretty thorough person as it is, but I realize that something being read can sometimes be received different than if you were to hear it. This accounts for a lot of misinterpretation and in order to avoid that I spell out the word and use punctuation, so that way the person reading can almost hear it as they are reading it. I have received numerous text messages and emails that I thought were offensive or rude and when I asked the person about it, they say they didn’t have that intention at all. I think my style of online communication reflects me as a person, I am pretty direct with what I say and I try not to beat around the bush. My online communication reflects the way I talk as well as my sense of humor, so people who don’t understand me in person probably won’t understand me online. Different situations call for different styles of communication. For example when I am trying to be fast when I’m typing or texting someone, I will probably say the least amount of words I possibly can in order to get my point across, which is the same for real life situation. If there is a fire in a building you’re not going to explain the fire, your going to yell “fire” and get the hell out of there. If you are late for work and someone messages you on Facebook wanting to talk, your going to say “late for work, bye” and not explain to them or talk about it. These different styles of communication we use verbally and in person have trickled into our online lives. I think this makes it a more effective and realistic way of communicating. 

Political Cartoons

I’ve never really been one to get offended by political cartoons because I realize that all political cartoons target a select group of people, more or less small interest groups. So I take that into consideration when I see a cartoon that could be perceived as offensive. I just think that this cartoon wasn’t speaking to me; it was speaking to people who agree with it. That being said a lot of political cartoons are meant to be offensive. I especially dislike political cartoons aimed at war, particularly the war on Terror. It just seems very arrogant of someone to be making fun of something that is costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars. I can understand having an opinion on the war that you would like to express, but I have no patience for making fun of this issue, or making it out to seem lesser than what it is. Because the fact is, we are in a war; I think that is often forgotten among our citizens. I think recent event have changed that somewhat, and I guess we need reminders here and there to help us realize. These political cartoons aimed at war, are often aimed at Middle Eastern citizens and Middle Eastern cultures. Because we are in a war in the Middle East, we affiliate all Middle Eastern countries and put them into one group, we generalize them. If this wasn’t going on I think we might feel sympathy for the innocent citizens and want to help them, like we help some other third world countries. After reading this book I do feel somewhat more of a connection to what is happening in the Middle East, as well as the day-to-day struggles they face. This book has brought to light issues that I was unaware of. For example I had no idea women were and are treated so badly, as they are in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. It sort of puts into perspective what we here in the US take for granted, like education. We wake up everyday and go to school like it is a chore that has been forced upon us by “the man” when women and children from other countries would go to the ends of the earth for an education. The little freedom of being able to buy and wear any clothes we want to, and eat any food we want. We expect these things, and we would be shocked and upset if they were taken away from us, but the truth is we are just a percentage of people in the world who are able to do that. I think the lessons that we can learn from reading this book as well as modern articles and magazines relating to this topic, is that we are blessed and we need to extend a hand who those who might not be as blessed. I am not saying that America should get involved in everybody’s business, but I think the advantages we have could do a lot of good in the world, and we need to realize that.

Proposition 8

As we all know as Californians there was a proposition made to try and ban gay marriage in 2008. Proposition 8 also known as the “California Marriage Protection Act”, was a good indication of the beliefs of Californians, because we voted for it. Californians vote that marriage should be between a Man and a Woman, no same sex marriages allowed. The fact that such a radical proposition was supported by Californians was quite a shock to say the least. California is known to be very accepting of other cultures, and other states view us liberal left wing democrats, which is usually the case, or it has been in the past couple of elections. That’s why this proposition was such a shock, because it showed our true colors. I’m not trying to criticize our state, and that that our majority is wrong, but I am baffled as to why we care so much about this particular subject.

            This seems to be a very sensitive issue, and no matter who you talk to they have an opinion about this. I love that people get fired up and have opinion, it keeps our voters aware and involved, that being said I think there are bigger problems within our country and within California, that we don’t need these laws and propositions to distract us. I think if two people love each other then it should be their right as human beings and especially as Americans to get married. It says in our constitution that we as Americans have the right the “Pursuit of Happiness”, and marriage in my eyes is part of that pursuit. Who are we to take that away from people? How in any way would it affect me if two Women or two Men decided to marry each other? It wouldn’t, plain and simple. That’s why I don’t understand why this is such an issue. Banning Gay Marriage is a form of institutional racism; the government is discriminating against a minority group and throughout history when this kind of thing took place it never turned out good. If the government can tell us who we can and can’t marry, what’s next, what other freedoms are they going to control or take away?

