Julian Wright's Blog | Archives | 2016

Public Transportation Expansion For Georgia’s Tourists

Date April 30, 2016

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A famous man by the name of Herschel Walker once said, “Coming from a small town it was tough to dream big. When I grew up in a small town in Georgia, my biggest dream was one day to be able to go to Atlanta.” It is evident that people not only across the United States, but across the world share Herschel Walker’s dream of coming to Atlanta. According to (Hartsfield), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has been the world’s busiest airport since 1998. This goes to say that Atlanta’s beauty and view points bring in tourists from across the globe. With all of the beauty that Atlanta has to offer, tourists need a way to navigate throughout the city. The Atlanta Street Car and MARTA’s train system give tourists an easy way to navigate throughout Atlanta, but unlike other major cities in the United States, this public transportation systems lack of expansion leaves tourists with inconvenient ways of traveling to other historic landmarks across Georgia. Some of these historic landmarks that tourists may struggle attend include; Stone Mountain, Six Flags over Georgia, and Lake Lanier Islands.

Stone Mountain, which is located in Dekalb County is a popular landmark in the state of Georgia. According to (David), Native Americans were the first humans to visit and explore Stone Mountain 9,000 years ago. Native American tribes used Stone Mountain as an important meeting place where they discussed plans on how to avoid the diseases that the Europeans carried. Around 1847, white settles began to populate the mountain and eventually gave it the name Stone Mountain. To go along with Stone Mountain’s ancient history, in 1915, Stone Mountain became the birth place of the second Klu Klux Klan. This is also the around the same time where the famous confederate memorial carving began to be created. In 1958, the state of Georgia bought Stone Mountain for 2 million dollars. Over the years the mostly white population flooded the Stone Mountain area, but recently the white population has begun to decrease as many black people are starting to move in. With black people moving into the area and with Stone Mountain being a popular landmark this raised questions on whether the confederate memorial carving is racist or not. This has lead to a big discussion over destroying the historic carving and changing it to a carving of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Despite all of the controversy, Stone Mountain offers visitors many fun and exciting things to do. Some of the fun things that can be done at Stone Mountain include playing in the snow at Snow Mountain, watching the laser show, climbing the mountain, riding on the skylift cable car, and visiting the Art Station. Stone Mountain is one of the best attraction sites in Georgia and it’s a shame that the Atlanta Street Car and MARTA train system do not expand out to this location making it difficult for tourists coming out of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to travel to Stone Mountain.

To go along with Stone Mountain, Six Flags Over Georgia is also a popular landmark located in Austell, Georgia. A man named Angus G. Wynne Jr. opened the first Six Flags park in Texas around 1961. When he saw the amount of success that Six Flags Over Texas had, he decided to build another Six Flags park in Georgia. In 1967, Six Flags Over Georgia opened to the public and had a lot of success due to its many attractions. The most popular attraction that opened at the time of the park’s arrival was a ride named the Dahlonega Mine Train, which was named after a Dahlonega mining town. A number of other attractions gave Six Flags Over Georgia success such as The Log Jamboree Log Flume, the historic Riverview Park Carousel, and a parachute ride called The Great Gasp. With the amount of success that these attractions had, it was time to construct one of the greatest roller coaster rides in the world. This famous roller coaster was named ‘The Great American Scream Machine’ and was constructed in 1973. These rides and attractions molded the image of what Six Flags Over Georgia was to look like in the future. Now, Six Flags Over Georgia has become a favorite spot for people of all ages to go and have fun. With rides like Batman, Superman, Acrophobia, Ninja, and the famous Goliath, it easy to tell why Six Flags Over Georgia is a popular spot in the state of Georgia. Unfortunately for tourists, The Atlanta Street Car and MARTA train system do not expand out far enough to be able to drop you off at Six Flags Over Georgia.

In addition to Stone Mountain and Six Flags, Lake Lanier is also a popular historic landmark located in North Georgia. According to (Watson), after World War 2, Congress wanted to improve the nations water system for national defense, flood control, power production, navigation and water supplies. This meant that the reservoir Lake Lanier needed to be constructed. In order for Lake Lanier to be constructed the government had to buy more land. Since people lived on this privately owned land, the government was forced to pay these people off. The final cost of getting the right amount of land and paying the people that lived there off was around $45 million dollars. In 1956, the creation of the Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River produced Lake Lanier. Lake Lanier was named after a poet named Sidney Lanier. He was remembered for his famous poem named “The Song of The Chattahoochee”. The lake was named after him because of the amount of praise that he gave the Chattahoochee River in his poem. Nowadays, Lake Lanier has become a fun place where visitors come to have a good time. Lake Lanier offers its visitors activities such as swimming, boating, fishing, camping, hiking, hunting, and golf. Lake Lanier also offers a stunning 4th of July fireworks show. With the numerous activities at Lake Lanier it is no wonder that it is one of the greatest landmarks in Georgia. Sadly, The Atlanta Street Car and MARTA train system go nowhere close to Lake Lanier making the trip up North Georgia a really long one.

