Makaia MacMurray

Simone Flanigan

English 2010

March 5th, 2017

Look Back Effect

For my portfolio I choose the open letter and the persuasion effect project because both

of these had big impacts on my writing skills. Also because the open letter was my first project

and my persuasion effect was my last, so that way you can really see how I have grown as a

writer. I have thoroughly enjoyed this semester and I feel that I have not only grown as a writer

but I have also had the opportunity to grow as a person and expand my knowledge.

With the open letter I really challenged myself on expanding my knowledge about a topic

which is normally something I shy away from. Typically as a writer I choose topics that I know a

lot about and are easy to research. But for my open letter I was inspired and decided to choose a

topic that I knew very little about because I not only wanted to improve my writing skills but I

also wanted to better myself as a person. For this assignment I did do some online research and I

also had help from a friend who had written their thesis on intersectional feminism. I started out

with the online research asking questions about what white feminism is and trying to find

examples of white feminism so that way I could have some basic knowledge of white feminism.

My friend was able to clarify some things for me and explain intersectional feminism to me in a

way that helped me understand a very complex topic. For my revision I fixed a few grammatical

errors, and changed some wording so that way the paper included more groups of marginalized
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women rather than just women of color. I also took some advice from the feedback I got after my

presentation and added a bit to my example of white feminism for clarification of why was an

example of white feminism.

For my persuasion effect project I ended up choosing a topic that I did know quite a bit

about prior to the assignment. However I didnt feel as though it was a paper that a lot of people

have written about before. I choose the topic of why we should have gardens instead of lawns

because its something I am very passionate about. I had worked on a farm for several years so I

have a lot of knowledge to back up my argument with. I also had a solid solution to the problem

I was arguing so I felt as though I would have a strong paper that would not only convince

people why gardens are better than lawns, but show them that it was more than possible to

accomplish the goal. For my research I merely provided some statistics about issues that

contributed to having lawns and I provided an example of a system that would solve these

solutions. After that I expanded on this solution, gave examples of how this would benefit our

society, and proved that it could be possible to implement the solution I provided. Overall I feel

as though I fulfilled all of the strategies that comes with writing a persuasive essay. For my

revision I fixed grammatical errors and formatting, changed some wording so the paper would

sound more academic, and added onto my conclusion so the paper would end in a stronger way.

This semester has helped me grow a lot as a writer. I was able to challenge myself to step

outside of my comfort zone and choose topics that challenged my views about the world. This

helped me to think critically not only about the topics I choose but also about my writing style

and my rhetoric. I am glad that I had this opportunity to take this class and I learned the value of

challenging yourself to expand on your views about the world.

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Makaia MacMurray

Simone Flannigan

English 2010

February 2nd, 2017

Dear Feminists,

On January 21st, 2017 thousands of women gathered across the globe and marched for

womens rights; you were perhaps among them. In the days following we witnessed the news

articles, twitter trends, and buzzfeed posts about the womens marches. While scrolling through

all of these, something caught my eye. In one of the posts I was reading I came across a

comment from an African-American women stating that she felt (along with many other women

of color) as though feminism was not inclusive towards women of color (WOC). This comment

was deeply saddening, and a bit confusing for me if Im being completely honest. For me,

feminism has always stood for the belief that all people, regardless of gender, are entitled to the

same civil-rights and liberties. If a large group of marginalized people do not feel that feminism

represents them, thats a problem. But how arent WOC being represented in mainstream

feminism? Two words: White Feminism.

Whether youve realized it or not, you might be a white feminist. I myself did not

realize that I was a white feminist until I read that Facebook comment. So what is white

feminism? Cate Young describes it as the feminism that doesnt understand western privilege,

or cultural context. It is the feminism that doesnt consider race as a factor in the struggle for
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equality. White feminism is a set of beliefs that allows for the exclusion of issues that

specifically affect women of color. To put it more simply, if you feel as though you have been

ignorant to any issues regarding marginalized women and their oppression, then you are a white

feminist.

