Where are you now with hope?

Well, hope has been something that I have really been struggling with for the past two years. Before my boyfriend committed suicide on March 23, 2009, I was full of hope. Nothing ever got in my way of accomplishing something as little as learning how to blow a bubble, or as big as running in a cross country state meet and set a certain time for myself that I wanted to achieve. Ever since my tragedy, all of this went away. I tried everything that I possibly could, although I must say that I never gave anything my all to get better. I depended on others to do it for me, which I learned, the hard way, doesn't work at all. Finally, I became introduced to the power of prayer and the bible. My religion is Judaism, but I have really come to like the Christian religion and see how passionate Christians are towards this. Ever since one of my Christian friends told me how powerful prayer was, I thought "Hey, why not give it a try? What do I have to lost?" So for the past couple of months, I have been trying everyday to pray, and read some scripture from a Jewish bible called the Tanakh. My belief in hope has gone up a lot, because before I started to pray, I had no hope for anything. Now I am more active in the Appalachian State community and feel so refreshed and ready to start the day everyday. I do pray that things will continuously get better, and I won't have to fight the battles of depression like I have been for the past couple of years. I have come to realize that everything happens for a reason and that there is a plan for all of us, although at times it may not be easy. I know that I am experiencing this time in my life because it will make me stronger in the end. I have a lot of hope now, and it is all because of the importance and power that prayer has on me and my life.

Female sexuality ads homework

Dior ad
1. The audience is the consumer because they are wanting people to look at their products to buy them.
2. Catchy, bright, change, authentic, bright, convincing, persuasive
3. The color choice couldn't possibly be any better. It goes from portrait to old fashion to bright and is so catchy, especially since there are videos and a slide show. The images take over the page, which is so gravitating to want to keep watching for more. The text is small at the top, but after look at the video and slide show, it makes the consumer more eager to look for the text to find where to look for more.
4. Information that is being given are four main lines of lipstick, called Dior Addict, perfume, called miss Dior, a line called Dior Snow, and one essential, which looks like some kind of cream for the face. What is emphasized are these 4 main products, and what is downplayed are the different links to click on at the top and bottom of the page.
5. The goals of the page are for the audience to be reeled in by these catching videos and pictures and want the consumer to search more and be intrugued by Dior and by their products.
6. I feel like the women play a perfect role for this ad. Cosmetics and perfumes should be a woman's role, and they are very sexual/make the products look so amazing that any woman that saw this would want to look like them and therefore by the product they are modeling. Men would not fit this role becuase it is hard to relate when men dont wear cosmetics for perfume.

Bitch media ad
1. The audience is people interested in reading the articles of this particular magazine.
2. Interesting, unique, unfamiliar, plain.
3. At first it is catchy, especially since my favorite color is blue, and I have never seen a brain filled in as a collage, but as you scroll down, there is a lot of text which is really boring, especially since I hate reading.
4. Information being given are articles of this magazine to get the audience interested in wanting to subscribe. What is emphasized is the picture of the person with the brain and the first ad that you see when you look on the site, and then asking to sign up. What is downplayed are the articles, in my opinion, since they are in small font.
5. The goal of this page is for the audience to subscribe for this magazine and get hooked by their advertising.
6. I think women fit the role of this because it is all about feminity, so men would throw off the whole principle. Also, when I think of bitches, I think of women, so throwing a guy in with the theme would completely contradict the whole point of this magazine.

American Apparel ad
1. The audience is the consumer interested in the American Apparel clothing line.
2.  Seductive, sexual, appealing, dark, unusual, different, vbirant.
3. There's two completely different color choices as the pictures change, some bloack and white and some are in color. They are both catchy because all of the photos are so unsual and have unusual objects which catch the attention of the audience. The text isn't catchy, its more dull, but the images are what stick out and take over the advertisement and reel you in.
4. What each model is wearing and a picture to go with it. They also tell what is new, different style clothing and swim wear, where to locate stores, etc. What is emphasized is the pictures with models wearing the clothing and also what is new. What is downplayed is what is in writing, like the location of stores and other tabs. Pretty much everything is except for the main pictures that take over the page.
5. The goals are for the audience to get hooked and want to read more into the ad and eventually get the consumer to buy from them.
6. I feel like it is more sexual because of the expressions on their faces, and it just makes me mad because they all have amazing bodies. I would like to see men becuase I am obviously more attracted to them and it wouldn't aggravate me if they had amazing bodies, but it would be weird to see them wearing clothing that I would be interested in wearing because I wouldn't get an idea of how the clothes really look.

