Survey Responses

My survey consisted of multiple questions regarding the surveyor's knowledge of the liquor license proposal and of their view on extending the hours of bar, and other businesses that supply alcohol from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. I found my results to be rather conclusive. Many of my surveyors were not avid drinkers, but felt that the proposal would do more good for the community than bad. Many of the participants who did frequent bars felt that the proposal would strongly benefit the community if adopted. They expressed a strong belief that Gov. Granholm's goal could be reached and that if reached a much needed change would engulf Michigan.
I had a few open ended questions in which 35% of the participants expressed knowledge in other states provisions and felt that Michigan remained behind fellow states in aspects of liquor sells and entertainment hours and felt that it is a change that's long overdue. While 15 of my participants felt strongly that the extension might bring more violence and use tax dollars needed elsewhere, they did, however agree that something must be done about Michigan's deficit. My findings proved to be what I expected but they did accomplish the goal of helping me to understand the community's opinion on the matter; Michigan is ready for change and that change can definitely be reached through liquor sales.

Reading Response

Brent Staples, a young African American journalist, explains the hardships of his everyday life in respect to his complexion and heritage in “Just Walk on By.” He tells of the treatment that he witnesses on a daily basis, some of which include awkward looks and the hurried movements of people trying to counter his path. Staples also renders the story of a drastic event in which his fellow journalist was mistakenly deemed a suspected murderer due to his appearance.
This article caught my attention due to the nature of the addressed topic; racial profiling and stereotyping. I can relate to Staples experiences. I, myself am an African American, but unlike Staples I am a female. Though there are some factors that are attributed solely to African American males, many of the stereotypes are linked to blacks as a whole. I cannot count the various incidents that I have faced being a young Afrcan American woman. Unlike Staples I will not, and find it totally ridiculous to go to great lengths to make myself appear harmless to those who are fearful of my presence or come up with various statics as to why it is acceptable that people unlike me treat me with disrespect.
Reading this article actually upset me in many ways, the first being the fact that it brought to mind the complete ignorance of people in the world today in association with stereotyping the other injustices. I find it really disheartening that mistreatment remains very prevalent within our society but I remain hopeful that it will lessen with time and that minorities can be treated with the same respect in the unconscious manner that represents humility.

Reading Response

Will Wright tackles critics of video games with his unique take on the gaming world and its advantages within his article “Dream Machines.” Wright’s main incentive is to portray video games within a new, positive light and show how their role within society is actually beneficial for our youth in aspects of creativity.
Wright argues that video games not only offer children, and all other age groups who partake in the pastime, fun but also provide them with new ways of thinking and approaching various ideas. Wright avidly justifies gaming with his theory that playing a new game is a “rapid cycle of hypothesis, experiment, and analysis.” He explains that when a person, young or older begins playing a video game he or she rarely takes a look at the manual thus they each partake in the trail and error process. Wright states that this process allows people to carry out creative thinking by making them figure the game out themselves opposed to reading the manual thus taking them through the paths of creative thinking.
I found this reading to be very convincing and informative. I, myself am a huge critic of video gaming and its effects on adolescents and young adults alike due to the graphic nature of many of the games. However, I accept the games due to the fact that many of us are able to separate reality and fantasy and those of us that aren’t equipped with this ability; children, can be taught.
From reading this article I was able to agree with Wright’s assertion that video games are a form of tapping into your creativity and using your skills to develop ways to beat the system. I’m not positive I agree that the creativity steaming from video gaming alone will spark the creativity essential for the upcoming generations productive ideas, but I do agree that playing video games does, in some ways entice the creative side of those involved, especially will the game is actually worthwhile.

Reading Response

Ashley Davis
Comp 106:
Professor A. Yerks
Oct. 30, 2009

Our Thirst for Bottled Water

Within the persuasive essay “Our Thirst for Bottled Water,” Tom Standage explores the various assumed notions that are held by Americans in association with bottled water in regards to health and seeks to educate the reader of the harmful waterborne diseases that ail third world countries that lack sanitary drinking water.

Standage provides the reader with knowledge of the harmful affects that the American obsession with bottle water is having on poorer regions of the world. In America bottled water is being exploited and taken in vain to be perceived as a necessity when people in countries beyond our borders are dying daily due to preventable diseases.

