November 1, 2007

Mr. Perez: Let me start off by thanking you all for bring here today. My name is Jorge Perez and I am a student at the University of Central Florida The point of this panel is to discuss leadership. I have been assigned by my Composition teacher to do this report. I would like to introduce the board at this time as well. To my right I have Mr. Boaz Yakin. Mr. Yakin is the director of the movie Remember the Titans. Next to him, we have Mr. Michael Wallace, a writer for the Miami Herald. And last but not least, we have the novelist known as Mr. Keith Donohue. We shall start this debate with the question: What one characteristic so you think is the most important in a leader?

Mr. Yakin: I think leaders need to be able to accept criticism, but also have the ability to recognize effective criticism. Leaders should always change their opinion. They should take in the criticism that they think is beneficial.

Mr. Donohue: The one characteristic I think is the most important is the ability to put oneself second and your followers first. A leader should be self-sacrificing and unselfish.

Mr. Perez: Those are all very good answers. I would have to say that I would choose a leader who holds his composure at all times. A leader should stand strong during the rough times just like they do when things are good. People are given hope when they see a composed leader.

Mr. Donohue: But a leader should also be real with the people, and inform them when things aren’t going so well.

Mr. Perez: That is an excellent point. Do you think a leader should be 100% honest or hide some information?

Mr. Donohue: I think some information should be held form the public’s grasp. They should have an idea, but not know the whole situation.

Mr. Yakin: I must agree. In my movie, the coach is informed that if he loses one game he is fired. He does not let the team know. Another way he motivated his team is by motivating them with the possibility of a state title and the threat of benching or even cutting them if they don’t perform.

Mr. Perez: So you think fear is a useful tool?

Mr. Yakin: to an extent, yes.

Mr. Donohue: I don’t think fear should be used. As in my book, when Beka begins to use fear, the group began to lose patience with him. Fear just gets people angry.

Mr. Wallace: I think fear can be an advantage in some situations. Fear of being thought of as average or worse can be a motivational tool. In sports or in academics, fear of failing can be motivational, but also it can hurt someone. If one is too worried of failure, one might be inclined to it because of the constant worry.

Mr. Perez: Fear is powerful thing. But those of true leadership fear nothing. Or at least seem that they don’t.

Mr. Wallace: Very true. Seems that composure is big thing to you Mr. Perez.

Mr. Perez: it is. I want to follow someone who knows where they’re going. Not someone who is worried and confused. It looks like we have ran out of time. Thank you gentlemen once again.

Members of the Panel

Movie: Remember the Titans, Director Boaz Yakin

Image: Dwayne Wade “Redemption,” Photographer not found. Writer of article: Michael Wallace

Book: The Stolen Child, Keith Donohue

Jorge A. Perez

        The discussion above is about leadership and what characteristics are more important than others. Maybe some people might suggest that all characteristics of a leader are important. But the point was to make this discussion focused on the one characteristic these gentlemen chose.

