Mar 9 hw (chapter 6 response)

The dreaded topic we all know as research. It comes with many known limits and rules. In the past I haven’t had that huge of a problem conducting research and finding viable sources to get information from, but know that I am in college I realize that the bar is even higher for me to be able to formulate research questions and be able to support all my ideas with it. And with a research paper it always seems to me that I write them at my best when I am clear on what I am arguing, because when I go through the whole process of research and writing, the rest of it seems to sort of fall right into place. In chapter 6 of CDA, on pg. 150 the book states: “In doing research, it is important to be as obvious as possible”. It later goes on to say that when we all get straight to the point, that our papers become more focused and well organized. I feel like that couldn’t be more true, because at least for me when I write and sometimes stray off what point or idea I want to get across, then I do not do as well on the paper because I get lost with a lot of the process, because of a lack of focus in the paper. Teachers for the most part, seem to stress this idea a lot, so it must be important right? This idea from chapter 6 is what I believe to be the most important because it basically sets you up for success when writing your paper.

Mar 4 hw (Mercury News response)(solar power)

I read an article about a new proposal for being able to use solar power being utilized at city maintenance yards, which would be the largest of such in San Jose. They are trying to make it easier for business and vendors to utilize solar energy through a plan that doesn’t make them pay a big cost in the beginning stages of conversion and tech costs. If these proposals pass by March 2, then it would apparently be enough power to power about 750 homes. This would be the first large scale solar array on this cities property, which could mean the start of something better if this really helps us save on energy costs.
I believe that this seems like a good idea, since it seems solar energy is becoming more popular and the community would save a lot of money if many homes, businesses’, and other properties were converting their electricity use to solar energy. It seems to at least try alternatives to this energy crisis were in, because nowadays were trying to stretch every dollar to save money, and especially if it can be healthier for the environment, that’s a plus. It’s not really clear how much the city would save if some major areas started using solar power, because the plan is still in its beginning phase, but in the past, for some it has been good to start utilizing solar power because we save on electricity. Hopefully if this plan passes we can see some good come out of it.

Feb 23 hw (Mercury News response)(tobacco funds)

I found an article in the Mercury News relating to the use of tobacco funds in San Jose. Since the city has suffered through budget cuts, and the already dwindling funds due to national budget cuts, the debate is basically what is most important way to use the money? In the beginning, the money was supposed to be used to help keep middle school crossing guards in certain areas in work, because their funding was being cut, and thus they were losing jobs. The debate made by some people now is, other things like tobacco prevention, and other causes should get some of the money from tobacco taxes because they are just as important. Many have expressed their opinions with this issue, and this can be looked at in a variety of ways, which is what interests me, and is the reason why I am writing about it and considering it as a research topic. When reading this article, one thing really popped into my mind, and that was advocacy. All the people involved in this have their opinions and beliefs, and are stating claims because of what they value, and think is most important. And in this situation one thing that seems to come along with advocacy came up, argument. They are locked in an argument for what they believe in, and it is the system that will ultimately decide the fate of this issue and where the majority of the grants will go to. But nonetheless, people will fight for what they believe in, and that is a common situation we first think of when we think of advocacy.

Feb 23 hw (ADOVAH response)

I think everyone at one point or another have experienced multiple forms of advocacy, I knew how to define advocacy in a sense of what actions we take towards things we have strong emotions for, but I realize now advocacy is a multi-sided issue. From what I got from chapter 5, advocacy is defined basically as what we personally value in terms of how we think we should live and shape our lives. And because of this, many aspects of our life cause us to act as advocates of things we think are important. In the case of “AVODAH” I believe that when religious affiliations, practices, and beliefs came together, it helped both the volunteers, and the programs targets in ways they didn’t know. Their advocacy was shaped their ideas in a big way. All the volunteers, had a common ground, and that was that they were all Jewish. And I think that this was great also, because it brought them all together in a way that they could all understand, and helped them all learn more about their heritage. And at the same time, the relationships they formed with each other, and helped them learn new things about others from other parts of the world. Not to mention those that they helped as well, the low income families and homeless. The want to make a difference in suffering communities was brought up by the ambitions of the other volunteer’s, and organizations overall purpose. I believe that this mixture of those around them, and their personal strive to want to help our other communities shaped their advocacy in a positive way, and getting back the experience and pleasure of knowing that they are helping out those in need.

Feb 16 hw (mercury news entry)

I found this article in the mercury news about the companies nokia and adobe teaming up, and giving out about $10 million dollars in grants to software developers to create applications to use on multiple devices using their products. this interests me because i myself am fond of the new technology that constantly comes out, and it really interests me in knowing how it can keep changing as time progresses. I would actually want to do an essay possibly on changing technology in today's world maybe. For this assignments purposes, i thought of something that constantly changes as time progresses, and what i first thought of were cars. Cars tend to get a little better and more convenient as time passes, just as certain technologies do. This was the first thing that popped into my head when reading this article in mercury news.