English Composition II

Category: Unit 2 (Page 1 of 7)

Unit 2 Final

What is global warming and how is it effecting earth? Global warming is when the climate changes in temperatures and weather patterns. The shifts in weather patterns and temperature are common however, since the 1800s human activities have been the main cause of climate change. You might be asking yourself how are we as humans contributing to climate change. There are many ways that we contribute to weather change such as the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas which produces heat, because these things produce heat earth is getting warmer. someone once asked me why is the earth getting warmer a problem? I found it crazy that they asked me this but I went on to tell them that the warmer the world gets the more problems it creates for us and animals. I came across some New York Times articles that go into further explanation of why global warming is not safe and why we should be doing everything in our power to try limit unnatural climate changes. The articles that I came across are “five takeaways from the U.N report on limiting global warming”, ” who’s most responsible for global warming”, and the final article that I came across was ” Scientist predicted widespread extinction by global warming” All these articles helped me understand global warming better so lets walk through each of them.

The first article ” Five takeaways from the U.N report on limiting global warming” helped me understand why this topic is so important. The opening of this article states that “nations are not doing enough to prevent global warming from increasing to dangerous levels within the lifetimes of most people on earth today”, according to new report by the international panel on climate change, a group of researchers conveyed by the United nations. They go on to explain that limiting the devastation won’t be easy, however it is possible. One of the topics of this article that really stood out to me was when they spoke about how much trouble we are heading towards if we do not take action quickly. As I was reading this there were some interesting facts about the increasing temperature. They stated that ” Nations current pledges to curb greenhouse-gas  emissions most likely will not stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, within the next few decades.” Even through they started trying to limit global warming it is still spreading fast, 2.7 degrees may not seem like a lot but think about that number increasing every few decades, eventually that number will add up. Going forward I read that there are multiple ways that we can limit global warming without spending a lot of money, even though I think the government should spend money to protect our planet. Some ways we can limit global warming are more recycling and more white collar work going remote and virtual, Better public transit and more walkable urban areas have benefits for air pollution and overall well being according to Joyashree Roy who is an economist at the Asian Institute of Technology.  Based on the ways Joyashree explained there is no excuse why we can’t help limit global warming, it does not cause a lot of money its literally just doing the right thing.

The second article I came across was ” Who’s Most Responsible for Global Warming” This was my favorite article because I wanted to know what places in the world barely attempt to limit global warming and my findings were shocking. The article stated that todays highly industrialized economies the United States and Europe got a big head start on burning fossil fuels. The United Stated pumped more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other nation between 1850 and 2014. The European Union, including Britain, was the second largest source of fossil fuel emissions over that period. The United States did not surprise me as I was reading this data. what surprised me most was the last place that they brought up. The last place they brought up was China. The article stated that China is the biggest emitter of today by a mile. In 2014, China released 10.3 billion metric tons of  carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and industry, The United States burned more than 5.2 billion metric tons that year. Which means that China managed to double that number. Although China does most of the damage today, the United States still caused the most damage overall. In 2014 the average American was responsible for more than twice as much carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Imagine how much people would help the world if this statistic was cut in half. I did some further research and found out that the United States was responsible for twenty-seven percent of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions. That much carbon pollution over the course of 150 –  160 years is sill with us today and is still determining our future.

The final article that I read about was ” Scientist Predict Widespread Extinction by Global Warming” I think this is the most important topic yet since it is concerning the well being of animals. A group of international scientist that analyze research around the world, have concluded that a warming climate will rival habitat destruction in prompting widespread  extinctions in the century. By the year 2050, scientist say that if the current global warming trend continues 15 to 37 percent of the 1,103 species they studied will be doomed. Even though the scientist did not predict the extinction of species worldwide the sample they had showed that climate change could be disastrous. Researchers used predictions of increased temperature ranging from mild to extreme and applied three different methods for predicting extinction, all based on the relationship of species disappearance to the loss of a livable habitat. They also considered two different possibilities for gauging how well the different species would be able to disperse as temperatures at home became uncomfortable. Scientist attribute to emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases  in the burning of fossil fuels presents a ” very serious risk to huge number of species and at least ranks alongside habitat destruction” as a threat. This just goes to show that not only can contributing to global warming hurt us, but it hurts the living conditions of animals in their natural habitat. We should not only think of ourselves when it comes to this topic but we should think about the earth and animals.

