Metacommentary Template's

Legalization of marijuana is a good idea DESPITE THE FACT Thousands of illegal immigrants farm marijuana on the West Coast. Billions of dollars are made every year in the United States in marijuana sales, but it is not taxed. This financial problem is a recurring issue.

Marijuana should be legal even though it is not taxed. Essentially, I am arguing that it should be legal because the United States would be earning more money from the purchasing of marijuana. Cigarette prices are already expensive and so would marijuana. It's already legal in California.

Legalization of marijuana is a good idea DESPITE THE FACT Thousands of illegal immigrants farm marijuana on the West Coast. Billions of dollars are made every year in the United States in marijuana sales, but it is not taxed. This financial problem is a recurring issue.

Financial problems may be a huge issue on keeping marijuana illegal. In sum, then, by legalizing marijuana we could raise more money through all the pot smokers wanting to buy pot. We could make it taxed and thus solves the problem with finances. People are still going to smoke it even when it's illegal, might as well make some money from it.

"In Other Words" Exercise #2

Read over an essay or article with an eye for metacommentary. Does the writer make any of the moves discussed in this chapter and if so, how do they affect the success of the argument? Then read over an essay that you've already written to see whether it includes any metacommentary. Start with your title. Does it give readers a good sense on what your text is about? Do you provide any kind of roadmap to where your text will go? Check each of the points you make, do you use metacommentary to elaborate on them? Is your text long enough, or would metacommentary help you fill it out? Using the templates in this chapter, add at least two instances of metacommentary.


The article I chose to read was called "Fighting Over Land: America's Legacy...America's Future?" After reading the article it does use the moves of metacommentary by pointing out the good and the bad of private and public land. The article lists out several reasons why they disagree on having private land and it outweighs the reasons why its a good thing. They have successfully pointed out why it isn't good.
In my Unit III piece, I do not have a title yet but in the beginning of my piece I think it shows and tells what my text will be about. I do provide a sort of roadmap that leads up to what the main point is for my piece and that is the barn in the park and what the park represents all together. I don't think I use metacommentary to elaborate on my points, it's basically just me telling you my points. My piece could be longer and metacommentary would help fill it out more.

When you are at a park, you never really think much about its history; where it came from and how it began, there’s much more to the places you spend lots of your time at. I pull into Tom Sawyer parking lot and immediately think of how I never realized how huge the park is. There are many people running around, enjoying their day and it made me start to think about when did Tom Sawyer begin? Who decided to put in a fun filled park for everyone to come to? I begin to walk up to people and ask them what they think of the park. Why do they come to the park? "I love how open it is", says a regular visitor of the park, Lisa Sherrer. "There's a lot to do here for me as well as my kids." Tom Sawyer Park is just one of the 52 Kentucky State Parks there are and it is about 570 acres. It was once just farm land that was part of the Kentucky Department of Mental Health. The park was purchased in June 1969 by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and was first opened in 1974. “By May of 1975, the park recreation building and pool were officially opened with the assistance of matching funds from a Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant”, which of course people were very thrilled to use the pool during the hot, humid summers.

My family and I have lived here in Kentucky for seventeen years so we weren’t around when the park first opened. “I wouldn’t come to the park that often when it first opened, I had to see what other people thought about it first” said Lisa. I think back to when my parents would bring my brother and I here when we were younger. We would run around the wide open field, using our imagination and believing we were wild animals chasing after each other. We would bring my brother's miniature rocket and watch as it would shoot into the sky and then lose where it went as it got too high. There were other times we came to the park to walk our dog or fly kites, no matter what, we always had a terrific time. “I have two dogs that I usually bring to the park and walk around. They love barking at other people, but I however, hate it.” Lisa said as she giggled a little. The part of the park that interests me the most is the barn that is surrounded by barbed wire along the walkway. It's all beaten down and looks like it may have some sort of interesting history. I decided to snoop and see what could be in there. I walked inside and found old, abandoned computers and desks scattered everywhere. The place was a mess; there were many papers all over the floor. I was curious as to what was on them. I picked up several papers and found people’s names on them that dated back to 1995. It showed that they were signing up for some firefighting training.

