Lee McKinnis (57)
Kristina Marynczak (37)
Killian Noonan (36)
Melissa Castillo (32)
NikoVelazquez (27)
Shannon Ratzel (23)
Michelle Reyes (22)
Kyle Barczak (21)
Maura Bilek (21)
Susan Bayaa (21)
The Act Out volunteer fair on May 1st turned out pretty good. There were really good posters and a decent amount of people walking around asking us questions. I’m glad that my group managed to pull off our project just in time. The week before we had not worked with an organization yet, we only did get with an organization the Friday before the fair. But we pulled it off. Carly, the person that Working Bikes sent to represent them helped us out a bit. She helped us out on how to communicate with the visitors of our posters. Carly was a very nice person and I’m glad that she was there to help. A lot of people were coming up to our poster and asking us questions about Working Bikes. At first, it was a bit of a challenge to talk about Working Bikes on the spot, but after the second person I talked to it got easier. The people really seemed interested about Working Bikes. A few of them even said that they were going to donate some bike and visit Working Bike’s storefront on Western Ave. I had a great experience with Working Bikes and at the Act Out fair. The people at Working Bikes are nice people and I admire their mission.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
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Reynaldo Tamayo
Taylor Mali’s poem “Totally like whatever, you know?” was interesting. I really liked the way Taylor Mali recited the poem. It really added to it. Taylor Mali talked about language and on how people use “like” or “you know”. I find myself doing this and I am sure other people have experienced it too. It always happens when I am called on in class to answer a question. I would end up answering the question with an answer, but in a questioning tone. It’s at the point where I end up doing this without even noticing it. I’m sure it had messed up what I was trying to say or get across before. Just by using these words or anything similar to them hurts what you are trying to get across. It can make you seem indecisive and not in control. And if we are trying to be a leader or demanding something saying these things would not benefit us at all. We feel that by saying these words or use a wording similar to this; we avoid any confrontation about the idea. The point he makes in his poem is something that we can use in our daily lives. We need to be more confident with our ideas or comments about other ideas. It can benefit our conversations, speeches, etc., you know?
Mali. Taylor. “Totally like whatever, you know?.” What Learning Leaves. Newtown, CT: Hanover Press, 2002. Web. 19 April 2012 -
Reynaldo Tamayo
Alcoholism is only one of many issues we face in this world today. It was the issue my group mates and I chose for our project. It was something we can all relate too. Alcohol consumption is very common in our age group and with three of us being under the legal drinking age, I included, we thought that underage drinking would be the best topic to do our project on. The problem with underage drinking is not the fact that people are drinking alcohol, it’s the fact the people are abusing it. Binge drinking is very common with us. I feel that if we all decided to just start drinking responsibly that fewer problems will occur. Take a look at other countries; their minimum drinking age is at eighteen. I believe that by lowering the drinking age responsible drinking would be encouraged. I have been to a country with a drinking age at eighteen. When I was in Australia I had some fun times, especially being of legal age there. The thing I noticed when I was out drinking in Australia is that people seemed more responsible there, unlike here in the states where other eighteen year olds were getting wasted and well basically doing some stupid things. If we were more educated on alcohol and had a lowered drinking age, I feel that the underage drinking problem would be greatly reduced.
After deciding what to do for our project, we had a meeting to discuss what exactly we were going to do for alcoholism. We found various organizations that we could join forces with. Some of the organizations we found were DARE, Draw the Line, MADD, SADD, and other various organizations. There was one organization that I believe we tried contacting. I believe it was draw the line. They never responded to our comments or requests. That was the first bump of many that we encountered so far in the project. Also, for the other organizations that we possibly could have worked with, we had to pass time consuming pre-qualifications before we even could help out at the organization or even be considered. Some of the organizations required TB tests that would take 2 months for the results to be finalized and by that time he fair would have been over. We, as a group, found it rather difficult to find any organizations dealing with underage alcoholism. To think that a problem as common as alcoholism has a limited amount of organizations that deal with it.
After that we felt a bit down but we were sure that we would find an organization to volunteer our services. But as the due date of our essay came up, we became more stressed. We had not found an organization yet. Over the weekend we had to find and come into contact with organizations. Organizations that do not necessarily have to do anything with alcoholism. I worked with an organization last year for community service that was required in my high school. The organization was called JDRF or Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I have emailed one of the people that supervised me during the Ron Santo Walk to Cure Diabetes. I am still waiting on a reply but I am fairly sure that if they do have something available, that it would not require any pre-qualification tests.
It’s almost time for the fair and I do not want to fail my teammates. We are all stressed out and almost at the point of panicking. We have thirteen days left before the fair and we still have not found an organization to work with. I want to be able to find an organization that would take us and is working on something that I and other teammates are interested in.
After attending class today, we found three potential organizations that we can work with, Operation Gratitude, Working Bikes, and The Greater Chicago Food Depository. It’s quite a relief that we still are able to find organizations to work with but it would be even greater if we are accepted by the organizations without any lengthy checks. As much as I would like to be involved with something like Operation Gratitude, the other two organizations seems more accessible in our current situation. With the other two organizations we know for a fact that they do not need any pre-qualification tests to just be able to get involved with them. We just contacted Operation Gratitude today and it seems like that no pre-qualifications are needed. All I can say is that I just want to get this over with. At this point in the project we should have been with an organization already and should have had worked with them.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
I read an article today on dodbuzz.com called “Taking a long view on Afghanistan”. Throughout the article the author talks about a discussion about the future of Afghanistan. In this discussion, retired Air Force Gen. Ronald Fogleman said that the next few years might not be so pleasant for the U.S. and Afghanistan. But when looking back on the Korean War and the state of South Korea presently, Fogleman said that Afghanistan might turn out just like South Korea and that and he was glad that he was there because of that. South Korea has progressed so much more than its northern neighbor. On the other hand, retired Army Gen. Peter Chiarelli said that Afghanistan might not look like South Korea in fifty years. Instead it might stay the same, but with local warlords and some contingent of foreign troops. In my opinion, I feel that both generals are somewhat correct. I feel that Afghanistan will have some improvements but not as much as the South Koreans had when their war ended in a “tie”. As for if it was worth it? I think that really is a question for the people that have been there. Because they are the ones who will look back with that experience like Fogleman did with South Korea. I feel that my answer to that question does not really have any value to it since I have not been there, but I feel that we should have left ages ago and should concentrate on our own country before worrying about others.
