About Myself

Hi to all!

My name is Saida. I live in sunny Mountain View, California. I am originally from Azerbaijan - the beautiful country with friendly people, vibrant culture and delicious cuisine. I am married and have two-years-old lovely daughter.

This is my 2nd quarter in Foothill and the first trial on on-line courses. It is something new for me and that is why I am very excited. Actually in this quarter most part of my classes is on-line, because I am actively looking for a job. My expectations from this course are improving of my reading and writing skills.

My hobbies are cooking and knitting. When I have free time, I like to experiment with new recipes on kitchen or to knit funny items for my daughter. Also, I like to spend free time with my lovely family and friends.

My favorite food is “gozlu ash” – a mixture of rice, walnut and meat. This food is from our national cuisine. Why do I love it? Because always when I prepare this dish I remember our national holidays, my big family and how we all together sit down at the table and taste this savory dish.

Language Research Assignment

Report of Research on the Use of the Verb Be Responsible with prepositions for and to.

1. The information from the Random House Dictionary

The verb be responsible can be followed by the prepositions for and to. The preposition for is used to identify the person who is 1) Answerable or accountable, as for something within one's power, control, or management. 2) Chargeable with being the author, cause, or occasion of something. E.g. Termites were responsible for the damage.

The preposition to is used to show a promise or assurance, esp. one in writing, that something is of specified quality, content, benefit, et., or that it will perform satisfactorily for a given length of time.

Here is the explanation and examples from the Oxford dictionary. The preposition for is used to show an obligation to do something, or having control over or care for someone, as part of one's job or role, involving important duties, independent decision-making, or control over others and being the primary cause of something and so able to be blamed or credited for it. E.g. The gene was responsible for a rare type of eye cancer. While the preposition to is used to report to (a superior or someone in authority) and be answerable to them for one's actions. E.g. The team manager is responsible to the league president.

2. Here are some examples provided by COCA:

­- They should be responsible for those wounded and dead.

- Otherwise they will be responsible for the consequences, and consequences of any chaos.

Both of these examples do not show that “they” are the cause of the wounded or consequences but they are accountable.

- And while we're at it, we can also be responsible to nature and society.

- It's time to be responsible to America, to care about what you promote and not to only look for sensationalism.

These examples clearly clarify the differences between usage of prepositions for and to. The preposition for is used as the primary cause of something, while the preposition to is mostly used to show responsibilities.

3. And here are the titles of articles from Google.

- BP oil spill may be responsible for dolphin deaths. This shows cause.

- Feet First? Old Mitochondria Might Be Responsible for Neuropathy in the Extremities. This also shows cause.

- How to Be Responsible

- Science Must Be Responsible to Society, Not to Politics

These examples from Google also show precise different between usage of prepositions for and to, where for is used as a cause of something (death, Neuropathy), while to is used to note responsibility. Both involve responsibility.

So, according to the research made in 3 different sources I’ve done following conclusions:

1)

To be responsible to the people = you will act responsibly to the people. This means the people are the authority.

To be responsible for the people = they (people) are in your care and you must protect them.

2)

To be "responsible to the people" means that one owes a duty or obligation to the people. E.g. I am responsible to my employer to do the best job I can.

To be "responsible for the people" means that one has a responsibility to act in the people's best interests. E.g. As a crossing guard at a school I am responsible for the children who rely on me to get them across the street safely.

Katie Couric Interview

The interview between Katie Couric and Howard Schultz.

Summary

Katie Couric, CBS News anchor, began the interview with Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, by asking him why he couldn’t say “small, medium and large” for coffee sizes like others. Howard Schultz answered that it’s happened suddenly, when he went to Italy and saw these names and it just made sense to him. Couric’s second question was about the reason for Starbucks closing so many stores and cutting jobs. Schultz answered that it happened because of economic crisis. Couric was interested in finding out if Schultz had had a business plan for a recession. Schultz answered that he didn’t think they had a business plan for a severe recession and supported his answer by saying that history demonstrated to them that a downturn in the economy would not affect them, and in fact, they would be recession-proof.  At the end Couric asked about the possibility of Starbucks lowering prices. Schultz noted that they were selling more than just a cup of coffee. He also added that they would offer discount cards and less pricey coffee.

My opinion about Starbucks.

Actually I am not a big fan of coffee and so I am not a big fun of Starbucks either. Also, I didn’t see something new in Starbucks idea. For me Starbucks has the same approach as McDonalds, so there is not anything new in their marketing strategy. But I know that Starbucks is a morning routine for millions of Americans and a lot of people accept it as the de facto coffee shop.

Ban on Pet Sale

Article “San Francisco Considers Banning of Pets Except Fish” (Carolyn Jones)
Summary #1

In the article “San Francisco Considers Banning of Pets Except Fish”, published in San Francisco Chronicle, Carolyn Jones describes a proposed ban on the sale of all pets except fish. The reason for this ban, as commission Chairwoman Sally Stephens affirms, is that people buy small animals without knowing their habits and while looking after pets, they face difficulties and at the end leave these animals at the shelters. Jones writes that at the moment this petition is under the scrutiny of the board of supervisors. People who are for and against this ban are holding debates about this issue and giving persuasive arguments. Most of the people who are against this ban are owners of pet shops. They are in panic that their business will go down. Point of view of people who vote for this ban is that amount of animal in shelters is increasing and the reason for this is that buyers mostly buy these pets as “toys” for their babies and then most of these animals end up in shelters. As Jones notes at the end of the article, the commission will listen to both of side before the voting and the pronouncement of sentence.

