TU Tuesday- Local

Go to http://www.timesunion.com and read a LOCAL article there. Then, convince me you read the article, understood what you read, understood the prompt below I asked you to think about as you read, and wrote a thoughtful response, using support (direct quotes) from the article in your response. Please call your blog response TU Tuesday - Local, put a working link to the article you read and are responding to, address the instructions in yellow below, and use support from the article you read in the form of FOUR direct quotes.

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text.

The theme in the text is about taxes and if increasing the minimum wage is beneficial to the economy. From reading the text, I learned that small businesses are the ones with the minimum wage, it also states that small businesses spend most of their money in the town which helps keep other small companies in business.  

"Silver has argued a minimum wage hike will inject money into local economies because earners on the lowest end of the economic ladder spend the money they have near their own homes. It would be a sort of mini-stimulus, the speaker said. It would help small businesses create more jobs. While labor groups support the proposal, business lobbyists oppose it." But people with the most pull in high levels of companies do not think it's a good idea because that is a loss for them concidering they are the ones paying their employees the minimum wage and would be losing money if the minimum wage increased.

The tax package is seen at the Capitol as a counterpoint to Silver's plan to raise the minimum wage $1.25 per hour, to $8.50, a boost that passed the Assembly earlier this month". The article also talks about tax cuts but they only benefit the people and as a whole the united states would lose millions of dollars a year. "The package would cost the state up to $130 million this year and $1 billion within four years" In towns the local business are trying very hard to stay open even when there is a bigger company that might sell the same thing for less, but its a different way of doing business. The quality of the local business might be better  because they are making the objects on a smaller scale. This is also why we need to lower taxes because small businesses are struggling to compete with these other companies. "We have to continue to do this. As we move into our summer recess, it's critically important that we cut taxes, especially on small businesses, as soon as possible." There was a poll for the New York Voters and here are the results:

 

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Tax-aid-or-wage-hike-3591105.php

78% of New York voters support a minimum wage hike, including

58% of self-identified Republicans, and that

65% of voters support a package of tax cuts and credits, including

64% of self-identified Democrats.

This shows that people are still in debt and still cutting back on what they buy because the price of everything continuies ot increase. Gas and College prices are an all time high and I think that New Yorkers need to catch a break either through tax cuts or the increase in minimum wage.

9.Why do veterans deserve respect?

Veterans deserve respect for many resasons. Yes, there has been a draft in the past where you had to go serve time in war not matter what, but right now our country is being protected by the ones that volunteer their time to keep the United States safe and for the most part, peaceful. The veterans have done so much for us by doing one thing we would never be able to return or give back, they are risking their lives or have risked their lives to do what they feel is right. I think that anyone who chooses to do this is a hero and deserves everyone living in the U.S.'s respect. To leave your family for who knows how long and not to be in constant contact with them is very hard in itself and I think that people don't alwasy realize how much someone in the war is giving up to be ther and how unselfish the act is. This is why I think that all veterans deserve respect.

What is Crippling Us?

John Taylor Gatto talks about public education and he proves these theories by using the work of ancient philosophers He talks bad about schools in many different ways. He talks about the classes that children are put in, the way that they are seperated, and how children are not worked to the best of their ability anymore. Gatto says that putting children with children and spending time with adolesents all day keeps children from growing up and being responsible, "Theorists from Plato to Rousseau to our own Dr. Inglis knew that if children could be cloistered with other children, stripped of responsibility and independence, encouraged to develop only the trivializing emotions of greed, envy, jealousy, and fear, they would grow older but never truly grow up." I disagree with this quote. School is supposed to help us grow up and work on our own. Its supposed to teach us to advocate for ourself and get the grades we deserve while working as hard as we can. Although the grades don't always show how the teacher teaches or how well the student knows the lesson, the tests are an unfair way to assess a student. Teachers now a days are teaching to the test insead of teaching for the children to get smarter in every day life. "Who wouldn't get bored teaching students who are rude and interested only in grades? If even that. Of course, teachers are themselves products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures even more rigid than those imposed upon the children. Who, then, is to blame?" Teachers get bored teaching the same thing over and over, teaching for the children to complete a final exam to decide if they pass the class or not. This can get especialy boring if children aren't getting the lesson or don't understand.

