Refuse It or Embrace It

I think that we should not totally refuse technology but not totally embrace it. We should find a solution in the middle of both using technology to help us, while not being dependent on technology and paralyzing our brains.

In many ways technology has increased our lives. It has helped us stay connected to many different people, sometimes all at one time! We are able to contact anyone we need whether they are at home, on the road, at school, or at work by just picking up a cell phone and calling. When we are in need of another person's help in a car accident, we can simply pick up our cell phone and call for help. Back then if you were to get into a car accident, you would most likely have no way of communication to anyone unless you borrow someone else's phone, or stop by a gas station. How would that be convenient if you were in a car accident with no form of communication device near you? I feel that in that sort of sense technology has helped us. Another way technology has helped the world grow is by making us feel like we are never alone. While walking outside to your car at night you can call someone on the phone to comfort you so in a sense you feel safe. It gives us a feeling of not being alone and that anyone who is around would not bother because the person you are speaking to on the phone can simply call for help while being on the phone with you. This is what I do when I leave the mall or school and it is pitch black outside, it gives us a sense of security or that we are never alone and we can call for help and it will be on its way any minute.

There are also many ways that technology has made us dependent because we are not forced to use our brains. For instance, 10 years ago you would have to either carry a phone book around with you or simply memorize your friend’s numbers; now you can just open your cell phone and their numbers are stored in there. You are not forced to do any thinking to memorize anything because the cell phone does all the thinking and memorization that you would have to do if you didn't have one. This somewhat paralyzes our brain or makes us dependent on technology than to use our brains to its full potential. Another thing that technology has done to us is to hurt our communication skills with one another. We could be really talkative on the internet or through text messages but when it comes down to being face to face, the conversation is stale. Like you do not know how to communicate face to face anymore, instead you are use to typing to a computer or a cell phone.

All in all there are ways that technology increased the world but in other ways technology has paralyzed us. I believe that both refusing it and embracing it would weigh out the same so if we could simply find a way to not be dependent so much on technology then everything would be fine.

National/International/Social Issues (essay 3 topics)

1.) vietnam selling their young girls to lao people as sex slaves
2.) drug selling
3.) prices of metro buses rising due to gas price rising
4.) teenage pregnancy in the united states
5.) justice system being corrupt and needing to be reformed
6.) plastic surgery - wanting to all look like a "perfect" human being
7.) abortion
8.) the age of driving, cause of accidents due to young unsafe drivers
9.) welfare in the united states
10.) immigration in united states

Practical Proposal Draft (revised)

On the fourth week of school, I came to the UH at 1 p.m., the parking lots were all full so I was forced to camp out for a parking spot for about an hour. During that time, not only did two students steal the parking spot that was rightfully mine, but I almost got into an accident over something stupid like a parking spot. By the time I found a parking spot, not only did I have to walk far to get to class, but I was already late, which made me decide to skip and go to the library to study. My mind was so frustrated at that time that even when I got to the library, I couldn't even study because my mind was still on the parking situation.

Due to the overselling of parking permits, students are not always guaranteed a parking spot. Fidel Ramirez, assistant director for Parking and Transportation Services, said 25,590 parking permits were sold this year, but only 12,702 total parking spots are available to students on the immediate campus, including both garage and satellite parking. More than 35,000 students attend the University of Houston and if there are only 12,702 parking spots available on the immediate campus, this would mean that more than 3/4ths of the students are forced to park off campus and be forced to wait for a shuttle bus.

For over many years, students have been struggling with the parking issue at the University of Houston. With the inconvenience of limited parking spaces, students are forced to find different solutions to obtain a parking spot. Many students are forced to leave their homes early in order to try and prevent the consequences of coming “late” for parking. Parking should not be a problem because students have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for parking permits, which doesn’t guarantee them a parking spot when arriving at school. The issue with parking makes students do unnecessary actions; these actions vary from parking in the parking meter, faculty and staff parking lot, or wasting time by camping out for an available parking slot. The University of Houston should improve parking because students have inadequate parking on campus.

