Thursday, May 20, 2010

Child Born To Lesbian Couple Will Have 2 Mothers Listed


According to the author Laura Mansnerus of the article “Child Born To Lesbian Couple Will Have 2 Mothers Listed” (NYT 11/16/06,) a lesbian couple won court approval to have both of their names listed as parents on the birth certificate of their child. It was ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court in October 25 that same-sex couples have the same rights and protections as heterosexual couples. In addition, Stephen Hyland said, “This couple was treated exactly the same way as a married couple under the law of New Jersey.” Ms. Mansnerus claims the baby was born on Tuesday one day after of the agreement.
            Furthermore, a similar case happened in May 2005 when the Supreme Court in EssexCounty ruled that a lesbian couple was entitled to have the names of both women listed on their baby’s birth certificate. However, Patrick De Almeida said that this issue would not be clear as a normal couple because the Supreme Court does not know if the same-sex couple has a good relationship together. Finally, Shannon Minter pointed out that this issue would be the same in the future like gay couples.
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            This is a good article. First of all, I have a high regard to all gay and lesbian couples. However, I do not agree with them. I from the bottom of my heart point out that to list in a birth certificate the name of the parents who are same-sex couple is a good idea because in this case, the child will be represented by his parents even though they have the same sex. I say so because there are a lot of orphan kids. Therefore, they want somebody who lists her name in his birth certificate no matter who. Moreover, I say that the Supreme Courts should give them the right to do it. At the same time the Supreme Courts have to be careful because they do not know if the same-sex couples have a good relationship each other or if they are capable to take care of a child.

An English Test Is Changed, and Some Foreign students Worry


In the article “An English Test Is Changed, and Some Foreign students worry” the author explains about a test which is given to hundred of thousands of international students who want to study in the UnitedState. In addition, this test is to prove students’ language skills. The test is better known as Toefl which means Test of English as a Foreign Language. However, the test has changed; perhaps the biggest change is the new speaking component. Therefore, students especially Asians, were worried. They would be disadvantage because in school they were not taught English very well.
            Another problem that some undergraduates are experiencing is that they complain because they can not understand foreign graduate students who are teaching their classes. Moreover, this test is changed because universities had to know who can speak English as well. Furthermore, the test is based on the internet. Educators hope the change will improve the teaching of English.
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            The most interesting thing to me was that the test is changed. I think the universities are doing the right thing changing the test of English as a Foreign Language because it would be a better way to determine which students can speak English well. Additionally, I also say that this test is a good system to let universities know which students have Language skills. Furthermore, the point which caught my attention was that some students, particularly Asians, were worried that they would be disadvantage because of how they were taught English in school. I disagree with this point because it does not matter how you were taught English in school, is depend on how you learned by yourself or in school. 
            I liked that the test would be based on the internet I say so, because it would improve the access to it, giving more chance for students to study better. I sincerely say that those foreign teachers who teach English to student are not goods as teacher because they sometimes do not speak well and it is a big problem for students. For example, I have experienced a math teacher who is Chinese and he has been in United Stated just 3 years ago. However, he does not speak very well. In addition, he just explains well in the blackboard. However, when he is speaking about some problems students can not understand as a result, the majority of the students failed.

Student with Perseverance and A Plan to Match It


In the article “A Student with Perseverance and A Plan to Match It” the author Kari Haskell reports that Steguer Wilson is a college student who has a lot of problems and is afraid of being freshman at HunterCollege in Manhattan. He has already faced the routine freshman frustrations, enduring long registration lines and locating his classroom. However, his older brother Steve, 20, who attends BostonUniversity on a scholarship, has given him a few tips before he arrived. Even so, Steguer still feeling a little scared. Steguer said that he already have 100 pages on reading in one class. Nevertheless, his biggest frustration was not to find his course material on campus. Steguer mother’s name that is from a rural village in the Dominican Republic and immigrated with his father, a Cuban-born construction worker, close to twenty years ago. Steguer claims that his first motivation why he wants to go to the college is because he wants to be away from his community where there are a lot of high school droppers. Also, he wants to be an aeronautical engeneering. Moreover, his parents always say to him, “You know, friends come and go, but the family will always be there for you.” Finally, Steguer hopes that the next year, he will be good too.
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            I honestly found this article very interesting and have a lot of details which converted in experience to Steguer. I also assert that I consider myself, just like Steguer because I have experienced the routine freshman frustration. I clearly remember when I was waiting for a large line just to get registration into my college. Furthermore, this article also clearly remained when I have my schedule of the classes and the classrooms paper direction. It was very frustrated for me because I could not find easily those rooms. I had to ask someone where I can find those rooms. Therefore, I could find them. I also consider myself like Steguer because right now my career as a student depends on a financial aid, just like him, even though my mom has money to support me during my study. I would like to tell him that I know that the next year that will be great, likewise as me because I have learned many things during these two short semesters. What is more, I would like to tell his mom that I am come from Dominican Republic and my mom always say to me that friends come and go, but my family always will be there if I need something no matter what it is.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A Proposal to Fight Obesity by Limiting the City’s fast-Food Restaurants