Ms. Sherrer, the lady who was kind enough to speak with me said, "I actually saw the fire happen as I was taking a walk one day, the smoke basically took over the sky, and it scared me because I had no idea where it was coming from. I walked over towards the barn and saw the fire and wondered what could have started it. I heard sirens in the background so I knew someone had alerted the fire department.” No one knows what the cause of the fire was. Some people speculate that it was set purposely but no one was caught or confessed. It's difficult to figure out the origin of the fire when there were no eye witnesses. "The barn wasn't the only thing that was affected by the fire; it also burned a greenhouse just outside the barn as well as plenty of trees. Luckily, no one was hurt. Some of the buildings were used by Jefferson Community College for programs.” stated Ms. Sherrer. I thought that was interesting because I started my first year of college there and I never heard of any programs dealing with a greenhouse.

         We begin to walk towards the barn as she points out in the sky how big the smoke cloud was and how there were many fire trucks on the gravel road. I looked up and imagined the blue sky being replaced with dark gray smoke. She told me she watched a lot of firemen from several different fire departments running into the fire to put out flames.

  It's so fascinating to me to think about what the barn looked like before the fire because I don't remember. I would come here a lot when I was younger but I never paid attention to it. I learned that before the fire it was used for storage but now it seems people treat it like a dump. Ms. Sherrer opinion is that it's sort of an eye sore and should be torn down. “I usually meet up with my friends here to take a walk and they agree it should be torn down as well. They feel it has no point just sitting there.” I would have to disagree. I wouldn't want it to be torn down since it is part of the park and has history to it. I feel like it has meaning and should stay up. Also, I’ve seen several younger kids exploring it and wanting to know more. I turn around and look at the rest of the park as we begin to walk away and think about whether the park was affected at all by this. "There were plenty of people who still came to the park after the fire. When I see the barn I just think about the awful fire, it could have destroyed a lot of the park."

         The park today stays busy as people enjoy their time outside and contribute into the many activities they have. Such as, archery facilities, educational programming, babysitter training classes, and also the Tom Sawyer State Park foundation. There are many people who don't know what the foundation or what it's about. "The Tom Sawyer State Park Foundation is a volunteer organization that contributes ideas and funds to benefit projects and activities at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Sate Park." This foundation helps to assist the staff at the park and provides many programs and events. "I actually participated in the foundation. I wanted to contribute and help out the park because I've been coming here for years," said Lisa. The foundation began in July of 1981 when the State of Kentucky had announced some revenues of short falls that caused a significant amount of reductions in state budgets. It caused many people to lose their jobs and as well as service reductions with the agencies and departments within the state government. "I remember reading about it in the paper and realizing there's something I could do to help it out."

         They were planning on closing the park between Labor Day and Memorial Day to remove all the staff members. Citizens who were part of the services weren't too thrilled over this idea. Instead, two women visited the state officials and attempted to talk to them about having just seasonal closings. They weren't very pleased with this idea, so they began a "save the park" rally on August 20, 1981. About 400 people showed up and all kinds of TV crews showed up as well to interview people. The state officials agreed to keep the park open all year long but reduce the amount of staff. "If they ended up closing the park, I would have been upset but I wouldn't think of it as the end of the world. It is a great park and one of my favorites but there are other parks around where I live" smiled Ms. Sherrer. Thanks to the foundation, it helped keep the park open without any closings.

         Since the park is so big, I think about whether they would add anything more to it. "I haven't heard of anything being added, it would be cool if they added a baseball field since my son enjoys playing that sport." The park basically has everything you could think of. As the walkway was coming to an end, I passed the aquatic center and heard kids laughing and screaming while they were splashing and playing Marco Polo in the pool. The splashing water seemed so relaxing and made me want to jump in on this hot day. I could see the lifeguard doing his job on duty, watching the kids swimming, making sure everyone was swimming safely, and blowing his whistle whenever it was necessary. I started to make my way towards my car as I was thinking there was an abundant amount of options to take while walking around the park. It was, yet again, an adventurous day at the park.

