Animal Abuse/ Cruelty

Animal abuse/cruelty is a big issue that is spreading all over the media and news. The cases that really hit home, is abuse of domesticated and wildlife animals. Domesticated animals, such as dogs and cats, are promised a loving home and to be cared for. Media exposed many owners walking their dogs out of a moving car or dragging them on the payment because they got tired. Wildlife cases, such as the ivory trade of animals with tusks/ horns or fur/ skin trafficking, have impacted the media as well. These mistreatments and acts need to be talked about and brought a solution or enforcement to keep these acts from occurring again.

The audiences I picked, is a specific person in a case of animal cruelty, as I wrote them a letter and my other audience is ivory poachers as I’m giving a speech at a conference. I picked a letter form for the first audience because it is easier to express opinions about the person directly and to the general population of abusers, which can be published on any venues in the US or any other country that abuse follows. I choose a speech for my second audience because, its a case wherein specific places, like Africa and China, these problems occur. Also, the speech would be broadcasted live, if people in other countries do support actions taken against the trafficking of illegal items.

Audience 1:

Dear Robert Corsland,

I am writing to you because you are a heartless monster that deserves to be locked up. People don’t like the fact that you got away with murder and caused another animal in your own act, get put down. The demonstration you played at school, teaching “the circle of life,” to your students, did not need a live experience and neither in a harsh manner. Feeding a snapping turtle a live puppy is totally out of hand and unorthodox; live animals should not be used at school to perform live crimes. Even though it was for educational purposes, live animals are not to be used in any cruel way. Animals are pets and have a meaning to live their lives, just like any human being.

You said “the puppy was sick” and performed the act to “put it out of its misery”, but did you go to the vet to get that verified first? Or did you want to perform a cruel act just to get away with murder? If the whole purpose is to get rid of the puppy, there are several other, less cruel ways to get rid of any animal. Maybe the dog may have been sick, but feeding it to another animal is just not normal or right. This shows animal abuse in so many ways. One obviously, there are better, less cruel ways to get rid of a pet you don’t want. Second, performing the act as a science lesson to children, is just totally unacceptable. The demonstration itself, could have scared the children in countless ways, and could evoke this type of behavior to be seen as acceptable towards animals. Third, you couldn’t care less if the animal would have gotten hurt or even died. This just shows what a heartless person you are and many people, including myself, will not stand here silent in this unjust case at hand.

The demonstration played in front of your students is already time for you in jail. If any child is present in any act of abuse or violence, the charges will be heavily charged on you whether it is “more time in prison or pay a fine, or both.” Also, animals have protection on their part. According to the Animal Protection Laws Of The USA, “any act tending to produce such cruelty, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor and … shall be treated as a misdemeanor defined in the penal law.” This means, that depending on the crime, it will determine how long you should go to prison for. A class a misdemeanor can be up to one year in jail, plus depending on the crime, it can be charged as a felony. These inhuman acts need to be paid for, and you belong in jail for what you did to end two animals’ lives.     

From,

Maricellis Rivera

Work Cited

“Child Witnesses to Domestic Violence.” Child Witnesses to Domestic Violence – Child Welfare Information Gateway, https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/laws-policies/statutes/witnessdv/. 

Jones, Rhett. “Science Teacher Who Fed a Live Puppy to a Snapping Turtle at School Found Not Guilty.” Gizmodo, Gizmodo, 7 Jan. 2019, https://gizmodo.com/science-teacher-who-fed-a-live-puppy-to-a-snapping-turt-1831542900. 

MacDonald, Fiona. “A Science Teacher Allegedly Fed a Puppy to a Snapping Turtle in Front of His Students.” ScienceAlert, 14 Mar. 2018, https://www.sciencealert.com/a-science-teacher-allegedly-fed-a-puppy-to-a-snapping-turtle-in-front-of-his-students. 

Portman, Janet. “Class A and Level One Misdemeanors.” Www.criminaldefenselawyer.com, Nolo, 11 Mar. 2015, https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/criminal-offense/class-a-misdemeanors.htm.