Ewing, Philip. “Taking a long view on Afghanistan” dodbuzz.com Military News, 11 Apr. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2012 -
Reynaldo Tamayo
For this week, I want to talk about the KONY 2012 presentation that we had to attend last Tuesday. Going into the presentation I already had some sort of view on the organization, Invisible Children. I have heard rumors and read some reports prior to the presentation and the organization was not spoken highly in these articles. I was very skeptical of the organization and I still am afterwards. I have to say though that the presentation was pretty good. It caught a bit of my emotion and I am sure it caught others as well. They showed that thirty minute movie and they even brought in a person from Uganda. From doing more research on this organization, I found an article talking about Invisible Children’s funding of the Ugandan military. This military is just as bad as Kony. They too are responsible for rape, murder, abduction, etc. But the organization defends them saying that they are the better equipped military in the region. I do not understand why they support them. Even though the organization might be a questionable one, the idea and the problem they are presenting is something I can agree with. Yes, Kony is a horrible man who needs to be stopped. Just because I am skeptical of the organization does not mean I do not care about the problem. The abduction of children and making them into child soldiers and sex slaves is not acceptable. Also, the idea of this global community standing together for change or standing together for a solution to a growing problem is something that we need more of in this world. Those two ideas that Invisible Children presented is something that should be followed through with. It does not have to be with that organization; in fact one person can start something on his or her own.
Invisble Children. 2012, April. KONY 2012. -
Reynaldo Tamayo
I decided to do my journal post this week on an article on military.com, titled “Senate Probing Army’s Handling of PTSD Cases”. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders are common in every war. Veterans come back from war seeing things that we civilians might never see in our safe community here. The problem that is being described in this article is the mishandling of veterans in military hospitals. The senator on the veteran’s affairs panel, Democrat Patty Murray, began an investigation into military hospitals denying treatment to service members with post-traumatic stress disorder due to cost considerations. When reviewing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder cases, 290 of those 690 diagnoses were reversed by a medical screening team. That is more than 40 percent. I feel that this issue should be looked into more. Veterans deserve the best, top medical care. That includes better diagnoses of Post-Traumatic Disorders. A better understanding of what the person is going through should help them treat and care for that person suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress. And the fact that they are denying veterans’ treatment due to cost considerations is unacceptable. Not only that, but there have been complaints of adjusted diagnoses to make sure that soldiers do not receive full disability benefits. If the complaints are found to be true, then there seriously is a need for further investigation and possibly a solution to this problem.
Hotakainen, Rob. “Senate Probing Army’s Handling of PTSD cases” Military.com Military News, 29 Mar. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2012 -
Reynaldo Tamayo
For this week’s journal entry, I want to talk about my experience in the Share your soles event. I had not signed up for any kind of community service prior to this since high school. And my experiences in high school community service were great but I knew I would not even have those experiences if it were not required of me. So, when I did go to this event it felt very familiar to my past experiences. I found that this experience was a pretty fun one. I got to help out in an organization that sends out shoes to people in need. The founder of the organization, Mona Purdy, was very enthusiastic about her work. You can tell that by the way she talks about share your soles. I think it’s a good thing that she decided to start this organization after her visit to a country where people had amputated legs and tarred feet due to not having any shoes. Also, the fact that they had only three people plus volunteers to work the warehouse and still be able to send 1.5 million shoes to the world is a great achievement. I really enjoyed volunteering at Share your soles. They were friendly and they were a fun group to work with. They really are helping out people in need and in my opinion a trustworthy organization to work with.
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Michelle Reyes
I myself was suppose to go to ‘’Share Your Soles’’ but unfortunately I something had came up and wasn’t able to attend. I was curious to see how they worked together to make sure that they ship the shoes to people in need. I heard a lot about this organization and I also heard that they are in need of money. I can’t imagine how stressful it would be to run Share your Soles and make sure everything goes according to plan. In my high school we didn’t have to do 24hrs of community service to graduate. I think that if my school had that requirement they wouldn’t be close to graduating. I don’t think a lot of people would take time out of there time to help out. It’s nice to know that you have done community service in the past because you already had an idea how things run. I wish there was more that people can do to make sure that they are not in need of money and help. I like how you put your own opinion in the paper and saying that they need to be more organized. By them being more organized that might help them out run the service that more smoothly. I like how after the service you are going to start donating your shoes that you don’t even use to help. I think how you talked about your cousin having about 36 shoes and only wear about 10. I agree no one ever needs that many shoes. I think I have about more than 15 pairs in my closet and now that I think about it I only where about like 5. It actually makes me think about going to donate them and give them to someone who would actually out some use to them. I’m glad that you said that you put you now appreciate your shoes but a lot more because I think everyone should feel that way as well. I hope that a lot of people want to help out more and think about how lucky they are to have everything they need. After reading this I feel that Mona has an amazing heart to be able to organize the service and help out so many people that need shoes. It’s good to hear that you are willing to go back and volunteer again. I think that a lot of people wouldn’t go and glad to hear that there is people out there that are willing to help. Overall good paper, I learned a little more about the service and glad to know they shipped a lot of shoes to people that need them. I think I’m also going to look into my closet and start picking out the shoes I don’t use and donate them to the people that will. I hope a lot of people learned from this service like you did. I think the organization would be lucky to have you help them out again. Nice work!
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Prof McGuire
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Reynaldo Tamayo
A Critical Reflection of Service I went to…
A Critical Reflection of Service
I went to the “Share your soles” service opportunity in Alsip, Illinois. To me, volunteering a Share your soles was something that felt familiar. I have done service learning or Community Service in the past for my high school. We were required to do twenty four hours in order to graduate. Before going to the service learning event, I felt the same way as I did before my other community service opportunities in the past. I just wanted to get it over with. Now don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed my past service opportunities and I got a sense of importance from doing them. The same is the case for the share your soles service learning event. It was something that I started to enjoy after the first few minutes. The founder of Share Your Soles, Mona, was very nice. You can tell that she enjoys what she is doing and that she is very passionate about it. The video that was presented in the start of the event was a bit moving. Even if I had missed some parts of it due to being late, the video was still able to move me a bit. It’s a good thing that they show that video to every group of volunteers. It can get them motivated to make this session count and to keep them concerned about the problem.
From my experience I noticed however that they were in need of more attention, money, and organization. It takes a lot of resources to ship thousands of shoes to people in need. The organization officially has 4 employees under Mona. They depend on volunteers like me to meet their deadlines and ship their shoes to the people in need. If they get more attention in the media they might be able to expand their operations and increase their shipment of shoes to people in need. If the public knew more about the problem I feel then people would start to want to do something about it, providing more volunteers concerning this problem. Mona also states in the video on how much it costs to ship shoes around the world and that they are lacking financially and need money. They are trying to offset some of the costs by holding shoe sales. They take good conditioned, high fashion shoes and sell them at a lowered price on Saturdays. But that alone will not solve the financial problems they are facing. Also, when I was at the event I noticed that they were not has organized as other organizations were. They had a goal but had no step by step process or instructions. People needed to be more of a self-starter. I feel though that they should set up a process of some sort. Having at least some planned directions, in my opinion, would be beneficial. It would allow some of the people who are not self-starters to have some direction.
