It’s going to be a busy week with the end of the semester conferences and the start of finals. Make sure to take care of yourself during this busy time! Best wishes for you all on your finals!

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It’s going to be a busy week with the end of the semester conferences and the start of finals. Make sure to take care of yourself during this busy time! Best wishes for you all on your finals!
My civic text targets the issue which I believe is most ignored that is Gender Pay Gap. Yes, I dont know how many of the students are aware of this issue,. I believe it is very important to raise awareness among students.about equal wage because when it comes to attend class and do assignment or keeping up with our GPA, both genders are treated equally..and when they join the workforce both put equal amount of effort, so then why the Gap in wage. Men are paid more than women are paid over their lifetimes. Some questions pops in mind when we think about it - Are women paid less because they choose lower-paying jobs? Is it because more women work part time than men do? Or is it because women tend to be the primary caregivers for their children?
In 2013, AAUW’s reported, among full-time, year-round workers, women were paid 78 percent of what men were paid. The report explains the pay gap in the United States; how it affects women of all ages, races, and education levels; and what you can do to close it
Women in every state experience the pay gap, but some states are worse than others. The best place in the United States for pay equity is Washington, D.C., where women were paid 91 percent of what men were paid in 2013. At the other end of the spectrum is Louisiana, the worst state in the country for pay equity, where women were paid just 66 percent of what men were paid. The pay gap is worse for women of color. The gender pay gap affects all women, but for women of color the pay shortfall is worse. Asian American women’s salaries show the smallest gender pay gap, at 90 percent of white men’s earnings. Hispanic women’s salaries show the largest gap, at 54 percent of white men’s earnings. White men are used as a benchmark because they make up the largest demographic group in the labor force. Women face a pay gap in nearly every occupation. From elementary and middle school teachers to computer programmers, women are paid less than men in female-dominated, gender-balanced, and male-dominated occupations. The pay gap grows with age. Women typically earn about 90 percent of what men are paid until they hit 35. After that median earnings for women are typically 75–80 percent of what men are paid. While more education is an effective tool for increasing earnings, it is not an effective tool against the gender pay gap. At every level of academic achievement, women’s median earnings are less than men’s earnings, and in some cases, the gender pay gap is larger at higher levels of education. While education helps everyone, black and Hispanic women earn less than their white and Asian peers do, even when they have the same educational credentials. The pay gap also exists among women without children. AAUW’s Graduating to a Pay Gap found that among full-time workers one year after college graduation — nearly all of whom were childless — women were paid just 82 percent of what their male counterparts were paid. Here are changes that can help close the wage gap. For companies While some CEOs have been vocal in their commitment to paying workers fairly, American women can’t wait for trickle-down change. AAUW urges companies to conduct salary audits to proactively monitor and address gender-based pay differences. It’s just good business. For individuals Women can learn strategies to better negotiate for fair pay. Improved negotiation skills can help close the pay gap. For policy makers The Paycheck Fairness Act would improve the scope of the Equal Pay Act, which hasn’t been updated since 1963, with stronger incentives for employers to follow the law, enhance federal enforcement efforts, and prohibit retaliation against workers asking about wage practices. Tell the Congress to take action for equal pay.
Writing as Public Power
After reading Gabor's piece first thing came to my mind is all of us participate in heated conversations where all talk about issues in our society that's impacting our lives adversely and yet none of the participants takes actions to do something about it. Now I feel, probably one of the reason is exactly what Gabor talks about in here piece that does simply not know how to approach it. Catherine Gabor really does a great job at breaking down the meaning of civic literacy. She mentions that many students can confuse the meaning, because “civic” and “literacy” are slipper words. I can understand how some students think of civic literacy as knowing how to write and propose a bill, or how to write a political speech. I suppose they could be forms of civic literacy, but many students don’t realize how common forms of civic literacy can be. Again, Gabor does a phenomenal job at proving this. She provides examples, which makes it easier for readers to get a practical usage of common civic literacy. Also, she explains it’s purpose. Rhetoric is the method in which things get accomplished in a society, as it is the persuasive ideology one shares with his/her peers. She then neatly explains how civic literacy is always concerning people, whether its an issue about people, for people, or an issue that is raised with people. Civic literacy is a very involved form of literacy and it will always concern someone else other than ones self.
“The Concept of Discourse Community,” John Swales
I read so many post about Swales’s work and everyone finding it very dry and hard to comprehend or some might say confusing, On the contrary, I feel that Swales has only spelled out the specifics of a discourse community is which most of us are already aware of it. In these days almost everyone is part of some communities and understands these specifics in a implied senses. Only difference is that no one really takes time to sit and start writing the rules and specifics of it. Being that said, if someone comes across the term “discourse community” for the first time, Swales has explained it to the best to the level where it gives a pretty good idea to comprehend it.
