The Vote Finally Passed

One article that caught my attention while reading the San Jose mercury news was the one article about our Governor and others finally coming to an agreement over the whole state budget tax issue. You can find the article Here. the news paper has been criticizing that this decision has taken to long to make and now whether it was passed or not it was a lose lose situation. after a hundred days of standoff the vote was finally in and the article said the Governor got his way and most of the solutions in the bill were originally added by California's Governor.  taxes will rise for california citizens. 

AVODAH

Religious organizations provide a way for people religious or not to find away to help out the surrounding communities. The website on AVODAH explains their mission as a non profit organization of volunteers who's mission is to provide help for poverty stuck individuals and communities. religious affiliations aid in the motivation by peers and elders, and sometimes children, to get out and help out. It provides the little pressure it may take in order to get someone out and helping, that would normally not think twice about it. AVODAH is a great organization simply made to help people. 

San Jose officials debate spirit of tobacco settlement as they feud over use of the funds

            When I first read this article on the money that tobacco companies owe the state I was amazed at what I read. They companies are required to pay the state 245 billion dollars a year to compensate for a settlement won a couple years ago. The state now is facing a decision on how o spend this reward money. Some vote it all goes to anti smoking programs and some say it should go to crossing guards so children will be safer after school.

            I kept reading and as I went one people suggested that the budget be slit between the two. I believe that right now anti smoking programs are less effective at keeping people from being killed, than school crossing guards. I think we have a better chance at keeping children from being hit by cars than to save people from smoking related deaths.

            I think that the money in this case should be put towards the school crossing guards just because I think protecting little kids from cars is more important than trying to get addicted smokers to stop. It would be a lot harder and more money to convince a lifetime smoker to stop than it would be a person driving through a cross walk in front of an elementry school. 

Related Topic

Chapter 13 Response 2/16/09

Chapter 13 Response in CDA

            Many people when analyzing an opinion article or an editorial take an approach that is not all so right. When many begin reading an opinion piece they forget that they are in fact reading opinion, and based on that could disagree with many of the thoughts the author wrote. When approaching a piece with opinion based thoughts one must keep an open mind about the subject being preached.

            When people read something that they do not agree with they become close-minded and distant from the work they are absorbing. They become one sided and most often don’t think there is another side to a story. In my Opinion I believe that this is ridiculous. Every person that can think has opinions. Whether you like it or not there are certain situations that you have bias towards. I like to think of myself as a non-biased reader and thinker. I like to think I can handle both sides of a story and not form any concrete ideas. I’m not. I sit here and find myself being strongly opinionated towards topics. It too hard with so many choices to not favor one.

            In CDA chapter 13 I have learned not to be this close-minded thinker and to analyze not only opinions in which I favor but even those I strongly oppose and try to find the good in them. Try to spot the ethos being used in the piece and see how reliable the source is writing the piece. Just analyze with an open mind. 

Manufacturing Love on a Man Made Holiday

-Samantha Patterson

            So what is love, can it be defined as an intimate attraction toward one another, or can it be defined by one day every February. I collected an article about Valentines Day from our own Spartan Daily; in this issue Staff Writer Samantha Patterson drills the points of this “Superficial Holiday.” In this persuasive piece she pulls up the point of how people create a day that enables businesses to capitalize on nonsense. In here she pulls up the point of shouldn't a significant other feel like doing this throughout the year not just on a specific day?

            I my self think Valentines Day is a little overrated but also see the good within. In this day in time many people get to busy with all they have going on in their lives to realize that companionship is something that is more valuable than money, or time. I think it gives the hard working class a day to have an excuse to drop all they are doing and spend some quality time with one another. Very rarely do people go out of their way to do a nice or romantic deed for their significant other. Its kind of nice to have a day set fourth to promote this need for well-being. 

The History of Our School

            For this blog assignment I have decided to write about the history of Sjsu. It took a while to actually find the rich information that I found. And it came from one of the most unlikely sources. Wikipedia. I know that this at times can be not the most reliable information, but as this assignment is harder than I expected I have turned to this.

            San Jose was founded in 1862, and has had over seven name changes. If you were to look a school that has been around for so many years you would expect it to be rich with cultural and historical information. I have found Wikipedia to actually be a helpful source in finding some of this out. I have found why many of these buildings on campus have been named and the history behind them. For example: In 1942, the old gym (now named Yoshihiro Uchida Hall, after judo coach Yosh Uchida) was used to register and collect Japanese Americans before sending them to internment camps. Ironically, Uchida's parents and siblings were among those processed in the building.

There is so much history behind this school that can continue to be uncovered with just a few clicks of a button. 

After receiving this wonderful time consuming assignment this was the result... Chicken Nuggets..

"I Don't Really Want to Go into Personal Things in This Blog": Risking Connection through Blogging

Carlton Clark, Professor, Collin County Community College

 

I picked this academic blog because it is a great story of how students and teachers can connect on a different level other than classroom learning. This article was inspiring, and makes you feel as if you too can share advice that can teach and inspire, other than a teacher. I like how the professor in this article admits that he too becomes nervous when he meets new classes for the first time. I believe that students and teachers need to make a connection within the first few days of school so that they can create an environment that they feel safe.

            I also like how a student gave the teacher advice. This is a great thing because it doesn’t have to just be the students who are learning from the teacher. For a student to have the confidence to help out a teacher and inspire them to become way more comfortable in person in front of a class, builds a whole connection that will last the whole year and allow better connection between professor and pupil.