Journal 1- Can you see their viewpoint? Nike Ad
This tweet was written in response to the Nike commercial last Wednesday. I was not aware of the story behind Colin Kaepernick, the face of the ad, until the day after. After knowing, I did not care because I think the message behind the ad is what matters the most. Some people, however, do not feel this way and started boycotting Nike by burning their Nike gears and using the hashtag Nike boycott in their negative posts. This tweet is an example of how badly some people feel about this ad. @CrimsonPatriot is protesting Nike by throwing all the gears he owns in the trash. That does not make sense because he already bought them, so he is the one losing and not Nike. His main argument is that he “will not support a company that supports disrespecting our flag.” While I can see where he is coming from, Colin kneeling during the national anthem was a form a peaceful protesting and not disrespect. He did what he thought was the most effective way to spread awareness for a serious issue. I think people should look past this and see the ad for what it truly is: an inspiring video.
https://twitter.com/CrimsonPatriot/status/1037292177192378368
Journal 2- Part of the Resistance
I believe that we as a nation should know who we should associate with and from who we should away. Ever since president Trump came into office, I kept hearing complicated stories about him, Russia, and North Korea. North Korea is a country known for its dictatorship government led by Kim Jong-un, and the atrocious way he treats his people. Russia is not better off with an authoritarian regime, Mafiosi, and random bombings. Knowing all of this, I don’t understand why the president is so interested in making ties with those two countries. President Trump defends Russia and North Korea on issues like the economy and military to try to get on their good side. He should be trying to strengthen the bond we have with our allies instead of working to form new ones with countries that will only bring us trouble. Not only is his actions morally wrong, but they also give the United States a bad image to the rest of the world. Other countries will think that we are like those two countries and our country will start to lose some critical allies.
Journal 3- Can You Spot The Fakest “Real” News?
In this news article, the author Howard Kurtz claims that fewer people are opposing Brett Kavanaugh because Christine Ford is hesitating to testify regarding her assault. Fox News is known for being right-biased naturally making them biased towards Republicans. This fox news article was written September 20th before Ford’s testimony on Thursday, September 27th, so there was no way Kurtz would have guessed that she would eventually testify. There was still a lot of bias in this article. Kurtz wrote that Democrats stuck by Bill Clinton even when he was involved in a lot of sex scandals. He was implying that Democrats are opposing Kavanaugh because they don’t want him to get the job. Throughout the whole article, Kurtz subtly made it sound like Ford is just trying to jeopardizes Kavanaugh’s nomination by minimizing all the reasons she could have for not testifying. He even had a quote from a women’s rights to enforce his potential point. Aside from the bias in this article, some other things make it hard to trust. Some research showed me that Fox News is not a trustworthy news source because of the number of controversies surrounding the news source.
Journal 4 – Experiencing Racism / Sexism
Racism and discrimination were and are still are big issues in our society. Discrimination is the unfair treatment of a person based on race, age, sex, or others. Racism is discrimination against a group of people based solely on their race. Racism is the most known type of discrimination. From what I can remember, I didn’t experience any significant discrimination in my life. However, there was a time when I witnessed racism against an African American male. It happened when I was shopping with my sister at a grocery store. We were standing by the cashiers looking at the items on the racks when we heard the exit alarms go off. We looked in the direction of the exit door, and I saw a black man, a black woman, and a white man stop in their tracks. They were called back in the store by a petite older white employee around her eighties because they were the only ones that were leaving the store. My sister and I watched as the three customers talked to the employee. I can’t remember specifically what the employee said, but I could tell that she assumed that the black male stole something because of the way she was speaking to him.
The conversation escalated into a heated argument between the white employee and the two African Americans. The black woman turned out to be the black boy’s sister, and she was trying in vain to convince the employee that her brother did nothing wrong. The argument went on for about ten minutes before security was called by the white woman. The security guard started questioning everyone involved. The security woman decided that looking at the security cameras would clear up this issue. They all went to the back of the store and disappeared in a little room. When they came back out, their conversation led me to believe that the white man forgot to scan some of his items since he was using the self-checkout. The employee refused to apologize even after the truth was revealed. Upset, the two African Americans left the store while the white employee was faced with nasty looked from other customers. In conclusion, this story stuck to me because it showed me that racism is more of an issue in the older generation than in this generation.
