Writing Reflection 2

Writing Reflection 2

Like Eric Idle, I never really had a partnership writer to share ideas with it. It seemed as though in the past, I was always the one doing all the work for writing assignment. A person that would compare to may situation as well as Eric Idle was Eric’s relationship with Graham Chapman. Graham Chapman would never say anything, just like it has always been in the past for me. Over the past two semesters, I have had much trouble writing papers. My neighbor Laura Brown is always the person I use as a partnership writer. I always know what I want to say when I am writing, but never can put it into words in a paper. She helps me to do that. I tell her what I want to say and how I want it to mean, and she helps me get it all down on paper exactly they way I want it to. We both also like to break down the assignment and brainstorm together which helps the both of us stay on topic. Eric Idle talks about fellow writer Michael Pylon whom they both use to drink cases of wine and never get any writing done. My partnership with Laura enables us to stay on topic and stay focused. I do not have much of an extend vocabulary either but through her help, I have learned how to do that. She tries to get me to think of a more educated word then just simple kindergarten words. We both use each other to get the work done. Not just one person is sitting there doing all the work.

Weblog 4: It takes two to Tango

Weblog 4: It takes two to Tango

 

 

When reading the two articles, “When Altruism Isn’t Moral” and “When Altruism isn’t Moral isn’t right,” I find them a bit difficult to understand and noticed two totally different positions over the same argument.

 

In the article, “When Altruism isn’t moral,” the author’s main claim is quite easily determined. The claim is that Altruism is ridiculous and anyone who wants to donate an organ such as a kidney should be able to do so. The reasoning’s behind such a view are represented through the authors own personal situation. She needed a transplant and a casual friend was able to donate a kidney for her, getting nothing in return. She also feels that if organs were gifts, there would not be enough organs to go around. She states that 78,000people are in queue for a kidney from a deceased donor. In places like California, it could take almost 8 years for an individual in need of a transplant to receive one. While waiting for a transplant, a person undergoes dialyses which sometimes results in nearly 4,000 deaths each year just waiting for that miracle transplant to show up. This is why the writer suggests that including rewards such as tax credits, would entice more people to donate more organs. At this point, it would not be a donation for the mere fact that donations are to be made from the kindness of an individual getting nothing in return. This truly contradicts the author using the word donation! Regardless of assumed reactions, I now understand why they do use family because of not wanting retributions; it should be an act of kindness. On the other hand, donating an organ is a pretty big deal, and if everyone was allowed to donate, you would be giving away a body part for a complete stranger. How do you not know that your organ could be given to a criminal who doesn’t even deserve a second chance at life?

 

While reading the article, “When Altruism Isn’t Moral, isn’t right,” Peter Laird, MD states, “his initial rejection of the altruistic offer as evidence of immorality in allowing Sonny Davis to languish on dialysis.” Peter’s reasoning behind this feeling of immorality because of the situation continues with reasoning against American doctors. He goes on to discus how “American doctors don’t operate under the same legal terms and expectations that the ordinary citizen takes for granted.” This is exactly true in my opinion as well. We expect our doctors to have great moral judgment and make the right calls when our lives are in their hands. We do take a lot for granted, but that doesn’t give doctors the reason to win one over us just because we may not understand exactly what they re doing during operations or if they are even doing the right thing, we just trust that they will. Peter also talks about Organs being sold on the black market! I couldn’t believe this. I can truly understand this frustration Peter has. He shows that frustration quite clearly. He supports his views with this idea of the black market and suggests that doctors should request proof of validity of such a rare offer for proper application of medical ethics. He then points out that that specific report, doesn’t report to the used waiting times between request for altruism renal donation and actual donation. I didn’t even catch on to this until he specifically brings it up again. How could this have been allowed to go on? Then Peter starts making an assumption that “Dr. Satel is likewise the beneficiary of an altruistic donation that took her months to arrange.”

 

This is why I feel that the transplant programs allow organs to only be received by family and close friends, to keep a kindles act from being devoured and cynical. That is a shame too. So many people are just lined up waiting for years and years before finally receiving an organ transplant.  I agree Sally in the idea that anyone should be able to give an organ but I think if money incentives, like tax credits sally suggests, are provided to organ donors; it’s going to bring up a lot more problems to an act of giving. In all realness, I think I’d have to agree with Sally’s position. Altruism isn’t moral at all!

Weblog 3: Solutions to Poverty

Weblog 3: Solutions to World Poverty

 

After reading and taking notes from the two sets of paired essays, “The Singer Solution to World poverty” and “Singer’s not-so Persuasive Solution to World Poverty,” I found great similarity between views and ideas with minor differences.

