Going into this class, I was a little hesitant, not because it was a writing class, but because it was a research course. I have done a couple of research papers between high school and freshman year but I have never taken a course entirely dedicated to it. I thought that it was going to be a lot of work and I was a little nervous because I never properly learned how to research. When we started Unit I, I was ready to jump in and give it a try. I thought that the topic of Food Politics was very interesting and unlike most classes, it would be something I would not mind writing and learning about. I enjoyed watching Food Inc. in class and reading the other sources that we used in our final articles. I thought it was cool to use different mediums as research. A major thing I learned from this was that you have to take who the author is into consideration. You have to determine whether they are a credible source and if they are biased in any way. I remember coming to class one day, after our homework was to read and annotate Blake Hurst’s article, Organic Illusions. I read the article, took notes, and came to class feeling confident on my take of his article. In class, when Amy asked for our opinions of the article, all of the people she had called on had said something that was the complete opposite of what I thought. They said that he was very sarcastic and that there was no evidence to support the claims he was making. Hearing all of these things, I sank in my seat and hoped to not get called on. That class made me realize that I just read the article and believed every word he said. I did not once question where he got his information from, who he was, and whether he was a credible source or not. This, to me, is a very important lesson you need to learn when you are doing research, and I am happy that it happened in the beginning of the semester.

Next, came taking pieces from each source and trying to connect them in a clear and cohesive manner. If you think that you can just do this on your first try you are wrong. This takes a couple of tries and it helps if you are very organized with your sources. The Sorting It Out Workshop was a helpful activity that allowed us to identify the project of each piece we read/watched and pick out pieces of information that connect with each other and support the claim we are trying to make. Doing multiple drafts and peer editing really made my final post so much better and made me feel more confident about it.

Multiple challenges arose for me in Unit II. Public speaking is definitely not something I like to do or think I am good at. Also the fact that we had to pick our own topic and start our research from scratch was a little intimidating. The good part about picking our own controversies was that we each got to pick something that we are interested in and eager to learn about. The topic that I chose was heroin and addiction. This topic was a little difficult because there are many problems that are fairly recent. This made finding information from databases a little bit difficult. The class where we learned about the different databases and which ones are useful for each topic is something that is super beneficial for future research and a great thing to know in general. Learning how to specify your topic and using different phrases and keywords really helped narrow the results and led to some really good findings for my Ted Talk and NYT article. Presenting my Ted Talk was probably the biggest challenge I faced in this course. I hate talking in front of people and presenting things, but I know that each time I do it makes it easier for the future. What also helped me give my talk was that I was really confident with the research I found and the claim I was making.

I truly learned a lot about heroin and addiction between Units II and III. Heroin is an up and coming issue for society today and some of the information I came across was frightening. The fact that there was a 286 percent increase in heroin-overdose related deaths from 2002-20013 was mind blowing to me. It was also very interesting to learn about the background behind heroin addiction and how it is so popular because people are initially addicted to prescription painkillers but then make the shift to heroin because it is a cheaper and very similar high. What I learned from these assignments made me want to continue learning about the topic and share what that knowledge with others. I am very proud of my NYT Article for Unit III and would choose to share that with people outside of class. Not only was this article a highlight of the semester, but also it made me realize how important it is to educate people on serious topics going on today. If enough people know about the dangers of heroin and addiction, it is possible for society to find a way to control and hopefully put a stop to it.

Each unit of this course presented some challenges I had to overcome, but in the end I think I was really happy and actually surprised with my final pieces. I learned a lot from this course about how and where to look for research and how to write for a specific genre and audience. I will take away many things from WRT 205 that will make my future assignments much easier.

From the very beginning of the semester I was curious to see what direction the class would take. I think the most memorable unit of the semester would have to be unit I. I noticed that Unit II took a more personal turn for me and this is what made me more interested in the class. I always find that personal topics lead me to be more engaged. A highlight for me was definitely the Ted Talk. I felt like it was important to give my Ted Talk on mass incarceration because it is something that is often overlooked. Most people trust the judicial systems ruling of “criminals” but I do not especially when it comes to sentencings that involve African-Americans. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe that the government does sometimes associate negative depictions with African Americans. We see this with the basic stereotypes of the brute, Aunt Jemima, and the infamous welfare queen, a term started by former president Ronald Reagan. That escalated into associating African Americans and Latino’s, but mostly African American with crack-cocaine in America. We often see in the media that African Americans are not granted justice. Let’s not forget Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sean Bell and even Emmett Till (1941).

Choosing to research mass incarceration was challenging and shocking at the same time. Most of the primary research I found was statistics. One stat that really struck me was “African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population.” How could this even be possible, but I believe I found the answer to that question when I learned that former Nixon domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman, said that “the war on drugs was created as a political tool to fight blacks and hippies”. How is our government to be trusted?

The only other class that I am required to do research for at the moment is my English Textual Studies class for our final paper. He is not requiring us to do as much research as we did for this class, but overall the class has helped refresh some of my research skills. Everything I have been required to do in the class as far as research is something I have done before.

The food politics unit definitely opened my eyes to plenty of things. It has affected me so much that I even threw away the Tyson frozen chicken breasts I had in my freezer. I realized that the taste was artificial and I just could not fight it anymore. I find myself always examining the color, size, taste, and smell of my foods especially from the specific industries that were discussed in the movie. Looking at certain foods now even make me nauseous because of the thoughts that run in the back of my mind. I was also shocked to learn how many of the owners of these companies have some sort of relation to the government. Again, how is our government to be trusted? I am sure they are aware of what these producers are doing, how they are recruiting illegal immigrants and how dangerous working in slaughter houses is. As long as they receive a percentage of the profit they will continue to turn a blind eye. My social controversy justified my thoughts about the United States government, this institution is not designed to protect people of color, especially African Americans. There will always be a law or institution put into place to limit the opportunities and freedom of blacks. Some succeed don’t get me wrong, but that number does not compare to the many successful whites. It was also shocking to learn that more whites are using illicit drugs, while more blacks are arrested on drug charges. I think too many ignored to comments made my former Nixon aide John Ehrlichman. If he admits that the war on drugs was a tool to target minorities, why isn’t anyone listening?