There are many different parking lots at UH which are all reserved for certain people with certain permits. These numerous amounts of parking lots are spread out throughout the entire campus; many of which are out of the way for students to park and walk to their designated location. The sign at the entrance states who can park at that certain parking lot, but if you somehow manage to enter that parking lot through a different route, other than the main entrance, the student would not know that they are in a parking lot that they are not suppose to be in. This would become a problem for the student because he/she did not know that she will receive a citation for not being in the correct parking lot that he/she was assigned to. The parking lot signs are unclear and do not tell the driver of the vehicle who that parking lot is reserved for, which is an inconvenience for the students at UH.

The parking lots usually get filled between eight to nine o’clock a.m. A student arriving to school after that time will be forced to drive around different ‘student’ parking lots in hopes of finding a parking spot without wasting a lot of time. The average time that it takes a student to park could vary from ten minutes to an hour, depending on if they get lucky to catch someone leaving school while they are waiting. Sometimes students are forced to fight with another car for a certain parking spot because people will become aggressive to make sure that they get a parking slot.

Practical Proposal Draft

For over many years, students have been struggling with the issue about parking. Many students are forced to leave their homes early in order to try and prevent the consequences of coming “late” for parking. Parking should not be a problem because students have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for parking permits, which doesn’t guarantee them a parking spot when arriving at school. The issue with parking makes students do unnecessary things in order to get a parking spot at school. The University of Houston should improve parking because students have inadequate parking.

Due to the overselling of parking permits, students are not always guaranteed a parking spot.

The parking lots usually get filled at eight to nine o’clock a.m. A student arriving to school after that time will be forced to drive around in hopes of finding a parking spot without wasting a lot of time. The average time that it takes a student to park could vary from ten minutes to an hour, depending on if they get lucky to catch someone leaving school while they are waiting. Sometimes students are forced to fight with another car for a certain parking spot because people will become aggressive to make sure that they get a parking slot.
Other students would either give up on finding a parking spot because of the time that they wasted on camping out in the parking lot, or become desperate to park in places they aren’t suppose to park. Whether it is parking in the staff parking, or the metered parking, students are forced to do these actions in times of desperate needs in order to get to class on time. A numerous amount of parking citations are given daily and this upsets students because it is not their fault that they have paid for a parking permit that does not guarantee them parking.

Practical Proposal Argument

The topic I have chosen for my practical proposal paper is the parking at UH. This particular topic interests me because it is something that has bothered me from the very first day of school. This usually decides whether I am going to have a good or bad day. Usually, I am forced to leave my house at 7 a.m. to guarantee myself a parking spot, even when I don't have classes until 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. depending on the day. Sometimes, I have errands to run, which doesn't let me leave my house at 7 a.m. but later, and when I get to school students in the parking lot are camping out for parking spots. Not only is the wait for a parking spot seem hopeless and a waste of time, but the wait is never just 10 minutes, it can escalate to 30 minutes or even much an hour. Not only do I pay a high price for a parking permit, I have to come early in order to get a parking spot? That is ridiculous. The school just seems like they are ripping me off because they are going to oversell on parking permits, making more money off the students that attend UH. I believe that if I have to pay for a parking permit, I should be guaranteed a spot. If they want to keep it as a first come first park basis, then I think that the administratives should not sell parking permits to us.

