World Wildlife Fund Advertisement

This ad is sponsored by the World Wide Fund for Nature, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund. Their goal is to work on the conservation and restoration of the environment. This organization wants to stop the destruction of our environment and improve upon it. The World Wildlife Fund focuses mainly on conserving oceans, coasts, forests, and freshwater ecosystems. They also focus on endangered species, pollution, and climate change.

In this ad, the World Wildlife Fund centers its interest on the forest. The trees of the forest are shaped like human lungs. The picture shows that the lungs are being destroyed, which means that the trees are being burnt down. On the bottom of the ad it says, “Before it’s too late.” This ad is trying to explain to its viewers that they should stop the destruction of the forest before it is too late and there are no longer any forests or animals in our ecosystem. If people continue to destroy the forest it will eventually die along with the animals in the forest, just like a human will die if its lungs are severely damaged.   

This is another example to consider when thinking about how advertising affects us because they are comparing the life of the natural habitat to the life of a human being. It is stating not only to protect the life of the forest but also stating that the life of the forest is equally as important as the life of a human. Even though this is not a product ad, it has a very important statement. Everyone must protect the environment and help the World Wildlife Fund either by donating money or even becoming part of their conservation group. This ad is meant to pull at the heart strings and inspire people to support their cause.

College Students Dealing With Depression

            Steiners thesis states that college students must know what depression is, what causes it, and how they can be helped if they feel as though they have depression. Depression is very serious in today's world more than ever. College students all over the world are stressed from balancing their pressuring academic lives with their social lives, which can be just as stressful. She states that there was a five percent increase in college students who suffer from depression between 2000 and 2005. Steiner feels that with the right knowledge about what depression really is and what you can do to get help that people can approach their depression in a much healthier way rather than suicide.
             Steiner supports her thesis by giving examples of college students who have gone through serious cases of depression which resulted in suicide. She starts off her argument by talking about a college student named Nima Shaterian. Nima seemed like an all around nice and educated boy who did not seem to have any problem to the outside world until he committed suicide. Nima was a college student at the time who attended UC Davis. Nima is unfortunately one of eleven college students who attended UC Davis who committed suicide from 2000 to 2006.  She wants readers' to realize that if they can understand what depression is and what symptoms arise from it that they can help friends and family  who they feel are depressed.
              Steiner then goes onto talk about a sophomore in college at MIT named Elizabeth Shin. Elizabeth was a popular, busy, self-motivated and lively student but unfortunately had suicidal thoughts. She discussed these problems with her friends, roommates, and counselors at the MIT counseling center but no one took serious actions to help her with her depression. Elizabeth committed suicide as well by setting herself on fire. Steiner argues that if she had the proper help from her friends and counselors that this suicide could have been prevented. Steiner tied this issue into her essay by talking about Diana Hill who is a doctoral intern at the UC Davis Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). Hill explains that depression for college students starts in the very beginning. This is because of what I stated earlier on that college students have to juggle all their priorities and usually do not have much help when handling them. Unfortunately, Hill explains that even with the CAPS program it is very hard to reach out to students about the program and to have enough counselors for this program due to their lack of funding. Steiner believes that funding for programs that can help college students with depression must be made into a major priority.
                I believe that Steiner is making very valid points. College students should be aware of what depression is, what causes depression, and how to help people with it. I don't believe that talking to friends is enough when it comes to this issue. College students who do suffer from depression must talk to loved ones and a counselor. Personally, I used to have a friend who suffered from depression. She was a very nice, smart, and kind girl who cared about others. Her parents getting a divorce caused her to go down hill physically and mentally. She gained an outrageous amount of weight, did poorly in school, and broke off ties with many people, including myself. She didn't rely on many people besides those who were very close to her. Her family forced her to go see a psychiatrist and she is now doing much better.
                With the right help anything is possible! Funding for programs like CAPS should be given to every college so that students have an outlet to release their problems and people to turn to when they are in need of serious help. College students need to know that suicide is not the answer. There are people out there who can help them. If college students don't feel comfortable talking to a counselor or a psychiatrist, maybe they would feel better if there was a support group for them to talk about their problems with other students who feel the same way.