If I could continue to work on any piece, it would definitely be my mass incarceration piece because everyone needs to be aware of the society we live in. We live in a country where Presidents can openly target specific groups of people. We live in a country where African Americans are less likely to finish high school, go to college or even succeed in life overall. We live in a country where Presidents fund prisons, which creates the space for more people to be behind bars. Many of these politicians we vote for own private prisons and make money off of working citizens and criminals being in there. I’m not entirely sure what I would do with the piece this topic requires a lot of research and I only focused on certain things there is way more to be found. One option would be to turn it into a book, but who would read it? I can’t think of a creative way to get the message across.

If I could share any piece it would be my TED Talk on mass incarceration because it is something of interest to me and I am curious to see how others would react. Based off of the comments that I received after I presented the TED Talk many were unaware of the issue so I am sure that others are unaware of this as well. I would expect outsiders to be shocked because I was even shocked at what I discovered. I would not just want to share it with one person I guess I would share it with a group of my friends first because those are the people I am usually around. I’m sure they would feel the same way that I do we are all socially conscious and stay up to date on current issues especially those surrounding people of color.

1.  My title does a satisfactory job of drawing in the reader. Anyone that can speak has, at this point, some awareness of the racial tensions in America. I invite the reader to explore these racial tensions in the context of the student loan debt situation. It accurately displays the controversies surrounding the topic at hand, but leaves the reader wanting to explore more into the topic.
2. The article starts with a statement everyone can agree on. This is done so that if the reader holds different views from my own, they aren’t immediately scared off. This also serves as an introductory statement, providing the reader with context of the topic at hand. Then, a couple of sentences in, I come at the reader with the faults in the student loan process. This differs greatly from the neutral tone at the start of the article, accentuating the controversies and exigency of the topic.
3. For the responses I have received from the TED Talk, and student feedback, many people are not aware of the severity of the student loan debt situation, especially for minority students. Therefore, I am lead to believe that my claim and topic are significant and not obvious to most people. I do not feel as though my topic is common knowledge or a cliché.
4. I could have developed my clearness more, as my topic has many different socio-economic implications. It was difficult to balance both the social and economic aspect of the topic. Student loan debt is obviously impacting the economy negatively, but is also affecting minority communities socially. Stigmas attached to minorities can be dissolved if minority and non-minority students had same graduation rates and income levels.
5. The organization of the piece could have been more apparent. Transitions between small paragraphs is a technique that could have greatly benefitted my piece. For the scrambling exercise I learned that my transition between sections was not immediately apparent. However, I do not feel as though my topic was a cliché, or vague. I specifically address the concerns with student loan debt, and tried to avoid general common knowledge.
6. I used some of the many sources I had researched from my Unit II assignment in the article. I attempted to use these articles to either support an argument I made, or to illustrate statistics on my topic that illustrate the dire student loan debt situation in this country. As for a persuasive stance, I first made sure all my data and sources were accurate, which would establish credibility. This would lead to a more persuasive argument.
7. I used a total of 7 sources and 1 visual source in my piece, which were fairly easy to incorporate. One thing I noticed about my topic early on is that many people have written about it, and it is an issue of high importance in society. Therefore, finding supporting data and sources was not very difficult.
8. I enjoy the use of hyperlink, and find incorporating the hyperlink into a sentence to be an interesting challenge. I contextualize the sources by introducing them, with a sentence or two. Then I hyperlink the source in a sentence such as “A Demos analysis on the Federal Reserve’s 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances shows that, on average White high school dropouts have around the same wealth as a Black college graduate.”
9. I attempted to use statistics to appeal logically to the reader, which was simple because this is an economical topic. The use of several reputable sources and the attempt at a sophisticated tone helped build credibility. The most difficult rhetorical appeal to implement was ethos. This topic is very serious and emotionally taxing for students. Every time I think about my student loans, I get anxious and somewhat depressed. To display those feelings of dread to an audience was no small task.
10. I enjoyed the visual I incorporated into my piece very much, as it displays the massive debt these students are graduating with. I did not provide commentary on the image, as I felt that it spoke for itself. Explaining the image would only take away from the effectiveness of it, in my opinion.
11. The development from the earlier drafts was quite a process, as I had not started with many hyperlinks in the article. The remaining drafts were spent properly incorporating these sources into my piece, while making the transitions as smooth as possible.
12. Again, I found that my use of hyperlinks was executed well enough. I did not simply plop down a link for the reader to browse. With every link, there was some context preceding them that established what the link would be discussing. I tried my best to make the links appropriate and as relevant as possible.
13. I read my piece aloud a couple of times to make sure that grammatically the article is correct. Incorrect grammar and spelling is a surefire way to remove credibility, and a piece with grammar mistakes should never be printed in a prestigious webpage such as the New York Times.

