Raynise Adams Dr.

Kathryn Crowther English 110H-270 23 April 2014 Kostova Analysis

Kostova, Bilyana Vanyova. "Collective Suffering, Uncertainty And Trauma In Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides: Of Bystanders, Perpetrators And Victims." Atlantis (02106124) 35.2 (2013): 47-63. Fuente Acadmica. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Kostova successfully attempts to write a paper about how The Virgin Suicides is a novel about the collective trauma surrounding traumatic events including but not limited to suicide. It clearly describes how the three men, the experimental narrators in the novel, experience the tragedy of the female protagonists suicide. Kostova supports this claim by looking at trauma studies. He defines trauma by dedicating three paragraphs to its definition. First, he paraphrases the perspective on trauma that he uses for support throughout the paper. He follows this paraphrase with his own explanation of trauma, using it in the broadest terms: Trauma originates from a psychic and/or physical wound that leaves long lasting mental scars (Kostova 48). Kostova support his interpretation by providing the American Psychological Associations definition. After discussing how trauma should be interpreted in his paper Kostova talks about the journey of trauma and how people outside of the literary world cope with traumatic events. He uses contemporary art, the most commonly understood outlet, to show how trauma is expressed non-verbally. Throughout the article we discover that Kostova views the trauma, as something not automatically experienced: Why are we still chasing down peoples whose lives briefly brushed the Lisbon girls twenty years ago? (Kostova 3) Kostova uses this quote to support the claim that the men

are experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, as a gradual adverse effect. They continue to obsess over the suicides many years following the event. Exemplifying suburban collective repression (Kostova 6), by only talking to those who were affected by the girls suicide in some way. Due to the chronology of events, it is a prime example of collective trauma. The men, initially bystanders, are unwilling to see the signs. Due to this denial they are unable to help, perpetuate the suicides. Later on, never dealing with the situation, they experience PTSD, becoming victims from the traumatic events they experienced as a child. This was backed by his evidence and definition of trauma and collective trauma presented in the introductory paragraphs.

Olin Aleman Dr. Crowther English Comp 1101-H 4-28-14 Essay 4

Nassar-Hall, Emily. The Disposable Class: Ensuring Poverty Consciousness In Natural Disaster Preparedness. DePaul Journal for Social Justice Vol. 7.Issue 1 (2013): p55. Print.

In this article the author examines the necessity of natural disaster preparedness for vulnerable populations (individuals with disabilities, pregnant women, children, the elderly, and prisoners, members of ethnic minorities, people with language barriers and people living in poverty). It emphasizes the need to amend the National Disaster Response Framework, and other vital natural disaster agencies that provide emergency preparedness, to include poverty reduction strategies. It also points out that vulnerable populations suffer the most during a natural disaster. This article mentions studies that reveal the extent of a poverty penalty in which economically disadvantaged communities suffered the most during Hurricane Katrina (63). For example, individuals living in poverty lack the financial resources to stockpile the recommended emergency supplies or prepare evacuation or shelter plans, given their lack of access to transportation or structurally sound locations in which to take shelter. In illustration, the paper describes images of stranded, desperate and dying New Orleanians became so pervasive(63). It makes the argument that preparedness includes that the needs of vulnerable populations are met in order to anticipate a disaster.

The article is very informative and heartbreaking in that it describes the inadequacies of our current preparedness system in a concise and illustrative and thoughtful manner. In support of its argument, the article uses 3 case studies on recent natural disasters and multiple examples of victims of the poverty penalty that further adds to its integrity. She sites relevant solutions to real world problems and any bias, other than social justice, is undetectable. The author states that bringing residences out of poverty is the best way to prevent the level of crisis that Hurricane Katrina exposed: The major barriers to disaster resiliency can be remedied before, and not during, a disaster

