Dec 11- Day 2 Groups, Reflection on blogging

The second round of group presentations i felt were stronger than the first. This was mostly due to the fact that the ice was broken by the first two groups on what was expected, and the presentations were more prepared for this. The group researching teenage suicide i felt was very strong and grabbed the classes attention well. They discussed what some of the causes, warning signs, and prevention methods that revolve around teenage suicide and how it effects other teens. This was a very emotion drawing presentation and the message was brought across well.

English 105 was my first experience with blogging. Today, children ten years old and older are involved with blogging websites, so to say that I learned about blogging in school defines the coming of new culture and communication methods. Overall it is a very useful communication tool to get your message across or opinions on issues at hand. Overall I feel blogging is a useful communication method and has changed the way we live today. It was a new experience and helped in the overall learning process I feel.

Nov 13- Essay 2 TSIS

Anslinger continued his public scare by the use of yellow journalism and sending what people called reefer madness all around. When he proposed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, he had no factual evidence of why the plant should be illegal. The court told him that he was lacking any factual information, but when they reviewed the public opinion on the matter, they decided that for the public’s safety, the drug needed to be outlawed (Guither). So in 1937, the plant hemp and any relative of it were classified as a Level 1 felony drug, meaning that the government felt the drug had no medical use what so ever and was not to be grown.

Hemp itself is such a great crop though. It’s first known use was to make fabric to weave clothing, which was estimated back to about 8000 – 7000 B.C (Guither). Hemp fibers are strong, fulfill multiple universal needs to create products, and are biodegradable (Herer ch 1). This last key detail is what gives it so much more credit today and makes it such a necessary product to help keep our environment cleaner. Its fibers can be strung together to create paper, potentially eliminating deforestation as a whole if the crop were domesticated globally. The forest is only one small area that the plant helps preserve in our environment. Hemp fibers were used for everything from making clothes, rope, and ship sails. Its durability is well greater than any other material that can be compared to it. It was discovered in the early 1900’s that hemp fibers, pressed with other plant fibers, could be made into a substitute for wooden lumber to build structures. It can be made into a stronger concrete that, when manufactured with lime, it crystallizes solid. From an environmentalist’s point of view, hemp would be the ideal way to push a more eco-friendly world simply because of two things: food and oil.

Dec 4.- Group Response

The Golden Dragons research presentation brought to mind some interesting perspectives. They brought the idea about of how the drinking age being at 21 influences underaged binge drinking. They presented facts regarding underaged alcohol accidents in the U.S. which were staggeringly higher than any other country. Their research, done by survey, revealed that students felt compelled to drink more because they wouldn’t get the chance to an other time or until the next party. This results in binge drinking, which is where drinking becomes dangerous. The idea of lowering the drinking age they said would bring about less wonder about alcohol and the appreciation would decrease due to it’s availability. In essence, if it became more so part of our culture like in other countries, it would be not viewed as an untouchable prize, but more so a reward.

Nov 20- Darcey Steinke Visit Response

Seeing Darcey Steinke read her book aloud brought a whole new life and meaning to her novel. There was now a presence to connect the voice describing her struggle to find religion in her own peace in mind. Her voice was filled with emotion as she read about her childhood and greeting her sick mother returning from the hospital. I could then picture what she must have looked like as a child and the emotions that must have run through a young girl’s heart and mind.  I myself constantly battle the thought of what is right and wrong and formulate my own essence of religion. I cannot say I follow my raised faith fully anymore, but I do believe that it creates a good foundation for what is right. This is the message that Steinke tries to deliver in her book, that no religion is fully right or holy. Everything has its flaws or quarks and you need to decide what the right path for you as a person and not always turn the blame to God or some other being.

Essay 2 Topic

Regardless of the relative of hemp called marijuana, the hemp plant has been historically known to have many uses and has been used throughout American history. Until the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) declared hemp illegal due to the negative image of marijuana, it was the number one harvested crop in the United States right in front of cotton. It has many uses that would benefit environmental issues and can easily be substituted in place of many common materials that are made today.
With our current economic state, increasing global population, and limited environmental materials, why hasn’t the legalization of the crop hemp been followed through. The items we can make, the medical uses, and the environmental benefits of this plant are endless. The main question is, “What is the beef with hemp?”

My reason for bringing about this topic is to raise the question: Why is hemp illegal? There are so many eco-friendly uses it can accomplish. Why have we not utilized it’s usefulness? In 1609 Jamestown Colony in Virginia passed a law that required all farmers to grow hemp. If a plant was so important at one time and was known for how useful it was when it came to basic living needs why is it illegal today.

The flower known to grow from hemp, marijuana, is hemp’s relative. Marijuana, also known by hundreds of other names, may be the leading antagonist in the fight for legalization of hemp. It’s negative reputation was brought about in 1970 when it’s classification as a drug increased to a schedule 1 drug, which meant that it had no medical use and was considered extremely harmful.

Harry J. Anslinger, the founder of the Bereau of Narcotics used this new aged scare to persuade the public saying things such as; “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” and; “You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.” During the time he declared these accusations it was natural for anyone to believe this scare. The scientific studies performed on marijuana were not well known to the public at the time and Anslinger capitalized on that through yellow journalism which will be explained in more detail in the essay.