Unit 3 Reflection

1. I think my title is incredible intriguing. It grabs the attention of the reader because it addresses not only sexual assault on college campuses, but it introduces the idea that college athletes are considered celebrities.
2. The first part of the article talks briefly about how college athletes are viewed by ‘regular’ students including myself. I think, even though it may have been taboo, it was important to include my own opinion because I go to a school where both our men’s and women’s basketball teams made it to the final four of this year’s March Madness. I also briefly begin to explain a very well known sexual assault case that the media has covered for roughly three years.
3. I offered up a rather strong idea within the first few paragraphs of my article. However, I don’t think it necessarily requires a large amount of analysis to support or evolve it.
4. I showed organization throughout my piece by starting out broad and describing the reputation of college athletes on campuses. I then went into a rather detailed and lengthy description of a well-known sexual assault case against FSU quarterback Jameis Winston. Additionally, I used examples from as far back as 50 years ago.
5. I think I wrote in a broad enough sense that a large portion of the general population can understand it, but I didn’t compromise it by making it too broad and making it seem like a casual issue. The sequence of which I described the athletes, actual cases, and what can be done all flowed really well together.
6. The extensive research I did definitely showed throughout the article. I used sources like USA Today and Huffington Post, which are more secondary sources. I used a police deposition as a primary source because it was released directly from the Tallahassee Police Department. It has direct quotes from the officer that was helping with the case saying that he could have done more to help the victim, Erica.
7. I met all of the requirements and a list of my sources is available at the bottom of my article along with hyperlinks after direct quotations.
8. I wove the primary and secondary sources effectively throughout the piece. I was able to use a lot of information from more than half of them because they were full of it. The legitimacy of my primary source is very serious and official and it makes a good impression on the reader that I did my extensive research.
9. I used a sense of emotion in my piece by using direct quotes and my own personal opinions about the topic. I used strong words to convey what I was feeling and I think that that showed.
10. I only chose to use one visual because I didn’t think more than one was necessary. It’s just a silhouette of violence and I think it’s simplicity represents how simple this issue can start out as, but gets escalated with reputations and too many people being involved.
11. I wasn’t able to be present for a lot of the peer editing sessions we had, so I went about my own editing process from different perspectives; how would a parent read this? How would a college student read this? How would an educator read this? This really helped me get into different mindsets of what a viewer wants to hear.
12. I used them rather affectively. If I directly quoted something I put it afterwards in parentheses.
13. Since I edited so many times, I do feel that my attention to grammar and style of the writing was taken very seriously.

I have a 50-year-old sibling with multiple medical conditions (uncontrolled epilepsy, a stroke that left her physically and mentally impaired, paranoid schizophrenia, to name a few) that have left her isolated and miserable. My 80-plus-year-old parents are her caretakers. She has the very best doctors, social workers and therapists — but none can give her a fulfilling life. She calls me crying every night, often threatening to commit suicide, a threat she has tried to make good on dozens of times. I’m struggling to know if I should stop talking her out of suicide and instead give her options for a death with dignity. If she were dying of a terminal illness, the discussion could be more frank. But what of these chronic conditions with no end in sight? Name Withheld

The quote above is from a New York Times article entitled Should I Help My Sister End Her Life? The reason why I start my article with the same quote is to describe to my readers why physician assisted suicide needs to be talked about, and why it has to happen now. If this man decided to help his sister just so she could finally be at peace, he could be charged with manslaughter and be sent to prison for up to ten years. This brother would never have to worry about anything like this if physician assisted suicide was legal. Physician assisted suicide or PAS is the act of a doctor prescribing the medication needed by their patient to end their life. This may seem extreme and a little ridiculous, but PAS can be very restricted. As shown by the laws in Oregon, Montana, Washington, Vermont and California, physician assisted suicide has many restrictions. As stated in their laws, “An adult who is competent, is a resident of Washington state, and has been determined by the attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and who has voluntarily expressed his or her wish to die, may make a written request for medication that the patient may self-administer to end his or her life in a humane and dignified manner.” Another requirement that is not listed in this statement is that the patient must have no more than six months to live.

Now that you’ve been educated on Physician assisted suicide and what it really is, you can understand the opposing arguments for physician assisted suicide and why most of them are absurd. The main arguments for why PAS should stay illegal are religious and moral based. The religious based arguments are centered around suicide being a sin, and the moral based arguments are centered around the Hippocratic oath.

The religious arguments are extremely difficult to combat because you can’t argue religion. Religion is based on interpretation and that’s why you can have people who are barely religious and others who murder people in the name of their religion. Based on that alone you can’t argue that physician assisted suicide is allowed religiously, but that shouldn’t be where you combat the issue. The area in which you argue for PAS is that religion doesn’t belong in our laws because some people are atheist and law has to account for everyone. That being said if physician assisted suicide is legal, then people who aren’t religious have an option, and people who are can abstain from PAS. Just because PAS is legal doesn’t mean that everyone has to use it.

The moral based argument is the most relatable to people. I mean if you were a doctor would you be able to live with giving your patient something that would kill them? Most people would say no, and I would be inclined to agree with them until you really think about what doctors go through. Doctors essentially become part of their patient’s family when they are diagnosed with a terminal illness. They have to deal with them day in and day out and they grieve with them as they slowly pass away. Now if a doctor is basically family why wouldn’t they start to think like the brother in the opening quote? In reality they would and a gallup poll shows that 68% of doctors do, and if doctors support it why should people say otherwise.

Now that you know the arguments against physician assisted suicide and how they are very weak, all you need to know is why should PAS be legalized. That is plain and simple, people want die with dignity and not be in agony for their last few months on this planet. Why should people who are healthy dictate their end of life decisions?

Heroin is no longer a private activity. Residue from users can be seen anywhere, in parks, on the streets, even on public transportation. A serious threat is being imposed on society and unfortunately it seems more people are supporting it rather than trying to fight it.