With it being difficult for tourists to get to places like Stone Mountain, Six Flags Over Georgia, and Lake Lanier via the transportation system, that raises questions on why this is. I recently read an article that was published by WSBTV. In the article Lori Geary talks about how badly MARTA and The Atlanta Street Car want to expand. In order to make this happen it would cost $8 billion dollars. Although this expansion would cost tax payers a lot of money, MARTA chairman Robbie Ashe sees this as an opportunity to promote economic growth and to help fill jobs. This new expansion would extend rail lines to parts of North Dekalb, Alpharetta, and parts of South Dekalb. Although there are many people pushing to get this expansion completed, there are also many people that do not want to get this expansion completed. As apart of my research over the built environment in Atlanta I have uncovered that one of the major reasons that many people living in Georgia do not want MARTA or The Atlanta Street Car to expand is because an expansion would provide easy access to the suburbs. Many wealthy people do not want this because it enables minorities and poor people to have a better opportunity to take suburban jobs and move into the area. This hurts tourists because this forces them to have to find a more difficult way to get to tourist attractions outside of Atlanta. Instead of being able to hop on a train and be at the attraction in 10 minutes, tourists may have to resort to spending large amounts of time in Atlanta traffic via car, uber/taxi, or bus.

With Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the busiest airport in the world, it is no secret that Atlanta brings in many tourists. The city of Atlanta has so many beautiful attractions such as The World of Coke, The Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Park, and The High Musuem of Art. What is special about these attractions is the fact that tourists can get to these locations for a cheap price via The Atlanta Street Car and the MARTA train system. However, tourists find it difficult to attend attractions outside of Atlanta such as Stone Mountain, Six Flags, and Lake Lanier because transportation systems such as The Atlanta Street Car and the MARTA train do not expand out that far. This lack of expansion is due to high costs and a rich verses poor battle. For the most part tourists seem relatively content with the way the transportation system in Georgia is treating them, but in the future I would suggest that Georgia take after states with great public transportation such as California, New York, and Illinois. Expansion in Georgia’s public transportation will not only lead to better economic success, but it will also be the icing on the cake that makes tourists happy. To go along with this, the people in the state of Georgia need to follow in Herschel Walker’s footsteps and dream big. It is time to stop talking about expanding the public transportation system in Georgia and make it happen. Lets do it for the tourists!

Works Cited

David B. Freeman, Carved in Stone: The History of Stone Mountain (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1997).

Geary, Lori. “MARTA Pushing for Largest Expansion in History.” WSBTV. 20 July 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

“Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.” Operation Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

Watson, Shane. “The History of Lake Lanier.” Be Flexible For Lake Lanier Stripers. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

NEW Built Environment Outline 4/29/16

Date April 29, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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Thesis: Atlanta’s beauty and view points bring in tourists from across the globe. With all of the beauty that Atlanta has to offer tourists need a way to navigate throughout the city. MARTA’s train system and The Atlanta Street Car give tourists an easy way to navigate throughout Atlanta, but unlike other major cities in the United States, this transportation systems lack of expansion leaves tourists with inconvenient ways of traveling to other historic landmarks across Georgia. Some of these historic landmarks that tourists may struggle attend include; Stone Mountain, Six Flags over Georgia, and Lake Lanier Islands.

Stone mountain

Six Flags

Lake Lanier

Lack of expanision

Conclusion

Built Environment Annotated Bibliographies

Date April 26, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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Winne, Mark. “The Bluff.” The Bluff: Channel 2 Goes into Georgia’s Biggest Heroin Market. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.

