Goodbye 1102

I'm not exactly sure about how to evaluate myself as a writer. I have never really thought of myself as a writer, more so someone who just has to write for school. I have basically hated writing my entire life, which is funny considering it is all i seem to do in college, i have always felt that when people read my writing they are judging me a little. I do feel that throughout my freshman year my writing has improved dramatically. but over this semester i do feel i have learned how to write an argument a little more and that i have a better idea about how to do research in the university library. throughout this semester and last i feel my writing has grown in general. I feel like my writing has improved this year but it is no were near were i want it to be, and i know know how much effort and time i need to put forward. I have not really been successful at much this semester, but through revision i do feel my writing has grown and improved, and it has taught me alot. I do have alot more to go and i know taking these English classes early in my college career will and has helped me in many aspects of my other classes. I do need some fine tuning in my time management aspect of writing papers so i can have a better end result. English was never my favorite or best subject by far but it has really helped me in college to get my work done and the right way.

Technology...Need vs. Convenience???

Technology s such a large part of our lives, but if I had to live without one piece of the many technologies I use I think it could be my ipod. Although music is a big part of my life I could live without my constant use of my ipod. I listen to my ipod in the car, at the gym and basically any time I am bored. Although I would have less entertainment and would have trouble getting in the zone at the gym it is possible to live without. As long as I have my computer I have all of my music downloaded and available to me at all times. In the car I do not have to play my ipod I can listen to the radio or ride in silence. At the gym I can listen to the music that is playing throughout the whole gym, it is more about having a rhythm in my head than picking the song I want, although picking my own song does make it easier. It weird to think of all the technological gadget we have now a days, like ipods. Plus all the stuff that goes with them, adapters to be able to connect it to your car radio, ihome to be able to listen to it at home like a radio, paying for itunes, time spent and so much more that goes along with this one little gadget. Plus if you break you have to spend more money to replace because it has become such a part of your life. haha

Marriage?? Why Do It??

Today in my social problems class we were discussing that the idea of family is in crisis. That the traditional family is no more and that is a problem, this idea lead to information about the types of families there are today, family roles and the idea of marriage. My teacher proposed the question “who in here thinks they never want to get married??” A few people in the class raised there hand and I just looked around wondering why. The class went on without asking them why but I could not get the idea out of my head. This made me think about my own thought on marriage. I realized that I myself do no believe in the idea of marriage. As I keep thinking about it several things come to mind. Why is divorce so common these days? What makes me so cynical of something that is suppose to be great? Why don’t I believe(life experiences)? Who’s marriages are working out? Why do people not want to get married like those in my class? Why is getting married so important? When are people getting married? How long are people together before marrying these days? How many are cohabitating un-married with or with-out children? Why are women more ok with being alone? Are we more selfish these days? Has career become more important than marriage? How many couples live essentially “married” but are not legally married for life? What is the pressure? Why is marriage the “normal” thing to do, unlike other societies?