To give an example of white feminism, you could look to the twitter feud between Nicki

Minaj and Taylor Swift. Back in 2015 Nicki posted on twitter about how the VMAs overlooked

women of color in their nominations, by tweeting If I was a different kind of artist, Anaconda

would be nominated for best choreo and vid this year. Taylor Swift initially took this as

personal jab and tweeted back to Nicki Ive done nothing but love and support you. Its unlike

you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot After a series of

tweets back and forth between the artists they were able to make amends. Here is the problem

though. Swift, who calls herself a feminist, completely disregarded that the VMAs do overlook

women of color and didnt back Nicki up on this issue which reinstates the mindset that the

problems that women of color face do not matter. To contrast Taylor Swift's blatant white

feminism, someone who was an intersectional feminist would see Nickis tweet and recognize

the issue she was addressing.

The term intersection feminism was first coined in 1989 by American professor Kimberl

Crenshaw. She described intersectional feminism as The view that women experience

oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity. Cultural patterns of

oppression are not only interrelated, but are bound together and influenced by the intersectional

systems of society. Examples of this include race, gender, class, ability, and ethnicity. Basically
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we need to recognize that all women are going through various different version of oppression

and we need to talk about the issues surround all women more often.

If you are like me and find that you dont want to be a white feminist then go and

educate yourself about the issues surrounding marginalized women. Question the privilege you

may or may not have, and question why that is.

Sincerely,

Someone embracing intersectional feminism

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Works Cited

Minaj, Nicki. "Nicki Minaj's Tweet ." Twitter. Twitter, 21 July 2015. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

Swift, Taylor. Taylor Swifts Tweet. Twitter. Twitter, 21 July 2015. Web. 05 March. 2017

Vidal, Ava. "'Intersectional feminism'. What the hell is it? (And why you should care)." The

Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 15 Jan. 2015. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

Young, Cate. "This Is What I Mean When I Say "White Feminism"." BattyMamzelle. N.p., 01

Jan. 1970. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

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Makaia MacMurray

Simone Flanigan

English 2010

April 18th, 2017

Food Not Lawns

Lawns have been a staple of American households since the late 18th century, starting as

a symbol of class and wealth, and slowly shifting to the lawns that we see today. While lawns are

very pleasing to the eye and can be the perfect place for pets and kids to play, they can also be a

nuisance for people, as well as harmful to the environment. An excellent alternative to lawns are

gardens. Gardens not only provide people with food and save money, they are also extremely

beneficial for the environment. Along with this they can also be used to potentially create jobs,

and provide healthy food for people who may be struggling in the community. Gardens are more

beneficial than lawns in so many ways, and if homeowners in Salt Lake City planted and

maintained gardens instead of lawns it would not only help families eat healthier and save them

money, would also benefit the environment, and our community.

Many homeowners shy away from gardens for three main reasons; they require a lot of

time, they can be more expensive, and not a lot of people have enough knowledge to maintain a

garden, let alone plant one. Along with that, if gardens are not tended to often, they can become a

bit of an eyesore in the neighborhood, which could mean angry neighbors and loss of property

value. Lawns alone can be time consuming depending on how large of a property you own and

how complex the landscape is. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average American

spends about twelve minutes per day on lawn care, which adds up to about two hours per week. I
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know from personal experience that it can be difficult to set aside time to do yard work, and it

can become quite an overwhelming task if you miss even just one week. That is just focusing on

mowing the lawn, and maybe tending to a few flower beds. To plant a vegetable garden takes a

lot of planning, prepping, and maintenance for each thing you grow. Though while gardens can

be a time consuming task they can have so many benefits, primarily for the environment.