Audience 2:

Speech at the Geneva, Switzerland

They also have a life to live

“Nobody in the world needs Ivory, except an elephant” 

This is a line from the movie Holiday in the Wild. In just the first 16 minutes of the movie, a mother elephant has been killed for her tusk. By just knowing what occurred to the poor creature, the real dangerous animal out there is us.  

A billiard ball for a life is stupid to put an elephant’s tusks to use. 62% of the elephant population dropped and only 400,000 elephants in total of the different species remain. 

Who here wants to see animals get hunted and slaughtered for their tusks?

Many animals that possess these shields, more specifically, elephants are endangered. Elephants are dying, mainly because poachers have been taking their precious armor away and selling it for meaningless things. Piano keys, handles, and even more minor objects of decorative value, are made out of ivory, which is what the tusks are made of (Rebecca J. Rosen). These meaningless things came from an innocent animal that was killed and left to rot, which means you are carrying innocent lives in your hands.

According to the Fauna and Flora International organization, about 111,000 elephants have been illegally killed for their ivory. Just by knowing how many of them have been killed, shows how much people care for themselves than for the better of other lives and animals. Elephants need their tusks to survive, especially when it comes to fighting danger, in which they are always facing out in the wild. Taking away their armor, is just inhumane and unjust for the animal, leaving it defenseless when by nature they are in need of them.

 Bans have been established way back in the 20th century, especially in countries where most of Ivory Poachers go and carry out their violent acts. In countries like China and Africa, bans were to help prevent the elephant species from becoming extinct, which entitled them to the endangered species list. Listing them meant they are to be protected but this just made matters worse. Since there seem to be less and less elephants, the ivory’s cost doubled since 2007 (Dury). This meant that more poaching incidents occurred and more innocent lives have been taken. 

 IVORY POACHERS, LISTEN TO ME CAREFULLY!

You are to be caught and exiled from any land that has been touched by any animal, but that’s just me ranting. What needs to be done, is to catch you vicious monsters and lock you up for a great amount of time, because of the danger and violence you have caused elephants that deserve to live their lives just like we live ours. CHARGE YOU all with access to illegal weaponry; CHARGE YOU all with breaking the national conservation laws; CHARGE YOU all for hurting and hunting an endangered species, so that you can rot in jail, just like you’ve left them to rot. 

Actions are going to take place, whether it is security, conservation camps, or to stop the trafficking and demands of ivory. As a species, as a community, as a society, we are to help demand elephants a life worth living, rather than killing.

Work Cited

Carnie, Tony. “The Latest Rhino Poaching Figures Show a Decade of Bloodshed in South Africa.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 31 Jan. 2018, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/rhinos-poaching-conservation-wildlife-endangered-species-south-africa-a8179716.html. 

Denis. “Why Care?” World Elephant Day, https://worldelephantday.org/about/elephants. 

Drury, Rebecca. “A Beginner’s Guide to Ivory Trade.” Fauna & Flora International, 19 July 2017, https://www.fauna-flora.org/news/a-guide-to-ivory-trade.

Keaten, Jamey, and Maria Cheng. “From Tusks to Tails, Nations Eye Trade in Endangered Species.” NBC Chicago, NBC Chicago, 17 Aug. 2019, https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/green/World-Wildlife-Conference-CITES-Endangered-Species-Trade-548804321.html. 

Presse, Milan, et al. “Why Is Ivory so Valuable?” Accueil, 23 July 2018, https://www.lumni.fr/video/why-is-ivory-so-valuable. 

Rosen, Rebecca J. “What Is It About an Elephant’s Tusks That Make Them So Valuable?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 14 Sept. 2012, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/what-is-it-about-an-elephants-tusks-that-make-them-so-valuable/262021/.