Ray Bradbury
In Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury uses persuasion through the characterGuy Montag. He tries to explain to people the way he felt when that woman took her own life for the books, he wants to know what is  in the books that is so special. "You weren't there, you didn't see," he said. "There must be something in books, something we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing." this shows me that hes very interested and Montag is telling his wife all of this because he doesn't understand but she understands less than him.
Another way Ray Bradbury shows this in his books is when Guy goes to Fabers house (the college professor) to see if a book can be copied because there are very very limited amounts of the Bible, Shakespear and Plato left in the world. Guy has to return the "only" book he has to the boss at the fire station tomorrow and he wants to make a copy to be one of the only people to have it. Instead Guy and Faber are coming up with a plan, "Plant the books, turn in an alarm, and see the firemaen's houses burn, is that what you mean? this is how he wants to stop the way things are going  by getting rid of all the firemen and maybe saving books. He has to persuade Faber to do it though because they will both be in danger of getting burned.









"Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magis is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us"

Tired and True

It's his eighth birthday and the theme is cars, I was picked up from Party City four days ago, but I wasn't stuffed full of candy until three days before. I've never been as full as this, but I'm beginning to get nervous. I've herd stories about the ones that leave and never come back, how they go through brutial beatings and then there never seen again. Am I going to be another story?
The party starts at 4 and I wipe the sweat from my brow because its already 5 and I haven't even been touched. I'm sure they've forgotten about me by now and will soon move on to pin the wheel on the car and eat some cake. But when will I know? I hear them talking about baseball bats and about the candy and I'm waiting for my time to come.
Being hung is like surrendering to the twelve 8 year olds running around and swinging at me blindly. As much as it hurts, I know I have to stay strong and not get beaten down too quickly. One by one my chocolate filled insides slowly falls as each kid gets one hit at my racecar expterior. Before long my doors and bottom was completely detached and the candy rained to the ground getting attacked by the children grabing and shoving to get the best candies.
Once a beautiful car, im now broken and nothing. left for trash.





http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/post/17477297690/my-28-most-tried-and-true-writing-prompts

TU Tuesday - Commencement Speech

"I didn't go to college here, I didn't go to college at all. I'm not saying you wasted your time or money, but look at me I'm a huge celeberty" I agree with this. In this day and age, you don't have to be anyone important or even that smart to make millions of dollars, that is if you play your cards right. Celeberties in famous movies or maybe even on a reality tv show, didn't have to go to college you can just have a pretty face and know the right people to be "successful". 

"I had this secret that I was keeping that I was gay, and i thought if people found out, they wouldn't like me or wouldn't laugh at me." I understand that people feel this way, in 2009, being gay wasn't that acceptable and it would be very different for people to accept other people being gay. I think that now in these past years we are coming out of that and now that gay marriage is legal, we do not judge people for coming out and saying they are gay. I just wish that more people felt comfortable to be who they want to be.

"I realized I had a purpose" I love this quote because everyone has a purpose in life. I believe that everyone is here on earth for a reason and we have to find that by doing what we love and following our heart. Ellen also said "when I look back on it, I wouldn't change a thing... Ive realized that the most important thing is to be true to yourself" i also agree with this because

JK Rowling "the first step to success is to make achieveable goals" everyone makes goals that are unreachable. In order to believe in yourself and grow you have to be able to reach your goals. I agree with Rowling when she says this because we have all wanted to be able to do something so bad that we make goals that are maybe impossible for us physically mentally or just in the amount of time, we can not reach it. So in order to grow you need to be able to create achieveable goals.