After volunteering in this social learning event, I am going to start donating shoes that I do not use anymore. I still have shoes from when I was 6 sitting in my basement collecting dust. Those shoes can probably save a person’s foot. After the event, I now know that I take things for granted. I have 4 pairs of shoes for every situation, Athletics, Casual, Formal, and Work. Other people have 25+ pairs of shoes. I know for a fact that my cousin has a total of 36 pairs. No one needs that many shoes. It is a waste and my cousin probably only wears 10 pairs frequently out of those 36 pairs. Also, donating those shoes can help a lot of people in need. By donating shoes we could prevent them from having to put tar on their feet or having to get amputated due to walking around without shoes. Not only do I appreciate my shoes more, but I appreciate some of my other things as well. Even today most people do not have access to the internet or even have a computer. They also do not have the abundance of food that we have in our developed country. Some countries still depend on substance farming.
I think share your soles has a good future ahead. Its operations in Alsip are run pretty well for a workforce of 4 people. It has gained a lot of credibility and has helped a lot of people already. I feel that Share your soles can possibly become larger than it already is.
All in all I thought that the Share your soles event was great. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the people working there were friendly and fun. Mona did a great thing when she set up Share your soles. The fact that they are able to send 1.5 million pairs of shoes with just 4 employees and volunteers is just amazing. Some organizations require a lot more employees and volunteers to meet a goal like 1.5 million pairs of shoes. When I have the chance, I will definitely be volunteering again. I feel that every person should volunteer at share your soles or someplace similar. If volunteering is not a good option, then at least donate shoes. We all have shoes that we are barely using or not using at all. Why let it go to waste when it can save someone a leg?
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Zahra Ratli
i loved what you said about share your soles. As you mentioned , we all have many pairs of shoes just sitting in the dust where other people are struggling to have just one. none of us can go with no shoes , so how can we imagine that kids and adults in some places are bare feet in hard conditions , going for miles with no Mercedes , BMW, or just a public bus. It is painful when you see people with no shoes going to school . Mona did a great job by creating this organization. Many people are now happy whether in Haiti , Somalia , or any other places. As you mentioned , the atmosphere and people were friendly and fun . I was one of the people ho had volunteered in share your soles. I had a fantastic experience that day especially with those lovely people and with my classmates. like you said , this organization is having a good future ahead and that because of volunteers as us . SO if you , him , and I donate one pair of shoes , them this organization will expand in so many places in the world where many people will have the chance to wear shoes. I likes what you said about your experiences whether with share your soles or with the one that you had while you were at high school. Donating and volunteering are good things that we all should do . Whenever you are happy , feeling full and wearing nice expensive clothes, stop a moment and think if they are people in the world who are lucky as you . when we go to organizations as this, we can then recognize that there is a category of people that do not even have what you have . While you have a 6 dollar cup of coffee from Starbucks , think that this amount of money may feed a whole family for a week. Also , when you buy a shoe that cost 100 dollars, Some people in poor places may be their monthly salary that pays their rent , rent , food , and clothes. We are in this world to help each other. to support each other. if we are lucky to have all these things, make sure that others do not have it . Your essay was clear about your experience and believes toward volunteering . we should all feel responsible to go find places where we can help . for sure we will happy and proud once we are done .
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Mark Reppen
When I read your paper, I liked how you started off with explaining about the whole community service in high school. Then after that you related that to the Share Your Soles and Mona the head of the organization. I thought it was cool how you talked about what they do in the organization. I think that it is sad that people in the world do not have shoes to walk in. I cannot imagine walking on the street without my pair of shoes. I agree with you that people should not own more than two or three pairs of shoes. More people should donate their shoes that they do not need to wear or wear at all just to get rid of them and help other people. I liked how you talked about the Share Your Soles on how Mona only has 4 workers and they rely on volunteers to help them meet their deadlines. I thought about that for a few minutes that it really is amazing that there are only four workers that are dedicated to the service. I was amazed by how these workers and the volunteers were able to package 1.5 million shoes. It was interesting that you mentioned that the organization does not have a step by step process on what to do with the shoes and sending it. I can see that it can be an issue with the processing of the shoes. Another issue that you addressed was that the organization needs money to finance the shipping of the shoes. The whole paper has a really good organized paper. The paragraphs really flow with each other and the emotion appeal in this paper is really good. I liked the whole thing and how you addressed the positives and negatives about the service. I liked how you talked about how people in the world actually would have tar put on their feet or have them cut off because they are walking without shoes on the streets. I believe that no one should have to do that. I agree strongly on the subject that people should volunteer more, or try to bring more volunteers in to help the organization ship more shoes around the world. Perhaps the organization could send the video that you mentioned to different places to reach out to more people. That way the organization could bring in more people who would be more willing to donate money or shoes to Share Your Soles. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this paper and how it talked about the service in general and the organization itself. I can tell it has a message in it, telling the reader that maybe he/she should take action and do something about the issue. That way the organization would meet its deadline or goals more often and beyond that. People really do take shoes for granted and it should not be that way. Every pair of shoes can save a life and I liked how you addressed that in your paper.
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Kyle Barczak
Reynaldo, before I write your review, I’d just like to let you know that I’m reviewing yours simply because no one in my group did their paper and you were the last one I could find without having 3+ reviews already.
First off, I’d like to say that I appreciate how honest you were in saying that you had just wanted to get the service project over with. I’m sure most of us had felt that way, but no one had said it. Whether they had felt that it was the wrong thing to say or not, I kind of enjoyed seeing it in your paper. Also, I can relate with you having to do twenty-four hours of community service to graduate. I too had to do that much community service when I was in high school and felt the same way when I went. I just wanted to get it done with. Maybe within this first paragraph you can also mention some background detail for why Mona started Share Your Soles. Possibly mention what she had experienced when Mona traveled through Central America and the doctor she spoke with when she was on the airplane. I feel like that could help grab a readers attention and possibly get them involved with the cause later on down the road.
While I find it slightly depressing, I like that you mentioned that the organization really needs more help. Help with anything from money to attention. The sad part about, what would it take? Roughly a couple dollars (meaning no more than five or ten) from the community, or more people to volunteer their time and effort once a month, maybe twice a month. Small things that most everyone has but can’t seem to do without. Maybe if you were to write a letter to your local newspaper editor, they can get the appropriate media attention that you think they need. Even though most people know about this organization, maybe that letter can really get the ball rolling for them. Who knows, it could be a like a second awakening for the organization.
You mentioned that they weren’t very organized and that volunteers had to be self-starters; how would one get started while they are there? Does one just follow along or do they kind of figure it out on their own? I think these are just a few things that someone would ask if they were reading your paper or learning about Share Your Soles.
Over all, Reynaldo, I liked your paper. It gave a fair idea for what one can expect if they were to spend their time volunteering at Share Your Soles as well as showed what kind of person you are. Like I said, I really enjoyed how honest you were, even if it were something others don’t think would be appropriate to say in an essay like this. I didn’t seem to notice any spelling or grammatical errors in your paper, but the one thing I would suggest, is to change the smaller numbers, like “4”, to words. So four instead of 4.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
Thank you for reviewing my paper.
