Thursday, May 10, 2007

I have found this blogging to be interesting but I have to admit I am not a blogger. But I do think it is a great idea to see other people's writings.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Anootated Bibliography

My question is how to help the homeless and not only how many homeless there are but also how the summers here in Phoenix hurt them. I found numerous sites that talked about a couple of years ago when it was extremely hot and quite a few homeless people died because of the heat. I mainly focused on that because some websites said how there just wasn’t enough shelters and how awful that theses deaths could have been prevented if there was adequate shelter. I did seem to have a hard time finding statistics about how many homeless people there are in the Phoenix area. I found a website that talked about homeless people in general and the statistics but that website wasn’t very reliable. I did eventually find one accidentally because it was talking about how the heat killed so many homeless and then it went into statistics.
I did search the databases and I found a couple but not a lot about homeless in the Phoenix area just about the homeless in general. I also couldn’t find too much about the lack of shelters here but I did manage to find a website that does talk about how many shelters there are. Most of the sites I did find I did a Google search on them and that were the most successful of all the searches. The research I did for this assignment did take a lot longer then I thought it would take. I just thought there would be quite a few things about the plight of the homeless. But what I did find was a lot of sources I didn’t think were very reliable and I did put a couple of them in there that I wouldn’t use. I did find a blog about how this person felt about the homeless and I put that in the annotated bibliography but I won’t be using that in the final paper.
I do have a couple of sites that I didn’t include in the bibliography because I found them after I had finished the bibliography. One talks quite a bit about the homeless in the Phoenix area and the other is about unclaimed lottery winnings. I had been thinking about if I want more shelters, where would the money come from and I began to think about all the unclaimed lottery winnings and what happens to it. So I found on the lottery website what does happen with it and will include it in the final paper about how some of that money could go into building more shelters and helping the homeless get back on their feet.
I am glad I chose this subject even though it was harder then I thought it would be trying to find research on it. I found out about how some people feel about the homeless that really isn’t true. I also found that there are a lot of people who do care and do help them any way they can but more needs to be done. It seems that this is a problem that isn’t going away and things do need to change.


Anthony, Joe “Homeless Die in Arizona Heat Wave.” World Socialist Web Site.

26, July 2005. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jul2005/heat-j26.shtml.

This article talks about how in 2005, 21 people died most of them homeless from the heat. It also says that this would not have happened if there would have been more shelters available for them to stay at. Also that the situation should be taken seriously if people want to stop this from happening again.

This author seems to know what he is talking about he talks some about statistics not just his personal view of the subject. The only thing is I couldn’t find anything about this author to see what other works he has done. This article is two years old but the situation is still a problem that really has not been resolved. So I think this information is still prevalent to use now. The author reviews different things for this website but he does seem to know what he is talking about.

“At Least 41 People Die In Western U.S. Heat wave.” Terra Daily News. 26, July 2005

http://www.terradaily.com/news/weather-05zw.html

In this article it talks about how the homeless are dying in this terrible heat wave. The homeless aren’t finding water, they either can’t afford to buy water or they can’t even find drinking fountains. This heat is also burning their feet because quite a few doesn’t even have shoes.

There is no author on this but I have found several articles from terradaily news that sound credible to me. This article is a couple of years old but the heat wave and the homeless are still here so to me this seems relevant still. It shows how terrible this is for the homeless and helps give an overview of how terrible this is.

“Arizona Heat Wave Kills 18.” Fox News.Com. 21, July 2005

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163184,00.html

This one not only states how the heat is killing the homeless but how homeless shelters are opening their doors during the day to help people get out of the heat. They talk to a guy who sleeps by the canal to help keep him cool. It also gives statistics on how many homeless there are.

There is no author on this one but Fox News is a pretty reliable source. Again this article is a couple of years old but this topic never gets old so it is still relevant with how the homeless are affected by the heat.

Broder, John M. “Ferocious Heat Maintains Grip Across the West. (National Desk).”

The New York Times (July 23, 2005: A1 (L). InfoTrac OneFile Thomson

Maricopa County Community College. 27 Mar. 2007 http://find.galegroup.com

This one talks about how people are trying to help the homeless in the heat. People from Social Services are handing out bottled water to the homeless. It also talks about how some homeless are actually refusing to go into the shelters because some are drug users or are mentally ill.

John Broder has done several articles for The New York Times so he seems to be pretty reliable. This article seems relevant to what I am doing it discusses how people are helping the homeless and how some don’t even want to be helped. This site also gives you references to other sources that talk about the homeless as well.

