Taking Part In History: 2012 Presidential Election

Bryana Malloy

ENGL 102-045

Response to Current Media

24 April 2012

Taking Part In History: 2012 Presidential Election

Turning 18 is an exciting milestone in the lives of most. We are given many rights at this age, such as being able to purchase lottery tickets, cigarettes, officially being “legal”, and being able to vote. Finally being able to vote is something that some are excited for, so they immediately go out and register. Personally, I did not have the interest to register. But now, my opinion on voting is completely opposite from what it was when I first turned 18 last summer. Being U.S citizens, we are given a right that people in other countries wish they had—the right to vote. Most might think, like I did, that my vote won’t count—but every vote counts. By voting, one can express their rights and help decide where the future may take us. I will be responding to the current presidential election and how it affects us, such as rising gas prices, jobs, and why the younger generation should take part and vote.

It hasn’t been too long since those 18 and up got to vote. According to Bobbie Gentry, in 1971 when 18 year olds gained the right to vote, the youth did not turnout as expected. In the 2008 presidential election, youth turnout was above 50%, but this year, the turnout is expected to decrease. This 2012 election will be the most important election of our lifetime. We all should voice our opinion now, for it is our future that will be affected. Our future is already being affected, in part of the rising gas prices at the pump. According to CNN, gas prices this summer could break records reaching over $4 per gallon. Why are the gas prices rising? There are many views as to why, but most put the blame on our President. In 2008, the secretary of energy said “getting U.S. prices up to higher, European-level gas prices would help move Americans to use more renewables.” The renewables that they are currently focusing on right now is algae—yes we are spending money so we can turn algae into energy. If this works, or if this doesn’t work, we will still have to pay. And as of now, we will be paying a lot of money for gas. By voting, a president can be elected that will have us in mind, one who will try to lower gas prices anyway possible.

As gas prices are increasing, most will have an even harder time trying to afford gas while there are no jobs available, or if one has a job, a salary cut has probably been mandated. According to the United States Department of Labor, the unemployment rate for the month of February 2012 was 8.3%. Each GOP candidate has proposed a solution to decreasing the unemployment rate. By voting for a candidate that proposes the best solution to unemployment, our economy can be improved greatly, and jobs can be created for those that need them. Now, imagine what life would be like in a few years from now if none of these issues were tended to. Those who get a job after college graduation will most likely have to drive to get to work. Let’s say that it is a 20-minute commute to get there. That long of a drive could cost a lot of money, especially if gas prices surpass $4 per gallon. That’s a lot of your paycheck going towards gas. But what if you don’t have a job because unemployment is at it’s highest? It will cause a lot of frustration and work to try to get the bills paid in addition to having a little fun. This is why everyone should take part in this election, for it will affect our future, our children’s future, and our grandchildren’s future.

It is very imperative that anyone whom is able to vote does vote for this year’s presidential election. The president who gets elected at this year’s election will make decisions that will have a large impact on our future. Some of these major decisions involve gas prices and creating U.S jobs. There is a large need for more youth to take part in the elections. We have nothing to lose, and if we want jobs after graduation, then we should take part in this election. We are given the right to vote, and it is right that we take part in an election that will have such a huge impact on our lives.

Works Cited

Gentry, Bobbi. “Encouraging Youth Voting: Personal Identity Development and

Inspirational Leaders”. Conference Papers -- Southern Political Science Association. (2010): 321-325. Web. 13 March 2012.

Motorists, NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- February Has Been One Heck of a Month for

American. "Gas Prices Spiked 8% in February." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 29 Feb. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/29/markets/gas_prices/index.htm>.

Henry, Ed. "Chu Backpedals on Call for Higher Gas Prices." Fox News. FOX News

Network, 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/13/chu-backpedals-on-call-for-higher-gas-prices/>.

"CNSNews.com." Obama's Energy Plan. Web. 13 Mar. 2012.

<http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obamas-energy-plan-algae>.

College Expenses and Household Classes

Bryana Malloy

ENGL 102-045

Response to Article

21 March 2012

College Expenses and Household Classes

Graduating high school is a big accomplishment, and after graduation, most come to a crossroad where a decision must be made of what road to travel down next. One could work full-time, part-time, go to a four year college, a two year college, or sign up to be in a post-graduate program. Each road a high school graduate could take has many pros and cons, and the decision that is made will have a huge impact on one’s future. But what is the one thing that these options all have in common? Money. After high school, it is clear that parents won’t be there to give their children a “free ride”. You are pretty much considered an adult, so decisions must be made that govern your need to support yourself financially. After reading the article “Paying For College” by Zoe Mendelson, significant information is provided that most can relate to: information about college and money, and how creating a name for yourself after high school can be a lot harder than most think.

