Portfolio project: project 3: The argument

This assignment I got to write about something that is near and dear to my heart, harsher punishment on animal cruelty. I am an animal lover and have 6 dogs of my own that I treat as if they were my kids, so writing this project had is difficulties. I first researched cases that were happening here in town and what the AZ laws are on animal cruelty, I then researched the places that had the toughest punishment in the United States. I then had to do the hardest part and counterargument what I thought is the way it should be. But while doing this assignment and looking at the counterarguments it helped to understand that by doing counterarguments it helps you really back up you claim. After I got all the facts I sat down and fast wrote my first “shitty draft”. Once I was done I walked away from it for 2 days and then came back to read what I had wrote. I then really focused in on getting all the facts together in the correct paragraphs so it was easy for the reader to follow and understand. I then had a family member read the paper and help me to fix the areas that needed work. This assignment really helped me to understand why researching both sides of the subject is so important. Once you do that you can really help the reader understand your opinion on the matter.

 

 

 

Jennifer Warnock

English 101

Professor Hollie Villanueva

 

Doggone unfair laws

 Some people are big animal lovers and treat their animals like their own family. But some people don’t see things the same way. In Yuma there have been many cases just in the past year of times animals have been treated unfairly. The animals have been starved, shot, left in cars in the heat and not been treated when sick or hurt. If these things were done to a child or even an adult the laws would be harsh for the accused. When it comes to animal it is considered at the most either a class 1 misdemeanor or class 6 felony depending on what the crime to the animal is.( Arizona State Legislative,2015)“The presumptive sentence for the first time offender is 1 year, with a 6 month minimum, though the severity of the crime can increase imprisonment for the first time class 6 felony offender to 1.5 years and up to 2 years for an aggravated class 6 felony. Mitigating circumstances can reduce the sentence to 4 months. The presumptive sentence for the first time offender is 1 year, with a 6 month minimum, though the severity of the crime can increase imprisonment for the first time class 6 felony offenders to 1.5 years and up to 2 years for an aggravated class 6 felony. Mitigating circumstances can reduce the sentence to 4 months.”(enlighten me, 2015). These laws are so much lighter compared to someone that has abused a human.

A case that recently happened here in Yuma a dog was shot in the face and left in the desert. The person who is accused of doing this is the roommate of the owner of the dog. He had become angry because the dog had made a mess so he drove the dog out to the desert and shot her in the face and attempted to bury her. The dog later died but it is unclear if it was from the gunshot.  He is being charged with three felonies, which are one count of disorderly conduct, one count of cruelty to animals and one count of criminal damage. It has just been released that they are working on a plea deal with him. (Yuma Sun,2015). This man may walk away with just probation after shooting an animal for no reason and leaving if for dead.

In another case this year in Yuma nine dogs were removed from a house in town. The dogs were not being fed properly, not being treated for injuries; there are reports of noises from the backyard of dogs fighting and a large amount of feces. All of the dogs are expected to make a full recovery and be put up for adoption. The owner is 19 charges but they are only misdemeanors and eight of those counts were for animal abuse. (ABC, 2015)This lady is only be charged with eight counts of animal abuse when there were 9 dogs in the house.

There are a few other animal abuse cases in Yuma this year that are still not solved.  Two of the cases involved a 3month old German Shepard mix and a female pit bull mix, both of them had been malnourished and had to humanly euthanized.  The puppy was found by a trash can in a milk crate left to die. This are only two cases that the people who are responsible for horrible crimes against animals that have not been found.