In this article the author, discusses how Atlanta neighborhoods by the name of English Avenue and Vine City also known as ‘The Bluffs’, have been left in the dark for decades. English Avenue and Vine City have been the biggest drug neighborhoods in Georgia for many years. Many residents living here have been begging for the city of Atlanta to help, but promises continue to be broken leading to very few improvements within the community. A famous resident to this neighborhood was Martin Luther King Jr. The author describes how even when MLK lived there the neighborhood was still run down and a haven for heroine. Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne walked around interviewing different residents and he talked to two men that said ‘The Bluffs’ was a neighborhood in which it is so easy to get caught up in the drug lifestyle and how that lifestyle more than likely always leads to death or prison time. Residents of this area this area are concerned that the city of Atlanta will continue to spend money on projects like the new Falcons stadium, but continue to forget about them. I chose this source because WSBTV is a credible source and it is right here in Atlanta where I am focusing my research on Atlanta Georgia. I enjoyed reading this article because it really shows how the city of Atlanta has indirectly contributed to the downfall of this neighborhood by simply not doing anything.

Mártir, Vanessa. “Gentrified Brooklyn Is Not My Brooklyn.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 May 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.

In this article the author talks about how the Brooklyn that she grew up in was different from the Brooklyn now due to a term called ‘gentrification’. She explains that when she was growing up Brooklyn was not the cleanest or safest place to live, but that it always felt like home because of the struggles that everyone in the neighborhood dealt with. She goes on to say that when white people started moving into the neighborhood the atmosphere of Brooklyn changed and many residents were upset because it felt like white people came in and dominated and tore down the culture that was originally there. The author gave this definition the word “Columbus’ing” as it appeared that the white people came in out of nowhere and civilized the minorities. I chose this article from the Huffington Post because although this article is talking about gentrification in New York, it also happens here in Atlanta where I am doing my research. I did think one flaw this article had was that it did not really talk about how residents living in Brooklyn benefited from white people moving into the neighborhood.

McMillan, Tracie. “Gap in Diet Quality Between Wealthiest and Poorest Americans Doubles, Study Finds.” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 2 Sept. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.

The author of this article, Tracie, explains how there is a significant dietary difference between poor and healthy neighborhoods. She says that many residents living in poor neighborhoods are far more likely to be obese than a person living in a wealthy neighborhood. This is because in poor neighborhoods there tends to not be many grocery stores, but a lot of fast food restaurants around. The author explains that parents living in poor neighborhoods want their families to eat healthy, but when you are poor you have to eat the cheapest option and most of the times the cheapest option is the most unhealthiest one. Tracie McMillan goes on to say that in order to fix the obesity problem in poor neighborhoods more grocery stores and supermarkets have to open up in order to change the food environment. This problem is a nation-wide problem that also occurs here in Atlanta where I am doing my research. I believe this article is credible because for one National Geographic is a very credible source and I have driven in a bad neighborhood here in Atlanta where my aunt lives and there will literally be one grocery store within a 5 mile radius, but a fast food restaurant on every corner. I did not see any flaws within this article and I thought that it was very informative as to a normal person they won’t be able to see this problem, but once it’s brought to the spotlight everyone can finally see that it is an actual problem.

Volokh, Eugene. “When Does Your Religion Legally Excuse You from Doing Part of Your Job?” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 4 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.

In this article that was published by The Washington Post, it talks about how there is a lack of accommodation in our country. For this particular article the author explains how there is a big accommodation problem in the work place due to religion. The big question that the author raises is should you be exempt from doing a certain task if it goes against your religion? Under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, it claims that employers are required to accommodate to employees that refuse to do something because of religious purposes. As simple as this may sound it is not very simple. Despite the law most employers do not accommodate for these types of people which gives the employers only a few different options which are go to court and face a lengthy trial, do the task that the employer asked, or refuse to do the task and get fired. The problem here is that all of those options could have been erased if people would just accommodate. This is a nation-wide issue and also happens in the city of Atlanta where I am doing my research. I chose this source because Washington Post is very credible and I enjoyed reading this article, but it made me raise the question of how far is too far for accommodating for religious purposes? Should a hardcore Christian refuse to hand out same sex marriage licenses just because it goes against the religion? Good article.

Grasgreen, Allie. “Students with Disabilities Frustrated with Ignorance and Lack of Services.” Students with Disabilities Frustrated with Ignorance and Lack of Services. 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.

