“Camden Edward Jenson is a spy who works with the CIA and the FBI. Amber is Camden’s mom, and Cam senses that she’s been up to something. Cam believes that his mom is like a ninja and is kinda crazy, and is always quicker and tenser than he expects her to be, especially since he had started his work at the FBI.

“Rochelle, can you check up on my mom? She’s been acting kinda weird lately, and I think she’s up to something,” Cam asked.

His support resource supervisor, Rochelle, was quick to brush off his theories because she knew that Erin had worked for the Secret Service before. She knew that his mom had been trained to be on the fence and tense, almost to the level of being crazy, and that she was about to be reassigned to the new government team. But, she couldn’t tell him that, as it was classified and small amounts of information could only be delivered to him from his mom. So, she let his mom know what was up and told her to expect a phone call, and went along with Cam’s previous statementa, and agree that his mom was acting weird.

“I’ve noticed her weirdness too, Cam, I don’t know what’s gotten into her. Maybe ask her about it,” Rochelle lied, after about an hour of digging for information.

“I will,” Cam said.

As Cam still couldn’t leave the base for his protection’s sake, he called his mom using the secured line in his office, and Rochelle listened in to ensure that Amber didn’t disclose any extremely classified information.

“Hey, mom, something has really been bothering me lately,” Cam began as his mom picked up the phone.

“Yes, Cam,” his mom inquired, seriously, but still concerned.

“So, you’ve been a little more serious and almost crazy-like since I started my work here at the FBI, wanna kinda tell me what’s up,” Cam inquired.

“Yea baby, I’m sorry for not being up front with you, but I had to keep it from you until now,” Amber began.

“Go ahead, mom,” Cam began, noticing her unsteady voice and heavy breathing.

“Rochelle, stop me if I say too much,” Ms. Jenson instructed of Ro.

“Wait, Ro is on this call? It must be something huge and classified then, please tell me,” Cam pleaded.

“Yes, I’m here, Cam. Ms. Jenson, if you’ll please continue, I have stuff to do,” Rochelle said.

“Okay, Cam, are you sitting down,” his mom asked.

“Yeah, mom, just tell me,” Cam exclaimed, almost to the point of yelling.

“So, I work with the Secret Service, and my training has put me on edge just a little bit. I’m a government agent now, just like you,” the newly recruited Agent Jenson said, pride in her voice.

“That’s great, mom! So you’re not psycopathic,” Cam questioned.

“No, it’s just my training,” Agent Jenson said.

“Well, I’d like to probably be one of the first agents to tell you congratulations, and welcome to the U.S. government,” Rochelle said.

“Thanks guys,” Amber said with genuine appreciation, as she ended the call.

So, Cam figured out his mom’s big secret and continued his investigative work.

Dear Congress,

 

I assume you’ve heard of the movement and actions to completely ban plastic straws. As a disabled advocate for our rights, I strongly oppose these ideas. While you’ve been idle, or allowing this to happen, disabled people are dying. Recently, a story broke of a 60-year-old woman with mobility issues, who took a metal straw through her eyeball and died. Since disabilities are a minority, with only 1 in every 5 people having a disability, you probably just don’t care. That’s not okay, and it needs to change. It’s not up to you to micromanage and dictate what a person with “special needs” requires, as you have no idea what it is like to live with them on a daily basis. Disabled people require straws for a plethora of reasons, and below, you’ll see a handy-dandy little chart detailing why plastic/single-use straws are the best to be used by disabled people.

With limited, restricted, or banned access to this plastic straws, you’re effectively taking away some people’s livelihoods. Only 4% of total oceanic waste is plastic straws. It makes virtually no sense that these are the items being targeted right now. If it were up to me, I would target the amazingly high number of plastic cups, bags, and takeout containers, and leave plastic straws alone.  Plastic straws are mainstream, and that’s a big part of the problem. You can literally walk into a Dollar General and get 100 straws for $1. Now, that’s great for the accessibility aspect, but it also leaves the door wide open for non-disabled people to get a pack of straws. I suggest we market straws as an “accessibility tool” and reduce the consumption of plastic straws by able-bodied people if you’re really that concerned about the 4% of the waste they cause.

