unit 4 blog

Group C Planning for Unit 4

2)Roberto- Discussion and Planning
Mark- Presenter
Mason-Preparation of the visual product
3) Roberto: recorder- writing everything that we do in our group discussions and distributing the material to the professor

Mark: Presenter- Writing and knowing the material for the presentation to present it on Wednesday.

Mason: Creating the visual element: creation of all the visual aspects of the project.
5) Transportation- Tcu shuttle.
Plus and minus grading system.
Meal Plans.

We decided on using the TCU Shuttle- transportation issue. We believe that this would be a great option for TCU students to transport themselves free of any kind of danger.

6) Our target audience would be the TCU students. The purpose will be to make the TCU shuttle service by adding more routes and providing more options to TCU students. The best visual arguments for this topic would be a mix of visuals, billboards, stickers, t-shirts.

7) The best visual argument would be a billboard advertisement displaying a bus and the possible places that it can take TCU students in downtown or the stockyards. It would be kind of a poster. Another good option would be a billboard on the side of a bus.

8) Roberto’s homework would be to email this document and other future documents to group members and teacher.

Mason’s homework is to brainstorm more ideas for the visual argument.

Mark’s homework is to start preparing the presentation in writing.

2nd group Meeting: April 29, 2009

We are brainstorming on how our billboard and bus advertisement could look like. Also, we are planning our first draft argument for the final presentation. Our argument is that TCU does not provide enough transportation for its students.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday May 5, 2009. Until then every group member will be working in their parts individually. The meeting’s purpose will be to put all our work together and organize it. We will also be working on the last few things to finish our work and have the presentation ready for Wednesday May 6, 2009.

authors note on portfolio

This is my author's note for the final drafts of my portfolio. Overall I feel really good about all of my drafts. The on that I like the most is the OP-Ed. I think I successfully exposed all of my thoughts in an organized manner. My humorous argument really applies to my topic and i think that it is funny. On my letter to the editor I am basically responding to the article and how I feel about its lack of information and how it should go about to be a better article. This Murcia issue is something that really captures my attention. It makes me angry how the government managed all this issue. This is why i decided to choose this as my topic. Working through this portfolio I had the opportunity to learn more on the topic. I hope that this is what you were looking for. I took my work to the writing center and got it revised. I do not think it was of much help. Because the person who helped me was in some kind of hurry or at least that is what he made me think. 

my humorous argument

for my humorous argument, I decided to actually draw by hand. In my argument, You will find David Murcia with the map of panama on his shoulder and Martin Torrijos ( the president). What I am trying to explain here is that David Murcia did exactly what he wanted when he wanted and got away with everything until the day he got caught. He Bought Martin Torrijo's administration and gave money to fund the upcoming presidential election.

humor argument

For my humor argument I decided to make some funny drawings portraying Martin Torrijos( the president of Panama) along with certain people of his administration; and David Murcia ( the money laundering lord). In the drawing I am actually making fun of Martin torrijos and his lack of knowledge. He made the wrong choice by sending david Murcia back to colombia. 

I am not a good drawer and I am not creative at all. So, this assignment has been challenging for me in these two areas. Moreover, it is very challenging for me to make something funny about this issue, because it is a very serious issue. My concern is that people who do not know about the issue, or are not panamanian may not understand my humorous argument. I will try my best to work on these challenges. 

humor

First of all humor is a unique thing in each person. Everyone has a different sense of humor. For example, since I came here to TCU  I have noticed that people form the united states have a totally different sense of humor than the one we Panamanians have. I personally believe that humor needs to have a touch of sarcasm. From what i read on the book, humor on arguments need to have timeliness and lively details that make it more fun and makes the reader connect with the author in order to create humor to the argument. They also have to talk about day to day topics. For example, political issues or religious views,etc... 

