Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Dear Reader,

Dear Reader,


Hi, name is Matt Wright and I am 18 years old, this is my first year at Everett Community College. I graduated in 2009 from Everett High School. I am hoping to get my Associate in Arts and Sciences from EvCC. Why? Because it is a basic degree and I am still trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life, and this degree would make it easier to transfer if I want to do so. Hopefully I will pass my English 98 class so I can move on to English 101.
This is my reflection letter for my E-portfolio for my English 98 class. This class has been a good experience for me and the activities in the class have propelled my poor writing skills to adequate writing skills, in a matter of several long, somewhat boring, weeks. This class has helped prepare me for English 101 and for the rest of my life. One of the writing skills that I believe improved, after this class, is getting rid of the words “I” and “You” (metadiscourse) in college level writing. I am not demonstrating this right now because this is a letter about I and I am talking to you. In college level writing it is important to write using good metadiscourse because it helps your reader know who you are talking to and about. Some things I still think I need to improve on are clearly expressing my ideas on paper, the proper use of grammar, and punctuation. Even though my skills have improved, I still need to expand my abilities and to continue to improve my writing throughout my college career.
Another activity that helped me this year was the service learning project, which gave me a deeper understanding of the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. Blogging and discussing the similarities and differences between the book and the service learning was an effective method of compare and contrast. The service learning also showed me the struggles of people in my community, because my project was volunteering at a dinner for the less fortunate. The Dinner at the Bell is at a church near my house and is open every Wednesday. They usually serve upwards of 100 people. I enjoyed my experience at the dinner. I even did 15 hours instead of the required 10 hours.
This is the end of my reflective letter, but this is only the beginning of my E-portfolio and my college career. My E-portfolio shows how I have grown as a writer since taking this class. Right below this letter are samples of my favorite writing from this class. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them.

Sincerely,

Matt Wright

Determination: Never Say No Intro

Intro #1

This is one of my major writing assignments from this class. It is titled, “Determination: Never Say No.” This is the second major writing assignment and I wrote it around January 28, 2010. This is a definition paper. The class was asked to pick a word and define it. Each student also picked a quote from the book Three Cups of Tea, to help define the word. I believe that I used good examples in defining the word. For example, in the paper I described how determination is present in the business world. A quote from my paper is “Determination in the business world is not a bad thing because the desire to beat the competition makes way for innovations and new ideas. Determination is also vital for the small business owner who is trying to build a successful business. They will go through many hardships but if they can persevere, they can become another success story like some well-known local companies such as Starbucks, Boeing, Zumiezs, Jones Soda, and Microsoft. These companies play a vital role in the economy and without determination; they would not have had the will to continue through the early struggles of starting a business.” So here is my first paper of my portfolio, I hope you enjoy it.

Determination

Determination: Never Say No
Determination. When most people are asked to define this word, almost everyone would say that it means to never give up, to work through hardships, and to see their goal through to the end. Examples of determination are all around. Some people go through life determined to make a difference in this world and to make it a better place for all. Other people work hard and continue to work hard for individual success in the hustle and bustle of the business world. Both are good examples of determination. Another good example of determination is represented in the book Three Cups of Tea. The author, Greg Mortenson, works hard and sacrifices a lot to build a school in Krophe, a small village in Pakistan. By looking at these examples, one can see what this word means and what it means to other people. It is also evident that if no one was ever determined to do anything good or great in this world then this world would be a much bleaker place to live.
Determination is not just a word for people that are trying to make this world into a better place, but can also be a word for a power hungry, rich tycoon that is determined to increase their wealth and influences no matter what. Determination in the business world is not a bad thing because the desire to beat the competition makes way for innovations and new ideas. Determination is also vital for the small business owner who is trying to build a successful business. They will go through many hardships but if they can persevere, they can become another success story like some well-known local companies such as Starbucks, Boeing, Zumiezs, Jones Soda, and Microsoft. These companies play a vital role in the economy and without determination; they would not have had the will to continue through the early struggles of starting a business. Unsuccessful people and companies can be determined also, but sometimes determination is not enough to succeed. You need a little luck and something unique that sets you apart. But with determination usually opportunities will come.
Also, the word determination can be used to describe the people and the nonprofit organizations that go out to help the less fortunate. Some good examples are the people that are helping in Haiti and those who go to Africa with vaccinations and medicines. These are the people that don’t talk about helping but are determined to go where they are needed and give what they can, often devoting their entire lives for the greater good.
One example of the type of people that are determined to go out to help the less fortunate is Greg Mortenson. In his book Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson goes through many hardships but never loses sight of his goal to build a school. One quote from the book illustrates the challenges he faced. “He had been a hero to the members of City Rock. But now, every time he opens his mouth, his stories were about failures: a summit not reached, a woman lost, a bridge and a school not built.”(Mortenson 105) Despite these setbacks, Mortenson is determined to see his project to the end. When he finds out they need a bridge more than a school, they shift their focus to building a bridge instead of a school. He could have said no, I am here now and I want to get my school done now, but he actually said “What do we need? How do we get started? (Mortenson 103) This quote shows he is determined to help the people of Krophe with whatever they need.
When asked what determination means a lot of other words come to mind like, sacrifice, obsessing, dedication, motivation, perseverance, focus, and the ability to work through adversity and to strive for excellence. There are many well-known phrases describing determination. One quote by Albert Einstein illustrates the point that determination is trying to be the best and always improving. “You have to learn the rules of the game and then you have to play better than anyone else.” Another quote is from Helen Keller, “While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done.” This quote addresses the point that there are people that will tell you it can’t be done without trying it for themselves because they lack the determination to try.
Determination is found through the actions of many successful people. Determination is what keeps them going forward even though it might be hard and determination is what makes them see it through to the end. Although different people show determination in different ways, be it the for their own benefit or for the benefit of others, one thing stays the same and it is that they fight through adversity and continue to try to reach their goal, and just maybe they might help or change the world.

