Rashad Spence
Enc 1101-040
9 October 2005
M. Madden

Blog Set 4

Blog 1

The article “A nation of non writers” is about the growing number of college

graduates going into the workforce without proper writing skills. The

article covers areas such as business majors that are not really fluent in

their writing because of their majors. It talks about how companies used to

surround poor writers with those who could put his or her thoughts on to

paper. It is stated that more companies are screening their new employees

before even hiring them. By doing this it won’t leave the company in

surprise when they see the writer can’t write. The article also discusses

the new addition to the SAT. Many people feel that the addition is unfair to

poor and minority students who are told to write in Standard English which

conflicts with their cultural backgrounds.


In my opinion I feel that it’s excellent to know how to write in a superior

matter, but to make it a major deal as to requiring it for every college

student is a little ridiculous. Many majors in college don’t require that

you know how to write like a best selling author. Therefore this whole thing

about requiring an extensive writing course for every student is a little

absurd.


Blog 2

The historical event that was covered in my memoir was the beating of Rodney

King and the Los Angeles riots. This was a hard time for the city of L.A

because there was so much hate going around and the city was being torn

apart. The whole situation started with the arrest and beating of a man

named Rodney King. He was being chased for reckless driving while under the

influence. Upon his capture he was then beaten by his five arresting

officers. The five officers stood trial in which they all were acquitted

from the charges. This decision by the court did not stand well with the

black community. Only a day after the trial the city of Los Angeles was up

in smoke. There was looting, robbery, beatings whatever you can think of, it

was going on at that time. The rioting and destruction of the city forced

President Bush to arrange a retrial. The five officers then went to trial

again where two were found guilty and sentenced to 30 months in prison. The

other three were found not guilty on their charges and set free. The recent

decision by the courts brought justice to the black community and the rioting

and destruction seized.

I feel that these events were big for the black community because it brought

some equality to them. Racial profiling has been a huge problem in America.

Blacks, Latinos, and any minority you can think of are racially profiled. I

have been a victim of it so I know exactly how it feels to be followed home

or handcuffed for no apparent reason. In a nutshell I feel its something

that needs to be addressed by the government and also the United States.



Blog 3
Exercise 29.3

David Brower, who died in 2000, was president of the American Wilderness

Preservation called the Sierra Club. As the organization's preeminent leader,

he was the personification of preservation. He took a determined approach to

fighting mining and tourism in America's wilderness preserves. This most

daring campaign fought these factors that that threaten to ruin these areas.

He also published a piece to resist commercialization of the Grand Canyon.

His use of media to deter the opening of businesses at the bottom of the

canyon shows his love of the environment and has been an achiever for

America's natural environment.