Denise Cruz 

Noelle Nagales

ENGL 21003

May 19, 2023

The first article “ Texas Legislature Bans Transgender Medical Care For Children” a New York Times article written by David Montgomery and J. David Goodman details the latest shocking news that a bill has passed in the state of Texas that bans hormone and puberty treatment as well as gender affirmation surgery. This is the largest state in the U.S to ban transition care for minors. The bill itself will make it illegal for doctors to provide such treatments/surgeries that would permanently alter the body. Before this bill Texas has been trying to stop transition care for minors for years. Not only does it ban medical care it also bans any discussion of gender in schools and drag performances. The LGBTQ community in Texas has 30,000 transgender children from ages 13 to 17 that have now been denied care and now any doctors that participate will be violating the law. 

The second article “ House Passes Bill To Bar Transgender Athletes From Female Sports Teams” from the New York Times written by Annie Karni speaks on the approved legislation that would ban trans women and girls from athletic programs designed for women as a push by conservatives. Many republicans agree with this bill; calling it “common sense” for “biological males to compete with biological males”.  But many Democrats call the bill “ hateful” and “insidious’’, including President Biden himself that has said he would veto it if it comes to his desk. 

After reading both articles I see why this society seems to be going backwards and becoming even more cruel to the LGBTQ community.

Denise Cruz 

Noelle Nagales

ENGL 21003

March 20, 2023

Scientific Rhetorical Analysis 

Mental health has always been a topic within any community, but especially within minority communities. Certain minorities are more at risk for these certain issues and go on to endure without any help or care. 

There has long been a stigma attached to mental illness. It has become more prevalent in the Latino population, causing many to suffer alone and without assistance. Among today’s challenges, mental health has always been a big topic. Because of a shortage of resources accessible to particular areas, there is an increase in people who are more likely to develop some kind of mental distress. In an article entitled “Mental Health Needs of an Emerging Latino Community”, the authors Linda Bucay-Harari, Kathleen R. Page, Noa Krawczyk, Yvonne P. Robles, Carlos Castillo-Salgado discuss in great detail the use of healthcare for mental health issues to those that don’t have or couldn’t qualify for insurance. The authors go on to talk about the vulnerability that certain immigrant latinos have from migrating here and the opportunities  that have been opened for those that would be accepted by most healthcare resources.

Many undocumented immigrants that take the risk of migrating here face many challenges that come with this long and grueling process. Such as what they might be running from. Many immigrants run from corruption and violence which can traumatize anyone. But also once they get into the country they face separation, discrimination and countless other things that can make anyone break. In the article it states “Migration is a process that involves several stressors. Undocumented immigrants are particularly vulnerable since they face unique risks and exposure to traumatic experiences before, during, and after migrating that put them at high risk of mental health distress.” (389) This demonstrates how a stressful experience like this may have a significant impact on one’s physical and emotional well-being. Yet it doesn’t start with the lengthy journey and end when they arrive; it goes on.

As many immigrants arrive in the States one thing that they may face as immigrants is limited access to healthcare. One of those reasons may be that some people just might not really know that there is specialized help for mental health issues. The article mentions that Latinos usually depend on the general medical field rather than looking for specialized mental health services. Alluding to the possibility that these services aren’t talked about enough for this community. Or the fact that because it isn’t talked about enough that many people just shy away from it thinking that it is something to be ashamed of. 

In conclusion the stigma on mental health has deterred many from seeking help and getting better. This stigma has pushed its way into the latino community which has just added fuel to the fire. With the latino population growing by many immigrants coming into the country come many underlying mental health issues that many are at high risk of but don’t seek help. Many believe it’s something to be ashamed of and utilize certain resources there for them. 

Denise Cruz 

Noelle Nagales

ENGL 21003

May 19th, 2023

Self Assesment

Throughout this semester there have been many opportunities for improvement for my writing and my understanding of the many ways that might be able to happen. For this class there have been certain goals to accomplish for my writing. Some I have understood and been able to utilize them to refine some of my skills. Some of those objectives were “acknowledge your and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility”, “enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment”, “develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes” , practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects”. For this class there have been many assignments to write for and all those assignments required some form of research and peer review, as well bouncing ideas off of one another. I think I was able to use these objectives to the fullest extent and have been able to improve in these areas. However , that being said there are certain objectives where I think I could definitely improve on more, like “engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond to include public audiences” and “strengthen your source use practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources)”. I believe that sometimes come up short in these areas, particularly when it comes to citing my evidence and analyzing. 

Denise Cruz 

Noelle Nagales

ENGL 21003

February 9, 2023

My interests in Science began when I realized the improvements that have been made because of Science and all the potential to help people and be able advance this society.  I first started really studying Science when I was in high school. I took many science related courses. Since I was taking mainly biology related courses I found biology really interesting because I liked to see how all life works from a biological standpoint. How people became people, from their eye color or their hair color or how plants live and survive. Within the science community I hope to accomplish a scientific breakthrough mainly dealing with the ophthalmology field, specifically dealing with degenerative eye diseases that leave a person blind. Hopefully if I could accomplish my goal within the science community, it could be used to help many people around the world with eye problems so they see and experience the world. I hope my writing will improve even a little. I think that even a little improvement can go a long way and can help quite a bit though my 4 years in college. I mainly hope to improve in correctly using different methods for my evidence. Like knowing when to paraphrase and knowing how to cite correctly as well as quoting for titles and authors. I hope to accomplish these goals by taking and applying any feedback that I might get on any assignments. As well as asking any questions that might concern the areas I wish to improve on.