The shame and prejudice afflicted to disabled people (also known as ableism) has skyrocketed due to plastic straws. For example, in a thread on Twitter, a disabled person is denied a straw and had to make a scene, embarrass herself, and was required to call the manager to get a straw, just to be told “people like that aren’t worth it just give them the da[rn] straw”, all because she didn’t “look disabled enough”/”looked fine when [she] came in”. This is unacceptable. A person may have an invisible illness that requires them to get a straw, and you don’t get to judge, just by looks if someone is disabled. Heck, you shouldn’t even be able to make a guess about whether someone is disabled or not.

To conclude, lawmakers must do more to protect the rights/accessibility of disabled people and their accessibility needs. That includes tackling plastic straw bans and fighting ableism with us. I really hope this issue receives its’ well-deserved traction, and action is taken to help us, not go against us because we’re citizens too. Thank you.

In an article, written by Melody Gutierrez and Nathan Fenno, the authors delve into a Californian bill that allows college athletes to get paid.  

This legislation is very controversial–and rightfully so. These athletes make millions of dollars for the college they represent, by being adroit and skilled, but they see none of it. In all quintessence, that’s not fair. This legislation attempts to fix that by making the NCAA allow outside compensation for use of an athlete’s name; image; or likeness, which is very feasible, isn’t it? According to the colleges, it’s not, just because they will have to shell out some money (that the players make for the college in the first place), to keep the players that they want.  

That puts the big money-maker, the NCAA, in self-proclaimed jeopardy of running “out of money”. I’m going to take a second here and scrutinize the NCAA. According to the official NCAA finances website, the organization makes $977.7 million a year, with only $378.9 million going to students and their education. That’s only 38% of their revenue that goes “directly” to students’ (players) education. The player sees none of this money in their pockets, except through the occasional scholarship, and for all we know, they may never see it be handled at all. 

Athletes take a very strong, yet amicable approach to this issue. They state, “NCAA athletes can’t make a little money over the summer coaching youth sports, can’t promote their social media, can’t model athletic wear, can’t accept groceries or help with rent or equipment,” which made me gasp when I read it. You mean to tell me that athletes can’t make money or accept money like any other person, and to be frank, celebrity can? That’s unfair, one to the athlete, and two to the (more than likely) broke and struggling college student behind that athlete.

If California were to do this though, as this is just a one-state “issue”, all the colleges in California who are registered with the NCAA will be violating their guidelines if they comply with the law, and thereby be removed from the NCAA.  This issue exists in more states than California, even Alabama is registered with the NCAA. I personally would call for this to be addressed at the NCAA organizational level so that all athletes can be compensated for use of their images, names, and likeness like any other public figure can. 

In an article, written by Alana Semuels and Malcolm Burnley, the author detail the horrible conditions that waitresses must endure and work through. 

Waitresses work very hard and barely get any recognition. Their pay and hours are very tentative, mostly dependent on tips, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll even be needed in the restaurant every day. In Alabama, all “tipped employees” have a base pay of $2.13/hr, one of the lowest in the US. The other $5.12/hr that makes up the $7.25/hr minimum wage is expected to come from tips. What gets me- is that some of these waitresses are trying to provide for their families, and work their butts off and try to show fortitude and must guise through their shifts, are treated with lackluster pay, rude customers who gibe at them, overwork, and general mistreatment.

In this article, the authors use pathos to get an emotional connection from the reader and “controls the mood” of the article to achieve their goals. According to Jay Heinrichs, as outlined in Thank You For Arguing, calls controlling the mood “The most persuasive emotions at your service” (Ch 9, page 84). They start by demonstrating the story of a single mother, working as a waitress, to better her family. This is intended to “grab” the reader and pull them in emotionally. Then, the author proceeds to get to “the meat” and main points of their article, which includes pointing out minimum wage and other workplace issues, such as sexual assault. Ending the article, we go back to the waitress, and her hopes to give her daughter a better life, and the authors reiterate their thoughts on tips and minimum wage. This is a near-textbook definition of writing a pathetic article.

Their approaches make this a very effective of pathos and genuinely made me reevaluate how I personally treat waitresses. It makes me feel bad for them, almost. Most people don’t want pity, so I don’t give it to them. They’re trying, and it’s tough for them, but it’s better than doing nothing. Waitresses deserve better treatment, and if I can help contribute to that, so be it. But, a singular person like me can’t do much. Our generation needs to step in, as a whole, because we’ll probably be in a waitress’ position at some point or another. Show them some kindness, tip them well, and be a good person. It might make their day.