The problem is a problem because students at UH have to pay for a parking permit, and are forced to waste time and drive around like ants trying to find a parking spot. This can escalade to many problems like accidents because 2 students want the same parking spot and are tired of waiting around so they try to fight for one particular spot. Not only is parking suppose to be a small issue, but it is ridiculous how students have to change what they do to conform to the parking. Administratives need to compromise with students and make this issue disappear. Students should not have their mind on something so small as parking; as they should be more focused on the plenty of school work. The problem affects the many students that come to school after 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. trying to find a parking spot to get to class on time. If this problem is not fixed, students will be forced to either park illegally, get parking citations, spend more money on parking (in addition to the parking permit they already paid for), wasting time, focusing on something that shouldn't be on their mind, and possibly skipping class due to not being able to obtain a parking spot before class starts. For example, one time I came to school at 1 p.m. and I had to camp out for a parking spot for an hour. Not only did two people steal the parking spot that was rightfully mine, but I almost got into an accident over something stupid like a parking spot. By the time I found a parking spot, not only did I have to walk far to get to class, but I was already late, which made me decide to skip and go to the library to study. My mind was so fustrated at that time that even when I got to the library, I couldn't even study because my mind was still on the parking situation. The administrative at UH that specifically deals with the financial and parking decisions has the power to fix this problem. The problem hasn't been solved to this point because administratives are trying to propose things such as carpooling or using the school buses. This is not only inconvinient for students, but is not something that one individual can change what they do to make this happen. Administratives are too lazy to do a thing about caring for their students needs. This problem can be solved if the administrative builds parking garages, stops overselling parking permits or keep the parking lots as a first come first serve basis, without making students pay for a parking permit when they are not guaranteed a parking spot when arriving on campus. The benefits of the administrative changing parking would be that students would be more likely to attend classes on time and be able to pay attention. The students would be less stressed about little issues like parking and be able to have their full attention in school, which will allow them to make good grades in their classes. The costs of my proposal would be a bit pricey, but I believe that the administrative could work something out because in the end, the administrative needs to make the students happy because they are the ones that are giving the school money to do things. Us students will bear the costs but I think that students wouldn't mind the little extra costs because they would then be guaranteed a parking spot without having to pay extra money. The money could also come from parking permits because the administrative oversells the parking permits anyways and they have to be making a huge amount of profit off of the ridiculous prices they charge. This proposal should be enacted because this has been an issue for a long time and if they change this situation then more students would want to attend UH because it is more friendly towards parking wise. My proposal is better than the alternate proposals that the administratives suggested because this would not only solve the problem but would make everyone happier. The proposals that the administrative made are one sided, lazy and do no work, because the adminstrative is forcing students to conform their lifestyles to do things instead of the administrative putting out money to something they know that they should do.

Ideas on practical proposal

[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6677654.html] Is an article that was interesting to me because of the many ways that gas prices always seem to be skyrocketing instead of decreasing. At times in a "recession" we need to be saving money and in order to that, we would have to have reasonable gas prices or we'd be stuck in debt because we would be spending more money on gas than we would be making. [http://www.houstonpress.com/2006-03-30/news/run-over-by-metro/] Is another article that caught my attention because I was not aware of the accidents that are caused by the Metro Buses. It opened my eyes to things that I didn't seem to hear about or have any knowledge about. The last two articles that caught my attention most were [http://www.thedailycougar.com/parking-situation-should-improve-1.1945136, http://www.thedailycougar.com/uh-deals-with-parking-1.1995223] because it has to deal with UH parking which is the most irritable issue that I deal with on a day to day basis.

Out of these stories my favorite is the ones dealing with UH parking because it is something that has been bugging me ever since the first day of school and I think that things need to be changed to make it better. It hasn't just been an issue that is recent, it is a issue that has been around for many years, but no change has ever been made to make parking better. I want to inform the people who are in charge of making decisions with parking and attempt to make a change. My research question would be: how could we improve parking at UH? Some things I could suggest to make parking better at UH is to limit the amount of parking permits that are being sold, make more parking lots or garages, and figuring out a way that students who pay for a parking permit are guaranteed a spot instead of having to camp out in the parking lots waiting like a hawk for someone to leave campus. I could interview students that go to the school that deal with the same parking issues that I deal with. They most definitely can help back me up on why we need to improve the parking at UH. I can look for information on The Daily Cougar, UH's main website and look for parking enforcement (or something along the lines of that). This can give me information that hopefully will help me support my thesis and ideas. Hopefully I can find a policy of some sort to try to understand if there is a reason that UH is limited to their parking or why they do what they do.

The other local issues that I was considering for my paper would be about cellular devices and how they have become addicting. Addicting to the point that we get distracted by them and it causes us to lose focus; whether in school or driving. It is dangerous to be on the cellular device while driving because it takes away attention that is needed for the road; this causes more accidents on the road. Driving is already dangerous without having to add other distractions and the thought of texting while driving is more prone to accidents. Cell phone usage has shot up the rates of accidents on the roads, and possibly a death if we don’t learn to take safety precautions. Also, in school students are distracted by the use of cell phones because they are paying attention more to texting than the actual class lecture that they are required to listen and learn. This is a somewhat big issue because there are so many issues that are dealing with cell phones as time goes by, and we need to learn when the appropriate time to use cell phones.

