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If you are signed up on ISIS, you will see the grades for this weekend's oped. precis online before I get back from San Diego.
Please post your precis for the weekend of 4/9 & 4/10 here.
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From Katie Zelaya, Latino Student Union
About Me
- Rozmiarek
- This year marks the thirteenth year of my career with King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, as well as my life in the Los Angeles area. Though I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai'i and earned my first degree in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Carnegie Mellon University) this school and its faculty and students have a very special place in my heart. It is my hope that this blogspot provides another avenue for current and former K/D Family members to discuss topics both academic and personal.
In Lucy Jones' opinion editorial "What Clifornia can learn from the Chile,New Zealand, and Japan quakes(April 8,2011), she reports on how California could improve its building and safety policies for withstanding the earthquake environment. The author chronolizes the lessons in which we can prepare for a big earthquake greater than a magnitude of 5.0; then Jones uses as examples the Chileans and Japanese did when earthquakes of great magnitude had made little building damages also had little lives lost. In the end she also took into account the most simplest actions like getting under the table and stopping anything that requires movement (trains) or something crticial that can be life threating(surgery). Her purpose is to warn and caution the people that live in the L.A. county to be ready for earthquakes by being prepare in the structure of buildings and to know mentally what to do in case of danger and emergencies.
ReplyDeleteHe wasted his entire life in a cell all because of a relentless attorney who now expect to repair the damage with money. In John Thompson's online-editorial article "The Prosecution Rests, but I Can't"(April 9, 2011), the author demands that corrupted prosecutors be penalize for their inconsiderate performance that causes the lives of many innocent defendants. The author organizes his piece based on an anecdote presented of his bad experience with myopic prosecutors; the story gives his purpose a profound meaning in which he invites the reader to feel his agony.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, Thompson incorporates rhetorical questions that provide context for his response to the question, and then closes his argument with an emotional approach in order to gain the reader's compassion. Thompson's intended audience is the Supreme Court and ruthless prosecutors who put innocent lives in danger because he gives a resentful demand for careful and fair revisions of "criminal" cases that may conclude to be unjust.
In Lucy Jones editorial piece, “What California can learn from the Chile, New Zealand, and Japan quakes,” for the Los Angeles Times (April 8th, 2011) Jones claims that California can learn how to effectively prevent damage and the loss of lives from earthquake disasters by analyzing the infrastructure and safety policies of areas recently devastated by earthquakes (i.e. Chile, New Zealand, and Japan). Jones initially starts out her piece by giving a brief summary on the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that stuck Chile and how despite being the “sixth-largest earthquake recorded in the last century” killed fewer people than initially projected. She also mentions the quick recoveries of New Zealand and Japan following devastating earthquakes, and then states the first two lessons California can learn from these countries- designing more earthquake resistant buildings and being more knowledgeable in earthquake science-so that the people can be better prepared once an earthquake hits. She concludes by stating that it is knowledge that “empowers us” and provides an anecdote of a man who saved his own life by realizing that it was safer for him to hide under a table rather than go outside when an earthquake hit. Jones analyzes the engineering and architectural building designs of Chile, New Zealand, and Japan, as well as their technological advancements and social practices, in order to get Californians to learn and apply these methods to our own state. Her audiences are California architects, engineers, scientists, seismologists, and state and city officials, who can all work together to make sure that the California state and its people are better aware and protected when an earthquake strikes.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark Lynas’s opinion-editorial article “Why nuclear power is still a good choice” for the Los Angeles Times (April 10, 2011), Lynas argues that nuclear power isn’t actually as bad as everyone thinks it is. First he summarizes how the Fukushima disaster in Japan has caused conflict in the environmental movement over which resources to use for clean energy. Then Lynas explains how even before the disaster in Japan, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. had been releasing enormous amounts of radioactive water into the sea, and the seafood harvested receives its dose of radiation. Apparently, the Tokyo tap water that was declared unsafe only has 210 becquerels of radiation per liter, as opposed to the legal limit of 1,000 becquerels per liter. To conclude, Lynas provides examples of how coal greatly contributes to global warming, and ever since the disaster in Japan, many countries have switched back to using coal; furthermore, Lynas states that he is supportive of the clean, alternative sources of energy, but then provides of examples of how they are hurtful to our biodiversity. Lynas paradoxically supports nuclear power instead of windmills and solar plants because he argues that they are better for the environment; moreover, he insists that everyone should consider the science and real-world risks when it comes to nuclear power instead of “scary stories from the past.” Lynas targets different groups of people and organizations on different topics related to worldly environmental health: environmentalists, media, different countries, and environmental groups.