I will definetly make some of your suggested changes when i revise this.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
“Googling is not the same as thinking” by Professor McGuire from Ch. 5 in Why White Rice was interesting. I use google every day to find things that I do not know about, things that I cannot find out anywhere else. As we advance in technology we will get lazier and lazier. As it was pointed out in the section, people will simply google a definition of a word or google weather instead of thinking about what is being asked of them or simply opening a window to gauge the weather. I know for a fact that I am guilty in this. I do sometimes google things for the fact that I could just look it up without actually thinking about it. The last time that I actually took the time to find something out through the dictionary or other book is back when I was in 5th grade. Ever since then I use to web to find most of my information. But google is not a bad thing either, it allows us to find things that we would never have known in the first place and it could be a useful tool for finding sources for a paper. I feel that we need technology but we should not entirely depend on it.
McGuire, Michael. “Googling is Not the Same as Thinking.” Why White Rice? Thinking through Writing.Kendall Hunt , 2010. 1P.19-120. Print. -
Reynaldo Tamayo
Dear Editor,
Climate change is something that I feel that our community is not aware of. Climate change is happening whether we like it or not. It is affecting the environment around us and is also affecting our economy, way of life, and global policies. With the extreme weather and increased sea levels, more and more people will become displaced with each event. A mass amount of displaced people can cause conflicts with the people and how the government will handle a situation like this. Not only would we have to deal with the conflicts that will arise, we will also have to deal with the financial costs. A town or city that is damaged or destroyed by a weather event is pretty expensive. The government will have to rebuild the place or just simply move the residents elsewhere. Both choices are expensive ones and both can be avoided. The recent tsunami in Japan, Katrina, the series of tornados in the United States, they are all examples of climate change becoming worse and worse. People who know little or nothing about climate change and how it affects them and others is the problem when it comes to its prevention. I feel that once more knowledge is given to the people about climate change; it will then become something that does not sound so impossible to solve. I urge you to do some more research about climate change and to help out in increasing climate change awareness in our community. The more people that know, the more people will there be to solve this global problem.
Sincerely,
Reynaldo Tamayo
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Mark Reppen
After reading your letter to the editor, I liked how the whole thing was right to the point. I liked the part about trying to make people learn more about the climate change. It was trying to reach the community and beyond and I liked that. How you addressed the issue was good too. Some of the examples that you used were interesting enough to make the reader stay interested in the topic. The writing was well organized; the beginning, middle, and end really flowed together. Your point of view on this subject was very supportive of the situation. By that I mean, you really care about the subject and you really want to get a message across the readers and beyond about this. I know this is supposed to be a short letter but I feel that I wanted more examples or description on the government part of the letter. I understood what you said about that they rebuild or move the resident but I feel like it could be expanded more. The diction of this short letter is pretty well written. None of the sentences confused me or anything at all. I find that they main meaning of this message is people not knowing enough about climate changes. I agree with you that more people should learn about this and become familiar with the topic. I liked how you said the more people that know; the more people will be there to solve this global problem. I agree with that statement strongly. While reading the short letter, I did have some feelings that you could have added more to the financial part of the subject. Just simply an example or a description would make it more in depth. It would expand it a little more but at least the readers will get the concept of the damages that climate changes can causes. Overall, this letter to the editor was interesting and well written. I know that it’s supposed to be short once again, but some of the details could be expanded a little more. Other than that the short letter is really good. Personally, I’ve noticed that the climate in our country has been changing rapidly. For example, last year, we had the blizzard and now this year we barely had any snow. We’ve had the hurricanes down south and earthquakes in other countries including ours. I do believe that the climate change is the result of our pollution and people should, as you suggested, research more about this to slow the climate changes down. I was able to connect to this letter to the editor through my experiences with the climate changes. Since that I was able to connect to the letter; personally, I could understand what you were able to talk about. Overall though, it was simple enough for any reader to read that they need to do more research on climate changes. Everyone should start developing better ways to solve this global problem. That includes the U.S. and the rest of the world.
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Michelle Reyes
After reading your letter to the editor I like how you said that climate change is something that the community is not aware of. I believe that because I have always known about climate change but didn’t have any background information about it. I honestly didn’t bother to learn about it and now I feel that maybe I should because this is an issue that needs to be informed to others. I know that the climate has changed a lot lately because now its 80 degrees in March. I feel that Its going to keep changing and people need to be more inform about climate changes that are happening today. It’s important to those who do get there homes destroyed by the weather and the government knows that they need to help them rebuild there homes. I agree how you say that people do need to be aware about this situation. There are people who have been affected by tornados recently that were not aware of what precautions to take to protect themselves, their homes and towns in a better way to avoid heavy expenses and tragic losses. I think if people knew more about what to do it would make everything easier for people to help with climate change. You can add on there what people can do about this issue and where to go to learn more about. I like how you put examples of climate change and how it’s becoming worse and worse. You should add why it’s becoming worse and why it’s an important issue that people should get more involved in. I think people are going to want to get more involved if they knew what they can do to help. I feel that people don’t think that nothing can be done to stop climate change and that’s why they are not doing anything right now to help. I honestly want to learn more about how these issues can b stopped and if anyone or anything is being done to help. I believe that I’m one of those people that feel that nothing can be done. After reading this letter I feel that I want to know more and curious on what precautions can be taken to help. Also wondering is there’s any organizing that is trying to help with climate change and or what is being done today to help prevent climate change. Over all I think it was well written and understanding. I know that the letter is suppose to be short but fell that maybe you can add on a little more information to make the editor understand the issue more.
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Zahra Ratli
climate change is an issue that people should know about it. many people do not even bother themselves to know a bit about this unusual fact. things are becoming scary and the damages of climate change can be very bad. what you discussed in your essay was very straight to the point and mention a lot of details that so many of us do not know. all what is happening in the earth nowadays is a result of climate change. katrina, tsunami are examples of what climate change can cause. it was a tragedy when people were died and injured , houses were destroyed , and people became homeless with no shelter. the other things is seasons shifting and hot weather that is lasting almost all year. blizzard that we had last year in chicago and absence of snow in this year is exactly what climate change means. we all in this planet are in risk of climate change. the amount of ice that is melting from poles because of the high temperature is becoming a danger . so many isles in the future will be covered with the water and then will be no existence of them . it is really important that people should know wbout what happening in this universe. things are changing and people are unaware of what s going on because what we are having is a result of what beings caused .we have destroyed the world with our industries and pollution. we were unaware that our waste can cause one day what we are fearing of now. a person should always think of the circumstances of his or her high consumption and polution. we should all work hard to solve this problem and decreasing its risks.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
I was a bit confused at first from watching the video on Tuesday called “The Examined Life” with Martha Nussbaum discussing social justice. Martha Nussbaum explained something called the social contract. To me I believe that the social contract is the belief that a person that is part of society must contribute to his or her society. If they do not contribute or cannot contribute then they are valued less in that society. In a social contract, contribution is everything. If a person does not contribute then they are looked down upon and essentially not cared for. This video with the pairing of the pictures of subtle and not so subtle oppressive objects such as the bench in the park helped me understand the video a little better. Martha Nussbaum mentioned a sloped bridge as she was walking down lake shore. She stated that about 50 years ago that sloped bridge would have been steps. People who were disabled would not have been able to get up those stairs and see the beautiful view. Now the bridge is sloped allowing disabled and non-disabled persons to be able to enjoy the view. Essentially a person is disabled because we do not enable them to do some of the things we can do without necessarily thinking about it. I think that Martha Nussbaum I saying that people who are handicapped mentally and physically are viewed as people who contribute less to society than everyone else. She is saying that there is a social inequality in today’s society.