Conclusion/Proposal

         After talking to Lisa Sherrer, it made me think about how the barn was before the fire happened and how scared people were when they saw it. There are several people who want to tear down the barn because they feel like it has no meaning and it's just sitting there and being treated like a garbage can. Many people don't want to stop and help out our community. Mainly it's because of laziness or they don't care. Once we let one thing go, then we let everything go and that could cause our city to be a dump or not have old monuments to look at. No one wants to think about their city as a dump. For those of you who have walked around Tom Sawyer Park has most likely seen the barn that is surrounded by a fence that is along the walk path. You can tell it has been pretty damaged and that it is not in its best shape. The park should try to gather people to help clean up the barn along with the park.

         There was a massive fire about a year ago that almost burned down the entire barn. It took about 50 firefighters from about 6 different fire departments and over an hour just to get the fire out. Luckily, it stayed up unlike other things that got burned down to the ground such as some other old buildings, a greenhouse, and many trees. However, it seems as if people are treating it like it's a giant garbage can. I’ve been inside of it and it does not look good. There are papers and broken down computers thrown everywhere. Also, there are some school desks that have been completely destroyed. It seems as if no one cares enough to clean it up. They have also put a barbed wire around the barn to prevent trespassers to enter and damage it even more. However, people still find their way through that and get in.

         There are probably many memories in the barn and we shouldn't treat it like it's nothing and has no meaning to it. It is part of the park so ignoring the barn is basically ignoring the park. It wouldn't be that hard to clean it up and not that long. In this paper, I will discuss the importance of the park and how helping the barn will help the park and the community. There may be people who agree that it would be best to tear it down, but if we tear it down then we're getting rid of meaning. My point is not that we should keep everything at the park at all times even when it's not being used, but that we should keep the barn since it's sort of outside the park and in no ones way. It's interesting to have old monuments around to think about what was here before the park was built. If one person helps and cleans it up, that could bring in many other people to join and want to help out. In sum, then, we should keep the barn up and help keep history alive. We could easily make the park a more beautiful and welcoming place with the help of others.

"Skeptics May Object" #2 Proposal

Look over something you've written that makes an argument. Check to see if you've anticipated and responded to any objections. If not, revise your text to do so. If so, have you anticipated all the likely objections? Who if anyone have you attributed the objections to? Have you represented them fairly? Have you answered the objections well enough, or do you think you now need to qualify your own argument? Did you use any of the language found in this chapter's templates? Does the introduction of a naysayer strengthen your argument? Why or why not?


In my objection, I have attributed to all the regular visitors of the park who want to tear down the barn. I have represented them fairly by showing the positive side to tearing down the barn and how they could build something they could use. I am going to qualify my own argument the most in this piece of course, and then give some more answers to my objections. Having an introduction of a naysayer does strengthen my argument because talking about my opposing side makes me seem like a fair writer. I am not just thinking about my side of the argument and how its only positive. I am also thinking about how the other side is fair as well, but of course not as strongly as my side. Talking about the opposing side also shows that I am thinking about what they may be thinking and that it's not all bad. 

The barn at Tom Sawyer Park, I think should be kept up, however, there are several people who want to tear down the barn because they feel like it has no meaning and it's just sitting there and being treated like a garbage can. Many people don't want to stop and help out our community. Mainly it's because of laziness or they don't care. Once we let one thing go, then we let everything go and that could cause our city to be a dump or not have old monuments to look at. No one wants to think about their city as a dump. For those of you who have walked around Tom Sawyer Park has most likely seen the barn that is surrounded by a fence that is along the walk path. You can tell it has been pretty damaged and that it is not in its best shape. The park should try to gather people to help clean up the barn along with the park.

         There was a massive fire about a year ago that almost burned down the entire barn. It took about 50 firefighters from about 6 different fire departments and over an hour just to get the fire out. Luckily, it stayed up unlike other things that got burned down to the ground such as some other old buildings, a greenhouse, and many trees. However, it seems as if people are treating it like it's a giant garbage can. I’ve been inside of it and it does not look good. There are papers and broken down computers thrown everywhere. Also, there are some school desks that have been completely destroyed. It seems as if no one cares enough to clean it up. They have also put a barbed wire around the barn to prevent trespassers to enter and damage it even more. However, people still find their way through that and get in.

