Presidential Debates

Last presidential debate::
Create jobs for people now instead of sending jobs to overseas
Help homeowners to renegotiate their mortgages
Fix energy policy

McCain wants to help keep taxes low as well as affordable for small businesses
Nuclear power
Oil drilling (Obama opposes)
Knows how to solve America’s problems
Oppose ethanol
Saved tax payers 6 billion dollars

Both want to cut taxes
Tax payers get their money back
No doubt Americans have been living beyond their means
Eliminate programs that don’t work


McCain-- Both campaigns are about lowering taxes and helping Americans... duhh

Joe Biden is the best service partner, never forgotten where he’s from, knows where the country needs to go, Bien has been wrong about foreign the gulf war

Palin saw corruption and resigned, negotiated with oil companies, 40 billion dollars in a pipeline from Alaska, understands special needs families, up to American people if she’s qualified

Obama: work on offshore drilling but we use 25% of the world’s oil and we can only produce 4% of oil, could created 5 million new jobs, wind-turbine, high quality care like federal health insurance, invest in information technology, and are going to make sure to monitor high diseases like diabetes to prevent them


McCain: talks about free trade agreement, wants to stop the Columbian drug trade that’s hurting our young Americans, I don’t like how he totally bashed Obama and told him that if maybe he went to Columbia, he would understand the things that need to be done with free trade in that country. Free trade . I don’t like how he gets into history with the past when we ask for current solutions and problems within the country. I think that when he talks about things he’s not totally sure about, he feels the need to talk about other things to connect to what he should say

Political Debate—10/07
Obama wants to stabilize housing prices, lower taxes for 95% of families

I felt like McCain was just talking about what happened to cause the bailout. I think that sometimes he tries to attack his opponent by giving research and pointing fingers.

When Obama talked about the bailout package and how it will help Americans, I felt as though he knew what the people wanted. I felt like he was targeting the question directly and telling the people what they want to hear. Obama brings up history, and when George Bush came into office.
Investing in college affordability
Cutting more than he’s spending
Priorities that work for the people

McCain-
System in Washington is corrupt
Talks about records instead of reform
Fought against excessive spending
Talks about Obama voting for 3 billion dollar change
Doesn’t want 800 billion on new spending (Obama’s Plan)

What will be your highest priority: health care, entitlements, or energy?

Obama: energy, healthcare, education
Look at some of tax revenue and where it’s going



What sacrifices will you ask every American to make to ease economic crisis?

McCain: can attack healthcare and energy at the same time

Obama: doubling Peace Corps.
Military families are not the only ones that should carry the burden


Obama: all need to make sacrifices
Unfair burden
Help the people who need it, and don’t help the ones that don’t

McCain: small businesses will have to cut spending


Could you give congress a date to reform social security and Medicare?
Obama:
Wants to lower taxes for the middle class
Small businesses will get tax cuts in which then they can afford healthcare for people with small businesses and their workers
McCain: have smartest people in America come together
Too many lobbyists working
Wants Americans to have people fix the problem

Obama: favors nuclear
Will have to come up with alternatives with innovations with China
Give energy in wind and solar to get away from fossil fuels




Tuesday, October 21, 2008

In regards to the St. Pete Times:
Smith, Adam C.. "Obama Campaign Blankets Florida." St. Petersburg Times 21 Oct. 2008 : #1A,#4A.

I read that Obama preached to about 7,000 people to go out a vote, not to wait until November 4th to start voting. It’s a “healthy sign of democracy” the fact that almost 7,600 people in Hillsborough county alone voted the first day of early voting. It’s funny how Palin denounced the negative ads the McCain Campaign has put out on behalf of Obama. She thinks campaigning should be done face to face. Being a democrat myself, it’s interesting to read that Tampa Bay Rays players donated money to the Democrat Representative and co-chair of the Obama campaign in Florida. A total of $3,000 was donated to the campaign.