 

 

Herer, Jack. “www.jackherer.com/chapter.”www.jackherer.com. 11/8/09. Jack Herer, Web. 8 Nov  2009. <http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html>

Group Work 11/4/09

A) Yes; the thesis is the web is beceoming more of a popular resource for people to campaign via myspace and other social networking sights. It reaches out to a younger crowd.

B) On page 86, “Currently, the internet has become a major compaigning tool for candidates trying to get their message out.”

C) I. On page 89, he explains how Obama had over 300,000 comments on his page from people 30 years old and younger. He first talks about myspace and how he first handedly saw how a younger crowd is getting involved. Using evidence to make his claim. This supports the thesis.
II. On page 90, “The fact that Skolan Claims there isa Facebook group against Hilary Clinton, implies that young adults are getting involved.” he uses this quote to point out how young adults are getting involved via the internet. Its intergrated very well and supports the thesis.
III. On page 91, Shanons quote states that everyday people can alter images and information. The author goes on to explain that because of this there can be a alot of false information on the internet.

D) This piece is a persuasion because he’s not arguing any point besides that evidence is showing how  campaigning on the internet is a great new way to spread your idea and be heard for political activists.

Research Process

In my brief writing career the word research paper has become well known as my most despised writing piece. Simply the word research does not sound appealing if you ask me. I have only had a total of four papers like these to write and each time they were written solo. In this research paper, working with a group I feel may help the process flow better because more ideas and information can be brought together and interpreted over by four minds instead of one. My group’s topic is “What drives students to stay in school.” This is a very broad question to start and needs to be narrowed down but I believe we will be able to narrow it down once we get some student input I feel. Creating a survey of some sort would be a great way to find some ideas of what students do enjoy and makes them want to be involved at school. Our group plans on meeting on monday the 19th to discuss more on how we plan on breaking this topic to research it but I think we will successful. This paper will be a challenge but a good experience to train myself to study material better and dissect it into my words better.

Academic Dishonesty

Academic Dishonesty is when you use someone else’s work and try to pass it off as your own, without citing that you used someone else’s information. This is also referred to as plagiarism. There are a number of ways plagiarism might be brought about. One is by downloading or copying a paper, taking text from online documents and using their words without citing them, and even receiving help on an assignment when you were instructed to not.

The reason academic dishonesty is wrong is because it does not allow you to learn the information and process it through your understanding thoughts. By taking someone else’s words you not only lose the opportunity to increase your knowledge but you also risk receiving a zero for the assignment. The student handbook also states that a student may receive expulsion from the institution as a whole for academic dishonesty.

This policy to me is simply fair. Plagiarism defeats the purpose of being in college as a whole. You are here to learn and expand your knowledge. This is what all classrooms stress. They push this statement to all the students and put their trust in us in this way. If we want the knowledge our professors know we will do the work. The part I do not agree with on Saint Rose’s academic dishonesty policy is the expulsion part. If a student does plagarize and is caught I believe he should recieve the zero, but expulsion is not necessary. That student is here and has paid his money to. If he chooses not to make choices to increase his education then that is his loss.

Plagiarism may seem like a good idea when faced with the choice of writing a paper or finding a free one, but in the real world plagiarism can lead to law suites and fights when someone’s work is not citied or written over. For example, today, the writer of the hit series Twilight is facing criticism for supposed plagiarizing of her story line which can be seen on www.newser.com.

http://www.newser.com/story/66063/twilight-scribe-accused-of-plagiarism.html

Two Sources

http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/sop.2009.52.2.211 Scholarly Source

This source is a scholarly source because it has information that has been cited from credited factual information and does not put in opinions or general public appeal.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/p28244k278588020/ Non-scholarly Source

This source is a journal article. It has views that it is trying to give to the reader and is not a credited source

Lamb and Berman Response

Lamb and Berman wrote two equally well crafted pieces of writing, but each had it’s own message. There was no real relationship between the two pieces of work. Lamb’s theme to his piece Food and Fatalism was family. This is a topic that nearly all people can relate to in some sort of way weather it be positive or negative. In Lamb’s case, family was a great importance to him. You can clearly tell from his writing and descriptive memories that these were some of the best times in his life. I felt that I related so much to this piece of writing. When he described his family waiting in the car for his mother and the noisy dinning room table with all his family members eating made me remember my family gatherings for holidays. The aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousin’s gathering to celebrate what ever holiday it may be were the fondest memories from my childhood. Writing should be about something that brings actual raw emotion to the table. Lamb’s story about family brings that emotion out in everyone that reads it because it is such a universal idea.

In Berman’s piece Risky Writing: Self-Disclosure & Self-Transformation, he talks about how “risky writing” should be encouraged more. What risky writing is, is writing with passion and heart in your work. Berman uses a great example of a student who wrote an entire essay on baking bread. It was a silly topic, but she loved to bake bread so she wrote from her heart what she loved about doing it and the satisfying process. Reading that piece showed me how with passion in your writing you can write about anything.

I would love to be able to find this passion that Berman wants to tell people about because then writing will become second nature and be a more natural easy process. Telling true stories that you have experienced is the best way to do this is what I’ve come to conclude from these passages. Lamb’s piece was heart warming and easy to relate to for readers so they could connect to the story. With Berman’s piece he breaks it down and tells you this as a fact. These two passages will help my writing in the future when planning for essays.