Nussbaum,Martha. “The Examined Life.” In-class. 21 Feb, 2012-
Prof McGuire
A lot of people are documenting this source as you did. It is incorrect. Look up the details on “The Examined Life” so you can document it fully and properly using MLA.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
Climate Change
Speech
Topic: Climate ChangeIntro:
- Briefly explain Climate Change
- Explain why it is important to be concerned about climate change
- Explain how it is getting worse
Concerns:
- The global impact on economy, way of living, and nature
- Extreme Weather
- IPCC report on climate change
What you can do about it:
- Join an organization that combats climate change at a local and government level
- Change to a more eco-friendly lifestyle through the use of renewable fuels
Conclusion:
- Restate points
- End speech with a quote
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Reynaldo Tamayo
Climate Change
What is Climate Change?
Climate change is happening whether we like it or not. In fact, climate change is occurring as this essay is being read. From the extreme weather to the melting ice caps at the poles, we all have a stake in this problem. Not only does this affect our wildlife but wars and conflicts between the people and government will occur due to the effects. If we continue to do nothing about it, not only will we doom our future but we will also doom the future of our children. Climate change is here but it does not mean that it is too late.
Background
Climate change is occurring due to our energy usage and lack of care for our environment. Throughout the earth’s years of existence, weather has fluctuated from either a cold climate that can sustain adaptable species to a warm climate that can sustain a higher amount of life. What is happening now is that the natural cycle is being altered by us humans. In fact, the scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) on climate change. They concluded that warming of the climate system was unequivocal. Meaning that the atmosphere is warmer, the oceans are warmer, more precipitation, more extreme weather events, melting glaciers, and increased sea level. This is proof that climate change is happening. Katrina and the disastrous tsunamis are an example of extreme weather and it is only going to get worse from there. Now some people say that this problem is not human made and is just part of the natural cycle. In the IPCC report, it states that 90% of the warming caused is by increased concentrations of anthropogenic (Human made) greenhouse gases. We are continually pumping greenhouse gases into the air.
The industrialization of countries has started this snowball effect of pumping greenhouse gases. From the time the very first factory was built to the millions of factories the output is still the same, pollution and greenhouse gases. With the industrialization comes a population that requires more energy. The amount of energy today’s population needs is outstanding. There are millions of power plants are all over the United States, millions more in other countries. Those power plants are running 24/7 providing he needs of people. The problem is though that most of the energy produced by the power plant is wasted due to the lack of technology we have today. The heat the power plant escapes and all of that potential energy is loss. When technology arises so that we can trap heat and other energy sources will we only then need not worry about alternative fuels.
What are people doing about this currently?
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement with Japan and 161 industrialized nations to commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This was made in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. Another instance where countries are working together to combat this problem is in 1992. 154 countries agreed to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to levels that will not cause harm. This was signed in June 1992, and is called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or the UNFCC.
Greenpeace, an organization that combats climate change, has a program called the seven steps. The member gets one email per week for seven weeks with tips and tools the person needs to do something that week.What can you do about this?
There are numerous organizations that deal with climate change, but the most prominent one is Greenpeace. Greenpeace is located across the world from the UK to Russia to Japan.
To join Greenpeace visit:
http://www.greenpeace.org from there, navigate to the bottom of the website and look for the link “Volunteer”. Just follow the on-screen instructions and your set!But if joining an organization like Greenpeace is not your thing then you can take individual steps to helping the cause. A person can start doing something by doing something simple such as recycling. It will reduce the number of landfills and the methane, an effective greenhouse gas, which landfills produce. Or if a person is willing to do something bigger, he/she can install solar panels into their homes and use the free, clean electricity used. In fact, the person can buy an electric car and have free “fuel”.
Want to learn more?
The Great Warming. “Climate Change Fact Sheet” Web. 20 Feb. 2012. http://www.thegreatwarming.com/pdf/ClimateChangeFactSheet.pdf
This article explains what climate change is and why it is a better term for the problem rather than global warming. It explains what the greenhouse effect is and it gives examples of certain greenhouse gasses like methane, water vapor, or carbon dioxide. It also explains the reason why greenhouse gases can have a big effect on climate and what specifically causes climate change. The article also states briefly on what is being done about climate change.EPA. “Climate Change” Web. 19 Feb. 2012
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/
This is the website of the Environmental Protection Agency an organization part of the U.S. Government. From the home page of this site you can learn about indicators of climate change, the U.S. climate policy, or what you can do about it. The website also produces articles or reports on climate change and is a great way to stay informed. This source is pretty reliable since it is a government agency. All articles and reports have been researched properly and gives you the government’s view on climate change.Works Cited
Wight, Richard. Environmental Science Toward A Sustainable Future. 11th Ed. Boorse, Dorothy. San Francisco: Peason, 2011. Print
“Global Warming Fast Facts” news.nationalgeogaphic.com. National Geographic, 2007. Web. 21 Feb 2012-
Mark Reppen
After reading your project post, I came to like how you wrote it as in how organized it was. You started off by explaining what climate change is and how it could eventually harm us in the future. After that you wrote about the background of climate changes and I learned a few things about the topic that I didn’t know before. Sure, I knew quite a few things about our climate changes, global warming, our environment, etc. I still learned more about it though. The whole piece was detailed and it was easy to understand and to read it. I really liked that you found different sources to go to get involved and help out with solving the global warming and climate changing problems. I also liked that you put more sources to learn more about the topic if any of the other readers wanted to know more about the topic. I, honestly, think that perhaps you could have written more about what people are currently doing to help out with the global warming problems. I feel like that part could have slightly more examples or details added into it. Another thing that you could add is one or two more sources to the “want to learn more” section. Yes, you do have two sources already but with topics like this there is always more than just two sides of an argument. Overall it is a good paper; it just needs more illustrated points or information inserted into the topic. That way it could expand or enhance your writing on this subject. I wasn’t confused at all on what you wrote, I just felt like it could have more to it than what is already written. For example the “what can you do about this?” section could have more links to different places to where people could help out with these issues at hand. Like I said before, I learned some things from it and it was an interesting topic to read and I agree with you that it is an issue that should be addressed by all humans in the world. After I read the background part of the paper, I felt that it was just right, as in it doesn’t need any more information added to it. I’d leave it as it is. I definitely liked that you wrote it in a way that it can hook the reader into the issue of this topic. The idea of it is interesting and it is a good issue to talk about. The issue in this idea of climate change is huge because many people on this planet uses so much energy and waste a lot of resources that it is damaging our environment. Once again, overall it is a good paper. It needs more information and details put into it to make it expand more. That way the paragraphs have a more fluid and smooth paper. The intro was a good one by the way; it really made the topic more interesting to read. That is all I can think of to say about this.