In the essay, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” the writers claim becomes very clear. The main claim concerns spending pertaining to luxuries. The view is that money spent for luxury items and entertainment, should be spent towards funding charities and organizations like those of the UNICEF and overseas funding. The reasons for such charity spending is that useless money, not necessity spending should go to good cause instead of frivolous spending. “People are dying, why we aren’t helping these causes.” To support such reasoning, the writer gives evidence of the organization UNICEF and how donating money provides a high probability of saving a life. This statement rose quite a bit of questions for me. To some, donating money for a probability of saving or bettering a life could be a big chance. Donating is normally for saving or helping a life but two hundred dollars, a month, could be a lot for some people to put towards a chance. This document also talks about organ transplants. Transplant doses not go to a recipient who could die even with a transplant. Hospitals do not waste transplants so why should I risk giving money to a cause that might not be worth donating to. In paragraph three, last sentence, the writer goes on to add that the government cannot even meet requirements for such findings. The government of all people should be the ones funding these organizations. The government can even provide America with enough funding to keep our economy running smoothly so how can one expect any of us to donate our funds when we as citizens do not know when we are going to ever need that extra luxury money so to speak. The example of Bob with a vintage car he knows hold great market value and can be used if need to maintain a stable life for himself is a fine example that relates to this belief I hold.

There are a few assumptions made within this document as well. For instance, the author talks about giving money to charity is the right thing to do and that dinning out is considered a luxury may not be true. Each person has a different definition for the word luxury. Buying a new television could not be a luxury item to some. With technology’s advancements, it is quite difficult to find a television that is not a plasma screen in local, well-known stores.

While reading, “Singers not-so Persuasive solution,” I notice very similar evidence and ideas as the first article. The only main difference I was aware of was the misguided purposes and ideas. Greg Schaefer starts of stating that two hundred dollars out of everyone’s pocket should go to aid overseas but then second-guesses his self by saying all money from luxury spending should go to charities.

Greg Schaefer uses Dora’s situation to illustrate his views on how she should not be condemned for what she did and that because Bob’s situation should because he put a life before his luxurious car. Whether or not the difference lies on death versus life, they both used people to get what they wanted. Why are one condemned and not the other according to Greg’s view that luxury items should be limited all together? I found this very contradicting. He also does not give any evidence supporting his belief of donating all pocket change or luxury spending money going all to charity opposed to proof for two hundred dollars being the appropriate amount suitable for charity. Greg, like the writer from the first article, assumes what luxury items are. For example, Greg states that DVD players in cars are not necessities yet, I have one in mine for the sole purpose of keeping my two-year-old daughter comfortable during long trips and frequent traveling.

Most importantly, I feel that I earn my money by sacrificing time away from my children to have food on the table and necessities and I should spend my money the way I see fits. I also feel that it is not my duty to provide for those of need. The countries that do not have funds to support their citizens are their responsibilities not mine. I do donate and feel it is the right thing to do but feel one should not be condemned for not doing so. That is why it is called donating money. It is a choice, just as Abortions are.  Abortions are not necessities but are luxuries. The person I agreed with most was Singer. He offered the best reasons supported by valid and credible evidence. Singer made me realize how important donating is and how if we all cut are spending just a little bit, we can make a difference and help save lives. I donate not because I feel I have to, but because I feel it is the least I can do and helping better someone else life betters me as a person. I would hope someone would do the same for me. Do you? Put your self and that position.

Writing Reflection 1

Writing Reflection 1

 

1. How has your writing evolved? What changes have you noticed in your writing over time?

 

Writing has always been a tough subject in school throughout my life. My papers were always plain. I would answer the question asked pertaining to the writing and that was it. Now, I have drastically noticed changes in my writing over time.

I have never enjoyed writing papers at all. In grade school, all we would write about were events that happened in our lives or research papers. I have no vocabulary what so ever so it was very difficult for be to broaden my vocabulary and use more intelligent or challenging words. Once I got into high school, we started writing papers based on our beliefs and supporting them with evidence. This was around the time that I started to really enjoy what I was writing. I had the opportunity to write from the heart then just paraphrasing other peoples work and putting them into my own words. Then in College, my writing was still never at a college level. Writing is not a task anymore, its something I enjoy doing.