Mike Bradford

Laditka, Sarah B., Laditka, James N. (2008) Providing Shelter to Nursing Home Evacuees in Disasters: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina. American Journal of Public Health Volume 98. Web. My source argues that the preparedness for nursing homes was inadequate to the needs of its elderly residents and the response time from health agencies was poor. The article discusses how the elderly are vulnerable in a state of emergency and how nursing homes should be recognized as a hospital because of their similar needs. The needs of the elderly require medical supplies, medicine and fuel to keep the generators running. With supplies running out, this caused the staff to venture out in search for help and resources. Administrators said that, The gas stations gave the gas to hospitals but not to the nursing homes. They asked the sheriff to help, but the police threatened to arrest our staff if they took gas.(Laditka 3). The inability of being able to communicate with suppliers, law enforcement, and families caused problems because phones and the internet were not working to ask for help. The topic I chose to write about fits into my paper because its a demographic that was left behind during the storm, like many others who were forgotten. Interviews with the nursing homes staff on the phone and on-site provided feedback about what happened after Hurricane Katrina, what they learned from experience and the status of the evacuees. Conditions were hard on both the staff and the elderly from being evacuated. Staffing said to have noticed a rise in depression and anxiety, and that the evacuees were either missed home, or were more demanding.(Laditka 3). They were uneasy with the situation of not being able to see family members because of the relocation. Staff members suffered from a

decrease in mental health because many had not seen their loved ones and had no idea the condition of their homes.

The writer of the article crafted interesting arguments by discussing what happened from the disaster and gives statistics about what he is discussing. I like the way the writer organizes the article and the structure of each discussed topic. An example of this would be the first part, The disaster following Hurricane Katrina further demonstrated that our nations disaster management system does not respond adequately to the needs of fail older persons in nursing homes. (Laditka 1). The follow up to this, About seventy nursing home residents died in thirteen nursing homes during the immediate aftermath of Katrina. (Laditka 1). I feel that the strength of the report is solid because of the way the staff was interviewed. The writer was able to compare responses from staffing directly after the storm and also a later period to compare the differences.

Kaylee Fricks Dr. Crowther English April 24, 2014 "Frequently Asked Questions About The MRGO."mrgomustgo.n.p.n.d. Web. April 13, 2014

One of my favorite topics I talked about in my paper was about the MRGO funnel. This website really helped me figure out the basics about the funnel and also the impact of it. I feel like this website is a great start for someone who wants to learn more about what the MRGO funnel did and how the people reacted to it after it failed. This website is about getting rid of MRGO. It states on the site that the MRGO Increased Hurricane Katrinas destructive power by: Destroying our natural buffer[and by] Increasing the storm surge. These statements really made my paper because I wanted to point out the bad that the MRGO has caused. By adding in the main points from the website, I was able to really get my voice in a research paper. The point of my paper was to get the word out that the MRGO has created more of the devastation than the Katrina. The website states that MRGO was an economic burden which really played a key point in the paper. The fact that it states The amount of ship traffic which never reached expected levelshas decreased while maintenance costs have increased really supports my idea that the funnel shouldnt have even been built. I also wanted to see how the funnel impacted the people. The people have been taxed for this funnel even though it hasnt been put to use as the Army Corps of Engineers thought. While this site was great for all of my main points, there was something that was missing which I thought would be a great thing to put in my paper. I would have loved to see how the funnel impacted the people while it was being made. I wouldve liked to know if people were forced to move or if some businesses were put out of business because of the construction of the funnel. The website also doesnt really go into

much detail about the impact of Katrina and the funnel. It just says that the funnel helped channel it to other cities. This website does help you understand how MRGO helped channel the surge by showing you graphics of it. While this website left out some really important details, Im glad that it had the information I needed. While I was researching the MRGO funnel, I kept coming up with really hard to understand articles of it. The site was very well organized and to the point. After reading the site you can really understand what the MRGO funnel was and how it contributed the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. This was really important to me because that is the point of my MRGO paragraph. This website would be my first recommendation for anyone who wants to learn more about this funnel.

Cristina Guzman Dr. Crowther English 1101-270H 27 April 2014 "A Brief History of the Civil Rights Movement on the Mississippi Gulf Coast."Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive. The University of Southern Mississippi, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://digilib.usm.edu/crmda_coast.ph This website gives useful information about the Civil Rights movement throughout Gulf Coast. This cite does not generate an argument, but it gives us historical information of how the Civil Rights impacted the Gulf Coast. It gives us a timeline of when and who founded the first organizations that supported the Civil Rights movement along the Gulf Coast. The information narrows down to explain the different organizations that popped up in Biloxi, which is situated along Mississippis shore, and in nearby towns. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP, and other organizations such as the Biloxi Civic League and the Harrison County Civic Action Committee were some that impacted the Mississippi shore greatly. The website gives a brief history of the founders of the organizations; for example Dr. Gilbert Mason, who founded the first Gulf Coast chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (A Brief History). Drs. Dunn and Mason organized the Biloxi and Harrison County organizations. The site also gives us a brief description of some of the riots that broke out while activists were trying to integrate places that were segregated. Since the Gulf of Mexico runs south of Mississippi it has a huge area of beaches stationed along the coast, and these beaches were segregated. A group of African-Americans were swimming of the shores of the whites-only

