Reflective Post

Dear Reader,

Throughout my time in ENG 201 I learned a lot about how to analyze things differently and to change the way I say and do things. Throughout this class we read different materials and discussed them in class and talk about what they really meant. My favorite part of this class was public sphere day. It gave us a chance to physically make a difference rather then just talking about an issue. It gave us a chance to make a change. It was a really neat assignment but I would change a couple things about it though. Next time I would chose a different subject because the one I choose was a little hard because some places I called didn't give me very good information. We also didn't have very many people walk by so not many people got to see us. It was also a little cold so there weren't very many sitting outside. If it would have been a warmer day and maybe around 11 or 12 in the afternoon. Students tend to chill outside when its warmer. What I didn't like about this class was writing rhetorical precises. I hated these so bad cause because I wasn't good at them at all.

Content Analysis

A Family City in Hard Times

Many people debate about whether or not Evansville, Indiana is a city or a town. A city is an inhabited place greater in size, population, or importance than a town or a village. When someone thinks about a city they think about places like Chicago or New York with their big bright lights, busy atmosphere, popularity and the different characteristics that make it a city such as the tall buildings, tourist’s attractions, large malls, and high population. Evansville is a quiet town and is not well known to those outside of the surrounding area. Evansville doesn’t have anything that makes it more important than a well known city and population has slowly decreased throughout the years. It is also a small town with a population of approximately 122,000. For the past several years city officials are taking steps the make Evansville more of a city and to attract more people from the surroundings areas. Plans for future construction are in the works to help build new family attractions, fix back-up traffic, and bring in more visitors from the surrounding areas. Most projects are still going through research to decide whether or not Evansville will benefit from the new attraction while others require millions of dollars and time.

One of the first new attractions to help better Evansville was a children’s park called Kids Kingdom. It’s located in front of the river right before Marina Point. It’s a wooden playground surrounded by open fields, small trails, and gazebos which makes it the perfect attraction for families. Across from the park is a nice sitting area complete with another gazebo for people to sit and enjoy the weather when it’s nice outside. Another attraction along the river is the LST 325 WWII warship. It’s a historic attraction for the whole family to tour the warship. After the construction the city decided to build a children’s museum. The children’s museum is also a family gets together attraction that is fun for all ages. The museum is located in the old central library. A new central library was built downtown across from the Executive Inn. This project was to increase the downtown area. Old buildings have also been renovated and turned into lofts and condos. Evansville is a family city and most of the new attractions are attractions that are fun for the whole family. The riverfront was also renovated to attract more visitors to hang out in front of the river. The Casino Aztar is the only casino for several miles so many people come from out of town to hang out at the boat and stay the night. The casino is one of our largest attractions on the weekends. The Fall Festival is one of the nation’s biggest street festivals that is held the first full week of October located on the Westside. It features games, rides, live entertainment, and food. This is an excellent tourist attraction and has been for over 80 years. Another new spot for Evansville is a restaurant named Red Robin. It is located on the East side of Evansville and is nearing finish and hopes to employ approximately 100 employers. It is located in the old Smokey Bones BBQ and renovations cost between $1 million to $1.7 million. The owners hope to attract many new customers when it opens towards the end of March. Evansville has also been recently introduced to a healthy grocery store chain called Aldi. The first one was opened on December 8 on the corner of Burkhardt and Oak Grove Road. The second one was opened on January 30 on Llyod Expressway and Rosenburg Road.

Construction of the Lloyd Expressway began in 2007. Its purpose is to eliminate stop lights at the intersection of Fulton Avenue and the Lloyd Expressway, one of the city’s busiest intersections. The intersection will be revamped to become a full cloverleaf and will cost approximately $27 million. People pushed for this same construction many years ago but money was the issue. Construction for US 41 and Lloyd Expressway location will follow the Fulton and Lloyd cloverleaf but is not scheduled to begin till 2010. Evansville is known as the stop-light city for our numerous stop lights and city officials hope that people’s frustrations with the Expressway will ease as the stop lights are taken down.

Construction will begin for Howell Park to add a small water park located behind Howell swimming pool. ARC Construction is in charge of the project and hope to have it completed by June, 2009. The pool will have a beach area with water jets, slides for toddlers, and a 150 foot slide. Following the announcement of this plan is also the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage. This project is included in a group of projects. It will start at the Uhlhorn Trailhead, past the Pigeon Creek Levee and Kratzville Road and end close to Cody Street. These new projects will cost approximately three million dollars. Evansville currently has two other water parks, Hartke’s located on the eastside next to Swonder’s Ice Arena and Burdaht located on the Westside. Following the group projects are plans to renovate the Marchland Bridge to be an overlook of the Ohio. They hope to have these projects completed by the end of 2009. Each new attraction adds more things for families to do and can help increase family relationships. In August construction will begin for the new Robert Stadium. After long deliberation, they decided that it would be better to build a new stadium rather than to remodel the old one.