            I remember seeing commercials on this very issue trying to sway people one way or another. Think about all the money that went into campaigning for this proposition. People for Proposition 8 would say things like “think about the kids”, “family matters” and “family values”, meaning that if you supported gay marriage you didn’t care about kids, you didn’t care about families, and you had no family values. This is pretty harsh and can certainly sway a person into supporting this proposition. On the contrary people against Proposition 8, would say nasty inhumane things about people who were against gay marriage. My point is that this kind of language set us back rather then taking us forward as a state, and as a Nation. I am against laws that infringe on our rights as Americans, and this proposition did exactly that. I think if we viewed it more as something that would take away a right rather than the actually subject of the proposition; we might have had a different outcome.

Sources: Reliable or Unreliable?

            Every generation seems to have that one outstanding event, where each person can relate, and tell you exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing when said event took place. For my Parents generation the assassination of president Kennedy seems to stand out as that unforgettable moment, for my grandparent, the attack on Pearl Harbor seems to stand out. Well for me, and probably for anyone in my generation, the event that we can all relate to and tell you exactly where we were and exactly what we were doing, as well as where or who we heard the news from, is the attack on the World Trade Centers in New York City. I remember I was talking with my friends at school, and they were all talking about the “explosion” and the “plane” and the “attack”, I was very confused, until class was back in session and our principle got on the loud speaker. She explained what happened and we all had a moment of silence. I will never forget that moment as long as I live, or the expression of worry on everybody’s faces when they found out.

            For me I heard this news first from my peers at school, which were all a bunch of elementary school children. As you can imagine the stories were embellished a little, and usually very flawed, but they still knew what had happened, just not all the facts. Being a young child, I didn’t really understand the magnitude of what had just taken place in our country, in fact it wasn’t until many years later when I realized what exactly had happened to our country, physically and psychologically. I was in my own little world in Palmdale, so I didn’t realize the kind of panic that our country was going through.

            Hearing a million different stories from people, I turned to my parents for enlightenment on the situation, which I think is a normal thing for children. They explained to me the actual events and told me about it then they turned on the news. I remember they kept replaying the collision, over and over, as if they didn’t believe it, and then the building collapsed which was even more difficult to comprehend. I didn’t realize it at the time but now thinking back I realize how vulnerable everybody was on that moment, nobody knew how to react, because how can you plan for something of that magnitude to happen.

            The reason that I believed the News, is because it was actually happening, all the events were taking place and they didn’t leave it up to interpret, it just was exactly what it looked like. There was no room for embellishment, because it was happening in real time. I know now that those children at school were not a good way of obtaining information they were in fact not a credible source. When you are young you are very naive and susceptible to lies. I know now not to believe everything I hear, and before reacting I do research of my own. The way you know something is a credible source, is because it is recognized as a credible source. Major news networks and newspapers have to have facts and not opinions (for the most part) because their reputation is at stake.

We Just Don't Get It

I agree for the most part with what Lakoff says about hat speech, and the people who haven’t had to hear it or be subject to it. Lakoff says that people who haven’t had to deal with hate speech “just don’t get it”. In my opinion I think no matter whom you are, no matter your cultural background, your religion, your gender, heritage, or whatever, I still think you experience hate speech. Granted some hate speech is far worse than others, it is still hate speech. I know for a fact that not many white people realize the significance of the n-word; we know it is wrong to say it but we don’t actually know what it feels like to hear it or be called it. The same goes for everyone, any click or group or class you are not in, you don’t know what it feels like to hear or be called the derogatory terms given to those select groups. This is why I think people can rationalize these terms in their minds, and be able to say them, because they don’t realize the significance of the hate speech that they are giving. If people truly knew then they wouldn’t say these derogatory, demeaning terms and hate speech. I just wish we could live one day in someone else’s shoes, someone of a different race, religion, background etc, and see these things from their perspective and vise versa, I think that would change a lot of hate speech and if nothing else it would give some perspective on what we are actually saying. All that aside I think people have an idea of what they are saying and what it means, just because people “just don’t get it” doesn’t rid them of the responsibilities that come with the kind of hate speech they are using. Just because people who haven’t experienced hate speech don’t have perspective on the actually hate speech doesn’t mean that they don’t know it is wrong. Hate speech deals with morals and character and I think everyone is aware of these lines and not to cross them. It is the responsibility of all of us as human being to know what we are saying, know who is around us, and know that what we are saying might offend someone. It’s funny when people say forms of hate speech in a joke, and because they said it and didn’t actually mean it, then it’s ok. That is a common misconception, because again like Lakoff said we “just don’t get it”. This is the whole ideal that I’m not offended so you shouldn’t be. People are all different and just because someone of a certain group isn’t offended by a certain form of hate speech, doesn’t mean that someone else of the same group will have the same opinion. This is why it is best just to avoid racial and ethnic slurs, because even when joking they can still be very damaging.

