Employee Rights

1.) The main point of this article is to inform the readers of how Wal-Mart and Target spy on, discriminate, target, and unfairly accuse, antagonize, and disrespect their employees. 

2.) One type of supporting detail the author used was including many examples of people who had been employed by these two major companies, & their side of the story, regarding how they were attacked, discriminated against, etc. The author also tells us the history of both companies, & how they have always had problems with these sorts of accusations. 

3.) I have definitely observed surveillance or unfair treatment in the work place. At my old job, at an office, I was a secretary, and have seen my superior, the office manager, look through employees e-mails and bloggers without asking permission, simply to see what they were doing and if there was anything going on that they wouldn't be 'proud of.' I was so taken aback and felt so terrible that this was going on as soon as I found out about it. I reminded myself never to open up anything of mine during office hours, for fear of it being pulled up again when I wasn't in the office. Thankfully, I no longer work there, and do not have to worry my privacy being broken into ever again. 

Virginia Tech Massacre has altered campus mental health systems

The three major changes that have taken place since the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University tragedies are 1) faculty is speaking up more about students who worry them, and that is accelerating a trend of more demand for mental health services, 2) changes are being made to privacy policies; a recent law in Virginia requires colleges to bring parents into the loop when dependent students may be a danger to themselves, or others, 3.) the stigma of mental illness has grown.

I definitely agree with the changes, although I can't speak from first hand experience with any of them, I think everyone is much more aware in every classroom, whether it be a professor, a student, or whomever else, to look for signs of someone with a possible mental problem or disturbance. I can see that changes are being made to privacy policies because of the example that was given in the reading, and if laws are being changed, it's because people are finally opening their eyes to what needs to be done to keep everyone safer. The stigma of mental illness, I think, has grown a considerable amount; you can tell that so many students now feel that a depressed or suicidal person may be the next school shooter, even though it informs us that people with mental illness are rarely violent.

The problem that many faculty members realized is that many students may now be hesitant to seek help because of fear of being stigmatized, and that may prevent them from getting the services and assistance they may truly need.

Week Eight

 What is the main topic of the article? 

Campus violence.

 What is the main idea of the article?

The main idea of the article is how to stop and prevent campus violence. 

 What types of supporting details does the author use to support the main idea? 

The main idea was supported by many facts and examples. The author tells us that faculty and students all over campuses and schools everywhere could be educated and know what to look for as far as signs of a potentially violent, threatening person. The signs to watch for are individuals who are socially isolated from everyone else (not many friends, if at all), low self esteem and self worth, and can not handle criticism well. The student who exhibits these signs may be trying to get someones attention, so they can interfere. There were examples, and some information about the tragedy that took place at the Virginia Tech Campus a few years ago. The author stated that the student may have posted worrisome writings on his profile online and also stated it was reported that his creative writing in class was very disturbing, and should have been a cause for concern. 

List three characteristics that can be early warning signs of a students potential to become violent.

1.) Low self esteem

2.) Does not take insults or criticism well.

3.) Social isolated. 

What security measures have you noticed at this campus? Do you think these measures are worth while? Why or why not?

On NYITs old Westbury campus, I have seen security in every parking lot at some point or another, they seem to make their rounds fairly often. I think they are doing what they should be doing as far as that goes, because they check out what is going on in every outdoor part of the campus. Maybe it would be helpful if they circled inside the building too? When talking about what is going on inside a students head, the general safety of any student body population becomes more easily in danger, because you never really know what someone is thinking. I do think the signs in the article could prove helpful for on campus psychologists and social workers, but I have no idea what NYIT does to help prevent and assist students who exhibit these signs. 

Week Seven

I enjoyed watching the video. It didn't make me change my original perception of how the media affects women, and how terrible what they are doing actually is. I thought from the beginning that the media distorted the way women think they should look by featuring unrealistically beautiful, extremely skinny people in many advertisements, television commercials, etc. As this video showed us, many of the models we see are unrealistically beautiful because they are just that-they are unrealistic, unreal, and retouched, edited, and photo- shopped countless times.  All watching the video did was made me look even more negatively and harshly on the media.  It definitely made me think differently about what I see in the media. I didn't think models were touched up and edited that much at all! It was ridiculous for me to see an average, plain jane woman get made into a strikingly beautiful woman. It did make me think of reality differently as well-I always thought so many of the models in ads were that beautiful, but as I found out, looks can be deceiving. 

Week Six

1.) What is the main idea of the article?

The main idea of the article is to show how women are depicted in the media, and how negatively it effects womens own views of themselves. 

2.) I think one reason that is given in the reading to explain womens images in the media is that painting females in this way makes big bucks for giant companies, like the diet industry, & the cosmetic industry. As we all know, our country is very big on making money, no matter who or what is at stake. 

3.) The researchers generated a computer model of barbie-doll proportions to show how unrealistic and dangerous these expectations were for normal women. 

4.) I think there should be more diverse women painted in the media. I don't think that we need to eliminate every skinny model out there, but I think it's important that more of a variety of women have their pictures snapped in magazine ads. I think the media should also focus on not advertising plastic surgery, cosmetics, and fad diets as much as they do, it deteriorates a womans self esteem. Maybe even eliminating air brushing might help also.

Cell Phones And Driving

After reading the article, I concluded that the evidence presented by the author was based on facts. The main idea of the article is to discuss and prove that maneuvering through traffic 'while talking on the phone increases the likelihood of an accident and is actually more dangerous than driving drunk.' The reactions of drunk drivers were actually better than the reactions of cell phone using drivers, according to the Utah Survey; 'The Phone users fared even worse than the inebriated,' the Utah team stated. The signal words that assisted me when locating my answers were 'was, increases, found, & were.' The use of a hands-free cell phone were just as dangerous as the use of a handheld cell phone when driving, because, as Drews said in the article, 'there is no difference between hands-free and hand-held devices when evaluating how cell phones affect ; the problem is the conversation.' The cell-phone industry holds a strong position amidst all of this, but cell phones 'don't cause accidents, people do.' 

Smokers Right

I do not think that US citizens who smoke are being discriminated against. I don't think it's too much to ask of the individuals who are willingly deteriorating their health by smoking cigarettes to limit where they do so, so they will not harm the health of others around them . Even if every apartment and condo eventually permanently banned cigarette smoking in their buildings, I don't think it would be too extreme. I think making certain quarters of apartment buildings and condominiums smoke free is a great idea. It still gives smokers a space to smoke, but it will not affect others around them. Especially since the demand for smoke free apartments is increasing, their is no excuse to not ban smoking in apartments and condominiums, at least to some extent, as I mentioned before, like designating certain floor levels for example, in each building to being solely for smoke free residents.

Week Three

1.) The authors purpose in the story was to inform the reader, and I think it was also emotional. Samantha's mother told of the heart ache that she felt when others judged her daughter, and their family because of her skin color. 

2.) I was discriminated when I applied for a job at an after school program because I am a female. The job position was to work with fifth grade boys in the gym, and monitor activities, but the male coach that interviewed me pretty much told me straight out that because I was a petite girl, he didn't think I could get the job done. Needless to say, I found another job (a better one at that) that didn't discriminate me because of my sex. 

Learning Style

My learning style is a big mix. I'm an independent, creative, pragmatic, and verbal learner. I like working by myself much more than with a group, I'm very hands on, and organized when I plan and carry out my work, and I am good at communicating with other people when I need to. 

Self Introduction

Hello, my name is Diana Curcio, and I am an English major at NYIT.