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Michelle Reyes
I like how you started your sentence of by saying that climate changing is happen whether you like it or not. Its straight forward and stating that it’s an issue that is happen at this very moment. In the first paragraph I feel you can explain why it’s affecting wildlife and what conflicts do people and the government has due to the effects between climate changes. Also in the first paragraph you can add why anyone is not doing anything and why everyone should do something about this issue. I knew about the climate changes but honestly I didn’t bother to do research on this issue. From reading your background information I never even heard about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I like how you said Katrina and other extreme weather is proof of climate changing. I think you should add a little information about why it’s going to get worse later on. I also didn’t know that 90% of the warming caused is by increased concentrations of anthropogenic (Human made) greenhouse gases. I honestly thought the same things other did. I believe that the problem wasn’t human made and just part of the natural cycle. I’m not familiar with any of these terms and feel that you can explain more thoroughly.
I feel that you can add a little more information about what are people doing about climate change. You can explain what the the Greenpeach organization is and when it started. How did people start getting involved? Why did people start joining these organizations in the first place? I would also like to know if there is anything on the news or anyone currently taking a stand on this issue. I like you put the link on your paper so people can go and learn more about the Greenpeace organization. I also like how you gave people and other option besides joining the Greenpeace organization. Recycling is one easy and a big step people can start taking to help out the climate change. I know that a lot of people don’t think that recycling can help but it can. I honestly didn’t bother to recycle but a lot of people now I feel that have started to recycle a lot more. I also feel that a lot of schools and places have added two trash cans to schools ect. one for trash and one for recycling. I like how you added how people can take a big step and can install solar panels into their homes. I don’t think I have ever meet anyone that has solar panels in their homes its something that I feel a lot of people will start to do because of the climate change. People will start to come more aware about this issue and are soon going to start making changes in their life styles to help. Over all I like how it was organized and easy to follow. You did a great job at explaining your issue but adding a couple things will make it even better! -
Zahra Ratli
Climate change is a fact that we all should be aware of it as you said at the beginning that is it happening whether we like it or not. it is really sad to hear that we are , human beings, responsible of what is happening inn our life , and our energy usage and lack of care for our environment are the ccauses why we are facing this big climate change that we all fear of . while reding you essay , I saw that explained well how this climed change is accuring , what are the causes , and you explained why it is important to be concerned about climate change. climate change as you you mentioned can will not doom our life but still going to doom our future and children. you talked that it is not too late to save our planet for this sacary climate change. for me , i am going to start taking care of my planet and doing what i can do in my part to protect this world. your topic is very important and awared me more bout this issue . you wrote that the industrialization of countries has started this snowball effect of pumping greenhouse gases. I decided from this moment to read more and more about this topic. I am planing to use these organizatons that you suggested that deal with this issue in order to join them or at leat take a step of my own and do at least what a human being should do to protect the environment where he or she lives. as you mentioned recycling is one easy step that i can take by myself because really does not take a lot of energy or effort to do so but just being lazy and in order to throw my recycling items in the specific can , i would throw every thing in the same box because i am irresponsible person .your topic was well explainedd and organized and made me rethink of my habits and overuse of energy .The issue is very important to be aware of because many people on this planet uses so much energy and waste a lot of resources that it is damaging our environment. for me , i don t see that this topic needs some thing , i agree with all what you said about this big problem . we are all as human beings responsible of what happening to this earth and we are number one cause of all these results that follow our unawareness and irresponsibility toward this beautiful world . as you mentioned , there are many organizations and web sites where we can find information related to this topic where we can educate ourselves and start taking steps not only to damage our nature but to correct our habits in order to save our planet from a huge risk that we all will face if we stayed until the last moment when it is going to be too late to do so. It is very important and informative topic that i hope will change our use of things.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
I enjoyed reading Dave Eggers, “Your mother and I”. I was an interesting read. The humor was well placed throughout the story. The part I found humorous was when he father was talking about how his proposal to the UN was accepted and him and his wife was caught in the bathroom. The father did however bring up some real issues, even if he was making up some parts of his past. For example, the UN proposal. During the genocide in Rwanda, the UN was very restricted when it came to them doing something. They basically were there to get the citizens of the countries associated with the UN. Eventually there was something done about the genocides in the region, but by then thousands were dead. Throughout the story, the father talks about issues he claims he solved but in reality he probably did nothing about. The read shows how some people want to give the impression to others that they did do something about an issue. While, Dave Egger’s other story about the dead solider shows how people truly want to change something but do not know how to or where to start. All in all I really enjoyed “You Mother and I”. Reading this story allowed me to connect my thoughts from Dave Egger’s other story.
Eggers, Dave. “Your Mother And I.” How We Are Hungry.McSweeney’s 2002: 115-123.“Splatter: The Messy Art of Writing.” Web. 16, Feb. 2012 -
Reynaldo Tamayo
Before class, I did not know the difference between Activism and Service. To me, they felt very similar to each other and always associated the words as two words that mean the same thing. After class, however i feel that my understanding of the two words has improved. Now i feel that activism is something that looks to improve the situation long-term and that service is doing something short-term. I mean that activists make permanent change and service workers make short-term change. I feel that Activists have more impact in the world. Mostly because once they improve a situation, it stays improved.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
When reflecting on the “Who should survive” activity, I feel that the choices I made were solely based on the skills they have and their possible contributions to the mini society in the bomb shelter. To me, the people that can contribute to the general goal of survival are the ones that should be accepted. For example, when choosing between Dr. Garcia and Mr. Newton, I chose Mr. Newton. I did this because even though Dr. Garcia has had practiced medicine for quite some time she was not healthy. Mr. Newton had knowledge in medicine and was in good health. I remember in class that one person said that we do not know if one of the people chosen to survive is a killer or psychopath. Yes, we do not know anything past the information given to us, so if anything comes up after the decision is made, it is mostly unavoidable. With that said, no one should be able to choose who survives or not. A single human being should not be able to decide on the fate of another. To be honest, I would try and save all of the eleven people if possible. But if I were forced to make a big decision like this, having detailed and extensive information is something I would want.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
Dave Egger’s “What It Means When a Crowd in a Faraway Nation Takes a Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him from His Vehicle and Then Mutilates Him in the Dust” had me confused at first. After reading it a couple times I realize that the man disturbed by the image of the dead soldier was in fact not a service member himself. Having that type of confusion did not make hurt the story at all, in fact it added to it. It allowed me to think harder about what the author was trying to convey to the reader. I also liked the way Dave Egger made the story in a dark tone. It kind of made the story a more interesting read. The story, in my opinion, reflects on how people can react to a certain event and yet end up not doing anything about it for whatever reason. The last sentence in the story ‘The man is watching the smoke from the factory, and though there are many things he could do that day, he will do none of them’ tells us that even though the man is disturbed by the picture of the dead solider, he will not do anything. Instead, when people see disturbing, tragic news they might just feel different for a bit and then move on with their daily lives. Very few people will actually go out and do something about it.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
What do you live for What would you…
What do you live for? What would you kill for? What would you die for? These are the questions Karen Michel asked strangers on the street of her local community. The questions may be weird questions to ask people you first meet, but these are questions that every person should be asked at one point in their lives. These can be thought provoking questions if you analyze it the right way. These questions challenged my values and my beliefs, giving me a better insight on myself.
