Blog Post Week Five: Political Community

A political community can be described as a group of people who follow and believe in a set political mindset. A common example of this is the battle between "The Left V. The Right". This battle includes the Republicans and the Democrats, which myself personally never understood, but these two groups have their own doctrines in which the two follow. Some of the republican doctrine included avoiding tax increases, opposes abortion, and oppose the marriage of gays, while the democrat’s doctrines are typically the opposite. They included new taxes rate depending on income, for legal abortion, and supports gay marriage. Theses political community play an active role in reversing or stagnating a community's developmental progress. A political community can lead to formulation of an unhealthy community or a healthy one.

 An example of this is when a political community alters approach towards its ideology. An example of this was brought up by Robert Reich. Robert questioned Trumps move of placing Stephen Bannon above the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Reich article also discusses the new policy of putting America first and how it is a dangerous route. Trump's decision has caused several responses. Some responses within Reich article include, "Here’s the big worry: Trump is unhinged and ignorant. Bannon is nuts and malicious."  This quote offers a vivid example of how these groups can tear a community apart. Political differences can make normal conversations into ugly ones.  While in a healthy community, this group can have a more positive than a negative impact. Why this is true because these questioning of these ideas can lead to an effective debate and lead to have somewhat of a consensus. Each type of community can alter how their approach these disagreements and questioning. Changing one's outlook can change the course of a community’s long-term development.

While the article by Rosie Gray, focuses on the Anti-Democracy Movement. She discusses how Steve Bannon has been in contract with Curtis Yarvin. Yarvin ideology focuses on that democracy does not work. It is a flawed concept that is inefficiency and solves nothing. Yarvin prefers thee NRx or a rejection of democracy, for autocratic rule. This community seen as an unhealthy community due to its following of autocratic rule. Both healthy and unhealthy community may see this move as a way of ending their ways of life. Autocratic ruling can directly change their ways of life and their own personalize choice in decision-making. Proof of this treatment is when Rose article states, "The core of our problem is that there is no one with the secure authority to fix things. The core of our solution is to find a man, and put him in charge, with a real chain of command, and a clear ownership structure." and "The only viable path to restoration of competent government is the simple and hard way:

Become worthy.

Accept power.

Rule.”  

These two quotes show how one person can take away a community's ability to make choices for themselves. These communities can combat this by standing up to the NRz movement and over thrown the group if it continues that far.  

DC Trash Problem

Easter is around the corner and all the fun with it will be here before you know it. Though out the day, the family had numerous of bonding moments. These bonding experiences include a day full of conversation and  food.  After all the food, has settled in everyone’s stomachs, the cleanup begins. the dessert and food containers are emptied, the bottles/cans are gathered together. Once everything is straightened up, excess food is either taken home or dumped. What ends up getting dumped, includes all the disposable utensils and one use of cookware. 

According to Toxics Action Center, in 2007, reported that each American discards an average of more than 1,650 pounds of garbage every year, or approximately 4.6 pounds per person each day, nearly double the 1960 average of 2.7 pounds per day. We as individuals are also making an effecting choice on the issue. An example of this is here at Defiance College. Everyday countless students take plastic or Styrofoam to go containers to class. These ends up in the trash. Styrofoam does not degrade well and takes even longer than plastic. These containers can leave a lasting impact on the environment. There are numerous ways to fix this issue. Tune in next week to see some of the ways to combat the trash problem on campus and in the world/community in general.

URL: http://www.toxicsaction.org/problems-and-solutions/waste

An Example of How Everyday Interests can Become a Symbol of Our Lives

  An example of an interests we grow up liking is a show like The Brady Bunch , sports like football, or a hobby like blogging; some interests stick while others fade though our life time. Some of these interests can become a symbol of our lives. An example of my own past interests in sewing. Sewing has shown me how to deal with loss, wear, and love within my life. 

If you have ever been around a sewing machine you often, have to fix some wear and tear on fabric. The wear of the clothing represents the trials and tribulations of my life. One of the initial trials of my life was when I was born. My brother and I were born three months premature.  One difficulty I had was speech problems/difficulties. The speech difficulty I had was I roll my R’s. These speech issues prepared me for life’s challenges. On top of my speech disability, I additionally overcame a number of physical characteristics of being a premature infant. Some of these characteristics pertain in terms of development compared to my fellow peers.