In this article by Grasgreen, she talks about how for many students with disabilities, transitioning from high school to college is a rough experience. According to her article, roughly two-thirds of college students with disabilities do not get the necessary accommodations that they need. This could be because some professors are not trained to deal with disabilities or the college does not know about the disability. Grasgreen says that many times students with disabilities have to go out of there way to get the necessary help and even then sometimes it is not enough. Grasgreen suggests that colleges begin to accommodate for students with disabilities by having an active disability office, disability training, and having all of the necessary tools in the classroom that every student needs for success. Like an article I recently read called “Making Bathrooms More ‘Accommodating’” to people with disabilities it feels like they are the only ones doing the accommodating and that us not fair. Although this issue is happening around the country, the author mentions that this is especially a big problem in small community colleges. There are many small community colleges in the Atlanta area where I am conducting my research and I believe that we are in a point in society where everyone deserves an equal opportunity and that includes people with disabilities.

Goldman, David. “For Stressed College Students, a Doggone Good Way to Relax.” USATODAY.COM. 13 May 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.

In an article that I recently read called “Recognizing College Landscapes as Learning Spaces“, it talked about how in order for a student to relieve stress they needed to surround themselves with nature. Well, in this article by Goldman, he claims that having therapy dogs on campus is a big time stress reliever for college students. Research has shown that human to pet interaction is much more effective for relieving stress than human to human interaction because of the amount of endorphins that are released when a human sees a pet. Goldman goes on to say that Kathleen Adamle, a nursing professor from Kent State hopes to continue to bring her “Dogs on Campus” program to many different universities in hopes of providing a mental break for stressed students. This article took place at Emory University’s law school where a lot of the law students felt overwhelmed with finals coming up. The author tells a story about how an Emory law student that never really showed signs of happiness came into a professor’s office and saw a dog and it immediately brought a smile to her face. The reason I chose this USA Today article is because for a lot of schools such as Georgia State, there is not a lot of nature on the campus, so I wanted to explore the alternatives to being able to relieve stress.

Geary, Lori. “MARTA Pushing for Largest Expansion in History.” WSBTV. 20 July 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

In this article that was published by WSBTV, it talks about how badly MARTA wants to make the biggest expansion in history. In order to make this happen it would cost $8 billion dollars. Although this expansion would cost tax payers a lot of money, MARTA chairman Robbie Ashe sees this as an opportunity to promote economic growth and to help fill jobs. This new expansion would extend rail lines to parts of North Dekalb, Alpharetta, and parts of South Dekalb. MARTA rider Belinda Morrow explains how she is sick of having to sit in traffic for long periods of time to get to work. She tells Lori Geary that she would much rather be sitting on MARTA reading a newspaper while on the way to MARTA. Although there are many people pushing to get this expansion completed, there are also many people that do not want to get this expansion completed. As apart of my research over the built environment I have uncovered that one of the major reasons that many people living in Georgia do not want MARTA to expand is because an expansion would provide easy access to the suburbs. Many wealthy people do not want this because it enables minorities and poor people to have a better opportunity to take suburban jobs and move into the area. Although this is a big issue among taxpayers, MARTA hopes to have the sales tax issue on the ballot in 2016. This could be a big success for the city of Atlanta as the city has been known to have poor transportation for such a big city.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “A green view through a classroom window can improve students’ performance.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 January 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160122170932.htm>.

In this article that was published by ScienceDaily, the author talks about how having a green view through a classroom window will improve a students academic success. William Sullivan and Dongying Li conducted a research experiment and found that having a green view from the classroom window will relieve stress as well as increase the capacity to pay attention by 13 percent. In the research experiment which involved 94 students, some students were told to take a test in a classroom without a window, a classroom with a window showing a green view, and a classroom with a window showing another building. The results were that the classroom with a green view did far better than the other two options. Both Li and Sullivan claim that the reasoning behind this discovery is the “Attention Restoration Theory”. The theory says that when the brain is fatigued it likes to pull its attention towards effortless things like nature or living things to get a break. This is why having a green view from outside the classroom window is good because it forces a students brain to get an occasional break from stress. Li and Sullivan hope that their findings can influence schools all across the world to begin to implement changes in the way the classroom is built. This article went hand in hand with another article that we read as a class talking about how college students perform better on college campuses that have lots of greenery and nature. I believe that college campuses in downtown Atlanta should take notes from this article because unfortunately there is not a ton of green space available. If these campuses implemented more green space than it could improve a students performance which is the ultimate goal.

