Obama's First Year

Leading up and during the election there was much anticipation and hype for the democratic nominee Barack Obama and the need for "change". After Obama’s victory for president there were many promises and calls for reformation and changes but it has been a year and I have not seen or felt much change. I don’t think Obama has lived up to his hype so far. I may not be the most knowledgeable person on politics and news but for the most part when I hear Obama’s name mentioned on the news it is usually about how he has not done or accomplished much in office. Without even having to watch the news or somebody tell me what Obama has done or not done, I can tell there hasn’t been any change really just from my everyday life and observations. Life is pretty much the same as it was at this time a year ago. I am pretty sure Obama’s approval rating has been on the decline as well. Some of the significant issues we had last year that were supposed to be addressed by Obama are still the same. We still have a significant amount of troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. There might be reasons why we can’t pull our troops out but I remember Obama campaigning for getting the troops out as fast as possible. And as for gas prices for a while they were pretty low but over the past months gas has risen a good amount. At some point in this year gas was $2.00 and less where I live and now gas is about $2.55. Overall as a public view of Obama and as an eighteen year old student I don’t see much that Obama has done. And he couldn’t win us the 2012 Olympics either.

"Dear Birth Parents"

In the letter written by Nate and Kristin, they address there concerns and hopes in attempt to be given the chance to be able to adopt a baby. They are writing to the birth parent of the baby, and express their wishes of wanting to adopt the baby and become parents. The purpose of the letter is really to persuade the mother into choosing them to be the foster parents of her child. They feel like they are the best choice for being the future parents. They mentioned there difficulties with fertility issues, but mention how it has led them to this wonderful option of adopting. They give reasons to support their claim of becoming the parents by talking about how Nate has already been around and is experienced with living and having an adopted brother. They also talk about their past and how they had always planned on adopting even if they could conceive children of their own. They say how they wanted two biological children and two adoptive children. This reasons should make the birth parents more comfortable with choosing Nate and Kristin as becoming the adoptive parents. The point of view of the biological parents are mentioned by Nate and Kristin when they say we know how difficult this must be for you, but glad you are doing it. Nate and Kristin set up a claim, wanting to be the adoptive parents, and gave reasons why they should be and supported those with evidence from thier lifes.

JMU Reform

There are not really any negatives about JMU. The education is great, the facilities are great, teachers and food are great, overall JMU is a great school. The only noticeable thing that I see that could use improvement here at James Madison is increasing the diversity among the student population. I came from a very diverse high school less than 2 hrs away from James Madison, and James Madison is really not diverse. Within the university itself, they have diversity programs but there is not enough diversity to fulfill these programs. I feel the university should try harder to try and recruit diversity, I don’t think there is a diverse population applying to JMU in the first place. Maybe the minorities are not reached out to and do not know about James Madison as much, or they already know that the school is not diverse so they are scared to come here. If information was made more available and better attempts to promote diversity to future applicants then diversity would increase. I have made visits too many if the larger public colleges here in Virginia. I have been to University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and I have noticed that all of these schools have a wider diversity among the student population compared to James Madison. From prior experiences mostly from my High School, I can tell that having diversity can benefit everyone. You can learn more and become more culturally and globally educated from having a diverse population. James Madison is making steps toward improvements in creating diversity but there could be improvements and better efforts to do so.

Seasons by the Feelings

There are many distinct characteristics that can be associated with the seasons that occur. We have divided the year into quarters by seasons, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring. I never really knew what season comes first or what we start off with but oh well. Growing up as kid I was always outside just like most other kids. I loved playing outside and only came in the house when my yelled for dinner. Being a kid all I did was go play, but not just tag or hide and go seek, I was always playing sports. My favorite thing growing up and still today is today is sports, basically every sport. At a young age I started my obsession with ESPN and my love of sports. I made my mom sign me up for every sport there was, I wanted to play every sport I saw on tv and every sport I saw another kind playing. So growing up all year round I was playing sports, I had practices almost everyday for all the sports I played. Being outside to play these sports I associated the sports i played with the seasons that I played them in. I played soccer in the fall and spring, and i can remember playing in the brisk weather with slight winds and getting a cold runny nose. And in spring I remember going to the fields feeling great, the weather was perfect and every one was outside at those times, walking there dogs, taking their kids to the park. And unlike fall, in the spring I wanted to stay at practices much longer than the practices were scheduled. For the winter i played basketball and hockey. Going to the games and practices the weather was unpleasantly cold, and sometimes snow covered the grounds. My mom would always make me throw on like three coats before she would take me to practices.

