Drill, Or No Drill, That Is The Question. Blog #10

I am going to write my issues paper on the controversy of whether or not increasing of oil drilling would be beneficial to the US. This has been an issue that has been discussed and argued about for quite some time. There is so much oil to be mined up in places such as Alaska, Colorado, and North Dakota. The fact is that the world, and the government needs to be more efficient in both energy and in expenses, and importing oil from foreign lands is taking its toll. By shipping it over to the US, it wastes energy to ship all that dead weight in, which also costs us money, and the costs of labor and for the actual oil is inflated as it goes through the oil companies to the US companies, which makes the US spend way more than necessary. People are also afraid of the risks of drilling for oil, whether it is casualties of workers, destroying the environment, or causing more oil spills. But whether we do it here in the states or spend money by getting it in from foreign countries, these risks are there. Now on the flip side, there are a lot of complications. Even though there are no residential neighborhoods out in the drilling fields, the animals that are disrupted by the machinery need to go somewhere else, but will that cause problems? Also the process of strategically finding the best place to drill, and then the construction it will take to follow through with the plans may be too costly. Especially in this economy, it is a big risk to put so much money into something that will probably not yield results for several years. Overall, if the US decided to drill, it will take a toll on us financially, but in the long run, the billions of dollars spent a day to supply America with oil will someday be cut down dramatically. The money that used to be spent going into paying other countries can stay in our country, boosting the economy. That money can also be spent on research focused on improving the safety, efficiency, and reduction of pollution in oil drilling, so that the environment may maintain its cleanliness.

Blog #9 -Words on finishing analysis paper

So it is nearly midnight and I just finished my my paper that is due tomorrow. I feel like I did a pretty good job, except for a few of the sentences that I added to connect the tools to the appeal may need a look over. Lets be honest, writing is not my "Forte" but I learn a lot when I have opportunities like this. I think my favorite thing I have learned during this assignment how to effectively argue your case based on Rhetorical tools such as diction, allusions, imagery, etc. I also realized that a lot of rhetoric is used in missionary work. I don't know why that is exciting to me, but it is. :)

Blog #8-Rhetorical Analysis Paper

The paper that I have decided to write a Rhetorical analysis on is Hubert Humphrey's 1948 speech to fight against racial segregation. I have written the whole thing, and I am actually feeling pretty good about it. Writing a rhetorical analysis is very straight, to the point, and in order to get a good grade you have to cut the fluff...or the stuff that doesn't matter. I learned that this isn't a summary of the speech, but a analysis of the tools used, and how they created an effective arguement.

Letters From Birmingham Jail

“Letters from Birmingham Jail” is an astonishing piece of literature with all forms of Rhetoric overflowing from its pages. In this letter written to his fellow white clergyman, Martin Luther King Jr. takes his understanding of moral and human rights to powerfully write a persuasive letter in order to correct the ways of others. He goes on to use ethos, pathos, and logos to construct a strong argument.

Martin Luther King Jr. is a very passionate human rights activist, and a clergyman. He understands that the equality of Blacks and Whites are clearly out of balance, when they should be the same. In order to fix this, he uses his God sent gift to persuade those who read this letter that they need to rethink what they are doing and what other whites are doing.

In this letter, the bulk of what King says is not only in his defense for why he has broken the law to support black human rights, but also to show his colleague that everything that isn’t being done by whites in regards to the subject stated above, is morally incorrect. He gives a brilliant example of how the things that Hitler did were legal, yet we all know that the illegal freedom fighters were in the right, and Hitler in the wrong.

King does a fantastic job at including strong points of rhetoric throughout his letter. His argument was so forward; pointing out how wrong and incorrect the ideals of the government in relation to the blacks. He used mostly pathos to create the foundation of his argument; being able to heavily rely on Christian ideals and morals to back up his forward approach. I absolutely loved his call to repentance as he invited everyone to join God in a cause to do what is right: “Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”

Analytical Snapshot: What Christians Believe

Famous writer C.S. Lewis uses strong rhetorical tools to write an article called “What Christians Believe,” trying to persuade others to believe or reconsider believing in Christian beliefs. If he can’t convince others to believe, there is a hope that others will have a better view and understanding of what Christianity is, aware of the proofs that are present.

