Self Evaluation Blog

I have had a very great semester in ENC 1102. I feel that through the course I have grown both through discovering different way of thinking about things and as a writer. Through out the class our minds were always put to the test, thinking about world issues was a main topic within the class and I have learned about so many issues of things had no clue about. Leaving this class I feel I will go into creative writing more equipped that before. I am thankful to have been made aware of such important topics and who knows with this new awareness may come some sort of solution. I may be the very one who will stop the epidemic aids in Africa or make the invisible children very visible. Thank you to Natasha for really enlightening us and showing her students so much.

P.S I don't really know how I will make a difference with "In Cuba I was a German Shepard" but hey maybe I'll save the Cubans from their horrible memories of the pass..I know I will liberate Cuba. Viva Cuba! lol

Sincerely,
Yvette

NO MORE TAXES....

In a recent discussion about the current candidates for presidency I learned of a new plan to have health insurance for all. Now yea sure it sounds wonderful until you hear about the plan to raise taxes that goes along with it. Apparently with this wonderful idea comes a horrible one that would raise the amount of taxes taken from our checks to forty percent. Now that sounds ridiculous how is the government going take out almost half of our check just to make sure that every one has health care.Now let me clear this up in case you don;t get how much money this Will be. Lets say you make $800 a month( which really isn't that much to begin with.) After takes they will deduct $320 leaving you with $480 of your hard earned money. That is barely enough to pay a car payment and definitely not enough to pay for the rising living expenses in this country. I don't think that the working person should have so much money taken out of there checks just to be able to support all those people that don't feel like they should work. Yes it would help some people that really can't afford it but it would hurt way more people and they won't be able to afford way more things. This raise in taxes would have a huge effect on the economy. People will not have that extra money that allows business to flourish. This tax raise will not save us but it will make times harder especially since we are still currently in massive debt from the war. Speaking of which I also have a hunt ch that this tax raise might be Hilary Clinton's attempt to consolidated our debt which in my opinion is not the way to go about it.

Its not a day w/o a Honduran or Guatemalan

A day without a Mexican was portraying the message that we don not appreciate the work that this group of people do for us and in a comic way gives us a wake up call of how we would be without them. The movie delivers this message by "eliminating" Mexicans all together from California, a state that is known for its presence of Mexicans. It shows how nothing is able to function without these immigrants and how everyday life it self can not continue smoothly.I thought that this was a good way of making people realize through comedy how serious a problem it is when you take people for granted. I thought that this movie was aimed toward Americans who deem them self better that these immigrants and feel more important than them. But as the movie showed if there where none of these Mexicans around everyday life would be way more difficult. A man in the move keep saying that the Mexicans were taking away American jobs but after the Mexicans disappeared there was no one doing the jobs that this group of people once did. The movie also shows how racist people are when they would refer to all Latins as Mexicans as there was no difference in the countries. A man in the movie made the comment that he would not have illegal Mexicans working in his house so they should be sent back to Guatemala and Honduras where they came from. Obviously this is an exaggeration and I hope that no one is that ignorant but it still shows how people can not distinguish between the two.
Honduran or Guatemalan

opps car trouble....

Since I had no way to get to the last class I did not have a chance to see the movie. To my understanding the movie was about Cuban history ad how Fidel Castro came to power. Growing up I Miami I always heard a lot about Fidel of what a horrible person he is and how he has done nothing for Cuba besides control it. After looking up some history I learned that there was more to how he came to power besides just taking over. His initial plan was to free Cuba from he grasps of Batista who was planning to take over the government. Fidel became a leader in a revolution to overthrow Batista and “free Cuba.”

“Fidel Castro became Prime Minister of Cuba in February 1959, and has held his position as Head of State and Head of Government in the country”- wikepideia

Even though Fidel started out making prmises of freedom to the Cuba people it seems like he just envied Batista and want to take is place and that s exactly wha he did and is now the tirant that we know of toay that continues to make the Cuban people struggle and live in poverty.

free write journal guns or no guns

Wow I just found out something rather controversial. Congress is trying to pass a law that will ban guns from the public. This is going to create so much commotion on both sides of the argument. On the opposing site I totally understand them when they argue that in the united states constitution it gives us the right to bear arms and taking that right away would be going against the very foundation of this country. On the other hand the amount of guns that are on the street right now are creating a tremendous hazard for both everyday people and the law enforcement officers that are trying to protect us. Especially with this resent shooting of four police officers the decision really might go either way. What do you think?

aids an growing epidemic

AIDS...one of the scariest diseases around also the most common. The growing epidemic of Acquired immune deficiency syndrome has quickly becomes one of the worlds top deadly diseases. With all this information out there it is simply suicide to go around having unprotected sex of doing anything that might contract the disease. AIDS is largely recognized as a disease of poverty where it is most common in countries pf debt and extreme poverty. For the vast majority of HIV and AIDS sufferers in the suffering countries treatment is not available.

