Prattville: A Short Story

“Reporting live form Campaign Headquarters, it’s voting day here at Morning University, this is Kerry Missy. Students are out in record numbers this morning casting their votes to elect the next student leader representative. The energy here in the student welcome center is just phenomenal, with ten minutes’ left before the polls close, Timothy Cruise, has just cast his vote. Who will be the victor of this extremely close race between Michael Manor and Timothy Cruise? As the counts have started coming in it is still any one’s game, these two candidates are still neck and neck. One-minute left until the polls close and Michael Manor, has yet to arrive and cast his vote. His campaign team, looks to be in a panic. It is the top of the hour and polls have just closed. If you have not voted as yet folks, it’s too late now. I will be reporting this evening from the Marshall auditorium announcing the new student leader representative. This is Kerry Missy signing off.” Later that evening Kerry announced Timothy Cruise had won the election by one vote, Michael, and his best friend Mark had not voted that morning.

Douglas McGray discusses different ways that being more cultivated could benefit the United States in his article, “Lost in America” in an attempt to convince education officials to incorporate more foreign language and history classes into their curriculums. In the article he explains the different way the United States has neglected foreign language, and how they can benefit from investing money and time into foreign language. Several examples are presented showing the actual importance of language diminishing in the United States education system. McGray wants the education officials to realize that foreign language should be valued more if the U.S. wants to have better access to overseas opportunities. In the article “Lost in America” by Douglas McGray the effective use of satire, irony,

In the article, “Lost in America,” Douglas McGray informs politicians, education administrators, and school-board officials that language throughout the world is evolving and Americans need to step up their game in global communications. Along with informing politicians, education administrators, and school-board officials he also criticizes how the American education systems are ran. McGray goes into detail about how Americans are not educated properly on foreign culture and language throughout their academic career. This lack of familiarity proves that Americans are behind in the education system. Overall, McGray is trying to persuade his intended audience that as American citizens, we should be more open-minded and extend our education in order to keep up in global affairs. With the effective use of statistics, anecdotes, metaphors, and scholarly diction, McGray builds up his credibility when persuading politicians, education administrators, and school-board officials that the education systems in America needs to avoid isolationism in order to be successful globally.

On the other hand, Nguyen talks of the language difficulties that she experienced being a Vietnamese in the United States. At first, she is enrolled to a school far from home as it offers bilingual education to help her integrate with the system of learning. She works hard to raise her academic performance with hopes of falling in favor with the teacher. However, as the teacher knows her Vietnamese origin, she manifests her stereotype on Nguyen’s comprehension in literature readings. For instance, while it was her turn to read, the teacher would interrupt her making sentiments such as “you are reading too fast….things she did not do to other students” (Nguyen, 35). She also faces a “school-constructed identity” together with her sister with all sorts of jibes thrown against them. As Vollmer puts it, “such assumptions affect the interpretations made of student behavior and school

Having a “standard” for a language such as English, creates a set of biased and unrealistic expectations because connecting language mastery with intelligence, ultimately degrades and oppresses those who speak differently from "the norm." Tan, Anzaldua, and Sedaris all bring up these points of bias and tie together one central idea that intelligence and ability do not directly correlate to language mastery.

McGray believes that with the expansion of foreign language education, America will be able to benefit in integral areas such as “new markets in Asia” and communication with international research partners. (353) With their arguments, the authors do not just argue how language education needs to be improved, but they also correlate it to being responsible for the shape of the nation’s

Fundamentally, he shows the effects of social factors to the language and describes how Americans` way to speak their language varies by regions. When it comes to education, unlike MacNeil who neutrally observes the change, McGray focuses on Americans` perspective on language that has changed by social and political issues. He claims that American education did not react to the growing internationalism and let Americans be indifferent to other countries, especially languages (McGray 354). For example, 25 luminaries proposed plausible educational reforms, but government officials did not adopt them (McGray 355). Ultimately, the author suggests that to be competitive in national fields, Americans need to realize the seriousness of their indifference to foreign countries and cultures, understand their indifference to other foreign languages, and change the American education system and policies for foreign languages. Similar to McGray and contrast to MacNeil, Simon worries about the usage of modified English. He recognizes that English has inevitably changed by social circumstances, such

Last night, the citizens of Iowa kicked off the presidential nomination process by coming out in record numbers to participate in the quirky, uniquely American Iowa Caucus. A complicated voting process that differs by party,—Republicans use a secret ballot while Democrats show support based on their location in the room—the Caucus has seen its share of vote counting errors. Most recently, in 2012, Mitt Romney was declared the initial winner when in fact Rick Santorum had won by a mere 34 votes; a finding that took two weeks to determine and release publicly. This error afforded Romney a host of political benefits, including increased publicity and fundraising that he might not have otherwise received. Perhaps more vexing, however, was the fact that vote from eight of the state’s 1,774 precincts were lost in the process. While a small proportion of the total number of votes cast, this incident generated concern among many participants, causing them to question the legitimacy of the political process, in which all voters expect to have an equal voice in the process.