Last semester I took United States History. I have always loved history up until this point. I had a professor that loved to make us write about everything but that was not the problem, it was what she expected out of those writing assignments that made it such a struggle. The professor had as writing as if we were graduates! It was extremely difficult. I hated that class because of the requirements for writing and refused to take a class with that instructor again. I did learn a lot about my writing style and skills surprisingly. I had a big problem with summarizing in my paper and was extremely difficult to train myself not to summarize. Throughout grade school, that is all we did was summarize. It was not until English 112, that I really noticed such a drastic change and improvement in my writing. For example, our first essay assignment, I felt like I did a horrible job on my rough draft. Once I got the peer reviews back from my paper, to my surprise, there were little corrections need to be made on my essay. I could not believe it! I was able to extend my vocabulary, think outside of the box, and write a well-written paper. My peers were proof to myself, that my writing has come a long way. I was able to incorporate research, evidence, and thoughts on my own and did not summarize. I feel I have improved greatly and I think the peer reviews will help my writing become stronger!

Weblog 2: What do I think

Weblog 2: What do I think?

 

Part I: Current Issues

1. Our Economic Crisis
2. Violence in schools
3. Security in our neighborhoods
4. Too much TV for kids
5. Parents leaving it up to teachers to teach their kids
6. Unemployment Rates
7. TV/movie ratings
8. Road construction/management
9. Abortions
10. Child Abuse/Neglect

Parents are Teachers Too…

Education for our children is a necessity in today’s society. Education is what provides citizens with jobs, having successful lives, and a part of everyone’s survival.  Education starts from the time a person is born and until one passes away.

                When a child turns four, they attend preschool to learn to associate with other children. Then between the ages of five and six, a child is sent to Kindergarten where a teacher is provided to the public to teach our children. However, it is not just a teacher’s responsibility to educate children but the parents as well. As infants, the parents’ are responsible to teach a child to eat, sleep, walk, talk, everything essential towards survival. So why is it that parents feel that after a child reaches a certain age, that it is a teacher’s responsibility to educate children? What is the point of having a child if one does not feel the need to further education in a child’s life?

                Now a mother, I have learned the value of educating a child. I am also a stay at home mom for the reason that I want to be a part of my child’s life, to be there to see my daughter achieve every milestone in her life. I have taught my daughter how to be respectful to others, share toys, and behave in a well manor. I feel as though it is my up most responsibility to teach my child to read, write and communicate wit others as well.  A professional once told me that by the age of two, a child should start to say two words at a time and speak any where between 50 to 100 words. Addilee knows too many to count and is speaking four words at a time and almost sentences. I felt that it was always important to talk to my child and involve her in everything that I do and to take the time to sit down to read with her. I feel that the time I spend with her is most essential towards her education.

                I never really understood how important it was to educate my child before she attends school until I bought a learning program through a company called, “Your baby can read.” I learned through this program that a child’s peak age for learning is between birth and the age of six.  The benefits of this program is to educate a child to the point where reading is fun and makes learning easier for a child before they reach school. My daughter has already learned 20 new words and can read/ communicate words within a month. The importance of this program to me is to make learning easier and more attainable more my daughter than it was for me.

                Parents need to take the time to sit down with their children and be active in a child’s education. Parents should be reiterating concepts that their children learn, to help their children stay on track. For instance, the government issued a “no child left behind act” to enforce teachers to take the time to make sure that all their students are passing on to the next grade and are on the same track as other students their ages. This is a great way to help children become educated and stay educated but it is also the parent’s duty to do the same. What about children who are not falling behind? The children who are not behind in school do not get to move ahead at the pace they need to.  In order for a student to be successful, parents must work with teachers to make sure a child stays on track and is at the level where they should be. Parent teacher conferences are also efforts for parents to know what is going on with their child and how to do so if their child is not at the level he/she needs to be.

                A child’s education is what furthers him/her in life. Do you not want your child to be successful in life? Well if you do, then you need to be there to help your child get educated. If you chose to be a parent, then be one. School is not a daycare and it is not a teacher’s sole responsibility to watch your kid because you need a break from him/her. Children are sent to school for the purpose of interaction with other kids and to obtain an education. I want to be a part in my child’s education, do you?

               

Part III: opposing arguments

1.    How would I describe one of the positions held by people who might disagree with me?  One position I feel someone who might disagree with me would be, that it is not the parent’s responsibility to educate children. Parent’s main purpose is to attend to their child’s survival needs, discipline, and teach a child right from wrong. Our tax dollars go towards building and supply a school with teachers to educate our children. It is the teachers who are responsible for educating our children, which is what they are paid to do.