Haynie’s corner, which was once known for its popular prostitute hangout, is now being turned into an Art Colony. During the summer it offers activities for kids and adults to come and enjoy the art and make some of their own. It also host an annual arts festival that is nationally known. In 2007, the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana opened a new art gallery. It’s located on the Innovation Pointe building located on Main Street called the Bower-Suhrheinich Foundation Gallery. Besides the art that attracts viewers it also attracts people by host lunch time shows of local dancers, singers, and musicians.

The Mesker Park Zoo has added a Botanical Garden to its park. The garden has over 600 freely movable animals. Visitors can walk through a bridge like trail to view the animals, exotic plants and trees. The park also has a petting zoo, paddle boats, bumper boats, canoes, trams with tour information. The exhibits focus on the vanishing rainforests. A new project is in store for a new South American Rainforest exhibit that will expand over 10,000 feet,

USI’s spring 2008 enrollment was at a record high. More people are going back to school to further their education due to the downward fall of the economy. Increase of college graduates will decrease poverty rates. USI construction will begin this summer to build a new front-entry onto the campus. Construction will interfere with parking but by the time fall classes begin there will be more parking areas available. A new Valley parking will have a 20 bike locker for students, faculty, or staff to lock their bikes up for free for the academic year. They will be tearing down about 30 trees for the new bike route but will be planting 130 more once construction is done.

The new attractions are family attractions to get people to come out more and enjoy the city. The average household is about 3.05 and the majority of the city has are family households. There is always new construction and renovating going on to increase the atmosphere of our city. Evansville is on the rise but is it the wrong time? With our nation being in a recession should we be worried about new water parks and stadiums? Family attractions have long term effects when relationships between kids and their parents increase but do parents have the money to afford these new attractions? There’s nothing better than turning a city around and making it better but right now people aren’t spending as much as they use too. Pulling people in from cities outside of our reach will increase population and activity even to those who are just visiting. What kind of attention can Evansville expect when outsiders come in and will it be a positive one? Evansville can expect many new things in the future and everyone living in the city is looking forward to it. With some of the projects being ready for the summer and money being low, more people will stay home rather than travel out of town and spend hundreds of dollars somewhere else. There are plenty of activities for family’s to engage in without spending a ton of money. Evansville’s future is bright and maybe one day we can become a well known city.

Political Compass

So I did this political compass test to see where I stand on a compass of authoritarian and libertarian. I ended up barely being in the area that said state-imposed collectivism. I don't think the test was very accurate because for one some of the questions I did not understand. The only options for the questions were strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree. Some of the questions I really didn't have an opinion on. Some of them I felt neutral. I don't feel like authority should rule but there are some things that the government should control because it makes things a lot easier. I didn't like the test at all and I don't think it was very good. I Only a few of them I really felt strongly about.

Annotated Bibliography

Interview of Lacey Moss

I plan on using this interview to give the readers a summary of what I spend money on. I receive help from my mother so I plan on using her information to also help me. We pay for tuition, food, clothes, and diapers. Since this is my public sphere I feel that the reader would want to know why I am so involved in this subject. I am a reliable source because I’m a college mother myself. Even though I live at home I still experience the high cost of taking care of a child.

Interview of Allesha Moss

Allesha is my sister and she is also a college mother. Her interview is also going to be very important because she lives on her own. In her interview she will provide her cost of living and how much she spends a month. A lot of college mothers are a couple years older than me and they live on their own so providing the audience with an additional source that they might closely relate to will help get more support.

Information from Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper is the program that I go through for my daycare assistance. I plan on interviewing my caseworker so she can provide more information for the other college mothers. I know this plan isn’t going to happen overnight so I want to help other mothers with the assistance that they need now. This source is very reliable because it’s a current assistance program. It will also provide information about how long the current waiting list is.

Information from Workone

Workone is the biggest daycare assistance program. Many times the length of their waiting list changes due to the increasing demand of assistance. The recession has encouraged a lot more people to go back to work or school. Most stay at home moms are now seeking assistance for daycare so that they can go back to school or work. I will obtain information about how long their current waiting list is and what the yearly average income cutoff was. This assistance is provided longer than a year if you continue to be eligible.

Daycare Price Information

Whenever I discussed daycare price information with my other classmates during a peer review they were surprised at home much we as mothers had to pay. This is the information I plan to use to reel in the non-parents. It’s hard to get people involved if the subject doesn’t have anything to do with them so I plan using the high prices of daycare. These are prices are up-to-date so they will be very useful.

Census Information

I’m going to display the cost of living and the average cost of tuition. This information will be helpful because it shows just how much we are paying to go to school and helps them imagine what it would be like to have to add on the cost of daycare. This information will be just a couple years behind but it’s the most recent one that is available at the time.

Inside Higher Ed

This website discusses the issue of a new study about the increasing rate of college mother dropouts. This is also very important because young mothers want to better themselves and it’s hard to do so with the continuous problems with the economy. Every college student emphasizes with the next person about finances so this would really help to also get more support. Most of the problems with college dropouts are with finances especially when they have kids.