ReplyDeleteIn Peter Lovenheim's article "Social experiment: Know thy neighbor" (April 8, 2011), he explains that people should take the time to get to know their neighbors because it will help us live with others "with a sense of common humanity". Also because we might never know how our neighbors could enrich our lives until we actually get to know them. The author begins with an anecdote in order to explain why he personaly began to think that people should get to know their neighbors. Then Lovenheim uses dialogue to create the scene of when he approached one of his neighbors and how he learned alot from her. To conclude Lovenheim presents a rhetorical question followed by the answer in order to explain why neighborhoods still matter, and they matter because if we have a problem we could just turn to a neighbor who will be close enough to assist us. Lovenheim's purpose is to demonstrate why it is important to get to know the people around us in order to rebuild "a healthy civil society". Lovenheim seems to have everyone who lives in neighborhoods as audience in mind because he wants to convince them that in order to live peacefully with people whose ideas are different from ours we have to start by first getting to know the people in our neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark Lynas' editorial piece, "Why nuclear power is still a good choice," for the Los Angeles Times(April 10,2011) Lynas argues how nuclear power is actually a good source of energy compared to other sources like coal and solar power. Lynas begins his piece by discussing the disaster that occured in Fukushima, Japan and discussing how radiation measures in tap water aren't as dangerous for humans. Lynas then discusses how other forms of energy like solar and wind, especially coal, would add more harm to the environment as well as the world. Using coal as an energy source would increase the levels of carbon emitted into the atmosphere, not to metion would be more costly than nuclear power plants that would be cheaper and emit less carbon. Lynas conclused by stating that a new perspective is needed when dealing with new environmental policies. Lynas' purpose is to discuss how other sources of energy, that nations such as Germnay, are turning to instead of nuclear power are actually damaging the environment more, in order to demonstrate how environmentalist and government officials need to have a different and new perspective when facing environmental issues & policies. Lynas' audience is environmentalists and government officials.
ReplyDeleteIn Maureen Doed's editorial article "Blowin' in the Idiot Wind" (April 9, 2011), she addresses how entertainers have been selling out democracy by performing in countries in political turmoil, especially Bob Dylan. Doed begins her argument by getting straight to the point; "Bob Dylan may have done the impossible: broken creative new ground in selling out." She then goes to point out other artists who have "sold out," including Beyonce, Mariah, Usher who "[collected] millions to crron to Qaddafi's family," and even Elton John who "[serenaded] gay-bashers at Rush Limbaugh's fourth wedding." By comparing similar scenarios, Doed makes the reader anticipate the worst of Bob Dylan. Doed explains how Bob Dylan, an iconic folksinger of the 60's known for his message songs, performed a pre-approved set of music by the government in China, well aware of the censoring repression happening in Communist China. He obediently "sang his censored set, took his pile of Communist cash and left." Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch was outraged by this, saying that if the Tea Party in Idaho said he's not allowed to play whatever he wants, you'd get a different response. Ironically, Bob Dylan walked off "The Ed Sullivan Show" when he was 22 years old after CBS censors told him he couldn't sin "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues." Dylan defends himself by saying he never wanted to be a folksinger; he was branded that unwillingly. He saw an opportunity to cash in on a huge audience and took it. Doed concludes the article with a quote from one of Dylan's songs: "Maybe the songwriter should reread some of his own lyrics: 'I think you will find/ When your death takes it toll/ All the money you made/ Will never buy back your soul.'" By ending the article this way, Doed leaves the reader with a sense of irony, and puts emphasis on Bob Dylan's hipocrisy.
