Rain drops keep fallin on my head. damnit!

So the one thing that I check as a daily routine before school due to the commute is my fit, my e-mail and THE WEATHER! Make sure you pack an umbrella ella ella AYE this week its going to be a big one. While looking through the San Jose Mercury News the story that caught my eye is the storm that will be coming. This is important because it affects how I dress and what time I leave my house. I absolutley hate driving in the rain because I get nervous about hydroplaning and other drivers act as if it is the the middle of summer and zoom past me. But the rain is essential and I understand this. I actually had a converstation with my friend Raquel about this yesterday. She was texting me and told me that it was raining hella bad in Sacramento (she moved to Sac for school). I told her that it sucks but we need the rain and she laughed at me. I always tell her that. Haha. The article Another Rainy Weekend Nowhere Enough To Ease State's Woes states that even with this storm and above average rainfall we will not surpass the needed amount of rain. This will result in a water rationing. Unfortunatley I also enjoy taking long showers and I will have to adjust. This will greatly effect our lives and also farmers across the Central Valley. Hopefully everyone can pull together and ration the water. This is one thing that we take for granted in our daily lives, and we wont realize it until its gone. Another thing we take for granted is electricity. The other morning I was getting ready and Hayward had a major power outage. This really showed me how much I rely on electricity to do everyday tasks. I want to use this example to remind myself that everyone has to do their part and I need to manage my water usage. I hope that you all do your part as well.

Dont hate, Advocate:)

So thanks to my wonderful last name and Cathy's creativity Letisha gets to read the whole damn book. Well not really but it seems like it. I was assigned After Seattle. I found myself losing concentration every couple of paragraphs. I felt as if the story dragged on forever. I would have felt it easier on me as a reader to just get straight to the point. I actually prefered reading Avodah not only because it was short, but also because i can relate better. Both stories demonstrated advocation in different ways.
First the Avodah story demonstrates advocation well by reaching out to Jewish people who want to help out their community while getting in touch with their roots. This is not only done with Jewish organizations, but most religions in general. Coming from a Catholic background and going to a Catholic school I can relate to this story. There are many organizations are out there for young people to join. I feel like it helps you stay connected with your values and allows you to meet and help people in need. The main difference between these two articles is length and the eay they chose to advocate. I think articles that are too long turn a reader "off" unless its something that intrests them. The stories reach out in different ways. The After Seattle story reaches out by giving different stories and shows a good amount of knowledge. Becks' relationship with the people she is reaching out to seems to be on a more business type relationship compared to the more personal relationship between Avodah. I think Beck is trying to get in touch with the right people that can help her with the cause, but doesnt get too personal. In the story about Avodah it shows you a short profile of the people involved in the organization. I felt that this made it more personal and I enjoyed reading more about the volunteers. It made me feel a better sense of connection.
Overall i prefered reading Advodah because it "layed it all on the table" in the first page rather than having me read an epic novel like The Odyssey. I honeslty drifted off while reading and this and it isnt a good sign. For Beck wants to get the point across I had to re-read pages that I didnt fully comprehend. This is not good for the cause and doesnt effectively get the point they are trying to make across. Basically I learned different techniques to show advocation, but not by choice. Haha sorry Cathy!

Babies Babies BAYBAYS!

The topic that has interested me since the beginning of the semester is the controversial multi-fertilization method. This is interesting because another woman who already has six children with no job or husband can possible have eight more children. I do not understand what the doctor who had done this was thinking. This is not the only case that this has happened. Recently another woman was implanted with multiple embroyos. It is understandable that women want to have children and have a family yet I feel this is not the way. I chose this topic because it is debatable and controversial. I feel I can put a lot of opinion and will enjoy doing the research. This will cause me to have great feedback and also prepare counter arguments. This is such a recent topic that I feel I will have enough information to write a good paper. I have thought of becoming a specialized nurse for babies so this is interesting. I do not fully understand how someone can want to have fourteen children on their own during a recession. This seems to be putting the childrens’ best interests at risk. I want as much feedback as possible. Not just I agree or disagree. I would like your honest opinion especially if you feel this woman has done nothing wrong. There are so many children in foster care and that are put up for adoption daily that it seems selfish to want to have so many on their own.

A wonderful adventure

I made sure I read the chapter for Josh’s sake and mine in case we have a quiz. Overall the chapter was interesting to say the least. Each story had different ways of using ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade the reader. I found the story about Native Americans to be somewhat repetitive. Although he did get his point across I feel as if he could have used different ways to prove his idea. For example “…would never use the word to describe this dedicated 23-year-old woman.” and “…nor have I heard any…use it to describe this good and gracious young mother…” I feel that he could have structured the two sentences differently so they wouldn’t sound the same but get the same idea out. I can relate to the story to some degree because I have Native American relatives and it can relate to other cultures as well. There are derogatory terms for each ethnicity that are not accepted by everyone. From this chapter I saw the different styles of writing that can be used. The story about Affirmative action really grabbed my attention. I felt like Ogletree was qualified to write about this topic because he had experienced it first hand and gives a great background story. I think that someone who has experienced the situation is more qualified to give opinion and to write about certain things. The first story about Hawaii also has this quality. Baptiste is from Hawaii and has experienced their customs. He shows research and knowledge through his writing. This is what I would like to accomplish in my papers. The analysis after each story also helps me explore deeper into the text. This showed me aspects that I missed in my reading. I am going to take these ideas into account when writing my final analysis.

Other peoples blog-ness

Leticia Shaw
February 10, 2009
English 1B
Section 18

The academic blogs were interesting. They had both good and bad aspects to them. Overall I did not enjoy reading the blogs because they were not topics that I would normally be attracted to. The blog that I found the most interesting was about knitting. I feel that I somewhat connected with this blog because my grandma knits many things from blankets to baby boots. I also felt the same frustration with knitting at a young age because everything my grandma tried to help me create came out shitty. Although it shares the same common thread that all the blogs do, which is academics, it caught my attention. I think it pulled me in with the story in the beginning. A couple other stories started of boring and didn’t really demand my attention. This blog introduced how-to blog sites, but used this as an introduction to the academic aspect of the blog. Unfortunately this is the same factor that caused me to dislike the blog. I found the top half interesting yet the bottom portion seemed to drag on. I feel like I did not find these blogs enjoyable to read because it was not a topic I was interested in. I do not usually read blogs so I already had a notion that I would not like the blogs I was assigned to read. So from starting off with a bad idea about blogs and being assigned to read them I knew I was not going to like them. The blogs were written mostly with correct grammar and punctuation. I found this uninviting. The one blog that I do read and check weekly is a music blog. The writer writes in slang and their own voice. I enjoy reading posts like this better because I feel like I can relate. The blogs posted on Lore were not things I could easily relate to or find interesting, so they were more of a drag to read. All in all I found the blogs to be something I can learn from more than something I would find interesting.