The state of Illinois is known to have the harshest laws for animal cruelty. If convicted on cruel treatment the person will be charged with class A misdemeanor for first time then class 4 felony. Cruel treatment  is described as, Sec. 3.01. Cruel treatment. No person or owner may beat, cruelly treat, torment, starve, overwork or otherwise abuse any animal. If convicted of aggravated cruelty they will be charged class 4 felony and then any future violations will be class 3 felony. Sec. 3.02. Aggravated cruelty. No person may intentionally commit an act that causes a companion animal to suffer serious injury or death. Aggravated cruelty does not include euthanasia of a companion animal through recognized methods approved by the Department of Agriculture. If charged with Animal torture they will face class 3 felony. Animal torture is described as Sec. 3.03. Animal torture. (a) A person commits animal torture when that person without legal justification knowingly or intentionally tortures an animal. For purposes of this Section, and subject to subsection (b), "torture" means infliction of or subjection to extreme physical pain, motivated by intent to increase or prolong the pain, suffering, or agony of the animal. No owner may abandon any animal where it may become a public charge or may suffer injury, hunger or exposure.(Illinois, 2015), Much tougher laws than Arizona which shows the offender it is not okay to abuse animals and that they will not just get a slap on the hand.

While there are many people that think that animals are not the same as humans since a human life is more significant than an animals. These animals don’t have a voice to tell what happened or cry for help when it is needed. But once these animals retaliate back towards a human that has hurt them they are to be put down since they are a risk to the community.  How is it okay for us to abuse them but not for them to be able to defend themselves?

 I think that they should be treated with the same dignity as a human. It is not okay to kill animals in a cruel way the same as it is not okay to kill humans. I believe that abuse is abuse it doesn’t matter if to an animal or to a human. If someone can watch an animal starve to death, not help them when they are injured or even kill the animal, they are capable of doing the same to a human. I think that animal abuse needs to be harsher punishment not just a misdemeanor or class 6 felony. The people that commit these crimes need to be punished to where they will not repeat the same acts. It will also show everyone that it is not okay to do.  I believe many states including Arizona need to look at making harsher laws for those that commit animal abuse to any animal.

 

Work cited

Arizona State Legislative, online July 2015

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/13/02910.htm&Title=13&DocType=ARS

Enlighten me, online July 2015

http://enlightenme.com/class-6-felony/

Yuma Sun Plea offer being discussed in animal cruelty case, Online July 2015

http://www.yumasun.com/news/plea-offer-being-discussed-in-animal-cruelty-case/article_98cb1b10-25d7-11e5-b34e-9b76b87f50cd.html

ABC news Yuma woman accused of animal cruelty; 9 animals removed from the home, online April, 2015

http://www.abc15.com/news/region-central-southern-az/yuma/yuma-woman-accused-of-animal-cruelty-9-animals-removed-from-the-home

Illinois Humane Animal Law, online July 2015

http://www.illinoishumane.org/law.htm

 

 

Portfolio Profect: Project 2: Review

 

This assignment I got to do one of my favorite things and go out to eat. For this project I had the assignment to pick a place and review it for the reader. I choose a local favorite Mexican food restaurant Chile Pepper. To get started on the is paper of course I had to go and eat at the restaurant. I took pictures while there and talked to some other people that were eating there. For this project I walked into the restaurant and took everything in as if it was my first time walking in. I wanted to absorb all the details so I could really have the reader feel like they were there. After talking to other patrons and eating my dinner I went home to get started. My first draft I just free wrote what the experience was, then I went back through to really get all the details in it. This time I had to family members read the paper and tell me things that needed to be fixed. After they were done I finished adding the finishing touches to really make it a good review and add in my pictures. For this project I learned how to really notice all the details about the subject you are writing about. I also learned that I needed to work on putting in commas in the right parts of the paper.

 

The Chile Pepper

Do you ever crave some real authentic Mexican food that keeps you coming back for more? The Chile Pepper is a local business opened in 1954 by the Gutierrez family and still being ran by the same family for 61 years. (BG family, 2015)Chile Pepper has become a place that people from Yuma come back to even after they have moved away. They have also become a top 10 burrito in America  in many articles, including the Daily Meal  where it is ranked #8 and Fox news ranks it a top burrito(fox news, 2014). It is open from 7am to 8pm Monday-Saturday and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can call in and pick up your order to take home or they have the dine in setting.  

