Response to 3/26 Reading

     For today's assignment, we were tasked with reading Indigenous resistance and racist schooling on the borders of empires: Coast Salish cultural survival by Michael Maker and respond to it. This piece's primary focus was to inform the audience about the history behind educational inequalities among  indigenous populations in the region between Northwest Washington and British Columbia. This piece also describes how the indigenous tribes have addressed and dealt with this discrimination.
     The author brings to light the fact that normal public schools and the schools created by the government for native North Americans suppressed the beliefs and history of the Coast Salish tribe. The assimilation schools that the government caused the young members of these tribes to loose touch with their heritage. This form of education built barriers between the tribes, even though they shared borders and histories.
     I believe that this education system was flawed. First off, sending a specific group of individuals away to be educated away from their heritage is racist. Annexing away indigenous children creates an "us versus them" mentality in other school children. I was impressed to hear that the aboriginal communities of this region persevered through this discrimination, and are to this day able to educate their tribal youth about the importance of tribal traditions.

Enter the Meatrix

     Today, we were tasked with watching The Meatrix series. This animated mini show is a parody of The Matrix, where the main character Leo, a small- farm pig, sees the reality that is factory farming. The series progresses and the view becomes increasingly aware of how unappetizing some of our food really is. I believe that this organization is making bounds in educating the general public of the horrors of factory farming. This online video series is easy to comprehend, but it still is able to carry the underlying serious message.

     If I had to use this video to profile a "place", I would profile a Perdue chicken packing plant about an hour from my house. Every time I drive by this plant, I am instantly hit with the urge to vomit. The smell is simply repulsive. Although I have never been inside the plant, I can only imagine the indecencies that happen within.

Thoughts on RT pgs 148-165

     This portion of the textbook discussed and then gave examples of writing involving science and biotechnology. The authors addressed that when writing in the sciences, writers encounter three basic problems while writing: a varied audience, writing about sensitive topics, and feeling a dire need to propose an acceptable solution for the problem. The author then describes that these challenges can be overcome by using the two rhetorical strategies of writing an "accommodating thesis" and to display statistics and evidence in an effective way. Writers in the biotechnology discipline make portable rhetorical lesson, which is writing in balanced arguments.
     I believe that these rhetorical strategies can aid me in my future writing endeavors. By writing thesis' that are easily understandable and defensible can add quality to my writings. Providing statistics and cited facts will make my paper more reliable.

EPA and Fracking Synthesis

Johnathon Owen                                                                                                                    Owen 1

Dr. Taylor

ENG 101

1 March 2012

Synthesis of Lustgarten and Kusnetz’s Piece on Fracking

     In Lustgarten and Kusnetz’s news report Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water Contamination, the authors discuss the heated political and environmental debates surrounding EPA findings in central Wyoming. The EPA claims to have discovered over ten compounds known to be used during hydraulic fracking in two- one thousand foot water monitoring wells and several cracks and separations in the concrete chemical barrier. Although considering other factors, the EPA is primarily blaming water pollution in this area on EnCana, a hydraulic fracking company.

     Water pollution problems have been present in Pavillion, Wyoming since the mid 1990’s, when fracking was first introduced to this region. This contamination was left ignored until 2004 when residents of Pavillion complained about their drinking water turning a brownish color soon after a new fracking company moved into Pavillion. The issue continued to escalate until 2010 when the EPA along with federal health officials cautioned residents of this area to not consume tap water.

     In order to stay ethical in the public light, EnCana put out a statement claiming that these results were “inconsistent ”, “inconclusive”, and “[pollutant levels] had not changed since last August”. The EnCana spokesperson also brought up the fact that several other factors present in

Owen 2

the region could have also attributed to central Wyoming’s water pollution issue. EnCana’s projection of blame does not hold very up well against the scientifically proven EPA evidence. Regardless if any of EnCana’s statements are true or false, EnCana will certainly be more closely monitored by the EPA and other environmental groups.

     The EPA presents several logical arguments that would lead one to believe that EnCana is responsible for the bulk of this water pollution. However, I believe that their claims should be seen as inconclusive. EnCana was correct is claiming that there are several other factors in the region that have been attributing to water pollution for decades consisting of “gas-bearing zones in the near subsurface, poor general water quality parameters and discontinuous water-bearing zones" (Lustgraten 1). These other factors do indeed contribute to water pollution, and would have been just as severe with or without the presence of hydraulic fracking.