Introduction Paragraph for Assignment #5

Drinking alcoholic beverages is part of our culture and right of
passage as young adults turn twenty one and have the ability to buy
and publicly drink alcohol. However, those 21st birthdays are probably
not the first time those young adults have experimented with alcohol.
As teenagers get older their responsibilities and choices broaden.
When a person turns 18, he or she is considered a legal adult with the
options of buying cigarettes, lottery tickets, and voting in
elections, to name a few privileges. If a person at the age of 18 has
the power to vote for the next leader of our country, he or she should
be trusted with the ability to use alcohol. After the drinking age
during the 1980’s increased to 18, teenagers have not stopped drinking
and some people believe this law has contributed to an increase in
extreme binge drinking. Other countries are not as strict with their
drinking age and teenagers there do not abuse alcohol because of how
common it is socially. If the United States had the drinking age
changed to 18, teenagers could be more responsible with their
alcoholic intake and their decision making using alcohol. 

Assignment #5: Scholarly Paper Proposal

                                                                 Drinking Age Proposal

            I am interested in writing my research paper on whether or not the drinking age should be lowered to 18. I believe that the drinking age should be lowered because it will allow teens to make smart decisions, as they are able to experience other liberties such as joining the army, ability to buy cigarettes, ect. I think that there will be many statistics for me to find in comparison to when the United States had a drinking age of 18, and other countries that have drinking ages lower than 21. This is an important topic that should be addressed because in college, students tend to experiment with drinking. Since most college students begin school at the age of 18, they should drink at their own cost and make their own decisions rather than sneak behind the law and illegally binge drink. If 18 year olds were allowed to drink, I think that teens would not be as rebellious to drink at such extreme amounts because they have the option to. I believe the drinking age should be changed to 18. 

Visual Rhetoric Journal

Smoking Kills

            There are many advertisements present in the media, which try to detest people from the urge to try or continue smoking. Everyone knows that smoking kills, so why do people continue to do it? The targeted audience for this message that smoking kills are the people who are oblivious of the fact that having one more cigarette is causing detrimental damage to them. The advertisements also target the younger generation that may or may not experiment with smoking. Many teenagers follow the media’s “it” look or what is “cool” for people to be doing.  Television and magazine ads of horrifying images showing the consequences of smoking will hopefully implant the idea that society is not trying to promote smoking as a “cool” thing to do.

            Being from New York, this specific smoking kills advertisement is a very boldly depicted image.  For anyone who remembers 9/11/01, depressing memories arise and the reminiscence of that day is exceedingly heart breaking. When I see this advertisement, I remember how many innocent people died from the collapsing of the twin towers, but the above statement that 2,000 times the amount of people that past in 9/11, die from smoking related causes each year. This is a brilliant advertisement because the relation to such a common activity like smoking is more catastrophic than the unbelievable acts of 9/11. The statistic makes the advertisement more credited and more personal to people who went through the horrible event. A deeper message in this advertisement suggests that smokers have the ability to choose their fate and outcome, while many of the 9/11 victims did not.

Smoking Kills Advertisement Link: http://mediame.com/adblogarabia/every-year-smoking-more-people-than-911/

Atlanta Compromise

Booker T. Washington exemplifies the struggles of blacks because of the mass number of immigrants entering the United States during 1985. At this point, the blacks were considered to have freedom from slavery, but were still segregated amongst the whites in many areas. They wanted to be apart of the industrial field, but were ostracized in the working community because of the low wage demands of incoming immigrants. Booker T. Washington’s speech, Atlanta Compromise, was directed to the audience of white men in the North. The speech was asking Northerner’s to realize that they should be hiring blacks who arose out of slavery, especially because of their skill set of physical work in the business world. Booker T. Washington, being a black man, understood the struggle of his people. When the blacks had an opportunity to prosper into a more equal society, they were ignored and pushed aside for foreigners. His message was also trying to support the blacks and explain the beneficial impact of hiring blacks in the South.

Since Booker T. Washington was a black man, he had more credibility with his message to his audience. He witnessed what went on in his community and sent out the message. His speech possess an anathema, where he repeats the saying, “ Cast down your bucket,” in reference to lending a helping hand to the people who struggled in the neglect of jobs in the South. With that repetitive saying, the speech is more direct and powerful with his message, asking for help for the Southern blacks.

Memoir-Proposal

Theresa Neri                                                                                                    8/30/11

English 15

                                                Essay 1: Proposal

In today’s society, there are numerous types of bullying that to an extent can be stopped, but not fully. Cyber bullying is known to be one of the easiest ways to victimize people and when hurtful sayings are posted onto social networks like Facebook and Twitter, it is challenging as a witness to get involved. I was a bystander of a fight that almost occurred; a fight between two tall freshmen boys in high school that would have regretted the consequences if there was just one punch thrown. Being a freshman in high school is tough enough to adjust to, but my role as being a senior mentor for these kids is to be a person that they can approach in any situation. Taking on this role may have been the best decision I made throughout high school. The typical stamina of a teenage boy is to look tough and at all costs not let your emotions shine through your mask. However, there is a point where one must get help from someone else before it is too late. My mentee, Phil, the typical freshman boy did everything to put him in the situation that almost was not stopped one feisty lunch period. I feel that this is an important story to share because everyone has gone through some time of bullying in his or her life whether they were the victim, bystander, or the bully him or herself. Telling a person prior about the threats of bullying does not make a person seem like a coward, but actually is beneficial for every party involved in the situation. Being the person who ended up getting in between the fight that almost struck made me go through some internal conflict; was getting involved the right thing to do? Since Phil did not originally approach me about his problems, he may have thought that he could handle the bully on his own. Also, by getting involved I took the risk that he may have been upset that I tried to fight his battle although I was only doing it for his best interest, which he may not have accepted after I stepped in. Every possible situation went through my mind before gaining the courage to stop the possible fight. It is not easy to gain the courage of getting in front of a room of people and standing in between two boys who are double your size. I want to send the message to any people who are likely to witness a situation where they are unsure if they should watch something harmful going on or take a stop to it! This story also applies to teenagers or young adults who are being bullied and think they can overcome a bully when asking for help may be the best option. I believe that everyone has or will go through a situation like this and it does not have to be a physical fight going on that a person needs to get involved in, but with the social media at a new height, finding ways to stand up for people that are being bashed online is also an act similar to mine. In my memoir, I want the readers to fully understand the contemplation I went through to make my decision to stop the fight with limited time before a punch actually was thrown. A person cannot stop every fight that goes on in the world, but standing up for someone can really make an enormous impact on the victim, the bully and every other bystanders’ life. If me, a girl five feet, one inch can be able to stand up in between two giant teenage boys and stand up for someone, then why can’t everyone else do the same?