Campus Issue

A campus issue that is affecting my day to day life is the Woman's Quad's visitation hours.  The policy that is in place right now allows for guests to stay only until 2am, even on weekends.  This a very short amount of time and does not always have the students best intrest at heart.  One of my friends had gotten really drunk one night, to the point the we were worried she may choke on her own vomit, but the person taking care of her was forced to leave because visitation hours had ended. This policy was created to ensure that nonresidents were not staying in the dorms past their welcome but this is no longer a good enough reson to keep everyone out.  I believe that we should still be required to sign everyone in to the building but I think they should do away with visitation hours.  We students are now adults and have the right to be treated as such.

Revisions and Planning for Essay 4

1. Between last thuursday and today I returned to my paper to edit my mistakes and also made small revisions.  I changed a lot of the wording to make the paper flow better.  The strongest part of my essay is the introduction.   I thik it gives a good amount of history and insight into why this is a problem. The introduction gave a good background on the subject and I think gave me a lot to build upon.  I'm worried about some of my viewpoints.  I was struggling to come up with one of the opinions and I'm not sure if it is writen effecively. I also dont think it really fits with the rest of my paper.
2. The Courts, the government, doctors, and women were the four perspectives I chose. The courts are opposed to long maternity leaves because it in a voluntary decision which they believe do not qualify for disability.  The government is pro maternity leave because they are striving for fairness between the genders so that our society can opperate on equal levels.  Doctors are also pro longer maternity leaves because they are primarily concerned with the physical and mental health of the mother and child.  And most suprising is that some women, normally low income women, are opposed to mandatory maternity leave for fear that they will loose their job or be discriminated against at their jobs once they finally do return.  I am planning to write a proposal paper to end the debates over maternity leave I want to propose a solution that will give women the option of more time off but also to give them a partially paid leave. Also I will sujest that legislation be passed that assure women that upon return to the work they will reenter their jobs at the same level that they left at.  To create this proposal I think that a majority of my resaerch will be useable, but I will need to look for more articles that describe maternity leaves in other nations to use as examples, and more articles that give the opinion of working women on the issue.  Also while writning the exploratory paper I use a lot of the sources about how the government feels about the issue, I think I will instead I use the sources about doctors and women perspectives most.

Annotated Bibliographies

“Adoptive Mother Granted Maternity Leave.” The New York Time. Pittsburgh: Lake City Final Edition, 2 November 1983. Web.

                                This article followed the court case that Carole Fezar took to the Supreme Court .  This woman had just adopted a child and had requested to go on maternity leave and was turned down by her boss because she had not physically given birth to the baby.  By winning this court case Fezar expanded who the maternity leave laws can apply to.  Because of her actions single fathers, and adopting partents are allowed to take time off to spend with their child.  This article also stated some of the people who were opposed to the expansion. This will come in helpful when trying to describe who this issue effects because it widens the range of people who are able to take maternity leave.  This article will also be helpful whild discussing why some one would be opposed to lengthening the United States maternity leave.

“Career Dilemma: Mum’s the Word.” Pharmacy Today, Online Magazine. Citizens Advice Bureau Information Ltd, 13 November 2006.  Web.

This piece was a letter written to an editor of a magazine. The writer wrote the piece anonymously which allowed her to be completely honest.  The editor also listed the rigths of women who are on maternity leave.  The first right was that while on maternity leave employees get to keep their employment rights and benefits. The second right was that your employer cannot use pregnancy as a reason to fire you and if you are selected for termination you must be offered a suitable alternative job. The third right is that if you are treated less favorably because of your pregnancy it may amount to unlawful sex discrimination.  The article suggests that although women are now allowed to take many women still feel discrimination once they have gotten pregnant or have children. The three rights will be helpful when writing the laws that are in place to protect women.          

Hall, Kermit L. “Pregnancy, Disability, and Maternity Leaves.” The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States 2005, ENCYCLOPEDIA.COM.  HighBeam Research, Inc, 2011. Web.

                                This excerpt from encyclopedia.com discussed the different court cases that have been brought before the Supreme Court concerning maternity leave and pregnancy at the work place.  In the past women were fired once they got pregnant but after laws and several court cases women have gained the ability to fully participate in family life.   As time progressed women gained support from the government and were able to get maternity leave added to the disabilities list that allows for time off work.  The entry gives a non biased overview of the history of maternity leave for women.  This excerpt is very informative and help address who opposes maternity leave.  This site would help to explain the problems women have faced in the past.  Because it is from an encyclopedia there are no biases.

Macintyre, Laura. “Paid Maternity Leave Re-enters National Debate.” Lawyers Weekly. Reed International Books Australia, 2008.  6 June 2008.  Web.

                                This magazine article examined some other countries, like the United Kingdom and Australia, to compare their maternity leaves that are mandated by the government.  In Australia women are given fourteen week of paid maternity leaves and in the UK women are given twenty-six weeks of paid maternity leave.  In comparison to these government imposed times off the United States only offers their employees two weeks of mandatory paid maternity leave.  The article is primarily written to discuss the changes that the Australian government was planning to make to their enforced maternity leave, but because it also mentioned what other countries offered it becomes useful in comparing how the rest of the world views maternity leaves. The article stated that the Australian government had concerns about the costs of increasing the length of maternity leave, which is similar to what American concerns about maternity leave.