         There are probably many memories in the barn and we shouldn't treat it like it's nothing and has no meaning to it. It is part of the park so ignoring the barn is basically ignoring the park. It wouldn't be that hard to clean it up and not that long. In this paper, I will discuss the importance of the park and how helping the barn will help the park and the community. There may be people who agree that it would be best to tear it down, but if we tear it down then we're getting rid of meaning. On the other hand, I do agree when others say it is an eyesore and would be best to get ride of it and put something else there since it's not being used. However, I still insist we keep it up because it shows history. People will look at it and think about the past and what it was like before the fire. It's interesting to have old monuments around to think about what was here before the park was built. If one person helps and cleans it up, that could bring in many other people to join and want to help out. We could easily make the park a more beautiful and welcoming place with the help of others.

"As A Result" Exercise #2

After reading my Unit III piece, I noticed that I use pointing words the most. For example, one of my sentences is, "There are many people running around, enjoying their day and it made me start to think about when did Tom Sawyer begin?" In that sentence I used the word "their", along with many other sentences in my piece. I found a sentence where I used transition, "The park today stays busy as people enjoy their time outside and contribute into the many activities they have, such as, archery facilities, educational programming, babysitter training, and also the Tom Sawyer State Park foundation." I used two transition words, such as and also, as well as, a pointing word, their. I, of course, repeated a lot of key terms and phrases like there and people. I feel like my piece could have less there's and people. Also, I repeat myself with a difference by saying Tom Sawyer Park a lot. However, it is what the piece is about and every time I mention Tom Sawyer, there is a different meaning behind it, like I don't say it just to say it. I think in this piece I rely on the pointing words device the most because I seem to use many of those words in my piece. To me, I think my piece sounds fluid and makes sense, like if it was someone else's piece, I would be able to understand what the point was. However, there are always ways to spice up your piece more to make it better or more enjoyable to read. I would want to use more transition words since it is combined with two other pieces I have written. I'll have to think of that when typing my Unit IV piece and integrating it with this one.




  When you are at a park, you never really think much about its history; where it came from and how it began, there’s much more to the places you spend lots of your time at. I pull into Tom Sawyer parking lot and immediately think of how I never realized how huge the park is. There are many people running around, enjoying their day and it made me start to think about when did Tom Sawyer begin? Who decided to put in a fun filled park for everyone to come to? I begin to walk up to people and ask them what they think of the park. Why do they come to the park? "I love how open it is", says a regular visitor of the park, Lisa Sherrer. "There's a lot to do here for me as well as my kids." Tom Sawyer Park is just one of the 52 Kentucky State Parks there are and it is about 570 acres. It was once just farm land that was part of the Kentucky Department of Mental Health. The park was purchased in June 1969 by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and was first opened in 1974. “By May of 1975, the park recreation building and pool were officially opened with the assistance of matching funds from a Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant”, which of course people were very thrilled to use the pool during the hot, humid summers.

       My family and I have lived here in Kentucky for seventeen years so we weren’t around when the park first opened. “I wouldn’t come to the park that often when it first opened, I had to see what other people thought about it first” said Lisa. I think back to when my parents would bring my brother and I here when we were younger. We would run around the wide open field, using our imagination and believing we were wild animals chasing after each other. We would bring my brother's miniature rocket and watch as it would shoot into the sky and then lose where it went as it got too high. There were other times we came to the park to walk our dog or fly kites, no matter what, we always had a terrific time. “I have two dogs that I usually bring to the park and walk around. They love barking at other people, but I however, hate it.” Lisa said as she giggled a little. The part of the park that interests me the most is the barn that is surrounded by barbed wire along the walkway. It's all beaten down and looks like it may have some sort of interesting history. I decided to snoop and see what could be in there. I walked inside and found old, abandoned computers and desks scattered everywhere. The place was a mess; there were many papers all over the floor. I was curious as to what was on them. I picked up several papers and found people’s names on them that dated back to 1995. It showed that they were signing up for some firefighting training. 
         Ms. Sherrer, the lady who was kind enough to speak with me said, "I actually saw the fire happen as I was taking a walk one day, the smoke basically took over the sky, and it scared me because I had no idea where it was coming from. I walked over towards the barn and saw the fire and wondered what could have started it. I heard sirens in the background so I knew someone had alerted the fire department.” No one knows what the cause of the fire was. Some people speculate that it was set purposely but no one was caught or confessed. It's difficult to figure out the origin of the fire when there were no eye witnesses. "The barn wasn't the only thing that was affected by the fire; it also burned a greenhouse just outside the barn as well as plenty of trees. Luckily, no one was hurt. Some of the buildings were used by Jefferson Community College for programs.” stated Ms. Sherrer. I thought that was interesting because I started my first year of college there and I never heard of any programs dealing with a greenhouse.

