Review Assignment: Template C

A Macbook Pro personal computer can actually be one of the most important items in a

person’s life, especially when it comes to organizing your personal or business life, and staying

entertained, informed, and connected.

I have owned and used a Macbook Pro for two years, and know firsthand, both from personal

use and research, that not only can it enrich your entire life, it does this with an ease of

operation that is almost idiot proof, while being light, portable, and long lasting.

A Macbook Pro, along with an Internet connection and Apple’s browser Safari to navigate, is

the fastest way for someone to keep up with, and if necessary react to news from anywhere.

In a society that is driven almost exclusively by electronics and automation, it has become a

necessity to understand and be able to maneuver through the Internet, not only as a means of

staying in touch with cultural, newsworthy and important events, but also to organize and

regulate a person’s social needs and agenda.

Apple’s browser, Safari is the easiest and simplest way to fill these needs. Moving and

navigating through the World Wide Web can be complicated and confusing, but with a

Macbook Pro, and Safari browser it is straightforward. The bookmark system it has enables a

person to save and return to any important web site. With the tabs system you can be on ten or

twenty web sites at once, and quickly move from one to another.

For me, and many others, the iTunes music application has become a useful and incredibly

important tool in life. Music is very significant to many of us, resulting in enjoyment,

contentment, and actually regulating, calming, and inspiring our lives. iTunes allows you not

only to collect and organize thousands of songs and recordings, but to take them with you and

listen to them anywhere you go. It also easily lets you burn and make a CD of any music in

your collection so you can share them with anyone.

Almost everyone has personal photos, which can together define and be a record of an entire

life. Some people keep them in drawers, closets, or a large number of bound photo albums.

The Macbook Pro application iPhoto enables a person to not only keep all of the images of

your life together (on your lap), but also to easily copy them to a disc, make a hard copy photo,

and share them with others either on the Internet or with discs and hard copies.

There are many other brands of personal computers besides Apple, but only the Apple has the

unique operating system, OS X, that makes it easiest to use. Apple has many applications

including iTunes and iPhoto built into the computers when they are manufactured. All of the

other personal computers have a Microsoft operating system, which is not nearly as user

friendly as the Apple system, and many important applications need to be added to the

computers after they are purchased. Because of this, the operation of these computers, and the

use of the applications are much more complicated and convoluted. The Apple Macbook Pro

computers, have the applications already so integrated into them that actually using the

computer and its applications easily become almost second nature to any adult consumer who

purchases one.

In the past, many people are put off by the higher price of a Macbook Pro personal computer.

Recently, Apple has released a wonderful 13” version of the Macbook Pro that is only a three

or four hundred dollars more than the Microsoft computers. The difference in graphics

and applications, along with the ease of usability between the two types computers more than

justify the now slight difference in price.

There are other ways and devices that enable people to accomplish these varied needs, but

with a Macbook Pro personal computer, you get an all-in-one way to accomplish many goals.

Most adult consumers, whether they are students, in the workforce, or retired, have a need for

rapid knowledge. It might be to further their education, their business interests, or their

understanding of social and cultural events, but all of these things can make a person better,

smarter, and more successful. Most also need to stay connected and to share with family and

friends, both near and far away. Sharing words, pictures, videos and songs are only some of the

ways that a Macbook Pro can help a person stay closer to their friends and loved ones,

resulting in greater happiness and contentment.

Review Assignment: Template B

There are many reasons why a Macbook Pro personal computer would be an important item to own for any adult consumer. All of the different things that it can do combine to keep a person organized, entertained, and easily connected to whatever they need to be anywhere in the world.

For one thing, a Macbook Pro, along with an Internet connection and Apple’s browser Safari to navigate, is the fastest way for someone to keep up with, and if necessary react to news from anywhere. Secondly, it allows for instantaneous communication, along with exchange of images and videos, whether for business or personal reasons. Ease and speed, when it comes to acquiring information or staying in touch with business associates, friends, or family, should be important to all.

