Joshua Hadfield

English 1010
Professor Strickland
Mexico

Mexico

The sights, sounds and language of a new world can be overwhelming. Immersion into a
new culture without experience and understanding nearly broke me as I struggled to keep afloat
in this new world so many others called home. The people around me did different things. The
lifestyle they lived, the food they ate, and the language they spoke all seemed to slap me across
the face continuously for the next six months until I would call Mexico, home.
My very first day in Mexico was a reality check. As I stepped off the plane the woman in
Customs greeted me with some basic Spanish. I didnt understand a word of it. I realized I was in
real trouble when the very next news I received was that I was to live with a Native Peruvian that
didnt speak a word of English. As we woke up every morning to begin our days together he
would start talking to me, and for the first month or two I just listened. I wrote down every word
I heard in a small 3 by 6 notebook and studied it rigorously day and night. I stumbled over my
words as we met different people. Three months later I hadnt spoken English with anyone and
was beginning to become very lonely. Luckily I received a new living arrangement with another
young man named Trevor. Trevor was from West Jordan, Utah and had lived in Mexico for
much longer. I was relieved.
Mexican food is almost nothing like Caf Rio, or any other Mexican restaurant I had
eaten at in the United States. I ate everything from cow stomach and pig feet to rice and beans
but it wasnt just the taste of this new food that made things hard it was what it did to my body. I
had violent vomiting attacks that would last through the night. Just thirty days into my adventure
I learned that I had a stomach parasite that made it nearly impossible to keep anything in my
system. One day, I was walking down the street, and it hit me like a brick wall. I needed to use
the bathroom. I searched high and low for somewhere that would help me in my effort to relieve
my bowels. When I finally found somewhere, it was too late. I had soiled myself. As we got back
to our one bedroom ten by twenty apartment equipped with a shower. Or so I thought, we
realized that we had no running water and learned that I would need to sit in a bucket of water
and wash myself using another bucket of water. I yearned for home, I dreamt of a nice tiled
bathroom with running hot water, a home with air conditioning and carpet. The small things that
mad life simple.
My journey had just begun and I was realizing that life in Mexico wasnt just all white
sand beaches and Mariachi bands. It was a life full of different challenges that I had ever
experienced in the United States. Men would leave their families to work in the hot sun, pouring
cement and other forms of hard labor only to make one hundred pesos. Thats equivalent to
about ten dollars, in one day! Most people did not have cars and got everywhere they needed to
go on foot or by means of public transportation. There were no smart phones, no help of Siri and
most times no air conditioning or heat. However, the people were happy. Some of the happiest
people I met came from the most humble circumstances. It opened my eyes and taught me that
happiness isnt obtained, its simply a choice.
My initial experience in Mexico was very difficult. I was faced with a new set of
challenges and had to learn to adapt. I didnt always eat what I wanted to, or understand what the
people around me were saying. I didnt always understand the lifestyle of the people, or why
they did what they did. But, I did learn that we are all the same in so many other ways. We all
feel happiness and sadness. We feel the wind on our faces and enjoy a nice meal. We have the
need to love and be loved. We all have one goal and that is to be happy.
Although I did not enjoy the first three months of my adventure in Mexico, the next
eighteen have become some of the most memorable and cherished parts of my life. When I hear
Spanish being spoken, a smile breaks my face. Tuesday nights my wife and I sit down to rice
and beans to remind me. When I meet someone from Mexico and they show me the same
hospitality that I received daily in their wonderful country. All these things, take me back. I am
home.








Joshua Hadfield
English 1010
Visual Analysis

A picture is worth a thousand words. What better way to advertise something than with
sex, right. We all want sex, we think about it, we do it, and if we dont, we want to. Sex sells,
this picture proves it. The minute I saw the advertisement my eyes were drawn to the word sex.
It could be because they are the biggest words in the advertisement, or just the plain fact that
its the word sex. Either way it caught my attention, and that is the main purpose of advertising.
Advertising is used to sell and if not sell at the least, to build awareness.
I bet that the whole reason you continued to read this paper was there mere fact that
the title is sex. The meaning behind the picture is clearly to get people to think about sex, so
that they read the fine print at the bottom of the billboard. Then we simply see the reason our
attention was wanted to badly. Now that we have your attention, eat at subway. Your mind
makes an automatic shift from sex to food solely based on the fact that the billboard caught
your attention. The advertisement was successful, whether you eat at subway or it simply
makes you aware. The company benefits because someone, if not everyone that drove past the
billboard paid attention. Most of us are familiar with subway and their sandwiches. There are
more than 25,000 thousand Subway restaurants in the United States alone. That makes it the
largest fast food chain restaurant in the U.S. With so many locations it makes it easy for a
customer driving down the side of the road to pull over at the next exit and grab a sandwich
after seeing the advertisement. Heck, the picture made me think of Subway and how hungry I
am.
This picture stands out. The clear blue sky in the background and the simple text work
together to provide a much deeper meaning than what the actual advertisement says. It
teaches us a lot about our human nature and what we pay attention to and what we dont. In a
way, I feel like the picture is making fun of us as humans; saying that all we need to be enticed
by something is sex. Proving the truth of that statement by adding a simple statement eat
subway. There is no catchy phrase or song and it is not an elaborate advertisement scheme
but the meaning behind it runs very deep and its something we call all relate to. The picture
proves that sex sells.






Works Cited
Bassett, Mary T., et al. "Purchasing behavior and calorie information at fast-food chains in New York City,
2007." American Journal of Public Health 98.8 (2008): 1457.





