oped first draft

Money launderer, David Murcia Guzman, came to Panama and did exactly what he wanted whenever he wanted. Murcia is a Colombian native that came to Panama when he founded DMG Holdings. This company was found to be managing illegal businesses such as money laundering and a Ponzi scheme. Through this company, Murcia stole from people while promising high and ridiculous returns. He enriched himself in such colossal way that he was able to enjoy living a millionaire’s live for 2 years. He owned 3 boats, 1 private jet and 7 or 8 cars from which 2 where Ferrari, 2 Masserati, 2 Lamborghini and the others Mercedes-Benz. Murcia was living such an extravagant live that people started to suspect that he was in the wrong business. Although people suspected Murcia’s wrongdoings, he was able to manipulate high-powered people in Panama’s government and electoral campaigns.
Reportedly, Murcia “donated” 6 million to the PRD to help finance the political campaigns of Roberto “bobby Velazquez” and Balbina Herrera. I chose to put the word donated in quotations because for Murcia this was not a donation but an investment in cash that will give him various advantages and contracts with companies that will help his money laundering business more successful. He was also protected by the SPI, which is an Institutional Protection Service in charge of protecting high-ranked people and the president. It is against the law for the people who work for the SPI to provide this service to people not appointed by the president. Therefore this was corruption and proves that money can do anything. Murcia did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. I have not found information linking the president to David Murcia but I believe that, Martin Torrijos, the president did not manage this whole Murcia situation the way he should have.
As soon as Murcia was caught in November 2008, Martin Torrijos ordered the authorities to send this money launderer back to his country. I think this was a huge mistake because Murcia committed various felonies in Panamanian therefore he should abide by Panamanian law. Our law system is good and it should have taken action over Murcia. Moreover, a lot of things were left unclear after he got caught. For example who worked for him and with him on his company (DMG), who else did he gave money to finance campaigns and did the president knew all along about Murcia? How did he contact the SPI(Protection Service) to work for him. These are just one of the various things that were left unclear and should have been resolved before the president decided to send Murcia to Colombia.
Author’s notes:
This is my first draft for the op ed. I am not sure if I’m I the right track. What I have written so far is kind of an introduction to who Murcia is and what he did. My argument is questioning why Martin Torrijos( Panama’s president) ordered the authorities to send Murcia back to Colombia without resolving various issues that need to be answered. For this draft I will like recommendations on how to address this issue and if im on the right direction.
roberto

op ed prewriting

I read an op ed that was written by a former alcoholic and his experiences as an alcoholic and the hard times he has had on building a new life now that he is sober. The article is written to alcoholics or former alcoholics so they can reflect on whether their behavior is similar or appropriate. At the end, I read most of the comments posted by people who read the article. And it is incredible how most of them where familiarized with the feeling of relapse and alcoholism. This is not an op ed from my chosen venue because I could not find an op ed in el Panama America.

A good issue I can discuss in my op ed is why did panama let go david Murcia so easily. Without making a trial or asking how did he do that and who were the ones involved with him. Supposedly he donated money to a presidential candidates campaign. So, it makes no sense that the Panamanian government did not ask more questions or made him confess who worked with him in the government.

Well the only thing that can be done to address this issue is to go to Colombia to interrogate this money launder lord. This is the only way to get the information the Panamanian governments needs. Or ask the president of Colombia to extradit David Murcia to the united states where he can be trialed and interrogated as it should be.

What will work the most for me to make this op ed a good one good representation of ethos and logos. Good facts about the situation will be key for my oped to be effective and informative about the situation. I will have to make some research on the topic but the article is good enough fo me to respond to it.

Other opeds

I finally found other op eds in el Panama America. I read a couple  of them and most of them where responses to the current government situation. It seems like if the target audience are the new candidates for the may 3 presidential election. The one's I read had good grammar, oppose to what i thought. The grammar of panamanians is not good at all. You can see that the writers of good newspapers is horrible. But the op eds where good and they proposed positive things for the future of panama. Most of them talked about the problem of education and how it should be attacked. Before this assignment I had never heard about op eds but now that I know of it I can check out the opinion section which has good articles. 

op ed

I had trouble finding an article for doing my op ed. I am not sure if it has to be the same as the first assignment. But i will try to find something that really concerns me so as to make the argument as good as possible. It could maybe be something happening between today and tomorrow in my country. Presidential elections are taking place next month and it would be great if i could write the op ed on that. But I have yet to find a good article on that. 

editors letter first draft

As a Panamanian, I get offended when I read an article for a major newspaper that lacks info and has grammatical mistakes.  The article has valuable facts that inform the reader of a recent and interesting event to the community. But I believe that it was lacking background information. If I were not informed about the issue before reading the article, it would have been difficult if not impossible for me to understand what Santiago Cumbrera wrote on “ La Ruta del Dinero de los Clientes de DMG”.  My intention is not to attack Santiago personally, but the article is missing valuable info such as who is David Murcia and what is DMG.  Since I am 100 % percent Panamanian, I feel bad about the way this article was written. This is a very serious issue because David Murcia, a Colombian, made lots of middle to high class people lose colossal amounts of money while he was living the good life in my country.