         We begin to walk towards the barn as she points out in the sky how big the smoke cloud was and how there were many fire trucks on the gravel road. I looked up and imagined the blue sky being replaced with dark gray smoke. She told me she watched a lot of firemen from several different fire departments running into the fire to put out flames.

        It's so fascinating to me to think about what the barn looked like before the fire because I don't remember. I would come here a lot when I was younger but I never paid attention to it. I learned that before the fire it was used for storage but now it seems people treat it like a dump. Ms. Sherrer opinion is that it's sort of an eye sore and should be torn down. “I usually meet up with my friends here to take a walk and they agree it should be torn down as well. They feel it has no point just sitting there.” I would have to disagree. I wouldn't want it to be torn down since it is part of the park and has history to it. I feel like it has meaning and should stay up. Also, I’ve seen several younger kids exploring it and wanting to know more. I turn around and look at the rest of the park as we begin to walk away and think about whether the park was affected at all by this. "There were plenty of people who still came to the park after the fire. When I see the barn I just think about the awful fire, it could have destroyed a lot of the park."

         The park today stays busy as people enjoy their time outside and contribute into the many activities they have. Such as, archery facilities, educational programming, babysitter training classes, and also the Tom Sawyer State Park foundation. There are many people who don't know what the foundation or what it's about. "The Tom Sawyer State Park Foundation is a volunteer organization that contributes ideas and funds to benefit projects and activities at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Sate Park." This foundation helps to assist the staff at the park and provides many programs and events. "I actually participated in the foundation. I wanted to contribute and help out the park because I've been coming here for years," said Lisa. The foundation began in July of 1981 when the State of Kentucky had announced some revenues of short falls that caused a significant amount of reductions in state budgets. It caused many people to lose their jobs and as well as service reductions with the agencies and departments within the state government. "I remember reading about it in the paper and realizing there's something I could do to help it out."

         They were planning on closing the park between Labor Day and Memorial Day to remove all the staff members. Citizens who were part of the services weren't too thrilled over this idea. Instead, two women visited the state officials and attempted to talk to them about having just seasonal closings. They weren't very pleased with this idea, so they began a "save the park" rally on August 20, 1981. About 400 people showed up and all kinds of TV crews showed up as well to interview people. The state officials agreed to keep the park open all year long but reduce the amount of staff. "If they ended up closing the park, I would have been upset but I wouldn't think of it as the end of the world. It is a great park and one of my favorites but there are other parks around where I live" smiled Ms. Sherrer. Thanks to the foundation, it helped keep the park open without any closings.

         Since the park is so big, I think about whether they would add anything more to it. "I haven't heard of anything being added, it would be cool if they added a baseball field since my son enjoys playing that sport." The park basically has everything you could think of. As the walkway was coming to an end, I passed the aquatic center and heard kids laughing and screaming while they were splashing and playing Marco Polo in the pool. The splashing water seemed so relaxing and made me want to jump in on this hot day. I could see the lifeguard doing his job on duty, watching the kids swimming, making sure everyone was swimming safely, and blowing his whistle whenever it was necessary. I started to make my way towards my car as I was thinking there was an abundant amount of options to take while walking around the park. It was, yet again, an adventurous day at the park.

Unit 3- Integration of Oral History

       When you are at a park, you never really think much about its history; where it came from and how it began, there’s much more to the places you spend lots of your time at. I pull into Tom Sawyer parking lot and immediately think of how I never realized how huge the park is. There are many people running around, enjoying their day and it made me start to think about when did Tom Sawyer begin? Who decided to put in a fun filled park for everyone to come to? I begin to walk up to people and ask them what they think of the park. Why do they come to the park? "I love how open it is", says a regular visitor of the park, Lisa Sherrer. "There's a lot to do here for me as well as my kids." Tom Sawyer Park is just one of the 52 Kentucky State Parks there are and it is about 570 acres. It was once just farm land that was part of the Kentucky Department of Mental Health. The park was purchased in June 1969 by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and was first opened in 1974. “By May of 1975, the park recreation building and pool were officially opened with the assistance of matching funds from a Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant”, which of course people were very thrilled to use the pool during the hot, humid summers.