In the article, Mendelson uses her friends’ stories as an example as to how injudicious the financial aid system works for those going to college. One of her friends is very smart, scoring a 34 out of 36 on the ACT and competing in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Clearly his work ethic and intelligence is at a high level, but this does him no good when it comes to scholarships and financial aid for college. His family is part of the middle-class, so this means “their household income is too much to qualify for substantial financial aid but not enough to pay that amount” (131). This is an issue that most middle class college students are facing. Their households make enough money to live, but when it comes to paying for one student in college, they begin to struggle.

Another example used in this article is the story of Maggie’s pursue of a college degree. She received a financial aid package from the college she got accepted to, but had to come up with $8,000 per year for what the aid did not cover. She applied for numerous loans and got rejected for all of them. Because of this, her college suggested that she “defer for a year to give her time to come up with the cash” (132). The problem with this is that $8,000 is a lot of money for an incoming college freshman to come up with.

I, along with many other middle-class students, are struggling to make ends meet because of the high expense of going to college. Middle-class families are working hard for the money they earn, and yet it just gets taken away for taxes (which most go to low-income earning families) and in this case, college expenses.

To me, there is no easy way around it. The middle-class gets slammed with a large amount of expenses, and then they are expected to pay for most things, like college, with little help from government financial aid. Sometimes, I think it would just be easier to fall into the lower-class group. Then, financial aid would cover most if not all college expenses, in addition to any other assistance that the government would give to help the lower-class live. This and being part of the upper class seems like the only way college expenses would not put a burden on families. The high expense associated with college pushes most to work instead of going to school. It seems more sensible to make money instead of going into debt just for a degree. The way I see it, no degree is worth the financial hassle. One could gain just as much knowledge actually working in the field out of high school rather than spending time and money at an institute of higher learning.

Works Cited

Mendelson, Zoe. “Paying For College.” Practical Argument: A Text and Anthology.

Ed. Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 131-133. Print.

Texting Does Pose a Threat to our Language

Bryana Malloy

ENGL 102-045

Causal Argument

21 February 2012

Texting Does Pose a Threat to our Language

            For this blog entry, I chose to write about the article “Texting: A Boon, Not A Threat, To Language” by Kristina Mialki. In this article, Mialki makes an argument that texting will not destroy the English language, but rather keep it alive. She makes two points that support this statement. One point states that texting encourages reading and writing. The second point states that texting encourages the creative use of the language. Also included in this article is a study that found “the more children texted, the better they did on reading, writing, spelling, and vocabulary tests” (364).

            I completely disagree with this article. I believe that texting does indeed threaten our language. While texting, most use shortened versions of words or phrases that make it easier to text. If people use these shortened words and phrases more than they use the actual word, their instincts will be to write out the word that they use more often—the shortened word. Let’s say for example someone needs to write out a word. Since the shortened version of the word is used so much while texting, they are uncertain of how to spell the full word correctly. This has happened to me many times, as well as to most of my friends. Texting does not allow people to be creative with the language, but it is just a quick and easy way to write a message. More studies will need to be conducted that accurately prove that texting does or does not destroy the English language. Below, I have created a table for this causal argument.

Causal Argument: Texting is not a threat to our language and grammar.

(1)   Today, people prefer to text, email, or instant message. In these messages, words and phrases are simplified making it easier and quicker to send a message.

(2)  Some people think that texting will ruin our language because of the way we write out and use some words. This article is arguing that the more children text, “the better they did on reading, writing, spelling, and vocabulary tests” (364). By texting, people get to creatively use the language.

Cause & Effect Relationships:

(1)   Texting is not ruining our language because: By texting, people write and read more, they get to creatively play with the language, and it broadens people’s exposure to the written word.

(2)  The outcome of this is the more children text “the better they did on reading, writing, spelling, and vocabulary tests” (364).

Main & Contributory Causes:

Main Cause: Texting is not a threat to our language and grammar.

Contributory Cause: Continuously using and spelling words wrong without correction can cause one to become less knowledgeable of the language.

Immediate & Remote Causes:

Immediate Cause: Children study for the vocabulary test; that is why they did well on it.

Remote Cause:  If one does not know how to spell a word, they just guess. Now, whenever they need to use that word, they spell it the way they would when texting.

Causal Chains:

Children learn how to spell certain words in school

>They study these words

>They text the rest of the night

>When a vocabulary test is given, they ace the test because they studied for it.

Post Hoc reasoning:

There is no direct connection between children texting and higher scores on spelling, writing, reading, and vocabulary tests. These children are learning certain things for those tests, which have nothing to do with texting. An overall study should be conducted where different age groups are used to determine if texting does pose a threat to the language.

Works Cited

Mialki, Kristina. “Texting: A Boon, Not A Threat, To Language.” Practical Argument: A

Text and Anthology. Ed. Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 24-26. Print.