Everything is an argument

The Wall Street Journal
-With This Debt, I Thee Wed
-Sour economies don't just destroy jobs and wealth. They can tear apart marriages, often because of the debt that couples accumulate and, when times get tough, have trouble repaying. In this adaptation from his new book "Financially Ever After: The Couples' Guide to Managing Money," Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff D. Opdyke describes the challenges couples face when dealing with debt and how they can begin to address them.
-The headline is arguing that debt is accumulated to readily during marriage and it tears them apart so there needs to be some kind of advice given to slow down this problem.
-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123853896281075447.html
-A Hidden Oasis in Bangkok
-Amid urban bustle, a lush compound offers gardens, traditional architecture
-The headline is arguing that Bangkok is not all just an urban city, filled with high-rises and night life, with no remnants of old culture. There are places filled with nature and old traditions.
-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123810984499552801.html
-Graduating With a Major in Go-Getting
-Darvika Sarin had been working toward finding her first post-college job since she arrived at school her freshman year.
-This headline is arguing that college is becoming more and more competitive and the fight to find a job is so hard, people are starting the competitiveness for a job sooner and sooner.
-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123845358462571299.html
The Onion
-Getting Randomly Picked To Make Half-Court Shots Now Best Way To Earn Living
-WASHINGTON—A new study released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday confirmed that the most dependable source of income for American workers in the current economic climate is to win a novelty contest in which one must successfully shoot a basketball from half-court.
- This headline is arguing that economic times are so hard and uncertain that you have a better chance of winning random contest than job security.
- http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/getting_randomly_picked_to?utm_ source=b-section
-U.S. Troops In Iraq Excited To Finally Return To Afghanistan
-BAGHDAD—Members of the U.S. Armed Forces were reportedly overcome with feelings of joy, nostalgia, and optimism this week after learning they would soon be withdrawn from Iraq and allowed to finally return home to Afghanistan.
-this headline is arguing that things are so bad in Iraq that troops are excited to go to Afghanistan another war ridden area
- http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_troops_in_iraq_excited_to?utm_sour ce=c-section
-Creditors Repossess New England From Debt-Ridden U.S.
-NEW ENGLAND—"They've been giving us the runaround on this money for a long time now, so we had no choice," said Victor Migliore of the Bayonne, NJ- based collection agency. "We mailed them four warnings and called the Capitol and White House at least 10 times each, but they just ignored us. Maybe now they'll finally realize we're not fooling around about that $5,498,415,904,232.05 they owe."
- This headline is arguing that the U.S. is in such debt that it is going into collections and because it is the government they feel they don’t need to pay the money.
- http://www.theonion.com/content/news/creditors_repossess_new_england?utm_s ource=infocus
Atlanta Journal Constitution
-Cash-strapped Atlanta eyes DeKalb tax money
-City officials say they may be eligible to get $10 million a year from special sales tax
-this headline is arguing that Atlanta is looking any were they can to get more tax dollars, now with special sales tax.
- http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/03/31/atlanta_dekal b_tax.html
-Tech puts its money where its inventors are
-Innovation is alive and well at Georgia Tech, where students have figured out ow to clean carbon dioxide emissions, compare prices from a cell phone and heat lnch without a microwave.
-this is arguing that times are hard for everyone and students are trying to cut the ost as much as they can.
- ttp://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/03/31/georgia_tech_invent.h l
-Marietta schools to cut 75 jobs
-Drello is one of 75 Marietta schools employees who will lose their jobs at the end f the school year. The cuts were finalized at a school board work session Tuesday ght
-this is arguing that economic times are difficult and the government is cutting chools, firing people who have devoted there life to teaching there.
-http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2009/04/01/marietta_teacher_cuts.html
USA Today
-Marketers find Twitter a tweet recipe for success
-LOS ANGELES — Cake decorator Suzi Finer fills in spare time during the orkday updating her "status" on Facebook, telling about 2,000 customers about hat she's working on.
-this is arguing that people are finding new ways to fill there time and that involves online networking.
-http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-03-31-facebook-twitter-status marketing_N.htm
-Biggest U.S. tax hike on tobacco takes effect
-Smokers are gasping at higher cigarette and cigar prices as the largest federal tobacco tax increase in history takes effect.
- this is arguing that they are trying to rid smokers from society by continuing to raise taxes.
-http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2009-03-31 cigarettetax_N.htm?poe=HFMostPopular
-Auto sales plunge in March from a year ago but improve from February
-DETROIT — March proved to be another dismal month of steep declines for U.S. auto sales as low consumer confidence and job uncertainty continued to keep buyers away from showrooms, but the improvement from February signaled that bargain-hunting buyers may be providing the momentum for a turnaround.
-this is arguing that auto companies are trying to get out ofdebt like everyone else and are trying to improve sales, and they have.
-http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-04-01-auto-sales_N.htm

Atlanta and good food??..not to things that go together

In my time in Atlanta I have come to know that it is a mix bowl of almost any culture you can think of. So in different areas of the city you can find a restaurant with any type of food you may want. I personally think that they are not always a good representations of the culture they are suppose to represent. I also really don’t care for many places in Atlanta to eat. In Atlanta it always seem to be the small family owned restaurants that make the better of the crappy food. The one place that I do seem to be ok with enough to keep going back to is Huston’s in Buckhead. It is not any spectacular kind of food, it is just American cuisine. But I really like the smoked salmon there and the Caesar salad. I am from New Orleans and I feel I was raised around a much richer and unique cultural food. Living in Atlanta has been quite the disappointment as far as food and I have never found a Cajun, Creole or new Orleans style restaurant that has ever come close to satisfying my itch for food from home.

My Topic: My Influenza

For our second free topic I don’t really know what to write about and I am currently as I’m writing this extremely sick at home with the flu. I have been in bed all day and I have no mental capacity to think of much else, so I decided to write about the flu. Influenza is what we commonly call the flu. It is a virus that effects the respiratory tract. Some of us, actually millions of us, get the flu shot every year, I am not one of them. But like me some of us take the chance and say no to a flu shot. Although most of us see it as just something that we could get every year around this time, but it has had devastating effects in the past and some still today. Currently the flu or influenza has a mortality rate of about 0.1% for people who are infected with the virus. But in the past there have been pandemics of the influenza virus that caused millions of deaths. In 1918 years before the virus was identified in 1933 there was a pandemic were the death rate was ranged between 2% to 20% and about 40 to 100 million people died. So thank you to the flu shot because the world is more densely populated now and a pandemic like that would have an even larger effect on the world. The flu is an unpleasant thing to deal with and especially when your life won’t allow you the time to deal with it.

