Friday, October 24, 2014

Blog Post 4: A Rough Draft of my College Essay

My life has been pretty normal in a few ways, however there are many things that I have experienced which have played a major role in shaping my life.  One major event that left a lasting impact on me as a child, was my parents divorce.  Another major event that shaped my life was when I got a job.  

When I was five years old my parents divorced each other.  This was very hard on me as a child, because I did not understand the reason behind it.  Around a year later my father became an executive officer of a company that went public.  This was great and created a lot of opportunity for the family, however this made it so that my father could not always be around as much as he would have liked to be, since he was always traveling for his business.  Through watching my dad work exceptionally hard, I gained a lot of motivation to do everything that I do to my best abilities, as well as learning an important lesson.  I learned that I must work super hard for everything that I want; and that I must do the best that I can do, on everything that I do to .

Right when I turned 16, I decided that it was time for me to get a job.  I began working at Chuck E. Cheese and stayed there for over a year before I decided to leave them.  I then decided to get a new job at Carrabbas Italian Grill, which is my current occupation.  Working is important in my life story because it has taught me a lot of important lessons.  Through work I have learned better time management skills as well as learning to deal with high levels of stress due to large amounts of work.    

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Matthew Shepard From all Perspectives

Wyoming:
http://www.uwyo.edu/news/shepard/1998candlelightvigil.htm
This article was a statement given by the University of Wyoming President, Philip Dubois.  He is a reliable source due to how close to the scene of the tragedy was.  Throughout the statement, you can hear the tragedy in the voice of the speaker, as well as get a look at the mood everybody in the town felt about this event.  The information appears to be non bias to me.  This is because the article talks mostly about just the impact of the Matthew Shepard case on the people of Wyoming.  This article probably had a big impact on a lot of those who read it because of how crazy this case was, and the reality of the reasoning behind this brutal murder.  This article was pretty good in my opinion, especially since it gave an inside look at how some of his peers reacted to his brutal death.

Inside the United States:
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/21/us/witnesses-trace-brutal-killing-of-gay-student.html?pagewanted=all
This article was not from Wyoming, however it was an article in the New York Times.  It was written by a man named James Brooks.  James Brooks published  multiple other stories with the New York Times.  This information seems very accurate as it aligns with a lot of my prior knowledge on the subject.  It was also published enough time after the incident to have facts and reports about the case.  The information does not seem very biased as it comes out appearing mostly like facts.  Readers of this story probably feel bad for the torture that Matthew Shepard had to endure, however were captivated by the story and message that this article tells.  In my personal opinion this source was very good and I thought it was a very good article.

Outside the United States:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/190861.stm
This article was published by BBC in the UK.  It does not have a singular author identified, however the BBC is a well known, international, recognized news source.  This article talks mostly about how the US will react to the crisis and how the President will react to prevent violent, unprovoked crimes like this in the future.  This information comes out very non-biased and seems to see the story from a point of view that does not side with either of the parties, rather target the source of the problem.  Readers of this article get informed of what is going on with this case, then get a solid idea of what is going to happen to prevent this in the future as well as a feeling of the aftermath of these events.

BBC News | Americas | Clinton urges crackdown on hate crimes

Source URL:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/190861.stm

Witnesses Trace Brutal Killing of Gay Student - New York Times

Source URL:http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/21/us/witnesses-trace-brutal-killing-of-gay-student.html

STATEMENT BY UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING PRESIDENT PHILIP L. DUBOIS
Candlelight Vigil for Matthew Shepard