Advertisement project

For my project, I had something in mind related to sports. I was thinking of creating a print ad in something such as a sports magazine like ESPN. A good kind of product to advertise would be cleats because many athletes take their footwear seriously. I also believe that having a professional athlete sponsor these cleats would encourage customers to buy them. So creating an ad with a popular athlete wearing the cleats will help make the product more successful. Here is an interesting site I found regarding athletes and endorsements.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5607.html

Question

I know that something is due Thursday, but I was wondering is it just the letter to the editor/response?

Research

Throughout my years in school I have completed a small handful of research papers. Looking back, I do not really care for them. I don't love them or hate them, but it is just a part of class I had to deal with. If I am ever researching and writing about a topic that I am interested in, it makes it more entertaining. Last year in my senior year of high school, I did a research paper involving steroids in baseball and it was something of interest to me. Back in seventh grade, we had a really big project related to social issues. My topic was gas prices and I did not enjoy doing that as much because I was in middle school. Overall, I like to see what I have created relating to research projects. I spend a lot of time gathering information and researching and once it is all put together it benefits my knowledge. Although research projects may be time consuming, once they are finished, it provides a good sense of accomplishment.

Cantor

According to Cantor, higher education is still talking about race because of the Jim Crow legacy. Cantor is saying that it is our failure to throw away this legacy. The nation was left so segregated that students do not meet as equals. From my own perspective, I think higher education is still talking about race because there are still racist people out there. Many people are judgmental and stereotype others just because of their race and it is a big problem in our society. If two people are looking for a job and both have the same qualifications, they shouldn't be looked at differently if one is white and the other is Hispanic. The evidence I draw on is from everywhere. Its in movies, on TV, etc. I also learned about stereotyping in my Sociology class in High School and how it goes on in everyday life.

Diversity and Multiculturalism

I think diversity and multiculturalism play big roles at Western Michigan University. I do not live on campus enough to see everything that goes on, but since I have been here, I have seen the amount of diversity there is. Diversity is very important to Western. I was reading the website and came across the International Progams Council and the Division of Multicultural Affairs. The (IPC) is devoted to encouraging cross-cultural understanding at Western. The Division of Multicultural Affairs is an information resource that enforces the role of diversity in education at WMU. Events and programs also take place that promote cultural awareness. Since Western has these programs to begin with, it shows that the university is dedicated to promoting diversity and multiculturalism. Overall these two factors make great contributions to what happens every day at WMU.

Thoughts on Peer Review

Having someone else read and give their opinion on a paper can be very helpful. I have done peer editing since middle school and it has assisted in improving my writing in many ways. Being able to hear opinions and advice from other people can have a positive impact on writing. For the most part, I feel comfortable going through this kind of process. It allows students to notice certain things in their writing or in other students' writing that can be used to work on in increasing writing skills. I would not mind doing peer editing more often because it can't hurt and having more voices would be great. The more opinions from other people there are, the better the opportunity there is to take more advice for sharpening writing techniques.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

Me Talk Pretty One Day is about a older student in his forties who is returning to school. The student moved to Paris hoping to learn French. In his first day of class, he felt uncomfortable and the teacher was very rude. The teacher was always criticizing. I think the reason that Sedaris wants to describe many people by their nationality and ethnicity is because he is trying to tell the reader that all sorts of different people are in his class. It is not the normal type of class because students from all over are trying to learn the language. I think this supports the purpose of the essay because it comes to show how all sorts of people are different in unique ways. People may look at a certain race differently and believe they shouldn't be treated the same, but they are all human beings and they all react the same way to certain situations. Not one student walked out of class on the first day feeling comfortable.

Angelou Graduation Response

Maya Angelou went through tough times as a child, particularly in 8th grade. She lived in a period of when segregation still went on. A day that stood out was the day of her graduation. Maya woke up in the morning and the day had a good start to it because breakfast was being prepared on a rare occasion and she had also received two gifts. One was a mickey mouse watch and the other was a book of poems by Edgar Allen Poe. As she was making her way to the ceremony, she felt good in her dress and was excited. Once the ceremony had started a white man by the name of Edward Donleavy made his way to the stage and gave a speech. The whole speech pretty much shut down everyone's hopes. Maya was a hard worker and the other school was getting all new sorts of equipment. Her classmate Henry Reed started singing the Negro national anthem in his speech afterward. This time, Maya understood the anthem clearly word for word. It changed her outlook on a lot of things and made her realize how big of a factor discrimination was in her life.