Book Smarts vs. Street Smarts

Gerald Graff argues in his article, Hidden Intellectualism, that people in today’s world are better off with street smarts than book smarts because people with street smarts are interested in what is going on in their communities and in the nation rather than just studying on an academic level. Gerald’s thesis states, “…that street smarts beat out book smarts in our culture not because street smarts are nonintellectual, as we generally suppose, but because they satisfy an intellectual thirst more thoroughly than school culture, which seems pale and unreal.” Gerald stresses the idea that there is a hidden intellect in all of us whether it is in school or in our community.  Unfortunately, schools do not care about street smarts but only about how smart you are academically. He argues that students would be better writers if they were allowed to write about nonacademic topics that they were interested in.

Gerald Graff supports his argument well by talking about his personal experiences. He tells readers’ that growing up he hated reading books but enjoyed reading sports articles. He then realized that when he was reading sports books and magazines and talking to his friends about sports that he was being an intellectual. He was making arguments, weighing different kinds of evidence, moving between particulars and generalizations, summarizing the views of other, and entering a conversation about ideas. He was able to do this easily because he was interested in what he was discussing. If teachers gave more leeway to what students were allowed to write about then they would become better writers.

I agree with Graff’s argument because we all have hidden talents whether they are academic or outside of school. These talents can open our world to many new experiences that may not involve academics at all. People that have stronger street smarts should be given a chance to get into good schools and programs because in today’s world it can be better to have street smarts than book smarts. I also agree that it is easier to write about a topic you are passionate about than a topic that is uninteresting. When I write about something I am interested in I don’t feel as though writing is a task. It becomes something I enjoy doing rather than something that is unexciting to me. I like the fact that in this writing class, we are all given an opportunity to write about personal experiences and topics that we find fascinating.

Arguements Concerning Electronic Media: Steven Pinker and Peggy Orenstein

Steven Pinker addresses the effects of electronic media by stating that technology isn't as bad as people are making it out to be. The new forms of media make people panic. They think that these new forms of media are hurting our way of thinking. They think, for example, that search engines are lowering our intelligence because people are only skimming the surface of knowledge instead of really digging into it and that twitter is shortening our attention spans. Pinker’s argument is that technology is helping people think on a level that they were never able to without technology. He argues this by saying that scientists are always attached to their email, never really touch paper to write anything, and can't teach without PowerPoints. With the help of technology, scientist’s discoveries have multiplied rapidly. The quality of work from scientists and professors has become even better. Just because people are accessing information faster does not mean that they are not learning from the information in front of them. Social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, can be a distraction but distractions are everywhere. People just need to learn how to use these tools with moderation.

 I agree with Pinker’s argument. Having information at the snap of our fingers is only helping us advance our way of thinking. Technology is not popular because it is hurting our world but because it is helping it. The advances in science alone prove this point. Pinker uses ethos when he uses sources to prove his argument. I praise Pinkers use of ethos because he uses sources from two psychologists who explain that in order to become a good scientist you must read loads of information about science. Technology gives scientists easy access to this information.

Peggy Orenstein addresses the effects of electronic media by stating that social media is changing the way people communicate with each other. People are sharing what they are doing with others throughout their whole day and making their lives seem more entertaining as if they were performing for an audience. Orenstein thinks that Twitter is fun and that it is a great way to connect with people but she also feels that there should be a line between person and persona. She feels that people shouldn't tweet or post statuses about every single thing they are thinking about or doing every second of the day but instead write in moderation. People shouldn't share their whole lives with the world because then they will not have any intimate relationships.

I also agree with Orenstein’s argument that social media is changing our communication habits. People who use social media websites are sharing too much information. There needs to be a point where people can decide what is good or bad to share with the public. People can use social media freely to express ideas and thoughts but shouldn’t share everything with the world because all people need to have privacy in their lives. Orenstein uses ethos by connecting to the readers’ interest in social media websites and using a source from sociologist Erving Goffman. She uses pathos by adding events that are relatable to the readers’ such as lying around outside with a friend or family. I praise her for using ethos and pathos because all of her statements helped her prove her argument.

Food Habits Conversation: David Zinczenko vs. Radley Balko

Radley Balko and David Zinczenko accidentally bump into each other in front of a McDonalds when walking around a shopping center.

Radley: “Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

David: “No, it’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

Radley: “Hey, aren’t you David Zinczenko; the editor-in-chief of Men’s Health and the author of Eat This, Not That?”

David: “Yes, that’s me.  I recognize you too. You’re Radley Balko; the senior editor of Reason. “

Radley: “I’d love to talk to you about food habits. Do you have a few minutes?”