Self-Respect or Happiness?

Living in America we strive for happiness, it is even written as one of the fundamental ideas in our nation’s constitution. That alone should give us perspective on the importance of happiness in our country. When our forefathers came here, they wanted to be independent from a monarchial system, so they wanted everyone to live for themselves and give each one of us the chance to find our own happiness. This is very different in other countries, especially nondemocratic ones. Some countries (especially in the Middle East) don’t have these kinds of freedoms and privileges, so they strive for reputation, image and self-respect. I personally think self-respect and happiness go hand in hand; it is hard to be truly happy if you have a poor self image. I know when I feel down on myself, I am not particularly happy, in those times. That being said I think happiness is vital and it needs to be the priority of anyone’s life. When you are happy you don’t just coast through the days, you actually live life everyday to its full potential. For example: if I had a job that made me a ton of money, and in that process I was miserable and all I strived for was a “good job” from my boss and recognition from all the upper-management, that job would certainly give me a strong sense of self respect and worth, but I don’t know if I would be truly happy, or if I would necessarily enjoy it. As opposed to if I had a job that I absolutely loved, that paid me a little bit less, but was a lot more fun and enjoyable for me, I think I would take that any day of the week. That’s why I think parents and teachers always push kids to do what they want, and not what pays the most. I think people can get lost in self-image and self respect; it can become more of a task. When you ask a 3^rd grade class what they want to be when they grow up, I doubt any one of them will say: “I want to be an executive who works one hundred hours a week and makes at least six figures”. I remember when I was younger and all I had to worry about was school and sports, It was so carefree, there was no stress involved I just went day to day thinking of what I was going to do that was fun. Now that I work, go to school, play on upper-level sports teams, I have a lot more people that I have to impress, and a lot more things that I must succeed at in order to get respect from others as well as earn self-respect. I like when people like me, it is comforting to know when you make a good impression on someone, it gives us self-respect and self-worth, but it also makes us happy. So I think the ultimate goal is happiness, self-respect is very important and we must strive for it, but it does not stop at self-respect, it stops at happiness.

Language: Men vs. Women

I believe all people have a different way of communicating what they are trying to say, whether it is tone, pitch, volume facial expression, that being said I think there are major differences between men and women. I think women tend to utilize these aspects of communication in a more exaggerated way then men do. Men as a whole tend to be more direct, and usually easier to read. Women are sometimes saying one thing very convincingly, but they mean something completely different (at least in my personal experiences). I remember I was in class in high school and there were these two girls talking very bad about another girl who they weren’t to fond of at all, but when that girl entered the room they put on a smile and welcomed her as if she was their best friend. I found this to be very interesting because usually if I didn’t like someone I stayed away from that person and didn’t talk to them or associate with them at all. But with the instance with these three girls, the one girl who the other two didn’t like had no idea at that moment of how bad those girls were just talking about her, because they talked in a welcoming high pitched tone and made her feel welcome, and in the mean time they were thinking about how much they hated her. I have also noticed that girls like to touch more than guys. I think this is a way of making that person feel comfortable. Girls are better listeners, that is a fact, so when girls nod their head and touch your arm they are communicating that they care and are their for you. Guys don’t touch as much or use these nonverbal cues as much as girls do. Guys seem to make less eye contact, when having a conversation, and don’t really give nonverbal feedback like smiles or nods. Guys usually give a casual “uh-huh” or “yeah” to acknowledge the conversation. These different uses of communication tend to cause some conflict between men and women, it cause  lot of miscommunication and misinterpretation. Men and women in the United States all speak the English language, but I think we all might speak a different language. It depends how you interpret the definition of language, but I think all these different types of communication between both sexes infers that we do in fact speak two different languages. I think if we did speak the same language things would certainly be different, and not in a good way. If we spoke the same language I don’t think we would be able to learn from each other and get different perspectives. I think a lot of the time the perspective from a man and a women help solve a conflict, and prevent a lot of conflicts. What would we gain from one perspective? It would be a very boring world. I think when women started to get a voice in our country and be able to communicate their opinions and thoughts, that when our country took a huge leap forward.

