Two beautiful voices

Two beautiful voices

I have always loved music, especially romantic songs. When I listen to music, I can  feel many emotions and I cannot resist the urge to want to sing like them. When I listen to certain songs, I get to remember certain scenes from movies, like in thecase of two of the most important and successful songs in history: My heart will go on interpreted by Celine Dion and I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. Both songs are movie themes. The first song was the theme song for Titanic in 1997 and the second song was the theme song for Bodyguard in 1992. These songs talk about the theme of love and present it as something great, something infinite. These songs also have some differences; although they are so successful, the main different is in the quality of the lyrics. The song “My heart will go on” but Celine Dion was the first and the most important. Though some artist have tried adapting some. In contrast, I will always love you was first sung by Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston and  II Divo. Other different is a original rhythm, a first song is ballad whereas as second country and later R&B genre.

The song My heart will go on was written by James Horner, it was the theme song for the movie Titanic in 1997. It is curious to know that Celine Dion did not want to sing the song at first because she thought it was inappropriate, but then, after talking with her manager and husband René Angelil, she decide to record the song and made it a hit. The song talks about the infinite love of two people on board of the Titanic, the people are Jack and Rose, interpreted by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The movie narrates the true history of a famous ship, but its emphasis is in the role love plays in the story, love is the most important event. The song: My heart will go on to refer to this love; probably this is the reason many people around the word, felt the power of love and they thought it could be possible to live with love forever. The song of Titanic won an Oscar for the best soundtrack in a movie and 4 Grammys: Record of the Year", "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance", "Song of the Year" and "Best Song from a Motion Picture.”

The song of  I will always love you was written by Dolly Parton in 1973 and rerecorded in 1982, in this moment, the song was the soundtrack of a musical movie “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” In 1992, Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner starred in a movie. For Whitney Houston it was the first time she acted in a movie and at the same time she sung I will always love you. The movie Bodyguard is about a capricious singer and her bodyguard, love was present in the whole movie and finally, they were separated but their love would unite them forever. The massage of the song is about love; a love that would remain although many difficulties might be present. The song is a beautiful promise of love, many people feel identified with a type of love, everyone needs love, like the Beatles song says, "All you need is love". Definitely love has inspired many songs around the world; in fact, the song has also been covered by many other significant artists including Linda Ronstadt and John Doe. In 1994 the song won  Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance Female and Best song from movie but the movie didn’t win an Oscar unlike Titanic who did. The song won many awards in The 4th Billboard Music Awards and the 19th People's Choice Awards.

Now speaking about differences between the two songs, we could say that the lyrics of My heart will go on are more dramatic and more emotional. The lyrics are powerful because they show how in love it does not matter if a person dies or time passes, the heart will go on. In Titanic the character of Leonardo DiCaprio died and Rose, whom narrated the story, showed us the power of love. Although she is an old woman when she is remembering the story, the main reason why people relate to the song I will always love you is because people must believe in a type of love; it might be a story about love, death and suicide even, and this caused a great impact in the audience. 

 The song  I will always love you, presents a different love, it is a love that defeats social barriers because she is a famous singer and he is a bodyguard, he loves her in a beginning a movie but she is immature, spoiled and capricious women, and the end she loved his, nevertheless a life both is complicate and they cannot together, the song explain a relationship, maybe many people feel identify too with a love.

The songs have different rhythms, the original version of I will always love you was a Country song, popular genre in the United States. Country music consists in a type of folk music and it use banjos, electric and acoustic guitar; Dolly Parton is a very famous country singer, she wrote the song I will always love you, for the Bodyguard movie, the original rhythm changed to R&B, a genre that combines hip hop, soul, pop and funk. Whitney Houston made it a hit. The song My heart will go on is a ballad genre, the genre is used traditionally for love songs because the structure is similar to a poem. The ballad includes rhyme, length, and number of lines and rhyming scheme, I think the ballad genre contributed to making this song a famous hit and won important awards.