ReplyDeleteIn Meyer's editorial "Cheaper Sweepers" (4/10/11), he argues that the city council of Long Beach should pass the proposal from the city councilman Gary DeLong propsed, which proposes that instead of hiring city employees to do street sweeping they should hire a private company to do the job instead.First, Meyer explains the proposal, then he describes the pro's and con's of the proposal and the positive effects it would have to the city budget (it would save about 34%). Finally, he provides the effects from cities that have hired private companies to do the street sweeping and the percentage the city has saved due to this proposal. His purpose is to demonstrate to citizens how the city does not do the impossible to save money.The city council refuses to pass a necessary plan to save money so they can spend it on education, transportation, etc. He seems to have citizen's of Long Beach audience in mind because he particularly states the saving percentage the proposal would have to the city budget.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark Lynas’ L.A. Times opinion article “Why Nuclear Power is Still a Good Choice”(4/10/11), he declares that although nuclear power has caused trouble in Japan, it is still a reasonable power source to prevent global warming. He first describes the recent Japanese disaster’s effect on the nuclear power debate by explaining how rather than increasing opposition against nuclear power, it has actually drawn more supporters towards it. He then describes how nuclear power has been unreasonably condemned as a bad power source by commenting that although it is dangerous, it provides great amounts of clean energy and its elimination would enlarge the global warming problem because many nations dependent on nuclear power would be forced to switch to power that causes carbon emissions, such as coal. To conclude, he declares that nuclear power is still logical and should be part of a system of clean energy by stating that it is preferable to a system of heavily carbon-emitting power. His purpose is to persuade the reader that nuclear power is still a practical power source in order to encourage the building of more nuclear power plants with safer, more modern technology. He seems to have people who oppose nuclear power as an audience in mind because he convinces them that it is an acceptable power source and is preferable to a system of carbon-emitting forms of power.
ReplyDeleteIn Peter Lovenheim’s article “Social Experiment: Know Thy Neighbor” (2011), he suggest that it would be convenient if we get to know our neighbors. The author first states that there are many people who don’t know the people they live around by providing an anecdote in which he explains he didn’t know a woman until she was 90 years of age, but he had seen her around his block since she was middle-aged. Then he supports his claim by providing his neighbors declarations, in which they state that they don’t know their neighbors either. To conclude he addresses the benefit of knowing our neighbors by presenting a rhetorical question followed by the answer. Lovenheim’s purpose is to persuade people the importance of knowing neighbors in order to encourage them to know their neighbors. She seems to have a teen, adult audience in mind because he wants teens to start socializing at an early age and wants adults who are isolated to start because it’s never too late.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark Lynas Op-Ed article from the LA Times"Why nuclear power is still a good choice"(4/10/11) provides reason as to why nuclear energy should still be used instead of other fossil fuels. First he provides us with facts on the amount of radioactive water that Tokyo releases compared to the amount of radiation you get from boarding an airplane to show that radiation released in power plant's isn't really that dangerous. Then Lyna's uses logic when he states how impossible it is for the world to reuse energy instead of nuclear power. Finally he provides us with statistics on how much it will cost for a small country like Japan to go green an how much land would be used up to make "wind farms" to show how difficult it is to try and go green. His purpose is to show the complex issues in trying to go green, and how bad it is to use up fossil fuels to demonstrate that nuclear power plants are a better source for energy. His audience seems to be a conservatist one because he talks about conserving fossil fuels and trying to go green.