Electoral College: And Why We Should Change Intro

Intro #2

The next writing sample I believe shows effective writing. The title of the paper is “The Electoral College: And why we should Change.” It is an argumentative paper on why we should change from the Electoral College to the popular vote in U.S. elections. I wrote this paper around February 14, 2010. This was the last major writing assignment of the year, and I believe that I effectively argued my point and showed both sides. An example of my side of the argument is, the first and most important reason is that a candidate can win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote and thereby lose the election. This means that the more popular candidate would lose, and the least popular candidate would win. This has happened three times in U.S. history. It occurred in the Hayes/Tilden election of 1876, the Harrison/Cleveland election of 1888, and a in the more recent Bush/Gore election in 2000. To use the Bush/Gore election as an example, Bush received 50,456,002 (47.9%) of the popular vote and Gore received 50,999,897 (48.4%) of the popular vote (3). On the other hand those that argue that the Electoral College is a good thing say that it reduces the impact of voter fraud as argued by Jonathan Chait in a Los Angeles Times article. If you want to read more on this topic you can read the rest of my paper.

Electoral College

The Electoral College: And why we should Change
For those who do not know, the Electoral College is how the president is elected in the United States, and it works by the number of Senators (always two) plus the number of Representatives in the House (which depends on the number of people in the state). The total number of electoral votes is 538, and to win a presidential election you need 270 votes. Although this system was started by the founding fathers and adapted over time, now most believe it is time to change to the popular vote. This would prevent the less populated states from having more influence in the election, and allow everyone’s vote to count.
The Electoral College was developed to accommodate the needs of the political parties. When the founding fathers were deciding how to elect a president, some of the problems they faced were that the states wanted to have more power and have less of a national government. The country contained 4,000,000 people spread out along the Atlantic coast with no quick and easy transportation to reach the people or inform them about the candidates running. There were many different ideas that were discussed. One idea was that congress would pick the president, but that idea was quickly shot down because of a fear that this would cause an imbalance of power. Another idea was that the State legislations could select the president, but that was not approved because of the fear that the states would have too much power. The third idea was that the popular vote would be the only determining factor of who was elected President, but this was also rejected because they did not trust the uneducated farmers and they feared that people would just vote for the hometown person that is running and no one would ever get a majority. The idea for the Electoral College was selected to avoid these issues. The population of the states using the last census would determine the number of votes, and then each state would choose electors to travel to Washington to vote. The electors would vote for their top two candidates. This helped to avoid the problem of the electors wanting to only vote for the candidate from their home state. If there was a tie, then the U.S. House of Representatives would vote on it. The person with the second highest votes would be the vice president. This system only lasted for four presidential elections; it changed because of the formation of separate politic parties. Now there is a presidential candidate and a vice presidential candidate who run together.(1)
There are a number of reasons that the Electoral College should be changed to the popular vote. The first and most important reason is that a candidate can win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote and thereby lose the election. This means that the more popular candidate would lose, and the least popular candidate would win. This has happened three times in U.S. history. It occurred in the Hayes/Tilden election of 1876, the Harrison/Cleveland election of 1888, and a in the more recent Bush/Gore election in 2000. To use the Bush/Gore election as an example, Bush received 50,456,002 (47.9%) of the popular vote and Gore received 50,999,897 (48.4%) of the popular vote (3). Although those numbers seem close, that is around a 500,000 difference. The results of this extremely close election left the country waiting for weeks to find out who the next president was going to be.
Most arguments against the Electoral College usually say that it is unfair for the smaller states but is also unfair for larger states. This article in the Los Angeles Times by Frank McMillan considers the inequities of the electoral voting system,