Every Macbook Pro comes with the applications iTunes and iPhoto. iTunes makes every record, cassette tape, or CD music collection obsolete. It collects, organizes, and plays an almost limitless amount of music and movies. Along with either an iPod, or an iPhone, the collection can be duplicated, put in your pocket, and transported and played anywhere. iPhoto does the same thing for pictures, making libraries of photo albums a thing of the past. With iPhoto, hundreds of thousands of pictures can be organized into virtual albums and sub-albums, and then shared with who ever and sent to wherever a person needs. Almost every adult consumer has a music collection and a photo collection, and the Macbook Pro allows for the simplest and most efficient way keep, transport, and share them.

These reasons, combined with the facts that the Macbook Pro itself it incredibly light, portable, and has a very long lasting battery, make it a great tool for most people.

Review Assignment: Template A

In a society that is driven almost exclusively by electronics and automation, it has

become a necessity to understand and be able to maneuver through the Internet, not only

as a means of staying in touch with cultural, newsworthy and important events, but also

to organize and regulate a person’s social needs and agenda. This boom in the vitality and

legitimacy of the World Wide Web, followed by the boom in employment based on

computer skills, has led to a technologically driven society which places much of its

emphasis on computers in order to help control information, manage schedules, and

basically make the industrial aspect of living a whole lot easier. When it comes to

people’s values, family and friends almost always seems to be what’s most important.

Hopefully, these values lead to a more understanding, loving, and tolerant world.

Unfortunately, for a number of people, these supposed “family values” lead them to a less

tolerant world view, where the most important social issue to them is to control and force

others to feel and act the same way they do. Either way, connecting with and relating to

the people that we like and even love has driven virtually every society since society

began. From thousands of years, people communicated and sought to reach out to one

another in many different ways, but only recently in the last couple of decades has the

personal computer given people the ability to fulfill so many needs with one device.

In the world today, access to relevant information, whether it be news, research,

or what your friends’ plans are for tomorrow, needs to be relatively instantaneous. Any

adult consumer today should be interested in a product that allows them to keep up with

basically anything and everything that goes on in the world, and keep up with it quickly.

Whether you need to know about the logistics of a tsunami in the Philippines, how your

nephew looked and fared in his first kindergarten play, or which party your friends are

going to on Saturday night, there is no better tool for keeping up with such things than the

personal computer, and there is no better personal computer than the Macbook Pro.

There are other ways and devices that enable people to accomplish these varied

needs, but with a Macbook Pro personal computer, you get an all-in-one way to

accomplish many goals. Most adult consumers, whether they are students, in the

workforce, or retired, have a need for rapid knowledge. It might be to further their

education, their business interests, or their understanding of social and cultural events,

but all of these things can make a person better, smarter, and more successful. Most also

need to stay connected and to share with family and friends, both near and far away.

Sharing words, pictures, videos and songs are only some of the ways that a Macbook Pro

can help a person stay closer to their friends and loved ones, resulting in greater

happiness and contentment.

review topic

My Macbook Pro.

Commentary Draft

I am beginning my second year here at UCF, so it is my second year of living on my own and doing things like regularly shopping at Publix for myself. One thing I have often observed there is that there is a large percentage of people who are overweight or out of shape physically. I have read in the papers about the trend in this country of more people being overweight, and when I shop for food each week, I see many of these people. Sometimes I can even hear their uneven and laborious breathing. The foods I see in their carts make me feel that they are not concerned as much as they should be with their health and fitness. There is so much attention given these days to health care and health insurance, but there should be more emphasis on people taking care of themselves to stay fitter and healthier. That would be the best way to keep the costs of health care down. It looks to me that many people just don’t care enough. It reminds me of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. I feel that they should at least be aware of their situation, and try to become healthier by eating better and exercising. Each year at least 1.9 million people die as a result of physical inactivity, making inactivity one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide.

