I plan on remixing my Micheal Jackson paper that was titled “They Don’t Really Care About Us.” I’ve decided to create an action plan that will contain ideas that could prevent the negative things that happened in the past. The audience would be aimed at young people growing up in a society where its own governors don’t care about its people. This way, the young people reading this can be prepared to face any struggles or challenges that come with that. Along with possibly wanting to make a change in politics. In the action plan, I will be describing possible methods and ideas that could make a change for the better. Besides the action plan paper I’ll be writing, along with it would be an audio recording of me explaining the action plan. This allows readers to gain more of an understanding of what can be done when it comes to government absence, along with other societal issues such as anti-homelessness and police brutality. It leans more toward what should we do. The original paper focuses more on bringing the issue to the light and for people to understand where the issue stems from. Micheal Jackson was used as a pathway for understanding. Now that the reader understands the problems, the remix will give ideas of what can be done.

 

It was interesting to read the article titled “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Limits of Representation.” This article speaks on the idea of representation within politics. There isn’t much diversity when it comes to politics. Barack Obama was one of our only African-American presidents, and the closest thing after that would be our current vice president, Kamala Harris. Otherwise, we’ve only had white presidents as the face of America. This also applies to our senators and the supreme court. Most of the members of the supreme court are white, however, there are a few black members. It is clear that there is a small advantage for those who are white when it comes to politics. African-Americans or even Latinos are not taken seriously when it comes to the government within America. According to the author  Leeanga-Yamahatta, “limits of representation.” is the fact that people of color are less likely to be represented in politics. A colored person’s voice weighs less compared to someone who is white. This gives a massive disadvantage when it comes to politics and it is not fair to base this on somebody solely due to the color of their skin.

 

I gave one of my drafts to a friend for them to review, and I read it out loud to them as well. My verbal summary did match what was going on in the paper. It had room for improvement and that’s exactly what I did. When reading your paper out loud, you notice grammar mistakes or when things don’t really make sense. You could also catch the ongoing sentences, so you can easily avoid those in your paper. My friend who I gave my paper also recommended I change up my vocabulary, and make it important that whatever I say I always connect back to the main topic.

1. 1. Reed makes multiple connections between the 1978-1992 “retrenchment period” and the Covid-19 pandemic. He compares both of these events in order to make an overall point to the reader.  During the retrenchment period, many staff in CUNYS, and just workers in general were all being cut from their jobs, and tuition was being increased. People were being left without a job, and the students weren’t getting a quality education, despite the fact that they were paying for it. A lot of people’s lives were being negatively affected by this. Similar to COVID-19 in 2020, the pandemic left thousands without jobs, shut down colleges and schools all over the country, and made it hard to live in America.
      1. Reed uses the term “death cult” in a very specific way within this article.  Referring to the negative effects neoliberalism brought up with CUNY, he thinks that over the years as this continues, the economic model that New York City runs on will be turned into a “Death Cult.” Reed takes this quote from climate activists in Madrid, who also believed neoliberalism was inevitability a “Death Cult.” This means a guaranteed failure with no hopes of success. No matter what happens, something negative is bound to happen as it only brings about bad things that benefit the rich, and negatively affect the poor.
         1. 1.  To summarize the reasoning the Fall 2019 Latinx Student alliance gave for more diversity in their curriculum, it is important to the students who attend Lehman college that they are able to see themselves represented within their college curriculum.  For reference, Lehman is 56.1 Black/Latino. The fact that more than half of the school is black or Latino, but these students aren’t getting the correct representation in their own communities can be very alarming to some. Also, the alliance points out that diversifying the curriculum can bring benefits to future generations to come. More point of view from different authors all over the world is very important, compared to just the same British writers that overlook other stories that are just as important.
            2. Suggestions Reed makes for both anti-racist and anti-austerity groups at CUNY are the following: the 2 groups both had ten demands that were very good demands to make for CUNY, but both groups were leaving out many important things from these demands. Reed suggests that the 2 groups combine their demands, in order to make sure all the demands get activated instead of trying to push one issue out more than the other. The fact of the matter is that all of these issues are equally important, and one shouldn’t override the other. So if these demands get combined, they could get worked on and focused on at once.

https://jamboard.google.com/d/1AygEAaM_IH1Gtqgj-f3M6GgLloGMzq8w2zsOfVoTh3A/viewer?f=0

 

Blog 9: due 4/6

 

After looking at my first-page draft, I decided to use the number 1 “To Say Something Better” writing strategy. After doing so, this strategy revealed to me that I have a lot I can expand on within my topic. Since all the ideas in my topic can easily be connected to one another, I need to find a way to bridge these ideas together in order to make one central idea. With this strategy, it allows me to do so because I’m taking a sentence I have already made, and I expand on it, going deeper into detail and when I talk more about this certain topic, it allows me to make connections to previous statements I made. I chose this exercise since it helps me out in expanding the piece that I wrote. It prevents a brain block and I am able to write more. Currently, the most difficult part of writing the essay is attempting to get all my ideas down and trying to tie them all in, and make them make sense. However, after this, I shouldn’t have too many issues, just the initial writing part first.

 

The title of the artist I decided to write about is Micheal Jackson, specifically his song made on June 16 1995 called “They Don’t Really Care About Us.” As most people may know, Micheal Jackson is an American singer and songwriter along with a dancer. He has been crowned as the King of Pop, and it’s argued that he is one of the most influential figures within the 20th century when it comes to music. Here in the song “They Don’t Really Care About Us.” Micheal Jackson speaks about the injustice the government places on all types of people. He emphasizes the idea that higher government officials, and politicians, have no care for the people under them. Micheal Jackson even shines a light on police brutality, racism against African Americans, Jewish people, and just minorities as a whole within America. I chose this song because although it was made decades ago, in 1995, the ideas he speaks about in the song are all still relevant in 2022. The government really does not care about the people they govern. Poor and disease-ridden communities continue to suffer, while the government does nothing about it and allows the people to continue to suffer. If the government can profit off of anything, they will make sure they are able to do so, sacrificing anyone without hesitation. Micheal Jackson’s work is a clear attempt to expose the truth about the government treats its people. How much the government really cares and the efforts the government will go through to deal with problems that plague their people, such as police brutality, racism, etc.

 

 

 

1. I decided to pick David Wojnarowicz’s picture “Untitled.” The piece’s rhetorical properties contribute to its overall meaning in multiple ways. In black and white color, in the middle of the picture is a young boy. Wrapping the boy is a large paragraph that has an overall strong meaning about his future towards the picture. The image of the boy looks like a black and white photograph, and not necessarily a drawing, which adds to the realism of the artifact.

2. Within the picture called “Untitled” the text definitely relates to social and political concerns of the present. The text is describing many bad things that are bound to happen to this boy, ranging from being beaten, being discriminated against, families turning against this boy, and much more. Within the end, it is revealed that all these things may happen to this boy because he desires to be in love with another man. Relating to the social and political concerns of the present, many people discriminate against all types of people within the LGBTQ  community, even to this day. The LGBTQ even had to fight hard to even legalize gay marriage. There have been times when being gay gets you targeted and hated against. The struggles people within the LGBTQ community face are all within these texts, expressed through the future of this innocent boy.

3. Drawing a conclusion from this art, it is evident that art can have a heavy impact on social and political concerns. People use art or cartoons to convey messages that are harder to convey through words. The art itself could express more emotion and think than any written article. Hence why people use art like this to sort of emphasizing the importance of certain social concerns. Specifically with this concern, the treatment of people from the LGBTQ community.