Biloxi and Gulfport beaches when the whites-only beach became a scene of chaos as angry whites attacked the civil rights activists with sticks, chains, blackjacks, and pool cues (A Brief History). It also gives us examples of some of the boycotts that took place in Biloxi when the black community in Biloxi boycotted several white-owned businessesgroup targeted the Borden Milk Companyand a general food and variety store at Nixon and Division Streets. (A Brief History). This website was very helpful in my research because it gave me an overview of what it was like in the Biloxi-Gulfport area when the Civil Rights movement was taking part in integrating the south. The overview that this website gives about the Civil Rights movement in the south was very helpful. The author of the website, his or her name is not mentioned, organized it in a clear way someone could understand and follow. The website is in a digital collection that is operated by the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries which gives credibility to it. They also cite the sources that they used to gather their information too. There are also a lot of description of how each organization was created and information about the founders, which I thought was very useful background information to know. On the page they also provide you with other additional resources that help you find out more about the Civil Rights, they have a Mississippi Civil Rights timeline you can use, and they also have a section where they explain some of the acronyms associated with the Civil Rights. I liked using this resource because it gave the information I needed when I was writing about how the Civil Rights impacted the Gulfport area, and this site was a great website to use for that part of my essay.

Imani Okponobi Kathryn Crowther English 1101 Honors 27 April 2014 Scrutinizing Godfeys Hurricane Katrina: Impact, Recovery and Lessons Learned

Godfrey, Nessa P. Hurricane Katrina : Impact, Recovery And Lessons Learned. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2009. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 5 Apr. 2014.

Hurricane Katrina: Impact, Recovery and Lessons Learned by Nessa P. Godfrey was one the resources I had utilized to write my research paper, about the failures of FEMA and the governments responses to Katrina victims, that I had found to be the most useful. This resource is a tangible book however, you can find it online as an ebook. When you first access the book, it lists the subjects that it addresses so you wont waste your time reading something that you don't need. Towards the end of the page is the presence of a table of content; in the table of content there is a list of topics and subtopics that would be discussed throughout Godfreys book, making it easier to access the specific topic that youre researching. The structure of her book is well organized, leaving reading to understand her work. Before getting into the actual content, Godfrey adds a preface basically giving a brief summary of Hurricane Katrina. She describes the amount of people who died, 1,400, and the amount of people who became dispossessed, 1.3 million, after Katrina. The preface gives a short explanation of the weaknesses in the federal and state government responses, including fraud, waste and abuse. Godfrey describes the purpose of her book and what it fulfills. The purpose of

her book is to let readers know the obstacles faced in New Orleans after Katrina had hit. It also attempts to explore the failures in the recovery process. After giving readers a brief introduction to Katrina, she continues to add factual evidence such as testimonies and going on to elaborate her point. This book is very detailed and contains many information that one can use to be aware of all aspects of Katrinas aftermath. She uses statistics, data and facts to support or back up her points. She explores FEMA disaster housings, clearing of the debris, insurance and all things pertaining to Katrina. All of these topics were also divided into difficult sections, leaving the reading easy to comprehend. I would have been able to write my paper and use this book to support my reasoning as to why FEMA failed in aiding survivor only by using the resource. If one wanted to find out the failures of Katrinas recovery, what went wrong and what should have happened, I suggest that he or she should read this book.