ReplyDeleteIn the Los Angeles Times editorial , "Gays in textbooks: Best told by Historians, not by politicians"(4/10/11), he/she scolds california politicians for trying to change the curriculum to include lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgenders. According to the author this isn't the first time this bill ,SB 48, was introduced it was presented to Gov. Schwarnzenegger in '06 and vetoed. He/she argues that its not a politicians place to try and change more things into history books it should only be historians and teachers. Teacher are already strugglin to teach the whole cirriculum within the school year before the standardized tests. To concludes by describing how there are other requirements that SB 48 has listed to add to the school requirements. He/she has the politicians in mind because the article is against the SB 48 bill.
ReplyDeleteIn the New York time's online Op-Ed article, "The Prosecution rests, but I Can't" (April 10,2011), John Thompson agitatedly articulates how he was thrown in jail for 18 years, (14 years on death row), for a murder that he did not commit. He first engages the readers by giving an anecdote of how he was accused of murder, how the execution date continued to be pushed back seven times, how he was suppose to die the day before his oldest son graduated, and finally how the detectives had discovered evidence that the prosecutors covered up. The ring sold to him just days after the murder belonged to the victim, and the gun was the murder weapon. Thompson had been framed. He uses diction such as "death row", "volts of electricity", and "execution" to further appeal to the readers emotions. Thompson concludes with a rhetorical question and its answer. This article serves to inform the federal government in New Orleans of the corruption of the prosecutors and to fix the jail system so that no other innocent people are falsely accused of a crime. Thompson seems to have the jurors, judges, and prosecutors of New Orleans in mind.
ReplyDeleteIn “Social Experiment: Know Thy Neighbor (April 8, 2011),” Peter Lovenhiem evaluates the increasing disconnection between the residents of modern neighborhoods. He lists instances where he knit his community together, and in one example he gathered other neighbors to help a single mother with breast cancer in the neighborhood. He stresses the importance of forging a relationship with those who live close by because they may be beneficial in the event of emergency and interacting with people of different beliefs or methods is a useful learning experience. Lovenhiem ends his piece assuring that people usually welcome their neighbors if only an effort is made. Rebuilding healthy and civil relationships with those who live close by is an awesome and timely purpose for this article. This article was written for every American, for the amount of people who make the effort to have relationships with their neighbors is steadily declining.
ReplyDeleteIn Mary Roach's editorial piece from the New York Times, "In Space, Guys Finish First", Roach claims that being a nice person, such as the first person to ever walk on the moon Yuri Gagarin, is the most important thing an astronaut must be if they are ever to leave Earth for the moon or even Mars. Roach begins by informing the readers of a man named Yuri Gagarin and assumes, based off evidence he found at a museum honoring him, that the reason he was chosen for the expedition to space was almost entirely due to his nice nature. He continues by further presenting that he was just an average person, but because of that one outstanding quality and his willingness to follow orders, he stood apart the rest and was therefore chosen to head into space and make history. Roach concludes by stating that if an astronaut wants to be eligible for going to Mars, they must follow Yuri's example and become the Yuri of the twenty-first century. Roach's purpose is to inform people of what it really takes to become the next man to the moon or Mars, a little kindness and good listening skills. She writes with astronauts in mind because all the advice is directed at future astronauts.
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ReplyDeleteIn the LATimes article, “Budget rivals look to the future of Medicare, Medicaid” published on April 10, 2011, the author reports that budget plans for 2012 will be voted on by the House of Representatives this week. The author first reminds the audience through personification that the House Republicans will “slash” or vote to terminate domestic spending, decrease income tax rates and make Medicare impossible. The personification here serves to create tension; the author seems to disapprove of the Republican’s politics and describes their decisions as destructive ones. The author uses political jargon to inform that Obama’s speech this Wednesday, will discuss the Democratic budget plan, which will make Medicare accessible. To conclude, the author states that Obama wants to end tax cuts for those making more than $200,000 and families more than $250,000.With an anecdote the author states that president Obama’s budget plan is to have those who make more give more. The author’s purpose is to provide legitimate political information to Americans of the 2012 budget plans in order to make the public aware of how they would be impacted by it. She seems to have a Democratic audience in mind because she uses a jarring tone to depict the real Republican 2012 budget plan.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark Lynas's editorial "Why nuclear power is still a good chioce" (April 10, 2011), he argues that nuclear power is a great source of enviomentally safe souce of power despite recent events in Japan. The author first contradicts the argument that nuclear power isn't a good souce of power with statistics; he then advocates nuclear power as a good souse of power with facts explaing how nuclear power isn't as horrible as recent news makes it seem, and to conclude he emphasized nuclear power's value as an enviomentally safe and all around better source of power than the alternatives. His purpose is to peruade readers that nuclear power is a great souce of power despite recent news in order to prevent the consequences of cindeming nuclear power from occuring. He seems to have anti-nuclear power activists in mind as an audience because all his arguments opposes these ideas.