In conclusion Global Warming is a topic that everyone should take serious and try to limit. Do not contribute to the destruction of the planet. There are many ways that we can help limit global warming such as driving less, recycling more, lesser burning of fossil fuels, and one of the most important ones planting more trees instead of trying to destroy them. Help save our environment.

Unit 2 revision

As a black woman, one of my biggest issues that I have had with my identity ever since I was young, was my hair. The way that I would fix it and the style that I would wear, determined how other people would view me and treat me.  Ever since I was a little girl getting my hair done was a very crucial thing to me. You see, I love the attention that it would bring me all the compliments from the other students and teachers and the jealous stares of my “enemies” Brought me joy. I would feel like an absolute beauty queen. I was known for changing my hair every single day, each style better than the one before. 

 

Sitting in between my godmother’s lap With a book in my hand while getting my hair done was my favorite childhood memory. The attention and care she gave every single braid and the way she made sure each part was clean and neat not only made me feel loved but, it also made me feel like no one could tell me anything about my hair. I looked good and I knew it.  

 

Back in my country my people were different but similar in so many ways. Different facial features,personalities, and some were light while others were darker, but our hair was very much similar, but we took pride in the beauty that it held. No matter how short or long or tangled that it was, it was ours and we loved it. Because I grew up in such an environment that was so accepting of such uniqueness I was under the impression that everywhere I went would be just as accepting or even more. It wasn’t until I came to America at the age of eight that I realized the rude awakening I was in for.

 

I started living with my stepmother that didn’t know how to properly handle natural hair because she cut her’s off before it would get to a certain length. She would put chemicals in my hair to make it straight so I would look “presentable” in the eyes of everyone around me; because God forbid I went to school with the beautiful hair I was gifted with in its natural state. 

 

I would find myself missing  my mother and God-mother frequently, whom both were hairstylists that would constantly remind me how beautiful me and my unruly hair were. The hairstyles with the bubbles and the bows that would only enhance the beauty of my hair were my favorite part of my morning routine. However, coming to America and observing  how badly I was treated for accepting my hair as it is; by people who looked exactly like me with the only difference was that their hair was straight, I would find myself  climbing on top of the tub to look in the mirror and asking myself “is it really beautiful”.  

 

I would constantly feel envious of how the other girls’ straight hair would fall so effortlessly down their backs and blow in the wind like a cliche scene from a movie. So From the age of 12 to 15, I would often find myself with the heating comb and flat iron at hand constantly giving my hair heat damage. As I straightened my hair more and more, It wouldn’t fall perfectly like the others and I didn’t feel any more beautiful than I already was.  

 

It is extremely depressing to see the amount of young African-American children they get discriminated against due to their hair. Evidently, according to an article written by the New York Times an 11-year-old girl who is attending a private Roman catholic school in New Orleans What’s at home due to the fact that she had braided hair extensions. The school officials claimed that because the student‘s hair wasn’t “natural “ it went against their handbook but refused to speak to reporters regarding such handbook. Similar to that incident, A young man that was attending a high school in Mont Belvieu, Texas was suspended due to the fact that he did not want to cut the locs that he has been growing since he was in the seventh grade. When I read these articles I was appalled and angry at the fact that someone would threaten the education of a child just because of how their hair looks. The extreme measures an individual would take to simply discriminate against a group of people because of their culture is insane. Our hairis our culture and it holds a lot of historical background and being forced to change it to fit into society’s standard of beauty and what’s normal is very unfair. 