As you walk into the newly renovated restaurant, you see all the Hispanic décor that was made specifically for the restaurant  and the old sign from one of their other restaurants La Casa Gutierrez. The walls are a beige color and there are different pieces of furniture with items that have been made for the restaurant and also chile pepper shirts you can buy.  The staff are all very friendly and talking with the customers as if they were old friends. I smell a wonderful scent that I can only describe as the mixture of beans and meat cooking in the back. I finish looking at the menu that doesn’t seem to have lots to choose from but, the staff is welcome to answer any questions you have and give recommendations on what to get.  To get the full taste of the food they offer we ordered the award winning bean and cheese, the cheese tortilla, rolled tacos, machaca burrito, and a tall glass of horchata.

As we get the food you can tell it is not really a restaurant but a nicer fast food place. Our food is handed to us on a tray like the ones from school. Everything is wrapped up and on the tray with no plates. I tried the bean and cheese burrito first and can see why it is voted so highly. You can taste that the tortillas are made fresh and the beans are smooth and taste amazing with the mixture of the cheese. Next was the machaca burrito, the taste of the meat was good but, one thing that I was put off by was that the juices make the tortilla soggy and makes a mess. The cheese tortilla was delicious it had a good amount of cheese and you could taste the butter on the outside  and of course the homemade tortilla. The rolled tacos tasted homemade as well and were very crunchy. With all of the food you have their homemade salsa. It is not a chunky salsa and is what I consider to medium spiciness.  The horchata is a weird drink that’s made of rice milk, to me its tastes like sweet cinnamon milk. Not a good combination in my opinion with the food and hot sauce, but again something good that this restaurant serves

Esmeralda  was sitting at the table next to me ,and said that her family eats here at least once a week sometimes more.  She was having rolled tacos and a machaca burrito, which she said “is the one of best places in town for the machaca”.(Esmeralda, 2015) Her husband, Albert, was eating Red Chile dinner with a cheese tortilla. He said” the red chile reminds of his grandmas food”.(Albert 2015)

At the table on the other side of me I overheard a gentleman talking to his family. Jim said he was visiting from out of town but used to live here. He said that they are in town for a week and are leaving tomorrow but they have ate there four times during their trip. He has his family that lives in town freeze the bean and cheese burritos and ship them to him every couple of months. He said” It is hard to find authentic Mexican food like this.”(Jim, 2015)

Overall I think that The chile pepper is a great place to eat if you are wanting real authentic Mexican food. I enjoyed all of their food and  can’t wait to come back and continue trying more of the delicious food. I think on my next trip I will get the red chile dinner and maybe even a tostada.

Works sited

Esmeralda, interview June 2015

Alberto, interview June 2015

Jim, interview June 2015

 

Fox news 2014 http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/11/25/best-burritos-in-america/

Daily meal 2014 http://www.thedailymeal.com/best-burritos-america-0

BG family 2015 http://www.bgfamilyltdpartnership.com/the-chile-pepper.html

Portfolio Project: Project one:Profile

This was one of my favorite papers for this semester. I had to pick a subject that interesting to me and write about them and act like it was for an article in the newspaper. For my subject I choose my pharmacy manager not only because of the job he has but also because of his journey to get where he is today. For this project I was still getting used to not having my first draft being correct. I sat down and wrote questions that I wanted to ask Robert. After doing the interview I sat down and just started writing what I wanted to be in the paper about Robert. After I was done I read my first draft and made changes to where things to didn’t make sense or needed more detail. Once I was done with the second draft I had someone read it out loud to me and I made the changes to where it didn’t really make sense what I was saying. Once I did that I submitted that as my final draft. During this assignment I learned that you need to add as much detail as possible about the subject you are writing about so the reader really understands what the paper is about. I also learned to pay closer attention to the requirements on the paper.