Consider that California has a population of roughly 36.1 million. The state has 55 electoral votes, which means that each electoral vote represents 656,000 people. Wyoming, on the other hand, has a population of about 509,000. Wyoming has three electoral votes, which means that each vote represents 170,000 people. What this gives us is a situation that, when voting for president, a Wyoming resident casts a vote that carries 3.9 times as much weight as a Californian's vote. (Info from (2))
This idea goes against the idea of one-person one vote if votes carry unequal weights. It is time for the Electoral College to change because there is now a vast amount of political information available to all, especially during elections years. No matter how populated or unpopulated a state is Americans should be trusted to vote for whom they want. Now because of the expansion of the information age the Electoral College is no longer needed for the purpose that the founding fathers had in mind.
On the other hand those that argue that the Electoral College is a good thing say that it reduces the impact of voter fraud as argued by Jonathan Chait in a Los Angeles Times article,
States control a voter registration process that is too susceptible to fraud. Imagine such states as California, New York or Illinois controlled by a Democratic Party that decides to look the other way while activists register tens of thousands of illegal immigrants. Under the Electoral College, at least this kind of fraud is confined to the number of electoral votes of those states and would not add net new electoral votes for Democrats. However, if all votes are thrown into a national pool, then there would be enormous incentives to register illegal voters to cast fraudulent votes. (Info from (2))
Although this has not been proven to actually happen, it is still a fear of some people in both parties not just Republicans but Democrats too. Even though this is a valid concern, it is mostly just paranoia. Another reason why some people do not want to change the current system is that they believe that since the Electoral College has worked so far, why change it. However, this also is not true because most do not understand how the Electoral College works and how it affects an election. The Electoral College has affected an election three times in history, which leaves a what if, question. What if Gore beat Bush? What if Tilden beat Hayes? What if Cleveland beat Harrison? Would this be the same country that it is to day had any of those elections been reversed? The popular vote leaves no what if. You either lose or win. The American voter can be trusted more now days because unlike in the past there is constant media coverage and a greater number of people are educated than in the past when the founding fathers came up with the Electoral College. These differences enable the voter to make an informed decision.
Recent election results have illustrated the growing differences between the sparsely populated “Red States” and the more densely populated “Blue States.” America is always changing and our election system needs to adapt to those changes or we may have more situations such as what happened in 2000. The Electoral College should change to the popular vote because it is fair, and although there are arguments against the change, there will still be controversies whenever the election is decided by the electoral votes and discounts the popular vote.
Sources:
(1) http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html

(2)http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.everettcc.edu/pqdweb?index=5&did=1149038031&SrchMode=2&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1266469264&clientId=8125

(3) http://www.presidentelect.org/e2000.html

Politics:The comparison of the two parties Intro

Intro #3

The third paper I believe shows good analytical skills. The title is “Politics: The Comparison of the Two Major Parties, “and I wrote this around January 26, 2010. In this paper, I break down the Democratic and Republican parties’ differences, history, and their similarities. An example of the Democratic Party is, Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic Party in 1792. Most people believe that the Democrats are a bunch of young radical hippie elitists, that can’t keep America safe. Well, the young radical hippie might be a little true, but the Democratic Party is the older of the two parties remaining, and instead of being considered elitist they were known as the Common Man party, which used to be called the Republican-Democrats. An example of the Republican Party is, a common perspective of the Republican Party as a bunch of fat, old, raciest, white people, which is somewhat true, they are actually the younger of the two parties. One of the reasons that they broke away from the Democratic Republicans was the issue of slavery. They were the first party to oppose slavery and they worked on legislation to outlaw slavery.

