Ferguson and Mexico's Violent Protests 

      Ferguson, Missouri is a city ripped apart by conflict, riots, and disagreements about a white police officer who shot and killed and unarmed black teen this past August. Some witnesses say that Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was killed while others describe the situation as a physical altercation between Brown and the officer. Currently, the city is awaiting a grand jury's decision on whether to indict Wilson, the police officer. Besides disagreements and conflict surrounding the shooting itself, individuals from St. Louis are not understanding of the reasons behind inviting in the National Guard. "The National Guard is called in when policing has failed. Military presence in my city will mark a historic failure on the part of (government),"  French, a St. Louis an elected member on the municipal council, said on Twitter, "This is not a war. There is no military solution."   The Ferguson case and riots are not only described in depth on Twitter, but also in thousands of newspapers, websites, journals, and every other form of global communication.

     Ferguson is not the only city that is going through a protest battle; Hundreds of towns and cities all across Mexico are in rage about the recent capture of students. According to the Mexican government, the trouble began on September 26, when police stopped the students as they traveled on buses. Authorities say that the town Mayor, José Luis Abarca, ordered police to stop the students from disrupting a speech given by his wife. The government says that police then handed over the students to a drug gang, Guerreros Unidos. In the weeks following, over 10,000 Mexican soldiers and police officers searched the area and discovered assorted graves. Last week, Mexico’s attorney general, Jesús Murillo Karam, said that burned remains, most likely of the students, had been uncovered at a dump and in a river in Guerrero. He displayed videotaped admissions of drug gang affiliates talking about the killings. 

         The families and communities connected to these kidnapped children are not believing this story that the government has produced. “The parents are enraged by so much waiting and so few results,” de la Cruz, a spokesman for the victims’ families, told the crowd on Wednesday. As of Monday, he claimed, “the flame of insurgency has been lit.” Numerous buses drove all around Mexico to spread their resistive message, as protesters in different states closed off highways, annexed town squares, closed airports, and burned buildings and cars. In the seven weeks since police drove away with 42 students, the efforts made by their relatives has gained the attention from those across the country and the world, even from world leaders like President Obama and Pope Francis. The atrocity has attained Mexico’s attention unlike any other crime and generated an objection evolution that shows no signs of dwindling. 

A Semester of Growth

     Now that the semester is a little over half-way completed, I am beginning to see my writing techniques develop and I am emerging into a better writer. In English 110 here at UNE, we are taught how to respond to articles and stories in bulk that have maybe one thing in common. Recently we have been told to read up to three sources and connect them all in essays. I am happy to say that I have done so successfully, providing good thesis's backed by strong paragraphs. I have received grades that I am very proud of and I only look to have those grades increase in the future. I believe that my extensive research and choice of words are what makes my essays better than most. I put a lot of concrete evidence into my essays, leaving the reader with no doubt. My essays also flow well, going from one point to another with a smooth transition. The areas where I struggle the most is connecting the authors mentioned in my essays. It seems that I do a good job of discussing them individually and in their own paragraphs, rather than using both to make one point at a time and connecting the two. Another aspect in writing that I do not do very well in is using a lot of quotations. I am not used to using more than five quotes an essay, so using one per paragraph seems somewhat excessive to me; something that I am not  used to and something that I overlook before I pass in my paper. 

     In order to produce a well thought out paper I must be in complete silence with no distractions. I will read the prompt numerous times, brainstorming what take I'm going to have on the issue and what ideas I can produce that will back it up. I highlight the main points that I like in the readings that we are told to discuss, maybe to use for quotes in my own paper. I then like to think of a good hook, something that would capture me if I were to be the reader of my essay, because who likes a boring essay? Not me! I then form my thesis, which usually is not very good the first time and is something that I reconstruct multiple times as I realize what it is that I actually want to talk about in the paper. The body paragraphs are usually the easiest parts for me. I pick one main point for each paragraph, taking quotes from the readings, explaining them, forming transition sentences, etc. I do my best to explain my main points the best I can as well as making them flow into each other; the less awkward-sounding the better. 

     I do not exactly have any concerns regarding my own writing, as I believe that I am a somewhat strong writer. I enjoy this class and how we focus on worldly issues rather than grammar and spelling- it makes things much more interesting and enjoyable. One thing that I wish was different about this class is that it was only 50 minutes rather than an hour and 20 minutes. The extra hour of class time a week makes me kind of resent the class. Other than those last thirty minutes on Tuesday and Thursday, I enjoy the class and seem to be learning a lot.