Author Archives: Jose Perez

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vDdW9unesPfffvQd3MQHpG-KkbXEd02zI62DjApwg-w/edit?usp=sharing

The piece I focused on was “Political Power for Latinos is still Growing- but not the way many people expected”.The article starts itself off with the point on how Latinos helped President Obama get re-elected in 2016. The speculated reasoning behind  President Obama’s enormous support from Latinos was in part because of his immigration laws and standpoints, such as his focus on helping illegal immigrants obtain a road to citizenship. The support definitely took a hit when President Donald Trump got in office and targeted immigration reforms presented by the Obama administration. The central idea overall is the impact of Latino Votes is definitely present in current day elections, but it definitely took a hit from the Trump Administration. Over time, in hope with the Biden administration, the Latino voice will be built on again and will play a large role in future elections. I do consider this article to be an effective piece. It provided a good sum-up of the past year’s political history with Latino voters with both the Obama and Trump administration. What I would recommend as feedback is for the author to include actual interviews from people affected by both administrations.

A major takeaway I got from the election was that patience wins the race. I remember during the election it got to a point where they were projecting Trump to win. From that point on Donald Trump went out and spoke too soon saying “He has won the election”. That saying, of course, didn’t age well and as of right now Joe Biden is the projected winner of the election. I was honestly surprised to see the number of voters we had this election with over 140 million votes! What I would remember the most from this election is how absentee ballots can really show the outcome of the elections. If I was a future running candidate I will be sure to focus on Absentee and voting Ballots.

1.Will you be voting in this upcoming election?

2.Being part of GenZ, do why do you think is important to vote?

3.What are your thoughts on people who vote just to vote( Not being informed on any candidates)?

4.What are your predictions for the next 4 years?

5.Do you think on the current day we should have a progressive or Conservative leader?

6. Before the 2 last candidates were narrowed down to Trump and Biden, who in particular had your attention (out of all the candidates)?

7.What policies do you wanna see change or implemented after this upcoming election, in the situation where your selected candidate wins?

Jack R.,18,

1.”I am unable to Vote in the upcoming election as I  am 17.”

2.”I may not vote, however, as a member of Gen Z  it is imperative that others capable of voting do so as a constitutional duty to our nation.”

3.”People who vote of a whim without informing themselves prior to doing so are a problem to society Voting isn’t a fad and shouldn’t be treated as such it’s a decisive process that determines the next 4 years of economic growth for our country and Americans from all backgrounds.”

4.” The next four years may be the same as the last 4 under the Trump administration if he gets re-elected. However, if Biden does win I can see riots and disapproval for him. Social unrest for the 1st year for either candidates.” 

5. “Our country should have progressive leaders as we aren’t going to go anywhere if we have disagreements on things like gender race religion etc..However, we do need a leader who will guide this country and its people towards prosperity and someone who is willing to say things as how they are without sugarcoating. Someone who will take action.”

6.” YangGang2020.”

 7.”loan forgiveness for students and foreign policies, there is no need for unnecessary bloodshed, Bring the troops back home. Also, Weapons need a more thorough background check before purchasing them and better handling of COVID-19 and future unforeseen pandemics or crises.”

Denzel O., 18,

1.” No.”

2.”It’s important to vote because our representation is dependent on our votes.”

3.”I think they realize is important and do it for other people.”

4.” About Voting? I think Trump might win.”

5.”I think we should have a progressive leader.”

6.”I wish Bernie was still in, he would receive my vote.”

7.”I’m not sure.”

Gabriela A.,18,

1.” No, I will not be voting in this upcoming election sadly”. 

2. “As being a part of Gen Z, I know it is important to vote because with Trump as president, to me everything has been going horribly and it is important because I believe we need to get him out of the White House ASAP. “

3. “If you vote just to vote, then what is the point? You should be informed of any of the candidates before you vote because what if their ideals don’t align with yours, then what? “

4. “I honestly cannot predict the next 4 years but I really hope it starts with Biden winning the 2020 presidential election.”

5. “I believe we should have a progressive leader for sure.”

6. “Before it was narrowed down to Trump and Biden, I was seriously hoping for Bernie Sanders to win! I support him all the way, his ideals align with mine and his mission for medicare for all is essential. I even have a Bernie for president 2020 sticker on my wall. I really wish he won in the last election and I also hoped he would win the Democratic nominee but sadly he didn’t. “

7. “I want to see Biden implement immigration reform and for ICE to be completely dismantled.”