I love both of these songs, I will always love you is a very beautiful song, Whitney Houston demonstrated her talent and incredible voice, before her death, this song represented an insigne song. In the other hand, My heart will go on interpreted by Celine Dion constitutes one of the more listen songs around the world. She showed a great vocal ability and emotionality. These songs were the theme song in the movies Bodyguard and Titanic, both songs have the same theme: to love forever. Also both of them won many awards, though My heart will go on won an Oscar for the best song and 4 Grammys and I will always love you won Grammys, Billboard Music Awards and People Choice. The most important differences between both songs is in the originality of their rhythm. I will always love you, written by Dolly Parton it is a country song, but then it changed later into the R&B genre and interpreted by Whitney Houston. The song of Celine Dion is a ballad since it was written by James Horner. Both songs represent an important hit in the music world and we always listening and appreciates a best vital romantic songs.

Visual Pollution: how affects our everyday life?

By Elma Barahona

Do you want to enjoy beautiful surroundings and have a healthy lifestyle? Then, stop trash throwing on the street!.  Trash throwing [MF1] in the street causes visual pollution that affects in different ways. First, it affects mental health; it may cause depression, stress, and anxiety. Second, it increases physical health because of the contamination by germs and viruses. Third, we cannot do outdoor activities like walking, running or simply sharing with our families and friends.

Trash throwing in the street, causes effects in mental health like depression, stress, and[MF2]  anxiety, because it is an aesthetic issue, and it affects our ability to enjoy the view. It is important that people understand that, because we don't have information about how trash throwing  relates with depression, stress and anxiety. Little campaigns in education in our communities about that are necessary because we must be show  the effects of visual pollution through special dates and narrating about personal experiences.

Trash throwing in the street, increases physical health problems because of the contamination caused by germs and viruses, because by increasing the amount of insects like mosquitoes, flies, and cockroaches affects our health.  Adequate amount of this insects are necessary because other animals need to eat them, but when the quantity goes out of control it increases the levels of contamination by germs and virus, which produces diseases by in some cases that can be deadly.  Create cleaning groups in our communities is important to maintain  our homes and public spaces permanently clean.

If, we throw trash on the street, we cannot do outdoors activities as a part of a healthy lifestyle. The reduction affects our integral health, physical and mental, because we lock ourselves in our houses, we loss the possibility to share with others, and we need to socialize with others as a part of our social networks.

Finally, it is important we understand that stop trash throwing is in our hands, is totally possible, only we need to made little changes in the form our see our relationship with the environment, physic and metal health need not sophisticated style life,   we need clean environment where we share with our social network like family, friends and community everyday life.

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 [MF1]Great thesis statement! Very concrete and direct!

 [MF2]Great examples on the description of your problem and suggesting of solutions.

Reflective Introduction

Reflective Introduction and Portfolio Assembly

               

Assignment

For an audience of college-level instructors and students, compose a Reflective Introduction for your course.  In this essay, you will apply your understanding of rhetoric and your own writing processes to discuss (1) the texts that the portfolio contains (particularly the rhetorical choices that you made with regard to their initial composition, the revisions you made to them, and your reasons for including them in the portfolio), and (2) your development as a writer (or lack thereof if that was your experience in English B2).  

Suggested page-length for draft: 2-3 double-spaced pages, 12 pt. font, 1" margins

Genre

Metacognitive Analysis

For more instruction see: Comprehension letter

Some Models to Follow:

Lost at Sea

Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill Fails to Face Coastal Realities

In the Year of the Storm

Reflective Introduction Guidelines

A. The Reflective Introduction should provide evidence of your acquisition of “content knowledge” during the semester.  It should demonstrate your understanding of rhetorical theory and the composing processes.

B. The Reflective Introduction should provide evidence of your acquisition of “metacognitive knowledge” during the semester. It should demonstrate your critical engagement with your own writing process and your appreciation of how rhetorical theory applies to your own writing.

C. The Reflective Introduction should provide evidence of your facility with the level of written communication expected of college students.  It should demonstrate your ability to make wise choices about how to frame your work for the intended audience. 

D. The Reflective Introduction should have a title and introduction that foster the reader’s interest.

E. The Reflective Introduction should present a clear thesis that conveys an evaluation of your work and development.

F. The Reflective Introduction should provide sufficient evidence from a variety of sources (assigned readings, drafts, finished essays, peer and instructor commentary, postwrites) in support of claims. These sources must be attributed and cited appropriately and accurately.

G. The Reflective Introduction should have a logical organization aided by effective transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and larger sections.