            What I liked about the article is that good facts that I did not know beforehand were included. For example, I did not know that Murcia promised their clients a credit card with unlimited credit for spending.  Moreover, I did not know that the money first went to national banks then transferred to the U.S and then to Belize.  I have to credit that that the article included these good facts that I would have not known without taking the time to read the article. If I was not Panamanian or a person interested in the issue, it would have been imposible to understand these facts without some background info explaining the issue beforehand. 

 

 

Author’s notes:

 

This is my first draft for this assignment. I am not sure if I am on the right track. I think I sound like if  I was attacking the writer and I am not sure If I am on the right track. Please let me know what you think as of now.

DMG article

On this article, the author is arguing where all the money invested with David Murcia, a criminal, ended up. All this strategies used by Murcia are explained and how he convinced people to invest with him as well. He promised people ridiculous amounts of returns. The author is just explaining where the money was "invested" and how were investors foolished.  

This is an issue directly affecting my community. And it is a very recent topic. Therefore, i think an editorial letter to wards this topic would be  very interesting. Guys like David Murcia and Bernard Madoff caught my attention. They should be judged and pay for their wrongdoings. 

possible topic for unit 3

I found a topic that sounds interesting. This article talks about a person who has been on the news since january of this year in my community. This article talks about David Murcia, who from colombia. This guy moved to panama and founded a company called DMG on which he was doing some money laundering and drug trafficking. This guy made so much money with this company and had lots of political connections in panama. Now he is in jail in colombia ans is now asking to be extradited to the U.S so he can be judged here. He was also known for doing a ponzi scheme. Last week I had the opportunity to go to panama and this topic was on the news everyday. So it is a very recent topic.

Author's notes for final draft.

This is my author's notes for the final draft of my rhetorical case study. I have never had the opportunity to write a paper of this format before. It was a good experience and I learned a lot about my topic. I know feel that I can explain everything regarding Bernard L. Madoff. I feel sorry about all the people who got hurt by this financier. I am worried about my paper because I think that I sound biased against Madoff. But the truth is that it is difficult not to sound biased because everything that he did was wrong and it had a negative impact in thousands of people's lives. I am also worried about the format and the flow of the essay. It is difficult for me because english is my second language and I have a hard time converting my thoughts from spanish to english. I hope this is what you were expecting me to write. I did my best effort. 

rhetorical case study progress

During the break, opposite of what i thought, i had little time to work on my rhetorical case study. I have to work really hard to make my final draft between today and tomorrow. I feel confident of what i need to write. I understand all of the terms and i have good sources that backup my study. I have not written on al of the sources but I have underlined important info on each source that could be analyzed. Reading and researching on my topic has been very helpful. I have learned about the biggest fraud in world's history. I feel really bad about the people who got financially hit because of this scandal. 

The development of my study in under work right now. And i am sure it is going to be good because it is a very interesting topic. It has been difficult for me to write and analyze this sources. Because I have never done a rhetorical case study. But it has been very interesting to work an essay in a rhetorical way.

Author's notes on rhetorical case study draft 1

This is the first draft of my rhetorical case study. I have almost 3 pages on this draft because i was unable to work on it since last week because I had to deal with some personal problems. I am worried about how i organized my ideas. This first draft is a little messy and needs some work. I do not know if i'm on the right track and I am not sure if it really looks like a rhetorical case study. I am worried about the transition between sources and the flow of the essay. Please let me know if what you suggest i should work on.

Impact on community.