 

 

Getting to the American Dream

 

It’s 7am as he walks in and unlocks the door to the pharmacy to start his day. He heads to the computer to sign on and see what needs to be done before the pharmacy opens. As he looks at the papers on the counter he sees a couple doctors that need to be called and some insurances that need to be fixed. As he walks over to the printer there is a stack of 70 prescriptions that need to be filled and 2 compounds that need to be made before the store opens in an hour. He tells the pharmacy technician that they need to get started to stay ahead for the day.

Robert was born and raised in Zimbabwe with his three other brothers. When Robert graduated high school he wanted to go into a field where he would be able to help people. He attended the University of Zimbabwe and decided being a doctor was the best field for him. After 2 weeks he changed his career path to pharmacy and graduated in 1993.

Robert graduated the same year that HIV was first starting to show up. He got a job at Cariba hospital in Zimbabwe where the hospital was packed and doctors where sleeping on the floor since they were caring for many people who believed they had HIV. Robert said “It was the most rewarding time of his life being able to open the clinic and help the patients”. (Robert 2015)

Robert worked at the hospital from 1993-1996, He then had the experience he needed to open his own pharmacy in Zimbabwe and ran it from 1996-2001. While running his own pharmacy, the politics in Zimbabwe was making it a dangerous place to live with his family. He decided the best thing for him and his family was to move to Botswana. They moved in 2001 and Robert began working at Kanye hospital in Botswana.  While working at the hospital in Botswana the first drugs for HIV virus were first released and Robert said “it was rewarding to help all the patients get the medications to help them”. (Robert 2015)

While in Botswana, Robert and his wife decided they wanted to come to the US so he could practice pharmacy at a higher level and to provide their three sons with more opportunities.  Robert came to the US to take his exams and returned to Botswana to continue working until they could make the move.

In 2008 Robert and his family made the move to Yuma, AZ and he started his job with Walgreens pharmacy. He has continued to work at Walgreen’s the last 7 years and 2 years ago became a pharmacy manager.  Robert is now a 41 year old African American man that looks no older than 35. He is always in a good mood and laughing making it very fun to work around even in a demanding job.

Even with the demanding schedule that the pharmacists have at Walgreens, Robert continues to improve his knowledge of the pharmacy field. He has now become a licensed pharmacist in California as well as Arizona. He is certified in giving vaccines and health testing in the pharmacy.  Robert has become very knowledgeable when doing MTM (medication therapy management) and works with patients, their doctor and their insurance on ensuring they are getting the best medical therapy. He has also gotten his license in ambulatory care, which means that in certain states that he can prescribe medications while working with the doctor.  

Robert encourages and teaches his technicians to learn more about the pharmacy and medications. He pushes them to move up in their field of work and go towards becoming a senior technician and possibly pharmacists. He serves as a great role model to the entire Walgreen’s staff as well as his children. Robert has also helped his nephew, who just recently lost his dad, to pursue a medical career here in the United States. He has paid for him to take the SAT and has offered his home to him while he is here going to school. 

Roberts’s three sons have seen how rewarding this field is for their father and are all following his path into the healthcare field. His oldest is currently entering his second year of pharmacy school and doing great at it. His middle son currently works as a pharmacy technician and plans on going into the medical field once he graduates from high school. His youngest son is in middle school but is already planning on going into the medical field as well.  

 

Work cited

Zvavamwe, Robert  interview(2015)

 

Portfolio project Introductory letter and opening

 

“If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water.”- Ernest Hemingway

I like this quote because it really sums up a lot of what I have learned in this class. With each essay we have written I have learned that it is easy to write about what you know, but since you already know it and don’t research it you forget important information on the subject. You have to take something you know about and ask the hard questions, the questions that you may not agree with. But by looking at things another way you get more details. Details I have learned are one of the most important elements to help the reader really understand what you are saying in an essay.

 

 

Dear Professor,

I would like to thank you for being such a wonderful teacher and teaching an amazing class. I have learned a lot this semester about myself as a writer and believed I have really improved my writing style. I have taken each of the last five assignments and I believe have taken myself to the next level after writing each one. You have helped me to learn about writing my dental draft which has helped with each assignment as well as improving my writing techniques at work.