 

 

Reflection: Restaurant Reviews

Restaurant Reviews are the best way to figure out where and what is good to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. In order for the authors to draw attention to their reviews, here are some trends I’ve seen in all the reviews. First, the reviews I looked over talked more in a general experience at the restaurants they’ve visited. The reviews talked about how a diverse group of people can go eat at the places, which encourages people to go. Another trend present is that the reviewers had a more formal tone. Also, the reviews I’ve read would rate the famous dishes/ drinks at the venues, to test if its name meets its wonderful taste. Lastly, the reviews express likes and dislikes of the menu and location. Reading about the different restaurants, what I’ve learned is that the experience you have in that one place will impact the restaurant’s credibility and can help or hurt it. This is why some restaurants close down and some multiply in a matter of months. Also, the restaurants need to be at their best every time of the day because they will never expect who is eating their food. Thinking about the reviewers, I wonder how in the first place they became a critic for food/ restaurants? Also, did they go to school for this profession and how do they know what is good or not by the way food tastes. Lastly, how they make a review that can be towards a specific group and/ or to the general public. 

Throughout the annotated bibliography I’ve learned a lot about myself as a person and as a writer. For one, I can be irresponsible and not backup my work, because all of my written bibliographies were lost. This made me realize that I need to start using applications like Google Docs and Microsoft, to guarantee my work being saved. Second, I realized that as a person I need to start looking for certain topics through different venues, for example, I found so many articles in the New York Times and forgot about the requirement of getting the sources from different venues. This realization helped me come to the sense of using different platforms to find what I need with opposing viewpoints or just finding something distinctive from one article from another. Another challenge I faced is timing, which is still a big problem. As a person, I find myself with a full schedule and make time for other concerns and over clutter myself in my thoughts, and tend to forget a lot. To overcome this ongoing challenge, I need to list out everything I need to do and work on the required stuff first. A strength I found out about myself as a writer, is that I get very repetitive in what I’m trying to say. So with this discovery, I used a thesaurus to use other words to make my writing seem better. This is how I overcame my challenges and my strengths.

 

Restaurant Review

Ali. (2019, April 28). REVIEW: Come for the Burgers, Stay for the Shakes at Black Tap… Retrieved from https://wdwnt.com/2019/04/review-black-tap-craft-burgers-beer-downtown-disney-district/.

This restaurant review is based on a new diner that opened in a theme park and what people thought about it. WDW News Today is an online news and information resource on Disney Parks Worldwide. This specific review, has an informal tone to it because of how the information is said and the organization of the review itself. The author persuades her audience by adding pictures to capture what the restaurant looks like and the whereabouts of the setting. This helps draw the attention of the place to the audience, due to the restaurant’s colorful scheme and for its 90s and early 2000 feels. This attracts, more specifically, an older group of people who can reminisce about the good times. Pathos appeals are what helps the audience, in this case the theme, to visit the restaurant because of the emotion attached to something meaningful in their life. Not only the use of pathos helps attract people, but also the location of the diner is at. Downtown Disney is a very popular spot to visit and because of that, the restaurant’s credibility builds up because of it. Any place built in a location that gets millions of visitors, it seemed as great too. So by stating the location of the restaurant it’s going to be looked at as great and be highly recommended to eat at. This is how the reviewer views and appeal to their audience.                     

Crowley, Chris. “The Riddler Opens in NYC With Champagne, Caviar, and Tater-Tot Waffles.”      Grub Street, 30 Sept. 2019,

http://www.grubstreet.com/2019/09/champagne-bar-the-riddler-nyc.html. 

This restaurant review gives a glimpse on the new Riddler opening in New York and how it will feature a list of over 100 bottles of wine and a new menu of food that has a mixture of American and French culture. These features are promised by a larger kitchen and a vision that Jen Pelka and her team, promise for the customers they soon will invite into their home. Grub Street is a site that gives customers an inside look at how a dining experience will look in specific places. Their audience expands from 2.2 million visitors online, with a 63% being women and 37% being men, who enjoy the critics given by this site. This specific review has a formal tone to it, due to its past reputation on its San Francisco location and on the expectation of the new location just having high as the San Fran Riddler. Using ethos in this article, the reviewer states different collaborations the owner is making to build its credibility to stand out, even more than their previous standards. Collaborations in wine and food dishes with famous wine corporations and chefs builds the restaurant’s attention to more and diverse customers. This gives the audience a look at how the restaurant is high maintenance and promise to give you a fine dining experience. Also, using pathos to engage a certain audience by adding specific appeals to meet their needs. For example, the reviewer states that if a group of people go to the location and are celebrating a newly wedded couple, they would be given a bucket that the owner’s aunt got as a wedding anniversary gift. This sentiment gives more appeals towards the location and gives the restaurant a more sentimental feel as well as professionalism in both ways. This is how the reviewer views and appeal to their audience.

