Joshua Cohetero's ENG110 Blog: A Freshman's Writing Journey

             Since this was my first semester of City College, I feared the requirements of writing a college essay. Although I still have this fear, I gained more confidence in what I write. My first essay to me felt different to the rest, but I have seen how it intertwined with the other essays. I feel that that essay, the Literary Narrative Essay, was my worst one of the semester. I am not saying that it is horrible, but I felt that I made more mistakes in this than the other essays. I then used the syllabus to understand what was needed in order to create a stronger essay, such as the text that was suggested to understand better on how to write. I also went to the PAL center to get more help from my tutor, Kiara, who I must thank because she helped me understand how to get information and create stronger sentences throughout each essay.             The Exploratory essay was one of the harde...

            I really needed to polish up my work for the final paper, trying to connect each paragraph with each other so that the essay could make sense. Throughout this whole essay I have gained more knowledge on how to create a concrete argument with information to back up my argument. When finalizing the research, I began to realize what I really wanted to talk about, since the experience I had with the interview. It gave me more of a reason to believe that my research paper might have some effect on readers and the audience. Not only that, but because of the recent attacks that have passed when writing the essay, I realized that this is a very important topic to talk about.             I had some help from my tutor, who has helped me create great essays throughout this semester. She gave me more information that could create a stronger stance. Not only that, she helped me get all the requiremen...

The American Dream             The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the importance of gun control laws and how it could create a safer environment. It examines the importance of both the Second Amendment and the history of mass shootings, how both have contributed to creating the gun control laws of today. Through research this text acknowledges the benefits of creating stronger gun laws that could benefit society without infringing upon the rights. There are arguments that have attempted to demonstrate the flaws of creating new gun control laws, but statistics and legal cases show that these claims are not valid. Key Terms: Second Amendment, Background Check, Mass Shootings . The American Dream Studies show that an estimated 55 million Americans own guns (USA Today). Guns are mainly used for protection, but are often debated whether if that is a fact. Recently, America has faced an attack in Las Vegas which is ...

             When reading back Still Separate by Jonothan Kozol, I realized how much segregation still lives inside the United States. Although this is not something that has been never talked about, segregated schools have been known to be an ongoing situation that society has faced throughout many generations. I was mainly surprised with the schools that was mentioned that where in New York City, which is known to be very diverse. It mentioned the school Martin Luther King Jr. school downtown. Although this school is in a pretty safe area and has the name of the man who advocated for equality of races, many parents are still scared to have their kids sent into that school because of its demographic.             Personally, I saw this throughout my high school, being mostly filled with white students. It did not matter to me since I had the thought that this school was a prestigious school, so...

             When watching the videos of the two convicts who became scholars, I realized how many abilities one person can have, and the power of a person’s role in society. When reading first the article about Michelle Jones and her journey to becoming a student reaching for her PhD, which is amazing to comprehend. Although it may seem like she is just a convict who deserves her time, she is a leaner who tries to learn different subjects throughout her time in the penitentiary. Not only does she teach herself topics such as law and history, she also helps the community of the prisons by creating shows inside with other women. I saw through that article the many trials and tribulations any prisoner has inside those jails and what they have to do to stay humane.             Another source I liked was the video of the student who got his PhD, but his beginning was different. Although Jones kille...

When watching the first video of the mothers who were in prison, getting a chance to see their children after a very long time, it made me see a whole new perspective of prisoners and their lives. Most of the time society portrays them as just criminals who deserve their time in prison, but many of them have families whom they need to take care of. What amazed me is that they could only see their children for only one day, which seems a small time but they the program tries to make every second count. The first time I watched this I felt very emotional, as I saw the mothers seeing their sons and daughters after years.             This reminded me of the other video that we had watched, that talked about the fathers and how they were treated, and I saw many similarities but also many differences as well. Seeing the second video made me almost tear up, I found the father video more sympathetic than the mothers. It may be because o...

Interview: Gun Control             I emailed one of the regional coordinators of the program New Yorkers Against Gun Violence (NYAGV), observing the opinions he has on the topic of gun control and the different arguments about it. I gave him the questions that I had for him, and told him that if he could, he could take his time in answering these questions so that he could put in all of his thoughts. In the end he gave me much information to help my argument as a whole. Interview: Thank you again for the response. Here are the questions I have: What does your program do? The mission of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence (NYAGV) is to reduce gun violence through legislative advocacy and education designed to encourage action, influence public opinion and lead to policy change. With a primary focus on New York State, NYAGV also advocates at the local and national levels for laws, policies and practices that protect New York ...

            The experiment tested the obedience of the subject when ask to continue shocking the student whenever they get a question wrong, but was portrayed as a test of memory. This shows how much the subject will go far, as they hear the screaming pain of the student who ask to leave the experiment. Most of them where with the conductor of the experiment when being tested, while the rest did this test through a telephone. This resulted to the ones that were with the conductor showing 3 times more obedience than the ones who did not even see him. The results show how much people begin to feel powerless when in the moment of someone who seems to have more power, which is something that most people face even to this day.             This is an actually problem that still takes place throughout most societies. It can be seen in many schools, such as peer-pressure and through bullying. I have seen th...

            When writing the first draft, I was still confused on what my thesis would be and what I would argue about. I continued to do my research, trying to find a way to combat my arguments but also that would help out afterwards so I could have counter-claims in my essay. Something that I also needed to do was to create new arguments, there are many things to add on to my essay that many people do not really know of. This could help the audience have a better knowledge of what really is gun violence and how creating stronger gun control laws can help create a safer environment for us.             I could not go to my tutor for help mainly due to the sickness I had, but I did find help through my peers and what they wrote on my essay. Most of the time there were just comments I did not understand why they wrote it, but I found ways to help me leave the essay the way it is and revising it at the...

The American Dream: The Change Needed in Gun Control Laws Studies show that an estimated 55 million Americans own guns (USA Today). Guns are mainly used for protection, but are often debated whether if that is a fact. Recently, America has faced an attack in Las Vegas which is stated to be the biggest mass shooting in American history. As noted, there are other mass shootings that took place in American history, which sparked the on-going question: Should there be more gun control laws? Although this question has been debated for many years, it is only brought up when these mass shootings happens. In a daily basis, there are multiple shootings that occur throughout the United States, yet the media and politicians do not discuss about this issue frequently. This is an important topic that needs to be discussed to prevent more from happening, although there are multiple sides. Many suggest that although states create laws that create more gun control, there is no change in the crime r...