"Among all low- and middle-income countries, HIV prevalence is strongly correlated with falling protein consumption, falling calorie consumption, unequal distribution of national income and, to a lesser extent, labor migration…. Poverty not only creates the biological conditions for greater susceptibility to infectious diseases, it also limits the options for treating disease."— Eileen Stillwaggon, AIDS and the Poverty in Africa, The Nation Magazine, May 3 2001
In 2005 alone there were nearly 4.9 million new HIV infections and 3.2 million of them where in Africa adding to the 25.8 million infected in Africa and the 40 million living around the world.


Number of people living with HIV in 2006
Category
Number of people
Total
39.5 million
Adults
37.2 million
Women
17.7 million
Children (under 15 years)
2.3 million
Total in Sub-Saharan Africa
24.7 million





"Profiting from death— … the AIDS epidemic has brought billions of dollars in profits to the world’s pharmaceutical companies—the newest combination drug therapies can cost up to 20,000 US dollars per person per year. There have been strong calls for companies to cut these prices, and worldwide condemnation of drugs giant Glaxo-Welcome for raising the price of its market leader AZT as well as holding back access to new drugs. Until people’s needs are put before corporate profits, there will be one AIDS epidemic for the rich and another for the poor."
— OneWorld Guide to AIDS

I always knew that AIDS was something to be scared of but i had no idea it was this big. People should really acknowledge this crisis and protect themselves and help convince others that it is very real and killing millions every year..don't become 1 in a million!

chill out america

I love it! Its so true. All the issues that he is joking about actually are things that may people including myself talk about very day. In both the videos carlos mencia is directing his humor toward the American people, all the different types of people that live here. You can tell because many of the jokes that he makes are ones that show different cultures together. I feel he is very successful in the point that he is trying to get across. Besides being hilarious he shows how concerned everyone is about being politically correct and not offending anyone. We as human beings have to stop being so offended by such dumb harmless things such as names that were once OK to use but now are not. I totally agree with Mencia.

dark days response

I thought that this documentary was particularly disturbing and awakening. It really shows the horrors that can come from drug abuse. When that man spoke of how he had a wife and kids it made me want to slap him when he picked drugs over his family after his wife gave him an ultimatum although he does seem to be one of the most responsible homeless men in those subway stations. You can really sympathize for him because you start wondering..well he stopped doing drug and is trying to do good for himself now but its too late, if only he would've realized this before he lost everything. Its sad that you only appreciate what you have when you no longer have it. Not only is it sad that these people are living there but its also very scary of how dangerous they live. They are constantly near speeding trains and people that they do not necessarily know that may want what they have and do whatever it takes to get it. I think that this documentary really proves what we were talking about in class about taking care of our own. I feel that we should create more homeless shelters so that even if we have people that have put them selves in such bad situations they still don't have to feel obliged to be in potentially deadly situations.

miss dumb carolina

OK I'm sorry but this girl should have been disqualified from the entire pageant for this answer. What the hell did south Africa and Iraq have to do with the education system in the united states. I think she went on that talk show to try to save her ass but she still sounds like a ditz. Shes the kind of person that gives blondes everywhere a bad name. I think that she was just using the fact that it was live as an excuse for her stupidity. I'm sure she was prepped like crazy to answer that question again. I don't even know why they put her in the top three, maybe it was just pity. The truth is she is the laughing stock of the nation and she most likely is one of those people in the Us that can not find the united states on the map..that's why she couldn't answer

yvettie

This is mt first blog in blogger .com. I was told that it was a bit like myspace and in a sense it is but not exactly. It could be that I am not familiar with this site but I find everything to be so confusing. As for blogs I have never beeen one to write blogs on a personal level because I feel that your buisness is reallly just not anyone elses, but since I am writing blogs for a class I don't have such strong feelings against them. Its kinda funny really because the only diffrence is that I am doing it for a class...funny how a persons perseption of something can change so quickly.