Levine, Ed. “Dallas BBQ: Boldly Going Where No Other Food Writer Has Gone Before.” Serious Eats, Serious Eats, 29 Sept. 2009, https://newyork.seriouseats.com/2009/09/dallas-bbq-review-where-no-other-food-writer-has-gone-before-chelsea-east-village-upper-east-side-bronx-manhattan-cheap-meals-dinner-special.html.

This review talks about how Ed Levine’s first experience at Dallas BBQs, being the first food critic or food writer or blogger, to give a review on such a place. Serious Eats is a website that gives millions of people background on what is great to eat and drink and give tips and recipes on how to make great food. Levine, at the beginning of the article, states the major ethos the restaurant has, given that the place is packed every time he passes by during lunch and dinner. By stating this, it gives his audience a great expectation of the restaurant to be great. Also, the statement of using logos in his article, saying that they serve humongous meals for cheap prizes, makes the audience want to see such a statement be true. With these appeals, it draws the audience to experience this at a place where the big meals for cheap, is to be proven right. This can also appeal to those families or individuals that are not so rich, to enjoy a meal of great portions for a low value. The article also says that you can be rich or poor and can go to enjoy a great meal for a reasonable price that the author promises in its article. With a great state of credibility and ratio of food to prize, it makes the people want to go and take a look for themselves if they would leave the restaurant with a stomach full of food that will last them a couple of days. This is what the reviewer views on the restaurant and how he influences his audience. 

Reichl, Ruth. “RESTAURANTS.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 Oct. 1997, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/29/dining/restaurants-839531.html.

“Restaurants” gives a simple explanation on the best caviar dishes at Caviar Russe. Ruth Reichl, gives the inside feel of the restaurant and gives a personal explanation on what food is like at the place. The New York Times, founded in 1851, is a multimedia company that brings you stories, reviews, facts, and much more news around the world. Reichl uses a very casual, yet sad tone throughout the review. Using pathos, she explained the restaurant to be a great place to eat alone. This persuades the audience by making see that its scene is very calm and a place where you as a guest can treat yourself to fine dining with a peaceful place to enjoy your food in such grace. With the convenience of having such a great place to eat, this also gives a sense of ethos to it because the fine dining and caviar testing give you a place of such classy and elegant feel that any customer would like. The audience Reichl is appealing to are the rich and elegant, who seek to eat a pleasant meal with an exquisite taste of caviar by the gram. These appeals make the audience want to go to a place where they can feel greater or important in the state of how the restaurant makes them feel. This is how the reviewer views and influences their audience.

Reichl, Ruth. “RUTH REICHL’S TOP 40 RESTAURANTS.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 1990, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-06-tm-518-story.html.

This review is Ruth Reichl’s opinion about the Top 40 of the best restaurants in Los Angeles (LA) are. The Los Angeles Times is the largest daily newspaper with about 1.2 million readers daily. The tone of the review is a mixture of casual and funny, with a hint of cockiness. She talks about what she likes about the restaurant and what she finds that can be better about it. In one of the many mini-reviews, she said that the food at a specific restaurant is amazing and of course the chef there knows her. At the beginning of the article, she states that she has the chance to visit 40 restaurants, and written hundreds of different joints to visit. The 40 she picked, shows how much more these specific places stand out from the other ones. With this, it persuades her audience that these places have much more to offer than the other restaurants she had written down to visit. This gives the places picked, top credibility because Reichl reviews on the hot spots, will draw attention to them. Also, the credibility that’s shown throughout the review, it can turn the attention away from the restaurant to the reviewer. Her audience might think that she’s just writing a review to show off her status, The attention shifts from its purpose to something that’s not pleasing to her audience. People don’t want to read a review of a person talking themselves up, the audience wants to read a review of the best restaurants. This is what the review is about and what the audience is in need.              

