Hello Sophie, I really like this post that you made. I totally agree with you that it’s not fair for the illegal immigrants to receive unfair treatment. I found it interesting that if a huge mass of people were to be deported, economic growth of $250 billion would be reduced. I really love this article because people who talk bad about immigrants need to look more into the reality of the situation and see that they are a big part of our economy. .

Very interesting topic, Sophie. I admire how you add the opposing argument to yours to enhance your article. I found it very valuable that you could analyze both sides. I agree with your stance on the issue as you stated, “mass deportations policy would reduce economic growth by around $250 billion per year” which is a huge factor in favor of giving illegal persons a path to citizenship. If you would like to learn more on this topic, please take a look at this article: https://www.thebalance.com/how-immigration-impacts-the-economy-4125413. I look forward to reading more from you on this topic in the future.

Sophie this really outstands to me “Illegal immigrants are not the problem in this case. Lazy people living off welfare when they can actually get off their butts and work are the problem.” This relates to me because I have the same thoughts. People living of welfare are the ones taking money away from the government then they blame us!

Very interesting topic, Sophie. I am very passionate about this issue as well since my childhood nanny of five years is a dreamer. It scares me that the Trump Administration would rescind this very positive program full of thousands of hard-working people who have improved the economy. I appreciated that you mentioned the economy “would lose $460.3 billion from the national GDP and $24.6 billion in Social Security and Medicare tax contributions.” I really appreciated you backing up all your opinions with factual evidence, as it cemented your argument. If you would like to read more on this issue, you should read the article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/daca-injunction-what-a-federal-judges-ruling-means-for-dreamers/2018/01/10/ecb5d492-f60c-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html?utm_term=.bf157499f8df. I hope you will write more on this topic in the future and I look forward to reading more of your work.

Dear Sophie :

I’m excited to discuss this argument and turn it to a solution. I don’t know a dreamer personally but my cousin worked so hard to pay her education as a nurse even as a person seeking citizenship. Currently there are 690,000 dreamers in DACA. In order to be eligible for the program dreamers must arrived before the age of 16.

One sentence that caught my attention was, “Mark Zandi chief economist from Moody Analytics told New York Times that after five years DACA is repealed, the U.S. gross domestic product would be $105 BILLION diminished than if DACA were to remain force.” The reason of this happening is all immigrants go back to their country. Immigrants pay taxes and try to pay debts or bills in time, unlike Trump he has avoided to pay taxes. Trump is not setting a good example as commander in chief of U.S.

The last sentence that intrigued me was, “They didn’t choose to be born in a country that was oppressing to their families, and did not choose to immigrate to a new country when they were just young children.” This sentence spoke out to me because it’s true it is NOT their fault; they were forced to come and these poor little ones didn’t have a clue what was going on. One thing is for sure, these children wanted to be with their parents. This situation reminds me of when my stepdad lost his job and we had to move to another state. I was five at the time and didn’t know what was happening in my surroundings. I just wanted to be with my family.

Thank you for your essay. It was an honor for me to have the opportunity to read it and I look forward to reading more of your essays.

Hi Sophie-
This is such a controversial topic and you attacked it graciously. The quotes you have included really help justify your argument. I really liked your conclusion and how you stated, ” They did not choose to be born in a country that was oppressing to their families, and they did not choose to immigrate to a new country when they were just young children. They deserve the same human rights as any legal citizen, and they do not deserve to be deported to a land they do not know, a land they can not call home even if they were born there.”. Keep up the good work! Here’s an article that discusses why we should keep DACA: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/3-reasons-americans-should-daca-odyssey . I hope to see more writing from you!

This is such an important topic! I come from a family that was immigrated from Mexico. My three oldest sibling currently have DACA and they have benefited so much from it. I really cannot imagine how life would be if Obama never would have presented this program to us. I am currently doing an action plan for my civics class that will try to get people to protest so that Trump does not get rid of DACA. I would honesty agree with everything you said because these kids do not choose whether to be born here or anything like that. Every person should be treated equally and should get the same rights as a “Legal” citizen.

Hi Sophie I loved your post and how you said “face-to-face interactions are less desirable than social media or texting”, I would agree. Today many young people do not know how to make eye contact and from my mom (who’s my source in this post) says “I’ve noticed that with many young applicants who want an internship with me, alot of them struggle with maintaining eye-contact and knowing proper social skills.” And, so I would agree a conversation on the phone is two-people hiding behind screens and body language is thrown out, making it a different type of conversation as you will, than having a face-to-face conversation.

Hello Sophie, I really agree with the interference of work life and home life because of technology. Instead of people to go home and rest for the day, they still are pushed to do more work because of technology. I also agree with the dating topic. Sometimes now these days instead of meeting face to face, people like to sit in front of a computer or phone screen, and talk to someone online that they find attractive which is kind of sad.

Hello Sophie, I enjoyed reading what you posted and found it quite compelling how “technology affects the way we form friendships too” . Technology have been and is increasingly becoming a center of our lives, we become dependent on it and everything we do evolves around it. Although I know there are positives parts of having technology, but not at the point of making us forget and ignore our surroundings and become less aware of the real life. I’ve read in http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.21540/full, we depend so much on technology that we spend a considerable portion of our daily life interacting through social media.