Information from 4C of Southern Indiana

This is a program the helps low income families seek help with daycare. I believe they also help provide assistance with paying for the daycare too. I know they do give out lists of daycares and prices and information on the daycares. They also give out referrals for child cares. They educate the families on what is best for the developing child.

Evansville Daycare Finder, Internet Source

This website gives out information about different daycares throughout the city. Some charge by the week and some by the hour. It also tells you what vouchers and assistance programs are accepted there. This site provides contact information for further information. This is helpful for those parents looking for daycare in their area.

Evansville ARC

This information is helpful because they provide temporary daycare. I will provide information on what requirements are to be met to qualify and how long a person can use this daycare. This is helpful because it can provide temporary relief for a parent who is trying to go back to school or work and needs daycare until they can save money to afford one or is accepted on a voucher program.

Statistics for Evansville, Indiana

Social Characteristics - show more >>
Estimate Percent U.S. Margin of Error
Average household size
2.19 (X) 2.60 +/-0.04
Average family size 2.88 (X) 3.19 +/-0.07

Population 25 years and over 74,636 +/-866
High school graduate or higher (X) 82.3 84.0% (X)
Bachelor's degree or higher (X) 16.7 27.0% (X)
Civilian veterans (civilian population 18 years and over) 9,776 11.2 10.4% +/-707
Disability status (population 5 years and over) 19,973 19.5 15.1% +/-1,164
Foreign born 2,464 2.2 12.5% +/-486
Male, Now married, except separated (population 15 years and over) 20,083 47.0 52.6% +/-878
Female, Now married, except separated (population 15 years and over) 20,099 41.3 48.5% +/-941
Speak a language other than English at home (population 5 years and over) 4,024 3.8 19.5% +/-656

Household population 108,987 +/-1,413
Group quarters population (X) (X) (X) (X)

Economic Characteristics - show more >> Estimate Percent U.S. Margin of Error
In labor force (population 16 years and over) 56,416 62.6 64.7% +/-1,379
Mean travel time to work in minutes (workers 16 years and over) 17.0 (X) 25.1 +/-0.7
Median household income (in 2007 inflation-adjusted dollars) 34,186 (X) 50,007 +/-1,468
Median family income (in 2007 inflation-adjusted dollars) 46,422 (X) 60,374 +/-2,720
Per capita income (in 2007 inflation-adjusted dollars) 20,422 (X) 26,178 +/-841
Families below poverty level (X) 12.6 9.8% (X)
Individuals below poverty level (X) 17.8 13.3% (X)

Housing Characteristics - show more >>
Estimate Percent U.S. Margin of Error
Total housing units 56,877 +/-296
Occupied housing units 49,733 87.4 88.4% +/-1,041
Owner-occupied housing units 29,826 60.0 67.3% +/-885
Renter-occupied housing units 19,907 40.0 32.7% +/-1,067
Vacant housing units 7,144 12.6 11.6% +/-976

Owner-occupied homes 29,826 +/-885
Median value (dollars) 87,400 (X) 181,800 +/-1,314
Median of selected monthly owner costs
With a mortgage (dollars)
905 (X) 1,427 +/-23
Not mortgaged (dollars) 333 (X) 402 +/-9

ACS Demographic Estimates - show more >>
Estimate Percent U.S. Margin of Error
Total population 113,627 +/-1,414
Male 54,266 47.8 49.2% +/-834
Female 59,361 52.2 50.8% +/-1,122
Median age (years)
36.6 (X) 36.4 +/-0.6
Under 5 years 7,999 7.0 6.9% +/-465
18 years and over 87,321 76.8 75.3% +/-1,006
65 years and over 16,738 14.7 12.5% +/-360

One race
111,418 98.1 97.9% +/-1,559
White 95,929 84.4 74.1% +/-1,385
Black or African American 13,019 11.5 12.4% +/-728
American Indian and Alaska Native 213 0.2 0.8% +/-107
Asian 1,194 1.1 4.3% +/-289
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0 0.0 0.1% +/-151
Some other race 1,063 0.9 6.2% +/-322
Two or more races 2,209 1.9 2.1% +/-535

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 1,750 1.5 14.7% +/-157

Public Sphere Day

Here I am at our Public Sphere day. It was really winding and my poster kept falling over so I kinda sat in front of it but I didn't cover all the info so the audience could still kind of see it.
(No clue of why my mouth is open like that.)

Public Literacy Flyer

Need daycare?

Wouldn't it be more convenient to have
an affordable one right here on campus?

Let’s talk about how we can make that happen and what to do in
the mean time until it happens. Information on financial assistance and
voucher programs will be available as well as a list
of daycare's in the Evansville area.

Come see Lacey under the UC Bridge On April 20 & 22 at 10:00.

Sponsored by Green Life