David:” Sure, where do you want to talk?”

Radley: “Well, ironically, we’re in front of a McDonald’s. I think that’s the perfect place to discuss food habits.”

David: “Ok, let’s go in there, but I am just getting water.”

Radley: “Same here.”

Radley and David get water and sit down at a table inside McDonalds.

David: “Would you look at all these poor children and their parents. Most of them are overweight and they continue to eat these high-calorie foods without even knowing how many calories they’re in taking. This is why the government should intervene when it comes to having health care for people who do have medical problems caused by obesity.”

Radley: “What do you mean?”

David: “What I’m saying is that it is difficult for people to live a healthy life style. They’re thousands of McDonald’s around, but where can they go to find a grapefruit? These fast-food companies don’t even show the costumers how many calories are in the food they are consuming. In the past eight years, medical problems caused by obesity, like Type 2 diabetes, has more than tripled in the percentage of children who have it. ”

Radley: “So you’re saying that these children are being pulled into going to these fast-food restaurants when there is not time to make meals because they are so available and that the government has to pay for the people who have medical problems due to obesity?”

David: “Exactly! The fast-food companies are luring children into their fast-food restaurants by giving them toys in their happy meals that don’t have warning labels even though these products do have proven health hazards. The government must pay for their illnesses because they’re not many alternatives to buying fast-food and there is not much information about what they are eating provided to them”

Radley: “I disagree with you David. I believe that since these adults are giving their children and themselves unhealthy food on a daily basis that they should face the consequences by paying for their own medical protection.”

David: “Why do you believe this?”

Radley: “More and more over the years, America’s health care system is helping with more socialist issues. The way people take care of themselves has become a problem to the public health system.”

David: “How is this possible?”

Radley: “Democratic candidates keep pushing health care coverage for all citizens. Now, when people get heart disease and need anti-cholesterol medication, the government is paying for it.

David: “So you believe that nothing is stopping people from making bad choices because the government will just pay for them.”

Radley: “Exactly! People will continue to make bad choices if they don’t have to pay for it. If people actually had to pay for health care, they would stop making bad choices and eat healthier.”

David: “Even though I do not agree with your argument, I still believe it is valid. I really enjoyed talking to you Radley, but I have to get going now.”

Radley: “I feel the same way towards your argument. I enjoyed talking to you too!”

Radley and David leave McDonald’s.

Thesis Statement: All people should get free health care when having illnesses for any and all reasons. People don't become obese because they know they won't have to pay for their health care but because they enjoy eating and have an addiction to food. They're not thinking about the consequence of having to pay for their illness if they get one.

Extra Credit Dialogue

On the express bus to the city this morning during the United Nations General Assembly

Time: 7:50A.M.

Older Woman: “Oh Lord, I’m going to be late! This is ridiculous!”

Bus Driver: “I’m trying as best as I can ma’am.”

Older Woman: “But I am going to be late! Is this going to be the same way the whole week?”

Bus Driver: “Unfortunately, this will not end until Monday.”

Older Woman: “This is absurd! You know, what they really should be doing is holding this assembly in Siberia, where this whole mess started!”

Bus Driver: (Confused) “Okay ma’am I will get you to your stop shortly!”

Analysis: The conversation here is a perfect example of how some people truly don’t understand what is going on in the world around us. You would think the older woman would know what was going on because people of her age are generally wiser due to having much more experience in the world. This woman had no idea that the United Nations General Assembly is an annual meeting to discuss major issues in the world. She thought this was all taking place because of what happened in Syria, not Siberia. This woman didn’t know the proper name of the country that went through this horrible attack. I can understand, maybe this woman was outraged that she needed to be at work on time, but I believe that we should all be able to give up a little bit of our time so that political leaders can discuss major issues. We are being given freedom in America. Yes, being in lots of traffic might be inconvenient, but that is the least we can do to help contribute to world peace.  I’ve learned from this experience that people should not start a rant about information that they‘re not 100% sure is accurate. The woman made herself look like a fool. If I were her, I would feel like George Orwell when the Burman tripped him and everyone laughed because that is basically what everyone on the bus was doing when they heard her unintellectual rant. Writing this dialogue taught me that punctuation and your choice of words are key to getting your point across. By using explanation points in the dialogue, it lets the readers know that the woman was screaming when she was ranting about being late. I also learned that dialogue brings life to the characters' and lets the readers know their personalities.