Even on the UCF campus, where students are younger and have had less time for unhealthy habits to affect them, I see this unhealthy trend of poor eating and lack of exercise beginning for some. On the other hand, on campus and off campus, there are at least a number of people who have recognized this negative trend, and are consciously trying to take the healthier approach. I have always been involved in athletics, and for the last few years, I spend much time in the gym (here at the Wellness Center). It is important to me to exercise regularly and to maintain a healthy diet. While too many people do not take enough responsibility for their health, luckily there are many others who feel the way that I do, see the trend towards an unhealthy lifestyle, and are taking the correct steps to reverse it.

The college student of the present day is surrounded by a wealth of technology and automation, perpetuated by the large worldwide shift towards less physically demanding work. This has clearly begun to take a toll on public health, leading to statistics like 66% of the country being overweight (34%, obese). As I walk around campus, I see the majority of people choosing modes of transportation that require the least amount of physical energy on their part. This includes taking the bus or a car to short distances around the campus, and taking elevators instead of walking the stairs, even if it’s just a couple of flights. People have been given the luxuries of a technologically driven society and that is one of the key components to the amount of Americans who are out of shape these days. I believe that it’s the mere availability of these kinds of luxuries that have ultimately contributed to the deconditioned state of most of the country.

As well as industrialization and sedentary lifestyles being a cause of the unhealthy circumstance of the country, dietary habits and the lack of sufficient nutrition could be one of the most vital and biggest national challenges currently at hand. Around campus, I see so many places to eat that serve food that seems to help along this growing trend of being overweight and not concerning yourself with your state of physical health. In the United States, consumption of fast food has tripled and calorie intake from fast food quadrupled between 1977 and 1995. It seems like business establishments like fast food places will never go out of business, or get negatively affected by these statistics because of the incredible amount of money they make off the concept of Americans not watching what they eat.

Not only am I overwhelmed with these facts as I walk through campus from day-to-day, but as a personal trainer and someone who spends everyday in the gym, I get an intimate look at how people who are obese or out of shape view themselves and the growing health problem in the country. Right now, we are in an economic recession as well as an age of reform, and many people are in a phase where they feel they must get into good shape. My profession allows me to be in a position where I can communicate with many people of all different kinds of physical conditions, and get a better feel for the public approach to physical reform and the overall perspective from potential clientele. Even at the UCF wellness center, I can converse with people who are aware of what they eat and do exercise on a regular basis, as well as those who are currently not in good physical shape, but are taking measures to change that. Being involved in the vocation of getting people into shape has helped me become much more concerned with not only my own physical state, but as well as that of the country’s.

Hypocrisy Bowl questions

1. What is the trend or situation on which the commentary focuses?

The trend is the media’s tendency to cover whatever gets the most viewers. Especially things that have to do with sex.

2. Does the author give the reader an interesting introduction to the issue? Why or why not?

Yes, the opening sentence gave a brutal and gritty description of the atmosphere of a football game suggesting that a sexually offensive act would be a fitting thing for such a place.

3. Does the author explain the context of the issue? How in-depth does he or she go? What do you think this signifies regarding the the intended audience of this commentary?

The author approaches the topic as if the audience has a broad to general knowledge of the event that took place at the superbowl. The author focuses more on the hypocrisy of the media and entertainment industry and assumes that their audience knows very much about the incident.

4. What are the possible causes of the trend or situation the author explores?

The cause for this trend would be the simple evolution of the entertainment industry as sex becomes more and more acceptable.

5. What examples or observations does the author give from his or her own life to back their belief that these are possible causes?

The author gave no such insight into his/her own experience.

6. What is the author’s stance on the topic?

That it took something so insignificant to start a panic amongst networks and people are for the most part, overreacting.

7. What significance does the author see in this trend or situation?

Networks will air anything that gets viewers and they’ll discuss and cover anything that gets people worked up.

