Author: EILEEN CARINO SALAS

The exercise I chose to do was number 4. Doing this exercise allowed me to realize all the different types of ideas I had for my paper even though I have not yet wrote them all down. I chose to do this exercise because I know that its always easier for me to say out loud my ideas instead of keeping them inside and having to write them down later or sometimes when I choose to write down things I always forget what was my idea, so, it made it easier for me to say it out loud and my partner write it down at the same time. At the time I know that my biggest struggle was coming up with the theme or the overall main question which includes what was it that I was arguing. While completing this exercise I was also coming to the result that my argument was going to be how is the Women’s movement today and why is it still being fought for.

After reading the article “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the limits of representation” by Keeanga- Yamahatta Taylor, the limits of representation are clear to be that different roles of different races. President Biden chose Kamala Harris as his Vice President because of the color of her skin in order to to get more votes. The article mentions that “There is an assumption that the selection of Harris means that her racial and gender identities will guide the policymaking of a Biden-Harris White House. This is the heralded power of representation in politics, and it is a powerful corral for the hopes of many Black Americans. The rise of Barack Obama convinced many Black voters that they might finally get a fair shake.” Limits or representation is shown by this because Kamala Harris could not fully compare to those who had the same appearances as she did. However, Having Kamala as his Vice President won’t give African Americans or even women in general, better opportunities. So, finally after reading this article I can say that the limitation of representation is to represent the group of people but in reality being unable to make change.

The piece of artwork I chose to use is a Netflix drama series called “Cable Girls”. It was made by Ramon Campos and was released on April 28,2017. This show takes place in the 1920’s in Madrid. As Spain has created its first national telephone company four women who work in the company show their progress during the times when women attempt to create equal rights compared to those of men. To me the general message of the show is “Can women have it all?”. The show represents all the struggles that women face  while simply trying to make a living.

I chose this piece of art because as a female, I have always viewed the issue of feminism and sexism as something that is very important. The show perfectly represents women being unequal to men and their journey into becoming more than just women who work under the control of men.  Even though this issue is not as bad as it was before there are still a few places where sexism still occurs. Ramon Campos attempts to expose the truth about feminism that took place in Spain during the 1920’s.

After completing my sentence analysis, I noticed that I used a mix of simple and complex sentences; but to be very honest I was having trouble identifying what type of sentences they were since I have never learned this technique before.  I was not really surprised with my results because of the way I write out my drafts. when I write my drafts I tend to organize it by ideas. and evidence. this later helps me because all I have to do is explain and give even more details so I can build off of what I had. The changes I can make with my sentences are to make even more complex and complex compound instead of simple sentences. Changing my sentences will allow my writing to sound more descriptive, smooth and sophisticated. Another reason why I feel like my writing came out with these type of sentences was because I wasn’t so sure how to properly add my own voice into the writing mostly because I shared a lot of evidence and quotes. The way I write my papers is starting with my draft including the main points/ information then evidence. Writing it like this has made it seem as if I don’t know how to explain my evidence enough. After this I like to work off of my teachers or peers feedback because it allows me to fix any mistakes and get more ideas on how to expand my work. Overall, analyzing my sentences has helped me to realize how I should explain my thoughts in a better format. I hope for my essay to change from sounding too weak to more stronger and I definitely plan on using this technique with my future writing.

While reading the “Racial Capitalocene” by Francoise Verges, and “New York’s Invisible Climate Migrants” by Sophie Kasakove, one thing that I noticed is that race plays a huge role on what environmental dangers they face. Even though these excerpts share different stories, they explain similar troubles that families of low income can face. For example,  in “Racial Capitalocene” it is mentioned how “race was the single most important factor in determining where toxic waste facilities were sited in the United States and that the siting of these facilities in in communities of color was the intentional result result of local, state, and federal land use policies. This shows how these minority groups have no other choice than to deal with this because in order to get away from these places they would need money which is sometimes a trouble for them. It is also shown that the government has no intentions to help the people of lower class because they will always be victims of radicalized environmental politics.  In addition, the the excerpt “New York’s Invisible Climate Migrants” it is mentioned how “a lot of people didn’t have the resources to rebuild. some homes eventually went foreclosure, and other were sold.” Because of natural disasters, people are being forced to leave their homes without any option of looking back simply because they can’t afford to fix things on their own. People who were actually able to fix their homes and prevent them from being ruined by floods took over the neighborhood. Both of these articles have shown that minority groups are unable to afford better living conditions.

Throughout my life I have  witnessed neoliberalism in New York. One of the most recent things I have witnessed that relates to neoliberalism is some people have chosen not to get tested or even go the the hospital for experiencing Covid symptoms because they don’t have enough money to pay for it or that they are unable to receive health care. Some things that have affected me personally is the increase of cost in my things such as transportation and even cost of produce in stores. With public transportation the price used to be $1.50 then turned to $2 then $2.25 and now $2.50. It can be considered a bit of a big difference because it is something that people use everyday and most times more than once. For the past few years there has been a significant increase in cost of produce that sell in supermarkets. Since Covid many people have been having difficulties paying for their groceries which mean they need to purchase less  groceries. The increase of tuition for schools in New York has increased throughout the years. When I was younger my three older sisters all attended catholic high schools where the average cost was about ten thousand a year. As time past by tuition started rising where it soon began to cost twelve to three thirteen thousand a year. Unfortunately, as it came to the time where I was applying for high schools the tuition began to cost too much that my parents weren’t able to pay for my education at a catholic high school. This relates to Dickinson’s text because in our society there are many things that the government chooses to do that don’t benefit us. In addition, blacks, latinos, and hispanics seem to be the communities that receive the least amount of help whether it’s to better the neighborhoods, healthcare, education and living supplies.