Review on Unemployment in the US

Unemployment has been a big issue in America recently due to the high unemployment rates and receeding economy. Unemployment means that a person looking for employment cannot find it. Unemployment is definately inversely related to the overall well being of an economy because as the economy falls, unemployment rises. This is why unemployment is an issue that is well known. Right now the economy cant recover until all of the people are employed. Unemployment also hurts the people who dont have jobs. They dont have a source of income and "It is a horrendous experience to go through long-term unemployment," says sociologist Thomas Cottle, author of Hardest Times: The Trauma of Long-term Unemployment. "It has devastating physical, psychological, and spiritual effects." Unemployment not only affects the one who is unemployed but it negatively affects the entire country as well. That is why unemployment is a big issue today.

Review on Jons Blog

Technology is something that directly changes the world and can change it for the better or for the worst. Cars in this case can be considered a great conveniance or a great hassle. Blogging with Jon explained both sides of this debate in his presentation. He explained how cars gave people easy transportation, but also gave people freedom. People could travel all over the country in cars. However, cars also lead to many deaths due to accidents and pollute the air. This forces governing officials to put restrictions on cars that eventually could stop the advancement of cars as Jon said. Technology has had an enormous impact on American society but if it is halted society cant improve any more.

Review on The Power of Music in America

I was initially interested in this presentation because Music has changed very drastically and rapidly in the past decades and I feel it has a pretty big impact on american society. This presentation did a good job showing and not telling with the use of many videos. I like how music can bring people together like they did in the replaying of "We are the World" by Michael Jackson to get donations for Haiti. Music can do good things like it did to help so many people in need but I like how Jill presented both sides and looked and the negative side of music. The connection between rap and violence has been a conflict because anything that brings violence is bad but you cant infringe on the freedom of speech. People listen to rap and any music because they like the sound and the beat, but some people go to far and actually choose to make dangerous decisions. The majority of people dont risk their wellbeing because some musician said something in a song. Its usually for another reason like depression, or family issues, but rap can influence this slightly. By hearing about drugs and murder on a daily basis in a positive way can change someones opinion in those matters that they believe that they arent as bad as their parents or the community makes it out to be. I find this topic pretty interesting and the presentation I saw kept the information interesting instead of boring.

Analytical Short Story

Even though Urbanization created opportunity for many families around the US but it also created some unwanted secondary effects. With an enormous amount of immigrants coming to America to this time and settling in cities, people usually stayed in neighborhoods with people of similar culture and race. This created separation of cultures and different people. Unfortunately, the separation created stereotypes and hate for each other. Riots and fights broke out between the different sections of the city. Chicago was one of the cities like this. It was a dangerous place to be. John Waner grew up in a slavic neighborhood and was quoted in Chicago Stories, Boss, saying, "Gee, you'd never think of just walking into their neighborhood, or you'd get the hell knocked out of you..." Chicago was broken up into many different places and people hated people of different races and cultures. Also, Chicago was known in this time period for gangs and specifically Al Capone. Al Capone ran Chicago through bootlegged alcohol and the mafia. He contributed to making Chicago a dangerous place and killed and kidnapped to get what he wanted. Urbanization created a place that was dangerous and this was because people wanted money. People came to Urban places in search of money. This is greedy but these people worked hard for the money that they rightfully earned. Al Capone took greed to the next level and used illegal measures to gain money. Urbanization was a very respectable way for people to gain money and people wanted to find the easy way out and created a dangerous world for people in cities.

Chicago Stories: Boss 2

Urbanization created many cities out of nothing and people from all over rushed to cities for the immense amount of opportunity available. However, living in these cities also created many bad things as well. As cities developed so did gangs and violence. Chicago was a city that gangs and violence were very prevalent in. Al Capone ran the city and even the politics of it. He not only killed people but also sold alcohol illegally during prohibition. In Boss, a short story in Chicago Stories, it explained, "On election day, three people were killed, several were kidnapped, many were beaten, and Capone's candidates won." Politics in Chicago were corrupt because of the organized crime that started. "Capone had no difficulty running his bootleg empire, which brought in millions of dollars a week, and the killing went on." Chicago became a city which was controlled by organized crime.