Text Leadership Analysis

Enc 1101

November 6, 2007

Book: Bible                                                                                         In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the central concentration. Not only does Jesus Christ teach us how to be followers of the word of God but also leaders in our communities. Jesus also shows us how He leads with what He says and what He does. He talks the talk, and walks the walk. With His parables and sayings to His actions of forgiving and resurrecting the dead, Jesus comes through. Now I’m not saying that a leader is capable of raising the dead or forgiving sin, but a leader should make things happens for his followers. If a leader says something will happen that leader should put all his efforts into making that something happen.                              In the story of the woman getting stoned for committing adultery, Jesus stands up to the crowd of hypocrites and challenges by saying “ Whom has never sinned, may cast the first stone,” Jesus again shows all how a leader should act. Again not to take the story 100% literally, but conceptualize the story. Jesus went against the mass. Jesus is such a great leader because He is a brave person. He got in front of a crowd of angry men and challenged them. A true leader should be able to step up in situations, with bravery and heart, and convince others. I don’t believe in leaders who are indecisive because they are pressured by the popular ideas and beliefs. I want a leader who follows their gut with reasoning behind it.        With the religious side of this text, controversy and diversity can be brought to the table. Not only do you have people debating on the religious aspect, but also the style of leadership.Movie: Remember the TitansThis movie is based on an integrated high school football team and their first season. With racism and discrimination on the course to success, the team must overcome these obstacles. With this in front of the team many leaders arise; from the head coach to the team captains. From these positions alone, leadership is expected. But the movie also shows how a leader can be disrupted from completing a task.                                    In the beginning of the movie, the white head coach is replaced with a black man. Here we see a leader(coach of the team) being replaced with another. What we can learn from this is that if you are put in a position of such power, you have to perform or you will be replaced. As a leader people expect great things from you and nothing less. For the other coach that I replacing the overthrown one, much responsibility is placed on him. He has come to someone else’s house and took over the head roll. You are now the new leader and people want to see change. (This is all coming from a movie based on high school football.) When placed as the head of a team or organization you need to stand strong and lead with conviction.                    As for the team captains, there is a white captain and a black captain. At first they clash and don’t get along. A leader cannot let small things get in the way of his goals. A leader has to have the ability to see through the small things, and see the bigger picture, the goal. When both captains finally realized that if they put their differences aside so will the rest of the team. They realized they are the captains and as they lead the others will follow. There are many points to this example that helps define what a leadership is. Not only did they realize that with each other at peace and agreement the team cooperate as well, but the team grew stronger as a unit. No man is an island. The only reason why we call some leaders great and others weak is because of their supporting cast. We hear it everywhere; from the gridiron to the white house. A leader must be able to lead others into believing in an idea and executing it.With the course being a college course, many students can relate to this because of the time this movie takes place, high school. Now many students may not have played high school football, but the theme of racism, discrimination and leadership is a heavy mixture. Some students may have experienced a diverse high school and others not so much. The different points of view of the class are another way to bring diversity to the conversation. I am a firm believer that outside curriculum such as conversation and debate is a powerful source of education. I am also considering using the Socratic Method.Image:                 Let us begin by ripping apart the image. There is Dwayne Wade, wearing his Heat jersey with his eyes very focused, a clean trim, a dark background, and the text “One Team. One Theme. Redemption.” From this picture I see the theme of leadership because of the person in it. You have Dwayne Wade captain of the Miami Heat by himself. Having won a NBA Championship by his third year in the league, he has a clue at what he is doing. Not only is he captain because of his spectacular talents on the court, but also the because of the way he holds his composure on and off the court. I believe a leader should follow in what they believe not only in outside in the world, but also at home. Dwayne Wade has had no problems with the law. Having a captain that respects the law is another plus to why Dwayne Wade is considered one of the youngest and strongest leaders in the NBA.        We can also put in last season when the Heat got swept in the first round by the Chicago Bulls. Not only was Dwayne Wade denied another run at the NBA title but he has also endured shoulder and knee surgery this off season. With a dark past behind him, we can relate it to the dark background of the image. With his back given to the dark side of the image, Dwayne looks ahead of him. With eyes very focused to what is to come, this image displays many factors of what a leader needs to have. A leader has to have the ability to put the past behind him and think of the future. You got to forget about the last play and concentrate on the next one. There is nothing one can do with a bad play but build off of it and proceed to the next. Now we can’t completely forget about the past and our mistakes. We must also learn from them so we can avoid it the next time. Another factor this image portrays is focus. A leader must be focused on his goals. A leader must be able to handle several things at a given time but maintain focus.        Most students can relate to a dark past or bumps on the road to success; some might still be going through them. With my interpretation, and the students’, lessons can and will be learned.Song:

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE LYRICS“Welcome To The Black Parade”When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band.He said, “Son when you grow up,
would you be the savior of the broken,
the beaten and the damned?”
He said “Will you defeat them,
your demons, and all the non-believers,
the plans that they have made?”
“Because one day I’ll leave you,
A phantom to lead you in the summer,
To join The Black Parade.”When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band.
He said, “Son when you grow up,
would you be the savior of the broken,
the beaten and the damned?”

 From these lines from the song we can identify the leadership theme because leaders have to be strong.  A leader should not let anyone take away his heart and passion. Influential leaders are those who stand strong with what they believe. You stick to what you believe is right and let no one take you to the wrong side. Also, at the bottom of the excerpt we can see “I’m just a man, I’m not a hero.” A leader doesn’t have to be a hero, but a man(or woman). A leader needs to be mature and know right from wrong and be willing to defend the truth.         From the line “I’m unashamed, I’m gonna show my scar
Give a cheer for all the broken,” I have several things to say about it.”I think leaders should not be afraid to take risks. They might end up wrong, but you never be afraid to take a risk because if you don’t try you’ll never know if it would work and you’ll never learn anything new. Leaders can’t stick to safe and sure things, they need to try new ways of succeeding. People get bored of the same thing. So it is up to leaders to stir things up.        This song can bring several interpretations. The focus again is diversity. Some students may like it, others may not. The focus is to get students aware of different perspectives and strengthen their comfortability with criticism.  Myth: Athena        Nike is the Greek translation of the word victory. Athena is the goddess of victory and wisdom. She is a brilliant goddess and with her wisdom in war she helps many people such as Odysseus and Hercules. To lead one must be smart. However, a smart leader is not always the most intelligent. Smart leaders can also surround themselves with intelligent people to strengthen him.        Another reason why I chose Athena is because she is a female. Some believe women are not as strong as men as leaders. That is false. At times women have the upper hand as being leaders. Having Athena as a source for my class will bring diversity with the gender change.       