Zuri Phillips Dr. Crowther English 1101H Section 270 4/22/2014 The Franklin Institute. The Human Brain-Fats. 2004. web. 22 04 2014. My source explains why fat is important to the brain and what types of fat help and hinder its development. It starts out by explaining that the early humans that lives on the coast and ate seafood had larger brains. The author compares them to humans that lived inland by stating In contrast, the inland Australopithecines did not have access to omega 3 EFAs and got stuck at a brain capacity that was not much bigger than a chimpanzee for three million years. (The Franklin Institute)1 The author goes on to explain that omega 6 fatty acids also help in brain development. The author focus on infant brain development a lot in the article. The author explains that the fat that is found in myelination sheets is in large part sourced from breast milk as well as oils from seeds. The author further explains that a fat called DHA is highly important in IQ development and sites several studies showing that when DHA was introduced into the diets of infants and children that their IQs scores when up. The author writes about how trans-fats are different than other fats and how these fats can adversely affect the heart. The author finishes their article by leaving suggestions of where to find good sources of healthy fats from as well as suggestions for senior citizens. I dont have any criticism for this article. I found the article easy to read as well as informative. I liked how the article presented its facts in a very straight forward manner. I also like how the article was filled with lots of facts and found it very useful when writing my paper.
1

The Franklin Institute. The Human Brain-Fats. 2004. Web. 22 April 2014.

Emmy Powell ENG1101H Dr. Crowther April 24, 2014 Critical Analysis of Pagers The Mark of a Criminal Record Citation: Pager, Devah. The Mark of a Criminal Record. American Journal of Sociology 108.5 (2003): 937-75. Print. In this article, Pager discusses her research methods, findings and conclusions on the effect of a criminal record on ones ability to be hired. For her research, Pager used pairs of individuals matched in terms of experience and education level, but differing in terms of race or the presence of a criminal record. She then had these pairs apply for real jobs and compared the number of received callbacks. Her findings show not only that having a criminal record greatly hampers ones ability to be hired, but also that this effect differs in severity between white and black job applicants. Pager set out in her research hoping to isolate how the stigma that comes with a criminal record directly affects employment opportunities for ex-inmates. She sought to ensure that her data accounted only for this independent variable, and not other possible variables that could affect the applicants success such as substance abuse issues, behavioral problems, or poor interpersonal skills. Others have argued these other issues are prevalent among released convicts and explanatory of their difficulties in finding employment upon release. Pager set up her experiment to observe employer behavior in real-life employment settings (943) for entry level jobs, as these are the most common types of jobs an individual is likely to seek post-incarceration. She used applicants in her study

with no other problems such as the ones listed previously, and paired them with others with a difference only in either race or criminal history. By doing this, she approaches three questions with her research, whether and to what extent employers use information about criminal histories to make hiring decisionsthe extent to which race continues to serve as a major barrier to employmentwhether the effect of a criminal record differs for black and white applicants (944). She claims that she chose to focus on this preliminary stage of the hiring process because this is the stage most likely to be affected by the barrier of a criminal record and also uses applicants in the experiment with a drug crime on their record, not one related to property or violence. Pager found that carrying a criminal record indeed greatly reduces ones likelihood of receiving a callback from employers, finding that 34% of whites without criminal records [received] callbacks, relative to only 17% of whites with criminal records (955). Additionally, she found that these results differ greatly from those found for black applicants as among blacks without criminal records, only14% received callbacks and she points out that even whites with criminal records received more favorable treatment (17%) than blacks without criminal records (14%) (958). Only 5% of black applicants with records received callbacks, leading to her conclusion that the effect of a criminal record is thus 40% larger for blacks that for whites (959). Pager does an excellent job of outlining the entirety of her methodology in her research. She is very clear about exactly how the experiment was conducted and the measures she took to ensure that her independent variable was truly isolated. Additionally, she presents an explanation for why this research is important in the context of the current mass-incarceration era of the United States before delving into her findings. Dr. Pager is

a Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Harvard University and additionally, she has used an immense amount of sources to validate her work, making her piece truly credible. This article is well organized, relevant and constituted of research methods of high quality. It provided supporting evidence for my paper on the U.S. Prison System in that it showed how incarceration can further disadvantage societies most underprivileged citizens.