Heroin is becoming a very popular new trend in today’s society. The drug is cheap, highly addictive, and becoming increasingly available. Heroin addiction often starts from an original addiction to opiates, or painkillers. People are 40 times more likely to be addicted to heroin if they are addicted to prescription painkillers (US NEWS). In the nineteenth century, physicians played a major part in addiction, by using morphine and opium to cure common symptoms, unintentionally turning their patients into addicts (Unick, George Jay).[1] However, most of their patients were white upper, to middle class users, which supports the fact that prescription painkillers were not cheap. The steep cost is what makes users shift to heroin because they get a very similar high for a much lower price.

An estimated 13.5 million people in the world take opioids, or opium-like substances, including 9.2 million who use heroin (DRUG FREE WORLD). There has been a major increase in heroin use within the past decade. The rate of heroin-related overdose deaths increased 286 percent between 2002 and 2013 (US NEWS).

Despite what many people believe, heroin does not discriminate. It affects all ages, genders, classes, locations, and races. In fact, there has been a large increase among heroin use and young white males. Large metropolitan areas are said to be at the highest risk for heroin use, however now a lot of attention is being placed on white suburbs as they are becoming a problem area.

Although heroin is an illegal drug, it is becoming more and more public and its residue can be seen in many places. A video was posted on Youtube, on April 5^th, 2015, of a young man shooting up while riding a city bus in Philadelphia, in full view of other passengers.

Since heroin is so cheap and so widely available, users are buying more often and shooting up as soon as they can, often in public places. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the city had to close the bathroom of a historic church that was open to accommodate homeless people, because several people had overdosed in them (NY TIMES).

The reason for the public use of heroin addicts may be partially related to the root cause of the addiction, which is legal opioid painkillers. In many different places, such as Linthicum, Maryland, Cincinnati, Niagara Falls, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, addicts have been found in public restrooms, often in fast-food chains, overdosed, sometimes with the needles still in their arms (NY TIMES).

There have also been public views of addicts overdosing and then being revived by Narcan, which reverses the effects of heroin. In 2014, about 125 Americans died everyday due to overdose (NY TIMES). The death rate from overdose is increasing at a much faster rate than other causes of death.

Along with the public use of heroin, is the increase in safety hazards in everyday life. After shooting up, addicts often leave behind dirty needles and syringes wherever they injected. In a documentary titled Heroin in America, by David Muir on ABC News, groups of young children were asked if they had ever seen needles or been exposed to other paraphernalia before. All of them raised their hands and said that they have seen them while walking down the street, or lying in the grass at the park. With dirty needles lying around everywhere, it is very dangerous for society. So many diseases can spread if the needles were touched accidentally, and children should not be exposed to or have to worry about these things while walking to school or playing outside.

The best way to put an end to this would be to stop the supply of heroin all together. However, that may be a little unrealistic. Heroin is so highly addictive that it those who are under its control will do anything to get it.

Opioids and heroin affect the brain in the same way. They increase the amount of dopamine that is released in the limbic system of the brain, which creates intense pleasure. The pleasure is so strong that people become physically and psychologically dependent on the drug. The drug also takes over other parts of the brain, such as the systems that drive judgment, planning, and organization. These areas now encourage using the drug and the brain serves to people’s addiction (NPR). This all happens so fast that people become highly addicted with their first use.

The things addicts will do when they are in need of heroin cannot be underestimated. Heroin affects peoples judgment and decision making so much that users may do things they never thought they would do in a million years.

Some users anonymously posted about their lives as junkies, how fast the drug took over, and how ashamed they were of the things that they have done:

“From the day I started using, I never stopped. Within one week I had gone from snorting heroin to shooting it. Within one month I was addicted and going through all my money. I sold everything of value that I owned and eventually everything that my mother owned. Within one year, I had lost everything.”

“I sold my car, lost my job, was kicked out of my mother’s house, was $25,000 in credit card debt, and living on the streets of Camden, New Jersey. I lied, I stole, I cheated.”

“If anything, death was better than the a life as a junkie” (DRUG FREE WORLD).

Supervised-injection facilities are a suggested new form of treatment for the epidemic. These facilities aim to decrease the amount of overdoses and ensure the use of clean needles and other paraphernalia. Instead of rejection and exclusion, this approach suggests that a lot of the harm caused by drug use could be reduced with decriminalization, education, and the provision of clean needles.

This is silly because it basically supports the normalization of illicit drug use. Drugs, especially heroin, are causing so many tragedies in our country that people should want to put an end to them. However, by believing that it is okay to do drugs as long as you practice them safely is just maintaining the epidemic. This approach allows users to shoot up whenever they would like and does not show any of the consequences of using drugs.

The most beneficial form of treatment for heroin and opioid addiction would be specialized rehabilitation centers specifically for heroin and opiates. These drugs are so strong and affect people differently than any other drug. “Treatment for opioid addiction includes a variety of services: medication, talk therapy, job support, all stretched out over years. Detox is not enough” (NPR).

These rehab centers should also be more proactive in wanting to really help heroin addicts. Tracey Helton Mitchell, a certified addiction specialist, who was once a heroin addict, describes today’s treatment centers as a “one-size-fits-all” approach. She believes society needs to “have a variety of different kinds of treatment interventions that address people’s needs” (NPR). We need to stop grouping addicts together and try to reach out to them as individuals and help them based on their unique needs and motivations.

Before these changes can happen, society needs to drop the stigma around addiction. Many intervention agencies deem heroin addicts as powerless and incapable of reason and self-control. Treating people as if they have no chance of getting better will make them lose all hope and will to even try. In no way should addicts be praised, but they should be treated like everyone else. Heroin is a drug that can affect everyone. Like I stated earlier, it does not discriminate based on race, age, gender, or class, and it works so fast that it only takes one time to be addicted for life. Once people start treating addicts as individuals and not as a “troubled group” a lot of self-respect, rational subjectivity, and autonomy will be restored among addicts, and hopefully the addiction rates will decrease.

