“Experts Penny per ounce soda tax to fight obesity, health costs”
This article is about the government wanting to put an extra tax on soda and many other sugary drinks. They feel that if they put tax on things like this it will help America’s obesity rate decrease, and that so many people will limit their soda and sugary drink intake.

-“The politics of health reform are too delicate right now to provoke an attack from the sugar and beverage industries.” (Thorpe 1)
This quote is about how the how the soda industries are no stable enough to be attacked and have their products not consumed. I do not agree with this quote because the companies should have had years to come up with also healthy products.

-“They’re at such a fragile place, introducing anything new and big like into the mold is not likely to happen.” (Thorpe 1)
This quote is about how the tax idea will not work and may not go into effect; many people will still go out and buy sugary drinks because they will not to change their habit of drinking them. I agree with this quote because if they try to spring this tax on people it will not make them consume less of it, because some people can still afford the tax and the tax will not apply to them, then the whole plan will be pointless.

-“The money could be used for child nutrition and obesity prevention programs.” ( Thorpe 2)
This quote is about how the money being spent to put on tax on sugary drinks should go to things that are more positive and productive. I agree very much with this quote because I feel that instead of trying to punishing people they should be encouraging them to make the best decisions for themselves.


“A Tax to Combat America’s Sugary Diet”
This second article is about the same thing to put taxes on certain sugary drinks. They go on to explain how American’s in today’s modern day just care about if they gain weight and not all the health risk that come with drinking so much of these drinks, which are not good. Risks such as, heart disease and even type 2 diabetes.

-“Still, most Americans worry more about their weight than about health risks down the line.” (Brody 4)
This quote is about how a lot of Americans only care about if they will get fat and out of shape from drinking sugary drinks. I agree with this quote because a lot more people should look into the health risks of what things they are consuming day by day, and what it can do to you, and all the different serious risks it can cause someone.

-“Sugared beverages are marketed extensively to children and adolescents, and in the mid- 1990’s, children’s intake of sugared beverages surpassed that of milk.” (Brody 4)
This quote is about how a lot of children are drinking more unhealthy sugary drinks than milk, something that every growing child needs to drink. I agree with this quote because I think more children should be shown that milk plays an important role in their development and them growing up strong and healthy, soda cannot help them grow.


“Coke Didn’t Make America Fat: Americans need more exercise, not another tax”
This third article is about some arguing that putting taxes on soda will not make a difference, and that all the sugary drinks are not to blame. That it is the people who consume them and who do not exercise and do anything about it.
-“If we’re genuinely interested in curbing obesity, we need to take a hard look in the mirror and acknowledge that it’s not just about calories in. It’s also about calories out.” (Muhtar 6)
This quote is about basically about them saying they care about the obesity rate increasing, but that no one is attacking the fact that they need to get out and exercise out the calories they intake. I argue with this quote because it is never good to let yourself go and have a poor diet and never exercise and take care of yourself.

-“Our industry has become an easy target in this debate. Sugar-sweetened beverages have been singled out in spite of the fact that soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and sweetened bottled water combined contribute 5.5% of the calories in the average American diet.” (Muhtar 6)
This quote is about how soda just keeps getting blamed for the obesity problem, when in fact it all sweetened drinks that are the problem too. I argue very much with this quote because they should inspect all different drink intakes and make sure to examine the obesity problems.

-“Obesity is a serious problem. We know that. And we agree that Americans
need t o be more active and take greater responsibility for their diets.” (Muhtar 7)
This quote is about the author telling America to stand up and take better care of themselves, and to be captious of what take in. I agree very much with this quote because I feel it is our own responsibilities to take care of ourselves and watch out for what we intake and check to make sure if it if it is good for us or not.

“Rap Fans Desire a More Positive Product”

“Rap Fans Desire a More Positive Product”
This article is about how the rap music needs to be more positive. Also that sometimes the negative things they talk about today in rap music are the way all general African-Americans live or poor working class all live. The author is explaining how you should not be mad at the artist, but everyone should be mad at the music producers. That they are the one forcing the artist to be negative to simply sale millions of dollars in records.

“Many people wonder why anyone should make a big deal out of negative rap music”
I do not agree with this qqoute, because we do need to worry about what this rap music is doing to its listeners and auidence, we need to take control of it turning in to postives, so it could create better insights for the audience who listens to it.

“The images presented are not an actual account of how blacks are living as as a whole.”
This qoute is very true, because half of all the negative things talked about in rap songs, not everybody lives or goes through those kind od situatins. They are leading their audience to feel that all just one group is all the same.