Casual Argument

The topic I have chosen for my first major essay deals with people who are on welfare. "If you are on welfare, then you can rely/depend on the government funding to survive." What I would be researching is the different types of ways that people tend to use welfare to their benefits. Government funding on welfare is suppose to help lower class americans by giving them some kind of money to start off from, not to depend on for the rest of their lives. By like taking advantage of the government fundings and finding ways to cheat the government for money instead of trying to find a job. What I have in mind so far for the paper is to find some articles or read up on some things that have to deal with welfare and people taking advantage of it. Maybe even get into financial aide, and research on how some students use the money that financial aide give them to spend on other things besides school; things that would be wanted but not needed. Also, I would write about how the government may need to take these things into consideration and possibly think about reforming the welfare program in order to make sure that those who need money get enough, but not to abuse the government funding them. The taxes that are taken out of people's paycheck has some portion to going to these lower class americans who sit on their butt all day and take it easy because all they have to do is figure out ways to cheat the government to get more money.

This topic is interesting to me because I feel like sometimes the lower class americans get an advantage in life. In society today, there are upper, middle and lower class americans. The upper class have tons of money, in which they may have or may not have worked for; some may be lucky and just be born rich from their previous family generations. Middle class americans are people who have to work for their money, they do not have tons of money to spend, but they have some money to spend on things that are wanted but may not necessarily be needed. Lower class americans are those who can't afford many of the things that they need in order to survive on a day to day basis. I have seen many lower class americans who have cheated and taken advantage of the government funding. Instead of finding jobs or a way to make money, they figure out ways to cheat the government in order for the government to give them more fundings because they make it seem like they need more money to survive.

Visual Argument

this was a painting that i did on my free time.
i'm not so sure that i did this blog assignment correctly, but i hope i was at least on the right track..

Glee

I believe that Glee is rehashing old stereotypes or stock holders because if you have seen High School Musical, it is also about people breaking out of their shell. You see the popular kids, unpopular, and the kids who don't know where they belong. Then, there is this musical audition for those who want to sign up and audition. The motivation to sign up and audition for the musical comes from a past experience of some sort, where it brought that one character to realize that they found some sort of joy in singing. Once the popular kid tries out for the musical, he tries to keep it a secret because he is embarrassed on what it would do to his status as being one of the "popular" kids. Sooner or later, everyone slowly begins to find out about him being in the musical. At first, no one accepted it because if you were popular, you were expected to do things that popular kids do, and musicals are not one of them. The popular kid then stands up for himself and accepts that singing or being in the musical is what truly makes him happy. Then slowly, everyone begins to accept and it becomes something not so out of the ordinary. High School Musical established that story line in their first movie made in January 2006. Since then, they have come out with two following sequels about the same story line as Glee has. What I think by watching Glee it has reminded me a lot about High School Musical. The moral of the story is that you shouldn’t always be stuck in the norm and do what other expect of you; instead you should do whatever makes you truly happy and that no one can stop you from doing what you want to do. Everyone can judge you and think that you are not cool for doing things but in the end it just matters what makes you happy not them. The old stereotypes would be from what we grew up to think was society in high school, that there were different types of people. The popular kids would be the jocks, also known as the cheer leaders, football, basketball and other sport players. These would be the kids who are at the top of the social train and then comes the other people like the nerds, kids who don’t care what others think, etc. The popular kids would only stick to people in their group and talk to only the people in their social class, other than that, they do not even care to know who anyone else is like the nerds. Slowly, the norm of “popular” kids changed and that’s where I see the story line of High School Musical and Glee. To this day, no one really sticks to the old stereotypes of the jocks or talking to people only in their social class. We as a society have grown to do what we feel and not have a care in the world about what others think. We do not classify ourselves as being popular or being a nerd because everyone is equal and doesn’t judge one another by those features. My high school also demonstrated that there is no such thing as the jocks and that they only do what was expected of them. Everyone talked to everyone and did what they felt like doing or whatever sparked their interest and made them happy, no one would judge them for making those decisions either.

Labor Day and the American Dream

believing.