Mickey Jaiven

10 questions

1. Do you see a large percentage of people around you who are like this?

(overweight, out of shape)

2. Do you think there are more overweight people now than there was in the past?

3. If you do see a large number of out of shape people who are not taking care of

themselves, are they all older, or do you see younger people like this too?

4. Do you see more people who have made this commitment to try and reverse this

negative trend? (being overweight, out of shape, and not getting enough exercise)

5. Do you observe that even senior citizens are walking outside, or in malls, to stay

healthier?

6. How do you know what you know? (evidence)

7. Who are you to the subject? (perspective)

8. How is this event connected to other events? (patterns or opposing forces)

9. What if things were different? (suppositions/predictions)

10. Why is this important? (significance)

500 word letter

Dear Vic,

How are things in Albany? I guess you had a much colder winter than I did here in Orlando. I’m sure you can get used to the cold, but I think it would take me a lot longer than one winter to do it.

This is my second year of living more on my own, and shopping for myself too. One trend I’ve noticed is that many of the people I see shopping for food seem overweight and out of shape. It seems to me that more than ever before (maybe I’m just noticing it now) there are more of these people who don’t really care enough about their personal habits and health. Do you see a large percentage of people around you who are like this? It could be even larger because it’s so cold in Albany and people can’t get out as much to exercise or even walk. Do you think there are more overweight people now than there was in the past? I am trying to come to a conclusion about whether or not this is really a trend. I think that it is true that more and more people these days are out of shape than ever before.

When I am on the UCF campus, of course I see mostly students, who are much younger than the general population, and are naturally in better shape. Even among these students, I see too many of them who are not taking care of their physical condition and health the way they should be. If you do see a large number of out of shape people who are not taking care of themselves, are they all older, or do you see younger people like this too? I know that you walk everywhere, and even though you are older, that keeps you in pretty good shape.

While I do feel that more people than ever before are out of shape, I also have observed that more people are trying to do something about it. You know that I work out in the gym almost every day, and try to eat well and stay healthy. Many people of all ages spend more time in gyms and getting healthy exercise doing other things like walking or biking. I think that this is an example of a positive trend, which was a result of people recognizing the unhealthy trend of lack of exercise. Do you see more people who have made this commitment to try and reverse this negative trend? Do you observe that even senior citizens are walking outside, or in malls, to stay healthier?

After seeing these trends, I have decided that now and in the future, many people will be trying to get healthier and stay in good shape. For that reason, I have decided to study for and get accreditation to become a personal trainer. You know that I am majoring in theatre, and hope to become an actor, but while I’m auditioning and hoping to get acting work, being a personal trainer will allow me to earn a living. Don’t you think that in the future, because of these trends, that more people will need and use a personal trainer to get into and stay in good physical shape? That’s what I think, so that’s the direction I will be moving towards.

Well, let me know how you’re doing and what you think about these things. Stay well and stay warm.

Your friend,

Mickey

Commentary Draft

I am beginning my second year here at UCF, so it is my second year of living on my own and doing things like regularly shopping at Publix for myself. One thing I have often observed there is that there is a large percentage of people who are overweight or out of shape physically. I have read in the papers about the trend in this country of more people being overweight, and when I shop for food each week, I see many of these people. Sometimes I can even hear their uneven and laborious breathing. The foods I see in their carts make me feel that they are not concerned as much as they should be with their health and fitness. There is so much attention given these days to health care and health insurance, but there should be more emphasis on people taking care of themselves to stay fitter and healthier. That would be the best way to keep the costs of health care down. It looks to me that many people just don’t care enough. It reminds me of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. I feel that they should at least be aware of their situation, and try to become healthier by eating better and exercising.