2.       What reasons and evidence might they offer to support their position? One may bring up a formal argument that states have School Board directors who tell teachers that it is their job to educate children. Teachers have rules and regulations that they have to agree upon before becoming a teacher. Teachers must have teaching degrees before they become a teacher. Teachers attend school themselves to prepare for teaching a class. They must also pass a Teachers board (test) before becoming a teacher. Parents, who are not teachers, do not have degrees or educations that are specified for teaching.

3.       What experiences do people on the opposing side seem to share? Parents have jobs to support their families. Parents are providers for their children and in order to do so, they must work. One Parents experience might entail that they have multiple children, work full-time, and simply just do not have the time to sit down and do homework with their children or attend parent teacher conferences.  They entrust in teachers to do their jobs and educate their children.

4.       How do their experiences seem to differ from mine?Their experiences differ from mine because I am a stay at home mom and can attend to or educate my 24/7. Being a stay at home mom helps me to explore other ways to sit down and teach my daughter things that she needs to learn. One might also say that if my child does not go to daycare or school, how she will be able to interact with other children her age. Schools main purpose is to educate children but also to enable my child to experience the outside world and different cultures of other children her age.

5.       Why might have these experiences have led them to take their positions? Experiences are the basis to everyone’s reasoning to why they believe in what they believe in and how they withhold the positions that they do. You can never truly understand someone’s position or experiences without being in their shoes or a similar experience. You live and learn.

6.       Is there a set of experiences shared in common by people on each side of the issue? I am a stay at home mom and sit down with my child everyday to read and educate my child where as someone of the opposing position may not. Common grounds would be that my child is on the same level as the opposing child and both have the same educated capacity as the other. This would prove that just because I spend more time with my child educating her than a teacher educating my child does not mean that my child is any smarter than the other child is.

7.       How do these differences influence how I will respond to their position on the issue? These differences still do not change my position. I feel that rather I spend time furthering my child’s education or keeping a teacher responsible for my child’s learning, being a parent is a responsibility I have of my own. I still feel that it is a parent’s responsibility to be a part of their child’s education. I am not going to ignore my duty as a parent educating my child just because there is someone else who can do it for me. 

 

Weblog 1

Weblog 1: What do I Believe?

 

Part 1:

 

1. I believe that people should be who they want to be and stop caring about what other people think. We live in a world where people constantly worry about fitting in, looking like every one else and what size we are. Be proud of who you are. If you are happy with yourself than what difference, does it make what other people think of you?
2. I believe that society is something that brings peoples morals and values together. It is similar to a community or civilization where everyone unites in beliefs and interests to form a bound.
3. I believe that the government is selfish and money hungry. The government talks about saving money but seem to be doing the complete opposite. They want to make life easier for the human race yet percentages for the unemployed keep getting higher and it is making hard for people to make ends meet. The government officials talk about change, yet nothing has changed.
4. I believe that justice must be served. If criminals are not punished for their crimes, then they will continue to commit them. If there is no justice for laws that are broken then what is the purpose of justice anyway. Laws and justice was created to keep people safe and the world a better place.
5. I believe that knowledge is something that continues to grow. Education for example, we gain knowledge by learning new things to educate ourselves, to help be aware of our surroundings, and are what helps us to prove what truth is and what it is not.
6. I believe that science is an important part of our existence. Science helps make life simple and explains why things happen and for what reason. Take electricity for an example. Electricity helps make cooking meals quicker, provides us with warmth, and is essential for our survival. When there is no electricity, life becomes more difficult and takes every day tasks twice as long to do. Science helps discover where we came from and how. Science is all around us.
7. I believe that reality is real events that take place in our lives. It is everything that we do in life and the world around us.
8. I believe that life is short. We must live life to the fullest to understand its purpose and it can be taken from us at anytime. Life has many different meanings according to the person living it, but to me, is the most important thing in the word. To be able to create a life is even more miraculous and the best experience in the world in my eyes.
9. I believe that happiness comes through good and bad events that transpire in ones life. I order to know true happiness, one most experience sadness. If you have had no sadness in life, how could you know what happiness is.
10. I believe that goodness comes from the things we do for others. Donating to the poor, community service, and helping those in need is a duty of good deeds.
11. I believe that death is bittersweet. It is always a painful experience to have someone you know and love pass away but it is sweet in a sense that they have passed to a better life where there is no pain, or heartache, just a world of happiness.
12. I believe that God is someone great and real. He is the creator of earth and died a painful death to make our life on earth worthwhile. He is someone I look to for guidance and strength and is always there for me when I need someone to talk to.