He provides the reader with the undeniable fact that over one billion people in the world lack sanitary water. Standage points out the fact that Americans have little concern about water issues due to the abundance of it and that we take for granted the fact that we’re afforded with the seemingly trivial opportunity of having sanitary tap water available to us when and wherever. However, poorer countries are not provided with the same privilege. There are five million deaths related to preventable waterborne diseases annually.

Standage aims to educate the reader on proven facts that bottled water, contrary to belief, is not healthier than tap water, but that they are both equivalent in their sectors associated with health and hydration. He challenges the reader to overcome the naivety that one may have about waterborne diseases and take a stand to make a difference by not abusing bottled water and making use of tap water. He argues that by lessening the intake of bottle water that one might consume daily could conserve water, thus making it a step easier for countries that have issues with water sanitation.

Interview Photos

Outside Action Liqour Store on Gratiot

Outside of They Say on Jospeh Campau

Outside of Lucky's Bar and Grill on Jefferson

Article summaries

Ashley Davis
Comp: 106
Professor A. Yerks
Oct. 7, 2009
Academic Article Summaries
Due to it being one of my chief areas of study, the chosen genre of each of my articles is sociology. The articles focus on the sociological stand point of the relevance of race within the act of remembering. Though memory remains the main theme between the three; they each explore the mechanisms used to engage in remembering and instances of specific memories in distinct manners.
Within “Generations and Collective Memory” Revisited; Race Region, and Memory of Civil Rights from the American Sociological Review( 2004), Larry J. Griffin explores a confirmed theory that suggest that certain age groups recall distinct world events differently; helping to create generational identity. Griffin aims to revise this theory in the specific case of civil rights and directs his argument to all critics of collective memory. He finds that this theory and its principles provide vastly different outcomes in regards to civil rights. He argues region and race are solely responsible for the discrepancy. The theoretical idea expressed is that where highly charged events happen, consciousness and memory are shaped, suggesting that the idea of social location of generational identity information is place specific, as well as age and race dependent. Griffin states that “Before we understand how people deploy memory, however, we must know what people remember and why they remember the particular events they do.” Griffin relates his findings in an academic style using sociologic terms while dually making it decipherable to any reader. The article represents science through its nature of study and observation.
Since studies of race relations generally ignore collective memory’s role in shaping racial norms and attitudes, Griffin and Bollen analyze how memories of racial oppression, conflict, and reconstruction shape race relations within the article “What Do These Memories Do? Civil Rights Remembrance and Racial Attitudes” from the American Sociological Review (2009). They examine how American’s recollections of the civil rights movements influence their racial attitudes and racial policy preferences.
Within Individual Differences in Race Schematicity as Predictors of African American and White Children’s Race-Relevant Memories and Peer Preference from The Journal of Genetic Psychology, Gary D. Levy studies how stereotyping is positively associated with inaccurate memories of race with children.
Each of the articles concludes that race is a major factor within categorizing what each individual remembers.
(Please don’t comment on the missing aspects, clearly I’m aware of that seeing that it’s a very rough draft I’m going to provide more detail. Try to focus your attention and comments on what you can take from what I’ve provided and what information would add to the overall substance.) Thanks

Screen Capture

My difficult composing task is the argumentative essay assignment. As shown in my screen capture, my current progress with the argumentative essay is non existent due to the present lack of motivation, creativity, and sleep; thus making it extremely difficult! The first thought that came to mind when I viewed the image of my capture was "This is cool," followed shortly by, "Who knew I could take a picture of my screen with the computer!" I then wondered who came up with the idea of being able to capture your screen and what was the initial purpose of it.

As previously noted the screen capture amazed me a little, which inevitably led me to wonder how it worked. Although I couldn't come up with a plausible answer, I did notice how the image was reshaped to a smaller size to fit within the screen. I suppose I would say that compositions change shape in digital space due to the complex tasks that the creators of the computer set forth to enable users to complete given task. I'm not really sure how it happens, but my guess would be that the information is broken down and recorded, then remastered to be able to fit within different sizes as well as made viewable in different spaces. I could better understand the digital composing process by gaining some knowledge of it through observance. The best way to gain knowledge would be through research or a hands on course that provides information about it.