Chicago Stories: Boss

Chicago became a very split up city as it developed. In a short story called, Boss, the structure of the city was explained. It explained that, "To the north of the Loop was Germany. To the northwest was Poland. To the west were Italy and Israel. To the southwest were Bohemia and Lithuania. And to the south was Ireland." Chicago was completely separated by race and ethnicity. The cities created social barriers and people were unable to cross the boundaries bordering the towns of different ethnicities. After a black kid was killed after crossing one of these boundaries, "The biggest race war in Chicago's history erupted. It raged for four days and left 15 whites and 23 blacks dead, 178 whites and 342 blacks injured. About one thousand homes were burned." The racism and segregation created an extreme hate for bordering parts of the city. The city created gangs and violence that was threatening to everyone. The city was a dangerous place and gangs and violence still exist today.

Pollution Analytical

Urbanization brought great business and enourmous amounts of industries to cities and all over the country. This drastic change in lifestyle and business in America brought new harmful problems; one of which is pollution. Industrial waste has been one of the main proponents of pollution and has been very harmful. This disposal of waste materials is very hazardous because it can do a lot of harm to people. In, Society Must Address the Potential Dangers of E-waste, it explains the danger of a certain type of waste called cathode ray tubes, CRT's, that are used in tv and computer screens. It says, "...CRTs contain a wide range of toxic substances, the most harmful of which is lead, which can cause vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, coma or even death at high levels of exposure. It can also damage the nervous system and kidneys, cause anemia and promote an increased risk of several types of cancer." Pollution of this and all other types of pollution can be very harmful to all of society. Pollution is very harmful to humans and nature but it can be difficult to put a price on it. We can use a lot of money on stopping pollution but will that money work well and would it work better in other places. In, Environmentalists Overstate the Danger of Industrial Chemicals, it explains the costs of reducing pollution. It says, "Not every regulation is a good investment. For example, for each premature death averted, the regulation that lists petroleum refining sludge as a hazardous waste costs $27.6 million while the rule that does the same for wood preserving chemicals costs $5.7 trillion per death avoided, according to estimates from the Office of Management and Budget." This money has to be paid by someone. The money paid could be going to charities or the poor and could have saved just as many or probably more people than the reduction in deaths due to pollution related causes. It is pretty much impossible to eliminate pollution completely but precautions should be taken to protect people. Even though money could be going better places than pollution, it doesnt mean that it should be overlooked completely. You should try to pollute as little as possible without using too much money. Some businesses actually found it profitable to be more environmentally aware. According to an article in Opposing Viewpoints, "By treating and recycling wastewater for irrigation, fire fighting, and sanitary systems, the company no longer discharges water into the Matamoros sewer system. Company savings in materials and reduced cleanup efforts amount to $1.7 million a year." This company actually saved a ton of money. The fact that this company was thoughtful about what waste they were putting out into the earth really paid off because they made a lot of money from it. Pollution is definately a problem and should be taken care of. However, using enormous amounts of money doing so is inefficient and not worth it.

Urbanization Analytical

People rushed to cities after the Civil War. Businesses were booming and many citizens thought that moving to these cities could help them become wealthy. The truth is, people were becoming wealthy. With new business and trading techniques people could succeed. Many people were making tons of money in business and people living on farms and even in other countries rushed to cities like New York, Chicago, and even San Fransisco. This seemed like a time that was really great. The Gold Rush made anybody almost instantaneously rich due to no intellectual or physical advantage. Any human being could become rich and the poor and middle class loved this hope and dream. However, Urbanization also had many bad sides to it. Because so many people rushed to these urban places, it created a new lifestyle that was different and needed different technology that wasnt available. There were no modern water or sewage systems. People caught diseases and epidemics started. Also fires started easier because of the cheap, wooden ballon frame buildings and spread faster and larger than before because more homes were packed closer together. Also, there was a large amount of poor in cities. Even though there were many booming businesses, only a few people held on to the profits. Many workers were abused and had to work long days with little pay. The wages were barely enough for food for the family. Urbanization created a completely new world for America. It helped some and didnt help others. Edwin Markham was one who hated what urbanization did to the world. He sympathized with the hard working laborers and thought they deserved more than what they got. They supported the American economy yet they were repaid with minimum wage and were treated poorly. In his most famous poem, The Man with his Hoe, he wrote,
"O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,
Is this the handiwork you give to God,
This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quencht?"
Markham believes that the new world, after urbanization, is disgusting and atrocious. Markham clearly feels that Urbanization has made the world a much worse place and has stripped so many people of their livelihood. Urbanization has created some wealth and has taken some away. Urbanization created a new world that was based heavily on business and work.

