Final Blog

When I was revising my final paper, I had a hard time figuring out exactly what I wanted to write about. When one of my friends told me a story about how ten and eleven year olds are beginning to get pregnant and have babies, I found this outrageous and began to research it. When I discovered that this was true, I decided to write my paper about it. I had a hard time steering my paper in the right direction because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to mediate the issue of giving birth control in middle schools, or just mediate the topic of early sexual behavior in general. I decided to do the latter, and it turned out well because I found strong reasons for both sides. I also explained why this was happening, some reasons being early puberty, the neighborhoods kids are raised in, and sex in the media. When I turned in my brief I had not decided on the specific topic that I wanted to write about, only the general idea of early sex in kids. I had supplied a lot of information, so when I went to right my rough draft, I had a lot of work to do. I decided to break my paper into different parts. I began by explaining what the issue was; very young girls are being pregnant because kids are having sex early. Then I explained some reasons as to why this could be happening. This part was really interesting to me because one website said that puberty was occurring earlier, and one of the reasons for it was pesticides and pollutions. It made me think that if pollution is causing earlier puberty, then what kind of other things could it be causing? I also learned that early puberty could be caused by genetics. I then began giving reasons as to why this trend is bad; girls are getting pregnant earlier, more diseases are being spread earlier which could lead to a huge epidemic. Then I researched actions that people are taking to prevent early sex. Many parents joined a group called the Parents Television Council, which is an organization that is running all sorts of programs to make TV better for their children. After that, I talked about why some studies show that sex early in life can actually be beneficial to kids. Studies showed that in some cases it psychologically helps kids become less violent, and it helps in their abilities to develop relationships later in life. I then concluded my paper with a statement saying before taking a side on this issue it is necessary to look at all of the scenarios. Because there was so much information on this topic, I had to make several rough drafts due to the different research that I kept finding. After turning in my rough draft, I wasn’t given much feedback on how to change it, so I decided to make it a little bit longer by elaborating on sex in the media. Overall, I definitely learned a lot from writing this paper, and I realized that there are many problems in the world that we do not really think about on a daily basis.

I like how Obama talked about all of the diversity that he has experienced in his life, and how we should value America for the diversity that it holds, and that we are a unique country because of this- It was very effective in grabbing my attention. I also think that Obama handled the situation about the pastor really well because I believe that you can know and like someone, but disagree with certain aspects of their beliefs. For example, if I have a friend that has always been there for me whom I love, but I disagree with one thing that they stand for, I shouldn’t be looked down upon because of their one flaw. I think this example coincides with Obama’s situation.The news can twist stories to produce whatever reaction they want, and I think that this is what happened with the pastor, and though I believe that this situation will hurt Obama’s campaign, I think that he did a good job of standing up for himself, saying that yes, his pastor introduced him to his Christian beliefs, but even so, Obama doesn’t agree with everything the pastor stands for, especially in this situation. If the pastor has been family to him his whole life, he isn’t going to disown him because of one disagreement. Also, I don’t think that Obama should be looked down upon because of what his pastor believes, because there are probably many really good characteristics and beliefs that the pastor has, but many times people only focus on the bad. Finally, I think that Obama did a good job of taking the focus away from the actual problem, and instead of continuing to defend himself; he rather created a discussion-like atmosphere to grasp the attention and respect of the audience.

The Temptation of a White Board

I really liked this commercial because it was not only very interesting, but it was different in how it described how to make a commercial inside of a commercial. I'm not sure how persuasive it was in getting more people to use fed-ex, though. I was definitely paying attention the whole time because I was interested in it, and maybe that is how to make an effective commercial. I've seen commercials that are very persuasive, so people buy/use the product. In addition, though, I have seen commercials where they are just funny, so people want to buy or use the product because they were interested in the commercial. What do you think? Do you think the steps in this commercial are really what makes a good commercial?

Arodgardner. "Fed Ex Superbowl Commercial with Burt Reynolds." 10 Aug. 2006.  

Photo Essay

This photo essay is called "Winter's Snowy Bite," and it expresses the main reason of why I moved south for college. The man in the first picture, Dennis Hayes, looks absolutely miserable with his frosty beard and basically frozen glasses. I really like the third picture with the sign really big in front and the cars really tiny and far away trying to drive in the snow and fog. The only picture in which the snow does not look really terrible is in the sixth picture, where the frost is pretty on the fence, and the house looks really warm in the background. I just don't understand how some people love the cold weather that much to endure blizzards and ice storms that can occur weekly or daily. Don't you think people would get tired of that?

Grammar

One question about grammar that confuses me is when to use "however." Sometimes people use it at the beginning of a sentence, and sometimes people use it in the middle of the sentence. I was taught to use it in a sentence like this:

I didn't want to go to school at all; however, I had an exam that day so I needed to.

I never see people use it like this, so I researched the right way to use it. In a site called words-work, <http://www.words-work.co.uk/topicdetails.asp?lblref=ww030&topicID=49&pic=FAQs>, people are taught to use "however" in two ways. The examples that the website gives are as follows:

1. "The analysis made with this report, however, concluded that there is very little difference between the two approaches in practice."

2. "Numerous references can be found to the environmental benefits of water transport. However, there are few specific studies defining the benefits that water transport has over other modes."

Neither of these ways was how I was taught to use it, so maybe there are different ways that other people have learned to use it too?