Journal 5- “The Daily” Response for 10/19 – 10/26
The podcast that I listened to is about the caravan and the role it plays in the upcoming Midterm election. Thousands of Central Americans left their homes to join the caravan that is heading North to the United States in hopes of having a better life in our country. While most of the United States does not know what to do about this issue, President Trump is gaining more supporters a few days before the midterm election due to his claim that the Democrats support of the caravan. The podcast talks about how President Trump is using these migrants to turn American citizens against the Democratic party. I agree with this claim because of the way I’ve seen Trump talks about how bad this caravan is and how anyone who supports is against the United States as a whole.
The main argument in this podcast is whether or not the right to do is to let the caravan across the United State’s border. In my opinion, I don’t believe it would be fair if the government allows the caravan to enter the United States without any restrictions. It would not be fair to the people who paid a lot of money to travel to this country. Also, this action will only give hope to more caravans since this one will be seen as successful. On the other hand, I don’t want the United States to send back the caravan when it arrives because its members made a lot of sacrifices to get to the border. For example, the guy who died when he fell off the back of an open truck. The best solution in my opinion is to have a system in which immigrants will be able to safely enter the States and work with the government towards the improvement of this nation.
I truly loved this podcast because it was exciting and engaging. I liked how it had a Spanish speaker journalist personally interviewing the people in the caravan because it added to the podcast’s credibility. These interviews were also the most interesting part of this podcast because I learned the personal stories of some of the people in the caravan. For example, the mom who joined the group to give her three-month-old baby a better life, and the transgender and homosexual boy who want to come to the United States to have freedom from the oppression they face in their country.
Journal 6- “The Daily” Podcast Responses 10/29 – 11/2
The podcast I choose is called “I am Not an Internet Troll” by The Daily. The podcast is about the role of USAReally, a Russian news organization, in the midterm elections and the credibility of online news. The rise of this news source raises the fear that the Russian government is trying to influence the votes in the midterm elections like it did in the two thousand sixteen elections. I briefly heard of the Russian government helping Donald Trump in the two thousand sixteen elections, but I didn’t do enough research to know exactly what happened. I like this podcast because it is exciting and informative. I learned so many things about the role of Russia in American elections and how to not be a victim of the country’s negative influence.
The main argument in the podcast is that USAReally is a fake news website with the goal of making America look bad to the rest of the world by only telling the wrong side of American news. I agree with this statement because when I read some of their articles, I noticed that they focused on the negative side of the stories. There is also the issue of the website deceiving readers by not telling them that the news articles are written by Russian press. Also, the podcast mentions the different ways in which the Russian government is trying to influence the upcoming midterm elections. David E. Sanger, a national security correspondent, says that the Russians could easily turn the power off in certain areas where votes are not guaranteed. I find this information extremely frightening because it shows the amount of control a foreign country has in our country.
I find it very interesting that Alexander Malkevich, the founder of USAReally, doesn’t think that he did anything wrong publishing these news articles. He claims that his website has nothing to do with the what happened in thousand sixteen and that he wants to inform people about what is happening in America. I don’t believe that statement because I feel like his goal is to use propaganda to create confusion between the American population.
Journal 7- “The Daily” 11/5 to 11/9
The podcast I listened to is called “How the Democrats Flipped the House” by The Daily. The podcast is about how the issue of healthcare that once negatively impacted the Democrats turned out to be the main reason they won the House in the midterm elections last Tuesday. The speakers talk about how the strong opposition of Obama Care helped Dave Brat win the House of Representatives seat in Virginia’s 7th congressional district. In two thousand fourteen. However, the acceptance of the same healthcare is what helped Abigail Spanberger win the same region in two thousand eighteen.
The main argument in this podcast is that the reason the Democrats won the House of Representatives is that they addressed the issue of healthcare. I agree with that idea because one of the reasons people voted for Brat and Trump is because both candidates made affordable health care look bad in the eyes. By showing voters the positive side of Obama care, Abigail Spanberger defeated one of the main reasons why most people don’t vote for Democrats. In addition to that, I think what helped the Democrats is that they didn’t focus on the accusations on immigration of Donald Trump but concentrated on the issue most people care about. I find it very smart that the main topic of her campaign is not President Trump, but the dangers of getting rid of affordable health care. This approach made her look like a strong and independent candidate. If she used the method of bad-mouthing the President, she would have looked unoriginal and boring.