Lawns can be very damaging to the environment, from chemicals that are used in lawns

contaminating the water supply, to lawn mowers creating a lot of air pollution. Lawns also use a

large amount of water. Depending on the size they could potentially need up to 6,230 gallons of

water in order to remain healthy. Gardens however, if using the proper watering system like drip

irrigation use up to 20 to 50 percent less water than conventional pop up sprinklers. While lawns

do have their benefits like providing feeding grounds for birds, absorbing airborne pollutants like

dust and soot, and converting carbon dioxide to oxygen, gardens can do all of these things along

with providing you healthy food to eat. They can also help save the bees, which have been dying

at an alarming rate in the past few years due to pesticides. If people practiced sustainable

agriculture or organic growth in their gardens at home, it could help decrease the rate of bees

dying and help them to thrive. Other environmental benefits would be decreasing the usage of

gas powered lawn mowers. The EPA did another study on how much pollution gas powered

lawn mowers create and found that in one hour of operation they produce as much air pollution

as 11 cars each being driven for one hour. If the majority of a lawn was converted into a garden

it would help reduce the need for lawn mowers, reduce the amount of water used, and help save

the bees.
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In a neighborhood in Orlando, Florida local, Chris Castro, started an organization called

Fleet Farming. This organization asks homeowners to hand over a portion of their lawns to

volunteers to turn into gardens and take the produce that is grown to sell at local farmers market.

The homeowners are also allowed to harvest some of the produce for themselves and their

families. Castro and the volunteers ensure that the gardens stay meticulously maintained so its

not something the homeowners need to worry about. This program allows homeowners to to

have their own garden and not have to worry about setting aside the time it takes to maintain a

garden, and it benefits the local community by providing produce for their farmers market. This

program can even be taken a step further and a portion of the produce could not only be sold at

local farmers markets, they could also be donated to food pantries and soup kitchens to so people

who are homeless can have more nutritious options . It also allows people to be able to learn

more about gardening and how it all works. Gardening can be an excellent hobby to have for

exercise, but it also helps connect you to the earth more and have a better appreciation for it and

for where your food comes from.

This kind of program can become a likely thing to have here in Salt Lake City. Utahns

Against Hunger has an amazing branch called Real Food Rising (RFR), which employs a diverse

group of Youth from across the county to come work on a farm they own to learn about

sustainable agriculture, and develop job skills. The produce that they grow on their own farm

they donate to food pantries and soup kitchens, and is sold at farm stands to help provide funding

for the program, they also receive funding from various grants. Along with working on their own

farm they have the teens work at other local farms that practice sustainable agriculture or organic

growth. If we were able to develop a program with Utahns Against Hunger and RFR the teens
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that work there, and perhaps some help from other volunteers could help people start a garden in

their own yard. They could help with prepping the land, building planter boxes, planting the

seeds, and teaching the homeowners how to properly maintain the garden. They could also come

once a week to help with weeding, pruning, and harvesting in exchange for some produce to

donate to food pantries and soup kitchens, and to sell at farm stands. Money to fund this type of

program could come from grants and from donations from the homeowners.

If a program like Fleet Farming were implemented here in Salt Lake it could benefit our

community in so many ways. It could encourage people to eat healthier, help them save money

on food, get them more interested in gardening, help the local economy by providing more

produce at local farm stands, it could provide healthier food for the homeless in our community,

and it could provide teens and college students with volunteer or job opportunities. Along with

all of that it will help save our environment by conserving water, providing a safe place for bees

to pollinate, and by reducing carbon emissions from lawn mowers. In comparison to lawns

gardens seem like a far better option for our homes and they could help our community thrive in

many ways. It is more than possible to have one of your own in your yard and it is strongly

encouraged for you to have one if you care about your community and your environment.
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Works Cited

Gordon, Lisa Kaplan. "Should We Get Rid of Our Lawns?" Houselogic. HouseLogic, 04 Aug.

2016. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

"The History of Lawns." Planet Natural. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

Welch, Catherine. "An All-Volunteer Squad Of Farmers Is Turning Florida Lawns Into Food."

NPR. NPR, 15 May 2016. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

"A College Class Asks: Why Don't People Garden?" Ball Publishing. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr.

2017.

Springfels, Cheryl. "Cleaner Air : Gas Mower Pollution Facts." Cleaner Air: Mowing Emissions

and Clean Air Alternatives. A Fact Sheet. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.