Spring Break HW #3- Current Article Essay

I read an article called “Trayvon Martin case: Will Zimmerman face a jury?” and “Shooting Death of Teen Raises Questions About Florida Law” it discussed about a boy 17 year old Trayvon Martin was shot by 28 year old George Zimmerman in February. George Zimmerman is a neighborhood watch captain. Zimmerman called 911 and told the dispatcher that he saw a “black male” acting suspicious. The dispatcher told Zimmerman to ignore Trayvon but Zimmerman wouldn’t listen and went after Trayvon. Where Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon. Zimmerman said that he acted from self-defense. Now 2 months later after many protests from Trayvon’s family, Zimmerman is brought to court and facing Florida judge, Judy Woodruff. George Zimmerman should not face a jury because the public has made their opinion on George Zimmerman already and from the media’s and public influence.

            Evidence that supports that Zimmerman should not be faced by a jury is the public have made their opinion on Zimmerman already. “Thousands of people have joined rallies in New York City and Miami and civil rights leaders are planning more demonstrations in other cities.  Trayvon’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, addressed the huge crowd in New York nicknamed “A Million Hoodie March.” (Shooting Death of Teen Raises Questions About Florida Law) This quote supports that the public has made there decision because the public have formed protests and what if some of the protesters ended up to be in the jury then the trial won’t be necessary for them since they have made their decision already.

            The media and public influence can also play a part that Zimmerman shouldn’t be faced by a jury because people could pay off a jury person to vote the way the payer wants it to be. Also the media’s opinion and incomplete information on the case might give the wrong view to the listener and maybe jury voter (opinions). “I think the fact that we have so much social media networking now is going to play a part, because everybody's all over Facebook all over the country expressing their views on this case. So I think, as it relates to jury selection, it will play a part. As it relates to the evidence being presented in court, it will not play a part.” (Trayvon Martin case: Will Zimmerman face a jury?) This quote shows that the judge can also see that media plays a part in picking the jury voters and it’d be hard to pick the jury voters that haven’t seen the opinions on the media yet.

            Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. But George Zimmerman shouldn’t face a jury because of the public opinion and media. Also the choice of selecting the jury voters will be a hard to do.

Links to the articles I read to write this essay:

~ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/us/jan-june12/law_03-22.html

~ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june12/zimmerman_04-12.html

Spring Break HW #2- Plagiarizing

1* What did the student do wrong? What could he/she have done to include the source correctly?

The student didn’t give credit to the person who wrote the article and copied and pasted the writing as if it was their own (they plagiarized). The student could have just cited their source and add quotations or paraphrased what the writer wrote.

2* Write a sentence using the original source correctly; use a quotation or paraphrase. Also, make sure to cite correctly.

“There is a peaceful essence flowing the structures. Perhaps the cool dark colors and the fiery windows spark memories of our warm childhood years filled with imagination of what exists in the night and dark starry skies.” (A Brief Understanding of the Starry Night Paintings, by unknown author)

3* What are at least 3 ways to avoid plagiarizing?

1) Cite and add quotations to the quote

2) Paraphrase what the writer wrote

3) Summarize what your trying quote

Spring Break HW #1- Favorite blog posts

                2 of my favorite blog posts from the list were Aidan Lavis’s (810) and Isabel Arriaga’s (813). I liked Isabel’s blog post about Romeo and Juliet and if Romeo’s love for Juliet was real or just for her beauty. Also vs. versa if Juliet just loved Romeo for his looks. I liked how Isabel talked from her opinion and used textual evidence to back up her opinions. I also liked how she wrote it from both sides like how she wrote how Romeo likes Juliet just for her looks and also how Juliet likes Romeo just for his looks. I didn’t really think of this when I was reading the book. So I wanted to read more to see if this may be true. As I continued to read I started to think more about it and sided with Izzy, from the evidence form the book she showed and pointed out.

I also liked Aidan’s blog post about the book Unwind because my sister keeps telling me to read the book, but I never really understood why she wanted me to read it so badly. I liked how he made a mood/tone in his blog post like for me I felt disgusted by the whole idea of being unwound. I also liked how he described each of the 3 kid’s situation on being unwound. After reading Aidan’s blog post my thoughts changed on the book. At first I thought the book was just about 3 kids who were going to be unwound, but I didn’t know that being unwound was being stripped of your organ to give to “more important” people or people who needed those organs and each kid having a different feeling towards being unwound and what they were going to do about it. When I further read Aidan’s blog post I agreed on 1 law that was in law at the place, which was abortion is illegal. But my feelings changed about the law when I continued to read on about how a parent could get an abortion when your child is 13, but can’t be done after 18. I felt disgusted by the fact of act of being unwound and how a kid named Lev was just born to be unwound when he turns 13.

That’s when I asked my sister (which read the book already) who decides if the child gets unwound and the answer shocked me it’s the child’s own PARENTS. I asked myself even if the parents get money why would they let their own child be unwound just because of money. Why would a parent decide the child’ faith before its even born or even after 13 years of knowing their kid would they want to unwind their child. I think this is even WORSE than abortion in our time now because now people can only abort the baby before birth (which is still bad). But in this setting in the book the parent can set the child up for unwinding before birth OR the years when the child is 13 through 18.

             After reading Aidan’s and Isabel’s blog posts I would like to like Isabel write a blog post surrounding my opinion and use evidence form the book to back it up. I would also want to try to write more in my blog posts or an essay format like Aidan did. I would also like to add a mood/ tone to my posts like both Isabel and Aidan did.