The last thing I believe will help put an end to the heroin addiction that is sweeping the nation, is truly educating people of all ages about the dangers of heroin.

Other than a health class in sixth and ninth grade, I have never really been exposed to much information about heroin. I learned that it was bad and illegal but a lot of drugs people use are bad and illegal. However, those other drugs do not affect people’s lives even a quarter as much as heroin does. If people were really submerged and saw how heroin changes almost every aspect of a person’s life and how they become completely dependent on it, it would make society, especially the youth, realize that heroin and opioids are not something to mess around with.

As simple as it seems, it could really be effective in reducing heroin addiction rates within the United States.

Putting an end to heroin and trying to reduce addiction is something that needs more attention and more support. With the way it has increased in the last decade, let alone the past couple of years, I am scared to see what the future will be like if nothing changes. People need to start now otherwise in the upcoming years there will be more supervised-injection facilities than McDonalds restaurants.

[1] Unick, G. J., Rosenblum, D., Mars, S., & Ciccarone, D. (2013). Intertwined epidemics: National demographic trends in hospitalizations for heroin- and opioid-related overdoses, 1993-2009. PLoS One, 8(2) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054496

Reflection

1. I think that my topic alone is something that people are very curious about and are interested to read about. I tried to be very gripping with my title and lede by using the word “epidemic” and informing readers that something big is affecting society and that it is very serious.
2. My introductory section does a good job with exigency because it talks about today’s society and how people are being affected by heroin, whether they are the ones using or just bystanders. It also talks about the increase in numbers from past years to today.
3. I reiterated my main idea multiple times throughout my article. Each paragraph, whether I was talking about statistics, the background of heroin addiction, or ways to prevent it, I supported my main idea and used sources as well.
4. I think I did a really good job organizing my piece. I went through everything I wanted to tell the reader and put it together so it flowed nicely and made most sense.
5. I think that when writing this piece, I read through my research and the stance I took on the topic, and really thought about and tried to address counter arguments in my article. I tried to fully develop my point of view and support it completely.
6. I looked through a lot of sources when researching my topic. I wanted to make sure I was very informed and the information was accurate. I connected the research I found and used it to help support my stance and show flaws in other counter arguments.
7. I used many sources in my article to provide statistics and expert’s views and opinions. I relate some of the views of different sources to show how others support my point of view as well.
8. I used sources at good times when I was trying to make a point and a source supported that and provided reason behind why people feel that way and why it is a good point of view.
9. I think I used ethos, logos, and pathos, well. I tried to connect to the audience through pathos the most because I tried to make the reader see how heroin can ruin your life. I provided examples and quotes from heroin addicts describing how they feel about being a junkie and showing how dependent they are on the drug.
10. I used multiple visuals in my article. I used a lot of graphs showing the differences in people and places that have the most heroin users. I also used another graph showing the amount of deaths from heroin in each state from 2003-2014. The visual I thought was most effective was the video of the heroin addict shooting up on a public bus. This video made me sick to my stomach when I watched it and I think it will have the same effect on others.
11. I think my final article is a million times better than any of my drafts. When I first started this assignment I was not really sure where to go with it or how to fit all my information in in an organized manner. Each draft was more organized, and I think my final article is very well organized and full of information.
12. I used hyperlinks to immediately direct readers to the full articles and videos I used for my article. It allows the reader to get more knowledge and read other interesting articles on the topic as well.
13. I think I did a good job with grammar, style, and usage. I tried to sound very credible by making sure my writing was for a more mature audience.

Fear. Panic. Anger. Terrorism is a word all too familiar to Americans and people around the world today. Terrorism’s goal is in its name. Terror. Aiming to strike fear into the minds of innocent people everywhere. But terrorism did not used to be something that happened in America. America was impenetrable, or so everyone thought. On that crystal clear Tuesday morning in 2001 life was good, right up until just before 9am, when the whole world changed. Nothing would ever be the same, cue fortress America. With attacks continuing to happen in the US, people look to the government to act.  As the American public has seen over the recent years the government has been trying to combat this threat with tighter security measures in public places and stricter guns laws.  Military officers and politicians agree that domestic terrorism is a pertinent threat and the only way to combat this threat is by attacking the source, preventing groups like ISIS from recruiting Americans to commit these vicious acts.

The first step, which is in the process of being taken, is politicians need to accept is that domestic terrorism is the biggest threat to national security, not climate change. Yes, looking at you Bernie Sanders. According to Michael Morell, a military intelligence officer, ISIS poses a major threat to the US both domestically and abroad. But for all intents and purposes, let’s just focus on the domestic side.

In Morell’s article, titled, ISIS Will Strike America, he gives a small glimpse into how real this threat is when he writes “The FBI has over 900 open investigations into homegrown extremists, the vast majority radicalize by ISIS, and a large number of those investigations relate to individuals who may be plotting here” (Morell 2). The most striking piece of information from this quotation is the 900 open investigations. Now, granted, 900 is a very small number in comparison to the number of open murder investigations the FBI has, 200,000 since 1980, but this number is still significant (NPR.com).

The reason this number is so significant is because terrorist attacks, especially in the US are much more rare than murders. The fact that there are 900 open investigations means that there are a lot of people out there intending to do harm on other Americans and not on a small scale either.

Terrorists look to inflict as much damage as possible to as many people as possible when they carry out their attacks. So, while it may seem like there are way more open murder investigations, the level of urgency does not compare to that of the open terrorist investigations. In terms of countering these domestic terror attacks, the government needs to display more urgency by putting plans in motion.