His convincing path of logic and easily understood concepts to convince others that Christianity is true posts a strong stance in favor to belief in God. He talks about how many reasons why God does exist, and states that there is nothing to prove that he doesn’t exist. He also explains a bit of his own experiences, formerly being an atheist, showing viewers that he had/has no bias due to other’s influence. Rather he himself pondered and concluded that his beliefs were previously incorrect.

Now most of his audience is westernized people, already knowing quite a bit about religions and Christianity, but their ideas and thoughts have been skewed by outside influences. Those in the world that have heard of Christianity, but don’t believe, have been influenced by an outside source. They may feel that they need cold hard evidence, or a complete explanation of the facts so that it makes complete sense to them, but they can’t rely on faith.

The message that God was real and Jesus Christ is our savior was clearly presented. He explains that Atheism is too simple. Atheism proves that everything is simply meaningless, whether it’s us, or the universe. But nothing is simple. He stated that if you talk to a scientist about a “simple table” he would explain that there is nothing simple about it, it is a very complex thing. This is the same for Christianity. It agrees that complexity is there, and there is SOME reason for everything in the world, but Lewis agrees that he can’t explain everything about God everything in relation to him.

Veil of Fears

Genre: Persuasive

Purpose: To inform those who are not familiar with middle eastern culture of the history and background of the burka and why Islamic women veil themselves.

Central Message: The custom among women of the middle east to veil themselves when out in the public has been a tradition that has rooted from moral beliefs rather than Islamic beliefs, but is a tradition widely practiced by muslims. The purpose of the veil isn’t just to hide the face of the woman, but is done out of moral beliefs and respect. These moral beliefs include wearing the burka to save oneself for a man that is in the clan, providing power and unity amongst the clan brothers.

World View and Assumptions: Many people have incorrect views of why Islamic women veil themselves such as: a way to debase women’s rights, a way to control wives or women, and often see the burka as a body bag for the living.

Use of Tools and Evidence: First of all, the article had a lot of historical facts of why the women wore the burkas, giving a logical basis of why they do these things, such as “Villages in Afghanistan are organized into kin-oriented areas, and the veil needs wearing only when a woman is among men from outside of her kin group.” “When Muslim women veil, they are saving themselves for marriage to the men of their own kin group. In an important sense, this need to protect family honor and preserve oneself for an advantageous marriage to a man of the lineage is a key to the rise of Islamic revivalism.” Also He expands the topic towards family, stating that “This willingness of a "band of brothers" to pool their labor and wealth is the key to the strength of the lineage.” This will reach out to those who are emotionaly supportive of having strong families, and relationships.

The Subway. My Personal Narrative

This past week has been full epic writing, and most important of all, epic revision!!!! The battle between my personal narrative and me has been complete and I have come out alive! Beginning this assignment was really the greatest battle. I often have a lack of desire when it comes to writing big papers, but it always ends up the same, once you start it, it’s not so bad. Towards the end it can get a bit rough, when your run into forks in the path of your writing, or when you get lost all together. One of the most important things that I “re-learned” this time has been how important it is to get a smart outside-person to look at your paper, and tell you if there is anything good hidden in what seems like a jumble of words. Up to the point that I got my future sister-in-law to do that for me, I felt just as jumbled as my paper looked. But she was able to tear my paper apart and pick a more clear direction that would make sense to my readers, and calm my nerves a bit. This is a clip of my narrative, one of my favorite parts, because it was the most influential part of my experience. I am thankful for this because it has helped me look at life from a little bit better perspective. “It was so easy to me. I waltzed along like there wasn’t even a ledge there. Although it was really easy and fun to me, it was a nightmare to others. I noticed that Brian hesitated, and he did not try to cover his feelings at all. Heights were his Achilles heel, and his weak spot was crushed. I stood there so uselessly staring at my friend. This grown man, my friend, crawling along the narrow path like the cliff’s edge was closing in on him. His knees started to bleed, leaving streaks of blood across the rocky path. I began to think of different ways that I could help him, but I could only draw blanks. There wasn’t anything I could do; he had to get through it himself.” It was good to finally get this experience down in writing. I have never written it in a journal, so I will always be able to look at this personal narrative and remember the things I learned that day.