Argument Analysis

• The claim, or thesis, is that the responsible citizen should oppose school prayer.

• The premises include 
• Permitting school is the same as endorsing religion.
• Religion is dangerous
• Religion has spawned numerous wars throughout history 
• Religion continues to sow the seeds of discontent and destruction in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. 
• Religion divides people by emphasizing their differences rather than their similarities.
• Religion breeds intolerance of people of opposed views.
•  In this argument analysis, the argument appears to be valid because all of the premises lead to the conclusion.
• This argument is not sound because there is not enough support to prove that all of the premises are all valid.

Wisconsin protests

     Protests have been going on in Wisconsin for the past several days, mainly in hopes to eliminate collective bargaining for public employees and to force them to contribute more to their health care and pension payments. What caused most of the chaos was a phone call that Governor Scott Walker received, who he thought was a high executive of an oil company, David Koch, but ended up being a prank call. On the phone call, myriad information was revealed about the bill from the republican stance.  A television host for a political channel, Rachel Maddow, had the Wisconsin budget cut protest as one of her topics to discuss. Maddow presented the problems between the two political parties and her stance on the situation. Her argument had numerous valid points and was well presented.

            Rachel Maddow’s main topic during her television clip was about the havoc between the republican and democratic parties.  To sum up the situation, the republican and democrats debated for over sixty hours on how to deal with the budget cut protest. After a prank phone call from a supposed friend, Scott Walker revealed the republicans thought on the bill. Once this information was leaked to the democrats, chaos began. Rachel Maddow’s personal opinion is that the republican became desperate. They realized that their “secret plan” was ruined and had to act fast. The republican’s next step is what led to Maddow and many others to find the republicans in Wisconsin’s capital to be ridiculous.  The republicans quickly opened the voting ballad just long enough for the whole party to cast their votes. The voting was closed before the democrats even realized what truly happened. Rachel Maddow’s argument is that the republicans did a ridiculous act of desperation and wants to know how the democrats will respond.

            The whole point of having a representative democracy is so both parties represent the views of the people. Having the Democratic Party absent in such a heated topic defies everything our country has been built upon.  Rachel Maddow’s opinion on the republican decision to quickly open the voting ballad just long enough for their party to vote is completely valid. That was an act of desperation because the republicans were only thinking about winning the debate, not what could be best for the people of Wisconsin. A representative democracy only works if each party represents the people. Each party cannot represent their followers if the other one sneaks around and pulls stunts like the republicans did.  Maddow is also correct about the fact that their stunt was their last straw and they were desperate.  Once the republicans plan was leaked they knew debating the democrats would be that much more strenuous.  Opening the voting polls and only allowing republicans to vote was probably the only way they really would have won the debate. Calling this act ridiculous perfectly describes what went on in the Wisconsin capital.

            Rachel Maddow was not the only one to define the republican’s ridiculous though. In her short clip, she was able to have a guest speaker from the Democratic Party present. I personally enjoyed this addition because he represented the true emotions that every democratic candidate in that room felt that night. The way he talked about the situation with such anger and disgust makes you annoyed at the republicans, whether you are a democrat or not. I also liked the video clip of the democrat’s reaction once they realized what the republicans actually did. They were out of their seats chanting “Shame” at the republicans as they filed out of the courtroom. This video presented the reality of the situation and how drastic the republicans actions truly were. The democratic guest speaker, the video clip of the voting, and Rachel Maddow’s intensity about the Wisconsin budget cut protest made the television clip interesting and easy to watch.

