Tentative Thesis Statement

Affirmative action is needed in Michigan to level an uneven plating field in the state's Universities.

This issue is really important to me because I know that it will affect thousands of African Americans who are trying to succeed in life. I actually spoke to a counselor in UC, and she stated that some scholarships will become terminated because of proposal 2, and that's not fair. Diversity is needed on campuses and banning affirmative action will not help the cause. There are alot of potential sources that I can use, but I have to carefully view them first.

Arguing a Local Issue

Last semester in my speech class, my final assignment was a persuasive speech on a current event. During this time the elections were just ending, and some of the results were controversial. The controversy came from the results over proposal 2, which banned affirmative action. This topic was, and still is extremely important to me. This topic forced me to pay attention to the news, and I don't even watch the news.

This topic is not something that I want to do just to complete the assignment. Since day1 of this class, I knew that this was what I wanted to write about for the last paper. Moreover, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative used systematic voter fraud in order to get its name on the ballot. 58% of Michigan voters voted in favor of the banning. These results will potentially push Michigan back to a time when minorities(especially African Americans) were discriminated against. I think that everyone knows that it's a very uneven playing field in our society, and affirmative action tried to level the playing field evenly. I believe that diversity is essential everywhere, especially on college campuses. The banning of affirmative action will not help at all!

Bad Luck

Yesterday, I couldn't even make it to class because m car was trippin!! This is the third time that my car acted up this school year. I think it's time for a new one because I'm sick of the one I have now. Additionally, those stupid idiots at CVS screwed up my photos. Some of my pictures were not on my disk, and the other pictures were not even ready. It's suppose to be a three day process, but they need to hurry up.

Possible Topics

I really wanted to do a photo essay about infidelity---why do men and women cheat--who are the better cheaters. That would have been so fun, and I know that I could pull it off. Unfortunately, I can't do this because of Professor Degenaro's request. I will either do a photo essay on high school students who skip class, or the everyday life of a real drug dealer(sounds so fun and interesting). I didn't know if Professor Degenaro will allow me to do the drug dealer photo essay, so I went ahead and did both. Whichever one I think is best is the one that I'm turning in.

The Photo Essay Process

The entire photo essay process is really wrecking my nerves. There are many things that I want to try for this assignment because I want to set my self apart from other peoples topics. I love to take risks and I really want to take a big risk with this assignment. I don't think people are interested in safe topics nowadays. People want to see something that they tell/show their family and friends. People want to respond to something fun, interesting, daring and creative. I don't want to go down the predictable route with this particular assignment. I want to do something different. Honestly, I don't think I can! But I'm in college now, which means that I should be able to take bigger risks. I'm really confused.

Detroit Graffiti

On flickr.com, there are alot of interesting photos of graffiti that has an important message, some are fun to look at, but others are utterly rediculous. I happen to be a big opposer of graffiti, and I happen to find some photos that support my argument. I was surprised I didn't see any gang signs or R.I.P signs. The funny thing is that I've seen the 8mile sign in person and it still does not make sense to me. What is the real point with these photos? What about the direction sign. Is that suppose to scare anybody that takes that path? I really don't understand. One of the pieces of graffiti that like was the "don't cry for us, cry for them photo" I think that's an interesting viewpoint that alot of people might agree with. Other than that, it was just pointless. my favorite is the throw away your two-faced smile piece of graffiti. I think that sends an important message, and it's a quote that many people can use. I can't wait to browse through some more graffiti photos so see more of what I'm accustomed to.

Graffiti

Leonard Krigell's Graffiti is sort of odd to me. His version of graffiti does not correspond to my version at all. He talks about politics, religion, etc. Some of the paragraphs are relly interesting to read such as when he quotes Norman Mailer, and the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs on page 203. I think I will like Kriegel's version of graffiti much more, because at least it sends a message. The graffiti in my community is completely foolish, and done by foolish people. There are either tons of profanity, R.I.P signs, or words representing a specific group all over buildings, houses, etc. That proves why I think graffiti is pointless.