SJSM Potential Essay Topic Article

One article from the San Jose Mercury News Website that I believe is another source for my essay topic is Los Gatos council approves construction on Pollard Road lighted crosswalk . This article is about the construction of a crosswalk at Jack Fischer Park. This is a good source for my topic of technology affecting San Jose because the construction of a crosswalk is helping to make crossing roads safer for pedestrians. With automated electrical crosswalks there is no need for a crossing guard. The city can save money on paying crossing guards with a one-time payment for a crosswalk. The construction of the crosswalks will help creat jobs for people. In relation to crosswalks, stoplights are also a good technological advance to replace stop signs and to make regulating traffic a lot easier. Technology is basically all around us and it is helping us become more civilized.

Another SJSM Article

I chose to analyze the article A's plans for Fremont stadium appear headed for doom because the title drew my attention. First of all, I think the word "doom" in the title poses as a very good example of the rhetorical device of ethos. It makes me think that he topic is very important and that it could be something that affects me. The article itself is about how the Oakland Athletics are planning to move to Fremont. The reality is that the plan will most likely not go into effect because the team and management are still unsure of what site to build a new stadium. San Jose Councilman Liccardo noted that "there were obstacles to be addressed before San Jose could become a candidate city for the new stadium project." Although throughout the article he seems very optimistic about having the Athletics come to San Jose, he provides the pros and cons that support the idea for the team moving. From what I see it, I agree with this article because it is successful in informing me, the reader, by using ethos and logos. (The article contains logos because of the facts and the beliefs.) I also think that it would be very convenient to have a major baseball team closer to where I live and go to school. Go A's!

AVODAH

After reading the material contained in the AVODAH website screen shot, I can tell that this Jewish organization's main support behind its objectives is advocacy. In the alumni profiles page there is an excerpt describing a man named Brian Fink in which he "was an advocate, assisting my clients in standing up for their rights as they navigated the system from within." In terms of religious affiliations, practices, and beliefs encouraging others, I think that these types of organizations try to influence certain people in the community (in this case Jewish people in particular) . This relation shapes advocacy because it is meant to bring people with a common goal to come together and act upon what they believe or argue. In the case of AVODAH, the organization is trying to recruit Jewish people and have them work together to make a "connection between social activism (advocacy) and Jewish life.

Ch 13 Opinions/Editorials

From chapter 13, I learned that opinion pieces and editorials have distinct purposes: to address and relate to some sort of community, to respond to the values and beliefs of the audience, and to encourage readers to act upon what they get out of the text. When we analyze an opinion piece or a an editorial we must know how to distinguish the two apart. For example, usually editorials use the key strategy of ethos to produce a successful text. What I think ethos means is that it relates to people morals or beliefs. Just like in chapter 13, editorials should be able to "respond to the value and beliefs of the audience." When an editor edits a newspaper he or she tries to make the context appeal to certain people and to make it so the paper will be appealing to those who are not the normal readers. As for opinion pieces, I think that it is some what more simplistic than an editorial and that it does not try to persuade anyone to agree (which is why it is called an opinion piece). I also notice that in most newspapers there is an Opinion Page dedicated to people's opinions. One website that reminds me of the ideas from chapter 13 is this opinion polling website . I think that all of these polls relate to the idea of opinions; basically I think of polls as short, minimum-word, answers to questions that people think affect the community.

Research Topic

The topic that I am considering to elaborate on for our future research topic is the switch from analog to digital television. It relates to San Jose because it affects all the people in the San Jose area and Silicon Valley who watch television. One article that I found on the Mercury News website is VCRs endangered by shift to digital TV . This article is related to the topic of switching to digital television. It is informing people that there is a great number of people who still have and use their VCRs and that "72 percent of U.S. households with a TV also have a VCR" In short, the article is about how the VCR will become obsolete as the the "digital" future nears. Several people must go through the hassle of purchasing new VCRs and/or DVRs. Some argue that it is too costly and that key features from the VCR will not be on new equipment. My opinion is that it would be a lot easier if everyone was on the same television level. A site that has questions and answers about the switch from analog to digital television is DTV Answers

Online Essay

Water Rationing on the Way in Santa Clara

The essay I chose for the online article is Water Rationing on the Way in Santa Clara County from the Santa Cruz Sentinel news website. This article is about the mandatory water rationing for all residents in the Santa Clara County which includes the city of San Jose. I picked this article because I believe that the Bay City News successfully used rhetoric devices to inform the people of Santa Clara County about the important issue of water rationing. Logos is used because of the statistics about the rainfall during the season of spring. Also, the article states that people need to observe how much precipitation the valley gets because that is the factor that determines whether or not there will be up to 10 to 20 percent reductions of water use. Since water is a really important element for everyone the idea of not having enough water brings up the emotion of fright; the rhetorical device of pathos is used here.

In chapter 14 of Compose Design Advocate, “essays tend to be reflective and personal.” According to this statement, even though the article focuses on a community as a whole, the article affects each individual in the county of Santa Clara on a personal level. People need water to live.

Print Essay

Roadshow: Stimulus funds for BART extension not likely

The essay that I chose in print is from the San Jose Mercury Newspaper. I picked the article Roadshow: Stimulus Funds for BART Extension Not Likely because instead of being an actual essay it is more of a question and answer article. The material in the article is about extending the BART to San Jose and how the government stimulus plan will delay the project. The article states that “the line into San Jose won't get federal environmental clearance until later this year and construction is several years away.” This information will upset people who want the BART extended into San Jose.

The author of the article, Gary Richards, provides people’s questions about different modes of transportation and issues that irritate commuters. These people in particular are all frustrated commuters in the San Jose area and pose as reasons to why it is important that the BART is extended into San Jose as soon as possible. I think this article is interesting because the author uses real people in the community to express how they feel about the stimulus fund issue rather than just simply writing a couple paragraphs. This article is a great example for what chapter 14 in Compose Design Advocate states in which essays have a “range of strategies and arrangements.”

Lore Academic Blogging

Lore Blog Essay Review

I think my favorite essay from the lore website would be the one by Angelina Karpovich. In her essay, “I Blog, Therefore I Am,” she explains how contagious blogging can be. I find it funny how her colleague thought the term “blog” was some sort of disease. Just as Karpovich says, blogging is indeed a sort of contagious “disease” that infects people to talk electronically online. I think it is true that blogging is a great way to socialize with others about anything whether it comes to problems in life or just straight forward talking about one’s day. Karpovich provides her own example of why blogging is useful to her: she states that people “frequently offer support and advice on issues both personal and academic.” It seems that she is happy to have accidentally gone from participating in a research site to exploring her ideas and thoughts in blogs with others and utilizing other people’s personal inputs. I agree with Karpovich that blogs can be an addicting but fun way to talk to others no matter what the subject. Personally, I occasionally type up a poem and place it in my MySpace blog. I think it is a great way to write out my anxieties while at the same time inspiring others when they read my poems. Also, people can evaluate my writing and then I can use their positive reinforcement to create better writing in the future.