After reading the articles that centralized around GenZ and GenZ voters, it became very apparent to me how involved Genz is with current-day issues. Such as equal ground rights for all people regardless of sexual orientation, race, religion, or any separative category, we label ourselves. Another aspect that stood out to me from the readings is the particular reason why many GenZ voters are taking it to the polls this year. According to the BuzzFeed graph, “45%” of GenZ voters are willing to vote for Joe Biden just because is the only way to stop Donald J. Trump from being reelected. What also stood out is GenZ’s support for the recent protest. According to Politico’s graph, “63%” of GenZ support the protest waves that have taken place in 2020 and recent times. This will probably result in Future generations in large believing the protest was in good reasoning since the supporters of today will go on to spread the message behind the protest. Overall I do believe that these articles depict the diversity within GenZ but also the inclusive ideals in this generation. Such as many in our generation not being big supporters of President Donald J. Trump. Also being very aware of social issues that were very prominent in the past and still play a role in current-day society. I personally wouldn’t add anything else to the info provided since it was collected from interviews conducted.  I do believe they get right the presence of GenZ in being involved to solve social issues by voting, protesting, and anyway they can get their voices heard. I would have rejected these interviews because I rather analyze the data collected than put my own two-sense into it. Not because I don’t care about these issues, but rather just reflect on the data and see what the crowd is asking for.

Laura Bolin Carol’s “Backpack Vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis” has a particularly amusing take to the steps in writing a Rhetorical analysis. From this essay, I learned that we practically do rhetorical analysis in our daily lives. For example, the author used an example of seeing your teacher walk into class, and their appeal can give you an idea of what type of person she might be. Or when you see a fellow classmate, and their backpack, shoes, hair, etc might say something specific about them. Okay, being honest, it’s something I’ve been aware of, but with the author putting emphasis on this action it brings it to attention on how much we analyze daily.  Another thing that I took away from this article was the starting place for a rhetorical analysis. According to the author “one of the first places to start is context.” Context is broken down into 3 categories, according to Llyod Bitzer, which is “Exigence, audience, and constraints”. Exigence is a word I wasn’t aware of so that would be my 3rd take away from the text, meaning a problem that needs to be addressed. The audience is the particular crowd in a situation and constraints are what effects the goes into play to modify the exigence. Moving on, a sentence that caught my attention was “The more we know about how to analyze situations and draw informed conclusions, the better we can become about making savvy judgments about the people, situations, and media we encounter.” This sentence seemed like the biggest takeaway because it perfectly describes a solution for many writers that struggle in Rhetorical analysis. As a writer, sometimes I don’t completely breakdown a situation in a writing piece to give myself a better understanding of a given situation. Thanks to this essay, my awareness will be better brought in the rhetorical analysis because seeing a different perspective and how they work through it gives me an idea of how to work with mine.

Earlier this week, I was scrolling through twitter and ran into a meme-based on the Presidential debate. I honestly found it very funny because, from Trump’s perspective and many Republicans, they felt like the host of the debate was attacking Trump throughout the event.

“Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell, is a testimony on the current status of the English language. The author claims that over time the English language has become more confusing and illiterate as compared to past English standards. As result, the decline and confusion in the language can be in correlation with the decline in political speeches and documents in today’s current society. A particular quote that stood out is “The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not.” In this part of the passage, the author is elaborating on the misuse many writers have in using a quote. He claims that many writers fail to correctly explain a particular message or leave the message without explanation. This stood out to me because I feel like there many times in where I fail to explain a particular message in my writing, resulting in difficulty to understand the workpiece. In the thesis, the author brings out various categories of language that disturb him. The one that stood out to me is the presence of staleness of imagery in writing. As stated before, this is a very common fault in many writers today. Using myself as an example, there are many times in which I try to present a message in my writing, but don’t explain it to the fullest. This usually makes my work seem very confusing to someone who isn’t up to date on the current topic of my work. For example, let’s say I write an essay on a common theme of the book ” Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison. Someone who has not read the book, and reads my essay may not fully understand what I’m trying to convey if I fail to explain the meaning. This is not just common in my work, but I’ve seen it many other peers throughout my time as a student. I would say this is a common presence in today’s writing because we mainly focus on getting our point across, and not on the understanding part of the reader. Overall, this critique the author has is to its fullest extent in today’s writing. Too many writers (Such as myself) focus too much on getting their point across, which makes the writing and message feeling vague or unfulfilled.

Language and politics intersect today as common as they always have. Yes, it sounds confusing, but think about it. Current day speaking is as common to the language we speak. Or as common to the regular language you read. There’s a reason that older speeches and text seem more confusing to the younger generation, and is because language is always evolving. One who reads a speech or document by a current-day President, such as Donald J. Trump or Barrack Obama is going to understand it more than a document or speech was written by Thomas Jefferson or any founding father in particular. Honestly speaking, as time goes on and language develops, it also feels as is becoming more confusing. For example, take the sayings of ” Black Lives Matter” and “All lives matter”. Without involving your politics or ideas, both these sayings aren’t wrong. They are both sayings that promote pro-life statements, saying lives do matter. But “All Lives Matter” is also regarded as a response to “Black Lives Matter” saying that “Black Lives Matter” is too inclusive of a statement. The particular issue I see is that these statements both are positive in nature, but seem to try to cancel each other out. Can someone be for “Black lives matter” and also believe that whites, Latino, Asian life matter? the short answer is… YES! but the statement “Black Lives matter” is in regards to the current day issues African Americans face in society from the claimed “oppressive system” placed in western society. Is a statement like”All lives matter” wrong for believing all lives do matter? OR is it wrong because it tries to diminish another point? It all depends on the standpoint an individual has on current-day politics.