Michna, Joe.  “Employment Issues: Hartlepool Citizens’ Advice Bureau Manager Maternity Leave.”  Evening Gazette. Gazette Media Company Ltd., 21 April 2010. Web.

                This newspaper article was written in a question and answer format, which makes it appear to be an interview of a person.  By writing in this way the article is very simple to navigate and find information.  It gives information about who can take maternity leave, how long someone can be on maternity leave, and the procedures that a pregnant woman needs to follow when she is requesting maternity leave. This article also stated the amount of statutory maternity pay and how only some female employees will be entitled to it.  These questions and answers, written by Joe Michna, are helpful in clearly addressing what women are entitled to in terms of maternity leave.  Although this article is easily formatted it is not very in depth and only provides a short overview of the term maternity leave.  The article unfortunately never addresses how the women feel of how employers react when women take maternity leave. 

Shandy, Dianna and Moe, Karine. “The Opt-Out Phenomenon: Women, Work, and Identity in America.” Conformity and Conflict. Fourteenth.  Boston: Pearson, 2009. 197-206. Print.

                This article addresses why many women decide to quit working after becoming pregnant.  Many The authors stated that many women feel discriminated against because they are having children and taking time off work.  The women interviewed were all well-educated and had successful careers, but after having children they felt like their work environment would not permit them to go any further.  Some women also reported feeling anxious about asking for longer maternity leave, which added unneeded stress to the soon-to-be mothers. This article was written by two anthropologists, who try to write from a non biased stand point.  These women try to observe but not judge the women and the situations that the pregnant women face.  The authors just present the information and allow the readers to evaluate it on their own. This article will be useful in providing insight into how the pregnant women feel about their maternity leaves and what effects it has on the work place.

Exploratory Essay Topic Proposal

Maternity Leave in the United States is too short for new mothers to adequately bond with their baby and to fully recover from giving birth.  American women have one of the shortest maternity leaves in the world; it is on average eight weeks.  In other countries, such as Switzerland, women can take of up to two years paid, and then return to work with no penalties or demotions.  As a country that prides its self on getting things done quickly, America has made giving birth into a race for many women.  Women who have just given birth, parents who are adopting, recently widowed people with young children are commonly given two weeks in the US to return to work.  This time can be either paid or unpaid, which adds stress to the new mothers if they are depending on the paychecks.  The people affected are women who have just given birth, parents who are adopting, and men who have to raise a baby on their own.  It also affects employers because they are the ones who give their employees their time off.  A woman who has recently given birth will feel that she deserves more time off.  Women are put through emotional and physical distress at be put back into the work force after only the legally enforced amount of parental leave. One person who would oppose the idea of longer maternity leaves would be employers for two reasons.  The first being that it is very difficult for work to be completed if a company is short an employee.  The second reason companies support short maternity leaves if they do not want to be paying someone who is not there doing work.  The company is essentially paying more money for the same amount of work to be done because someone else has to be paid to do the new mother’s job.   I think that mothers should be given four to six months of paid maternity leave because these women are often not fully recovered when they are forced to return too soon, which results in them doing a poor job on their work. 

In Class WA 11/1/11

The problem is how inadequate paternal leave is for working mothers in the United States.

It is important because many women feel they are not given enough time to adequately recover from child birth when they are forced to return to their jobs.  Women are put through emotional and physical distress at be put back into the work force after only the legally enforced amount of parental leave.

The people affected are women who have just given birth, parents who are adopting, and men who have to raise a baby on their own.  It also affects employers because they are the ones who give their employees their time off.

People might disagree because medically two weeks in the average time of recovery for women after giving birth to a child.

Nation Shudders Response

This article, written by The Onion, was created to point out how Americans have lost the ability to find the meaning behind a large group of text.  The author was stating that without the help of highlighting, bolding, or italicizing readers are unwilling to invest the needed amount of time to be able to understand what is being said.  The article was written to make the reader question how they read long documents.  Do they skim through it until they see something in bold?  This article is arguing that everyone needs shortcuts to while reading to be able to quickly grasp understand what they are reading.  The author took the idea that our society was loosing its ability fully read anything and created a story about the world going into chaos because one block of text had no short cuts for the reader.  This newspaper often has a sarcastic tone of voice and often slightly insult the reader, which are both characteristics in this article.

websites for ad analysis

this is the first image discussed in my paper. http://oijozi.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/creative-anti-smoking-ads/

this is the second image. http://katego.deviantart.com/art/smoking-kills-ad-25245981

Formal Outline

Anti-smoking Ads

Image one is found online at http://oijozi.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/creative-anti-smoking-ads/  

Image two is found online at http://katego.deviantart.com/art/smoking-kills-ad-25245981

Introduction: The firs photo depicts a young man with a cigarette in his mouth and smoke curling around him. Upon closer inspection of the smoke, however, the silhouette of a gun can be seen. In the second image a man’s hands are seen loading cigarettes into a gun with text down the left side of the image.