According to the author of the article “A Proposal to Fight Obesity by Limiting the City’s Fast-Food Restaurants” the California City of Calistoga and the City of New York have a little in common. However, Calistoga has something that Joel Rivera, councilman of the Bronx, wants to bring to New York, a zoning ordinance against fast food restaurants. Manny Rivera reports that in June, Mr. Rivera, 27, who at age of 22 became the youngest elected official in city history, limiting the number of fast food establishments in New York by changing the zoning laws. Furthermore, Mr. Rivera wants to restrict them to fight the chronic obesity, especially, in poor neighborhoods.
            Moreover, a 2003 survey of nearly 3,000 New York elementary school children found that 24 percent were obese and 19 percent were overweight. Mr. Fernandez said that Mr. Rivera “Stood a McDonald’s there, down the street form a Dunkin Donut, around the corner form a KFC, within eyesight of a Taco Bell and a Sbarro, a short walk from a Burger King, not far from a Pizza Hut and a few blocks from a White Castle.” It was in Fordham Road. Also, Detroit has had zoning ordinances that not permit fast-food restaurants within 500 feet of a school. Finally, the Republican minority leader councilman James S. Oddo said that in the city 2003 banned on smoking in bars and restaurants initially unpopular. Also, he said that this issue is similar like in 2003.
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            This is a very interesting and exciting article. I really enjoyed it while I was reading it because I am one of the fans of the fast-food. On the one hand, I am agree not to permit fast-food restaurants around school in Detroit. On the other hand, I am not very happy with it because some students do not have time to take s breakfast at home; as a result, they need restaurants to take it before class or after class. Moreover, the point that caught my attention was when I read that in Fordham Road for every step you walk you will see a fast-food restaurant. I say that this point caught my attention because even though I live nearly of Fordham Road I have never paid attention to this fact.

A Bicycle Country

This is a story about three Cubans set out on a push for America to find freedom from the persecution of their native land. One of them is a girl named Ines who helps an older man named Julio. Ines tries to convince Julio to help her with her plan to flee Cuba. Also, Julio is a broken man who finds a new life through the passion of Ines. Pepe who is a young man, full of life also helps Julio. However, they always have a challenge for the love between him and Ines. Julio and Ines they are kissing in a scene, meaning that they have a good relationship each other.  Later, when they try to escape Cuba, this romance becomes a focal point for conflict. Furthermore, Pepe suffers no internal conflict and he does not change as the play progress.
            The second part of this show is a little bit sadder than the first because Julio and Ines burying their romance in a landslide of boring lunatic soliloquies. Also, madness on the high seas has been done death.
            I know that it is a good story because this shows us what really happened with Cubans who tried to escape Cuba at that time. Also, this is happening today with some Cubans who want to come to United States or other countries for better life. For Example, I have a friend who was born in Cuba to a Cuban girl and a Dominican boy. He and his mother could enter to the Dominican Republic with the help of his father, but his father wanted his uncle to come with them and people of the immigration in Cuba did not want that his uncle went with them because it was forbidden that a Cuban went out of Cuba. Then, his uncle was planning to flee Cuba while my friend and his family were in the Dominican Republic. Later, his uncle could escape Cuba, but he said that it was very difficult to come to the Dominican Republic because he had to spend five days hiding in a boat without foods or water. Finally, I from the bottom of my heart suggest to you to see in any theater where they play this story to learn a little bit more about Cuba and Cubans.

The Crucible


“The Crucible” is a movie that was written by Arthur miller in 1952. This film is about the 1962 witch trails of Salem, Massachusetts. It is a real story. The movie in its first production was marked by malevolence. However, its new production succeeds and the movie becomes a classic. Today this film is studied in high schools and colleges. In the 1996 film “The Crucible,” Mr. Miller earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay based on previously produced material. “The Crucible” is also considered as one of the film of the modern era.
First of all, “The Crucible” begins with the discovery by someone that some girls were performing a strange dance in the woods. Later, the town sends for a Reverend to investigate it. Then, the witch trails begin, the girls lie and find a new power, accusing others of witchcraft. Witchcraft is a communication with the devil or with a familiar. In Addition, the girls continue lying and seeking revenge against some people who do not like the witches. Many residents including old and sick are found guilty of denial of witchcraft. Later they were sentenced to execution. Additionally, during the movie “The Crucible” everything is under control by the girls.
A young woman named Abigail who manipulates the other girls into not revealing what really happened in the forest that day. She is obsessed with John who tries to counter the girls by producing Mary, his servant. Mary admits that the girls lie, but all the girls accuse her witchcraft, and then Mary accuses John to save herself. Therefore, John is sentenced to death.
In conclusion, “The Crucible” is a good movie that makes us to think about witches and how intelligent they were. For example, in a part of the movie the witches accuse others who are normal, that they are the real witches. This film shows us the way that in the 1950s the people sentenced the witches. I sincerely say that movie can clarify something that you did not know about witches.

The Four Petition Against Slavery


First of all, according to the Merriam Webster’s college dictionary, a petition is an earnest request; a formal written request made to an official person or organized body (as a court.) I read the four petitions against slavery, but I found that the most effective and interesting was the second petition titled, “Peter Bestes and Other Slaves Petition for Freedom (April 20, 1773,)” I think that it is the most effective because there is a part where the author explains that the slaves “expect great things from men who have made such a noble stand against the designs of the fellow-men to enslave them.” Slaves wanted to be heard by the governor because they wanted to be free. I found this petition interesting because they say that “the divine spirit of freedom seems to fire every humane breast on this continent, except such as are bribed to assist in executing the execrable plan.” I think that slaves are right because people have rights to be free. I also say that an important point that they mention is; “even the Spaniards, who have not those sublime ideas of freedom that English men have are conscious that they have no right to all the service of their fellow-men, we mean the Africans, whom they have purchased with their money; therefore, they allow them one day in a week to work for themselves,” meaning that English men do not have the right to obligate slaves to do everything that English men need and slaves have to work by themselves.
Bibliography
Zinn, Howard. Voices of a People’s History of the United States. Seven Stories Press, 2004.