Aracely Ramos Dr. Crowther Enlgish1101H 12 April 2013 Richard, Brian. Diffusion of an Economic Development Policy Innovation: Explaining the Spread Of Casino Gambling. Journal Of Gambling Studies 26.2 (2010):287. Web. 8 April 2014 This research study seeks to explain how gambling spread throughout the nation to then spread internationally. The main purpose is to analyze the factors that lead to such spread. Richard conducts research to find the relationship between the following factors and the legalization of gambling: Fiscal stress, economic development, tourism, religiosity and income levels. The study found that economic development needs, measured by unemployment rates, and religiosity, measured by the frequency of church attendance, both impact the legalization decision while fiscal stress and tourism did not (Richard 1). To come to the conclusion the study used the formula ADOPT i,t = + 1 INCOMEi,t-1 + UNEMPLOYMENT i,t + TOURISM I,t + RELIGION i,t Where ADOPT is the probability nation i will legalize casino gambling in year t INCOME represents the gross domestic product in constant U.S dollars in nation i in the previous year (world Bank 2007). FISCAL represents the ratio of the budget deficit to total expenditures in nation i in the previous year (international monetary fund 2007). UNEMPLOYMENT represents the unemployment rate of rate in nation i in year t (International Labor Office 2001, 1997, 1998-1990). TOURISM represents the square root of travel services as a percentage of total commercial service exports

in nation i in year t (World Bank 2007), RELIGION represents the percentage of persons attending church services once or more per week in nation i in year t (Richard 7). Richard found that religiosity is a barrier that makes people less likely to approve gambling, while high unemployment rates makes it more likely for gambling to be approved in a nation. This information really tied in with my topic because in Mississippi offshore Gambling was first legalized to help recover from rough economic times. Then After hurricane Katrina onshore gambling was legalized, supporting the hypothesis that higher unemployment rates make nations more likely to legalize gambling. The data that the author used to come up with his conclusion seems to be reliable, as he provides the sources for all of it. Aside from the results of the data collected the author quotes and paraphrases several other researchers who support his conclusion.

Evan C. Stamps Professor Kathryn Crowther English Composition 1101 24 April 2014 Abandoned and Abused: Prisoners In The Wake Of Hurricane Katrina. Race & Class 49.1 (2007): 81-92. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

Through Abandoned and Abused, the National Prison Project takes on the task of reporting the horrific treatment of Prisoners in the New Orleans Parish Prison before and during Hurricane Katrina. They say their report is intended to serve as [the prisoners] unified response of the mistreatment they had to endure at the hands of their captors and the prison system (the National Prison Project 82). The report also states that it written in the hopes that the difficult situation would become more widely known and never repeated ( the National Prison Project 90). To insure that the reader pictures and understands the situation, the text provides background on the New Orleans Parish Prison before reporting the abuse that took place during the prisoners abandonment, evacuation and movement to different sites during Hurricane Katrina. The section that begins the report is essential in the understanding of the situation. Simply titled Orleans Parish Prison, the section provides background on the prison that has the incarceration rate of any large city in the United States (the National Prison Project 83). The background information includes the twelve buildings that make up the New Orleans Parish Prison, the reported number of inmates before Hurricane Katrina, the legal situation of most prisoners of the prison at the time and the prisons known tendency to disregard the well being of its prisoners. The National Prison Project cites other reliable reports for statistics and facts such

as the reported payment of guards and the number of people detained within the prison on an average day. The prisons population can be accurately pictured when it is said that the Orleans Parish Prison is only the ninth largest local prison, but holds more prisoners than the largest prison in the United States. The reader learns in this section of the Youth Center and Youth Study Center within the prison. Mention of the juvenile detainees of the prison immediately adds another layer of tragedy to the events during Hurricane Katrina. They speak on the fact that most prisoners housed before and at the time of Hurricane Katrina had not been convicted of any crime (the National Prison Project 83). All of this information is great for the reader to truly picture the harsh atmosphere and chaos that would come with Hurricane Katrina. The report follows the background information with a section entitled The descent into chaos, which puts the reader into the Orleans Parish Prison at the time of the prisoners abandonment. The report states that the emergency operations plan that the Sheriff was reliant on either did not exist or did not provide adequate guidance to the staff on how to properly handle the situation (the National Prison Project 85). Orleans Parish Prison loses power and officers abandon their positions. In this portion of the report, the harmed prisoners finally speak their minds through small quotes of the personal recollections. One prisoner recalls the water began entering the lowest levels of the prison: at this point water had risen to at least 4 ft deep he continued to say he thought for sure [he] would never see freedom again (the National Prison Project 85). The reader sees how the prisoners react to the situation by helping their fellow prisoner. Another prisoner recalls if it wasnt for inmates somehow getting my cell open I probably would have died (the National Prison Project 85). Through quotes from interviews, the reader can better imagine what these people have gone through.