Even on the UCF campus, where students are younger and have had less time for unhealthy habits to affect them, I see this unhealthy trend of poor eating and lack of exercise beginning for some. On the other hand, on campus and off campus, there are at least a number of people who have recognized this negative trend, and are consciously trying to take the healthier approach. I have always been involved in athletics, and for the last few years, I spend much time in the gym (here at the Wellness Center). It is important to me to exercise regularly and to maintain a healthy diet. While too many people do not take enough responsibility for their health, luckily there are many others who feel the way that I do, see the trend towards an unhealthy lifestyle, and are taking the correct steps to reverse it.

1. The wellness center; personal fitness and physical reform. Not just in UCF, but on a global aspect.

2. The parking situation. Can we be on time for anything anymore?

3. The bookstore. How broke are you because of textbooks?

The Plame Has To Fall Somewhere (Final Memoir Draft)

For as long as I remember, the foundations and concepts that this country was built on have always been incredibly meaningful to me, and not exclusively from a political direction. On a personal level, ideals such as our inalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” had always made me feel very proud just to be alive in this country. Although I still feel great pride, these feelings of idealism were greatly affected by actions taken by our government throughout my childhood. During the 2000 presidential election, I began to become somewhat emotionally invested in political matters that were transpiring at the time. I had always held a great interest in the historical context of the American government and political system, but it wasn’t until around the time I segwayed into junior high school that I began being greatly fascinated by them. Following the “appointment” of George W. Bush to the presidency, I began to understand just how much such matters could affect me, not only tangibly, but also morally. Especially after the 9/11 attacks and the incorporation of the Iraq war into our lives did I become invested to a point where cultural and political issues began to shape who I was. Never more evident was this potential in cultural matters to impact me psychologically and emotionally, than in the instance in 2003 when the identity of C.I.A. Agent Valerie Plame was leaked the press by affiliates of our own American government. The disclosure was made in a newspaper column written by a conservative journalist and commentator, Robert Novak, and was published on July 14, 2003.

Upon my first hearing of these series of events, I was in Kingston, NY, having just finished 7^th grade. A former ambassador named Joe Wilson had been given the investigative assignment of traveling to the African country of Niger to verify if they were selling nuclear fuel to Iraq. In the summer of 2003, Wilson published an opinion-editorial which indicated that prior to this expedition, the Bush Administration pulled him aside and told him that whatever the truth turned out to be, that he write an article tying Niger to Iraq in a nuclear sense, for it was vital to their justification for invading Iraq in the first place. I can clearly remember watching my uncle’s television set in his museum-esque, three-story house in Kingston surrounded by trees a hundred feet high. Carl Rove, Scott McClellan, and other high affiliates of the Bush Administration repeated over and over to the press that this was not true at all and that Wilson was a liar and a coward. Of course we didn’t find out about everything that followed this right away, but over the next three years, the true, disturbing story was slowly brought to light.

Upon Robert Novak’s article being published, naming Valerie Plame as a covert agent for counter-proliferation in Afghanistan, David Corn in his article for The Nation, quotes Joe Wilson: “Naming her this way would have compromised every operation, every relationship, every network with which she had been associated in her entire career.” The Bush Administration had essentially revealed her name to the public as a means of revenge on Wilson, in efforts to delegitimize his statement questioning the Iraq War’s factual basis. Wilson would go on to say “...however abominable the decision might be, it was rational that if you were an administration and did not want people talking about the intelligence or talking about what underpinned the decision to go to war, you would discourage them by destroying the credibility of the messenger who brought you the message. And this administration apparently decided the way to do that was to leak the name of my wife.”