            Rachel Maddow’s political television series discussed the protest going on in Wisconsin about the budget cut.  Throughout her clip, she presented her argument of how ridiculous the republicans actions were that night. Sneaking behind the democrats back and opening the voting ballad just for the republicans was an act of desperation and under craziness. I agree with her argument and believe that the republican’s actions were extremely wrong.  Our country has been built on a representative democracy and when both parties do not get a say in a situation, our government does not properly work. The democrats were outraged with the republican’s actions as were seen in a video clip of the voting ballad and by the emotions of a guest speaker on Maddow’s show. Both additions to Rachel Maddow’s clip were interesting and good evidence to show how annoyed the democrats truly were. The Wisconsin budget cut protest is a major problem in Wisconsin right now and the republicans are not helping to resolve the problem quickly.

collective bargaining, history of unions hw assignment

Jamie Solomon

Professor Miller

English 1000

February 19, 2011

            After looking through many definitions, I came to the conclusion that collective bargaining is the negotiation accompanied between employees and employers to determine wages, hours, rules and working conditions. After reaching this negotiation, they then make a collective agreement, which was their original purpose, and this lays out all of the working conditions. Collective bargaining becomes centralized when the national union confederation and the national employers’ organization can influence and control wage levels and patterns across the economy. In order for this to occur, a few factors need to take place. These include the level at which bargaining primarily takes place and whether or not the national organization can control the behavior of their constituent organizations and avoid wage drift-the change in the amount by which actual earnings exceed negotiated earnings.

            There is obviously a ton of information about the history of unions in the U.S., but it primarily began before the Civil War, but most importantly, in the past one hundred and twenty years when the American Federation of Labour(AFL) and the railroad of brotherhoods built strong permanent unions.

            The first unions formed in the late eighteenth century. The first federation of the U.S unions was the National Labour Union that was founded in 1866, but was dissolved in 1873. It paved the way for another federation, Knights of Labour, which was the largest and one of the most important American labour organizations of the 1880’s. Following that was the establishment of the American Federation of Labour, founded in 1886, by Samuel Gompers.

            The next big international union was the Workers of the World, or the Wobblies. It hit its peak in 1923, where it claimed around 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of about 300,000 workers. The membership declined dramatically after a split in 1924 because of an internal conflict.

            Then there was the industrial unionism pushed by John L. Lewis’ Committee for Industrial Organizations(CIO) founded in 1933. Following was the Second Red Scare after World War II which pushed the AFL and CIO into a 1955 merger as the AFL-CIO.

            It has been said that in the twenty first century, American Union membership has fallen under eight percent. Reasons being are that workers don’t seem interested in joining, and activity to strike had almost completely diminished. There has been big numbers in decline, for example, construction trades suddenly went from seventy-five percent unionized to under twenty-five percent. As a result from the decline of unions, income equity is increasing dramatically.

            In my opinion, collective bargaining seems very crucial, but not so much unions. I think collective bargaining is important because if we didn’t have rules and negotiations laid out, then the economy would crumble into complete disaster. Structure is very important, and with structure comes rules and consensus’, and if there were no agreements on wages and hours and all of that, then everything would be a mess and I just can’t even picture what the world would be like except chaotic.

            I know that unions perform a vital function in the lives of working families, but after reading and seeing that union rate has declined a good amount over the past decades, I feel they are not necessary because we have been functioning without them. They are important for our society since they promote wages, fair taxes, and justice throughout our society, but I just don’t think they are really necessary, and we could do just fine with what we have now. I don’t really know much about unions other than what I read so I can be completely misinterpreting their importance, but that’s just my take on them.

Known Concept

            Eating raw/living foods is a common misconception by many. While educating someone recently about eating a vegan diet, all I got were eyes rolled back at me and looks of craziness. Much of the population is not aware of the damage that eating animal products can do to our bodies. First off, it is known that animals carry so many diseases. Lets say theres a whole bunch of cows together, and one cow has a major disease and has a bowel movements, well since there are so many cows that are placed together in a farm, all it takes is for other cows to walk around in that feces and a disease can be passed around. The most farmers can do in inject hormones, antibiotics, or steroids into these animals to help kill this bacteria, but a lot is not killed, and is passed on to the human population when consuming these products. What we as humans don’t realize is just because it may not have an effect on our bodies in a short span of time, it really does cost us in the long run. All animals products are loaded with fats and are high in cholesterol, which can lead to one of the main causes on death, heart disease.