College is not for everyone and it has been proven that you can be successful with or without a college degree. You just have to have the right mind set and goal put your mind to it and you will be successful at anything you do. Those with a college education, furthered their intellectual studies and curiosities to fill their brain with more knowledge from books. The hard work that they had to surpass was tests, quizzes and a whole bunch of studying. The outcome would be a job into what they have put their studies into and it would come fairly easy; while on the other hand, those without a college education had to start from scratch. The hard work that people had to put out without a college degree was to learn everything on their own, there was no book to tell them how to do this or that, and they had to figure out everything themselves. Overtime they would come to build the knowledge that they needed to know in order to be successful in life. Although jobs may not come as easy to them as a job would be for a college graduate, there are many breaks for these non-college students to make a decent pay checks. Also those who do not go to college just need to have the skills, mentality to do work, and a head that is willing to learn from everyone around them, in order to expand their knowledge and to be successful. Whether or not you go to college, there are hardships in both cases; you just have to choose whichever route is better for yourself. Nothing comes easy.

doubting.
Everyone needs a college education because it gives you an advantage in life. You learn materials from books and further your education, and once you graduate with your degree, life wouldn't be as hard for you. You wouldn't have to go searching for a job and begging them to accept your application because with the college degree it would mean that you learned what you needed to learn in a specific field, so automatically they would higher you. Work isn’t as hard, you would be either working somewhere fairly easy instead of being outside having to do hard labor for less pay. Your degree also gives you an advantage to be proud because with a college degree comes a higher social status. With a higher social status you feel accomplished and that people without an education look up to you because they want to be where you are. As for those without a college degree, they have to lose something in order to win knowledge, to become successful in life. They have to work from the bottom with nothing, all the way to the top. Not considering all the hard work, labor, sweat and tears they put into their work in order to become successful in life. Would you really want to work that hard for something might or might not guarantee you success in the end? Also, college allows those who might not be bright to learn and fill their brain up with knowledge that will take them somewhere.

Orientation

The short story "Orientation", Daniel Orozco started the introduction off differently from most story introductions; without any background, Orozco went straight into the story of telling a new employee their job. It was as though Orozco implied the reader was informed of the background information to the story about the new employee entering their job who was getting an overview of what they have in store for them. Orozco also does not introduce the narrator.

There is no actual dialogue between the narrator and main character, but it is implied that dialogue does exist in the story. The main character never spoke nor asked a question, so how can the narrator state, “That was a good question. Feel free to ask questions.” As the reader, I did not see any dialogue from the main character, it is implied that the narrator heard the main character ask a question, so the narrator made it clear that the main character asked a question by repeating it. "You must pace your work. What do I mean? I'm clad you asked that."

The office being explained seemed like a stereotype kind of office, plain and nothing out of the ordinary. “Those are the offices and these are the cubicles.” The story then continued on about what the title had explained with a bit of a twist out of a generic stereotype kind of ordeal. Orozco also added in detailed information about some of the lives of the current employees. The tone is boring and nothing out of the ordinary until the narrator speaks of the current employees. For example, Amanda Pierce’s husband “subjects her to an escalating array of painful and humiliating sex games, to which Amanda Pierce reluctantly submits. She comes to work exhausted and freshly wounded each morning, wincing from the abrasions on her breasts, or the bruises on her abdomen, or the second-degree burns on the backs of her thighs.” The narrator goes into Amanda Pierce’s personal information which then brings me, the reader, to an uncomfortable mood or feeling. Professionally, this is not information that should be spoken in the office environment, or even much at any job setting. And again, the main character did not ask about personal information on Amanda Pierce, the narrator just implied that the main character wanted to know more about the personal life of Mrs. Pierce. The narrator, then continues to talk about more of the employees (Larry Bagdikian, Barry Hacker, Gwendolyn Stich, etc. ) yet he fails to mention any personal information on the narrator himself.

One claim that the story is making, is that the main character/new employee is not important to the office as the current workers. The narrator states the basic things the employee can do, but goes into more juicy detailing when it comes to the current office workers. "This is your Voicemail System Manual. There are no personal phone calls allowed."

The story works at the emotions of the reader by stating personal information on the current employees, yet the narrator failed to mention anything about himself. The narrator tells the main character about all these things the employees do to make the main character believe that everyone has a different side to them, or information on them that the main character should know about. When the narrator failed to mention anything personal about himself, he just lured the main character into believing that the narrator has no personal information that must be told, which makes it seem as though the narrator keeps things on a professional level at the office, while the other current employees do not.