As soon as these elements of the case were revealed, I began to become enveloped with these turns of events, for my perspective on my government was starting to change at a rapid pace. I just couldn’t imagine that it was actually possible that under the direct order of close personnel to our president, an act of high treason such as this could be committed, and then be greatly overlooked by most of the American Public. Following the disclosure, President Bush pledged that if anyone within his administration was involved in the leak, "I want to know who it is... and if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." Over the next three years, it was revealed that a criminal investigation within the Department of Justice as well as a grand jury investigation into the leak had been held. Initially, the White House denied that Karl Rove, Bush’s Chief of Staff, or “Scooter” Libby, Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, had anything to do with the leak. However by the time the investigation ended and the details were revealed by the press, it turned out that Libby was indicted on five counts of obstruction of justice, perjury, and false statements to the grand jury. This eventually led to the federal trial of United States v. Libby on January 16, 2007, which I followed as closely as a high school kid in south Florida could.

According to testimony in the grand jury investigation as well as Libby’s trial, it was evident that Bush administration officials Karl Rove, “Scooter” Libby, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had indeed discussed Valerie Plame’s employment as a covert operative for the CIA with members of the press. I was already close to finishing my junior year in high school when the verdict came in convicting Libby and sentencing him to 30 months in prison. Later that summer, President Bush commuted Libby’s jail sentence to absolutely zero jail time. I remember watching that transpire as I was in my Flagler Beach apartment house, watching CNN unfold the details of the investigation. I can still see the newsline across the bottom of the screen reading that Bush had overridden the grand jury’s decision and verdict. I don’t remember ever feeling so enraged, yet so helpless at the same time. My father stood next to me, seemingly unable to move, as was I, saying, “you’re looking at one act of treason, pardoned by another act of treason.” Of course, the Bush Administration would go on to retire free of all charges regarding this matter.

I felt as betrayed as I’ve ever felt about anything in my life. The integrity and awe-inspiring history of this country and the principles of which it was founded is something that I have dedicated all of my knowledge and love into since I was a little boy. When I was six, I memorized every president we ever had, in order, according to years in office. The Declaration of Independence and the ideas that people like Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln incorporated into the American Government still resonates as vast and profound components of what defines my emotional and psychological make-up. Upon resigning from the Bush Administration in 2006 as White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan published a controversial book titled “What Happened”, where he not only verifies Rove and Libby’s roles in the outing of Valerie Plame, but goes on to say that Vice-President Dick Cheney had direct knowledge of the leak before it occurred and that he and President Bush took measures to make sure that the truth did not come out, (if the truth turned out to implicate their affiliates). The mere fact that these people sat in the same office where Abraham Lincoln sat, is a fact that not only brings me to tears, but scares me to the point where I can not only say I will never feel the same about the Oval Office again, but also that it has made me a much more cynical and less idealistic person. It was almost like a loss of innocence. The odor of treasonous traitors actually reached as high as the chair that the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence once sat in, and I can genuinely say that this instance of the purposeful outing and military assassination of one of our own agents was an act of high treason that has left me permanently scarred by my government. While that pride I had will never entirely disappear, neither will that feeling of helplessness and loss of innocence.

Memoir: The Plame Has to Fall Somewhere

During the 2000 presidential election, I began to become somewhat emotionally invested in political matters that were transpiring at the time. I had always held a great interest in the historical context of the American government and political system, but it wasn’t until around the time I segwayed into junior high school that I began being greatly fascinated by them. Following the “appointment” of George W. Bush to the presidency, I began to understand just how much such matters could affect me, not only tangibly, but also morally. Especially after the 9/11 attacks and the incorporation of the Iraq war into our lives did I become invested to a point where cultural and political issues began to shape who I was. Never more evident was this potential in cultural matters to impact me psychologically and emotionally, than in the instance in 2003 when the identity of C.I.A. Agent Valerie Plame was leaked the press by affiliates of our own American government. The disclosure was made in a newspaper column written by a conservative journalist and commentator, Robert Novak, and was published on July 14, 2003.