Bernard Madoff's incredibly big ponzi scheme, impacted the whole economy in a big way. People who where affected by this issue are going to cut back their spending. People all around the community have lost consumer confidence due to the harsh economic conditions taking place. I personally know two individuals who had money invested in Madoff securities. I was unable to contact them nor talk to them about this issue because I believe this is a personal problem that nobody affected would like to talk about. But i have noticed that there behavior towards spending has changed dramatically. I do not know exactly how much money they lost but it should be more that the initial investment of a hundred thousand dollars. They lost consumer confidence and have cut back their spending.  And if they cut back their spending all of the economy will be affected in a certain way. 

I believe this is a very important and interesting topic because it is very recent and it explains part of the current financial situation. 

rhetorical case analysis(organization)

My sources all talk about the same topic, which is: people or organizations who were affected by the Madoff Ponzi scheme. I already have the sources that explain and talk about different examples on how individual people or organizations lost money. I am working on finding new sources based on people’s reaction on the fraud.

How were individuals and organizations affected by Bernard Madoff.

Source 1.

Wilpon’s losses in Fraud Case may affect mets.

- How did he got affected personally.
- How his company will be affected.
- His emotions and reactions to the fraud(pathos)
- Close relationship they had.

Source 2.

Financier’s own fortune led investors to madoff.

- How he got affected personally
- Why he invested
- Relatives affected
- Emotions of relatives

Source 3.


Transitions:

All of my sources talk about the same topic. So, the transitions between topics would be very smooth. I could first start my essay with a small intro of the topic stating the controlling idea. And then introduce my first source and then the second and so on. All of the sources are related so I do not think I will have trouble connecting them.

rhetorical case study

To be honest i have had a hard time finding primary sources on my topic. All of the sources i have found are secondary sources. Im am trying to focus my essay on how people reacted after finding out all the money they lost. And how it affected their companies or investments as well as their lives. I have found info on people who either lost a big chunk of their money and people who because of the losses have even killed themselves. I will continue to do my research on the library web page and on google as well. I logged on to youtube and found some videos that relate to my topic. So ill have to take notes on them. 

At the beginning i did not know much about the topic but it sounded interesting so i decided to research on it. Now that I have been reading on this topic, i have learned lots of new interesting info that i could use for my rhetorical case study. It is incredible how just one person could hurt so many in just 1 day. 

concerns

What is stressing me out on this specific moment is that i do not think my topic is debatle enough. My topic is how people were affected by B.M. And obviously bernanrd madoff financially hurt a lot of people. Also, i am not sure what type of argument can be used for this specific topic. I am worried because i think my topic is too narrow. I am not sure if i can cover 8 pages on this specific topic.


sources:
1) High-tec execs: This can be qualified as a primary source. This is a good source because exposes people who actually got financially hit by bernard madoff's ponzi scheme. I chose this source because it perfectly adresses my topic on how people were affected by B.M.

2) NYU loses 24 million: I feel good about this source because it also qualifies as a primary source. Ichose this source because it directly talks about a university that had accounts with bernard madoff and lost 24 million dollars. Also, it give names of other universities that lost money as well. The ocontext is very interesting because it was very direct and well presented.

3) Dealers among alleged madoff victimes: This is a good source that also exposes people who were affected by this ponzi scheme. I chose this source because it is directly related with my topic since ittalks about madoff and how well known names in the auto retailing industry got financially hurt with this ponzi scheme.

rhetorical essay sources

Researching on my topic was not difficult due to the amount of information available on it. Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme topic is very recent and there are various magazine articles available out there. After researching i decided to make my topic a little narrower than it was. I decided to change my topic and focus on how were people and organizations affected by bernard madoff. 

The information that i found is very useful. I found four sources that clearly support my topic. Three of my sources talk about how admirable business men who invested or had madoff accounts were affected due to this ponzi scheme. The other source talks about sports figures who had money invested with madoff. I used the library website to make my research. I think this website is a very useful tool since i found what i was looking for. I used the academic search complete search form. For my next research i plan on using other tools to broaden my research on the topic. But as of now i feel very good with the sources i found. 

Rhetorical case analysis topic

I believe that in the business world one should be as ethical as possible. Since i was little , i was thought to be honest and hard worker. Moreover, i was thought to work for the things i wan to accomplish in this life. Therefore , i believe i have a good sense of integrity and it is important to me that the people who surround me have the same or similar standards. 

