skid ROW.

personally i was very touched by the video. I didn't know that such a place in L.A existed like that. I always thought of L.A as a rich place with celebrities and a whole bunch of wealth. I was shocked to see all the drug dealers and the amount of homeless people. I really did feel bad for them but then for some i knew it was there fault that they ended up there. As for the kids that have been in skid row since they were born, i knew that it wasn't there fault. As for the others, i cant really pity them, because they have chosen their own fate. The purpose of the video was definitely to provide awareness to everyone that a place like this exist. I believe the targeted audience is people who actually live in L.A and city officials. The reason why i believe its for city officials is because it states all the flaws in their system and how their temporary solution isn't going to work. The video even brings up statistics about New York and how they fixed their problem. They also used many claims throughout their video. Like claim of definition, when they stated what skid row actually is and consisted of. Another claim was that of value. The video clearly exhibits the persons view on how horrible this place actually is. Moreover, he uses claims of policy and how this problem could be fixed. All these claims help support his argument that skid row needs more help and attention. He also uses pathos to reach the audiences emotions. He displays stories of kids and shows how many of them don't have anywhere to lives, clothes, or any food. As humans we definitely feel more for the kids. He also uses sentimental music which adds to the mood of sorrow. He uses logos to state how many homeless people actually live in L.A and facts about skid row. This definitely lets the audience know that he knows what he is talking about. He also uses ethos to clearly organize his argument into separate parts to show different aspects of his argument. He seems fair and doesn't really take stabs at the police or government. He seems neutral but passionate. I believe the video is extremely effective and if i were the government, then i would definitely look into what he is stating. This video has many strengths like all the evidence he clearly states and all the great interviews he shot. The only weakness to me was the length. I did feel it was a tad too long and that the audience would inevitably say "FINE WE GET IT, WE KNOW ITS BAD, GOSH". so it was a bit repetitive. Other than that i thought it was a great and amazing video :)

GAY MARRIAGE?

In this recent election i voted no for amendment two. When my parents found out they were completely shocked and started asking me if I was a lesbian. Obviously I'm not, I just don't think that the government should tell people what they can't do with their personal lives. I mean who am I to tell someone that just because they are of the same sex they shouldnt get married? If you love someone then go for it. But either way i really dont personal care if people of the same sex could get married or not, it doesnt really affect my life one way or the other. However the premise of you not being allowed to adopt unless your married is truly unfair. There are women out that can't get pregnant and can't find that special somebody, and now they cant even adopt? Thats complete BS. Some single parent house holds actually run better than two parent households. What if a child grows up and sees his parents fighting and bickering all the time when he could have one parent and everything be peaceful? Or what if the parents get divorced, what effect does that have on a child? I am catholic and I do believe that only a man and woman should be legalized in a church. However, if gay couples want to get married in a court room, or anywhere else than that it fine with me. The bible does say that marriage in a church has to be a man and a woman so with that I agree. If you want to get married thats fine, just dont do it in a church if your gay. I believe that the government does contradict itself when it says that everyone is equal, when its apparent that everyone isnt equal. The homosexuals actually make a good point with the whole taxes thing. Although it will never happen its a good point to bring up.
I do agree that gays shouldnt be adopting children, but only because i dont want a poor child to end up being confused or ridiculed as they grow up. To sum it up, i really dont care if amendment two bans or allows same sex marriage but i do care if its not allowed for other types of relationships to be recognized. Like a man and woman who have been dating for 3 years, arent married but if one gets sick, you can't visit them in the hospital. Thats were i think the system is messed up.