Upon my first hearing of these series of events, I was in Kingston, NY, having just finished 7^th grade. A former ambassador named Joe Wilson had been given the investigative assignment of traveling to the African country of Niger to verify if they were selling nuclear fuel to Iraq. In the summer of 2003, Wilson published an opinion-editorial which indicated that prior to this expedition, the Bush Administration pulled him aside and told him that whatever the truth turned out to be, that he write an article tying Niger to Iraq in a nuclear sense, for it was vital to their justification for invading Iraq in the first place. I can clearly remember watching my uncle’s television set in his museum-esque, three-story house in Kingston surrounded by trees a hundred feet high. Carl Rove, Scott McClellan, and other high affiliates of the Bush Administration repeated over and over to the press that this was not true at all and that Wilson was a liar and a coward. Of course we didn’t find out about everything that followed this right away, but over the next three years, the true, disturbing story was slowly brought to light.

Upon Robert Novak’s article being published, naming Valerie Plame as a covert agent for counter-proliferation in Afghanistan, David Corn in his article for The Nation, quotes Joe Wilson: “Naming her this way would have compromised every operation, every relationship, every network with which she had been associated in her entire career.” The Bush Administration had essentially revealed her name to the public as a means of revenge on Wilson, in efforts to delegitimize his statement questioning the Iraq War’s factual basis. Wilson would go on to say “...however abominable the decision might be, it was rational that if you were an administration and did not want people talking about the intelligence or talking about what underpinned the decision to go to war, you would discourage them by destroying the credibility of the messenger who brought you the message. And this administration apparently decided the way to do that was to leak the name of my wife.”

As soon as these elements of the case were revealed, I began to become enveloped with these turns of events, for my perspective on my government was starting to change at a rapid pace. I just couldn’t imagine that it was actually possible that under the direct order of close personnel to our president, an act of high treason such as this could be committed, and then be greatly overlooked by most of the American Public. Following the disclosure, President Bush pledged that if anyone within his administration was involved in the leak, "I want to know who it is... and if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." Over the next three years, it was revealed that a criminal investigation within the Department of Justice as well as a grand jury investigation into the leak had been held. Initially, the White House denied that Karl Rove, Bush’s Chief of Staff, or “Scooter” Libby, Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, had anything to do with the leak. However by the time the investigation ended and the details were revealed by the press, it turned out that Libby was indicted on five counts of obstruction of justice, perjury, and false statements to the grand jury. This eventually led to the federal trial of United States v. Libby on January 16, 2007, which I followed as closely as a high school kid in south Florida could.

According to testimony in the grand jury investigation as well as Libby’s trial, it was evident that Bush administration officials Karl Rove, “Scooter” Libby, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had indeed discussed Valerie Plame’s employment as a covert operative for the CIA with members of the press. I was already close to finishing my junior year in high school when the verdict came in convicting Libby and sentencing him to 30 months in prison. Later that summer, President Bush commuted Libby’s jail sentence to absolutely zero jail time. I remember watching that transpire as I was in my Flagler Beach apartment house, watching CNN unfold the details of the investigation. I can still see the newsline across the bottom of the screen reading that Bush had overridden the grand jury’s decision and verdict. I don’t remember ever feeling so enraged, yet so helpless at the same time. My father stood next to me, seemingly unable to move, as was I, saying, “you’re looking at one act of treason, pardoned by another act of treason.” Of course, the Bush Administration would go on to retire free of all charges regarding this matter.

I felt as betrayed as I’ve ever felt about anything in my life. The integrity and awe-inspiring history of this country and the principles of which it was founded is something that I have dedicated all of my knowledge and love into since I was a little boy. When I was six, I memorized every president we ever had, in order, according to years in office. The Declaration of Independence and the ideals and notions that people like Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln incorporated into the American Government still resonates as vast and profound components of what defines my emotional and psychological make-up. Upon resigning from the Bush Administration in 2006 as White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan published a controversial book titled “What Happened”, where he not only verifies Rove and Libby’s roles in the outing of Valerie Plame, but goes on to say that Vice-President Dick Cheney had direct knowledge of the leak before it occurred and that he and President Bush took measures to make sure that the truth did not come out, (if the truth turned out to implicate their affiliates). The mere fact that these people sat in the same office where Abraham Lincoln sat, is a fact that not only brings me to tears, but scares me to the point where I can not only say that I don’t hold unceasing pride in my government anymore, but also that I will never feel the same about the Oval Office again. The odor of treasonous traitors actually reached as high as the chair that the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence once sat in, and I can genuinely say that this instance of the purposeful outing of one of our own spies was a military assassination of one of our own troops, and is an act of high treason that has left me permanently scarred by my government.