“How Hip-Hop Music Lost It’s Way and betrayed It’s Fans”
The second article is about the effect the Hip-hop has, Its talks about how hip-hop music is all about insulting rival artists and “beefs” with other artist. The author is saying that the music is all about violence and murders, and shootouts. That rap music has let down the artist by selling violence and it could become dangerous for the future audience that listen to it.

“The cd cover depicts the artist standing before a wall adorned with weapons, pointing what appears to be a shotgun at the camera.” (Staples page
This qoute is clearly showing their audience that it is okay to carry around guns and what not, when it clearly is not. They are promoting violence which is never good, They are basically telling their audience use weapons to look cool or to get what you want.

“But promotors will need to make heavy use of metal detectors to supress the kind of gun realted violence that gangster artists celebrate.”
I agree very much with this qoute because it is true, the promotors will have to be extra catious because they have caused damage to the audience so now they will have to watch their backs.

“Judging from the rising hue and cry, hip-hop is just about there.”
This qoute is saying that the violence is rising in it is because of negative and hip-hop and rap music, is soon going to tear down the world,


“The Hip-Hop Media-a World where Crime Really Pays”

This article is about how the rap and hip-hop world has become more and more violent and who people are starting to value going to jail more than “snitching” on others. That hip-hop and rap has caused a lot of deadly shootouts and murders. They are saying that all the crime is a market strategy to make more money, but the author wants to know is this the right thing to do.
“But it was perfectly logical in the world of hip-hop, where it is seen as more noble to go to prison than to “snitch” to authorities.”
I do not the not like this quote because it shows how the hip-hop world has a very stupid, and naïve code of honor. Why should someone throw their life away and spend years even to life in prison because they do not “want to tell the truth”.

“But that world has become inured to killings, thanks to recording executives who seem to be competing with one another with one another to land the most violent material possible.”
I find it crazy how other people are making money off of the violent music that is slowly killing society. It should not be a profit made off of this negative music.

“The segment of the hiphop press that embraces violence amd criminally is clearly growing both in influence and affluence.”
I think this qoute is very true, because many people are already following the trends and lesson that this kind of negative music is pumping out. Pretty soon more and more people with keep getting killed and going to prison, which is not good at all.

Reflective Essay # 2

My essay was about how society is trying to teach the younger audience their gender through coloring books and storybooks. The way my essay evolved during the revision process is that at the being I didn’t really know how to go about making my essay interesting enough. I wanted to have points and examples that made the audience want to keep reading and reading on. What I have learned as a result of writing this essay is that even if I have examples, I always have to go into deeper detail with them. I’ve learned that I can’t just say what it is but also explain it so that my audience can automatically get what I’m saying. I would say my writing has changed, because of this essay is that I now know how to build up strong paragraphs to keep the reader hooked. To keep them wanting to know more and more of the points I’ am trying to make, for example what I ‘am trying to agree or argue against. What I will do differently in my writing process is to pre-plan my outlines better, to make sure I put in and mention everything I want to say in my essay. I know that always outlining is the best way to go about having a good structed essay. I think what I still struggle with in my writing still is putting my points in the paragraphs from least to greatest. They are always good paragraph but they are always in the wrong places. I feel with my next essay I will be improving with this. I feel I have succeed is saying exactly what I wanted to say in my essay that I want my readers to know.

Essay #1 Reflection

The essay that I just finished was about what kind of pop culture artifacts make us happy in life. I think the way the essay evolved during the revision process is that during the first draft I was very intimidated about the topic and didn’t really know what to mention in my essay, but as I came to my second draft I had a lot of different ideas and good points I wanted to input in my essay. What I have learned about writing as a result doing this essay is to never lack supporting details for songs I was writing about, I needed to elaborate a little more, on why my three chosen songs and why they were important for this essay. I feel my writing has changed as a result of this essay is that I know understand that I must always restate my thesis statement even at the end of my essay to keep the reader on the same page of what my essay was about and make sure the essay makes since from beginning to end. What I will do differently next time is plan out my essay a little more before I begin to write it out, I feel it will help me come up with more points to put in my essay. I think what I struggle with the must in my essays is that I forget to make sure the details and the thesis points are in order and that I must write my paragraphs from least important to most important. But I feel I have succeeded the most in understanding to sticking to my thesis statement and making all my paragraphs relate to my statement I first made. Also to make an argument that my audience can agree with or argue against.