Opinion in favor of the proposal: “The No Pets in Pet Stores Proposal” (Ken White)
Summary #2

In the article “The No Pets in Pet Stores Proposal” Ken White, President of Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA, points his opinion in favor of the law to ban sales of pets except fish. He notes that this proposal will help to protect rights of animals. Also he refers to a story posted in “The San Francisco Chronicle” and asserts that there is some misleading in the noted information. The first item is about the percentage of euthanized and adopted percentage of pets and the second item is about the crisis in finding homes for dogs and cats in SF, but actually the real problem is that hamsters are more in crisis.

Opinion against the proposal: “Banning Pet Stores in SF: A Solution in Search of a Problem” (Michael Yaki)
Summary 3

In his article “Banning Pet Stores in SF: A Solution in Search of a Problem” Michael Yaki, Attorney and Political Consultant, states that he does not support the proposal to ban sales of pets. He says, “… banning pet stores from selling anything but fish -- that's silly”. Also, he notes, that a ban for pet sales in San Francisco is ridiculous action, because if somebody wants to buy a pet, he/she will get one somehow, somewhere, but if he/she is not able to deal with it, it will end up in a shelter. So, he concludes that a pet sale ban is not a right solution.

My opinion regarding a ban on pets’ sale

Actually because of my allergy, I am not a big fan of pets, but I believe that this law is not the right solution. This law will deprive rights of pet fans to get desired animals in San Francisco, and in fact will create difficulties for them – people have to go to other cities to buy animals. Also this ordinance will not decrease a problem about which San Francisco’s Commission of Animal Control and Welfare affirms, because actually the problem will not be eliminated. If somebody decides to buy a pet he/she will do it in spite of a ban.  He/she just will buy a pet in another city. If he/she leaves a pet in a shelter, it will be done in place where they live, so there will still be animals left in the shelters. I think if the problem is with people who just buy these as “toys” for their babies and then abandon them at shelters after some time, the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare has to take actions in these directions.

An Interesting Article

http://www.conspiracycards.com/music.htm

I’ve chosen the article about an experiment conducted at a metro station in Washington DC. It’s interesting for me to know opinions of my classmates about this experiment and its results and that’s why I’ve decided to share this link with them. Within the bounds of this experiment, organized by the Washington Post, Joshua Bell, one of the finest violinists in the world, played some compositions of Bach. It was a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. Joshua Bell played incognito; nobody knew that it was one of the famous musicians in the world, whose ticket price per seat is about $100 and who was playing on one of the expensive violins in the world, which cost about $3,5 million dollars. More than a thousand people entered the Metro station where Bell was playing classical masterpieces, but only a few people stopped to listen to him. Some dropped money in his open violin case, but most of them even didn’t stop to look. The one person who paid more attention was a three-year-old boy, who stopped and listened to the violinist until he was hurried up by his mother.

This social experiment brought out a lot of discussions, opinions and debates. I’ve also discussed this experiment with my friends and are divided in our opinions. One of the points of this experiment is that we assign different value to art depending on the context in which it is presented. A lot of marketing surveys have been conducted to measure how presentation affects consumers’ perceptions of quality and these surveys have found that people frequently pay more attention to one of two identical items which is packaged or presented more attractively. And may be this concept can be applied in case of art also - between a world-class instrumental virtuoso and an ordinary street musician…

Two suspended teachers

Summary and my opinion

The articles “Suspended Teacher Defends Book Assignment” and "Museum Field Trip Deemed Too Revealing" tell us stories about two teachers who have long, high performance teaching experience, but nevertheless have faced with discharging from school. The first article is about Connie Heermann, who taught at Perry Meridan High School. Reason for Heermann's discharge was that she assigned book, a collection of essays created by at-risk teenagers, which contained swearwords and sexual underlying messages and weren’t approved by administration before. Administrators accused Heermann that she had assigned this book without their approval, while Heermann has affirmed that she waited for the answer from them, but couldn’t get it. Heermann supposed that the reasons of this weren’t only the content of book, but also polemics in the district - the departure of the superintendent and protests over a 2006 student play. Heermann also noted that she received permission from almost all parents to use this book.

The other article is about Sydney McGee, who taught in Wilma Fisher Elementary School. Sydney McGee, a teacher with 28 years experience, was fired from school, because she had taken students to the Dallas Museum of Art. After this outing, the parents of one of her students had complained that their child saw nude art at museum and Ms. McGee was suspended. This case has confused many people. The Director of museum noted that they had never faced such situation. Over the last years a lot of students toured the museum, but none of them ever complained about nude artworks. The principal of school accused Ms. McGee for “not displaying enough student art” and wearing “flip-flops” to work, and also noted that time used uselessly while touring to museum. For her own plea, Ms. McGee claimed that the tour was held according to route. She also marked that until this case her performance always had been perfect and almost all parents defended Ms. McGee.

While reading two above-mentioned articles I paid attention to some information. First, system of education in the U.S. is quite innovative and non-stereotyped. The evidences of this are following moments: assignment of new book for studying (even if this is the collection of essays containing swearwords and sexual overtones), the tour trip to museum. Such classes promote more attractive and interesting learning. The only comment is that I am not supporter of educating of swearwords and sexual overlying messages. Today all of media channels, street, etc. are saturated with swearwords, dirty press and of course these factors influenced on manner of our children, but I think that school shouldn’t encourage this and inversely has to criticize it in an unobtrusive way.

 Second, I was surprised by the reaction of parents, who complained that their child saw nude art in the museum. If we are talking about museums, we have to know that in almost every museum of art we can see artworks of ancient world and mostly these are nude pictures and sculptures, so I don’t understand the reaction of parents.

While talking about discharging of teachers from school in above-mentioned cases, I think that such type of punishment is very strict and undeserved and has to be reviewed. May be in the first case Connie Heermann has to be warned about unauthorized actions (assignment of book without approval), but in second case Ms. McGee didn’t do anything wrong.