Today I don't play as much as I did when I was younger but every time a seasons starts, my first associations to them are sports and those distinct feelings I had growing up playing them. They say we have 11 million senses but we only use 40, I think as a kid we use a lot more, well at least I think I did.

Differences between peronsal narratives and outside the class writings

Currently I am writing letters to Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb on the issue of clean energy. I am showing my support for cleaner energy and trying to convince the senators that they should too. More concisely I am writing to tell them that they should support the Clean Energy Act. These letters I am writing are different from the narratives I have been writing in GWRT because in the letters to the senators I am trying to persuade them. In my personal narrative I am just writing a personal story of my life with the purpose to inform and entertain, while the purpose to the senators is to persuade. The process is also different when writing to the senators and writing personal narratives. For my personal narratives I don’t have to do any prior research before I begin writing. In my letters to the senators to show my support for the Clean Energy Act, I have to convince them to support the Clean Energy Act and by doing so I have to come up with some facts and new ideas to present to support the act. I have to do research and come up with statistics, others opinions as well as some research on new ideas. I will write about my feelings about the economy, the environment, air pollution, gas prices, our dependence on foreign oil, and our need for wind and solar energy. Another difference between the two writing prompts is that for my personal narratives they are personal and I write them alone and work alone but for my letters to the senators I am working with a bunch of other students and other organizations such as the Environmental Defense Fund. The more letters and voices that the senators read and hear the better chance they will accept the Act.

Language

Language is so much a part of human activity that it is easily taken for granted. The issues related to language and knowledge has its influences on thought and behavior. Language is the center of communication, and what branches of communication can be knowledge. Knowledge is transported through communication. What can not be communicated in someway whether though language or other parts of language like symbols then it can not be knowledge to others. Language determines how we think, how we perceive the world, approach problems and how we remember. Of all the behaviors in which humans engage, probably none is so complex and yet commonplace as speaking and listening to language. There are many components with in language its self. The purposes of language are to; communicate, share thoughts, ideas, expressions, emotions, convey information, understand things, relationships, have order, and show behavior. As you can see language has many affects on different things in our lives. Even with the 5000 to 6000 extant languages there are still limits or problems of language.
The amount of a language or the number of languages can vary from person to person, and this can cause a problem with trying to communicate something. “I am a prisoner of my vocabulary.” If you have a thought inside of you but you can not express it thorough language because of your limit to vocabulary, than the idea can not actually exist to others and therefore not knowledgeable. Limits may be with the vocabulary of a particular language or even limits to different kinds of languages. “Thought is born through words—a thought not embodied in words remains a shadow” (Vigotsky). Thoughts must be expressed through a language or part of a language if not the thought can not bee seen clearly or interpreted.
Language can also be understood but misinterpreted by means of different concepts, lost of translation, dialects or accents, slang, multiple meanings, grammar, and sarcasm. If knowledge is being transported or communicated but the meaning is misunderstood than it will not be knowledge because then there will be to beliefs of knowledge on the same subject. For example Voltaire's view that 'Error flies from mouth to mouth, from pen to pen, and to destroy it takes ages.” Knowledge will be destroyed if it is not correctly communicated or understood. In most of the statements heard, spoken, read or written, facts are blended with values. Problems with language and culture also limit language with knowledge. Language may be subjective to biases and values which factual reports may contain. Language also has many roles. Language can create social distinctions, class, ethnicity and gender. Language also is used for preservation of knowledge. Language sustains relationships and authority.