My family and I have lived here in Kentucky for seventeen years so we weren’t around when the park first opened. “I wouldn’t come to the park that often when it first opened, I had to see what other people thought about it first” said Lisa. I think back to when my parents would bring my brother and I here when we were younger. We would run around the wide open field, using our imagination and believing we were wild animals chasing after each other. We would bring my brother's miniature rocket and watch as it would shoot into the sky and then lose where it went as it got too high. There were other times we came to the park to walk our dog or fly kites, no matter what, we always had a terrific time. “I have two dogs that I usually bring to the park and walk around. They love barking at other people, but I however, hate it.” Lisa said as she giggled a little. The part of the park that interests me the most is the barn that is surrounded by barbed wire along the walkway. It's all beaten down and looks like it may have some sort of interesting history. I decided to snoop and see what could be in there. I walked inside and found old, abandoned computers and desks scattered everywhere. The place was a mess; there were many papers all over the floor. I was curious as to what was on them. I picked up several papers and found people’s names on them that dated back to 1995. It showed that they were signing up for some firefighting training.

         Ms. Sherrer, the lady who was kind enough to speak with me said, "I actually saw the fire happen as I was taking a walk one day, the smoke basically took over the sky, and it scared me because I had no idea where it was coming from. I walked over towards the barn and saw the fire and wondered what could have started it. I heard sirens in the background so I knew someone had alerted the fire department.” No one knows what the cause of the fire was. Some people speculate that it was set purposely but no one was caught or confessed. It's difficult to figure out the origin of the fire when there were no eye witnesses. "The barn wasn't the only thing that was affected by the fire; it also burned a greenhouse just outside the barn as well as plenty of trees. Luckily, no one was hurt. Some of the buildings were used by Jefferson Community College for programs.” stated Ms. Sherrer. I thought that was interesting because I started my first year of college there and I never heard of any programs dealing with a greenhouse.

         We begin to walk towards the barn as she points out in the sky how big the smoke cloud was and how there were many fire trucks on the gravel road. I looked up and imagined the blue sky being replaced with dark gray smoke. She told me she watched a lot of firemen from several different fire departments running into the fire to put out flames.

         It's so fascinating to me to think about what the barn looked like before the fire because I don't remember. I would come here a lot when I was younger but I never paid attention to it. I learned that before the fire it was used for storage but now it seems people treat it like a dump. Ms. Sherrer opinion is that it's sort of an eye sore and should be torn down. “I usually meet up with my friends here to take a walk and they agree it should be torn down as well. They feel it has no point just sitting there.” I would have to disagree. I wouldn't want it to be torn down since it is part of the park and has history to it. I feel like it has meaning and should stay up. Also, I’ve seen several younger kids exploring it and wanting to know more. I turn around and look at the rest of the park as we begin to walk away and think about whether the park was affected at all by this. "There were plenty of people who still came to the park after the fire. When I see the barn I just think about the awful fire, it could have destroyed a lot of the park."

         The park today stays busy as people enjoy their time outside and contribute into the many activities they have. Such as, archery facilities, educational programming, babysitter training classes, and also the Tom Sawyer State Park foundation. There are many people who don't know what the foundation or what it's about. "The Tom Sawyer State Park Foundation is a volunteer organization that contributes ideas and funds to benefit projects and activities at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Sate Park." This foundation helps to assist the staff at the park and provides many programs and events. "I actually participated in the foundation. I wanted to contribute and help out the park because I've been coming here for years," said Lisa. The foundation began in July of 1981 when the State of Kentucky had announced some revenues of short falls that caused a significant amount of reductions in state budgets. It caused many people to lose their jobs and as well as service reductions with the agencies and departments within the state government. "I remember reading about it in the paper and realizing there's something I could do to help it out."