Memoir Draft

During the 2000 presidential election, I began to become somewhat emotionally invested in political matters that were transpiring at the time. I had always held a great interest in the historical context of the American government and political system, but it wasn’t until around the time I segwayed into junior high school that I began being greatly fascinated by them. Following the “appointment” of George W. Bush to the presidency, I began to understand just how much such matters could affect me, not only tangibly, but morally. Especially after the 9/11 attacks and the incorporation of the Iraq war into our lives did I become invested to a point where cultural and political issues began to shape who I was. Never more evident was this potential in cultural matters to impact me psychologically and emotionally, than in the instance in 2003 when the identity of C.I.A. Agent Valerie Plame was leaked the press by affiliates of our own American government.

Upon my first hearing of these series of events, I was in Kingston, NY, having just finished 7^th grade. A former ambassador named Joe Wilson had been given the assignment of traveling to the African country of Niger to verify if they were selling nuclear fuel to Iraq. In the summer of 2003, Wilson had come out with this implication that prior to this expedition, the Bush Administration pulled him aside and told him that whatever the truth turned out to be, that he write an article tying Niger to Iraq in a nuclear sense, for it was vital to their justification for invading Iraq in the first place. I can clearly remember watching my uncle’s television set in his museum-esque, three-story house in Kingston surrounded by trees a hundred feet high. Carl Rove, Scott McClellan, and other high affiliates of the Bush Administration repeated over and over to the press that this was not true at all and that Wilson was a liar and a coward. Of course we didn’t find out about everything that followed this right away, but over the next two years, the details of this case that transpired forever changed the meaning of the word “government” for me.

Peer Review Memo

Leading up to our class session where we got into groups and did peer reviews on the rough draft of our memoirs, I had a pretty decently written first paragraph which added up to somewhere between 170 and 180 words. The topic of my memoir is the outing of C.I.A. Agent Valerie Plame, so as such, it was, and will be, rather difficult to implement certain aspects of the assignment criteria into my story. As my partner for the peer review pointed out, an example of this would be the idea of bringing the reader into a fixed setting that they can visualize in their head. While my locale at these events occurred will be covered in my paper, I doubt it will compel the reader into visualizing it, as the vitality and overall tone of my memoir is not a scene I went through, but more a state of mind.

My partner and I discussed many things concerning the overall structure of our final drafts and how our essays could flow most effectively. I was told that my first paragraph did an excellent job of giving my memoir a foundation on the events that follow, but it would probably be best to set the scene and describe the details of the case in my second paragraph. This actually gave me a good push in the right direction as I have now outlined exactly what I want from each paragraph as the essay transpires. Most of my feedback centralized around one broad issue and that was about finding the most effective way to make a memoir out of a cultural event. My partner told me that as long as I take the body of my essay to describe how this event affected me then, and how I feel about it in retrospect, it should be everything that I want it to be.

memoir ideas

1. When I was 13 I was greatly affected by the purposeful outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame by our own government. This was significant to what I've become because I never looked at things like "government" and "honor" the same way again.

2. A few years ago I decided to sneak into the Woodstock grounds when I went to see the museum. This was a very memorable and magical moment for me although it did not exactly change me very much.

3. When I was 16, two kids in my neighborhood played a sick joke on me making me think I had hit one of them with my car. Once again, this did'nt shape who I am today, but it's one of those instances that is rather hard to forget.