Reflection #3

As a college writer, I have learned that there is always room for improvement.  I found that I never knew how my paper actually sounded until I read it aloud and had someone else look over it as well. Throughout WIFYS I did struggle in certain places, but everyone does.  No one can ever write perfectly.  Whether it dealt with the research portion of the paper, the use of certain types of sentences or just transitions between paragraphs, it seemed as if I was always forgetting to do something.  There are many steps and procedures one has to take in order for his or her writing to actually sound professional.  I think now that the semester is winding down and Thanksgiving and Christmas are both around the corner, I am becoming lazy and not concentrating as much on the studies as what I should be.  I think many students are in the same boat as me though.  As far as grammar goes, I have always been pretty strong with it, but there are a couple errors from time to time.  Sometimes even I have to go back and reread a sentence multiple times; but I'm glad I catch it before the reader or professor does.  In my high school, we always used APA format or some sort of format that starts with an A.  We never really used MLA format, so it took some time to refresh it in my brain and learn the techniques and steps again.  When it comes to citing my work, I learned that introducing the author(s) of the article before I state their quote or opinion often times makes the writing sound a lot stronger and supported.  I learned that giving my opinion about a certain quote or  topic helps lengthen the paper a good bit which is always helpful.  Recently in my "Pay for Play" (college athletes should be paid) paper, I used many quotes directly from both text and online sources.  I supported these quotes by offering my opinion to help get the readers attention and to help the reader better understand where the author is coming from with his or her statement.  It is extremely important to use these skills and continue to learn and practice them.  Why?  Because this is not the last time we will use them.  Writing helps everything in daily life.  It helps speech, creativity in the mind, and much more.  I know that I will have to use all of the skills sometime soon in the future.

Argument #4: 30 Days

Dennis and Tom...say that kids should be allowed to be adopted by gay and lesbian families in order to avoid being put in a foster care child home.  No matter who loves who, as long as the kids have a good upbringing then the decisions they make and the homes in which these kids are placed should not matter.

The straight lady(Katie)...says that kids should not be able to be adopted by gay and lesbian families and that they should be placed in mom dad homes only.  In this case I believe that the number of children in foster care homes would dramatically increase and that a lot more kids would be left without a home or family.

This is a very tough topic to talk about.  My opinion is on both sides I guess.  I want to say that kids should be allowed to be placed in gay and lesbian homes ONLY to prevent the numbers in foster care centers from increasing.  I was brought up to believe in mom dad homes only and that that is the best way to be raised.


Katie lives by her faith and by her families rules and how she was raised from birth.  Dennis and Tom are still religious, but their religion allows there to be gay and lesbian families with children in their church/place of worship.

If I had to pick one side, I would go with Katie.  I was raised catholic my family was raised catholic and even their families before them.  We have all grown up in mom dad families and households and that's probably how it always will be.  We have never really been around gay or lesbian families or even people alone to know what it would be like or to know if they could really give the same to a child as a mother and father together.  With that being said, I am not saying everything Katie says is right because I have always been taught to see things with an open mind and meet people with an open heart.  Katie sort of holds to her own beliefs and doesn't let the second half of her try and see where Dennis and Tom are coming from when they are speaking about their family.  From the looks of the video we watched in class, I honestly think that Dennis and Tom are doing a great job raising their family.  They seem to have things controlled perfectly and they show enough love to their kids if not more than some mom dad families.  I think I heard that they have a special needs child who didn't talk before being in their family and now he speaks.  That to me is absolutely amazing because I work with seven severely autistic boys and they are extremely hard to handle, but it is extremely rewarding.  They need more love and attention and care than any other child on this entire planet and if Dennis and Tom can give their little one all that love and attention then I truly believe they know what they are doing and I truly believe that they have the right to have children and raise a family.

Argument #3: Dive

3 rules to dumpster diving

-never take more than you need
-first come first serve
-leave it cleaner than what you found it

we are feeding our landfills as much as we are feeding our country.

Seifert argues that we/grocery stores are wasting perfectly good food that can be eaten without doing any harm to the body.  He says grocery stores are throwing food away just because the sell by date is a day old, but the food is still perfectly fine to eat.  Seifert and a team of others dumpster dive and gather what they think is perfectly good food to eat from dumpsters outside of grocery stores/markets and they eat it and share it with others.

I agree that America does waste a lot of food, but I don't agree with what Seifert is doing.  I know some of the food is probably okay to eat, but I would never take the chance.  No one really knows how much bacteria is in the dumpsters that could now be on the food.  If the food is not properly sanitized then serious harm to the body could be done.  I guess this is risk they are all willing to take since they continue to eat the food they dive for daily.

I would never lay my hands on any food that is pulled out of a trashcan in my house, let alone a dumpster outside a super market.  We as American's could do a lot to help those in need of food.  Dumpster diving is not the first way.  Maybe saving our food and not wasting as much could help those in need a lot.  Taking our left overs to shelters or food kitchens could also greatly help those in need.

I did like the point that Seifert gives that says..."we are feeding our landfills as much as we are feeding our country."  This is a very distinct point and it draws a lot of opinions.  It certainly got me thinking.  The amount of food that people waste per day is outrageous.  Just imagine what we could do with all the perfectly edible food that we waste each and every day.  Those last couple chips, that extra 3 inches of a hoagie, those vegetables that were never touched on our plate; they could all be eaten and greatly appreciated by those in need and by those who don't have any at all.