Previous Blogs on Wiki

Blog 10/8/08
The Vice Presidential Debate
I thought it was really interesting that Biden mentioned that the economy is all about the people. The people who need help are mainly the middle class because it’s hurting small businesses and the potentially people of the future. Palin seems to just ramble on about the things that I already heard from McCain. I still don’t find him to be a very good candidate because he is too old to run for such a position.
Palin definitely mentions the fact that people knew they couldn’t afford homes for $300,000 if we couldn’t even afford homes at $100,000. I think it’s interesting that she says that realtors and the federal government is at fault when the people choose to buy things that they don’t have money for. I think it’s the American’s fault because in some ways, they weren’t being “taken advantage of” we just didn’t know better.
Biden talks about how all McCain really wanted was deregulation instead of helping out the problem America had with Subprime Mortgage situation. On the other hand, Obama wanted people to know what was going on. I think it’s really important to show people that not only will they have problems growing; they need to be able to see the kinds of problems they are running into.

Blog 10/1/08
I read an article in the Tampa Tribune and found some interesting information. As I was going about my information, I stumbled across the words “but another Great Depression, some of us intend to elect a 72-year-old liar with a history of cancer, who thinks Spain is in South America,” and found it really interesting that people would actually describe McCain in that way.
I didn’t know that McCain proposed a freeze on spending expect for veterans and people in the military, whereas he opposed the Veteran’s Bill. What is the Veteran’s Bill anyway?


Blog 8.28
I am very much interested in much about the presidential election. I haven’t been keeping up with each candidate and their opinions and policies to running to country if elected, but I know there are many aspects in which each person can better contribute to the country. I know that Obama wants change in economic policies and change in sport policies as well. It shows that he’s not only focused on the United States and the way things run in the government, but he’s willing and in need of changing things within the U.S. that people treasure the most about our country, sports. I learned about this when my friend Mike Snock told me he views Obama as an inspirational leader.


Research Questions Matrix

What percent of people who are republicans are going to vote for Obama, who runs as a Democrat?
What is an idealistic candidate?
Why does the possibility of the first African American President present a fearful outcome?
What are candidates doing about keeping the green house effect from ruining our planet?
In what ways is McCain similar to Bush’s ideas on politics?
What kind of healthcare policy does Obama decide to take a stand on?
How many people are living in the United States that cannot afford healthcare?
What is a draft?
What makes candidate McCain want to re-instate the draft?
What will happen if McCain is elected and decides to keep troops in Iraq?
What is the position McCain holds with same sex marriage?
What specific changes to the social security program will Obama make if elected?
What have each of the vice presdients accomplished in their political careers?
What is a tax reform policy?
What stance does Obama have about stem cell research?
In what ways will McCain or Obama start to make our country less oil dependent?
Would questioning the right to bear firearms be questioning our Constitution?
How does Obama feel about the outcome of the war or will he choose to withdraw troops?
How many electoral votes were recorded for each party during the last election? Last 12 years?
What is an electoral vote?
How will international relations change between the United States and the rest of the world if either candidate is elected?
What will Obama’s tax reform policy have on small businesses?
What stance does McCain have towards the idea of Pro-choice?
How does McCain feel about the immigrattion laws?

Presidential Debate Notes

Foreign Policy

Obama seems to understand the protection of tax payers
-oversight
-taxpayers have possibility of getting money back
-none of the money goes to corporationgs
-protect homeless
--- 8 years of shredding consumer protection

McCain- I felt as though he didnt show a plan. He knows we have the spirit, but shows no fundamental change, knows there's corruption and wants to stop abusive spending in government

Obama- wants tax cut for 95% of families
-932 million dollars in requests for change - close corporation loop holes

McCain- clean up system- keeps targeting the fact that Obama wants a LOT of money

I felt as though Obama totally knew what he was talkign about. He's a really good speaker because the entire time, he wasnt really attavcking his opponent, he was actually agreeing, but turing McCain's negative attacks into positive ones

Interview with Satrapi 7/18

Root’s interview with Satrapi is very interesting. It seems as though Satrapi was being real. Most people try to cover up how they really feel when in an interview just so we aren’t given their real feelings towards what the interviewer was asking. I find it interesting that Satrapi says she’s a terrible writer and the only way to really express herself is to draw out what she wants to say. She talks about how she uses the language of words and the language of image. They talked about the meaning of truth. I had heard much about the fictional book A Million Little Pieces by James Frey and find it comical as to how Satrapi find truth. She just watches the Fox News instead if talking to people and listening to what they have to say about “truth.” She talks about how every book is a story, no matter how personal it is. You should keep the truth to yourself and incorporate it in a story. By doing so, only the writer knows what’s true about the piece they are writing. I found it odd how Satrapi also talks about how no one is perfect, yet she seems so real and down to earth. She really elaborates on the fact that no one should be ashamed of their imperfections because they are what make us human beings. I think that’s the most important thing about being a writer: realizing that work is never going to be perfect, you are never going to be perfect no matter how much you think you are. At what time in Satrapi’s life did she realize that no one is perfect? And has she been honest with herself when writing her books if truth should be kept to oneself because it’s too personal?

