Semester #2 Blog #10

Read the article and respond with the following:

1. Your personal response, which should include the thoughtful selection of direct evidence from the article itself.

I read an article about Foxconn planning on raising salaries for their workers at factories in China. I chose this article because of the iPhone article we read in class a while ago. It was shocking to see that Foxconn is actually planning to pay their workers more after paying them like $6 dollars for working more than 10 hours. They are most likely doing this because of all the people fighting for better working conditions. "Labor rights groups say that over the years, many Foxconn plants have violated Chinese labor laws by pushing workers to endure excessive amounts of overtime. Criticism has grown over working conditions at several Apple suppliers in China, including Foxconn, which employs more than one million workers to assemble some of the world’s most popular devices." People are starting to notice it and trying to stop this. The Fair Labor Associations have begun inspecting the factories to make sure they are following the rules, and the workers are in a safe environment.

"Apple and Foxconn, which is based in Taiwan, have strongly denied allegations that the workers are treated poorly. But Apple has acknowledged in its own audits that some of its suppliers in China violate Apple’s own code of conduct, with instances of child labor, forced overtime and unsafe working conditions and evidence that employees are sometimes exposed to hazardous and toxic chemicals." Apple, like always, defended itself by denying all this but later notices certain things going on in the factories. It is so not fair how these things are going on in 21st century. It was normal to see these things in the early 1900's like in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory because at that time there weren't really any laws for safe working conditions but now there and they shouldn't be violated. I mean even children are working at the Foxconn factories, which is not fair.

2. A link to an article that you recommend from a reputable, or academic, or professional, source that either supports the points made in the article you originally picked, or argues with it in some way. Include a brief piece of writing in which you explain your recommendation.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?pagewanted=1

Above is the link to the iPhone article we read about in class. The reason why I picked the article about Foxconn planning to pay their workers more money was because I remembered the iPhone article we read about in class. The iPhone article talks about how a lot of US jobs have been lost because some have been sent overseas. This makes the Apple company make more profit because they don't have to pay the workers as much as they do American workers. Why pay a lot of money when they could just pay a little to the Chinese people? That is what they asked themselves and picked the Chinese people to be the ones making their products, as well as other factories.

3. Questions for discussion, things to think about, ways to move forward, etc.

I think we should be aware of what is going on around us. That we are losing jobs in America, that Chinese people aren't given the right working conditions, and that there are even children working on some of the factories. We sometimes don't care about all this going on in China because we don't live there and it doesn't really happen in America, anymore, but we need to help these people being treated unfairly just because they are poor and they need the money. We need to be supportive and protest against these situations.

One question that I was thinking about while I was reading was, how will this increase in salaries affect Apple? Will they keep sending their jobs overseas? How will it affect other companies?

Semester #2 Blog #9

What makes a great forum post? What makes a great conversation online?

A great forum post is when either the question or statement makes other people think about it and its not just like a yes or no question that you can answer with two or three words but actually takes time to answer. It should be kind of like the questions in the quizzes and should help us all better understand the book and the different characters, themes, and symbols in it. A comment should fully answer the question and have evidence from the book. A great conversation is composed of different people all talking about the same thing and helping each other better understand something.

What have you contributed to the forums that leads to a positive, productive, helpful way to understand and enjoy the book?

For my first three forums, I commented on two questions and posted a forum (a question). In the comments I added my own opinion into the question about what could happen if Tom found out about Gatsby and Daisy's love. I tried to add things from the book and referring to the chapters we have read as well as the other question I answered about Nick and Jordan ending up together. The question I asked was about how Daisy would react about the "business" Gatsby is in. I think these three forums can help some people further understand the relationships going on in the book.

What can you do to improve your posts as you go?

I think I should probably try to actually use examples from the books like having actual quotes in there to back up what I am saying instead of just referring to the book. I should also probably try to ask questions that might be on the test so that I can further understand something I'm confused about.

Semester #2 Blog #8

Chapter #1

"To the wingless a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size. I lived at West Egg--well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them...Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water..."

This relates to the Class Struggle in the 1920's that happened not only between East Egg and West Egg but among rich and poor too.

During the 1920's and in the book the East Egg and West Egg were separated by "old money" and "new money." The East Egg was "old money" meaning that they were born into wealth from their ancestors, so like their parents, grandparents, great great grandparents. While the West Egg was "new money" meaning that they were rich too but it was because of their hard work and sometimes by doing illegal things like selling alcohol during Prohibition, organized crime. Usually East Egg thought they were better and in a upper class level. In the book, the West Egg, is not upper class socially but upper class in money. It has mansions too, like Gatsby's mansion. The East Egg was also rich, it was beautiful. It was full of all big white mansions, like the Buchanan's mansion, they were also proper and sophisticated. Nick said in the quote that West Egg was "less fashionable." During the 1920's the two eggs were separated and usually the East Egg looked down on West Egg.

Chapter #2

"Meanwhile Tom brought out a bottle of whiskey from a locked bureau door. I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon; so everything that happened has a a dim, hazy cast over it, although until after eight o'clock the apartment was full of cheerful sun." Nick, Pg.29

I think this connects to Prohibition. Prohibition was in the 18th amendment and prohibited people from the consumption, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol.
During the 1920's alcohol was prohibited but there were many underground businesses and people who would sell alcohol and make a business out of it. In this case Tom and everyone in the party at the apartment in New York City in chapter 2 was drunk and drinking even though alcohol was prohibited. Tom had so much money that he probably was able to buy all the alcohol he wanted even though it was illegal. But we also see Tom having wine at his mansion in chapter 1 meaning that in a lot of places alcohol was around and the law wasn't really working and most of the rich people weren't affected by it. Alcohol was still consumed, sold, manufactured and transported but now it was in a secret way. That is why during the 1920's there was a lot of organized crime from the people selling alcohol. This was making these people rich.