         They were planning on closing the park between Labor Day and Memorial Day to remove all the staff members. Citizens who were part of the services weren't too thrilled over this idea. Instead, two women visited the state officials and attempted to talk to them about having just seasonal closings. They weren't very pleased with this idea, so they began a "save the park" rally on August 20, 1981. About 400 people showed up and all kinds of TV crews showed up as well to interview people. The state officials agreed to keep the park open all year long but reduce the amount of staff. "If they ended up closing the park, I would have been upset but I wouldn't think of it as the end of the world. It is a great park and one of my favorites but there are other parks around where I live" smiled Ms. Sherrer. Thanks to the foundation, it helped keep the park open without any closings.

         Since the park is so big, I think about whether they would add anything more to it. "I haven't heard of anything being added, it would be cool if they added a baseball field since my son enjoys playing that sport." The park basically has everything you could think of. As the walkway was coming to an end, I passed the aquatic center and heard kids laughing and screaming while they were splashing and playing Marco Polo in the pool. The splashing water seemed so relaxing and made me want to jump in on this hot day. I could see the lifeguard doing his job on duty, watching the kids swimming, making sure everyone was swimming safely, and blowing his whistle whenever it was necessary. I started to make my way towards my car as I was thinking there was an abundant amount of options to take while walking around the park. It was, yet again, an adventurous day at the park.

Conclusion/Proposal

         After talking to Lisa Sherrer, it made me think about how the barn was before the fire happened and how scared people were when they saw it. There are several people who want to tear down the barn because they feel like it has no meaning and it's just sitting there and being treated like a garbage can. Many people don't want to stop and help out our community. Mainly it's because of laziness or they don't care. Once we let one thing go, then we let everything go and that could cause our city to be a dump or not have old monuments to look at. No one wants to think about their city as a dump. For those of you who have walked around Tom Sawyer Park has most likely seen the barn that is surrounded by a fence that is along the walk path. You can tell it has been pretty damaged and that it is not in its best shape. The park should try to gather people to help clean up the barn along with the park.

         There was a massive fire about a year ago that almost burned down the entire barn. It took about 50 firefighters from about 6 different fire departments and over an hour just to get the fire out. Luckily, it stayed up unlike other things that got burned down to the ground such as some other old buildings, a greenhouse, and many trees. However, it seems as if people are treating it like it's a giant garbage can. I’ve been inside of it and it does not look good. There are papers and broken down computers thrown everywhere. Also, there are some school desks that have been completely destroyed. It seems as if no one cares enough to clean it up. They have also put a barbed wire around the barn to prevent trespassers to enter and damage it even more. However, people still find their way through that and get in.

         There are probably many memories in the barn and we shouldn't treat it like it's nothing and has no meaning to it. It is part of the park so ignoring the barn is basically ignoring the park. It wouldn't be that hard to clean it up and not that long. In this paper, I will discuss the importance of the park and how helping the barn will help the park and the community. There may be people who agree that it would be best to tear it down, but if we tear it down then we're getting rid of meaning. It's interesting to have old monuments around to think about what was here before the park was built. If one person helps and cleans it up, that could bring in many other people to join and want to help out. We could easily make the park a more beautiful and welcoming place with the help of others.

Annotations:

"History of E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park ." Kentucky State Parks n. pag. Web. 19 Jun 2011.

Tom Sawyer Park is just one of the unique park that is found in Kentucky. It is located in the northeastern part of Jefferson County and is about 550 acres big. There are many activities to do there such as running, playing ball, swimming, and much more. It was named after former Jefferson County executive judge Erbon Powers Sawyer (1915-1969). The park was purchased in June 1969 by the Commonwealth of Kentucky from the Kentucky Department of Mental Health and the park was first opened in 1974. The Kentucky Department of Mental Health still had a part of the park, "a portion of the property had once been used for farmland for the mental health hospital." They used it as farmland and even today some of the remains are still there, such as, cemeteries. The park has a great history behind it as to where it all began. Not many people think about the history of places when they visit it. It's important to learn about the places that you grew up around. Many people think of Tom Sawyer Park as just a park and don't actually think about how it started. I never really thought much of the history when it comes to certain places because it doesn't seem that interesting to me. Tom Sawyer is important to certain people who helped keep the park open and it should be important to many others who enjoy spending their time there.

"Foundation History." Tom Sawyer State Park foundation n. pag. Web. 19 Jun 2011.

