SWA #6

Realistic Idealists by Alex Williams (2005)

central claim: "...a generation whose sense of community involvement was born four years agon on Sept. 11, 2001." "Not only are more students participating, educators say, the scale of ambition seems to be continually increasing."
(pg. 59)

The author of this passage gives example after example to support this central claim. From Westside High School in Houston raising more than $16,000 for American Red Cross after Katrina to individuals like Michael Swirnow in Maryland who raised $88,000 for Habitat for Humanity to simply "give back" to the less forunate. The central claim is basically stating that many more students are getting involved in community service, especially after the horrible incidents like Katrina, the Tsunami in Asia, and September 11.
The author bases his warrants off of the fact that after every major event individuals and high schools have come together to make spectacular changes to the situations at hand. Opposing views are not well supported because of all of the efforts after the tragedies. The author tells of how some think all of the community service is simply a strategy to get into schools now. If it was a strategy, why would students not do this before all of these horrible things happened? it does not make sense to blame all of the help on this because of the circumstances it came after.
I agree with the author on this issue. I think there is a tremendous amount of help increase, mostly because it is a time when our nation truely needed it. A lot of students and high schools have really stepped up to help. My high school did fund raisers and food drives after Katrina hit to help out the victims. Therefore, I completely agree with this point of view that it has changed for the better.


Ugly, the American by James Poniewozik (pg. 154)

central claim: "And because, as our pop culture shows, Americans' attitude toward foreigners is more complex than the build-a-fencers would make it."
(pg. 154)

This author discusses the views Americans take on foreigners as well as the foreigners view on Americans. The author's main example is the hit television show Ugly Betty. In this show a young foreign girl, who is not attractive, works her way up through hard work and good values. She provides a fresh outside perspective to the magazine she works for because of her being a foreigner. The Americans view foreigners as a way of entertainment but when it comes to real life Americans do not embrace them.
In the text the author says, "That's what makes our pop culture so vital: from TV tomusic to fashion, it is constantly transfused by foreigners who are able to out-American Americans." This statement shows that foreigners have a fresh eye on our country and can show us things we could not see before and in turn they entertain us. This is focused around the central claim because the author gives examples of the different ways foreigners show us things about ourselves as a nation.
I agree with this author on the fact that American do put views on foreigners but are not afraid to use them for entertainment. The only foreigners we embrace are those who stand out and make a name for themselves.