Cc#3

Puerto Rico becoming a state?!


In a recent magazine entitledUpfront by The New York Times, an article named "Puerto Rico: The 51st State?" enforms readers of the possibility of allowing Puerto Rico to be officially apart of the United States, making it the 51st state in the Union.

For the first time ever, Puerto Rico has cast a ballot "in favor of... becoming the 51st state." Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and has been since 1898, during the Spanish-American War. Now, more than ever, the citizens of Puerto Rico are ready for a major change and hope to one day be an addition to the 50 states of America.

Although the people who live in Puerto Rico are considered American citizens, "those living in the U.S. enjoy full constitutional rights." Puerto Rico is about 1,000 miles from the coast of Miami, Florida and has only one non-voting member of Congress. Also, those living in Puerto Rico cannot vote in the presidential elections, making the residents feel not as important as those who actually live in the United States.

A Puerto Rico local stated in the article that, "[they] are not happy being second-class citizens." Those who support Puerto Rico becoming an official state believe that Puerto Rico would highly benefit from it, both economically and with increased tourism. Those who oppose statehood believe the island would lose it's culture and the residents would then have to pay federal income tax.

This article certainly caught my attention. The fact that Puerto Rico may have the opportunity to become the 51st state is very interesting. It also reminded me how some states were wanting to secede from the Union not too long ago, after the election of President Obama. It's funny how those who are already states and benefit from all America has to offer want to secede, while Puerto Rico would love to join the Union as a state.

It is unfortunate that the residents of Puerto Rico feel like "second-class citizens." It is not sure whether Congress will actually approve the statehood for Puerto Rico, considering it is a very important decision and the United States is dealing with enough issues, including the economy and certain nuclear threats from North Korea. Eventually, it may become an official state though, and those living in Puerto Rico will not stop hoping for this day will come.

CC #4 Trying Times

Trying Times


Times are getting harder as the economy starts to get worse, all that people have known is to go to college, get a good education, and anything to do with college. But is that so much the truth anymore? Dosen't seem like it, because in the artice from a New York Times Upfront magazine they are talking about how the number of college graduates that are unemployed are steady rising, leaving them struggling with debts that have to be paid back, and even just to live.

As Herring says "The end goal is to work in entertainment marketing, but at this time, in this economy, I just need a job" Her dream job that she went to school to major in dosen't have any openings obviously in her area, and she just needs a job doing whatever because some money is better than no money at all.

Stated in the text by Heidi Shierholz "Every way you cut it- by race or gender, with or without a college degree- young people are just not getting the job opportunities they need" What's being said here is that even though most of us don't want to believe it, some people used to get jobs because of their gender, college degree,  and sometimes even race. Well it's not like that anymore, it has now gotten to the point to where that does not matter anymore. There just aren't any jobs available. Simple as that. People are starting to retire later now than what people normally do.

Also stated in the text "The difficult job market is comming at a time when paying for a college degree has become harder" Paying for college's high fee's and prices is already hard enough, truth be told most people don't really have the money to pay for college, so they put their house's, cars and etc up. Which is a huge risk. While other's just take out student loans and slowly pay them back over the years. But how will they be able to do that when job opening's for what they went and payed thousands for are not available, leaving them jobless.

I hope and pray that when I graduate college I will not have this problem because it will be so hard to make it, it will be unbelievable. This problem is killing the 'American Dream" of most people because money is a big part of life, especially with today's economy. My biggest fear is having to move back in at home. Once your gone, I believe that you should not have to come back home, you should try and succed the best you can, then IF you hit rock bottom, then you have no other choice but to.

Hopefully overtime this issue will start to get better, because it's not right for you to put in all the hard work and effort to get through the hard times of college just to come out to basically be devastated, because there are no job openings for what you just spent 4 years of your life majoring in. Time will only tell

Flat tire

CC#3 Topic Of Choice

Flat Tire

Something that is more and more overlooked everyday, and never really though much about is what to do if you have a flat tire. Everyone should know how to change a flat tire, well those who drive anyways and that is exactly what the author of this article is describing how to do.

One thing you will certainly need is a jack to get the car off of the ground and how to properly place the jack underneath it otherwise something could go wrong easily. The text states "The jack needs to go underneath a solid part of the car's frame, not the floorboards!" That would be like putting a jack under a piece of steel, and putting a jack under paper, not going to work. The floorboards would not be very sturdy and the jack could actually come through them and into the car resulting in the car being back on the ground, and now a big hole in your floor. 

Next you will need a tire iron, one should come with your car. As the text states "Usually, when you see the flat tire floating about an inch or two above the ground, you're OK to stop raising the car. That's when you can finish taking the lug nuts off, and removing the wheel entirely" Use the tire iron to get the lug nuts off, it might be kind of difficult breaking the factory grip, like when you can't get the lid off a soda, but not to where you can not get it off.

Last you will need a spare tire, most cars come with this smaller sized temporary wheel that looks like a ugly black donut, unless it has already been used by a previous owner. When putting the tire on you should use caution, as the text states "Immediately replace it with the spare, and start threading the lug nuts back on. Don't try to tighten them all the way, though, or you could actually knock the car off the tiny jack by torsional force alone." You should get the spare on as quick as possible but also as careful too because the jack is made to hold the car up, but not for long periods of time, and can easily slip from under the car if bumped.

I personally know how to change a flat tire, there is not much to it. I have had one flat the whole time that I have been driving, but it is still good to know how because it can save you time and money when having to deal with mechanics coming out and such. 

The author clearly informs the reader of the article on how to change a flat tire if they were to ever have one, and all the steps needed to preform the procedure both safely and correctly.

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