 

Society has a bad habit of making young children  question their beauty and essence. As young black children we were taught to push back our authenticity and fit in the crowd to make everyone else happy. But what about our happiness? Our hair is our individuality, why do we have to change it to make everyone else feel comfortable.



References 

 

Jacobs, Julia, and Dan Levin. “Black Girl Sent Home From School Over Hair Extensions.” The New York Times, 22 Aug. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/us/black-student-extensions-louisiana.html.

 

Jones, D. C. W. A. K. (2020, August 20). A Texas school system can’t make a Black teen cut his dreadlocks, court rules. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/20/us/texas-hair-injunction-trnd/index.html

 

Unit 2 Final Draft

Shirley Liranzo

Finding your Beat

My beat is my inspiration, motivation, and dedication to cooking because of famous legendary chef, Julia Childs. She loved to show Americans that cooking was not a chore but an experience that she enjoyed. She loved food and her energy is what made her meaningful. “The joy she had while cooking was infectious and brought a new perspective to whipping up creative culinary delights. She inspired millions of Americans to put down fast food and pick up a French cookbook.” Julia found her passion after working in aircraft warning service and research assistant. She achieved many goals like creating a cookbook, hosting a show and most importantly, she found her passion. I look up to Julia not only because we have similarities and her amazing dishes, but because she is an example of finding her devotion later in her life, which I feel a lot of young people struggle to find especially in their 20’s. She did not find her passion until her late 30’s because she did not have to cook growing up. She was on television for 37 years and wrote 18 books. According to PBS, it states “In her late 70s and 80s, she collaborated with a young talented director and producer, Geof Drummond, to make four new series — “Cooking with Master Chefs,” “In Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs,” “Baking with Julia,” and with her good friend Jacques Pépin, “Jacques and Julia at Home.” Each series was accompanied by a companion book.” what is this quote mark doing here? These were some of the books that were published by Julia Childs.

I had a similar inspiration to start cooking. My partner(‘s) and I  my favorite activity was IS? to try out different ethnic foods in New York. We would text and send each other different ethnic restaurants in New York. One week we’d try an Italian restaurant; the next week we would try a Mexican restaurant, and so on. If we really liked a specific restaurant, we would go to the same place twice. We went to a fancy restaurant one day and our server was talking about how she loved recreating Julia Childs recipes from her famous cookbook “Mastering the art of French Cooking”. Because I was a beginner, I decided to try cooking steak with mashed potatoes for my partner one day when we decided to save money to travel. I knew my passion to cook started when he tried it, and he smiled. I knew I wanted to continue cooking and making others happy. The more I practiced, the better I got. Just like Julia, my partner motivates me and encourages me because he knows that I can get frustrated when I cook but reminds me that I always end up perfecting it the second time. His favorite phrase was, “Making a mistake is a step closer to success”. I knew I couldn’t be afraid to make mistakes, especially if I had just started to learn to cook something new. Mistakes make you stronger and confident. If you make a mistake, pay attention to where it happened and see what you can do next time so you are less likely to make the mistake again. I never gave up after I had a deep conversation with my partner. This was similar to Julias saying “Learn how to cook—try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun.” I used to take cooking too seriously, but once I made a mistake, I did not get discouraged. Julia wouldn’t be where she was if it was not for the hard work and mistakes she made when she first started to cook.

Julia also had a partner who XX (not that)  supported her. According to Smithsonian magazine, she was not a natural in the kitchen. Julia Childs used to only eat frozen food. When she met Paul, her husband, he worked for the US Foreign Service. In 1948, the couple traveled to Paris for Paul’s work. In France, when she had her first meal, her interest in cooking sparked. Her first experience with classical French cuisine and she loved it. She began cooking and found joy in making food. “She learned to cook to please Paul, attempting to seduce him with her kitchen prowess”. Paul helped her with every aspect of her cooking career. He was her manager, photographer, recipe-tester or illustrator if she needed him to be. She took cooking classes in France, and studied french. According to the author GBH, it states, “While in Paris with her husband, Julia enrolled at le Cordon Bleu, where she attended French cooking classes. Along with two French friends, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, she co-wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published in 1961, which aimed to make French cooking accessible to Americans”. In her book, “My Life in France,” her most known recipes in her cookbook were french onion soup, potato leek soup, and chicken breast with a mushroom cream sauce. She took 9 years to write and publish her cookbook with her two friends. They began testing recipes for ten years. The ten years consisted of trial and error, re-writing recipes, and perfecting each ingredient.