Tom Sawyer State Park foundation began on May 19, 1982 as a way to raise money to keep the park open. There was a series of revenue shorts which caused there to be a significant amount of reductions within the state budgets. Tom Sawyer, specifically, was affected the most. They thought it would be best to not keep it open all year long and "the initial decision from the state was to close E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park between Labor Day and Memorial Day and remove all staff members from its premises with the exception of the park manager and a maintenance person." There were some people who were not okay and two women went and spoke to the state officials to see why there wasn't any way the park could stay open. They suggested seasonal openings; however, the state officials didn't find that to be a great idea. The two women began a rally to keep the park open and about 400 people showed up. The state officials then agreed to open the park and cut the number of employees. The park may seem more important to certain people because they help kept it open all year long instead of just certain days. The foundation that was formed helped keep the park open so people could come and use it. It's a smart idea to do a foundation to help raise money for a place that has meaning and is important and could be a great part of our state for something to do. The foundation worked and they were able to raise enough money that they needed to keep the park open because everyone else wanted to keep the park open as well.

Oral History:

Sherrer, Lisa. Interview by Cailyn Arnold. June 28, 2011. Print. 6 Jul   2011.

Proposal 2

Many people don't want to stop and help out our community. Mainly it's because of laziness or they don't care. Once we let one thing go, then we let everything go and that could cause our city to be a dump. No one wants to think about their city as a dump. For those of you who have walked around Tom Sawyer Park has most likely seen the barn that is surrounded by a fence that is along the walk path. You can tell it has been pretty damaged and that it is not in its best shape.

There was a massive fire about a year ago that almost burned down the entire barn. It took about 50 firefighters and over an hour just to get the fire out. Luckily, it stayed up unlike other things that got burned down to the ground such as some other old buildings and many trees. However, it seems as if people are treating it like it's a giant garbage can. I’ve been inside of it and it does not look good. There are papers and broken computers thrown everywhere. Also, there are some school desks that have been completely destroyed. It seems as if no one cares enough to clean it up. They have also put a barbed wire around the barn to prevent trespassers to enter and damage it even more. However, people still find their way through that and get in.

There are probably many memories in the barn and we shouldn't treat it like it's nothing and has no meaning to it. It is part of the park so ignoring the barn is basically ignoring the park. It wouldn't be that hard to clean it up and not that long. In this paper, I will discuss the importance of the park and how helping the barn will help the park and the community. If one person helps and cleans it up, that could bring in many other people to join and want to help out. We could easily make the park a more beautiful and welcoming place with the help of others. 

Writer's Statement to Proposal

In this proposal the intended audience for Project IV is:

Why should your audience care about the topic and your proposal?

They should care about the topic of my proposal because it helps out our community and it’s about making a positive change.

One thing I think I did well in my proposal is:

Make my point across on what I think should be done. We should be more thoughtful and caring about our community to make it a better place.

One thing I am not so sure about in my proposal is:

I don’t know if I did it correctly. I know it is supposed to be something that could be an argument so that is what I tried to focus on when typing my proposal.

Many people don't want to stop and help out our community. Mainly it's because of laziness or they don't care. Once we let one thing go, then we let everything go and that could cause our city to be a dump. No one wants to think about their city as a dump. For those of you who have walked around Tom Sawyer Park has most likely seen the barn that is surrounded by a fence that is along the walk path. You can tell it has been pretty damaged and that it is not in its best shape.

There was a massive fire about a year ago that almost burned down the entire barn. It took about 50 firefighters and over an hour just to get the fire out. Luckily, it stayed up unlike other things that got burned down to the ground such as some other old buildings and many trees. However, it seems as if people are treating it like it's a giant garbage can. I’ve been inside of it and it does not look good. There are papers and broken computers thrown everywhere. Also, there are some school desks that have been completely destroyed. It seems as if no one cares enough to clean it up. They have also put a barbed wire around the barn to prevent trespassers to enter and damage it even more. However, people still find their way through that and get in.

There are probably many memories in the barn and we shouldn't treat it like it's nothing and has no meaning to it. It is part of the park so ignoring the barn is basically ignoring the park. It wouldn't be that hard to clean it up and not that long. If one person helps and cleans it up, that could bring in many other people to join and want to help out. We could easily make the park a more beautiful and welcoming place with the help of others.