NCLB

I thought at first the video did look kind of weird because she is a teacher. She looks like a young teacher so i dont know if she has enough experience to actually give a credible argument. However, i do agree with some of the claims she makes because she does it in a way without pointing fingers. I think on paper the NCLB might seem like an awesome amazing idea when in actuality it can't actually fully work. The act has way too many complications and its not really fair in certain schools. I do agree that teachers should be the one to dictate how this plan is to actually be executed. Some schools don't have all the right teaching aids to helps these students actually succeed. I know that when I went to high school so many kids didnt graduate because they hadnt passed their FCAT. Some of them even had good G.P.A's but that didnt matter. So much for "no child left behind". I also believed that taking time out of important curriculum to learn instead of the FCAT was completely stupid. I would hear my teachers say that thanks to the FCAT our normal lesson plans have been cut. I grew up with FCAT being drilled into me. In my high school there was an extreme low rate of people who did pass their FCAT. And thanks to those students my school became a "ZONE SCHOOL". A zone school is when your school is put into this 3 year system where you have to take 8 classes and extend school an hour longer, just to practice the FCAT. So basically when i was a freshman, midway through the year they changed everything and i had school at 7:30 until 3:30. I literally wanted to kill myself. I thought it wasn't fair that i had passed my FCAT and thanks to other people i had to take two extra FCAT classes that I didnt need. Since i was a zone school we also werent allowed to get an early release days and we were limited to the amout of pep rallies we can actually have. Basically my high school experience was put to crap. And in the end of the program it was still the same amount of people failing and passing. Just proof that the programs, and these systems never really work. Its up to the teachers, students, and the parents to ensure that their children/students don't get left behind. Thats why i agree with her that its not really very proficient to test kids and then base them on people in their group and how those people have improved or not improved, but you yourself could actually be improving. She really is speaking the truth because its not fair for us to get punished because some students can't take a test as well as others so why should the whole school get punished for that? It shouldn't. She actually makes a very valid and clear argument, even though she seems to be a young teacher.

VOTE.

I believe that I should vote because I do know what is going on in the politics world. I'm a political science major so its obviously something that I'm really interested in. I follow politics quite closely by watching fox news, nbc, and all those news networks. I take politics courses here at FIU which teaches me how to understand politics, how it works, and what politics really is. In this election i am voting for John Mccain. There are a lot of reasons why I choose this candidate. He is the type of political official that isn't too liberal or too conservative. I myself am like that, so it's good to have a president that balances it out. John Mccain is a war hero, has served as a senator for 14 years and has plenty of experience. John Mccain actually fought for this country and risked his life for this country. I believe that is an admirable thing that he did. Obama has been a senator for 200 days. During which he never wrote a bill, and on plenty of issues( like abortion) he pleaded no contest. We the people don't really know what he stands for, because he never voices an opinion. I also believe that Obama thinks he is "the one" and is this great guy who is just going to save the United States from everything. Like it showed in the video he started talking about the oceans dividing and this and that like he was some god. I also don't agree with some of his ideas. For example, he wants to raise taxes, while Mccain wants to lower taxes. In this economic times I think it would be severely idiotic to raise taxes. His economic plans are for big corporations, whereas Mccain's plans are for small corporations. My dad owns a small corporation, so obviously i side with Mccains policies. In addition, Obama is nowhere as qualified as Mccain. If you were hiring someone and looked at the resumes and saw Obamas vs. Mccain's who would you pick to fulfill the job for you? Obviously it would have to be Mccain. Obama is just a great public speaker and has a way to appeal to the masses. Half the kids here at FIU are just saying vote for change, go Obama, blah blah, yet they couldn't tell me one of his policies. Those people shouldn't have the right to vote. They just see all these movie starts like Oprah going for Obama so they follow the crowd. I seriously think Obama is full of crap and doesn't know what the hell he is doing or going to do. To be honest i don't like either of the candidates but Mccain I like Mccain just a bit more. The people who don't know the platforms of their preferred candidate should not vote.

societyyyy.

I believe whats the attitude right now in the united states is one of lost hope. I believe that everyone thinks our government is corrupt and that political officials know more than they let us know. That was the purpose of the whole 9/11 video, to show that bush and everyone else in the FBI perhaps knew of the attacks. Everyone basically wants change. The economy is horrible right now and frankly it does scare me. I do care about whats going on in the world, because eventually i will be the future generation of this country. I'm not ignorant of whats going on and i think of all the many people who are getting affected by the state that we as a society are in now. I see my parents and how the economy has plumited. I watch CNN a lot and i see how the stock market isnt doing too great and the bill that congress just passed to save us. Sometimes i think about it too much but i cant help to wonder whats going to happen. Im really anxious to the presidential election and see who gets elected and if that person brings good change to our nation. I wonder if the war in iraq is ever going to end and whether gas prices are going to keep going up. I can't imagine someone that just goes about their day and doesnt think about anything. The fact that washington mutual went bankrupt makes me worry if perhaps my bank is going to be suffering soon. I've been working at blockbuster for the past three months and when i first started the price of a movie was 4.92. Then it changed to 5.13 and now is 5.35. That right there shows me inflation and how bad the economy really is. I do want change but I dont know how it is possible and all the things that these politicians "promise" to do. I just have faith in our system and hopefully things do get better.

trendy?