Persepolis

It was interesting to read Chute’s article on Persepolis. I thought the “graphic narrative” was different from what most little comic strips normally are. This was more of a novel, if anything. It’s interesting how the article addresses a few of the main points in the graphic narrative by Marjane Satrap.
The fact that girls were forced by law to wear a veil seems like they have no liberty or say in what they can and can’t do. She learned much about the Iran-Iraq war, the tortures families and friends endured, along with the injustice being created because of the war. I thought it was really interesting to hear that when she got rebellious, her parents sent her out of the country probably in fear of her getting killed for being so outspoken. It shows how protected the society was when women were to speak out. In the beginning of the article, it talks about how women were pretty much just for show. They had no say in what went and men believed they were the best at everything. Newsflash: times have changed; it’s the 21st century. One thing that really got me was that fact that Anoosh, Marji’s uncle, wanted to see her out of anyone in the family. He told her to never forget the kind of history she’s living in. That’s something that no matter what gender you are, you should always treasure history.
I found it rather odd that Marjane would use just 2 tones of color in her graphic narrative. The colors back and white showed symbolism in the sense that all she wrote about and talked about was violence. She didn’t do the strip in color because violence isn’t normal, and by using colors, it would make the idea realistic. This idea reminds me of the movie Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg. The entire movie was shot in black and white. The only thing that was in color was a little girl in a red dress which signified amount of blood shed that happened throughout the holocaust and the loss of innocence. The tie between both the strip and movie comes in where they each have a meaning behind the writers’ unwillingness to accept reality.

Narrate Memoir

How does hearing the stories of Katrina survivors help you better narrate your own memoir? What strategies do they use that you can also use to make your memoir stronger?

Listening to the heartfelt stories people were telling after the occurrences of Katrina really brought to my attention the kind of emotion that accompanied their telling. Seeing many different perspectives in which the storm destroyed people's lives made me feel as though I was present during the disaster. I felt as though I had also become a victim in Hurricane Katrina. There was one particular story that made me tear-up when listening. A mother told her daughter that if the waters become too high, just to swim on without her and to save herself. When you hear a mother telling her child to save his/her self instead of looking back, it touches a point in ones heart to ask themselves, "What would I do in a situation like that?" To think of saving myself instead of trying to save my own mother is heart wrenching. I could never just leave someone who meant/means so much to me for the sake of my own selfish life. When I heard this story, questions upon questions began popping into my head. What the hell would I do? What if I got pulled under the deep waters and just went back for nothing? What if my mother was caught in something? What if the current swept me under so deep that I wouldn't be able to even reach the person I set out to rescue? How would I live with myself had I only gone back to help a loved one? These questions probably will never be answered unless a situation was put forth in my direction.
Finding the deep emotion within each story has shown me that writing a memoir is more than just the telling of one's misfortune or joyous past occurrence. It's about the traumatic experiences people face and the emotions in which allow them to tell their stories. I’m going to incorporate emotion and deep sentimental feeling in my memoir that allows the reader to understand where I came from and who I am today. They are going to help me tell my story.