Overall, I enjoyed listening to the podcast because it made me think. Also, I think the smooth transitions between the topics helps this podcast express its opinion in a more precise way. For example, they started with the broad issue of elections to the more specific topic of political strategies. I found it fascinating when Jonathan Martin said that the more extreme a political party’s views become, the more likely people are to switch to the opposing party. I agree with this statement because I know a lot of people that voted in favor of the Democratic because they did not agree with the way President Trump voices his opinions. In conclusion, I applaud the Democrats for turning their handicap into their weapon in this year’s midterm elections.
Journal 8- SYSK Response OR Daily 11/13-11/20
The podcast I listened to is called “Diplomacy and Deception From North Korea” by The Daily. The podcast is about how North Koreans is deceiving the United States by improving their nuclear weapons instead of destroying them as they promised five months ago in Singapore. The speakers also talk about how President Trump and his office are deceiving the United States by telling Americans only half of the outcome of the negotiation between the two leaders.
The main argument in this podcast is that the peace treaty signed by President Trump and Kim Jong Un in Singapore last June resulted in more harm than benefit. David E. Sanger, a national security correspondent of The New York Time, claims that when he analyzed unclassified satellite pictures of North Korea, he saw sixteen new and improved nuclear weapon facilities. This discovery proves that Kim Jong Un did not keep his word about stopping the production of atomic weapons and destroying old ones. Sanger believed that this is happening because of the misinterpretation that resulted from the unclarity of the peace treaty they two leaders signed. I agree with that reasoning because each country had their interpretation of the document. North Koreans thought they decided on the United States lifting off the restrictions on their nation before they stop producing nuclear weapons while the United States believed that the order of the events would be flipped. The North Koreans are destroying smaller nuclear sites to make President Trump happy but at the same time they are expanding many others. Meanwhile, Trump is telling Americans that progress was made since the signature of the peace treaty.
I find it interesting how when confronted by David E. Sanger, Trump’s office said that they already knew about the sites and how they were more concerned about him telling the public than anything. The reason for their fear is that Americans will lose their trust in Trump’s negotiation power and see him as an incapable leader. This statement shows just how self-absorbed the President is. He values his pride over the well being of the county he is supposed to lead. It’s true that North Korea is deceiving us but in my opinion the most troubling thing is Trump’s lack of honesty and loyalty towards the United States. Overall, I really liked this podcast because it helped me learn things that I did not before about the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
Journal 9- Memoir Reflection
I wrote my memoir about my summer vacation in the city I was born Lomé, Togo. In the paper, I told the readers about how happy I felt when I saw my distant family and how I was dreading leaving and going back to the United States. While I am delighted with how my memoir turned out, some areas of it could use some improvement. To start, I could change the vague title “Nostalgia” to something that’s more specific and connected to my story. I could change it to something like “Home is where the heart is” to indicate to the readers that the paper they are about to read is about a person going back to their home country. The other thing I could improve is my grammar. That’s the section of my memoir in which I lost the most points. I could get rid of the few run-on sentences and common comma errors that are in the paper. The biggest thing I would change is my verb tense. My memoir switches between present tense and past tense which makes it very confusing for the readers. I would go back and change all the verbs to past tense. I like my memoir, but I feel like now that I know more writing composition, I would go back to make it better.
Journal 10- Best and Worst
This English composition course had a significant impact on my view of writing. I’ve written more papers for this class this semester than I did in all my four years of high school combined. Because of the constant writing, my composition and grammar skills have significantly improved. My favorite moment in the class was when we went to Handsome Biscuits. Our trip to the restaurant was enjoyable because I discovered a new place to eat. Also, I interacted with my classmates and got to know them better. My worst moment in this course was when I had to introduce myself the first day of class. Back then, I was so nervous to talk in front of my classmates, and I remember feeling uncomfortable. I don’t like speaking in front of people, so I remember that moment being the most dreadful moment in the classroom. My favorite assignment was the memoir. I was more excited and passionate about this assignment because I had the opportunity to choose my topic.
Additionally, the memoir was an excellent way to transition from high school writing to college academic writing. The worst assignment was the rhetorical analysis because it was so hard to write. I had the hardest time trying to gather evidence to support my argument and organizing my idea. In conclusion, I really liked this course, and I feel like it helped me improve writing.