Nonverbal Cues

We all make a first impression on people based on what we see and hear. If you are making a first impression on somebody who you have never met, then you make that impression based off of a visual image, a long with personality traits that you believe might be connected to that visual. You base this off of the way the person walks, the way they dress, the way they engage with others and so on. Sometimes this way of gaining an impression can give you a very false reading. I remember before I personally met my girlfriend Alena, I perceived her to be very stuck up, which was thankfully not the case at all. The reason I made this judgment was because of the nonverbal cues she would give off. She dressed very nice, walked tall with no emotion and didn’t look all that friendly to be honest, so in my mind I connected her style and demeanor to personality traits and put her into a category. She still to this day has people tell her things like “I didn’t know what to think of you at first, you seemed kind of mean”.

I walk kind of fast and observe my surroundings; my eyes are sensitive to the sun so I squint a lot which makes me out to have an attitude, I dress pretty normal I would say but most of the time I have a nice watch on, as well as a cross. This puts me into a category, which I think for the most part is wrong. People know I play sports and am an athlete, which is right but they also assume me to be mean and not very talkative. I am usually a nice guy once you get to know me, and when I warm up to you I can be somewhat talkative as well. I don’t like that people think I’m mean, but I can’t blame them because if I didn’t know me I’d think I was mean too. I know I come off rude a lot of the time as well, but this very unintentional. People who know me know that I say rude things just for the sake of humor, not to be offensive at all. I just have a crude sense of humor, but I am a very caring and moral person. When I was in high school I used to pick on kids who I felt weren’t giving an effort on the field, so all the underclassmen hated me for this, but the underclassmen who cared about our team and gave an effort I treated fairly, these kids got to know me and they didn’t hate me like their friends did.

I think most people make judgments on what they see and hear about people, this might be wrong but it is human nature. What makes it right is if you change your opinion of someone after meeting them and you actually give them a chance to prove you and your assumptions wrong (or right depending on the situation).

English and the Economy

English is the most widely spoken language in the world, and is the primary language of many countries across the world. Because the United States is such a big country and such a huge superpower as well as large influence on the global economy it is vital to speak the language that we speak if you want to be a truly affective international business. When you are starting a business and you want it to involve trade or services with another country, you send people over that country to do recon and make connections, If that person didn’t speak the language of the country they were visiting then it wouldn’t be a very good first impression or reflection of your business. American love to travel and visit “exotic” places, a lot of countries rely on this to keep the businesses in their country afloat. Rarely anybody who travels for pleasure know how to speak the native language, so in order to communicate in banks, grocery stores, outlet stores and restaurants those businesses have to have some kind of accommodations for those tourists. If they want to get their money. When I was a sophomore in high school my Grandmother decided to take me and my family to Europe, to get the whole “European experience” and it was a lot of fun. We visited England and there wasn’t a language barrier other than trying to understand some hard accents, but even that was easy. We visited Germany and there was a big language barrier, but they always had english accommodations. Most of the street signs had english under the german, the menus had english translations on them, and most of the people actually spoke english which I found to be very interesting. I learned that it is a requirement in school for the students to study the English language. The Germans know how important it is for them to understand and speak English. We visited France and it was much like Germany, but not as accommodating as far as menus and street signs, but because we were in Paris which is a huge tourist town, most of the people in hotels and restaurants spoke English. We also visited Rome, Italy which was about the same as Germany and France, most everything was very accommodating and a lot of people spoke our language. These are some personal examples that I have experienced that have made it very clear how important it truly is to be able to speak English. In my opinion I think being able to speak english keeps a lot of the economies of these countries going, especially of the tourists towns. China and America are so intertwined in each others economies that they need to be able to communicate, being able to speak clearly and communicate to each other it really helps things run smooth. We rely on China and China relies on us so in order to keep a somewhat healthy trading relationship English needs to be a priority.