ReplyDeleteTimothy A. Hasci takes a step back and analyzes the incorrect ways we think of the leaders of our school systems in "Stop Waiting for a Savior" (April 10, 2011) an article he wrote for the New York Times. Hasci takes a hard look at the flaw of placing the blame of a failed school system on superintendents. Hasci uses past examples of failed superintendents and how their firing was never a solution to the problem. In his case of trying to take the huge burden placed on superintendents Hasci also speaks of highly successful superintendents and their total failure when moved to different school districts. As Hasci puts it the solution comes down to "...additional money, used wisely; longer school days; better-paid and better-prepared teachers; year-round schooling..." Hasci is writing to inform people to stop waiting on one person to fix everything and encouraging them to take an initiative by providing them with the solution to the problem. Hasci is writing to everyone in the nation with children in the school system because they are the ones most affected by this.
ReplyDeleteIn the editorial article, "Gays in textbooks: Best told by historians, not by politicians" for the Los Angeles Times (April 8,2011), the author emphasizes the idea that politicians should have little to no say in what goes into textbooks especially regarding gays, bisexuals, lesbians, and transgenders. The article begins with an example from Texas that illustrates the role that politicians played in altering the textbooks to downplay and reduce the realities of history. The article then transitions into explanations as to why legislation should not pass a bill that would enable the inclusion of gays in the social studies curriculum. The article concludes that if politicians do participate in the process, there would inevitably be more lies than truth. The purpose of the article was to highlight the reasons, for educators as well as those that may have a child in the educational system, that politicians should stay out of the writings for textbooks seeing as the "history" produced will no longer be credible.
ReplyDeleteIn Peter Lovenheim's oped article,"Social Experiment: Know thy neighbor" (April 10, 2011) he argues over the importance of people getting to know their neighbors because doing so can benefit people in so many ways. Lovenheim opens his article with an anecdote, where he writes about an elderly lady, who he later finds out is now 90 years old, that he would often see walking around his block when he was a child. She was an accomplished pianist and harpist and could have given music lessons to the kids on the block. Lovenheim then continues his article with examples on how getting to know your neighbors can be beneficial when he writes about a woman who had breast cancer, and how the neighborhood arranged to take care of her children while she went to the doctor. Lovenheim concludes his article by stating why neighbors matter, from enriching our lives to being resources. His purpose is to get people to familiarize with their neighbors. His intended audience seems to be everyday people, because everybody has neighbors whom they need to familiarize themselves with.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark Lynas’s online op-ed article “Why nuclear power is still a good choice” (4/10/11), Mark Lynas asserts that instead of uniting the environmental movement in renewable opposition to nuclear power, the Fukushima disaster in Japan has divided it still further. Lynas supports his claims about why nuclear power is still a good choice with facts, example and statistics that compare past, present and future situations concerning with energy facing an increase in global warming. Lynas’ purpose is to reveal that nuclear energy is not entirely safe, as Fukushima clearly demonstrates, but coal and other fossil use are far far worse, so we need a portfolio of clean energy technologies, deployed in the most environmental responsible way. Mark Lynas audience should be those of the scientific backgrounds who are trying to think of ways to decrease the risks of global warming.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your posts! The grades are now posted on ISIS -- hope you / your parents have access!
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