“Homeless Statistics.” http://www.homeless-people.info/

This article just talks about how many homeless there are in the U.S. It also shows how many shelters there are and how many homeless children there are as well. Also it talks about how the numbers increase each year.

There is no author at all on this article. I really don’t think this would be a reliable source for statistics. All I could find was the website no publisher and not even a date for the article and it doesn’t really say how they got the numbers as well. For me this website probably wouldn’t be a very reliable source.

“Impact: Many Homeless Die In Arizona Heat.” The America’s Intelligence Wire

(July 26, 2005): NA. InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. Maricopa County

Community College. 27 Mar.2007 http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark

This article not only talks about the heat but how the police department is trying to help the homeless as well. But that there is no law to force the homeless into shelters even if it is only for their own good. It also goes into how a lot of people think that the homeless are drug addicts or mentally ill and don’t want help and it isn’t the case in all situations.

This is also from Fox News Channel so it would seem that it would be a reliable source as well. The article is from 2005 but the date isn’t that old and the situation is still an ongoing problem. This article for me would help me in finding how not only the heat is affecting homeless but other people’s attitude about the homeless.
Mehta, Shreema “Homeless Dying with No Escape from Record Heat.” The New

Standard. 27, July 2006. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3466.


In this article he talks about not only about how people are dying from the heat but also how during the day some are kicked out of shelters. He says how there is a misconception that they should be kicked out during the day to find jobs but when it is so hot out and no shelter they just die. It also talks about how people see them trying to get shade and people complain and make them move and that changes need to be made to stop people from dying.

The author is a staff journalist who is specialized in hard news coverage of US issues and events. This person does seem to know what he is talking about and he has done several well done articles that I have found. He brings up really good points about how the homeless are ignored and the misconceptions about them.

Shaffer, Mark. “In Arizona’s Outlying Areas Homeless Find Little Shelter.” The Arizona

Republic 26, August 2006.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0822ruralhomeless0822.html

This Article talks about how in the rural areas the homeless have even less shelters. It also gives statistics on the homeless and how in increases. Also they have about traveling homeless trying to find shelters in the rural areas but there isn’t that many to find. The article also goes on to say how Arizona is trying to help the homeless but grant money is hard to get.

The author Mark Shaffer has done several articles for The Arizona Republic so he seems to be a reliable source as well. The date also is only a year old so that is good as well. This article would be helpful in helping to write about the homeless it has good useful information not only about the homeless but how Arizona is really trying to help.

“Social Services Providers Call For More Homeless Shelters”.

Arizona Daily Star. 3, August 2005. http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/87025 .

This one talks about how social services are trying to help the homeless and especially help them in the summer time. Also how the state is trying to get more money to put into the shelters and those private and corporate donations is helping as well.

There is no author for this article but it is from the Arizona Daily Star and it is a local paper from Tucson. So this article would be from a reliable source as well. The date is from 2005 so maybe not the most updated article but still has some useful information that could help with my paper.

Shireman, Richard. “Homeless Myths Diminish us and Them.” St Pebersburg Times.

28, March 2007.

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/28/Neighborhoodtimes/Homelessmyths_dimini.shtm

This article talks about how people think that most homeless people don’t even want help and seem really annoyed about homeless in general. But how the way people are thinking is just not true that most people really do want help but they are ashamed to even ask for help or even afraid.

Richard Shireman has done several articles for St. Petersburg Times and he has done several about the homeless. So I would definitely think he knows what he is talking about and would be a good reliable source. The date is just from a couple of days ago, this is very recent which is good as well. I also like how it gives you the homeless point of view as well.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Research on Assignment 3

I have been doing research on how to try to solve the problem on homeless people in Arizona and how the heat effects them. It is going pretty good I have found a lot about how quite a few people have died from the heat when they have been homeless. Now I need to start research on the lack of shelters here which I know contribute to the fact that there is so many homeless.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Finished writing assignment 2

I found a lot of interesting things about mandating this cervical vaccination. I was against it from the beginning but when I learned that the Governor could have been motivated by money instead of the health of girls then I was definately against it. I still stand by my conviction that this kind of stuff needs to be up to the parent not the government.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Started new assignment

I have started research on this assignment and I have found quite a bit. I am glad I chose this subject because I found a lot of interesting things about it.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Reflections on Letter to Editor