My Words

We all have a certain way of communicating with other people, it doesn’t matter if you are talking in a group of people and you are all speaking English, you are still using different language and choice of words. This different use of language and choice of words seeps through our literature as well. This all reflects how we were raised, where we grew up, who we hang out with et cetera. Our language defines us as a person it makes up who we are. You can always be compared to other people but you can never be them.

Famous authors, screenwriters or play writes can always be recognized by the tone, use of language and choice of words. If you were watching a play that was written by Shakespeare, but you didn’t know it at the time you would be able to figure it out by the conversations happening on stage, through his writing. James Madison was a very articulate thorough writer and I can sometimes identify his writings without knowing beforehand. The point I’m trying to make is that the way we write is a big part of who we are, almost like our eye or hair color.

I am a somewhat simple writer, and I usually don’t stray too far from the subject being discussed. Some people can get away with using enormous words throughout their writings; I can’t really do this because when I write I try to write as if I was talking to someone, so I use the words I would use in person which are usually somewhat simple and direct. After looking back on some of my earlier essays I learned that I tend to reiterate a lot, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can be in excess. I think the reason I do it is because I want to make myself clear (either that or I’m trying to fulfill a requirement haha). I’ve found that the things I love most tend to pop up a lot in my writings, like my family, my girlfriend, friends, sports, at least one of those is in every essay. I try to make a lot of sports analogies in my writings, I do this because It is easy for me to explain and it relates to my life, but I also know that most everybody loves sports so the analogies are usually relevant to most people. I try to influence my readers or sway them into my ideals by using logic and reason, not so much sympathy. I’m not a very emotional guy and you can tell by my writings. So if I’m trying to convince someone of something I don’t want to use sympathy to make them feel bad in order to agree with me, I just use the facts at hand and my opinion, and maybe even a little motivation. Motivation is used in every day life, everybody needs some motivation every once in a while to keep the fire burning. My writing is a part of me and I will always view it as such, but it does need improvement and I hope to improve always.

"I Have a Dream"

Martin Luther King Jr. lived a relatively short life, but what he did in that short life will live on forever. Everyone young or old knows who Martin Luther King Jr. is and what he stood for and what he accomplished. He is a mascot of America and helped shape our nation into what it is today. He helped get the ball rolling with civil rights in America, and in a time where it was very controversial to do so he questioned the government and our way of life as Americans. When I hear the words “I Have a Dream” I know that those words mean so much more than the actual words themselves.

  Being nineteen years old I don’t really have much of a perspective on segregation or civil rights, but I do know that this speech was a turning point for both of them, everyone I’ve talked to from this period remembers this speech and how important it was and how much it changed things. The speech is our modern day “Gettysburg Address” , not only do they relate in their significance or content but Abraham Lincoln who gave the Gettysburg Address is who’s statue Martin Luther King  is standing in front of when he gives his speech. This was a very wise decision of Martin Luther King Jr. picking this location added to the content of his speech it gave it something more. The statue of Abraham Lincoln served as a visual representation Of Martin Luther King’s speech. When people have a symbol or something to look at it heightens the impact of the speech and gives it more relevance. The people viewing the speech especially in the civil rights movement had their modern day “Idol” or symbol of hope and their past “idol” Abraham Lincoln, they were both powerful people each conveying a similar message.

No other place on Earth would have served for a better location then right where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech, no other place would have had the symbolism or impact that it had there. It also helped that they were in Washington D.C. it showed that they were neither afraid nor intimidated and were willing to show that. Abraham Lincoln is one of our most loved presidents, he is always considered to be one of the best presidents we’ve ever had. This speech connected Martin Luther King Jr. to one of our favorite presidents. Abraham Lincoln stood against slavery and oppression more than a century prior to this speech and he ended up being right, why wouldn’t we take into account what Martin Luther King Jr. was saying? I think this was a wakeup call for a lot of Americans, maybe not right away because it was so foreign to their way of life, but after it set in and they realized what was going on they began to agree that maybe people shouldn’t be treated this way, maybe we shouldn’t have separate schools. Maybe what we are doing is wrong and it needs to change for the better, after all “All Men are Created Equal” and should be treated as such.