Current Events: Pollution is still harmful

Pollution is still pretty serious to effects on nature and society as a whole. This disposable of waste materials is very hazardous because it can do a lot of harm to people. In, Society Must Address the Potential Dangers of E-waste, it explains the danger of a certain type of waste called cathode ray tubes, CRT's, that are used in tv and computer screens. It says, "...CRTs contain a wide range of toxic substances, the most harmful of which is lead, which can cause vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, coma or even death at high levels of exposure. It can also damage the nervous system and kidneys, cause anemia and promote an increased risk of several types of cancer." Pollution of this and all other types of pollution can be very harmful to all of society. Pollutions is a problem that has to be dealt with either by finding ways to dispose of hazardous materials effectively, safely, and inexpensively, or we need to find new ways to create the goods we need without creating hazardous materials. Pollution is hard to put a monetary value on it because it is an intangible thing but it can be very costly to our wallets and our health.

O'Rourke, Morgan. "Society Must Address the Potential Dangers of E-waste." Opposing Viewpoints: Garbage and Recycling. Ed. Mitchell Young. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 5 Feb. 2010 .

Current Event: Pollution is overrated

Businesses create goods that people want sometimes at the expense of pollution. Pollution can be a difficult thing to grade. Industrial wastes can definately kill people because they can be poisonous and/or radioactive. In, Environmentalists Overstate the Danger of Industrial Chemicals, it explains the costs of reducing pollution. It says, "Not every regulation is a good investment. For example, for each premature death averted, the regulation that lists petroleum refining sludge as a hazardous waste costs $27.6 million while the rule that does the same for wood preserving chemicals costs $5.7 trillion per death avoided, according to estimates from the Office of Management and Budget." This money has to be paid by someone. The money paid could be going to charities or the poor and could have saved just as many or probably more people than the reduction in deaths due to pollution related causes. It is pretty much impossible to eliminate pollution completely but precautions should be taken to protect people. However, money could be going to better places to save lives sometimes instead of pollution.

Brody, Jane E. "Environmentalists Overstate the Danger of Industrial Chemicals." At Issue: Nuclear and Toxic Waste. Ed. Stuart A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 5 Feb. 2010 .

Opposing Viewpoint: Pollution

Pollution is a big issue now that global warming is an issue. Pollution causes depreciation of surrounding property values and can cause unwanted noise and smell. Pollution got to be such a big issue because large companies pumped so much polluted waste into the world because it was busy trying to produce as much goods and make as much money as they could that they disregarded the pollution they were putting out into the world. Now, businesses are trying to be "green" and protect the environment. This is obviously helping the surrounding area and whole world by polluting less but doesnt it cost the company a boat load of money? Actually, according to an article in Opposing Viewpoints, "By treating and recycling wastewater for irrigation, fire fighting, and sanitary systems, the company no longer discharges water into the Matamoros sewer system. Company savings in materials and reduced cleanup efforts amount to $1.7 million a year." This company actually saved a ton of money. The fact that this company was thoughtful about what waste they were putting out into the earth really paid off because they made a lot of money off of doing so.

Environmental Protection Agency. "U.S. Factories in Mexico Are Reducing Pollution." Current Controversies: Pollution. Ed. James Haley. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 5 Feb. 2010 .

Where I am going?

I think I am going to continue finding first hand accounts of personal opinions and facts about urbanization and surrounding topics that are direct causes of Urbanization and find out what impact it has on society.

The Man with his Hoe

On New Years day in 1898 Edwin Markham's poem "The man with his hoe" was read. This poem talked about laborers struggles and talked about society as a whole. He opens the poem with,
"Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world."
This quote begins by talking about the hardships of the laborer or middle class worker. He feels that they have a hard life and work hard all the time. This work tires the worker out and makes him feel empty as a whole because he is so tired. Yet, Markham explains that this worker's work is holding up the world. This worker works extremely hard just to feel this emptiness. The laborer's in the world hold the country up and we treat them with minimum wage and poor working conditions. Urbanization brought many people to cities to work in large corporations, yet as this poet feels, were under appreciated by the owners and, in turn, treated poorly. Markham shows that he dislikes what Urbanization has done to the world later in this poem. he says,
"O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,
Is this the handiwork you give to God,
This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quencht?"
Markham felt that the world that the people in power created is terrible. He feels the world is changed in the most terrible way and that it has brought upon the souls of humans being drained. Markham feels that the new world, industrialized and urbanized, is an unacceptable thing to give back to God. God created life, gave us everything we need to survive and made us the ruler of earth, yet we are going to give him back a world monstrous, distorted, and soul-quencht. Markham clearly feels that Urbanization has made the world a much worse place and has stripped so many people of their livelihood.