What Is Worth Our Time??

I believe that mass media in America has benefits but with the very many negative side effects. It is a great thing that we have access to information at any time and any place. Also you can find information on anything you can think of. But is this information always the also what we want to be exposed to? You can go in Google and find directions on how to smoke methamphetamines and you can go on YouTube and watch a video of people being brutally assaulted. We rely on this media for information about elections and so many other relevant things, so how can anyone say mass media is all bad. So do we shun all mass media as being bad or just the part that our society had dubbed bad. We accept seeing stories about Britney Spears right before stories about our nations economy, what does that say about our nation and what we have become, we have taken quite a turn. It says something about our new version of the American Dream, it has become being famous for doing, lets face it, not much at all. People like this have become role models and worth us knowing everything about them??

Dirty Little Secrets

1. Initially I found this websites idea very interesting, it could be a great way for some people to get there hidden secrets off there chest. But it also shocked me that there are people willing to have there secrets posted on a website for all to see.
2. The images on this website were good visuals of these secrets because the background images represented the secret in some way. Like the bed unmade on one side for the women who gets out of bed to fix her make-up before the man wakes up.
3. The writing I important because it tells the real secret and the images just support the writing. Without the writing there would be no message being sent.
4. I think the words spoke to me more than the images. The word gave the image meaning and told the truth.
5. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWxrp1lIcViqEF-CIDmzz5qBfKxea-gANK726axleFnZCA7dnn8oUzVYVa4xTzGTzzEkPsGLN712i0_6lB6n3H22j5Y1i2aQUDTDjVXanf2e4Tkebn2QHaJsu3AO4Py_ekwxyAzuiVkVU/s1600-h/3598.jpg
I believe that this secret is arguing that things you do for family are not always just to help family, they are to help yourself as well and sometimes to give you the upper hand.

Pregnancy and Drugs and Jail

For my topic of choice I have decided to talk about things we have been talking about in my social problems class. The issue of drug use or other harmful agents during pregnancy. A women can be put in prison for snorting cocaine or smoking crack while pregnant if the child is harmed or not, but nothing is done to the mother of a child born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Are the two not on the same level as far as harming an unborn fetus. Why does our society chose to accept smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol? Maybe it just might be because our society makes billions of dollars off of it. All are drugs and all addictive: alcohol, cocaine, cigarettes, marijuana, crack, meth, ecstasy, and so much more, but our society has only made substances they can not tax illegal. It bothers me personally that a women is punished for harming her unborn fetus in one way but not an other. If the child really doesn’t mean enough to you that you would take care of and protect it than you should have had an abortion. Just like you chose to snort a line of cocaine you chose to keep your child. Also if a mother is choosing to do drugs while pregnant than what kind of parent are they going to be. Its not necessarily setting the child up for a promising future, if there mother cares so little about them, if there mother is addicted to drugs, or if there parent had the lifestyle of doing drugs.

Facebook..Evil or Magnificent??

I read this piece believing in the idea that facebook is a great tool for interacting with “friends”. I never was exposed to the whole concept of facebook till the summer before I began college. I used other similar internet sites like myspace, yahoo and hi5, so I was not completely oblivious to the concept. But after joining the website I realized that it is a great way to connect with people. It is easy to find people unlike other websites like it and is easy to understand. I like the last argument the writer made with the women who swore by hating facebook and that it was a waste of time, then it said she now had a facebook and two hundred and something friends.

When I read this piece on facebook as I doubter I could see how the piece could still not convince a reader. The concept that we spend enough time in front of our computers throughout the day, why spend any of our free time in front of a computer. Also why should those who do not choose to participate in the facebook craze feel like are separate or doing something wrong. Facebook is not the only way to connect with people, giving an e-mail or phone number is just as good. I can see it as a time consuming waste of my time and why would you want people you barely know to be able to know and see what is going on in your personal life.

The American Dream?? To Me

To me The American Dream is having a happy life and family. I do not believe it is having material possessions, about how much money you make or what position you hold in society. I believe our country puts way to much emphasis on material things and “keeping up with the Joneses.” Having material things, while seems great in theory, it does not automatically mean happiness. I will feel as though I have achieved The American Dream as long as my family and I are happy, even if I’m not a millionaire or the head of my own company. I do not want to constantly have to feel like I should strive to look good to everyone else or to put down my coworker to get that promotion or make that little bit more money. As long as my family is happy and content I will feel I am a successful American. I do relies that in order to have this dream it does require making a comfortable amount of money at a average job, that will probably require some form of education beyond high school. In the world today education beyond high school has become like an assumed pathway to not be below the poverty level. But as long as you have a job that makes you happy that’s the job you should choose. Just because being a business major or on the track to becoming a lawyer may make you a lot of money in the future doesn’t mean it will leave you loving your life.