            Eating these products can lead to many other diseases and disorders too. From my experience, I notice that when I turned into a vegetarian, I could focus a lot better, my cholesterol went down one hundred points, my body was less acidic, and I felt so much lighter.  A reason for this could be because humans have a twenty-six foot long intestine, which meat does not easily pass through. Through studies and scientific research, it has been recorded that meet can rot in our bodies for up to many years. Eating a plant based diet can reduce the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, bypass surgery, etc.

            This is a very broad concept, but it is something that I feel strongly admirable about and can say that eating raw/living foods and consuming no meat or animal products definitely pays off in the long run-health wise, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Personal Narrative

Jamie Solomon

Professor Miller

English 1000

January 26, 2011

Fear of Death

            “Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in,” Alan Alda. Okay, well that sounds boring. Who care’s about assumptions? Or even fear itself? I can assume whatever I want, and I will be fine. Yeah, well not really. When we don’t fully understand a situation, we make assumptions. It is a natural reaction to immediately fill in any unknown information by creating our own story. We do this because we want to make sense of situations. This isn’t always good. The problem with making assumptions is that false information can cause all kinds of complications, heightened emotions, anxiety, and so on.

            Now here’s a bigger problem. Fear and death, yeah, these guys don’t mix too well with making assumptions. When one comes in contact with the other, the situation just isn’t too pretty. Unfortunately, I had to realize this on my own, at the young age of thirteen. It was a beautiful night with my best friend Haley, when suddenly, I got the phone call of death.

“I don't want another pretty face, I don't want just anyone to hold, I don't want my love to go to waste, I want you and your beautiful soul,” my new ringtone by Jesse McCartney suddenly sounds. Number one hit of the week. Me and Haley scream so loud with pure bliss, we feel the alley of houses shake in the midst of darkness. After the quickest thirty seconds of our life, the song stops. “That’s weird,” we think. Before we know it, we hear the song again, even more excited than the first time. We jump so high in the air on the neighbor’s long driveway, as if we are trying to reach for the stars. Jumping and jumping, so happy, like a kid arriving to a candy store for his very first time. “I know that you, are something special, to you I’d be always faithful…” and then it stops, again. After jumping and screaming like little children for a couple of minutes, I finally walk up to my phone and see that I have four missed calls, one after the other. My mom called me four consecutive times, annoying. Who would want to hear from their parents at such a time where fun is in the air? Haley and I were having a blast, I didn’t just want to stop to call my mom back. As I walk back over, Haley asks me who calls. I tell her just my annoying mom, calling me over and over again, no big deal. The moment I am about to put my phone down again, another call. I think to myself, “Okay now this is a little weird, calling me for the fifth time now. What could this woman possibly want?” I finally give in, like a middle school kid being pressured to smoke for their first time. As bad as they know they really don’t want to, they finally do. And that’s why I did. I gave in, finally answered.