The Myth of a Latin Woman

In the story, “The Myth of a Latin Woman” is about the author Judith Ortiz Cofer talking about her life and growing up as a Puerto Rican girl. She talks about the struggles she had to go throw, like always being under heavy surveillance by her family. She would be under their watch because she was a girl and was expected to protect her family’s honor and to behave like in her family’s terms “proper senorita”. She was forced to mature fast just at her teenage years. Cofer could never act her age, she had to act and dress older then all her friends. Her life in every way was different then all the other girls she knew, because she stood out so much. Also in her life because she was a Puerto Rican woman she was always labeled and stereotyped. Cofer said Latin women were always concerned as “sizzling” and “Smoldering” that Latin women were supposed to be red-hot fireballs, that’s what outside cultures saw them as. Later on when Cofer became older she had experienced two different situations where she was stereotyped. The first was having a man singing an offense old Spanish song to her called “La Bamba” about a girl named Maria with gonorrhea. The second time was when she got the chance to read a poem of hers at a public poetry reading dinner, and a woman that was sitting a table had mistaken her for a waiter, just because she was Spanish and holding a hand full off papers. She refused to let that bring her down still because at the end of the day she would always be proud of who she was and where she came from.

My response to this story is that I feel it is shocking of how much Latin women are labeled. They are expected to be something they are not, not all Latin women want to curse and fight every day. Not all want to be saw as sexy sex objects and will do anything to get that type of attention. The author just wants the world to stop viewing her as just a Latin woman who is suppose to walk around half naked and have no values. She wants to be seen as a person who can accomplish great things and always get the job done, she wants to more than just the little Puerto Rican girl she had to grow up as.

Black Men in Public Spaces

In my life, I have had no personal experience of the story “Black men and Public places”, but I have seen someone else in that situation. My father was in that situation, I was 12 years when I witnessed what happened to my father. We were at a blockbuster one day getting a couple of movies to watch together later, we got there and found some movies we wanted to see. We got to the front of the store and there was a long line of customers, so my father and I took our place in line. We were the last people in line, soon after some else was behind us on line, it was an Asian woman, I soon got bored of standing in the line so I told my dad I was going over to the stand where the magazines were. He said okay and I got out of the line, I went over to look through some magazines and turned back around to the line were dad was standing, and noticed the woman had moved a couple of feet away from my dad. She would look up at the back and forth at my dad and clutch her purse a little and the movies she was buying closer to her every minute. My dad always had a habit of rocking back and forth if he stood to long so he would step an inch back, and so would the Asian woman just so she was careful to be not to stand too close to him. While I was trying to process everything in my head of what I was saw I wanted to know why this woman acting so strange. I wanted to know did my dad smell funny. Have a contagious disease, what was the problem? At that age I couldn’t put all the pieces to that puzzle together, but now I know what it was the woman was scared or imitated by my dad because he was a black man and black men are always profiled as thieves, rude people and ignorant. I will never understand why people have to have this kind of mentality, but we are just people and not everyone is the same.

"I want a Wife" and "Not all Men are Sly Foxes"

In the essays “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady and “Not all Men are Sly Foxes” by Armin Brott, are both stories writing about how women hold a higher position in the family life. In the first essay by Brady, she goes on to explain all the reasons why anyone would want a wife. She states examples such as “I want a wife to care for me and my children, to make appointments when needed and to always take responsibility for them.” She goes on to explain how wives have “duties” that they must fulfill, like having a job but taking off from time to time to get back to her family and take care of anything they need taken care of. Even if that means her job income has to go down sometimes, she must do it to see that her family is well taken care of. Brady goes on to point out more reasons on why anyone would not want a wife to have their every wish and need attended to. In the next essay by Brott he goes on to talk about how classic and modern day books show father figures either not that much involved in their children’s lives, or not there at all. Brott wants to know the answer “Why do they portray men this way?” He then goes on to simply state the society just see mothers as more caring, understanding and more nurturing then men. That men are just three things that Brott states as “Dumb, Dangerous and Disaffected”, Brott asks that why men and women can’t be seen in an equal way when it comes to raising and taking care of children and the whole family life.

The way I feel about these two essays are that they both state many good points, but many of them are not true. In the essay by Brady, I understand the roles of a mother and a mother must play such as supporting and being there for her family. But that doesn’t mean she has to put everything in her life on hold, so that it can do nothing but revolve around her children and their husbands. I feel that yes a wife should be responsible from something’s but also so should the husbands. They should both have equal shares of picking up the kids from school, and making sure they’re fed and have what they need, not just one person “The Wife”. In Brott’s essay I think his arguments are good, because all men should not be labeled as “Don’t care Father’s”. Even though some men prefer it to be that way, many just want to take care of their family's and do the right things. Both mothers and fathers should be seen with equal roles in family, and that more children’s books need to be updated to show that they are both equal and that both of them matter in a family’s life.