According to Swales, a discourse community can be recognized by these six characteristics:
1. A broadly agreed set of public goals
2. Mechanisms of intercommunication among members
3. Use of participatory mechanisms to provide feedback and information
4. Utilization of one or more genres
5. Some...
Let me start off this blog post by saying that I have never related to a piece of writing in this class more than when I read Writing Across the University by Fiona Glade. Throughout my writing experiences I have always had trouble with different rules and expectation a class, teacher, or subject...
“problem-posing” approach
"Writing Across the University" by Fiona Glade is such an educative article for newcomers to the university. If we consider the wide variety of academic writing expected from students, at some point, we all have faced with situations where professors are not necessarily always explicit about their assumptions. I find the problem-posing” approach very helpful and and an interestingly easy way to work many difficult writing.
Life through a dyslexic viewfinder..
If it is true that most people have the fantasy of uninitiated, I am glad to know that I am not all alone in this. Because whenever I read a great piece of writing I always get the feeling that this writer must have known what he/she going to write before they sat down to jot it down. I...
Shitty First Draft
If it is true that most people have the fantasy of uninitiated, I am glad to know that I am not all alone in this. Because whenever I read a great piece of writing I always get the feeling that this writer must have known what he/she going to write before they sat down to jot it down. I have come to think that regardless of anyone's competency as a writer, trusting the process is a good idea because I feel our thoughts open up more as we start writing. Being aware of the fact that the first draft is all about starting the process and putting the foundation and accepting that it is going to be bad and ugly empowers us to write fearlessly and also sometimes saves us from procrastinating. I know that I procrastinate till the last to even sit to write thinking that i work better under pressure and then once the first draft is done and reach up to 3rd one, feel like there is much more I could write but simply run out of time. If only I had written that shitty first draft a day ago I would have end up with better score.
So I totally agree that we all need that shitty first to get to that beautiful piece of work we intended to do.
Learning to read..
"Where there is a will, there is a way." - Malcolm X's story is a perfect example of how important a person's own curiosity and will plays when it comes to literacy. One can have Scribner's all the sponsors of literacy yet not be successful. And at the same time the importance of those sponsors, having access to the library and classes helped Malcolm reached his goal.
I like the facts Malcolm pointed out about how writing needs a much bigger vocabulary to be able to express thoughts. It was impressive how he wrote down the whole dictionary and how he started from a person who struggled to write a letter and went up to reading history of civilization and reading Socrates's philosophy.
" My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America." - I find it so fascinating to see how his life took a turned from being a street hustler to someone who is analyzing and trying to find solution to the social issues.
Sponsors of literacy
I agree with the author about the sponsors to affecting literacy. Socioeconomic status definitely plays a huge role in everyone’s life. Starting from elementary years to university, students those are lacking in reading comprehension or writing skill, drop outs from high school to college the majority number of students are from lower socioeconomic group. It is the whole environment that surrounds them which lacks the resources needed, be it just a person to inspire them.
While agreeing with each sentence of the article I find myself questioning if that’s all that matters then how we see so many people rise above those limitation and become most influential people among our societies. There has to be something else that affects our literacy achievements.
Growing up in a very small village in India, I have seen parents who struggled to just feed their children, yet I have seen those children grow up to be very successful people. Most of the children studied in government schools which were free education systems like the public schools here in US, but not very well equipped school at all comparing to US. They did not have fund to buy all the text books and shared one book in the whole neighborhood. it is not always the case that lower socioeconomic means that they lack inspiration to successes, in fact I have seen more eagerness to be literate and do something better in life than the ones who have it all.
Defining "literacy"
At first glance, ‘literacy’ seems to be a very simple term that everyone understands. At the same time, it becomes very complex once one sets out to define literacy.
The Scribner’s journal on literacy makes it very clear that simply being able to read and write is nowhere close to make a person literate, instead how one puts the skill of reading and writing to work or how that skill being use to make life more meaningful, can make a person somewhat close to being a literate person. Yet again most adults with reading ability are not considered literate in our society. On the other hand somehow we all find it easy to accept that inability to read and write is illiteracy.
As in the journal Prof. Scribner tries to define literacy in three categories and yet it is somewhat vague and open-ended in all three cases. Even if we try to combine all three categories together and try to define literacy, in my opinion it is still impossible because of the very nature of our society’s ever evolving nature. The skills that make a person literate will no longer be enough for next year. If we consider the technological advancement that happened in last ten years, it is very clear how big of a difference we have in everyday life necessities now comparing to ten years ago.
In my understanding defining “Literacy” will always be complex because there are so many things to consider starting from individual level to community and then consider about global scenario.