            “Uh, hello? What do you want mom?” The usual way I pick up my phone when one of my parents call me, annoyed. Just going to be another one of those pointless conversations, I think to myself. Suddenly I hear screams, yells, cries. My heart suddenly skips a beat. I know my mom is very emotional, but this time things seem a little off. Haley looks at me like my moms a psycho, hearing her loud voices, not understanding how I am holding the phone up to my ear. It is so loud, as if being in the front row of a rock concert, about to enjoy your last moments of hearing. Well anyways, my mom screams, “Jamie, its Arthur.” I freeze. Arthur is my little toy poodle, about seven pounds, hair resembles a whole bunch of curly fries, so cute. He’s like my little brother, that I always wish I had, but I say this because I have had him since the age of five, and now I am thirteen. I’m thinking to myself, ok, Arthur, well, what about him? Before the words could roll off my tongue, which I feel is turning numb at this point, she tells me that he got attacked by another dog. Out of the clear blue, without even realizing it, I feel tears rush down my face. Haley probably feels like she’s watching the Niagara Falls or something, it is this intense. I have one person on the phone going crazy, and Haley standing in front of me who thinks I am crazy. That’s beside the point. So now I am in panic mode. Right off the bat, I assume he’s dead. The black sky with the once beautiful, flashing, yellow stars starts to change. It’s so dark now. All I see is black everywhere. This cant be happening to me. Why me! My dog is my everything, my baby. I start to scream, “No, are you kidding me! What happened! Where is he? How did this happen?” I spit out every question imaginable, not even realizing what I was saying. Haley grew into panic, and rushed inside her house to get her family. She didn’t know what was going on, but picked up that something wasn’t right. “My dog is dead! Oh my gosh! My little Arthur is dead!” I begin to hit the ground, laying on the driveway like a kid throwing a temper tantrum. I don’t even care what anyone thinks at this point. I just want to lay, and cry, for goodness sake, give me a box of chocolate or something so I can eat my pain away while I’m at it. My body is filled with anxiety. It went from being at the base of a mountain, and shot sky high to the top of Mt. Everest. I start shaking, and feel so cold. My insides are torn up, all over the place, like the tornado that so happened to hit my room last week. I feel so lost, like an unsolvable maze.

            Forgetting my mom is on the phone, she continues, “Jamie, honey, he’s not dead sweetheart. He is in the hospital, but we are going to get him now. We will be there soon to come and pick you up.” I feel a little lighter after hearing that. The mere mention of death scares me and puts me into a deep panic, especially when it’s something so close and significant to me.

After so many tears, I feel like I am floating on a pond. The driveway is drenched, like a flood just passed. Haley and her family come rushing towards me to see what is the matter. I tell them about Arthur getting attacked, and they all gasp. They have three dogs who they treasure so much, so they knew this butterfly in your stomach kind of feeling that I am going through.

Being there was perfect. They were all hugging and kissing me. I felt so loved, I almost forgot what was the matter. How could I not enjoy this moment? I feel like a rock star, everyone reaching out for me, and lights flashing at me. I see a vision of me being on stage, crowd going crazy, and spotlight directly on me. After a couple moments of glory, I realize the lights are the headlights from my parents’ car.  Before I can get on my feet, my mom sprints towards me. I feel like I should move out of the way or something before I get tackled at the forty-yard line.

            She wraps her warm arms around me, and I feel so safe. We both cry on each others shoulder, which is so tense at this point. I wrap my arms so tightly around her, never wanting to let go. She walks me to the car to see Arthur. I find myself shaking again, and I feel so light headed. I am so hesitant to see him because I would hate to see the hurt in his eyes. This sickening thought kills me inside.

            We arrive to the car and my mom opens the door. I see my dog, and it’s bad, but I am so lucky to know that he is still alive, and was so strong through this whole traumatic experience. Seeing him be so strong helps lighten my mood, and I sit and think to myself.

            “If you don’t understand something, it is better for you to ask and be clear, instead of making an assumption.  The day you stop making assumptions you will communicate cleanly and clearly, free of emotional poison.  Without making assumptions your word becomes impeccable.” The moment I got in the car, and realized how I over reacted, I immediately played this quote by author Don Miguel Ruiz in my head. I came to the conclusion that I didn’t even pay attention to what my mom was saying on the phone, and assumed my dog passed away. I put myself through such unnecessary emotional trauma.

            This whole experience taught me a lot. I now know that when something happens, good or bad, I make sure to ask questions, and not assume. Assuming leads me down this dark, dark hole, and I just keep digging deeper and deeper, creating so much emotional stress for myself. Life is all about making choices. I can easily choose to go down the wrong path and create a living hell for myself, but I can easily take the other route as well and find peace, love and happiness. The second choice sounds good to me. And after experiencing all of this, I now know, “If it is to be, it is up to me!”