The first project was the memoir project, I had to take a moment in my life that affected me in my writing. I had to write about what I understood about that memory and how it affects my writing today.  Of course being my first assignment in writing as a college student it was hard to get started. But I took the article we were assigned to read “shitty first draft” and realized that all I needed to do was write down my ideas and then go from there with each draft. This made the paper a lot easier to write.

For the Profile project I had to pick someone that strikes me as interesting. I decided to go with someone that I worked closely with each day, my pharmacy manager. While doing this project it made me really understand Robert and the road he took to be where he is at now. The project made me think outside of the normal conversations and ask questions about where he came from. It helped me to understand that writing in detail is important for the reader to really understand and see what you are talking about. The more details you put for the reader the more interesting it is for them.

For the Argument project I learned that research really helps you when talking about a subject. Writing this paper was a little difficult to start off with since I had to ask the harder questions that went against my beliefs. But by doing this I was able to really explain and back up what I believed in the paper. This paper was one of the hardest for me to get started writing. I found it hard to persuade someone to my beliefs in an essay instead of in person. I learned that having facts and examples of what you are talking about and be very detailed in the essay really helped.

In conclusion I have really learned a lot in your class and each paper has helped me to take myself to the next step in writing. I believe that I have become more confident in my writing. When I first started this class I thought I was terrible at writing, but I am now ready to move on to the next class and actually look forward to it. I have learned in the last essays that I need to really pay attention to format, citation and grammatical errors. I would like to thank you again for helping me grow this semester.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Warnock

 

 

I forgot my phone

The ethnography in this video is people who  are constantly on their phones. The story being told in the video is that people spend too much time on their phones and can’t seem to put it down. That instead of enjoying time with the ones that are with you, people are more concerned with what is on their phone.   The interpretation is that in the American culture cell phones are ruining time with family and friends. It shows that in American culture we are unable to put our phones down for even the important events. People have to take a photo or share something on social media and are missing out on what is happening in front of them.  In the video the girl that doesn’t have her phone seems to be really enjoying her time more than those who are constantly on it.  It also shows that she tries to have conversations with the people around her but they are too busy on their phones taking pictures, recording videos, texting or even on social media. The video really puts how bad things have gotten in our culture into perspective.  The cell phones first came out for just calls but have now become a life line to some people. We as a culture cant seem to live without that little thing constantly being with us.

Argument Analysis of Letter Writers

1. The writer was "deeply offended" by the artists who made the art. He felt that the artists have never served and do not know the true sacrifices of a veteran. He felt that the artist used great American military leaders and depicted them as unpatriotic in their art. Someone who has served and is a veteran sees things in a different way than those of us who have not served.
2. The author is coming from his direct experiences in defending his country. In him being a veteran he does have credibility and makes his claims very sound. I have not served in the military so if I were to look at the same piece of art I may see things in a different light. There are always different ways of looking at an argument I have always live by someones perception it there own reality.
3. I believe that the relationship between art and politics are not always a good mix. But has been used for a long time to get points across to people. It is used in elections and even in the daily newspaper about something that is going on in the countries politics. I believe that the artists look at their own perception when working on their pieces and get their own point across. Each person will interpret it differently and someone will always be offended in some way by the art.

Doggone unfair laws

Should animals be treated the same as humans?
I am going to write about having stricter laws on animal abuse cases. Right now animal abuse cases when found guilty the accused will only get charged a Class 6 felony. I think people should care about this subject because there has been more cases of animal abuse here in Yuma the past couple of months. People are leaving dogs to die in the heat by leaving them in their cars, they are letting dogs starve to death and dumping them on the sides of the road like trash. If we treat people the same way that this animals have been treated it would be a much harsher sentence. Why is it okay to treat animals that way but not humans. In order to get the information I need for this paper I will be researching online for what exact laws are here and in other areas. I will be doing interviews with either the humane society or local vet clinics. I will also be researching on the Yuma Sun for recent cases and what has happened to those people.