Wells, Pete. “Restaurant Review: Javelina in Gramercy Park.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 May 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/dining/restaurant-review-javelina-in-gramercy-park.html. 

This restaurant review gives a back story on what inspired the creation of its Tex-Mex culture and food. Also, how the atmosphere and the food ties it all together. The New York Times is a multi-medium venue, which can be found as a newspaper or on the internet. This specific review’s audience was towards people who like to find a new place to eat and learn a new culture. The tone I found to be very casual and funny, the way the reviewer used references on how the ambiance of the restaurant is by how the people there filled the room with “youthful animation.” The use of humor throughout the article has made the view of the restaurant seem somewhat unprofessional. Meaning, using humor in solving the mystery of the missing black beans in a famous dish that’s supposed to come with it, is later on solved by the waiter brings it 5 minutes later. The use of pathos in a humorous way changes the way the restaurant is looked as, makes it seem unprofessional on many levels. The audience then thinks about ever visiting this place that doesn’t fulfill their needs. This is how the reviewer views and influences their audience.

 

Restaurant/ Food Reviews

Everyone has their favorite restaurant to go eat their preferred meals at. They tell others about their favorite cuisine or platter at the specific place, but they’re opinion is way different from what others say. For example, a close family friend told my family and I about a Puerto Rican Resturant/ Night club, called Don Coqui. They are known for their fancy scenery and food.

My family and I went to test this theory out and basically taste this great food their know for. Upon arrival, I could say that it is a very fancy looking scenery. I was in awe about the setting and guessing, with a very fancy setting the food should be splendid as well. The food chooses they offered were great, but the food itself was bad. My family and I were not pleased with the food. For instance I knew my sister hated her food because she loves herself chicken tenders and the chicken tenders were VERY bad. I didn’t know it was possible to mess up chicken tenders, but they did.

After going to that Resturant, with the mindset of having a great dinner experience, it can completely back fire. Knowing that peoples opinions are influenced on a lot of aspects, the reviews can be positive because you can over look the bad. As an example, I looked up yelp reviews on the Resturant after the experience, and say that there were more positive reviews on the scenery of it. Everything in a review should be taken into account which, some of the reviews presented. Going to a place you are unfamiliar with, you should take account of different opinions from people, and go in with an open mind because no everyone have the same taste buds.

Voice

Learning and expanding on a new language is hard knowing that it’s going to take weeks, months, or even years to perfect. Not to forget that, living in a household where no one spoke proper or even no English at all, was also a big obstacle interfering in her progress in learning a new language. 1st grade Maricellis struggled to read and write because she didn’t know anything about the English language. In a room full of Hispanic students, the majority of them communicated in English, while she was in a corner, silent all by herself. School was not a place she wanted to be at because it was very hard and she felt left out. The teacher would give homework to copy over 5 to 10 times at home. Mother would sit next to her to make sure she copied words 15 to 20 times, without error. Getting yelled at if she spelled words wrong or mispronouncing them. It was not easy picking up English, when all around her was Spanish. 

3rd grade Maricellis learned basic English words that would help her out in a simple conversation. She would say “I need paper and pencil to write” or “I need to go to bathroom,” simple phrases like that, helped her go through school and life. Towards the middle of 3rd grade, things got challenging for her because writing paragraphs and taking spelling test every week became a thing. She didn’t know the words that were given and she would stress out about them. The teacher would give homework to rewrite 10 to 20 times at home. Her Mother would sit next to her and made sure she copied words 25 to 30 times, without error. Gets yelled at, if she spelled the words wrong or mispronounced them.

6th grade Maricellis, got the hang of things. She made a few mistakes here and there, but basically understood and communicated in English. She wrote 2 to 4 page essays about every book the class would read. Every book she read, she would write down words she didn’t understand and look it up later or asked a teacher. She would get called to participate in class and would say one word answers. She wasn’t quite comfortable in a class setting but she felt much more accepted in class because she understood what was going on and could keep up with them. The teacher would give homework every day and at home her mother would ask, “Are you okay, do you understand it.” If she didn’t do the homework, she would go to the teacher for help and do it with them. 