I.                   Both images include death as a main focus.

a.       The first image shows a gun created out of smoke from the smoker’s cigarette.

                                                              i.      The smoke gun is pointed directly at the man’s head.  This type of bullet wound would instantly kill.

                                                            ii.      The gun also appears to have already been fired because of the smoke rising from the gun’s barrel, suggesting the damage is already done.

b.      The second image depicts a man loading cigarettes into a revolver.

                                                              i.      The gun has clearly not been fired because the man is still loading the “bullets” into their cartridges.

                                                            ii.      This image seems to be geared at people who have not started smoking yet because the cigarettes are brand new and have not yet been smoked.

c.       They differ however in how the images of the guns are received. 

                                                              i.      The first gun is created from smoke which suggests that death is a possibility rather than a reality.

                                                            ii.      The second gun is solid and appears to be able to do more damage.  This image makes me think that it can harm you as well as eventually kill you. It is also the focus of the image rather than the man.

II.                Both images have similar messages so they use like color schemes. >dark colors

a.       Image one is in black and white.

                                                              i.      The lack of colors makes the image more serious. It makes the reader think that the effects of smoking are also black and white, like there are no small bad side effects. Cigarettes will lead you to death.

                                                            ii.      It also throws the gun into greater focus. If the photo was done with real colors the viewer would be more drawn to look at the young man than at the smoke surrounding him.

b.      The second photo utilized dark colors but is not all black and white.

                                                              i.      The background is all black and offers little for the viewer to be distracted by.

                                                            ii.      The text is more visible and hints back to the main subject because they are written in the same colors as the cigarette bullets.

III.             Both ads use text but differ in how much.

a.       The first photo has the words “Kill a Cigarette and Save a Life. Yours”

                                                              i.      The words are small and in the bottom corner, which makes them appear insignificant.

b.      The second photo uses a lot of text to convey information to the viewer.

                                                              i.      The audience will be better informed about the risks.

                                                            ii.      There could be too much text and it could overwhelm the viewer.

Fear Factories Prompt #1

To begin building his argument Matthew Scully introduces the complexity of the issue. Scully states that on a moral level everyone knows that cruelty to animals is "cowardly and a disgraceful sin" (pg 106), however, when it comes to the treatment of farm animals Scully suggests that few politicians are willing to out right oppose the factory farms.  To support this claim Scully provides examples of well know political activists who have never made mention of animal cruelty, like the conservative columnist he was interviewed by.  To follow this Scully introduces the idea that the avocation for these animals is our obligation.  We have to protect them because it is our religious duty to see them as Gods creations.  Scully boldly states that treating animals decently is an essential requirement of living with integrity. Although Scully continues to incorporate the immorality of animal cruelty he also introduces the law into his argument. This strengthens his argument by showing that other have previously tried to change the laws surrounding animal welfare, which give the reader a sense of community.  The reader is able to feel like he will not be alone if he chooses to become anti-factory farms. Then Scully begins to state the ideals that conservative are supposed to live up to and states how they can be applied to animal cruelty. For example, Scully states that conservatives are supposed to respect tradition then he states how factory farms contradict that value.  All these points combine to build Scully's argument.  Also his use of sources show his deep understanding of the field and give accountability to what he is claiming.

Ads

1. http://www.fashionwindows.net/2009/04/kohls-candies-britney-spears/ Kohls Ad
It shows Britany Spears in a pink bathing suit and black heals.
Target Audience: Teenagers and young women
Product: Candies clothing line
Vaules: The ad is assuming that the veiwer values how they look.  The ad thinks that the viewer wants to appear pretty and feminine but also sexy.  It also assumes that they like Britany Spears. The picture is very glamourus and feminine. It shows Britany Spears in a very confident pose, which many of the viewers wish they were.
Claim and Reason:  The ad is making the claim that if  viewer wants to feel as beautiful as Britany they should buy candies clothing line. The ad claims that when you buy Candies you will be as beautifula and confident as Britany Spears.

2. http://www.celeble.com/model/adriana-lima-maybelline-ads-collection.html Maybelline Ad
Target Audience: Women
Product: Mascara
Values: The ad assumes that the viewer wants to be beautiful, sofisticated, and edgy.  The ad also assumes that you already wear mascara because it is advertising a specific type of brush.
Claim and Reason: The ad claims that if you use maybelline mascara then their eye lashes will be as think and long as the models. It also claims that the person will be beautiful if they buy this product.

3. http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2008/12/10/first-look-ellen-degeneress-covergirl-ads/ Cover Girl Ad
Target Audience: Older women who are worried about ageing.
Product: Simply Ageless Foundation
Values: The ad assumes that older women want to look young and will buy more expensive products to achieve a more youthful appearence.  The ad features Ellen DeGeneres, a famous comedian, wearing business attire. 
Claim and Reason: Her clothing suggests that if you want to appear serious but look good you should buy this makeup.