Joshua Hadfield
Rhetorical Analysis
English 1010
July 9, 2014
The Man in the Whitehouse

The State of the Union address has been an American tradition for many years. Although
first used as a report to members of Congress by the President of the United States it has become
much more than that. It has become a message to the American people from their Commander
and Chief, their leader. The addresss main purpose it to fill members of congress in on whats
going on, and what is on the agenda for the upcoming year. It is used to discuss issues and
problems that we are facing in America.
President Barack Obama did not fulfill the purpose of this annual event this past January.
What he did was lie to the American people, filling them with a false sense of hope for the
future. Congress was informed that the President was going to use his power to push laws and
bills through because they werent doing their jobs. Exactly the opposite of what should be done
in the State of the Union address.
The President boasted a record low for the unemployment rate in the last five years.
When in reality the numbers have stayed constantly above six percent his entire presidency.
Fifteen percent are underemployed and approximately ten million people have stopped looking
for jobs completely, so that cannot be considered in the unemployment rate.
Obama with his eloquent speech fed the Americans with a false sense of hope in a
struggling economy. During the address many Americans wanted to hear about the problems
associated with the Affordable Care Act and what was going to be done to fix it. They wanted to
hear about a reformation of the immigration policy. Instead the President was found hiding
behind his words of positivity and lies, when really what he was trying to say was sorry.
Providing false hope, based on minimal evidence of a bettering economy was the best he could
do to console the worried American public.
No President is free of mistakes but we know and accept that. What we want now is
someone responsible that will live up to the consequences of their faults. Obama has caused a
shorter work week because of the healthcare reformation. Syria despite red tape used chemical
weapons. Ukraine has been annexed by Russia without so much as a bat of an eye lid from the
President. Thousands and thousands of immigrants have poured into the country because of his
neglect to reform our immigration policy.
Bottom line is that, when a country needed him most. Obama couldnt provide any
answers for us during the State of the Union address. We learned that our voice no longer is
important; he will make decisions purely on what he thinks best. Key issues were not discussed,
and the message received by most was, the man in the Whitehouse doesnt care.






Work Cited
The American Journalist, Obama the Worst President-Period, Web: July 7, 2014
Obama, Barack. "State of the Union Address 2014." (2014).





















Joshua Hadfield
English 1010
Clean Water
The Silent Killer

What we dont see in the United States. Most of us, enjoy washing our hands after using
the bathroom, drinking clean water, with little or no effort at all. Showering for more than five
minutes is a habit for most Americans and many spend closer to twenty five minutes soaking it
up, singing their favorite tunes. Well, what if I told you that there are more than one billion
people that dont have access to clean drinking water. Would you change your habits?
More than one billion people across our planet do not have access to clean drinking
water. Thats about sixteen percent of the worlds population. There are many causes to this
problem but the main reason has to do with sanitation. In Africa the water funnels are much
too large for catching water, this makes it possible for fecal matter to get into the water. Dirty
hands, and insects are just a few of the ways their water gets contaminated. The fecal matter
that enters into the water causes many sicknesses and health issues. The number one problem
it causes is diarrhea. Diarrhea kills more than anything else. Its the number one killer of
children under the age of five. Bottom line is that the sanitation of water is the main reason for
problems affiliated with drinking water.
The problem is occurring everywhere in the world. Although the primary locations
affected by unclean water sources are in developing countries. Out of the approximate one
billion who suffer from lack of clean drinking water, three hundred and forty five million of
them live in Africa. In Asia three hundred and ninety six million people do not have access to
clean drinking water. While in the United States and other developed countries such as Canada,
Russia and Australia only ten million people dont have access the water they need to hydrate
their bodies.
Even in our country there are people struggling to drink good healthy water. Water, is a
necessity for human survival. This isnt just a problem in one remote town in an African jungle,
this is something that affects the world in a big way.
The problem is occurring due to lack of storage. Poor storage allows for air borne
contamination. Fecal matter can enter the water through hands and insects such as flies and
cockroaches. In Africa and most parts of Asia is that the funnels collecting the water are much
too big and are easily accessible for a small bug or hands.
Solutions could be smaller funnels to the storage area. This would lessen the percentage
of water that is contaminated. Boiling water is another viable solution, but in countries that are
poverty stricken burning wood uses up a lot of energy. Washing hands with soap would also cut
diseases almost in half. Forty percent of diarrhea would be prevented if developing countries
had access to soap to wash their hands. What would help dramatically would be the use of
toilets and a sewer system. One in three people dont have access to a toilet and this allows for
fecal matter to move and affect sources of water.
In my opinion, this problem is more serious than any political movement or problem
that seems to consume our daily lives. It kills more people than any war has or probably ever
will. Its important to build awareness and help these countries better their water purification
and storage techniques.















Work Cited
Tumwine, James K. "Clean drinking water for homes in Africa and other less developed
countries." BMJ 331.7515 (2005): 468-469.
Solomon, Steven. Water: The epic struggle for wealth, power, and civilization. Harper Perennial, 2011.
Clarke, Robin T., and Jannet King. The water atlas. New York: New Press, 2004.
Fishman, Charles. "Message in a Bottle." Fast Company 117 (2007).
Ratha, Dilip, Sanket Mohapatra, and Ani Silwal. "Outlook for Remittance Flows 2010-11: Remittance
flows to developing countries remained resilient in 2009, expected to recover during 2010-11." (2010).