8th grade Maricellis graduated with honors in all subjects and was top 5 in Honor Roll. She participated more and was much more comfortable sharing in class. Understanding the material in class was not as big of a problem for her and she had the teachers and friends to help her out. Building a group of people to trust in, has helped her achieve everything, which was a result of communication. Without the communication between the teachers and with her mother, she didn’t think she would make it that far in school at all. With this, her development in speaking, writing, and understanding English is the product of becoming a much better student. The teacher would give a lot of homework depending on what was done in class and would go home to do homework, without her mother worrying if she knew what she was doing or not. 

12th grade Maricellis was voicing out much more to the point, not everyone liked it. Since she was comfortable in speaking in class about class topics in middle school, she decided to branch out in high school and talk about topics she cared a lot more for. She spoke to her mother and voiced out her opinion weather her mother liked it or not.. She went to school ready to tag something on certain discussion, such as race or sexual orientation, and talked about it with no worry. She felt free at last to finally be able to voice out her voice in arguments, in a language more people can listen to and respect more. Rather than speaking in Spanish, English gave her the outlet she needed in order to communicate her side. Senior year she wrote a 10 page essay about Climate Change, expressing the causes and effects, ways to prevent or change the damage that has been done, and try to make her opinion and solutions stand out. Not only her writing thus far has improved and empowered her to communicate in such form, but also when she did a presentation on the main focuses on the paper, she stood up proud and talked about it for 7 minutes straight. She loved that feeling and didn’t want it any other way. Up to this day, Maricellis is in college, writing about her experience about her childhood to express how far she has come from speaking nothing to something. Maricellis, is me, and this is my story.

Personal Experience

It was senior year and for English, all the students needed to write a ten page Research Paper in order to graduate. The Research Paper was based on any topic of the students choice and everyone picked a topic close to their hearts. I choose to write about climate change, in a total of 13 pages (including work cited). At first, ten pages were just too much, too hard to achieve. As I started to write down all of the causes and effects, solutions and ways to prevent climate change, it was brought to my attention that throughout my writing, I was doing pretty good. Even though I was moving at a steady pace, I still needed to do more work on my paper. In class, the teacher would add and make notice that students needed to use full words because the paper was to be formal. I didn’t  know that words little “didn’t” or can’t, couldn’t be used. It felt kind of weird in a way because those words have been apart of my vocabulary in both writing and in vocal conversations for along time. On the bright side changing all of those fragment words like couldn’t, made my paper a little longer in order to meet the page requirement. Of the use of fragment words in my vocabulary, I started to think if speaking or writing with fragment words, meant that I wasn’t using proper English. With that, if I expressed my opinion about something, does it matter as much as another person expressing their thoughts in complete words? Questioning myself has been something I’ve been doing for a long time.

 

  

Sandra Cisneros “Only Daughter”

Reading Sandra Cisneros Only Daughter, I have realized a lot of connections and reason for what she’s been through, through out the short story. Through out her life she has been the only girl/ daughter in her family of 9. In her Mexican household she is expected to marry. She wrote about her life, also about her father expecting to gain respect and attention for what she’s doing. With all the writing and reaching/ achieving in a profession, she still fought/seeker for her fathers attention. In her story she referred to him as the “ public who is disinterested in reading.” Through out her childhood she felt erased or not seen at all because her father would explain his family’s situation as “I have 7 sons.” She said I could be a mistranslation, but deep down she felt unseen. I can relate in a sort of way because in my family, I am the oldest daughter and I have a younger sister. I would be the best in my class, get amazing grades, just to seek my parents attention and approval. With doing so, i get a “do better,” or “next time get higher,” while my sister gets a “great job,” or a “congrats.” Reading this, I get where Cisneros coming from and it is just seeking approval from your parents to have scene of self, that you’re on the right track.