 

 

I believe that happiness….

 

Happiness is something that means the world to me and cannot imagine life without happiness. Happiness can only be achieved after experiencing sadness first. Happiness is what keeps you successful in life through work, family, and personal mentality.

When growing up my parents always taught me that happiness is very important in trying to have a successful life. “Find a job that makes you happy, not that makes you rich, Money doesn’t by you happiness,” my mother always said. I still, to this day live by what she taught me. I am going to school for Business Administration, a field I have always been interested in and am very successful at it.

When I started dating, I meet a person whom soon became my first boyfriend and thought that he was so perfect for me. I thought at that time that I felt the happiest when I was with him, but later found it not to be so true after all. He cheated on me numerous times but I felt that I was so happy so I dealt with it. He then, later dumped me to go out with another girl. Of course, like every teenagers first love, I felt unsecure about my self and was unhappy all the time. My next boyfriend thought I did right with him as well but he made me so unhappy I left him. After all those years of unhappiness, I finally meet the man of my dreams, my husband, and really found what being happy was all about. This is why I feel that you cannot understand true happiness without experiencing sadness first. Without sadness, how do we know what being happy feels like? We do not.

One may be asked, “How these experiences led me to where I am today?” After dealing with unhappiness, one really realizes how important happiness is to oneself. If I had not had that break up experience, I would have never found my husband and been as happy as I am with him now. He taught me to not get angry all the time and really enjoy the important things in life, to not hang on to all the little, petty stuff in life. I have learned that one must live life to the fullest to maintain great happiness.

My husband and I created life for my beautiful 2-year-old daughter who shines happiness into my life everyday. Seeing her grow up and learning new things everyday brings continuous joy and happiness to my life and makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world. Seeing her happy makes me happy and is my ultimate goal in life. When she is upset, I try to find whatever it is to keep her happy. She is what keeps me going on a daily basis. If I am having a bad day, she knows it.  She knows that giving me a hug and kiss is what brightens a gloomy day. Addilee and my husbands love and happiness keep me living a prosperous, successful, and happy life.

 

Part III: Opposing views

 

1. How would I describe one of the positions held by people who might disagree with me? I think that some people do not think that happiness is sought out by going through sadness first. Maybe happiness just comes from someone’s personal well being. They might feel happiness just through living out a horrible day or an experience that may make the individual feel joyful and at ease.
2. What reasons and evidence do people on the opposing side use to support their positions? People on the opposing side may use negative experiences or reasoning to support their positions. They could also chose to define happiness as something related to joy or a sense of fulfillment opposed to my belief on what happiness is. This person may choose to find evidence such as statistics to prove that a person who says they are happy really is not.
3. What experiences do people on the opposing side seem to share? People on the opposing side seem to choose past experiences that relate to their opposing views. 
4. How do their experiences seem to differ from mine? One may use the same past experience but argue that at one time I did experience happiness weather I knew it was true or not. For instance, my experience was a relationship. I chose the view that even though I thought I was experiencing happiness, I felt it was not true happiness.
5. Why might these experiences have led them to take their positions? It could be a negative experience. This could cause the person to have a strong passion towards forming their position.
6. Is there a set of experiences shared in common by people on each side of the issue? I believe there could be many experiences shared in common by both sides of the issue. When people speak or write using arguments, they may use common interests to prove that even with the same experience, their opposing view had a different outcome.
7. How do these differences influence how I will respond to their position on the issue? These differences influence my response to their position by enlightening me with another way to look at my position to strengthen my view. Using their differences and incorporating my position around theirs, will help me to persuade them into believing why my view is true and theirs is not. 

 

 

WebBlog Introduction: Greetings Everyone!!

Hello class,

This whole blog thing is very new to me. I have myspace and Facebook but this, I’ve never seen in my life! I am very eager to read all of my classmates pieces of writings and blog. The WebBlog does seem like a more personal place to write at and I do like that. Blackboards discussion boards are great cause we get to interact with students like we would if we were taking classes in a classroom but this webBlog makes me feel like I can speak my mind more freely. It has a great atmosphere is what I’m trying to say. Ive never been a fan of blogging but I’m really excited about getting to read every ones posts and writing some posts of my own as well. This is going to take a while to get used to because I’ve never done this for any other class but really looking forward to it. Thanks Ms. Jolemore for making this class different and more exciting!! If you want to comment on my blog, please feel free to do so!

Amy W.