H. The Reflective Introduction should be free of mechanical, grammatical, and usage errors.  

The Effects of Pollution

The effects of Pollution
 

Many times I heard about Pollution but I never knew exactly what it was? According to 'Earth Eclipse’: “Pollution is the contamination of the environment by the introduction of contaminants that can cause damage to the environment and harm or discomfort humans or other living species.” Pollution is a real and serious problem for us, many countries around the world and there should be intended ways to decrease this problem, but we can be at home, office or school, we can contribute to decrease pollution. In fact, there are some types of pollution, like: air, water, soil, noise and light pollution and there are many effects provoked by these problems. This essay proposes some real solutions for a problem: Understand the concept of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, use public mode of transportation and reforest areas near home.

The different types of pollution can cause many consequences to our health (diseases like cancer, lung, and asthma) natural resources, cost of energy, contamination of water sources, global temperature increase, etc. A big solution is in small daily activities any person can make. Air and water are the most important resources for humans; the main cause for air pollution is carbon dioxide from  cars, trucks, vehicles, etc. Water pollution is provoked by 'Petroleum Seeps’; this is a several problem for us. A real solution for air and water pollution is to use public transportation because we need to use less cars and trucks, if we use fewer vehicles, the carbon dioxide will decrease. In the capital of Honduras, we can use a bike or walk from home to the office, to the university or also to school. Many people use the Trans to exercise, walk or ride a bike.

            In other hand, soil, noise and light pollution are other type of pollution. The soil pollution is related to water pollution because the sources of water are contaminated, the land is contaminated too, and the main causes for this type of pollution are: Agricultural and construction activities, deforestation and Overcrowded landfills. (Conserve the Energy of the Future). The noise pollution consists in strong sounds occasioned by music, television, traffic, people talking on their phone, etc. The causes for noise pollution are industrialization, poor urban planning, social events, transportation and construction activities, etc. (Conserve Energy Future). The essential effects of noise pollution are hearing problems, Sleeping Disorders, Cardiovascular Issues and Trouble Communicating. The solutions for soil and noise pollution are to understand the concept of reduce, reuse and recycle and reforest areas near to your house.     In national and international media, many companies and ONG's are talking about the importance of recycling but in addition, it is necessary to understand well the concept of reduce and reuse also. People need to reduce the consuming of energy, petroleum, electronic devices, vehicles, etc. and to learn reuse water, paper, carton, boxes, plastic bottles, cotton, aluminum, etc. Many schools around the world teach a student about reducing, reusing and recycling.

  

A solution requires a change of mind, the world is drastically changing, and people need to change too. Pollution is a severe problem so we can be looking for a way to stop it. Toxic pollution affects more than 200 million people worldwide, according to Pure Earth. In accordance with Merriam-Webster, reforestation is the act of planting tree seeds or young trees in an area where there used to be a forest. In Honduras, like other countries of the world, the reforestation is a way to save the planet because it reduces a concentration of CO2; protecting species and can reverse the damage done by erosion. In the schools, teachers can begin with campaigns of reforestation, in offices or universities; people can plant a tree or take care of a plant, step by step together help to fight against pollution. At home, families’ plant gardens and children learn about how to protect the planet. It is necessary to change our unconcerned attitude and understand that the Earth planet is the only place where we can live.

In summary, the pollution is a problem that affects me and my family, it isn’t only a government problem because the planet is a place for all of us to live in; the solution is in our hands, but it is necessary to have a change of mind, turn off the lights when don´t use is advertising in several places, so we need to turn off the passive attitude and take this problem and solve it, by using public means of transportation like bikes or walking, these are solutions to reduce air pollution and benefit our health. Maybe we can’t buy a bike, but we can walk. We only need to be aware because many places in Tegucigalpa and other cities are dangerous. The concepts of reduce, reuse and recycle are the most important to understand, people call it the 3Rs, it is a key for a healthy planet.  At home, in the office, in the university, at school, in the bank, at a restaurant, anywhere where you are, remember the 3Rs all the time. Finally, reforest a lot of land, beginning with your home. Plant a tree, it is start a change of mind and contribute to salve our planet, only place for live.

References

Conserve Energy Future. Available in http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-land-pollution.php

Dictionary Merriam-Webster. Available in http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Pure Earth. Available in http://www.livescience.com/22728-pollution-facts.html