Politics




Politics: The Comparison of the Two Major Parties

In the world of politics, nothing seems more different than the two opposites on the U.S. political spectrum, the Republican and the Democratic Parties. From afar, these two giants of the political world seem to clash on most issues and criticize the other’s way of thinking. Although many can easily recognize how these parties differ from each other, like on the issues of health care, the size of the national government, and taxes, some of the similarities are less obvious. Both parties have stereotypes attached to them, both believe their way is the right way, and both play important roles in our two party system of government, keeping a system of checks and balance so one party can’t take over or have too much influence. Most can argue which party is right and which party is wrong, but one thing most people can agree on is that both parties, throughout history, have helped to make this country a better place to live.
Our country was founded on and benefits from a two party system; however, the parties have evolved and changed their views on government over the years. Republicans and Democrats disagreements actually help to provide a stable government. The two parties differences provide the opportunity to research and debate the issues so that the country can understand both points of view. Often one party controls the congress and the other occupies the presidency, so changes in government policy require concessions from both sides and occur incrementally rather than radically. The two party system started with Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton was a Federalist, feared anarchy, believed in the strength of law and order, and that the Federal government should have more power than the state government. Jefferson was Democratic-Republican, he feared tyranny, and he believed that the states should have more of a say in government. This is not the same beliefs that the parties have today which shows how Americas shifts between right and left thinking. Today Republicans believe in stronger state government, and today’s Democrats now believe in a strong federal government witch is the opposite from their first beliefs on government. Although not all people are at the extremes of either party, most put themselves in the middle and slightly either towards the right or the left. The two party system allows Americans to shift between the two parties when they feel one party is getting too powerful or not leading the country in the right direction.(3)
Both parties’ have similar beginnings in that they were started because of conflicting views with the first political parties which caused them to break away. First, let us look at the Republican Party (GOP) and their beliefs. The GOP started in the late 1850’s, when they broke away from the Republican-Democrats. A common perspective of the Republican Party as a bunch of fat old white people, which is somewhat true, they are actually the younger of the two parties. One of the reasons that they broke a way from the Democratic Republicans was the issue of slavery. They were the first party to oppose slavery and they worked on legislation to outlaw slavery. A Republican signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves, and the fourteenth amendment, that made slavery illegal, and the fifteenth amendment that helped secure voting rights for African-Americans. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president to be elected to office. The Republicans Party believes in limited government, low taxes, and private insurer- based health care. (1)
Second, let us look at how the Democrats started and their beliefs. Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic Party in 1792. Most people believe that the Democrats are a bunch of young radical hippie elitists, that can’t keep America safe. Well, the young radical hippie might be a little true, but the Democratic Party is the older of the two parties remaining, and instead of being considered elitist they were known as the Common Man party, which used to be called the Republican-Democrats. They broke a way from the Federalists because of disagreements of how much power the government should or shouldn’t have. The first Democratic president was Jefferson, and then James Monroe was elected right after him. The Democrats believe in a strong central government, tax cuts for working class and not the wealthiest, and they are leaning to a more socialized health care plain. (2)
Although Republicans and Democrats will agree to disagree, both have and will continue to make their own contributions to America. Though their ideologies might change as time goes on, neither show any signs of relinquishing their opposition to each other. As long as people stand at different sides of an issue there will be Democrats and Republicans.



Sources:

(1) http://gop.com/index.php/learn/who_we_are/
(2) http://www.democrats.org/a/party/history.html
(3) http://www.answers.com/topic/two-party-system

Diet Cults Intro

Intro #4
The next and last piece of writing is my choice. We did this assignment in class around the beginning of the year. The assignment, which came from the English textbook, was called, “The Ultimate in Diet Cults.” The book gives a fictional story about a diet cult called the Breatharians led by Wiley Brooks. Brooks claims that he has not eaten in 18 years and drinks very little fluids. This is actually a real cult and just goes to show what some people will believe. Who knows maybe it does work; I guess I am not a believer. The assignment was to write two of the three options, write a radio ad, request a permit for a parade, or write a letter to the vice squad complaining about the diet. I chose to do the radio ad and the vice squad letter. I liked this assignment because of how bizarre the diet is and I had fun writing it.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Diet Cults

1. Attention, everyone. Have you heard of the diet sensation that is sweeping the nation? It is Breatharianism. The man behind this breakthrough diet for a happier and a healthier life is Mr. Wiley Brooks. If you attend his seminar for 5 days for just the bargain price of $500.00, Mr. Brooks will tell you how to live and feel better using his new breakthrough diet plan. So if you are tired of diets that don’t work, then take your first step to Breatharianism, take your first step for a better you. Breathe deep and then call 1-800-555-6689





3. Dear Vice Squad,

I am writing this report to you, out of concern for all the hard working citizens who were swindled out of $500, by a smooth talking salesman who is pushing an untrue story and a very dangerous diet plan. Mr. Wiley Brooks claims that he has not eaten for 18 years and drinks very little fluids. Now stories have surfaced about him being seen eating very unhealthy foods. He claims that whether he is eating or not eating is not important, but this is not true, because it was his story that convinced hundreds of people to follow him and his diet. The first step of this diet is not to just stop eating foods altogether but to clean your blood by starting with the Yellow Diet. The Yellow Diet allows you to only eat 24 food items. After the Yellow Diet, the plan starts to get dangerous. When you stop eating, you begin to feel tired, and have a lack of energy and because of the lack of iron in the diet your body starts to suffer from anemia. In conclusion I hope that the Vice Squad will investigate this matter further so more people won’t get hurt because of a lie. Mr. Brooks said “that food is more addictive than heroin.” But the same can be said about money, and I believe he is addicted, so he keeps pushing his story and his dangerous diet to take advantage of people looking for an answer.