Steinmetz, Katy. “The Gender-Neutral Bathroom Revolution Is Growing.” Time. 11 Jan. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

In this article that was published by Time, the author states that gender-neutral bathrooms are starting to become a big trend across the United States. San Francisco supervisor David Campos, announced a bill that plans to turn many single gender bathrooms into gender-neutral bathrooms. San Francisco would be apart of a few other cities that have implemented this bill. Campos argues that many people are impacted negatively by gender specific bathrooms. Some of the examples he gives are; a mother trying to accompany her son into the bathroom, but not knowing which to choose or a person trying to help a disabled person use the bathroom, but not knowing which to pick. In giving all of his examples he still wants to focus mainly on the LGBT community saying that this is a huge battle for their civil rights. Some of the arguments against this bill come from a Wisconsin bill that says that students must use the correct gender specific bathroom according to their biological sex. Campos says that transgender people are constantly being harassed for going into bathrooms where they are not welcome and that this needs to stop. He finishes off by saying that going to the bathroom is such a big necessity and nobody should have a difficult time or be in danger because of that. This article goes along with some of the readings and research that I have done over ‘accommodating’. When people accommodate for one another we help each other try to fit in even if we do not fully agree with what is going on. Everyone wants to feel like they are included and important. This gender-neutral bathroom accommodation is spreading fast and it is only a matter of time before Atlanta implements this bill as well.

Content Moderation Reading Summary

Date April 26, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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In this article by Melissa King, she discusses the importance of employing and using content control features in order to limit the amount of harassment that is experienced online. She goes on to say that even with content control features having such positive effects on those that are being harassed, there is still a lot of backlash that is associated with it. Some of the backlash includes the type of criticism that says that people that are being harassed online are being “too weak” or “too sensitive”. Melissa King explains how the general public mostly believes that it is the victims problem when they are attacked online and that they should just deal with it. She says that that point of view is useless because these victims are beginning to suffer from a long term problem.

The long term problem that these victims are beginning to suffer from is PTSD. Many people believe that online harassment can not cause PTSD and that the only people with PTSD are veterans. Melissa King says that this is not true and notes that, “long-term exposure to threatening situations is one of the major causes of PTSD”. She also lists a credible source when she gives a quote from Caleb Lack who is a licensed clinical psychologist and psychology professor. In his quote he basically says that bullying can lead to long term mental health problems and that one of the problems that these bullying victims may encounter is PTSD.

Melissa King notes that one way to stop people from being harassed on the internet is to use a content control called a ‘blocklist’. With this software an internet user can be exposed to only the things that they want to see. This blocklist software can help an internet user avoid seeing malicious emails, threatening sites, and content that can be deemed inappropriate. The big argument against blocklists are that the internet user that’s using it is being unreasonable and subjecting their internet experience to the inclination of others. Melissa King goes on to say that the people making these arguments just do not understand how “viscous” and “pervasive” online harassment can be. She says that the people that object to content control features are basically saying that the abused should spend more time with the abuser.

Melissa King says that these abusers like to use intimidation tactics to get into the head of others. he explains that a good way to avoid being put in this situation is to block the person that is abusing. She goes on to say that women are usually the main target for abuse especially in primarily male dominated activities. For this reason Melissa King finds it to be a necessity that they use content control features. With all of the arguments about content control features being unnecessary, Melissa King says that these people are showing a lack of empathy for the people that are being harassed online and that sometimes these content control methods are the only thing that can bring a victim peace.

Rolling through MARTA

Date April 18, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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Throughout my research of the built environment this semester I have explored many different things that Atlanta has to offer. What I have focused on the most is transportation in Atlanta. That is why I chose the site itsmarta.com. Upon arriving at this site I first noticed that there was a lot of white space on the homepage. This gave me a very generic type of feeling. It felt like this would be the kind of site that would be seen in the early 2000s. I also noticed that there was a lot of links throughout the site especially on the homepage. This made it clear to me that this site was mean’t to be informative.

With there being a lot of information throughout the site there needed to be a lot of pictures and thats what I found while searching through the site. With there being many pictures to go along with the links, this told me that this site was meant to be used by people of all races, ages, and intellect. Plain and simple, this site is easy to use and navigate through. If a visitor wanted to find out how to use MARTA, see schedules and maps, look through the discounts, see whats going on in the MARTA world, and find information about MARTA, there are links for all of these.

http://www.itsmarta.com/using-marta.aspx

On this page it will take first time visitors on a step by step process on how to use Marta. This page teaches visitors how to get from point A to point B, enables visitors to plan their trip according to their time schedule, and it shows visitors popular destinations around the Atlanta area and how to get get there.

http://www.itsmarta.com/schedules-maps.aspx

This page gives visitors an overview over the Marta bus and train schedules. This page also provides a map of the routes that both the train and the bus travel on. At first glance the Marta bus and train maps will look confusing to first time visitors, but once you get onto the correct line thats going in the right direction then everything else will be a breeze.