The Good Out Weighs the Bad, Sooner or Later

In writing a memoir, Frank Mathias made it simple to comprehend the tricks. To write a piece of art, you must be a historian and an artist. In order to be a historian you had to have been through something that changed the way you think, or the way you believe which makes the story or experience factual. The artist in an individual must be able to incorporate the sensory details in order to really tell the story by captivating the reader and bringing them into the memoir.
An example of artistic captivity would have to be “Knocked Up” by Nicole Filmore. She made me feel as though I was also living in a house with a pregnant 17 year old sister. When she was ordered to do things because her sister couldn’t keep up with chores, she resorted to bitching about them in her memoir. This shows the more immature yet artistic way of expression through the use of profanity. Although Nicole has a way of dealing with problems through complaining and counting down the days until her sister will finally has her baby, we later see that after all this time, Nicole had had a life changing experience in the delivery room. She had hated the fact that her sister got all of the attention, yet fell in love with the idea of having a baby, deciding that her baby niece was her “everything.”
I really understand where Nicole’s coming from when she gets dumped with all the chores and hates the neglect. When my parents first opened their night club business, it was nothing but late nights and never really getting to bond with my family the way we used to before the crazy entertainment business took hold of their lives. But there’s one thing I don’t understand. Why didn’t Nicole do anything to get away from what she hated the most? Why didn’t she find the time to be with friends and do things for her rather than always be confined to the walls of her own home and tending to her master of a sister? I understand that she needed to be there for her sister in the mean time, but I don’t see why she never mentioned the time she had alone to herself. Maybe that’s why she was so bitter before the baby arrived. Maybe that’s why she was never into the whole thought of her 17 year old sister having a baby so young. Reading Nicole’s “Knocked Up” memoir really showed me that no matter what situation your family's in, the good will out-weigh the bad, sooner or later.

Factors that lead me to USF

Led me to USF:

Many of my friends have been or are applying to different schools that I want to get AWAY!
I didn’t get into get into USF unless I took this program.
I thought it would be a good way to meet people and get to know myself in the individual responsibility.
I wanted to LEAVE!!! Hahaha =]

SOMETHING THAT WOULD HAVE STOPPED ME FROM COMING HERE:
I wanted to go to school up in Boston or Indiana
I really wanted to closer to mom.
I was accepted to Florida Gulf Coast University.
I needed space.
I didn’t get a scholarship, but I have MANY goals and know I’m going to achieve them.
I just graduated high school a year early

Directly influenced me to go to school:
Both of my parents I have had both of my parents tell me that college is not a choice it’s a life—there’s no way ill be able to succeed without a college degree.

Directly influenced me not to go to school:
I don’t really remember who, but MANY people my friend Gabe, Dan, Rachel, even my stepmom told me USF is NOT the only school out there. Community college is OK too… but I wouldn’t go for less than just a university. People also told me that you don’t have to go to college to succeed. My friends mike and tori are getting married and working for the rest of their lives after high school.

6/30 Readings

You are an open book. To be able to be pulled backwards and recollect everything you have accomplished, loved, fought for, forgot about until now is all that a memoir is. This kind of easy writing, whether heartbreaking, joyous, or humiliating, allows a person to talk about the past in order to really begin to live in the present. People want to learn about real people, real life experiences, and hear real stories. Stress, family break-ups, and financial hardships are a few of the hardships that people deal with in order to “get away” from the real world. They want to real deal—the movies to be less romanticized, T.V. shows without the scripted hot lover and a drama queen, and commercials that involve real people, real problems, and real situations. The recording of Antoinette Franklin and her niece, Iriel Franklin talking about the hit of Hurricane Katrina really put into perspective the real kinds of situations and challenges people might face that others love to hear about the power these victims had in overcoming these tragedies

A memoir is a walk down memory lane, a piece of work, and a kind of writing anyone is able to write. Unlike a fictitious, short story, this type of writing has to have meaning; something that has happened to you that has had an affect in shaping the way you are today. I very much agree that movies more and more are being romanticized to the point where you don’t believe what’s really going on. I really enjoyed the clip about the hardships two victims, family members, had to overcome after Hurricane Katrina. Antoinette Franklin possessed a sort of powerful essence that you could hear when she spoke of how she has not yet broken down, but only because everyone around her has been doing that enough. Her voice, as she speaks, sounds sweet, crisp, but of exertion; exhaustion from mourning, heartbreak and lack of accomplishment. Everything her family has built was stripped away at the blink of an eye. I think writing a memoir would be an effective way of bringing back memories filled with different kinds of emotion to make sense of where you are, where you've been, and who you are as a person today.


Do people ever critique a memoir being that it is a personal account?

At what age/crisis/style of writing can a memoir really be considered a memoir, and not just a non-fictional story?

In what ways have people, experiments, and challenging times shaped the way you are today?