Barak Obama and Martin Luther King, Jr.

I really enjoyed reading both of these pieces. I really liked Obama's speech. I thought it was very well-written, and I agree with most of what he was saying. This, of course, is probably a big reason I liked it. I am hoping to be able to vote for Obama in November, and Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of my favorite historical people. I am very much a supporter of equality and fairness. It makes me very happy to see a black man as a main contender for the president. I am glad there is a woman there as well, however I wish it was a different woman.
I thought that both pieces effectively argued a point. I thought Obama did a great job of telling what needs to be done, why it needs to be done, and how it will be done. Our country is facing many major problems right now, and he did a good job of showing his audience what those issues are, and what he will do about it. I thought that Martin Luther King, Jr. did a good job of cutting down the other side, but he did it without sounding arrogant. Sometimes people just cut them down for the sake of cutting them down. Martin Luther King, Jr. did a good job of showing why they are wrong and giving examples.
Today, just as in King's time, there are many race related injustices. There are still stereotypes and racist acts that occur. These include income, education, the way people walk, talk, and dress. The list goes on and on. Granted, things have for sure improved since King's time, but we have still not reached full equality. The fact that there are still white supremacist groups that practice is frightening. It has been over one hundred years since slavery ended, and African-Americans still have to watch out for these people? That is unacceptable. But, I guess that is what happens when you live in a country that supports free speech. (Not that I do not support this, it's just sad to see some of the speech that is allowed.)
There are still many hate crimes that occur today. These hate crimes mostly come from the white supremacists that are still allowed to practice. There are still people that proudly wave confederate flags, and it is not only in the South. I do not personally know what it feels like to be an African-American and see that, but I can imagine it must be tough. I get really mad when I see stuff like that still happening.
I lived in Kentucky for about four years, and there is a huge population of African-American people to go along with the huge population of racist people. In the town that I lived in there were two middle schools. One was all the kids that lived in town, which was a lot of African-American kids. The other was all the surrounding area of the county. So the second middle school, which I attended, had all the farmer kids. When the two middle schools came together at the high school, there were a lot of fights that went on because of the two groups coming together. It was hard, even for me, to look at some of the kids considered "hick" that would wear confederate flag belts and shirts. I cannot imagine how that made the African-American kids feel.
All in all, I think that both pieces we read do a very good job of not only arguing their point of view, but also painting a picture of what is going on and what needs to change. Even though Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that letter in 1963, the things he said still need improving today. I think that King would be glad to see Obama running for president this year. I hope that if Obama does win the presidency, he follows through with what he has said, and I really hope he can make a difference.

Spring Break

Over spring break, Sara went home to visit her family, friends, and to work. Sara has a new baby brother, Markus, who was baptised on the first Sunday of spring break. She was very excited when her mother had asked her to be the godmother of Markus.
Sara's good friend Katie, who lives in the dorm next to hers, came over to her house on Monday, and they had a lot of fun. On Tuesday, Katie helped Sara babysit Markus. When Markus's dad got home, Sara and Katie went to the best Chinese restaurant by Sara's house. The restaurant was Mongolian Barbecue in Stillwater. One of Sara's favorites! After some more hanging out, Sara took Katie home and spent the rest of the night with her family.
On Wednesday, Sara went to work. She works at the Famous Footwear in Woodbury, but that day she worked at the one in Eagan. It was an interesting experience. On Wednesday night, Sara met two of her good friends from work at Applebee's for a late dinner. She was very glad to see them, and they spent about two hours talking.
On Friday, Sara went to the Minnesota Swarm lacrosse game at the Xcel Center in St. Paul. She didn't know much about lacrosse, but now loves it! She can't wait to go to another game. She went with her boyfriend, Pat, and his family. It was a great night.
Saturday afternoon, Sara met another friend from work for lunch, and also talked with her for a very long time. Then, she went over to her cousin's house, and had dinner with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. After dinner, her aunt taught her how to knit socks, and Sara worked on that pretty much the rest of the night. Sadly, that night Sara got the flu and is still trying to get it out of her system today. She had to miss her classes on Monday because of it, and just wants to feel better.
Besides getting sick, Sara had a pretty good spring break. She enjoyed catching up with friends and spending time with her family.

Women and the Media

I am writing my argumentative synthesis paper on how the way the media portrays women affects real women. The models and actresses we see in ads and commercials are artificially created images. They retouch the real photos until they look completely different. When women see those images they think they have to look like that. When they can't get that look, they feel bad about themselves. This is a main cause of eating disorders in America.
I am going to argue that we need to do something to stop these images from being shown so that we can stop making women hate themselves. One person cannot achieve this on their own. It is going to take a huge effort by many people to change this issue.

Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

In "A Modest Proposal", Swift gives his solution for the famine problem that was facing Ireland at the time. His proposal is that after being fed by their mothers for a year, children should become useful members of the society by either providing food or clothing. To do this, he suggests that the poor people's children should be fattened up and eaten by people of the community. He also says that their skin could be used for ladies' gloves or summer boots for men. However, he does say that it would be cruel to kill 12-14 year old children.

I cannot believe that this was the best solution he could think of. What really gets me is that he doesn't think its cruel to kill and eat infants, but with older children it would be. I do not see how that is any different. In the essay he also says that his solution would reduce the number of abortions. I guess that may be true because its not like the women will have to raise them anyway. Although, I do not see how killing them for food a year later is any different.