Well I'm the first one to say I'm an individual and I control my own thoughts and what i do. But i do believe that when it comes to things like fashion, music, popular movies, that they do have a pretty big impact on shaping who we all are today. There is a reason why every ten years what you wear has completely changed. Everything moves forward and everyday new ideas are being presented. When i watch a television show and i see a cute skirt on girl i say to myself "Wow that's a cute skirt, i really need to get one just like that". Its still my opinion and what i want to wear, but the idea was just presented to me. Everyone has their own fashion sense and certain things catch different peoples eye. In the movie Sex and the City, i loved everything they wore and everything caught my attention. However, to someone else what they might have been wearing is extremely repulsive. I do believe to a certain extent that what we see on T:V, magazines, and movies do shape in someway our personal style. Without these resources we wouldn't really know how the era is changing and what new things look good. No one wants to look like an old fashioned, out of style person. Those who claim they have their own personal style have gotten their ideas from someone, or somewhere. If this is not the case then we would all still be wearing loin cloths. Although if everyone says something is in style or in fashion i might not always agree and i would draw the line somewhere. I do admit that most of my fashion choices are up to date and so forth, but if something to looks ridiculous but everyone loves it, i still wouldn't wear it. The music i hear is definitely influenced. You don't hear many teenagers claiming that they love country music, because it isn't really what my generation is all about. Everything in the media shapes a new type of person because that's how life is. Evolution in mankind also exist in evolution of dance, music, and fashion. Everything is always constantly changing and those who keep up prevail. When it comes to certain things to Palin, i do look at her as more than a beauty queen. If i want someone to represent me i want it to be someone that is qualified and that just doesn't look pretty on stage. She delivered a great speech, and i believed showed everyone that shes more than a "VPILF" Its sad how we all judge each other on what we wear, the music we listen to, the shows we watch, but that is life so might as well accept it. I tend to go with the flow on these topics but like everyone i have my limitations. Like the old saying goes "If everyone where to jump off the bridge, would you do it too"? In this certain situation the obvious answer is NO, but how many times do we get put in a situation like this and actually say yes? Who we are today is shaped by conscious choices we make in integrating with popular ideals.

PROMPT # 3

As I saw the horrible images it really did affect me. I hate seeing anyone suffer, even if they are a different race. I also hate the fact that some of my family is in Cuba and i cant send any aide over to them whats so ever. When i knew the hurricane was coming towards Cuba a part of me hoped and wish that everything would be alright. I do think that most of the pictures by the photographers were taken in a way to make those who see it feel something. Most pictures are those of kids, which will appeal more to peoples emotions. Seeing those kids that are really malnourished makes me want to do something about it. But what can i do? Can i really even make a difference? Everyone is always criticizing the government, saying " they don't care". So why don't those people do something? Its very hard for a person like you, me, or our government to do anything that's not even involving our own country. Yea what if we would like to help out but the other country wont accept our aid? What do we do then? I'm all for helping out countries who need aid but what about our own country? I do feel that we need to help ourselves out first before we can help out others. Our economy right now is at an ultimate low. Maybe the reason why were not helping out other countries is because we can't afford to? Everyone always wants the government to give give give, but what if it cant give? Lets say you were the government and you had your money. Would you really be so eager to give away your money? People become stingy when they know that its their money. For example, if the government made up some new sort of tax as a way to help raise money for other countries would you be willing to help out then? Would you get mad at the government for trying to take your money away to help out a cause? See it isn't always in black and white. Government Officials and United State Officials are human too. When they see the photographs we have seen I'm sure they feel something too. But it isn't always easy to give, especially when you don't have much to give. Now i do believe that we should help in some sort of way that is beneficial to both sides. Maybe someone cant start a foundation to raise money for the kids in Cuba. Just like we have foundations here for the kids in the United States. There isn't only poverty in other countries. The United States does have many poor people too. I went to the Dominican Republic about four years ago and I did feel a lot of empathy for these young children. The moment i got off the taxi they would come running to me for money. It hurts to know that some kids wont ever be able to do a lot of the things i did grow up, and i do feel bad seeing their melancholy faces. Sometimes when I'm eating a meal and i don't finish it all i feel bad because there are kids who would kill to have a little scrap. Its heartbreaking, but i can't do anything about it. I'm just very fortunate that i live where i live, and even though the United States does a lot of things many people don't approve of, i would never want to live anywhere else.