Dear Sophie,
I am surprised by your post, “Is Technology Affectiong Our Relationships?”
One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is, “When we send confortantational messages over phone rather than in person it blocks us from registering the negative emotional responses, which gives the illusion that we’re not really doing harm” because it is true. When were on the phone we never know if what the person is saying is true because they can just tell us what we want we hear and not mean it at all. In person, you can tell about their body language and attitude if they mean what they say.
Another sentence that I enjoyed reading was, “Technology is becoming a hindrance against the human connection now then ever before”. This stood out for me because technology and social media really does mess up relationships in the real world. People now days really live for social media.
Your post reminds me of something that happened with me. One time I was on Instagram and it was a lot of females that were trying to be my friends. They would comment under my pictures and even dm (direct message) me. So I decided to respond back. We ended up becoming friends on social media. However, one day I seen her in person and it was weird because we just walked past eachother like we did not know eachother. Later on that day she texted me saying, “Oh I seen you today”. I just stopped talking to her because that was weird to me. She would be so comfortable talking to me on social media but not comfortable to say anything in person. That is why your post was so interesting to read.
Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next because you seem to know what your writing about.

Sophie,
You make some great points about immigration and people working hard to achieve everything they want to in life. I however disagree with some of your statements about other disenfranchised americans and their status and how they “sit on their butts all day.” I see this as clumping all people into one group which is something that Trump does to immigrants. It overshadows your amazing points about the tax system in america which is unfair to immigrants.
http://theweek.com/articles/449215/does-welfare-make-people-lazy this article does a great job of looking at the welfare systems and their advantages.
Thanks, Simon

Dear Sophie,
I am impressed by your post , “ Is immigration into the U.S an actual problem” because many people do not do the jobs that immigrants do. For example i have seen only on white young american working in the fields and he was surrounded but mexican, he would not understand what they would tell him but he did got along with them even thought they were different from one another with language.
One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is “ the government does not recognize immigrants” Is something that one day can change. For example a lot of americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo but do not know the main meaning to this. Maybe one day immigrants can get a day to get recognized like Martin Luther King JR day.
Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next because the topic you wrote about was good. I also look forward on reading it.
Yuliana Vasquez

Sophie, this post is something that is very compelling to me and something I have thought about to myself for a very long time. As a catholic, I tend to actually believe animals do have souls because I personally cannot tell the difference in quality of life between a human and an animal. If God created everything equal, then why would animals be left out of that? Simply because they don’t have vocal chords or rational thoughts? I don’t think that is right and I think your third paragraph was spot on. Another point that I always wonder about is why people seem to care about larger animals and value their life more. For example, people seem to be far more compassionate about this topic when talking about animals such as tigers or elephants than they are when talking about frogs or insects. If this argument about souls is true, then shouldn’t all animals be treated the same? Sorry if that was confusing, it’s just something I have thought about for a long time and it’s hard to put into words.

Sophie, I thought this was a very compelling post. I really enjoyed how you addressed both sides of this topic giving explanations for both points of view. I think we can all appreciate this topic, because many of us have pets that we would consider a part of our family. I know that coming home and having my dog greet me is one of the best parts of my day, and I know that my family considers our dog to be an essential part of our life, so, I have also thought about this a lot. I thought this was an interesting topic to research and post about, it definitely made me think.

I’ve always wounder if animals had soul but I never came to a conclusion or an answer to that inquiry. I came with my own conclusion that every being had a soul and everything that could breath, so animals for me had a soul. I concluded that based on many personal analysis with different animals. Reading this gave me more information to compare my own knowledge. Why I say animals have soul is based on how they behave, some behave mostly like humans and if humans had soul then why not them? I loved reading this, and the more i read it the more i question myself.

Sophie, I love how you defended your argument because you used facts,statistics,and true stories to defend what you were arguing. I like how you also brought religion into it and with me being a religious person I do believe that all things are made with a soul and have feelings. I like how you said “Our souls are rational, theirs aren’t, and ours are rational because they’re spiritual, not material.” this stood out to me because it made a very strong point between the difference of the human soul and the animal soul.

I am interested in your post because I think that animals do have souls as well. They understand when people are sad or they are mad. I feel like if they didn’t have a soul they wouldn’t be able to comprehend was is going on.
One thing that stands out for me is “For months, whenever I would find myself crying, clutching my belly, Gracie would rush over to me, rest her head on my lap and look up at me with kind eyes that understood. She definitely had a soul which spoke to mine, and I would get down on the floor with her and hold her, the warmth of her furry body calming me down.” I think is is so intelligent because the dog was so smart because they have a wise soul.

Dear Sophie
I am interested in your post because I am always asking myself what love is. I know that you didn’t really go into much detail but it was enough information to want to know more. One thing that stands out to me is “In the Greek language, there are seven different words for seven different types of love:” I think that is interesting because I never knew there were so man different meanings for the word love. What inspired you to want to write about love.
Regards,
Jaliaya Thomas

Dear Sophie,

I found your writing intriguing because love even in a chemical reaction is fascinating. Even how it can be more than just simply, a chemical reaction. A way to find someone who feels the same way as you. The feeling of “romantic love” to find a partner. What else stands out to me is how many ways there are to say love in different ways through Greek. That is what most intrigued me.

Regards
James Hawkins

Dear Sophie,
I found your post to be very interesting because I have always debated with others over If love is real or not. I agree with you that “love is used and abused for the expression of different sets of feelings” I feel as though many people don’t actually know if they love someone or not but they say it anyway because they have lust for that person. I also feel as though after a while that love just fades away into nothing.Overall, I enjoyed reading your post!
~Taylor Snoddy

Dear Sophie
I am interested in your post because many people ask what is love. you don’t go to deep in to detail but I see that there is enough information here to want people to want more that will make them want to go out and look for more of what the word means and we all have a different mean of it .

Arthadius Sanders

Sophie, I really like the topic that you chose and how you explored the different ways that we approach using the word love or how we feel about that word. I do agree with you that love is a choice and feeling because we do have the choice to love something or not to. This was a nice article.

I agree with your post “love” is hard to find and hard to figure out what love is or what love means Great post!