Howardsville, a quaint little city, nestled in the foothills of the Putney Mountains located forty miles southwest of Charleston, West Virginia, has a dark history. Having lived his entire life in the two –story house on the outskirts of town, Ernest Cassidy was familiar with the myths, legends, and lies about his city and was always quick to defend it.

Author Douglas McGray, in his article “Lost in America,” fights for the expansion of foreign language education in schools by focusing on the present and potential future effects the issue will have on the state of America’s world relations and world business market. To efficiently communicate his message for expansion, McGray publishes his article in Foreign Policy Magazine—a publication known for its political demographic. He publishes his article there with the intent to persuade his intended audience, lawmakers, to pass additional policies and laws expanding foreign language in schools. McGray compiles evidence from history, research, and some of his own thoughts on global education in America. He includes several rhetorical choices such as historical references, statistics, urgency in tone, and analogies which he utilizes to highlight his point to lawmakers that foreign language is fundamentally important in America’s school system.

The environment engulfing me was foreign, filled with nervousness and apprehension. The Boys State of Kansas seemed to be a mere simulation of Kansas state’ governance on a college campus; it was much more. Being accompanied by utterly anonymous men, I knew little of anyone in my dormitory. I became situated in the Federalist Party, a conservative body as opposed to the liberal Nationalist Party. I never imagined adopting a conservative lens in politics. The feeling of dismay entered my consciousness. Incidentally, another obstruction entered my path. As I walked down the dimly lit hallway, I realized that I had no roommate. Consequently, I became ostracized in a physical manner from the remainder of the city of Mantey. I fretted that there would be little intellectual attainment upon my behalf. Yet, I stayed with the Federalists and pursued what was in the interests of my party, county, and city.

The presidential election of 2000 rose great suspicion due to its call for a ballot re-count in the state of Florida. The legitimacy of this election is considerably debatable in terms who truly won between Republican George W. Bush, and Democrat Al Gore. This correlates to the fact that 175,000 of Al Gore’s votes were deemed as “uncounted” raising suspicion among the Democratic party. Coincidentally, citizens of Palm Beach Florida became outraged as they became suspicious that their votes were counted incorrectly. As many of these citizens claimed they had voted for Gore, the ballots show they voted for Republican, Pat Buchanan. Due to this, a re-count of all ballots took place, thus leading to nationwide confusion as to who truly won.

Last night, the citizens of Iowa came out in record numbers to participate in the quirky, uniquely American Iowa Caucus, which kicks off the presidential nomination process. A complicated voting process that differs by party,—Republicans use a secret ballot while Democrats show support based on their location in the room—the Caucus has seen its share of vote counting errors. Most recently, in 2012, Mitt Romney was declared the initial winner when in fact Rick Santorum had won by mere 34 votes; a finding that took two weeks to determine and release publicly. This error afforded Romney a host of political benefits, including increased publicity and fundraising that he might not have otherwise received. Perhaps more vexing, however, was the fact that vote from eight of the state’s 1,774 precincts were lost in the process. While a small proportion of the total number of votes cast, this incident generated concern among many participants, causing them to question the legitimacy of the political process, in which all voters expect to have an equal voice in the process.

Every morning, a 71 year-old male stranger accompanies me on my way to school. I only know of his name, but I enjoy his company and chuckle as he comments on my generation’s use of language. Yet once NPR’s linguistic segment of Fresh Air ends, Geoff Nunberg’s witty remarks fade into the abyss. In the quietness of the car, I am left to revel in my own passion for languages: a transformative journey through Spanish and Chinese.

The election of a nation’s governing official is an event of great import. The power granted to such an individual is great indeed, and so much so that the position is considered its own branch of the government in and of itself. The trial that is the election is a competition unlike any other, with several professional liars competing for the favor of countless souls. During the election of 2000 this came to a head with several questionable occurrences taking place and lending obvious benefit to the Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan.The events of this election were less than savory, with some believing several facets of it were simply wrong from either a legal or moral standpoint. Late in the election it was discovered that several votes