Work citied

Associated Press. “Ethanol alone doesn’t fuel food price increase.”  MSNBC

         8 October 2007:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21195869/    

Laws, Forrest. ”Ethanol falsely accused for higher food prices.”  16 May 2007

         http://deltafarmpress.com/corn/070516-ethanol-food/    

Phillpott, Tom. “Feeding the Beast.” 13 December 2006:

        http://www.grist.org/comments/food/2006/12/13/fuel_vs_food/

Than, Ker. “How Global Warming is Changing the Wild Kingdom.” 21 June         2005:http://www.livescience.com/environment/050621_warming_cha

         nges.html

picture:http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fatheroflions.org/Photos_AnimalsWILD/Lion_StarvingInNairobiPark_200.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fatheroflions.org/Elsa.html&h=200&w=319&sz=31&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=Vwnd6eev8qqc5M:&tbnh=74&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstarving%2Banimals%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN 

ENC 1101  

Core II

October 18, 2007

Where did all the food go?

Would you ever pay twenty-five dollars for an ounce of turkey? Of course not, right? Now you must be asking how that would ever happen. If you haven’t noticed, food prices have increased in the past few years. Slowly but surely they have. Well if we don’t start trying to reduce our abuse towards the environment, and global warming, this might someday become a sad reality. This “misfortune” can hit us all in many different ways. Some might not mind paying the extra “few” dollars for groceries. However, others will struggle to buy that loaf of bread for their children’s school lunch. But what is truly tragic is when parents have to explain to their kids why they have to skip a lunch.

Even though America is taking steps towards improving the situation towards global warming, we still have a lot of work to do. Some steps that we are taking include the production of ethanol based gas, and increasing the use of it, such as Flex Fuel.  However, there are negative consequences to this positive move toward reducing the environmental abuse. With the production of ethanol having tripled since 1998, the price of foods has also increased (Philpott par. 1). It might not be at a significant increase, but the increase is still there. Such as the 1.6% increase on chicken since March 2007 or the 1 penny more we have to pay for eggs (Laws, par. 4). But according to ABC News in the report Sky High Restaurant Prices, milk has increased in price by 75% since last year.  From the same report, restaurants nationwide have increased prices by 3.6%. Meat and dairy prices have increased since late summer 2006 — 6.7 percent for ground beef, 6.9 percent for chicken breasts and a painful 26 percent for whole milk, according to the Labor Department (MSNBC, par. 5). Getting worried yet?

According to LECG, a company that provides professional information from experiments that they conduct, the high demand of corn to produce ethanol is not the only reason for higher food prices. LECG claims that the demand might have a slight change but not a noticeable one. They blame the energy it takes to produce agricultural products for higher food prices. Not to say LECG is wrong, but focus on the concept. Ethanol is an agricultural product. It takes 20% of corn production to make ethanol (National Corn Growers Association pg 2). So we aren’t just paying for expensive corn but also for expensive alternative gas. Wasn’t it one of the main objectives of ethanol gas to reduce gas prices and foreign oil dependency? So indirectly we do pay extra for that uneaten corn. Not to say that ethanol gas is a bad thing but it is costing us a few more dollars.

With this monetary increase in corn, a domino effect is at risk, and so is America. With the increase in corn prices leads to another increase. Since farmers also use corn to feed the cattle and poultry and with the substantial amount of corn being taking to produce ethanol, farmers now have to pay extra for that same amount of corn to feed their livestock. But how will the farmers pay for this feed? Farmers then look to their consumers, us, to pay for that extra bushel of corn. The farmers then raise the price of meat and poultry at your nearest market place. So now we are paying extra for corn, the energy it takes to produce ethanol, meat, and oh, don’t forget about the high gas prices we already pay for.

This situation is not going to blow over any time soon.  We need to realize that what we have done to the environment is a deciding factor for many things such as higher food prices. But if we don’t change our attitude, food prices aren’t the only things we will need to worry about. If global warming gets worse a domino effect of destruction is at risk. From the rising of sea level due to melting ice caps to the destruction of animal habitats. If the temperature rises too high, animals will be forced to make unnatural migrations to colder climates to which they are used to. The problem with this is that they are put in a different environment and different diet. With a different diet, the animals must listen to Darwin and grow stronger to survive or die.  Consequently, this will affect the bill at the market. The scarcity of animals to produce food for us will rise resulting in inflation on the economy. Food will be something that we will have to choose over other goods. Now think of the poor. What will they do when they have no means of eating? They will have to resort to government support. And who better to help the government feed the poor than ourselves. And it won’t be long until the middle class joins in. What will we do as a nation that half or maybe more won’t be able to have a significant amount of food to survive? At an extreme view at this situation, we will eventually run out of food due to the extinction of animals and humanity itself will end.

There has been a challenge placed in front of us. It doesn’t matter if you have participated in the destruction of our environment or you have done nothing to it. If those of you that just sit there and say I haven’t done nothing to it but don’t do nothing about it, you are guilty as well.

  If we succeed, and reduce the amount of abuse we are contributing to the environment, things will get better. If not life as we know will end. Not today or tomorrow but our great grandchildren will be victims to our crime. Not one person or group will be able to tackle this issue. We all need to be active participants in this action. I know I don’t want to pay twenty-five dollars for that ounce of turkey or be the reason why my great grand children starve. Do you?