According to Admiral James Stavridis, the only way to combat this threat is to make changes across multiple areas. Admiral Stavridis has an eight-step plan that he claims will defeat ISIS. Whether or not this is true is up for debate, but it is a good place to start. Some of the biggest parts of his plan consist of increasing intelligence across defense departments. Another portion of his plan suggests that the US needs to incorporate a cyber element into this fight, in order to combat ISIS’s ability to recruit domestically, disrupt operational control, and prevent them from more monetary gains from their criminal activity. This part of Admiral Stavirdis’s plan is in motion, with the Obama administration creating a joint task force with the NSA and Department of Homeland Security.

Recently, the Obama administration has set up a joint task force between the NSA, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security. This task force’s goal is to try and prevent ISIS members from recruiting within the US and also trying to locate where these recruiters are located in order to apprehend them. In addition, the government has been adamant recently about overhauling America’s gun laws in an attempt to ultimately keep guns out of the wrong hands.

Some of these new gun laws are as follows. In 2016, the FBI is going to increase background checks on everyone attempting to purchase a firearm. They hope to accomplish this by employing 230 more examiners in order to provide background checks around the clock (ATF). Also, the Obama administration is proposing a $500 million investment to increase access for mental health care. Now, while these new laws may seem like a step in the right direction, that’s all they are, a step.

Ultimately, only time will tell if any plans the US is putting forth to combat ISIS in America will work. Creating stricter gun laws and assembling task forces is a good place to start, but there are always loopholes, for example illegal firearms. This group has found these loopholes in the past, who is to say they will not find them again in the future?

Aside from whether or not ISIS will find a loophole to continue to conduct attacks on America, there is another issue, recruitment. Now, if you are like me, you are going to ask yourself one simple question; who in their right mind is joining ISIS as an American? Luckily, or maybe not so much, there is an answer.

One example of Americans being drawn to ISIS’s ideologies is Elton Simpson. In Garland, TX, May 2015 Elton Simpson opened fire at an event celebrating local cartoonists. Shortly before the assault, Simpson declared allegiance to ISIS on Twitter. Simpson is one of 62 known Americans who have declared such an atrocity within the US. 62 is a small number in comparison to the number who have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight for ISIS, which according to a discussion on NRP in September 2015, that number is around 250 Americans, however, that is still more about one person per state.

Does 62 still feel like a small number to you? Well take this into account. James Comey, the current head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said during an interview in July 2015 “ISIS has influenced a significant amount of troubled Americans through social media… urging Muslims who are unable to travel to the Middle East to ‘kill where you are’”(Varandani 1). This quotation from the current F.B.I head is what is going to put fear into the minds of all Americans. 62 probably feels like a huge number now, right?

According to psychologist Arie Kruglanski, people who join the Islamic State and similar groups are people who view the world with sharp definition. These terrorist groups view the world in the same manner. No gray area, everything is coherent. In addition, these extremist groups also allow people to become part of a large, unique group. Kruglanski says that these beliefs are attractive to those who are looking for a sense of identity (Mooney 2). ISIS knows this and therefore is able to recruit vulnerable people within the US simply because these people are trying to find where they belong.

ISIS recruiters know there are people in the US who are vulnerable and easily manipulated. For example, ISIS recruiters often put movie-trailer style videos on YouTube, glorifying their heinous practices and beliefs. To someone who may not know any better, the videos can be very appealing.

This is exactly where the NSA’s task force is needed. Being able to prevent ISIS from recruiting Americans via social media will be a step in the right direction. Also, the previously mentioned information from psychologists like Arie Kruglanski can help to build a psychological profile for people who join extremist groups.

As previously stated in this article however, there is no one plan to prevent and even end domestic terrorism. Colin Clarke, a RAND Corporation political scientist sums it up best when he says “’there is no single key or silver bullet to combating Islamic extremism, which is what makes combating it so difficult. There is no single pathway to radicalization.’”

The fist thing that American people and politicians need to accept is that domestic terrorism will always exist. There will always be extremist groups in America and around the world who are looking to bring harm to others for simple reasons such as they do not like someone else’s culture or their government and therefore feel the need to attack their way of life.

While these new policies involving guns laws and task forces are a step in the right direction, that is all they are, a step. Only time will tell whether or not these policies actually do anything to help law enforcement both find potential terrorists before they strike and make it harder for terrorists to carry out their attacks. The biggest impact these policies have on the public is it gives everyone feelings of security. That in itself is part of this battle as well. If Americans do not feel that there is a constant threat against them every time they leave their homes or go to a crowded area, then that is a victory in itself.

No matter what the government does to prevent attacks, they will still happen. There will always be hate.  As President Obama leaves office in the next few months Americans will have to wait and see how they try to combat this threat.  One thing is for certain though, these extremist groups like ISIS will never be able to dictate the way Americans live their lives.  The American population as a whole will not accept defeat from ISIS or any group like it and will never stop in its quest to combat this threat.

work cited:

Aguiar, Peter. “Here’s How the U.S. Moves Forward after San Bernardino Terror Attack:.” ProQuest. N.p., 29 Dec. 2015. Web.

Bergen, Peter. “Who Are ISIS American Recruits?” CNN 6 May 2015: n. pag. Web.

Crabtree, Susan. “White House Huddles with Tech Firms on Counterterrorism.” ProQuest. N.p., 8 Jan. 2016. Web.

Kruglanski, Arie. “Here Are the Psychological Reasons Why an American Might Join ISIS.” Mother Jones 29 Aug. 2014: 1-3. Web.

Miller. “Obama Administration Plans Shake-up in Propaganda War against IS.” ProQuest. N.p., n.d. Web.

Morell, Michael. “ISIS Will Strike America.” Time Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web.

“Report: 250 Americans Have Gone To Syria And Iraq To Fight.” Interview by Steven Inskeep. NPR.com. NPR, n.d. Web.