As I was doing my research on recipes and I started cooking, I did not know where to start. I saw that some of her recipes were advanced in my opinion. For example, her famous Beef Bourguignon takes a lot of time and money. Some of the ingredients include beef brisket, white onion, bay leaves, mushrooms, beef stock and so much more. Julia recommends a good quality brand for her Beef Bourguignon recipe. I thought to myself, if it is a good quality brand, I know that the wine can mess with the taste when making Beef Bourguignon. I always kept this recipe in mind so when I had some knowledge in cooking, I could try it one day to perfect it.

After Julia published her book, she hosted her own show for American cooks in 1963 with WGBH’s television series, “The French Show”. According to GBH, “WGBH put The French Chef on the air on Feb. 11, 1963, and Julia Child became public television’s first and most enduring star. Audiences fell in love with her wavering voice, fondness for wine and butter, eagerness to hack away with a knife, and customary closing phrase, “Bon appétit.” The series ran for 10 years”. In her show, she would talk about cooking tips and recipes on how to prepare french food in a simple way. There is currently a competition series going on the food network channel, where Julia Child fans recreate Julia Childs recipes. The winner gets to go on an all-expense paid three month cooking course at Lee Cordon Bleu. The competition starts with eight chefs and one competitor is sent home every week based on performance until there is one person standing. The way the competition goes is in the first round, the competitors recreate one of Julias signature dishes with some guidance from Julia. They play a video that is presented on a big screen. In round two, competitors recreate a dish representing their own culinary point of view. They sampled each dish with judges Molly Baz, Cliff Crooks, and Brooke Williamson. They talk about their own story and their own personal connection with Julia Childs. This competition series can inspire more chefs and uplift others to not give up. Resident of Food Network and food streaming food content, Courtney White, says “At the same time, the series is also very intimate, with competitors sharing their personal food journeys and how Julia Child changed their lives; we cannot wait for viewers to experience this show.” With entertainment shows like this, not only can we learn from the competitors; we can also listen to their inspiration to cook.

In conclusion, by translating French recipes into English, Julia Child made the French culinary world accessible to Americans who could easily follow her instructions. She was dedicated to promoting food awareness and educational opportunities, and encouraging new chefs, in the culinary arts. According to GBH, “In 1998, at age 85, she returned to demonstrating cooking basics in her own kitchen with her final series, Julia Child & Jacques Pépin: Cooking at Home”. This shows that Julia Childs still wanted to be a part of inspiring others in the comfort of her home. I hope this gives a sign to others to stay focused on your goal and you will achieve it.

References

“Biography of Julia Child | American Masters | PBS.” American Masters, 15 June 2005,

www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/julia-child-about-julia-child/555/. Delysia.com. “What We’re Inspired by: Julia Child and Her Love for Cooking.” Delysia

Chocolatier, 6 Sept. 2019,

https://delysia.com/blog/what-were-inspired-by-julia-childs-legacy/.

“Julia Child.” Foundation, www.wgbh.org/foundation/julia-child.

Kerr, Mandi, et al. “You’ll Never Believe What Made Julia Child Become a Chef.” Showbiz

Cheat Sheet, 19 Jan. 2018, www.cheatsheet.com/culture/youll-never-believe-what-made-julia-child-become-a-chef. html/.

“The Julia Child Challenge: New Series Inspired by a Food Icon.” Food Network, www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/shows/the-julia-child-challenge. 

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