At this point in the report, it has been days without food, water or medical attention before the prisoners three-day evacuation began. The evacuation is disorganized, lengthy and filled with excessive violence toward the prisoners. The abuse follows the prisoners through their evacuation and detainment at other temporary sites. The National Prison Project pictures the disorganization of the evacuation by describing this scene: Pre- trial prisoners arrested for public intoxication charges were held side-by side with convicted felons and pretrial detainees were suddenly placed on the field with no protection at all (the National Prison Project 88). A interview with a detainee, Vincent Norman, is used to show the unwarranted aggression many prisoners faced. I was exposed to overt racism, called racial slurs and subjected to physical and mental anguish (the National Prison Project 88). The National Prison Project effectively uses interviews with prisoners to give the audience a glimpse of the mistreatment that continued from evacuation to the sites where they were temporarily detained. Abandoned and Abused is for the most part effective, but there are areas where additional information could help flesh out the situation and balance the article. It would have been appreciated if the report had given solutions or a plan of action to insure this kind of mistreatment never repeats itself. As it is, the report appears to only state problems without identifying solutions. Interviews with guards and prison officials would have given the report more balance and would have helped the reader better visualize the tension and conflict during evacuation. Its problems aside, the National Prison Projects Abandoned And Abused: Prisoners In The Wake Of Hurricane Katrina is a great source for a reader that wants to be able to picture Orleans Parish Prison during Hurricane Katrina.

Christine Unterhuber Dr. Kathryn Crowther English 1101H 270 27 April 2014 Critical Analysis and Evaluation Garfield, Gail. Hurricane Katrina: The Making of Unworthy Disaster Victims Journal of American Studies 10.4 (2007): 55-74. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Garfields article discusses the media portrayal of the African-American victims of Hurricane Katrina, and how the media influenced government decisions. The introduction gives a detailed description of the events happening in chronological order. As Garfield describes, there were many factors that were setting the poor population of New Orleans up for a social disaster. For example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) held a simulation exercise in 2004 called Hurricane Pam (Garfield 56) which showed that New Orleans was in great danger of a social catastrophe (56). As the exercise predicted, victims of Hurricane Katrina faced late evacuation, poor infrastructure in place to assist in evacuation, and shelters that were not well-equipped. An important point that Garfield is making, is that disaster myths influence the focus and direction of the emergency response to disasters (57). The author stated that the portrayal of African Americans as dangerous looters, gun-toting killers [and] rapists (58) influenced government officials response. The government sent the military to restore social order instead of helping the disaster victims out of their misery. The first part of the article focuses on the media portrayal of Hurricane Katrina. In the storms aftermath, the news reported about criminal behavior (59) which was inaccurate, exaggerated, and unbalanced (59). Garfield states that journalists didnt intend to misrepresent

the African-American population of Hurricane Katrina victims, but provides evidence that there is a long standing racial perception that blacks are anti-social and deviant. Arguing that the media portrayal fed bad stereotypes, Garfield gives reasons why whites depend on the media for cataloging Blacks (60). In the article she argues that mass media and its spread of false information of reports of social breakdown influenced government officials perception of the disaster victims. As reports of happy thieves and wild animal[s] looting stores in New Orleans came on the news, Garfield gives examples of those reports from The Times-Picayune, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. While there were many reports of looters and black criminality, Garfield argues that those reports were largely untrue (66) and the reason for looting was never mentioned in the articles. Also, convincing evidence is provided by the author, when she is arguing that news reports of black criminality in places like the Convention Center or The Superdome in New Orleans were false. While the first part of the article discusses mass media and how African-American victims have been portrayed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the following part discusses the militaristic response by government officials (68). Garfields main argument here is that the decisions by government officials to restore social order, rather than focus exclusively on humanitarian efforts, were influenced by media portrayals of widespread black criminality (68). The National Guard that arrived in New Orleans had only guns to face possible uprisings, but were surprised that there wasnt any violence just enormous suffering [and] desperation of disaster victims (71). Garfield quotes victims describing their experience with the military and therefore offers sufficient evidence that the media coverage influenced government officials decisions. In her conclusion, Garfield summarizes the main point accurately.

The author has provided convincing evidence for all of her arguments, which therefore gives the article credibility. Garfields arguments are strong, and she uses different sources and provides good information to the reader. However, the conclusion is comparatively short and lacks an outlook for the future of this sensitive topic. The conclusions drawn are generalized and only summarize her main points.