Varandani, Suman. “ISIS Influence On Troubled Americans Bigger Threat Than External Attack By Al Qaeda: FBI Head James Comey.”International Business Times 23 July 2015: n. pag. Web.

Image: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/images/domestic-terrorism-chart.gif

Gun Image: https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/acs/files/2015/02/gun-control-l-01.jpg

Unit 3 Reflection:

1. I think that my title does grab the reader, because when you first look at it, it doesn’t give the impression of being an article about domestic terrorism. I tried to be a little clever with the title. One thing that gave me the idea for the title was during my research authors kept talking about how these domestic terrorists could really be anyone, so I tried to incorporate that into my title. The subtitle however does. The subtitle gives the reader an idea about what exactly they’ll be reading about in my article.
2. The introduction is intended to grab the reader’s attention from the first three words. I chose to just use three words, instead of an opening sentence to grab their attention, also trying to induce a sense of urgency in the reader. The problem is located towards the end, where I write about where the root of the domestic terror threat lies, and that is in preventing ISIS from recruiting Americans. Also, in order to lead the reader in I mentioned how America has changed in the years since 9/11, what it was like before and after and how America will never be the same.
3. I tried to offer up an idea that I could really dive into. My idea being how to prevent recruitment. I chose this because there were several avenues of approach that I saw. One idea being how is ISIS recruiting? Another being what kind of person joins ISIS from America and why do they join? These topics allowed me to look into recent events in the US and how law enforcement responded and also how the government responded.
4. I tried to keep my thoughts organized in an order that made the most sense and also flowed well. The most helpful thing I thought was when we scrambled our drafts in class. This is because by having someone else put it back together in an order they thought made the most sense really helped me see how an audience would read this piece. I also tried to keep the paragraphs are short as I could, since this is a magazine article, but at the same time not cutting them short of any information I thought needed to be included.
5. NY Times magazine article readers are definitely a more educated group overall than people reading Huffington Post articles, so they are more likely to have more of a background or at least some prior knowledge of my topic. This being the case, the biggest thing I needed to make sure I did was find and include accredited sources, sources people have heard of and trust. But finding these sources was only half the battle. I needed to make sure that my writing was strong and that I had a strong argument present. In my article I tried to address key points about this issue while also focusing most of my argument on an area that most people may not think about, recruitment.
6. I think I conveyed my stance well. Making it known that ISIS recruiting Americans is an issue and needs to be stopped. I also tried to convey that while this issue may not get a lot of attention it still is a big issue. I found statistics from NPR and newspapers to back up this claim as well, trusted sources that the reader knows.
7. For my research I tried to find as many quality sources as I could, knowing I probably wouldn’t use all of them, but I wanted to have a solid base to work with and choose the best ones. I also chose to include an image to show how domestic terror attacks have increased over the years. In addition, I also included an image that was symbolic of gun laws. It was a handgun made of words that represented the pros and cons of gun laws.
8. I incorporated a primary source with a chart that showed the increase of domestic terror attacks over the years. I included this to show the reader that this is truly an issue. In addition, I included many secondary sources that both introduced new topics and build off of other topics. One example of this is when I broke down ISIS’s ability to recruit within the US. I chose to explain how they do this and also the psychological profile of someone from American who would join ISIS.
9. In the beginning I tried to create sense of urgency in the reader by starting out with just three words instead of sentences. Also, I tried to use pathos by mentioning 9/11, because I knew that would strike a nerve with people, making them think back to that awful day. Overall I think that my use of sources helped to develop my argument and help make a strong point.
10. The visuals I used I chose because I wanted to give perspective. I don’t think that people realize how big of an issue domestic terrorism is and the image of the graph I hope will help convey that point. The other image I used was of a handgun made out of words that were the pros ad cons of gun control. Gun control is a hot topic today in the US, so I needed to include it in my article and I thought that this picture perfectly conveyed the two side of the argument.
11. When I first started writing the biggest challenge for me was figuring out how to start. I had a lot of information from my research, so I needed to figure out a way to present it in a manner that made sense and flowed. The one thing that helped me the most with my organization, as I said earlier was the scrambled draft. This is because I was able to see how someone else thought I should order my paragraphs, which ended up being relatively different than how I had originally ordered them and I liked the new order a lot better, it was much more organized.
12. I used hyperlinks to the articles that I found to be the most interesting and that I thought readers would benefit too from reading. I think that the articles give another perspective, for example, Michael Morell’s article, he was a military intelligence officer, so I think reading about how he views the situation from the point of view of someone who has dealt with these threats first hand is very beneficial for readers. I also hyperlinked the URL for the interview with psychologist Arie Kruglanski, because I that article went into great depth that I honestly just didn’t have room to go into in my article, given the word count limit.
13. I made sure that all the grammar in my article was perfect. Also, I edited t=it to make sure, one that I didn’t have any run on sentences where I was just going on and on and giving the reader too much information at once. Second, I wanted to make sure that none of my paragraphs were too long, since this is a magazine article, the paragraphs need to be as short and concise as possible without losing any details along the way.

Not many people would argue against the belief that education is a vital part of humanity, but some still do not treat it as such. Young minority and non-minority students are being put through an educational system that, admittedly, has many flaws. The most concerning flaw occurs right at the end of these student’s academic careers: college. A student faced with the financial and mental burden that is college will at times make a decision that can impact them financially 15 years later.

Now, the fact that an 18 year old, who has come out of high school with only an introductory economics class under their belt must make a decision worth tens of thousands of dollars is absurd to begin with. For some students, this decision costs months of potential in the job industry, along with any additional debt they acquire. This opportunity has been especially difficult for low income minority students across the country. A Demos analysis on the Federal Reserve’s 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances shows that, on average White high school dropouts have around the same wealth as a Black college graduate. These numbers are what discourage minorities from attending university. They figure that if they’re not going to be making as much money as a White high school dropout, there is no point in going to college. People like Michelle Obama are trying to avoid adoption of this mentality by young minorities. While the Obama Administration has implemented programs to aid minority students, such as the Student Loan Forgiveness Program, it fails to address deeper socio-economic problems faced by minority students who end up dropping out of college.

