Not A Goodbye,But Definitely A See You Later :)

As this wonderful semester comes to an end I can walk away saying that I didn't leave empty handed; instead I'm leaving with tons of new knowledge. I have learned a lot this semester that I would have never imagined would be possible to learn in such a short period of time. I have learned the art of persuasion and I believe that this was something that I was able to make an improvement in through the course of time in this class. Our discussions in class have opened us up to new ideas and new perspectives. It has also showed us how the support that you give for your perspective on a certain topic has to appeal to the audience's emotion, has to have some logic in it, and has to be fair to the other side as well. Natasha you are a wonderful teacher and you make the class exciting and encourage us to learn. I have to admit that the first day of class I got scared because you had said that their was going to be a whole lot of writing in the course and I was afraid to get overwhelmed with so much writing but I decided that I was going to stick it through and I'm glad that I did. I never thought that writing could have some excitement to it and that was a discovery that I made in this course. I feel comfortable coming out of this class because I know that I have become a stronger writer thanks to you. The only thing that I recommend that you do differently is to allow more time to do the advocacy ad and website for the proposal so that the students are able to be more creative with it but other than that you are doing an awesome job. This is not a goodbye for any of us, rather it's a see you later.

On Skid Row: Why hasn't anyone done anything!!

When I saw this video their was a question that automatically popped into my head. WHY? Why isn't anyone helping these people that are just like us with the exception that they aren't as ignorant of these situations as we are. I bet that if we switched places with them they would help us out until every single homeless person on skid row had somewhere to call home and roof over their head. So why can't we do the same? Is it so hard to donate a few dollars that we will probably spend on something unimportant to them? Los Angeles should provide more housing for these people because they are responsible for the homelessness of all those people. If they really cared about them they would do everything they could to keep them off the streets.
It's amazing to see that even though these people have lost everything they still have hope and still count on God to help them out when all else fails. They haven't lost faith in God and they struggling everyday to survive because they want a better tomorrow.
If you think that we can't do anything about it and that it doesn't affect us you are completely wrong because there is something that we can do and it affects us more than you think. We can donate money, clothing, food, and tents just as we did when Haiti needed our help. Just one person can make a huge difference because if that weren't true those 33 miners in Chile would still be in the ground. If we helped Haiti out why can't we help those people on skid row that need all the help they can get. This all affects us because our ignorance is pushing these people to become the criminals that might come right through our doorway one day and that may end up locked up afterwards. Instead of creating criminals out of those people who get so desperate that eventually have no choice but to become one, we should help bring out the good in all of these people and help get them off the streets and under a roof.
Imagine if it were one of you; wouldn't you want someone to be humanistic enough to lend you a hand or atleast buy you a sandwich when you were starving? I think you would so why don't we all get into their shoes and do what you would like others to do to help you out if you were in that situation.

First Amendment; A Fine Line?

What the Westboro Baptist Church is doing is outrageous and disrespectful. How is it possible that they can be happy for what happened on 9/11 when this was a tragic event for all of America. If anyone was convinced with the video it was because of all the factual evidence that they provided. They quoted the first ammendment and said that the Supreme Court would have to overrule it in order to get rid of it. They said that they were far away from the funerals, exactly how far they were from them, and how long they would spend picketting there. The language that they used showed how passionate they were about the issue and how much they believed that what they said was true. They used a serious tone to argue the issue but were kind of biased because they made it sound like anyone with an idea other than theirs was a fool. They wanted us to believe like them and no other way. According to them they were respectful to God and worshipped him but to other people who believe differently they were being disrespectful to him. The only thing that strengthened their support was how they had different types of people of different ages and children supporting their belief and used the actual words of the ammendment to support their cause. Even though they provided information from the other side who believed that it was disrescpectful to be happy for 9/11 and for all of the dead soldiers it wasn't enough because they used it in their favor. Even though they strengthened their argument with proof I don't believe that it is right for them to discriminate against the Gay Community or show their happiness for the dead soldiers and the 9/11 attack with pickette signs when people could be hurt by their words. One thing is to have freedom of speech but another is to abuse that priviledge and start a problem with them. If they keep allowing this group to hold pickette signs saying these disrespectful and unhumane things other people are going to take actions into their own hands and things are going to get ugly. The freedom of speech ammendment says that you have the freedom to say what you believe but it has a broad definition and the Supreme Court can interpret it as they want and if they can do that then they can put a fine line to it and prohibit this group from disrespecting our families and country. It seems ti me that they are a cult because only a minor amount of people believe in what they say and they are doing this to hurt people which to me hurting the country and its people even if it's emotionally defines a cult.
It's wrong for them to be picketting at soldier's funerals because for one their funeral is private and if they aren't permitted to be there by the soldier's family than they shouldn't be there or anywhere near it. It is wrong to celebrate a person's death especially if they fought for the safety of their country. I would think that a hate crime is a form of hating people for their actions, beliefs, etc. and I believe that this group of people are performing one because they hate every person that doesn't believe like them and say that we are all being punished for our sins but in reality no one is person and they aren't the exception so in that case than they would be the ones going to hell as well.
If the Supreme Court puts limits to the freedom of speech ammendment I wouldn't have a problem with it because it's wrong for someone to protest in the way that the Westboro Baptist Church does. One thing is to be able to have free speech and another is to insult people in doing so because this ammendment is meant to allow people to think differently and have no problem expressing their feelings but their should be a limit to it.
In  my opinion this group should be put to a stop because they are hurting many people with their picketts and this could cause huge problems.

Their is only so much time!!

Fall semester is going to be just as easy as the summer semester at FIU I thought, but I was wrong. Apart for the semester being longer, there are also many more classes to worry about and study for. Now I have to manage my time more than ever because I  have classes, work, friends, family, and a boyfriend to worry about. Last semester I didn't have a job so I had a lot of free time on my hands, but this semester is quite the contrary. It's a bit overwhelming when you think about it because it feels like you will never have enough time for everything that you need to get done, but if you plan things out and manage your time correctly it all works out at the end.


For starters I have given this a thought and what I'm going to do so that I don't stress about not having enough time is that I will do my homework assignments the first day that I receive them so that they don't pile up on me. All throughout my school life I have been the type of person that leaves things for the last minute and then does it all under pressure, which isn't that bad because I actually work better under pressure, but their is only so much you can get done at the last minute. Now that I'm no longer in high school I need to learn how to get my stuff done early because if I don't then I won't be able to get any of it done on time.


I also don't want to be all work and no play. I want to have enough time for myself to go out with friends and have fun or spend time with my family and my boyfriend. We all need some time off from school and work and the only way that can happen is if we get everything done early so that we have all the extra time for our self. I believe that it will get easier once I get used to managing my time and get more comfortable with the college experience.