Ellen DeGeneres
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JccudODwwY

JK Rowling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkREt4ZB-ck

85 How I Went From Very Shy to Less Shy

Ever since I was younger I've been very shy. My parents would tell me to go over and talk to another younger girl and I would refuse. I always liked to stay close to my family or sister rather than going and talking to other girls my age. I always loved my friends and hanging out with them but I never really moved outside of my circle. But the day I  turned "less Shy" I tell everyone it was the day I cut my hair. Before freshman year I cut my hair so short and died it darker than it was. I wanted and needed change and I think that it helped me become who I wanted to be instead of being who I've always been. Moving into the high school was a big deal and I just wanted to go with a fresh mind and attitude and that's what I did. The hair was more symbolic than the fact that most of my hair was gone. It was a new me.

Love to Know Slideshow

Face the Day

What is your mood like when you wake up in the morning? Do you have any special rituals, such as reading the newspaper while enjoying a cup of coffee, that help you get ready for the responsibilities of the day?

Every night I turn on my four alarms that will wake me up the next morning. The alarm set for 5:48 gets shut off immediately and im back asleep for another 12 minutes before my 6:00 alarm goes off warning me that I will soon have to get up to start my day. Another two alarms later, I finally drag myself out of bed at 6:22 the perfect amount of time to get ready. Depending on whihc house im at, I have different routines but all in all, they are the same. I go to the bathroom to do my hair and get ready, after I find what to wear its about time to leave so I brush my teeth (I can't go anywhere with out brushing!) and collect my bags. I feel like I always have to grab extra clothes and sneakers for softball, gym or dance. But just before I leave I make coffee for my sister and I in our to go mugs to get us ready for the day. If I'm at my moms I don't make coffee because its never as good as the peppermint flavored creamer I have at my dads. I also eat my breakfast first block enjoying the egg sandwich that my dad cooks each morning for my sister, step mom, himself and I. Clearly he's up a little earlier than I. Every day is started the same but it ends completely different. I love not knowing where the day will bring me having it be a good day with things just going well for me. As I get older I  realize how quickly time goes by even this school year just flew by and it teaches you that you can't take a stationary stance on life and you have to do what makes you happy. You have to go where life takes you.

http://freelance-writing.lovetoknow.com/Slideshow:Daily_Writing_Prompts~7

Creative Contest III

Laughter heals the mind and soul.

Philosophical Idea

Materialism is the philosophical theory that regards matter and its motions as constituting the universe, and all phenomena, including those of mind, as due to material agencies. Karl Marx was one of the first men to create and believe in this theory. "Individuals who hold to this belief see the universe as a huge device held together by pieces of matter functioning in subjection to naturalistic laws." I do not agree with Materialism because I think that in life there are so many more things than money and physical objects. I believe that there is a higher spirit that is there for us when we think we need help or when we don't realize the help that we need. I also believe that relationships and peoples energies are what makes life have a purpose and also makes us happy.

 

 http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/materialism.htm

 

 

TU Tuesday- Classified

Walking through the woods I pass a trailer with for sale signs plastered everywhere. The family inside seems too big for this little house. Through the window i see a dimly lit kitchen table with three kids and a mother huddled around seeming to enjoy the meal along with the company of eachother. The trailer which is advertised as "spacious" seems too small for the four of them. As they walk to the kitchen, they have to take turns so they can fit through the hallway. Bumping into eachother as they are transient from the :nice kitchen with cabinets above and below, 3-burner stove with oven, microwave, full-size fridge" to the dining/living room. The two bedrooms are large enogh for the family to rest peacefully and theres an "awning, large  slide, a/c, sliding glass main door" that connects the house to the outdoors. The family of four seems to be in the lower class but in here, it seems they are happy but are ready for a stable home that is located in a neighborhood with neighbors and an address rather than "on a huge lot in a wooded campground, all hooked up!"


http://timesunion.kaango.com/ad-spacious-trailer-37-all-amenities-perfect-for-a-family/20486476