This article from The Guardian displays a quote by the First Lady telling graduates of Booker T Washington high school, a school mainly comprised of minority students, to pursue an education. It reads “’Do you hear what I’m telling you… Because I’m giving you some insights that a lot of rich kids all over the country – they know this stuff, and I want you to know it, too. Because you have got to go and get your education. You’ve got to.’” While the First Lady’s words certainly seem sincere, all of the numbers point against her arguments.

Not only are minority students making less money on average than their White counterparts, they also have on average more student debt. A Gallup study on student loan disparities between race shows that 50 percent of black college graduates will leave their college with more than $25,000 in student loans. This is significantly more than the 34 percent of white graduates with more than $25,000 in student loans. The choice many minorities must make ends up losing them thousands of dollars either way. One must choose between only achieving a high school degree and living in poverty or going to college and acquiring thousands of dollars in debt.

In addition, this Bloomberg article cites a study done by the University of California, Los Angeles. It has shown that “The average student loan bill for both groups is about $8,000. But that’s half the $16,000 average wealth of black families and only 7 percent of the average $124,000 wealth of white families.” The staggeringly low average black family wealth has made many black students unable to afford such bills, making them default on their loans and sometimes even drop out.

Many minority students have decided to try out the college life, and end up defaulting on the loans they have. This ruins credit scores and can make buying a car, home or even acquiring a job impossible. This situation has plagued many minority households, and adds another figure to the staggering amount of low-wage workers in our country. The outcome of one’s life can start as early as age 17, which is a frightening thought. Many of these minority students come from a household where their parents, while supportive, do not know enough about economics to assist their children.

Not only is the financial aspect of the student loan system sometimes too much to bare for these minority students, but the social aspect as well. There have been many students, much like the person telling their story in this New York Times article that have ended up not being able to afford college due to family issues. The article tells of a minority student in their mid-twenties, reminiscing about their decision to default on their student loans. “By the end of my sophomore year at a small private liberal arts college, my mother and I had taken out a second loan, my father had declared bankruptcy and my parents had divorced.” Familial issues, such as parent’s divorce or the death of a parent are expected to not interfere with student loan payment by the government, which is absurd. The Obama Administration could easily fix this issue by giving more forgiveness to students of families with these issues.

The Obama Administration has been attempting to update the previously ineffective Student Loan Forgiveness Program. While they’re headed in the correct direction with this Program, the fact remains that the average student loan is unnecessarily high. Student loan debt levels have reached $1.35 trillion in the United States alone. Debt has risen by an average of $100 billion per year since 2007. The average student loan debt amount for a person ages 25-35 is $20,000. For some minority graduates, this is higher than their yearly income. While education has been increasing and unemployment has been decreasing, student loan level is getting to a point where college will be simply unaffordable for many households across the country.

We’ve seen politicians like Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders make promises to help the enormous student debt issue. There is no guarantee that Sanders will take office, however. Also, like Mrs. Obama, talk is not only cheap; it’s $20,000 in debt. Every year these political figures wait to make a move to fix the debt problem, $100 billion is taken from these student’s pockets. At the current rate, the student debt level is set to surpass the current mortgage debt level in less than a decade. It is a problem that, many times, in order to acquire the debt that comes with a mortgage, we must first undertake student loan debt. The repercussions of waiting for a politician to fix the student debt problems can range from graduates losing their homes to much worse. The economy and job market will not just wait for someone to come around and fix it, so we have to take action as soon as possible to help students avoid a grim future.

To help these young adults, we must first educate them in financial decisions they will make in the future. From my understanding and experience, economics classes teach these teens about GDP on the macro-economic scale, but fail to stress the importance of decisions the teen will be making in the next 10 years of their lives. Many counselors will tell students to go to college, no matter what kind of debt the student may acquire. This way of thinking does not benefit the student at all. If the student did not achieve as much as they would have liked to academically, I’d would highly advise them to take a semester, or even a year off to gain work experience, and more importantly, wisdom. It would be more beneficial than spending thousands of dollars getting a degree that would land them in the same job position that they would have been in, had they worked instead of going to school.

Writer Gerard Kelly touches on these issues in his piece, It’s Poverty of Ambition, not Student Debt, that’s Keeping Poor Children Away from University. He asserts that “The biggest hurdle poor pupils face is mental, not financial. They think that university isn’t for them. Thanks to the antics of the NUS et al their fears are reinforced.” Students from all around the world are facing this heavy burden, and the stress and anxiety that comes with it. At times, one can sympathize with some students’ decisions to drop out of college, although many are against it.

The Obama Administration has been urging minority students to stay in school, no matter the cost. While they seem to have the best interest of these students in their minds, the current student loan debt situation is a hurtle that some minority students simply cannot overcome. Many of these students end up dropping out of school, 69 percent of them stating student loan debt as the reason. These students end up going against the Obama Administrations intentions, therefore, some action must clearly be taken to make attending school seem more appealing to these students. Either a much needed lowering of tuition across colleges or additional funding from the government must be provided. This same government, by the way, has profited over $1 billion from Federal Student Loan programs in the last decade.

While data shows that minority students are, on average, being affected most negatively by these loans, the government does not discriminate when it comes to taking money from students. This is a problem for minority and non-minority students alike. The only demographics profiting from these outrageous debt levels are the government and the institutions that set these prices. We should not let money restrict our education.