The first thing I needed to do was decide what publication I was going to use. I looked through some magazines at first but I just didn’t think I wanted to that route. I always read the newspaper so that seemed to make more sense to me to use that. I read the letters that were sent to the newspaper and the length seem good to me. Also the people that wrote in some were very insightful and well thought out. I also thought the newspaper reaches quite a bit of people around the valley and that seemed to fit as well.
I then had to think of a subject to write about. At the time I was researching what to write, on the news was all about this family that was kicked off this airline. The parents were all in an uproar about it even when the airline gave them free tickets they weren’t satisfied with it. I was hearing a lot of comments on this story some were in favor of the parents but most seemed to think the airline did the right thing. Then that got me to thinking about my situation since I have two kids, and seeing if the airline was justified in what they did. It just seemed to me that this story was interesting and I did feel bad for the airline.
I also decided on this story because I had a personal interest in it as well. I know when you are traveling with kids it can be rough. I have never been on an airplane with my kids but I have traveled to another state with them in the car. It can be challenging to keep them entertained and make sure they aren’t bored. But I know my kids and what they like to do and how quick their attention span can be. I always make sure they have plenty of stuff to do on the trip. They get to pick out toys and coloring books and I even have videos for them to watch. The kids also know when I mean business for them to be quite and play on their own. The parents of this child couldn’t get her to calm down at all and she was also running around and wouldn’t sit in her seat. When I first heard about the story I immediately thought the parents should have had their daughter under control more then they did. When they were being interviewed by some news stations they were actually indignant about the whole thing. Not one time did they say that they might have had some responsibility in that situation. I couldn’t believe that at all, because that to me is what is wrong with some kids today. The parents can’t get their kids under control and some how it is other people’s fault. When I started to write the letter to the editor I had and still have high hopes that it will reach some parents. Parents need to think not only ahead of time of their children’s needs but how a child will react to certain situations. This letter should be a lesson that parents are responsible for their children’s actions and need to be held accountable.
I chose the airlines point of view for quite a few reasons. One is the rules of take off that the airline has. They can’t take off until everybody is in their seat and buckled up, that is for the safety of everybody on board. They actually waited fifteen minutes to see if the child would settle down and sit in her seat. But the girl just kept screaming and running around and going under the seat. The airline had a responsibility to not only them but the other passengers as well. The other passengers might have had connecting flights or even business meetings they had to go to. The airline just couldn’t wait any longer they needed to take so that is why they needed to get them off. The parents just couldn’t get their daughter to do anything but run around and scream. In my opinion the airline definitely seemed justified in making them get off of the airplane.
There were other opinions saying that they airline shouldn’t have done that, that is just rude of them. That is why I decided to write on this subject. Parents need to realize they are the grown ups and the child needs to listen to them especially in situations like this. If I had been in that situation I know what to bring to get my kids attention and keep them occupied. They also know that when I tell them to sit down and be quite that is exactly what they need to do. Even though this girl was only three she knew she should have listened to her parents but it seemed to me the girl had the power and not the parents. The parents didn’t accept any responsibility for what happened and that to me just seemed wrong. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and not blame somebody else for their wrong doing. I just needed to get that point across and that is why I wanted to write about this story.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Letter to Editor

February 7, 2007

Tribune letters to the Editor
120 W First Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85210

Dear Editor:

I would like to comment on the story about the parents who were kicked off the airplane because their daughter wouldn’t stop screaming. I whole heartedly agree with the airline on this one. The airline has a responsibility to all of its passengers to not only get them to their destination on time but get them there safely.

The child wouldn’t sit in her seat so the airplane could take off. They actually waited fifteen minutes for the couple’s daughter to sit but they just couldn’t wait any longer. That is why they were taken off the plane. The airplane can’t take off until everybody is seated and buckled in. The parents were even reimbursed for their tickets and even offered them three round trip tickets anywhere the airline flew. The parents wouldn’t even accept that at all. I am disappointed that the parents would even accept any responsibility for what their child did. They went on the news making the airline look bad even though it was partially their fault and that doesn’t seem right.

I have children of my own and even though they can be rambunctious I know what to do to get them to settle down and it was the parent’s responsibility to do just that. I think the airline gave the parent’s ample time to try to get their daughter in her own seat but time didn’t matter. That child just wouldn’t listen and settle down. The airline didn’t have any other choice but to make that decision.

Sincerely,

Rhonda Lilly
108 North 40th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85034