Religious Affiliation+ Practices+ Beliefs= Advocacy?

It had already been a month since school has started and this also means that I have been using the CDA textbook for about the same amount of time. It is quite embarrassing to admit that having to have had this book for quite a period, I still don’t fully know what the title means. The definitions of compose and design were obvious, but looking at the word “advocacy”, I knew that it was time to pull out my dictionary. After looking up the definition of the word (which means “giving aid to a cause”) I now understood what the question in the book was asking. In chapter five of CDA, one section asked how religious affiliations, practices and beliefs encourage and shape advocacy. In one way or another, all these three categories kind of interrelates and promotes advocacy in a similar way.
Religious affiliations unites people of all kinds into one to perform a task. In AVODAH, they particularly recruit Jews to join their program to help people of poverty. This could have
attracted many people of Judaism to join because they all share the same religion and could probably relate to each other. . A particular religion itself is already highly influential ,thus
people would most likely follow what ever their religion insists is the right thing to do. This is when religious practices plays a part in shaping advocacy. Mark Goodman from the AVODAH website had stated “ I always knew that Judaism commanded us to a mission of radically transforming out world into a more just and righteous place,” so simply because Judaism had always claimed that it was a duty to help the community, followers of the religion would do as they were told.
Although AVODAH is a Jewish bound program, that didn’t stop non-Jews from joining. As it was mentioned on the website, people are attracted to AVODAH because there are “committed to working for a social change.” The determination of wanting to establish a better place for the needs prompted others to volunteer to become part of the program. This shows that a person’s willpower and belief contributes to advocacy as well.

Speical Waivers? Not In A Million Years!

Last Sunday a 55 year old man named Matt Vaughn was given a ticket for speed driving on the freeway. Further investigation led the police officer in finding a smoke pipe and marijuana in Vaughn’s vehicle. The man argued that the drug was for medical purpose, but the excuse wasn’t satisfying enough. The policeman conducted a positive drug test on him, so as a result, Vaughn got his license, pipe and drug confiscated. A person in this kind of situation couldn’t possible surrender so easily; thus, this case was brought to court. It was then that Matt Vaughn had declared that the DMV should issue special licenses and waivers to drivers that needs special drug medications. Although the court didn’t reject the proposal right away, but I would rather not give such leniency to drivers. I understand the fact that these drugs are part of their medical necessities, but allowing them to take these hazardous things while driving is a complete danger to the driver and to the public. The reasons for banning a driver’s consumptions of marijuana and alcohol is to promote safety on the road and ensure that the side effects from the intake won’t affect the driving. Although the amounts of the drug taken might be small, but there are no absolute guarantee that the consumer would be fully conscious while driving and won’t be affected later. If the patient must utilize their vehicle, they can always take their medication a couple hours before they get onto the road, so even when they do get pull over by cops, they wouldn’t have to go through the whole drug test process. This does not only keep the driver safe, but it can also make their life a lot easier than having to explain the whole “drug for medical purpose” situation. The article of this case doesn’t really specify whether it is for or against the idea of having special waivers, so I can’t really say if I agree or disagree with it; however, I would very much be against allowing special tolerance for these drivers.

QUIZ TIME! What is Global Warming?

Global warming, a term that is frequently heard nowadays because people had finally acknowledge its’ existence. If we randomly go up to a person and ask them about the issue, they would probably say, “oh yeah, I know about global warming, it is caused by excessive carbon dioxide right?” Well, yes, the answer is right, but that is not all to it. Truthfully, I am one of those people that doesn’t know much about global warming besides that it’s the reason for our absurd weather and the meltdown of glaciers in the north. It is quite embarrassing to realize how I have utilized and taken so much from this planet and yet treat it like a complete piece of trash. I never bothered to care about the environment or thought about going “green”. I just did what I felt like doing and disregarded the consequences. Well, I am sure that I am not the only one in the world who didn’t care and obviously we are all heading towards regret now. After reading an article from the San Jose Mercury News, I really thought it is about time to repay a little portion of my debt and help save the planet. In order to do so, I have to learn more about the issue and of course this would mean research! Beside wanting to help restore the environment, I just want to be able to provide more than just the basic info on global warming the next time another person asks me about it.

Hmmm... Chapter 13?

When I first opened up to the assigned chapter of CDA, the first word that came upon me was “ethos”. “What the heck is that?,” was all that came to mind. When I read further on, I realized that ethos and pathos were some of the important terms used in editorial and opinion writtings. Ethos describes how a presenter would come across their audience members and pathos is the emotions that the presenter evokes. The rest of the readings in the chapter are composed of several different example of how ethos and pathos are conveyed in different people’s editorials.
The first editorial writing that the book introduced was called “Native education boosted by presence of elders.” This one was probably my most favored article apart from the others presneted in this chapter. While reading it, I couldn’t help but thought of my grandma, and how she knew a about everything and yet she didn’t. In the eyes of her family members, my grandma was the wisest out of all of our family members because she have had so much experiences that none of us could have possible gone through; however, in other people’s perspective, she was just another slow and haggard lady. It is pretty sad how so many take the elders for granted, so it was nice to have Robert Baptiste speak up for his “kupuna”. People just need to learn that elders could be just as strong and intelligent too.
E.J. Montini’s article had a very determined tone because it felt as if he was trying to scream out that “squaw” is a disrespectful term. Honestly, before I read his editorial, I didn’t even know that this term existed but I can see why he is so concerned about it. This article made me thought of how simple words could sometimes result in huge impacts. I remember the time when me and my friends were obsess with Japanese music and every time when I refer to the Japanese, I would just say “ the Japs” for short. Never did I know that “Jap“ was an offensive and derogatory term so as a result I got scolded from my friend ( who also happens to be Japanese). That incident was so shameful and embarrassing, but it because of that I could really agree with Montini’s view on the use of “squaw.”
The last two editorial were the ones that didn’t really made me think of much although the affirmative action articles should be a concerning subject for college students. They were really straight to the point on their arguments on the pros and cons of affirmative actions so I didn’t really have much to add to their comments. “Walking the Line” was a rather difficult article for me to understand because I couldn’t figure out what Jack Turner was trying to convey until the very last part of his article.

Just A Bunch Of The Same Thing

Many of the reflections about academic blogging were really well written and well organized. However, it could be that the majority of English professors think alike or it’s just a mere coincidence, that many of the essays were structured similarly and this reason made the content a little too boring. All the professors basically used the same idea that academic blogging enhances their teaching style because it allows their student to interact and to not write for the purpose of a grade, but willingly. Another thing I found to be repetitive was how the professors mentioned their doubts towards the blogging concept and then eventually gave into it because they found themselves hooked. Much of these reflections were far too typical and it felt like I was reading the same person telling the same thing over and over again. Although that was the case, I did happen to find one that I particularly liked. The one essay written by Carlton Clarks really stole my attention because of his style of writing and tone. Clark’s writing gave out a comfortable and conversational sensation while allowing the reader to easily understand his explanations. I also really like how he added an actual comment from his student into the writing because it provides an example to his point that students can interact with professors through web log and it also clarifies how Clark developed his second thoughts to academic blogging. The whole piece was basically like a story where there’s a beginning (where he just received his PhD and became a professor), a middle (where he was introduced to academic blogging) and an end (where he discovers the benefits of web log). I find this style of writing to be more interesting and enjoyable than having to read about some lifeless reflection essay without any plot.