http://www.itsmarta.com/fares-discounts.aspx

Visitors that visit this page will learn about the discount and payment system that MARTA has. On this page the visitor will find that there are many discounts for disabled people, students, teachers, and elderly people. MARTA also encourages their visitors to purchase a breeze card as it is a safe, fast, and reliable way to make MARTA payments.

http://www.itsmarta.com/news-and-events.aspx

Visitors that come across this page will be able to see what is happening in the Marta world. Visitors can come to this page if they want to find out when an event is happening, to read the newsletters, to see updates on schedule changes, and to voice their opinion on Marta’s public forum.

http://www.itsmarta.com/about-marta.aspx

This page gives visitors a brief overview of the history of Marta and what they are all about. This page could be used for people wanting to do research on Marta, find a job working for Marta, and people looking to get in contact with people that have a leadership role.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience traveling through itsmarta.com. This site helped to expand my knowledge over the transportation system in Atlanta. I found that it was beneficial that I was able to visit different MARTA locations and do research, as well as do research on what they were all about online. I love how easy the site is to use, but if I were the designer of itsmarta.com I would add more color to attract and entertain people in a better way. This site is a great tool for not only tourists, but also first time visitors to MARTA. I recommend that these people find their way to itsmarta.com because it is informative.

Class Notes April 11, 2016

Date April 11, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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What makes a good introduction?

A. Has a “hook” begins to answer “So what” or “Why should I care?”

Begin with an anecdote or really striking example
Introduce the subject with a quote from one of your sources, or a couple of quotes that represent different points of view about your topic
Begin with a hypothetical
Introduce a statistic that demonstrates the magnitude or scale of the problem/issue that your thesis addresses

B. Lets the audience know your thesis

C. Provides an overview or roadmap of your argument

Annotated Bibliography #3

Date April 11, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

Comments0

Geary, Lori. “MARTA Pushing for Largest Expansion in History.” WSBTV. 20 July 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

In this article that was published by WSBTV, it talks about how badly MARTA wants to make the biggest expansion in history. In ordor to make this happen it would cost $8 billion dollars. Although this expansion would cost tax payers a lot of money, MARTA chairman Robbie Ashe sees this as an opportunity to promote economic growth and to help fill jobs. This new expansion would extend rail lines to parts of North Dekalb, Alpharetta, and parts of South Dekalb. MARTA rider Belinda Morrow explains to how she is sick of having to sit in traffic for long periods of time to get to work. She tells Lori Geary that she would much rather be sitting on MARTA reading a newspaper while on the way to MARTA. Although there are many people pushing to get this expansion completed, there are also many people that do not want to get this expansion completed. As apart of my research over the built environment I have uncovered that one of the major reasons that many people living in Georgia do not want MARTA to expand is because an expansion would provide easy access to the suburbs. Many wealthy people do not want this because it enables minorities and poor people to have a better opportunity to take suburban jobs and move into the area. Although this is a big issue among taxpayers, MARTA hopes to have the sales tax issue on the ballot in 2016. This could be a big success for the city of Atlanta as the city has been known to have poor transportation for such a big city.

Steinmetz, Katy. “The Gender-Neutral Bathroom Revolution Is Growing.” Time. 11 Jan. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

itsmarta.com Field Notes

Date April 10, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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http://www.itsmarta.com/using-marta.aspx

http://www.itsmarta.com/schedules-maps.aspx

http://www.itsmarta.com/fares-discounts.aspx

http://www.itsmarta.com/news-and-events.aspx

http://www.itsmarta.com/about-marta.aspx

-Easy to use

-Many links

-Retro feeling

-Lots of pictures

-Not too colorful

-Lots of information

-Aimed towards every race

-Aimed towards men and women

-Aimed for all ages

-Simple

-Generic type of feeling

Marta Digital Record #5

Date April 10, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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This page gives visitors a brief overview on how to use Marta. On this page it will teach visitors how to get from point A to point B, enable visitors to plan their trip according to their time schedule, and it will show visitors popular destinations around the Atlanta area and how to get get there.

http://www.itsmarta.com/using-marta.aspx

Marta Digital Record #4

Date April 10, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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This page gives an overview over the Marta bus and train schedules and this page provides a map of the routes that both the train and the bus go on. At first glance the Marta bus and train maps will look confusing, but once you get onto the correct line that going in the right direction then everything else will be a breeze.

http://www.itsmarta.com/schedules-maps.aspx

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