For this rhetorical case analysis i decided to talk about Bernard Madoff. Mr. Madoff was a well respected financial manager. Until his ponzi scheme was revealed . He was not an honest person. he stole money from various people around the world. By this ponzi scheme he compiled more than 52 billion dollars. This is an interesting topic because i would like to learn more about this guy and how he got away with this scheme for such a long time. This is important for me as a citizen because people in my country lost money due to this thief. 

author's notes on final draft

as an international student and english as my second language, i had a hard time writing my public space analysis. It was difficult for me to translate my thoughts from spanish to english. I have to admit that the workshops were really helpful to me; because through the help of my peers i could easily track all of my errors and expand on ideas. i had fun analyzing the library. I never thought that i could analyze so much about one place. After reading this final draft, i feel confident about what i wrote and i hope this is what you were expecting me to write. 

Draft revisions

Monday's workshop was very useful to me. My draft was read Megan and Holly. I think they did a great job pointing me out on the stuff that I need to improve upon. As I read both of their comments, I noticed that I lacked description in certain parts of the essay. They revised my grammar as well and gave me great feedback on what i should change or include to my writing. 

Ms. Patrick read my paper as well. She thought that my essay was in the right track but I need to improve and expand certain areas. Overall by the comments I have received, I think my space analysis will be very good. This workshops are very useful and interactive. 

As of now, I have made several changes to my paper. I changed all the grammatical errors and expanded  a little in certain areas that my peers had pointed out. But I have not been able to go to the library again. So, i am planning on going to the library and check out the area to make a proper analysis of each and every space.

Authors notes

 This is my first draft. I like what I wrote because I feel it sounds very descriptive. But i know i need to work on some paragraphs to make them longer and with stronger content. I am not sure If on this kind of essays I am able to describe what I feel whenever I am experiencing the space. In various occasions, i included my opinion and the experience i had  analyzing the space. By the end of the fourth page I was out of ideas. I would appreciate if you could help me explain myself better whenever you think I was not clear because i tend to mix ideas and its hard for me to explain myself. 

observing my space

On monday, I spent four hours at the library studying for a conversational statistics exam. As a studied, i noticed that the place was very quiet and peaceful. I then began to evaluate the importance of this silence. When I finished the second chapter I took a break and walked through the quiet section of the quiet section. I found that not everyone was busy studying as I thought people would be. Instead I found people writing emails, listening to music and resting. Then I thought to myself that the library is more than a place to study. In fact, it is a place to relax and have some alone time in a quiet space. Then I came back on tuesday and spent some alone time. I had a good time to reflect and get away from some problems that have been eating my mind. I also had some time to do my homework. At the library, I feel in my personal sanctuary. 

space to analyze

I believe that the library is a good space to analyze. I like this place because I feel part of something good and productive. Moreover, I think is a good place and a good environment to study and reflect at the same time.

Spaces in my local community

I am part of the TCU community and one of my favorite spaces is the quiet zone in the library. I think this is a good place for people to concentrate and study. Moreover, I believe that this is a good place to reflect and have some alone time when studying or going through tough times. Another space that I like, is my dorm's living room. I think I have mentioned earlier that I live with three other friends. Our living room policy is to forget about school work and just relax and watch tv or hang out. This is a stress free environment. 

This photo ad is a pathos argument(an argument form the heart). " Money isn't everything" this first line is self explanatory and when I first read it I felt a pit on the stomach. By just reading this first line I would donate blood without hesitating.  This ad gives a heroic feeling to those who donate blood. The most incredible thing is that one can save three lives without spending a cent.

About Me

My name is Roberto Chiari and I'm from the Republic of Panama. I'm a Sophmore student here at TCU. I decided to come here because it has a good location and the campus is great. Moreover, the business program is very good. I'm planning on double majoring in Supply Chain Management and Finance.

To be honest, I am taking this course because it is a requirement. But now that I am taking it I plan on getting the most out of it. Because I think writing is a really important tool for everyone. Moreover, I will like to improve my writing because I think my writing needs some improvement. Primarily I communicate through text messaging and emails. I'm a very shy person who does not communicate well enough. This is a disadvantage for my writing because it takes me hours to organize my ideas and start writing.

I live in samuelson hall with three friends. The four of us met in high school and we all have strong relationships. I consider them my brothers. I have learned a little from each and one of them.

I have read an agreed with all the terms and conditions of the course.