A Stormy Outlook

Bryana Malloy

ENGL 102-045

Response to Essay

4 February 2012

A Stormy Outlook

This past 2011-2012 New England winter season doesn’t really feel like a winter season at all. Usually one drives down the street and observes others plowing, shoveling, or children playing in the snow. That is the normal scene; not this year. This year has been bringing weather that makes most wonder, “where is all the snow?” or more like “why is it this warm?” Our first and only snowstorm was a bit too early to be true, planting almost 2 feet of snow on some parts of Massachusetts on October 28-29. Although we’ve gotten some snow, it nearly isn’t the amount that we should be getting. On top of that, at the end of January, we had multiple days with temperatures as high as 55°. Instead of seeing that pictured winter scene, we’ve been seeing the opposite—people walking around in shorts and T-shirts. What could be the explanation for these wacky weather patterns? Personally, I put the blame on weather modification.

Weather modification, according to Britannica Online Encyclopedia is “the deliberate or the inadvertent alternation of atmospheric conditions by human activity, sufficient to modify the weather on local or regional scales”. Weather modification first began in 1946 and was part of the Schaefer-Langmuir experiments where clouds were seeded. There are many ways to seed a cloud. One way involves flying an aircraft while spraying crushed dry ice pellets into the atmosphere. This procedure hasn’t been too efficient, so another process using silver iodine is more likely to be used. Aircrafts spray a solution into the sky that is silver iodine, dissolved in sodium iodine and acetone. This spray leaves behind a contrail, which is a streak of white in the sky. These contrails don’t disappear right away, but they can stay in the sky for up to 24 hours and eventually form into clouds, ultimately modifying the weather. This is done to control the weather so there are benefits for certain regions, and less damage for others.

Now, I’m not a scientist, but something tells me that altering the weather isn’t going to be done without causing severe side effects. I believe that today, we are just starting to see the beginning side effects caused by weather modification. The natural disasters that have occurred over the past few years around the world could be natural, or in fact, very unnatural. I’m leaning towards unnatural. If we (as in the government) have been experimenting with the weather for years, who is to say that the disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the Japan earthquake and tsunami, and the Indonesia tsunami aren’t due to weather manipulation?

While we are having an almost snowless winter in Massachusetts, it is quite the opposite in Europe. Over the past few days, Eastern and Central Europe have been in a state of emergency. Blizzards and freezing conditions have left most towns and countries stunned. Earlier in the season, most cities experienced mild temperatures. Now, thousands of people are snowed into their homes with up to 5 meters of snow continuously falling in the past 26 days. Temperatures have reached -30 C (hundreds of towns have reached the lowest recorded temperatures since the beginning of record keeping), and over 200 people have died while up to 1,000 have been treated for frostbite and hypothermia.

Earlier this year, a winter blast hit Alaska and caused trouble just like in Europe.

In the Britannica Online Encyclopedia, it is said “A wide variety of scientific tests and operational weather modification projects have been performed in many countries. The largest programs have been in the United States, the former Soviet Union, Australia, and France”. Is it just a coincidence that the largest weather modification programs have been in the United States and Russia (the former Soviet Union), and those are the places that have been having severe and abnormal weather patterns?

The benefits of weather modification could be great for some, and not so great for others. By modifying the weather, the losses caused by natural weather conditions could be reduced. If there is a drought, rain could be produced. If there is a hurricane, it could become controlled and less severe. The reason changing the weather is so that there is more of a benefit for certain areas. The better the weather in some places, the more of a good can be grown. Let’s use corn as our main focus. Let’s say that in part of the Corn Belt, there hasn’t been enough rain for the corn to grow. By modifying the weather, more rain could be produced, satisfying the need for more rain, allowing the crops to grow sufficiently. This is a benefit for some places, but for other places, who knows what the changes in the weather could bring.

Most scientists are still very unfamiliar with modifying the weather when there are tornadoes and hurricanes. There is still plenty to be studied involving weather modification, and questions have risen on how effective cloud seeding actually is. I believe that weather modification is not acceptable. The earth was made to have certain weather patterns, and if we aren’t as knowledgeable on the subject as we could be, then we shouldn’t be messing around with the natural occurrences. For me, that is just asking for a whole lot of trouble.

Works Cited

"Serbian Villages Stranded after Heavy Snow Storms | World News | The Guardian."

Latest News, Sport and Comment from the Guardian | The Guardian. Web. 03 Feb. 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/02/serbian-villages-stranded-snowfall>.

"weather modification." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online

Academic Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 03 Feb. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com.libserv-prd.bridgew.edu/EBchecked/topic/638346/weather-modification>.

Didymus, JohnThomas. "11,000 Serbian Villagers Trapped by Heavy Snow and

Blizzards." Digital Journal: A Global Digital Media Network. Web. 04 Feb. 2012. <http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/318958>.

"BBC News - Europe Freeze Hits Transport Hubs." BBC - Homepage. Web. 04 Feb.

2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16887916>.