I live to find myself. Even though I am in college right now, I am still not sure what I am going to major in. Right now, my classes are geared for IT Security Specialist, mostly because of the money. All my life I heard people say that once you find something that you enjoy doing, then it won’t be a job. I know I have to find something that I want to do but still pay well. As a matter of fact, I would rather have a career in the military. It is something that I always dreamed of as a kid. I don’t even care if the military does not pay well, it’s a job most people are too afraid to do. The only thing though is what I am going to do once I retire from the service. I guess that is why I still want to find a civilian career to come back too. A civilian career that is interesting to me and a career that has a good salary. Not only am I trying to find careers in the future but I am also trying to find myself in life. I and many others around my age are still not sure of whom we are. It’s a bit difficult to find out who we are because we have to balance school with work and other priorities. We simply do not have enough time to just sit back and ponder on who we are and on life. I am sure though that once we take the time to think about things we will have a better understanding of ourselves and our significance in this world.
I would die for my family, friends, and for what is just. Family and friends are important to me. In my culture, family is everything. It’s not about you; it’s about working for the general goal. For example, in western cultures most individuals are known to look out for themselves more often than their family or society. In, let’s say, Asian cultures individuals look out for their family more so than themselves and they contribute to their society’s common goal. In a sense they care about the future of their society more so that western cultures. I think the reason why I have the Asian culture way of thinking is due to the fact that my parents raised me in that way. Even though I was born and live in a western culture, I was still able to retain that Asian culture way of thinking thanks to my parents.
As for my friends, they help me out when I’m in trouble so why not return the favor? Honestly, who can just let their friends get in trouble and not help them out? I always try and help my friends out the best I can, and of course I expect the same in return. If my friend is in trouble and it requires me to get hurt to get he/she out of it, then so be it. You wouldn’t be friends if you weren’t willing to help them out 100%.
I guess you can say that I like to help out people, but don’t get me wrong I won’t die for anything. As Peter Marshall, a US Senate Chaplain once said ‘unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything. ‘To me, if a person does not have a strong grasp on what he stands for, he will stand for someone else’s belief. By having a belief that you came on to on your own, you will be able to look at other beliefs and make a decision or opinion on that belief.
I would kill for what is right and deserved. The only reason I would kill someone is if they are endangering me and/or others, in the present or future. I mean that if the person is clearly a threat, but is not a threat at the moment, it might be beneficial to everyone if he/she is stopped. Of course, killing someone is a last resort only. All other options have to be exhausted for me to even start considering killing. With that said, I’m not afraid use that option if it is going to save people. Killing for other reasons is morally incorrect. I know that. Even though I don’t believe in a god, it does not mean I do not have any values and morals. Values and morals is something that is taught to you. I learned mine through my parents and through Catholic masses as a kid. Let’s say that I do kill someone. I am definitely not going to enjoy it and that only can show what your views are on killing. If I had enjoyed it, then that will show the lack of moral correctness I possess.
As for when I join the military, I know that killing may be part of my job. Although killing is involved we protect the citizens of the United States. We volunteer so that no one would be forced to serve our country. A volunteer force would fight for their country honorably and full heartedly. A drafted force will only do what is asked of them and nothing more. To me, sacrificing myself for others is worth it. It’s worth all the hardships that I will have to go through, because in the end it’s just how I am.
All in all I think the reason behind my responses to Karen Michel questions is the experiences I had in the past and the values that where taught to me by my parents. These questions not only help me reaffirm my values but it also allowed me to sit back and think about why I actually do think like this. It also helped me on my belief. It’s something, I feel, that every person should think about these questions. Not only will they see themselves in a new way, but it will also strengthen their values and morals.
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Mark Reppen
I liked how you opened the intro and got right into talking about what you want to do in life before answering the questions. You sound very confidence in your essay about your decisions on the three questions. It definitely creates an image of your life and how that goes into answering the three questions. The position you took in answering the question was well written. After reading this, what you were living for seems to be a very good thought on what your priorities are in life. This idea of family and friends is a huge part of life and how they’re valuable to your goals. I liked how you use your culture as a big important part of your family and life. “In my culture, my family is everything. It’s not about you; it’s about working for the general goal.” That was well written about the importance of your culture. It went well with explaining how what you wrote played an important part into dying for your family. I share the same thoughts on this subject just like you, my family is very important to me, also my friends are too. You said in your essay that you would help out your friends in time of need. I like what you said about “you wouldn’t be friends if you weren’t willing to help them out 100%. The biggest part of your essay was whether or not you would kill someone. I respect the fact that you wouldn’t kill unless it was forced into the last resort. I agree with that thought, and hopefully most people would do the same. Joining the military is, what I would consider, an honorable thing. It is a patriotic duty and I agree with that it is a volunteer job and most people would be afraid to do so. Those who volunteer would fight with honor and do it for their country that they love. I liked the part that you said that thinking about these questions helped reaffirm your values. You are clearly speaking as an active participant in this situation. I did not find any areas in your essay that need more explanations or details. The responses you submitted are worded with commonly used vocabulary and I found the sentences flawless. I also found that you were able to answer the questions using your experience with family values and your future goals. This essay was very thorough with your thoughts on the subject. Your essay was very interesting to me because of the way you talked about your values in life and how many of it seems to be agreeable to the reader. After reading this, the main meaning of this whole thing, to me, was the value of life and how important family and friends are. These questions did create a thought process for both the writer and the reader. I did like that you were clear and understanding in your essay and that made it clear and understanding for the reader as well.
