Unit 3: Post 20 (April 11, 2009)

Author's Note for Op-ed:

Hey you guys, I figured I ought to go on and get my author's note posted for you guys. This is a definite first draft of the op-ed. I seriously have no idea what an op-ed should read like, so it is very probable that I have missed the mark. My main concern is just that it makes sense and seems like a pretty decent op-ed. I think I put quite a bit of information in it and am not sure if it was overkill. Any suggestions would be really appreciated!

Unit 3: Post 19 (April 08, 2009)

Prewriting: Op-ed

• Read several op-eds from your chosen venue. What are the general tone and assumed audience in this venue? What is interesting or unique about these pieces?
• Community Impact Newspaper
  - The op-eds I’ve read use a lot of logos and statistics to appeal to the audience’s logic. There is a touch of pathos in them as well. A lot of the ones I read dealt with the economic situation and the sight of the closed businesses. Others spoke about the traffic situation in the growing areas of Williamson County. The assumed audience for this newspaper would be the residents in the community. They are the ones affected by many of the issues spoken of in the paper.
• Decide one specific, identifiable issue or question for your focus. It needs to be related to your overall topic for this unit, but try to target a specific aspect of that topic. Describe your choice of specific topic.
  - Highway 29’s expansions will take away the Hill Country, semi-rural feel of Georgetown and Liberty Hill. The road will cut through the San Gabriel River multiple times and also cuts multiple ancestral ranches and homes in half.
• Choose a specific course of action or approach to be taken to addressing that issue or question. Don’t just say that a policy or situation is bad. Tell your readers what should be done about it.
  - I’d like readers to speak out about these road expansions. Possible courses of actions include attending open houses, writing to the commissioners, posting comments in the multiple forums that exist for this purpose, and also filling out forms off of the city’s website.
• Determine what rhetorical appeals will be most effective for your audience (ethos, pathos, logos, style). Discuss what appeals you will use.
  - I believe, since this proposed expansion is cutting into people’s homes and often their livelihoods, pathos is the best way to go. I have some ethos in that I live off of 29, but I am, in the end, just a simple college student. Emotions and passion will work best with the audience which mainly consists of activists and residents of that area. I would also include logos in providing facts about the multiple ancestral ranches and goat farms and everything that will be affected by this. Some other facts I’d include would be about the insanity of a road that will cross the San Gabriel River twice. That river is very prone to flooding; in fact, in 2007, the river rose over 18 feet. Luckily, not too much was damaged because not too many things are built that close to river.
• Write about what will best support your points for the rhetorical situation (facts, hard evidence, personal experience, anecdotes, referring to other authorities, etc.).
  - I plan on using facts and personal experience more than anything. I have lived in Cimarron Hills for over 6 years and have seen the changes in Georgetown and Liberty Hill first-hand. Also, I have walked on the ranches that line the road, fed the goats at my friend’s house, and went floating down the San Gabriel River. The facts I plan on having would concern the history of that area and how we should be figuring out how to preserve that beautiful Hill Country instead of destroying it.
• Is there any research that you need to do?
  - Yes, I need to get more information on all the wonderful things that will be destroyed by this road. There are acres of rolling hills and hundreds of longhorns, deer, and goats. The ancestral homes and ranches I also need more information on.

Unit 3: Post 17 (March 30, 2009)

The article I found is from a Community Impact Newspaper on "The Future of Highway 29." This article was a really long and complex article with multiple maps and diagrams depicting how the road will look after the changes. I cannot even imagine how that will look driving down it to my neighborhood. I cannot imagine how different my neighborhood will be with the new road. The whole front of it will have to change. We might even lose some of the golf course!

Another point brought up in the article was the multiple neighborhoods that are coming into the area of Highway 29. There are 19,005 lots according to the chart. Some of those are proposed and others are already under construction. The whole face of that area will be different within the next 30 years. I am honestly a little scared of what that will mean for everyone that is there and has been there for many years...

ICW: Topic for Unit 3

The topic I'd like to write about concerns the enlargement of Highway 29, one of the few simple highways left in Central Texas. Right now, it is a simple 4 lane highway surrounded by fields and woods. It's not uncommon to see longhorn, horses, deer, or even an occasional coyote roaming next to the highway. This highway is slated to become a 10 lane monstrosity that will consume countless acres of land to complete. My neighborhood is right off Highway 29 and, if this expansion occurs, will lose the entire front part of the neighborhood. Not only will houses have to be moved, but we'd also lose a hole or two of our golf course.

The country is still mainly wild and free, it'd be a shame to have it destroyed. Numerous families and businesses will be negatively impacted if all the changes occur. There is even talk of huge cookie-cutter neighborhoods being built alongside the new highway. At one point, someone mentioned upwards of 5 thousand new homes being built. They will be on 0 acre lots, which means that there will be very little space between them and a loss of any available aesthetic appeal.