I get to write whatever I want???!!!

The thing that I want to write about most right the exciting opportunity I have to go to china this coming year. I am thinking about it all the time, and am stoked to go! So I am applying for a program called the Flagship program. It is a government funded program and only 7 schools in the US are involved in it. Since I was a 14, I wanted to become an aerospace engineer. I love airplanes! I love mechanics, and learning about how things work. I would get with my friend and we would take things apart, later attempting to put them back together, just to see how they worked. So that was the plan for a long time, all the way up to my mission. During my mission I had a thought fixed in my head that because I spoke Chinese, I needed to major in business. Coming to BYU, I just had an uncomfortable feeling that about doing business as a major, but I had made the decision. All guys know that it’s difficult to change once you have made a confident decision. Then I learned about this program. I learned that they would send me to a legit school in China where they would teach me my major in Chinese for six months, then I would be sent somewhere else in china, of my choosing, to do an internship, creating networking opportunities and on the job experience. The greatest thing about all of this, is that the government is paying for all of it!!! I told them that I am in!!

After the program, and after graduating from BYU I will pursue getting my MBA. With that, a major in Mechanical Engineering, and at least a minor in Chinese, I should be ready to do some good!

I am also excited to be able to experience the culture of China. Although I speak Chinese, I have never been there. I feel that this is going to be a great opportunity, one that will define the rest of my life.

Leaving Home

I think that leaving home for the first time is often one of the funniest and potentially one of the most insightful topics that can be brought up in a conversation. Often you hear about stories of staying up to 5 in the morning every day, gaining the freshman 15, or even experiences of dealing with crazy people that you never had to deal with before. My first time moving out was actually when I left on my mission. Going into the Missionary Training Center didn’t really feel like I left yet, so I will talk about when I REALLY left, which was January 26^th, 2012. The night before we left the MTC was an exciting time, like going on your first date….well at least the feeling was the same. I did not know what Australia would be like, and it didn’t help that I wasn’t sure if my language abilities were up to par, or if I was going in over my head. It was in the middle of the winter in Utah, and the next day we set off for the airport to fly to LA, then hopped on our 14 hour flight to Brisbane. Getting off the plane that day was like walking into a sauna in the middle of winter in a suit and tie. Have you ever been in a sauna in a suit and tie? I wouldn’t recommend it. That day was a nightmare! The airport lost one of my bags I LA, I got yelled at by the first Chinese person that I contacted (yes, she was old), I couldn’t sleep because our next door neighbors were blasting their Indian music, and on top of that it was probably 90 degrees that night. I had one of those, “What the heck am I doing here?!” moments. Everything smelled tropical and slightly moldy, and I knew at once that this was going to be a rough adjustment physically. I wanted to die! Anyway, life went on, my body slowly adjusted, and Brisbane became my home, and a place that I love. That experiences sticks in my memory like gum sticking to the bottom of your shoe, and it is one that I will always be dear to me!

100 words about me.

I am a Chinese speaking, musical theater singing, toaster strudel loving guy from Utah. Life is good! I look forward to weekends, great food, being with friends, and love everything about Autumn. I secretly look for Asian people. Openly look for new friends to make. My head hurts when people use big words, and want to run away from hypocrites and whiners. I enjoy people who are genuine and honest with themselves, no matter how eccentric they are. Music fixes everything. Feeling of accomplishment my life’s motivation, but if you don’t succeed, just think of what Charlie Brown would do.