As I finished reading "All The Presidents Men" I knew the value of this book. If the two reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, had not worked together to achieve all the facts and evidence to prove President Nixon guilty, the citizens of the United States would have not known the true story. The fact that they were displaying articles in the Washington Post for people to read allowed Americans to see what was going on in our government during the time instead of being kept in the dark. This book was written to allow people of the future to read and understand the true story of what happened during Nixon's presidency. This former president sets an example that you should always have integrity no matter if you are a leader of a country or working a minimum wage job. The truth will always find its way out. At the end of this book it shows that Nixon is re relected, but hints at him later resigning. This is because the whole plot of the story is an investigation so there is no resolution. On the 336th page President Nixon says, "I want you to know that I have no intention whatever of walking away from the job that the American people have elected me to do for the people of the United States." Even though this is the ending it foreshadows that he will eventually resign.
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In the book I am reading Bernstein and Woodward have continued to investigate the burglary of Watergate and how it connects to the US government. Their evdience includes money tranactions and talking to those connected to the suspects of the crime. They are beginning to question Nixon's role in this situation, but are not at all convinced he is part of it. Since they work for the Washington Post their articles are published and people are not reacting very well to their observations. Their evidence is not hard enough they are starting to stuggle. This book relates to present day because when people read news that is not completely proven they either believe it and think it is reliable or react poorly. This is what is happening to Woodward and Berstein. President Nixon said that he and the US government had nothing to do with the Watergate Burglary so the citizens believed him because he is a leader. Even today when a leader of a country tell his citizens soemthing they naturally believe him.
The book I have chosen to read is "All the Presidents Men" by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. I am interested in President Nixon's Watergate Scandal and this book tell an accurate story line of this event in the United States. During this time, Nixon had ended our involvement with the Vietnam War along with terminating the military draft. My book shows the Watergate Scandal from the side of the reporters researching it at the time. The two authors were working at the Washington Post and writing newspaper articles on the scandal. They had to dig through information to figure out the facts. The reporters talked to government officials, police officers, attorneys and others connected. Bernstein and Woodward decided to work together and combine research. The citizens of America believe what was in the news so the newspaper influenced their thinking on Nixon. He was a respected leader and was trusted so people believed what he said even if it might not be true. This book is a timeline from beginning to end completely describing and connecting to the Watergate Scandal.
Introduction Do you know what it feels like to be living on the streets, sleeping in an alleyway, and having looks of disgust shot at you? Homelessness is when someone has inadequate housing or living situations, whether it be living on the streets, staying in a shelter or in any other unstable or non-permanent situation. When a person cannot find a job or a way to earn money to afford housing, they are forced into homeless shelters or to live on the streets. About twenty percent of people in the United States of America currently lack adequate housing. (White 1) When someone is homeless they feel that their life is worthless or they are not cared for. Everyone should care about this issue because one day you could find yourself homeless on the streets. How would you feel about people not caring a drop about you? The reason we chose this issue is that we can empathize for all the homeless people, as we have seen the effects of homelessness on the body and mind. When one of our group members visited Africa he saw kids around the age of five to six walking on the streets and wearing rags giving him the evil eye, showing the resentment and jealousy homeless people hold toward those with stable housing and food supply. Homelessness negatively impacts our society as a whole. Those in poverty have more tendency to commit crimes than others. Taxes have to be raised in order to provide more shelter and food. Hunger negatively affects people's ability to work and overall decreases productivity. The ones most affected from this issue are those that are homeless themselves. Their mental health starts to be affected negatively and many start using drugs. Those who are homeless have many troubles that can be fixed with our help. The Issue Did you know that of the 4,000 homeless people in Wake County, 2,736 of them are Wake County students? (Raleigh Rescue Mission 2018) Homelessness is an issue anyone can face. One moment you could be relaxing in your multi-million dollar house, and the next moment you are on the street corner asking passing cars for spare change. Homelessness has always been an issue and it continue if our community does not change. “Socialists also recognize that poverty under capitalism is largely maintained by a skewed distribution of wealth and services, not by lack of a work ethic.” (Duhalde 2013) While our country’s Capitalist government is amazing in some ways, it also has some flaws like harvesting the issue of homelessness. Most people have never heard of invisible homelessness. Invisible homelessness is when a person doesn’t have a stable home and is crashing at a differents friend’s house every night. Almost 1 in 12 Wake County residents have sheltered someone who might otherwise be homeless. (Raleigh Rescue Mission 2018) If the amount of people that are invisibly homeless were counted in the statistics, there would be a lot more homeless people on record. There are many reasons as to why a person would be homeless. A few of those reasons are:
There are many effects homelessness has on people and especially children. Here are some shocking facts:
Homelessness doesn’t just affect the individual people, but also the community. The effects of homelessness on society can be quite costly, not only in terms of tax dollars spent but on the strain it puts on social agencies, individuals and families. Taxpayer’s hard earned money is used to fund shelters, pay for homeless people’s medical bills, and pay to fund jails where a many homeless people sadly end up. According to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, it would be cheaper to solve the problem of homelessness as opposed to continuing to pay their expenses. The tax dollars could go towards education, infrastructure, and so much more that we could all benefit from. One homeless person costs taxpayers 40,000 dollars a year. (Moorhead 2012). Also, homelessness isn’t a good look for a location trying to attract tourists. Tourism increases jobs and the wealth of an area. Another negative effect of homelessness on the community is crime. A fifth of homeless people have committed imprisonable offences like shoplifting. (Ramesh 2010) When people are put in stressful situations they will do anything they have to to get out of it and survive. If this issue is not taken care of, taxes will continue to go up, crime levels won’t go down, and homelessness’ victims will continue to struggle. The Solution Since homelessness is such a big issue in our community, there are a lot of people desperately looking for ways to help the homeless population. Over time, people who were willing to give have come up with various solutions to lessen the burdens placed upon those without a home to live in. While taking the number of homeless people into account, one issue we can all agree on is that the homeless may have a hard time gaining access to food. A lot of these people do not know when their next meal will come. The Raleigh Rescue Mission in particular, is known for giving meals to those in need. Typically, they’ll serve over 140,000 meals per year. A solution to those going hungry, would be making more food available to those who are in need. The Raleigh Rescue Mission is an organization which helps the homeless throughout the city. They provide meals for those who need it, and have helped plenty of people get back on their feet. They happen to offer a selection of volunteer services, one of which directly helps people who need food. They allow you to help prepare 60-65 meals for their overnight emergency shelter, so that shelter guests will have a source of food available to them once they leave the shelter the following morning. By them doing this, they can provide one more meal that may save a life. We still need to help the homeless, because there are still people who are living in poverty, who cannot find an adequate meal, or shelter to stay. These are basic human rights that should be applied to every human being. What can we do to help? Many homeless people in our community do not know where their next meal is coming from. Those in poverty have trouble maintaining a stable food source. The Urban Ministries in Wake County is a non-profit organization that helps provide shelter, food and medicine for those who are less fortunate. Maintaining a healthy nutrition is important and Urban Ministries has a food pantry that can help those in need. They provide food for struggling families to help get them back on their feet. We have the ability to help those within poverty is by hosting a food drive. With the help of Martin’s students donating food over a couple of weeks we can make a difference by filling the food pantry at Urban Ministries. The food drive will start a week before our day of service. Our goal for this project is to collect 400 boxes and cans of food for those in need. This is a measurable goal that we are able figure out. When students enter the school building they can drop off food in the donation pile either outside the front office or student services. Posters will be needed to advertise the food drive Two of our group members are Martin Ambassadors and we can ask this group to help make the posters. We will ask the assistant principals to remind each grade level during lunch to bring in food donations. Large boxes are needed to collect the food in. The cafeteria stores boxes in the kitchen so we will ask the cafeteria ladies if we are able to use them for our food drive. On the day of service those who signed up will sort the food by category such as, dry goods, canned goods, beverages, sauces and spreads. We will do this at Martin in the cafeteria. This space is empty in the morning so it will be available for our use. Everyone who signed up for this project will help deliver the food to Urban Ministries in a bus. Sammy Hobgood, the volunteer coordinator at Urban Ministries, has communicated with one of our group members and discussed the requirements and availability for this project. One chaperone is needed per five people and there can be a little or as many students for participation. He will be at Urban Ministries to provide guidance during the food drop off. A three week notice is necessary for this project in order to prepare. Urban Ministries welcomes us to host a food drive because every little bit counts. We should help our community as much as we can because you never know when you might need help from your community. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”-Margaret Mead Bibliography