Chapter #3
"On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before." Nick, Pg.39
The quote above talks about how Gatsby had so much money to do all of these things. I think this connects to the idea of the Roaring 2o's, because of how the economy in America appeared to be really strong because of the rise in the upper class.

The Roaring 20's was full of "lavish parties on Long Island at a time when...'gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession.'" The economy was really good that a lot of people like Gatsby were very, very wealthy. They would throw fancy parties at their mansions and socialize with the people around them. Gatsby had so much money that he had special cars that would go in the morning to pick up the people that wanted to go to his parties. He had many servants to do all of his work. There was people who just went to his parties and weren't even invited they just kind of went there to have a good time even though they didn't even know Gatsby. At this time there was either people who were really, really rich or really, really poor. So it was basically you were greatly wealthy or very poor. In the East Egg and West Egg there were a lot of people that were very wealthy and who were very powerful because of all the money they had.

Semester #2 Blog #7

What stands out to you most in your first experience with The Great Gatsby? Be sure to include a quote in your response.

It really stood out to me the way the author writes, he uses a lot of detail and stacks up words on top of each other in a paragraph. He is also good at describing the characters by having different situations. For example, we get to meet Tom, Daisy, and Jordan Baker because of the time he went to have dinner at Tom and Daisy's mansion in the East egg. We get to know their characters and figure out who they are by what they say, how they act around other characters and just what they do. The author uses great detail to describe a moment, sensory details.

In the beginning of page 7 and beginning of 8 he says, "We walked through a high hallway into a bright rosy-colored space, fragilely bound into the house by French windows at either end. The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea."

By this sensory detail we get to almost see, and feel and be at the place he is describing.

Semester #2 Blog #6

In the course of the Industrialization Newspaper mini-project, what stands out most to you?

It stood out to me how much work is involved in just simply doing the front page of a newspaper, or just an article. Also how important time is and how you much you have to rely on the people you are working with in order for your final product to end up good. It took me more than 3 days to get a decent draft of my article but many journalist and people that write articles in newspapers have to write and get in the newspaper in a day or less than a day. For example the people doing the news section in the New York Times have to go to where the event happened and report everything they see and report what other people say and edit and post it on that same day on the website. It took us about a week just to do the front page of a newspaper but real newspaper companies have to do that and the rest of the newspaper in like a day. They have to rely on everyone else to do their section of the newspaper and at the end put all their work together. It is a lot of work.

What stands out about the work of one specific other newspaper that you saw in class?

One newspaper that stood out to me was "THE CHICA-GO TRIBUNE" one. It stood out to me because it had a variety of articles: news, feature, editorial. It also had a variety of images and stuff like that, it had two pictures, a bar graph, and some sketches. It had a great variety of everything, it had a good layout, and overall it looked good and professional. This wasn't the only newspaper that stood out to me though. I thought overall, that our class did a great job in this project. All of the newspapers from the different groups looked really nice and professional.

How does this affect the way that you see news or information around you?

Now I'll be able to tell what kind of different articles are in the newspaper my dad reads. Usually I just look at the newspaper and I just don't read it unless the title or the picture seems interesting but now that I've done this project I've learned that its not just about the title or the picture but it is also good to read it, you might find something interesting in there. For example, my article was probably very long but I think it was interesting, or at least for me it was, and probably the image wasn't the best but once you start to read it you understand why the picture is there and the title. I also respect the people that create the newspaper a lot more now. It might seem like making a newspaper is easy because its just words and images and titles but it involves a lot of work and the people that work in making newspapers take their time to get all that information in a way that we will want to read it and learn about what is going on in our world.

What new thoughts do you have about the subject matter (i.e., the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, the Pullman Strikes, etc.) covered by your newspaper or the others in class?

By this project I learned a lot more about the working conditions during the 1900s and about the workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Before doing this project I only knew that there had been a huge fire in a shirts company in New York that killed a lot of girls. But, after doing this entire project I learned so much more about this specific topic. I got to read stories from the survivors of the fire, find articles about this topic from back in 1911. I got to find some really great websites. I was able to learn about how horrible the working conditions were at the time. The girls were paid about $6 per week, working 6 days a week for more than 12 hours a day. They did so much work but earned such small amount of money while the company owners were becoming so rich from all the money they were making. They weren't allowed to talk to each other, to sing, or even to spend a long time in the bathroom. They were locked in while they worked and so much more stuff they had to go through. It was also shocking that in the actual day of the fire they fire-fighters' latter only reach the 6th floor so it was almost impossible to stop the fire quickly. After reading all this, I was happy that things aren't like this anymore and that there was people back then who spoke up and fought for better working conditions but unfortunately had to go through things like the Shirtwaist Fire.

What new thoughts do you have about the way that you work through specific assignments, projects, etc.?

In this project I noticed that I usually take a while to get to the final draft of something I write. I just always want it to be as perfect as it can be so I read it over and over again and create different drafts and have various people read it and I think that's good but maybe I should do everything a little quicker like journalist do. I also think that evidence is really important to back up everything you say, like in articles and essays.