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Zahra Ratli
I liked your essay and the way how you discussed it. The way how you put the questions in the introduction made it more interesting to attach the reader to continue the whole essay. Once I was done from it, I got a wide image on how you think and you believe. Your responses to the question asked in the project are very clear and have good thoughts regarding what you believe you live for and and you whould die or kill for. I agree what you said about family and friends because those people are valuable in this life . family is the most important thing in this world , and we all should appreciate all what they did for us and how they have protected us all these life until we grew up and be independent. Friends also are those people who we find next to us when we face difficulties and who support us when we are in need of. This paragraph “As for my friends, they help me out when I’m in trouble so why not return the favor? Honestly, who can just let their friends get in trouble and not help them out? I always try and help my friends out the best I can, and of course I expect the same in return. If my friend is in trouble and it requires me to get hurt to get he/she out of it, then so be it. You wouldn’t be friends if you weren’t willing to help them out 100%.” Well explains how you are brave and can be there for your friend which is a very nice thing that is rare nowadays . the way how you expressed this paragraph astonished me because it shows how confident and sincere you are . I understood that you really know the exact meaning of friendship . It means that people who are befriending you are the luckiest ones in this world because having person like you is not easy in this universe . Depending on what I understood from your piece of writing, you have developed a good essay having a lot of reasons that reply to those hard questions. I liked the fact that only your job that can make you kill but just for your duty or patriotism. as i mentioned before you covered all the questions with a nice developed ideas that is well explained . I may only say that if you are able to put some examples like some situations where you are defending your friend or being with him while he is sick could give an extra images that will help get a longer essay and a detailed one. i have done the same thing and i will go back to mine in order to add some details that will help me get a better one. that was all what i think about your essay . in general it is a good developed one and the suggestion that i made was just a hint for you if you d like . thank you
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Reynaldo Tamayo
Ecological literacy, to my understanding, is the ability to take information from an ecosystem, apply what we learn into our own ecosystem, and coexist with other ecosystems. For someone to become ecologically literate, the person would need to be able to understand what is happening in their society and have a somewhat active role in preserving their ecosystem. Being able to cooperate with each other, having flexibility, and having diversity are all part of being ecologically literate. If the person does not know what is happening in their society then how can they use information taken from an ecosystem and relate it to their society. We as a society tend to disregard our surrounding ecosystems. We pollute other ecosystems causing imbalances. Although nature tends to correct its problems without our help, there is a point where nature simply cannot fix itself. Not only will we help ecosystems by being responsible for what we do, we will also help ourselves. Because if you think about it, we are all connected to each other and whatever we do will ultimately affect us all. To be honest, I am not fully ecologically literate. I do know what is happening in my society and I do know what I can do to benefit it. I do try and conserve whenever it is easy to do so, but I would never go out of my way to try and conserve. I am afraid though that most members of our society are exactly like me.
Citation
Zahra Ratli, 
Michelle Reyes, and 
Mark Reppen are discussing. 
Reynaldo Tamayo, 
Kyle Barczak, 
Mark Reppen 1:40 pm on April 19, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
What I liked most about your paper was that you started off by telling the reader about alcohol and its effect with underage teens. I understood what you meant by how underage drinking leads to abusing alcohol and other irresponsible actions. I can get the main meaning or message by reading what you had to say about underage drinking. After reading this I felt that there were some parts in the second paragraph that seemed like there was more to it than what was said. I ended up wanting to hear more about the organizations and what other things were making it difficult to join them. I can see that the center point of this paper comes from the abuse of alcohol and how you and your group want to help solve that problem. This piece is organized by paragraphs going from one to another. I would describe this paper as a concerned type of paper. The way you mentioned that your group has yet to join an organization and is feeling down about it with a short time until the fair. Your point of view is definitely against the abuse of alcohol. In this paper you wrote in or “spoke” from an objective position and in first person style. You seem to treat the reader as if telling them a story about what happened and what is currently happening now. I felt that your generalizations were appropriate to the subject. In some of the paragraphs like the second paragraph for example; I felt that it needed more examples of your thoughts on alcohol and the organizations that your group tried to join. The words that you used were technical and it has some image to it also. The sentences lead from one to another which was easy to follow through and I liked that. I did not find any sentences that confused me because of their word order or the way they are punctuated. I could relate to what you were talking about in the beginning about underage drinking. I too felt that teenagers abused it too much and should not do so at all. I agree with that they should be more responsible with it too. I liked how you used Australia’s drinking age as an example of how they were responsible. I actually did give the part about lower the age limit down a thought and how perhaps it could work on teens to change and be more responsible with drinking. If that were to happen, a lot less binge drinking would occur and accidents because they were drunk, would decrease also. I do feel at the same time that it is a risk if we did it. We don’t know if they’ll be more responsible or not. If they are getting drunk or wasted under the age limit, then perhaps lowering the age limit would not be a good idea. I do like how you have that thought going for underage alcohol and such. Other than that, I liked that paper overall.
Michelle Reyes 3:25 pm on April 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I definitely agree when you say that alcoholism is a issue that’s is going on today. I honestly think it’s always going to be an issue that a lot of people don’t try to stop it. I personality think that a lot has changed since the last time I been in junior high and maybe even my freshmen year of high school. It’s crazy because it wasn’t that long ago that I was in high school and I see 15 year olds drinking. It’s crazy to see how our next generation is going to turn out. I hope that a lot of kids at school realize that drinking is not going to make you cool. It can lead into something more serious. For example someone I use to know in high school passed away recently because of a drunk driving incident. I hope people learn from their mistakes and drink responsible is there are drinking at a young age. This is an issue that I think should be heard and would be good to go around and talk about it with the community during the fair. I wish that one of the organizations would have contacted you or one of your group members. I think it would have been an interesting and very informative organization to work with. I also agree that there probably is a limited amount of organizations that have to do with alcoholism and maybe they should be more because it’s and issue that needs to be solved. I think that maybe everyone in your group should pick some organization that they want to work with and everyone call so it’s easier to find one before the fair. Overall I like how you started your paper and really wish there was an origination that was easy to contact and work with. Maybe you guys can do some research and look for another organization that might work with the issue you guys want to do your project with. I don’t think you should panic I think you guys can find and organization before the fair. Just make sure when you do find one you make sure you have a title for your paper to inform the readers. Also separate your paper into sections so it’s well organized for others to read. Make sure you give background information on the organization your group picks on going to work with. Overall you have an idea of what you want to work with and it’s good that everyone is working together to find one soon. Good luck and good start.
Zahra Ratli 8:39 am on April 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I loved that you and your team had decided to work on alcoholism . As every body know, alcohol has been a huge problem and especially underage drinking. I believe that Many young people are experiencing the consequences of drinking too much, at too early an age. As a result, underage drinking is a leading public health problem in this country. I think that It is possible to drink legally and safely – when you’re over 21. But if you’re under 21, or if you drink too much at any age, alcohol can be especially risky.Many kids begin drinking as early as middle school or even sooner. This is dangerous. Kids who drink are more likely to be victims of violent crime and sexual assault. They are more likely to have serious problems in school. They are more likely to be involved in drinking-related traffic crashes. They are also more likely to develop problems with alcohol later in life. i found your topic to be really interested because you are introducing to the reader a very important fact that should be aware of. I knew from what i read that you had hard time to get involved in any of the organizations. You did neither have response . nor having an easy way to get there. most of them need special requirement that may be harder to do or need so much time that will pass the project limit. I understand how you felt because we almost had the same feeling when had no response after so many attempts. I loved that even you felt stressed and a bit down you continued to look other organization that may not required that headache. I liked your piece of writing and you described the alcohol and its effect on people. i know for sure that you will find a place on how your project will be. Overall , you did an amazing work on this paper , for sure i will get back to it to see what happen with you in your path of finding an organization. eally wished that there was an origination that was easy to contact and work with but do not feel down because you may find some thing batter than those that you struggled with. good luck .