DeRonja, Emily M. “Food Drive for Urban Ministries.” Message to Sammy Hobgood 26 January 2018 DeRonja, Emily M. “Food Drive for Urban Ministries.” Message to Sammy Hobgood 26 January 2018 DeRonja, Emily M. “Group Volunteer for Martin Middle School.” Message to Sammy Hobgood 25 January 2018 Dr. Schwartzbard, Julie ”factors that affect focus and concentration.” Bettermind. January 31. 2018 <https://www.bettermind.com/articles/factors-that-affect-focus-and-concentration/> Duhalde, David. “Capitalism and Poverty: A Socialists Analysis.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2 June 2006. 26 January 2018 <http://www.dsausa.org/capitalism_and_poverty> Hobgood, Sammy M. “Food Drive for Urban Ministries.” Message to Emily DeRonja 26 January 2018 Hobgood, Sammy M. “Food Drive for Urban Ministries.” Message to Emily DeRonja 26 January 2018 Hobgood, Sammy M. “Food Drive for Urban Ministries.” Message to Emily DeRonja 26 January 2018 “Homelessness.” Raleigh Rescue Mission. 2018. 28 January 2018 <http://www.raleighrescue.org/homelessness/> “How Many People with Serious Mental Illness Are Homeless.” Treatment Advocacy Center. 25 July 2014. 1 January 2018 <http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/fixing-the-system/features-and-news/2596-how-many-people-with-serious-mental-illness-are-homeless> “Impact of homelessness.” Homeless Link. 2018. 24 January 2018. Moorhead, Molly. “HUD secretary says a homeless person costs taxpayers $40,000 a year.” Politifact. 12 March 2012. 26 January 2018 <http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/mar/12/shaun-donovan/hud-secretary-says-homeless-person-costs-taxpayers/> Randeep, Ramesh. “A fifth of all homeless people have commited a crime to get off the streets.” The Guardian. 22 December 2010. 28 January 2018 <https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/dec/23/homeless-committing-crimes-for-shelter> Thoeni,Katherine“Homelessness in our community affects us all” Unitedwaymcca. January 31. 2018. <http://www.unitedwaymcca.org/homelessness-our-community-affects-us-all> “Volunteer.” Raleigh Rescue Mission. 2018. 25 January 2018 <http://www.raleighrescue.org/get-involved/volunteer/> “What is the official definition of homelessness.” Nhchc.. January 31. 2018. <https://www.nhchc.org/faq/official-definition-homelessness/> “Why Are People Homeless?.” Salvation Army. 2017. 24 January 2018. <http://www.salvationarmy.org.au/en/Who-We-Are/our-work/Homelessness/Why-are-people-homeless/>Gillian B. White”rural america’s silent housing crisis”theatlantic.com January 31. 2018 <https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/rural-americas-silent-housing-crisis/384885/> Child Abuse has become a serious issue in our community. Every year there are thousands of cases of child abuse reported in Wake County. This is a problem that is important to me because my mother is the Executive director of SAFEchild. This is the only non profit organization in Wake County that works directly with families. She has worked here for 14 years and has fulfilled every job there is to offer at SAFEchild. I have grown up watching my mom putting others before herself everyday no matter what the situation. SAFEchild works with approximately 900 families each year through their many programs. It is hard to put yourself in a child’s position where they are scared to go home after school or scared to go to sleep at night. These children in our community are scarred not only physically, but also mentally. They have trouble speaking up for themselves. Children often have trouble putting their traumatic event into words which make it hard to prove the adult guilty. Our community needs to help because no child ever deserves to be abused or neglected. One way we can help is to create no sew blankets for children to comfort them. SAFEchild provides each child who comes to them a blanket to love on. It has been proven in research that every child should have a parent no matter if they are biological or not, to take care of them because it helps a child mentally. Child abuse is a large problem in our community that needs to be prevented.
I believe that having a close relationship with your family is important because they are the people who have always been there and continue to be there for you. The crisp wind of late December blew past me as I stood outside my grandparents house. My extended family from my dad's side were all there taking pictures with each other. All seventeen of us were crammed were together to saying, “Cheese!” My cousins and I were eager to hop on the Party Bus we had rented to drive around Washington DC. After thirty minutes of flash in our faces we boarded the big bus outside the driveway. As I stepped on, the air smelled of cat odor freshener and there were laser lights shining everywhere. My family and I got seated and as we took off music started to blast from the speakers. We were on our way to the Portofino Restaurant to have dinner in honor of my grandparents 50th anniversary. My entire dad's side of the family hadn't all been together since my great grandmother's 100th birthday party __ years ago. We have seen each other multiple times since, but not everyone together at one point in time. The sun was setting as we got off the bus and walked into the restaurant. The owner of the Portofino is my dad's college friend and his wife is my mom’s boarding school friend. They were the people who set my parents on a blind date and the rest is history. There was a long table reserved for us and as we sat down the waiters handed us each an Italian menu. I sat across from my cousin, Eva and in between my sister, Josie and my other cousin, Sydney. I had been to this restaurant multiple times and no matter what meal you get it is always wonderful. Once we ate our main course, we ordered dessert because it was a very special occasion. Many toasts were given, but the one that stood out to me was my mom’s. She talked about how my grandparents were the parents she never got. Her parents divorced when she was young and that is always hard with four other siblings. My grandparents are always welcoming and have such a great relationship with each other. The fact that they have been together for so long and that they have raised a family that still is very close is amazing. This made an impact on me because it showed me that I am so fortunate to have such wonderful family where my parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins all love each other. I want this relationship with my family to continue and when I'm older I want to be like my dad is with his sisters and parents. I think that is important to cherish the time you have with your family because people do not last forever, but memories do. When you make the most of your time you’ll be able to keep those special times in your heart. |