On top of the wear of the clothing, the sew machine fixes and mends the clothing by the use of thread and needle.  The overall tightness of the stitches shows how I am tight-knitted with my family. I am close with my family, because they helped take care of us at a young age. While we were in the hospital, much our family stop to visit us. After leaving the hospital, our grandma would take care of one or both of us while our mom went to college and our father went to work. This is one example of life's love within my life. 

Besides the mending of the clothing, the sewing machine also provides light in order see what you are sewing. The light provided myself with seeing and understanding the loss within my life. Again, my grandmother often would help take care of me while my mother and father again were working/acquiring education. She was a key factor in my life. She would always take us school shopping before school started to make sure we had new shoes and clothes for school. In addition, I lost our first dog after being struck by a car. At the age of 10, I watched as she was put down, while my mother just wanted to leave. I wanted to stay so she would not have to die alone. These are just two examples of loss within my life. 

Lastly, I hope you all began to see that the objects you have in your life could represent you in ways more than you realize. An example of my own life is: how your family has made sacrifices to get you to the point where you are today.  How objects can help shed some light on going life crisis. All of these ideas can be symbolized into any everyday object. 

Blog Post #3- Audience Awareness

Audience Awareness is an important aspect in any form of writing. Writing to your best friend versus a hiring committee requires a total overhaul in how you approach and write any document to each other. When writing a friend that format can be informal and be very basic in terms of style and grammatical correctness, while writing to a hiring committee is greatly more weighted when considering style and grammar. These small important differences can have a lasting impact on your career and other important endeavors. 

The Budweiser goes an excellent job at using audience awareness. The scope of the advertisement (ad) is a broad yet specific audience. The intended audience in my opinion is anyone who is looking for or had a good time within their lifetime. I believe this to be true since the advertisement used different forms of partying throughout the past years. They ideology is based on selling their products and hoping the next time they have a good time their buy the drink that has been used for many years.

While, the Mercedes advertisement has the narrowest scope of the three ads. The intend audience is anyone who is in search of a new vehicle, but has the economic means of purchasing a Mercedes style and price vehicle. The group use the use of a child and his obsession with riding in a Mercedes vehicle. The child traveled to a place across town to have a ride in a specific vehicle. The reason for using the child is to tug at the parent’s hearts to convince them to purchase their vehicle.    

The third advertisement for the John Lewis Christmas ad does an okay in my opinion in terms of advertisement. The scope of this video is anyone who is looking for a gift for their child or family member for Christmas. They use the use of animals, more so the family dog, as an example to prove to its watchers to make them consider purchasing their product. Their ad uses an assortment of animals who jump on their trampoline product, which later leads to the trampoline having a lasting impact on the family who purchased the gift for their daughter.

Interpreting information from advertisements and other sources is an important for various reasons. The most important reason in my opinion is to understand and prevent advertisement from having an unimportant/undesirable effect on our decision-making ability. These advertise leads to unsound decision-making. These decisions can cause individuals to use money in uneducated ways. One example of this is with televise products. I have personal experience in terms of buying television products, the product I brought was a flex seal liquid in a can. The product did not work we’ll and end up costing our family around 15 dollars for a little can of spray.

What Is My Community?- Blog Post #2

The term, "Community" has several different meanings from a group of people to another. There can be multiple forms of community in an individual's lifetime.  A community can be as small as two people to as many as one desires can reach. An example of one form of community in my own lifetime is "my football community". Before getting into the details of why I see this group as a form of my community, we will define what a community is to me. My own personalized definition of community is any group that have similar characteristics/desires that promote a betterment of the group internal/externally.

How I became a part of the football community is by the choice I made back in 5th/6th grade to play little league football. This community lasted for a total of eight season/years. This community help shape and molded me into the person I am today. I learned several characteristic instilled in me today. Some of these characteristics are helping others, having discipline, and being accountable.  I learned to help others through the action of volunteering at a local food pantry. The trip to the local food pantry was a required event for the team. The trip to the food pantry including interacting with the individuals who were receiving the food and assisting them in carrying the food items to their mode of transportation. This activity allowed me to realize that I was bless with an above average life style. This made me also realize who well off I was because of my parents. 

While, the community also taught me to be disciplined in my actions. Football community required me to follow a strict weight lift and schedule throughout the year. These practices will benefit me as a continue my college education as I stay diligent in my academic affairs. These routines and schedule are related back to my academic studies at Defiance College by showing how important following a schedule is. For Instance, an example of this is staying on top of my readings for my classes in Comp I, EDUC 228 and PSY 225. These actions allow for myself to more activity engage in in class discussion, which relates to better knowledge to be applied to test and other activities used for grades/assessments. 

