"Chicken In The Henhouse"

       David Sedaris delivers a purely sarcastic story in "Chicken In The Henhouse" to ridicule public conceptions about homosexuality, especially targeting a woman named Audrey who offered a more radical perspective on a "local talk show". The story is actually so serious that it seems like it is actually written through the perspective of a child molester, however; through further analysis of the text it becomes obvious that Sedaris seeks to ridicule the public in their belief that homosexuals seek to target our nations youth. He uses himself as a prime example in the story, characterizing himself as a sweaty gay man, standing next to a fashionable 10 year old in the elevator. Although he might actually appear to be the boy's father, Sedaris puts emphasis on the fact that because he is a homosexual, people would think negatively about his actions in the kid's aid. He also characterizes himself as wanting to touch the boy (as well as other people on the plane) in order to further ridicule Audrey's comments about the nature of homosexuals. Along with his humorous musings, Sedaris delivers a more serious message in the story, saying that "yes, I am a homosexual; yes, I am soaking wet; yes, sometimes I feel an urge to touch people's heads, but still I can safely see a ten-year-old back to his room". Sedaris' use of humor is more effective than using anger or indignation to reflect his views because I believe his wittiness and story-telling invokes the audiences emotions and sympathy rather than starting an angry debate that would do little to help people understand his views.

In Class Response 11/15

1. Between Thursday and today, I was able to edit some grammatical mistakes and ensure the cohesiveness of the essay through further analysis of my essay's structure. The strongest element of my paper is probably the evidence I provide, as well as my clear cut explanation of each view on the issue. I am concerned about whether I provided too much detail instead of making a clear argument, however, this type of essay is new to me and I believe I adhered to the assignment as best as I could.

2. For my fourth essay, I plan to probably write a Policy paper arguing for the inadequacy of the Wall Street Protesters' conduct, as well as for a change in laws regarding the ability of people to protest. I think that I have done plenty of research and have adecuate research for the new essay. I might want to look back through the news to see if there have been any new developments in the area.

Types of Arguments: Definitions

• Causal- an argument that asserts that there is a distinct relationship between two events, and one happened as a result of the other. X causes Y because...
• Resemblance- when the author asserts the resemblance of two issues or arguments. X is similar to Y because...
• Definitional- an argument that disputes or confirms the validity of a definition based on a certain criteria, situations. X is really Y because it meets the criteria of Y
• Evaluation- tries to convince the reader that the criteria that a writer uses to evaluate a situation is appropriate, therefore the evaluation is correct. X is a good or bad Y
• Proposal/Policy- Policy: X should not be in place; Proposal: X should be done in steps A,B,C
• Argues for an change in something, providing evidence. Proposals offers a change in policy following certain steps/guidelines
• Ethical

In Class Writing Assignment 11/1/11

The problem is that there are thousands of people protesting in over 70 major US cities against the current state of the Government, and this movement has inspired people in over 900 cities worldwide to adopt similar protests.

It is important because it clearly shows the unrest and frustration of many over social and political inequalities in our country. Although protests are not uncommon, this one has struck much interest by the media and has inspired similar movements around the world.

The people affected are an apparent variety of people. Anybody and everybody who is unhappy with the inequality of wealth and state of affairs in our country can show up to protest at any of the hundreds of locations.

People might disagree that this movement holds any sort of importance. Others might think that such a movement can be influential enough to start a revolution. We have already seen instances of violence in certain occupy areas, and this movement has the potential to become very violent.

Occupy Wall Street: Two Sources

http://www.occupytogether.com
This is the webpage of the ongoing "Occupy Wall Street" movement that has spread around the country in recent months. It is a good source to use in my research on the Occupy movement because it is the group's official page, and contains the opinions and projections of the public at large. There is ultimately no better way to understand the concerns of the movement than reading about them first-hand. Although the web page will obviously contain much bias, it will be crucial in obtaining information about the movement.

http://occupywallst.org/
This is another webpage of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, however an unofficial one. Similar to the occupy together page, this site will provide me with more opinions and links to other pages that have opinions about the movement firsthand. Although this source will also contain a considerate level of bias, it will provide me with a considerable amount of information.

Response to Onion News Article

(1.) This article, which comes from a completely false and satirical news source, aims to ridicule the inability and/or unwillingness  of Americans to spend time reading anything. The message builds on former Carolina Reader articles we have read which state that with technological progress, people are more and more unable to concentrate. Essentially, this article makes the point that Americans will only read something if there is a large attractive photo or a boldface font to accompany it.

(2.) As in all other Onion articles, the author employs the use of hyperbole to make this article witty and to convey his point. Although Americans don't usually spend much time reading, it would be a huge exaggeration to say that if there was a "large block of uninterrupted text", then people would be extremely troubled by it. If the message was important enough, you would think that anybody would take their time to read it.

Response to "Why Factory Farms Threaten Your Health"

       To me, this article is quite unique. People have a set conception that is delivered by the media and radical vegetarians that factory farm meat is unhealthy, but choose to ignore it. But this article, written by John Robbins, presents an even bigger issue that raises questions and concerns that are way deeper than simply "it's unhealthy to eat chemical and growth hormone infused meat". According to a vast majority of Health experts, the antibiotics that farmers put in animal feed are among the 70% that are withheld from human use. Recent studies show that the introduction of these antibiotics to human bodies allows for bacteria to evolve and surpass the antibiotic effect. This is troubling, and it is particularly mind-boggling to learn that "Seventy percent of all health-care related infections in the U.S. are resistant to at least one antibiotic, Murphy said, which already costs the nation's health care system $50 billion a year..." and "one antibiotic resistant infection, MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), now kills more Americans each year than HIV-AIDS." 
       I've never even heard of this issue in antibiotics--and I read the news almost every day! If all of this is true, then America needs to hear more about it. I'm honestly curious to how the intake of meat is affecting my OWN ability to fight bacteria.