Reflection

The final revision process for my final paper in the lecture section has been a long one. We had to write a mediation paper for our final project of the year. A mediation paper is a paper in which you choose a controversial issue and argue both sides of the issue without being biased. After that, you must try to find a median for the situation that will make both sides happy. I decided to write my mediation paper on the abortion controversy because I felt like it was an important issue in our country today that needs to be resolved. I also wanted to do my paper on abortion because before I wrote the paper, I was not entirely sure which side of the controversy I was on.
The first thing I did in terms of writing this paper was prepare a brief which contained arguments for both sides of the controversy and evidence to support those arguments. Writing the brief really helped me to organize my ideas and separate them into two different arguments.
Next I wrote a rough draft that expanded on the outline I created in my brief. This was our only rough draft because Mr. Cantey realized that we did not have enough time to write more than one rough draft. After I finished my rough draft and realized that it was not quite long enough, I went back through and looked to see where I could add more information. I decided to try and incorporate more statistics in my paper for both sides of the argument. For example, I entered the number of women who have abortions because of rape or because the pregnancy would be dangerous to either the mother, the child, or both and the number of women who have abortions because of social reasons. I also added statistics about the complications that can arise from having an abortion. It was somewhat difficult to find a way to mediate this paper. Most of the views on whether or not abortion should be legalized are so extreme that it was difficult to find a common ground. However, by the time I finished my rough draft, I found several ways in which the situation could be mediated. Most of the revisions that I made on my final draft were related to grammar, sentence structure, and correct citations. We brought our rough drafts to class and had our classmates read our papers. This really helped me in my revision process because my classmates were able to provide me with feedback that I had not yet thought of. Mr. Cantey also went over our rough drafts with us one-on-one and he also gave me some more ideas as to how I could mediate the issue.
I am very pleased with the way that my final draft turned out. I worked hard on this paper and I put a lot of effort into making sure that I was as thorough as I could possibly be. I did my best to mediate the situation to the best of my ability, and I believe that I succeeded.

Barack Obama's Speech

Barack Obama's Speech, "A More Perfect Union" was the perfect response to the issue involving racial comments recently made by his pastor. Obama gave several personal stories from both sides of the racial divide; he talked about his white grandmother who still sometimes says racial things and he also talked about other black members of his family. By doing this, he was able to really connect with people on either side of this issue. Obama said that his pastor did make a mistake, and that is was the wrong thing to say, but that he understood where his feelings of resentment came from. He talked about how both white and black people have feelings of resentment, and discussed ways that we could fix this in the future. His speech was directed towards the American people as a simple American, not as a white or black man. I think that he is an amazing speaker and that his speaking skills have helped him come as far as he has.