 Lastly, this community provided me with being accountable for my actions. This community provided me with the quality of having accountable for my decision as a college student than as an educator. Throughout playing the game of football, you were always accountable for your actions. If you messed up a play, did not block the right guy, or did some form of questionable behavior you were held accountable for what you did. This idea of being accountable was acquired with the yelling and excess running that was added when things were not done correctly and with fluency. These were just a few examples of how football community introduced the concept of being accountable.

The three characteristics above was not the only characteristics my one of many communities I have been in personally or have been around.  Some forms of community where we are a part of for a moment of out lives while others last an entire life. These forms of communities play an active direct and indirect role in our development as an individual and a society. These many communities leave a lasting impact on us whether we see it effects or not.  

The American Eugenics Movement: What is it and Why is it an Important Aspect Today?

The Eugenics Movement was a period where the action of trying to control and manipulate human reproduction was explored. The individuals of this period attempted to alter who could reproduce the next generation. These measures included the use of sterilization and restricted marriage legislation.  This later led to Adolf Hitler adopting his “master race” from his trip to the United States. The first group of people who were targets of the Eugenics movement was the disfavored community groups. These groups included criminals, degenerates, and prostitutes. Secondary groups that were targets of the Eugenic Movement included people who had a mental illness or a seizure disorder.  They were an undesirable group because their minds were viewed as defected.  The group of people who had a sensory disability were a target, but never were due to the impact of Helen Keller. Her ability to overcome  her sensory defects to be come a successful person cause the sensory disability to not be a target as the mental illness group. 

This is an important historical event for society, however more so for myself personally.  As a on going training as an Intervention Specialist Educator, because this career involves being an advocate for your students with a disability.  Being an advocate for the disable is important for a variety of reasons. The disable is seen a nuisance to many. However, many who have a disability need some form of support to function normally. Individuals who see the disable as a nuisance do not typically understand the feeling of almost being able to do something on your own. Some examples of this are being able to read, count, or comprehension. These little issues can lead to bigger issue later in life. In addition, there are some indirect relationship to my area of study. No matter what we do as a society, they will always be a group of people who see the disable as a weak and dysfunctional bunch. On top of this, some view the disable group as an expendable. However, as a public educator, they have an unwritten duty of educating their peers and other individuals about what a disability means and how these individuals are just like typically developed counterparts. In closing, the American Eugenics Period was a dark time in American history, but dark times allow for growth in one form or another. 

What led me to my major selection, Why I believe it suits me, and the impact I would like to leave after obtaining my major.

                I, Corey Davis, have decided to choose the field of education as my college study.  My major I will be pursuing is Intervention Specialist (Mild/Moderate) K-12.  I feel that being an intervention specialist suits me in a variety of ways.  The main reason I personally believe that this particular field suits me is because I enjoy teaching others how to learn material.  However, often people having trouble at some point in their schooling, they will need special assistance.  I have seen, as well as experienced, this struggle firsthand.  In school, I started elementary school on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).  Another example of an experience that I feel would show that I will enjoy teaching is that how I have assisted numerous people in my school with their homework.  In addition to helping peers, I also have learned a lot by assisting my sister with her homework in a nightly/weekly basis.  Through my membership with the Wayne Trace Chapter of the National Honor Society (WTNHS), I have interacted with others and helped those in need as well.  These interactions have helped me in deciding to go into education.  My mother is also an educator, and I feel that this has also led me towards this life choice.  These are just a few reasons why I believe that education may be a field for me to study in college/a career path for me. 

                When I become a teacher, the effect/why I would like to leave on the students that come to my class is to know that whatever challenges they face on a daily basis, whether it be mentally or physically, they can be successful.  Also, I would like each student to know that he or she can improve overall.  While also improving one’s self-worth, without him or herself realizing it, however, this can be difficult for a teacher to do but that is one challenge of the many challenges that is a part of teaching.  I would also like the students that come through my classroom to know that they can learn as much as a general education student can.  Every student can, and will learn; we will work together to make sure of that.  Also, I would like the students to know they can talk to me about any struggles they are having dealing with school, as well as home life.  While I know, I would have a lasting effect on the students that I have in class, I would love to have them enjoy coming to school.  To some students, the school may seem pointless and get old; however, I want to show these students that school does not last forever and every day you have in school is unique and special.  All students should be concerned with being at school, learning, and overcoming obstacles, to have any future that they want.