Being Illiterate

Iv’e undoubtedly taken illiteracy for granted for the majority of my life, most of all in school. The lifestyle Americans live now calls for being able to read and write, and if I didn’t know how I wouldn’t be able to write emails to people, talk on Facebook, things like that. I can’t really even rap my mind about being illiterate, and not being able to read, write or communicate properly with my peers, teachers, family or even people trying to take my order at a restaurant. My Mom is a third grade teacher at an elementary school in Lake Los Angeles, she gets a lot of kids every year who’s first language is spanish and can’t speak or understand english very well, some of them can’t understand or speak english hardly at all. I know this gets frustrating for my Mom, not because she is mad at them for not knowing english, she just can’t communicate with them, therefore she can’t teach them and for a teacher that is disappointing. So if this is frustrating for my Mom then I can’t even imagine how frustrating it is for the students not being able to learn or ask questions. Sitting in a classroom hearing a teacher talk all day and not knowing how to process what she is saying, even though it’s not I would almost feel like that’s a waste of time. These students do learn eventually, and they catch up with their peers, but it takes time and is a tedious process, that calls for a lot of extra time and energy from the teacher and the student. When I was going into my junior year of high school, my Grandma took me and my family on a trip to Europe, we visited London England, Paris France, Rome Italy and Munchen Germany. Luckily for us english is the most spoken language in the world so it wasn’t to difficult to communicate in these countries because people like American money so they learn to communicate with tourists. There was however a definite language barrier when we were trying to read street signs or subway stops. Just not being able to read those things was very frustrating, also sitting down to eat and not being able to read the menu was also interesting. That gave me a little perspective on how it would be to not be able to read. If you don’t learn these things early in life it gets harder and harder to learn them the older you get because when you are an infant you soak up information at an incredible rate but it slows down over time. I took two years of spanish in high school and to this day i maybe know two words of the language. In those classes I hated how hard it was to understand and pick up on. I know people who grew up speaking spanish in their home and english in school, and they understood both languages perfectly, mainly because they were introduced to both of them at such a young age.

Critical Thinking

3) Create your your first blog/reading journal entry.  In it, I would like you to explore what critical thinking means to you.  What are your own personal habits when it comes to reading and thinking critically?  Do you apply these habits in all areas of your life or only in some?  Do you analyze politics? The media? Academic work? Professional endeavors?  End your blog by discussing how you expect this class to alter your analysis skills and how you might view the world differently by the end of the term.

For me Critical Thinking means that before I express my beliefs or opinions I do research on those certain subjects and I gather evidence do back up what I believe, that way if it comes up in conversion I can make valid points to support myself and back up those opinions or beliefs. Critical Thinking would also be used in decision making, say I wanted to buy a new car, I wouldn’t just find the first cool car I saw and buy it, I would research the car find out how reliable it is, the kind of gas mileage it gets, safety, things that like. This would narrow down my list of cars and I would make a decision based off of what I thought would fit me, and my needs the best.

Personally I don’t use critical thinking in my life as much as I would like to. I use it very well when it comes to sports and sports equipment, because that stuff is so important to me. I always test equipment and read reviews before I buy it. When it comes to beliefs, like religion or politics, I have strong opinions, but sometimes I don’t gather enough research or evidence to make an impact. My school work; calls for a lot of critical thinking and it is crucial if I want to fully complete the assignment, so I use it all the time in school. In my job working construction I always had to ask questions and read instructions otherwise I could make a mistake that would either cost a lot of time and money or make a mistake that could cause serious injury.

Hopefully by the end of this class I will learn how to properly think critically, and use all the resources given to me, so that way I can have a better understanding of everything in my academic, athletic, and economic world. At the end of this class I should be able to make more persuasive and valid arguments so I can have a greater impact on my peers. I expect to analyze things more thoroughly, even now I tend to not read things as I should like instructions and I always end up having to go back and read it over and over again because I missed something and did the assignment wrong.This is a skill I need to gain not only for this class but also for all of the classes I am enrolled in as well as my future classes a long with my future professions