I never really liked reading poems in our book because I could never really get the jist of them. After reading this poem, however, I really liked it. I liked what this poem stood for and I liked its meaning. This poem was very true to its meaning. No matter how hard you work in America, you are never guaranteed success. Hughes basically says through his poem that the very things we think America stands for don't really exist within our borders. The line that I felt truly summed up Hughes poem was "O, let America be America again, The Land that never has been yet."
My Agenda Item/Thesis is: Why does America still stand for the traditional values that it was intended to have when in reality they don't actually exist?
This essay discussed the Patriot Act that was established by the United States government after 9-11 happened. I knew a little bit about this act but after reading this essay I feel that I know a lot more about it. This act allows the federal government to spy on anyone who may be suspected of being involved with terrorism. I know that the government wants people to be safe but I don't feel that giving up are freedoms is right. Some people are willing to be searched but I just do not believe that it is right and I am not one of those people.
My Agenda Item/Thesis for this essay is: The Patriot Act may strengthen federal law enforcement's capabilities to ensure our country remains safe but it undermines the very freedoms that our ancestors fought for.
I really enjoyed reading this article as well. This essay talked about how the world can sit there and talk about how "bad" America is but they themselves are the ones who wear our fashion, eat our food, etc. "Everywhere, fun lovers, efficiency seekers, Americaphiles, and Americaphobes alike pass through the portals of Disney and the arches of McDonalds wearing Levi's jeans and Gap Jackets." Hollywood has a huge impact on the rest of the world whether we want to believe it or not.
My agenda item/thesis is: Over the past twenty years, American cultures has been infiltrating nations all over the world homogenizing traditional cultures into the king of global "fun" Disney is famous for.
I really enjoyed reading this comic. I think that I learned more reading this comic strip compared to anything that I have read all year. Maybe it interested me more becuase it was something different and it wasn't just in essay format. The comic strip was very biased and one sided, but I learned more about that one side that I ever knew before. I learned alot about our country and what really is going on along with how other countries view us. I think this comic is very informative and people need to read it so that they can get a "realistic" view on our country. Its just not as great as we think it is.
My agenda item/thesis for this article is: The United States faces many problem in our own contry becuase we are so eager to involved in other countries issues and problems. I think our president needs to fix our own country and its problems before he jumps in head first and tries to fix other countires and their problems. Maybe we wouldn't be the position we are in today if he took a few seconds to think about this.