Self Assessment

I do believe I have done well with this website. I have invested a lot of time with finding articles, expanding my topic, and updating the site. I have become personally invested in this as well. I appreciate the opportunity to create one. I didn't realize how enlightening this experience would be. I have also incorporated lessons from class in the way I have constructed it. For example, visual arguments. I have picked throughout the website that support my arguments and views. I have done my best with the website and I do plan on keeping the website after this class.

Peer Review (w/Rubric)

For my peer review, I reviewed Jamal's website, Improving Black Communities in America. And the results are as reads:

Organization: Overall and Within Paragraphs: 18

Development: A) Analysis of Argument and Supporting Evidence; including Research Documentation as Relevant: 19

Development: B) Opposition and Refutation: 17

Delivery: N/A

Grammar/Punctuation: 19

Comments on other Blogs

http://thetransitionfromhighschooltocollege.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-media-in-libya_27.html#comments

 http://standhealthcare.blogspot.com/2011/04/pel-grant.html?showComment=1304092139197#c3866833677231912051


http://liveandgivelife.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/new-laws-crack-down-on-abortion-procedures/#comment-5


http://mmmidentity.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-am-not-my-hair.html?showComment=1304093694036#c3759289218343148216


http://lessdivorce.blogspot.com/2011/04/video-blog.html?showComment=1304093932286#c5290278362258547381

Vlog for English 002

Vlog

Interracial Adoption

Last month I posted a blog about interracial adopting (primarily Whites adopting Black children), and all of the controversy surrounding the subject.  I received a comment from one of my classmates saying that it bothered her that the child was from Africa and no the US (I didn't necessarily agree with her view, but I understood it). The majority of the examples I used were celebrities like Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Mary-Louise Parker, and new mother Sandra Bullock. Recently, actress Mariska Hargitay, a woman of Hungarian heritage, adopted a baby. Her daughter, beautifully named  Amaya Josephine, is Black. However, unlike Jolie, Madonna, and Parker her daughter was born in the United States, to American parents. To those who it felt uneasy about the subject, I want to know is it now "ok"? The complaints about a White woman not being able to do her Black daughter's hair? Teach her child their Black history from the perspective of a Black woman? Give them the "Black experience"? Is it now solved now that the baby we're speaking of is American? My answer to those questions would be, no. When raising a child everything will not be "ok." But when it truly comes nurturing and caring for a child those things shouldn't matter; and to a loving parent those things don't matter. The point of adoption is to place a child in home where they will be "better off" than the life they would have had with their birth parents, whether for financial or moral issues. My mother struggled with my hair, and we weren't always financially comfortable, but that's just it: everything isn't going to be perfect. Parenting isn't about being perfect, it's about being the best that you can to give your child what they need.

Discrimination Holds Back Prospective Parents

Adoption has never really been easy for families in the United States. For many years single mothers were not allowed to adopt. Gay couples were also discriminated against; the problem is they still are. Many conservative Americans (both Democrat and Republican) feel that gay couples not be able to adopt. The reasons for this concern are somewhat understandable. Critics feel that the life a child will experience will be too unconventional for them. They feel that it may cause distress for them, considering the teasing they may receive.  Others, like Virginian Sen. Tim Kaine, shy away from the subject because it leads to other controversial topics like gay rights and gay marriage. As a country that was based on Christian principles, this may make some people uneasy. Sen. Kaine, who is running for office is refusing to state whether he agrees with this or not. I think something needs to be said. How is it that we are in the year 2011 and we we're still prohibiting people from marrying and adopting children? To me this is no different than if a race of people (African American, Asian, Latino) were prohibited from adopting. Discrimination is discrimination no matter how you look at it. I believe that our adoption standards/requirements need to be updated. They are loving parents out there that are being looked over because of their sexual orientation, that should never be the case.

 ~Courtesy of the Washington Post