Am I Worth His Time? Let's Just Wait and See

Here is my e-mail that I sent to my Op-Ed writer.

Mr. Bob Herbert,

My name is David Heckman, and I am a junior at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am currently in AP English Language and Compostion. One of our assignments was to follow an Op-Ed writer and blog about them and their articles. I chose you to follow. Our latest assignment was to choose an article, state the writer's claim, state a concession made by the author, list examples that support the author's claim, and finally agree or disagree with their stance. The article of yours I chose to read was "Winning the Class War". I was wondering if there would be any way that you could supply me with more examples relating to that article, related issues, or recommend other articles that I could read pertaining to this topic. Thank you very much for your time, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
David Heckman

I have not yet recieved an e-mail back from Bob Herbert, or from any New York Times employees. I understand that writer's like these are very busy, and probably recieve hundreds of e-mails daily. I am not sure of the likliness that I receive an e-mail back, because after sending the message through the New York Times website, a message appeared saying that the message probably was not even sent to him. Most likely, my e-mail ended up in some secretary's junk pile, but in the case that I do get some sort of response I will be sure to add it on here.

Where's Robin Hood When You Need Him? (to steal from the rich and give to the poor)

Bob Herbert's November 26th article was called, "Winning the Class War". The writer states his claim that the rich, powerful members of the United States are doing well, while the middle and lower classes are suffering in these hard times. The last two sentences of the article state Herbert's claim well saying, "Aristocrats were supposed to be anathema to Americans. Now, while much of the rest of the nation is suffering, they are the only ones who can afford to smile."

Herbert mentions a concession that some good can come from having a large gap between the rich and everyone else. He quickly shuts that down, calling those who think that foolish. "Anyone who thinks there is something beneficial in this vast disconnect between the fortunes of the American elite and those of the struggling masses is just silly."

Herbert has many supports for why this divide between classes is a rough situation:

1. "There is no way to bring America’s consumer economy back to robust health if unemployment is chronically high, wages remain stagnant and the jobs that are created are poor ones."
2. "Extreme inequality is already contributing mightily to political and other forms of polarization in the U.S. And it is a major force undermining the idea that as citizens we should try to face the nation’s problems, economic and otherwise, in a reasonably united fashion."
3. "Societal conflicts metastasize as resentments fester and scapegoats are sought."

The third support of the author's claim has other examples supporting it as well.

• Billionaire mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, selected multimillionaire with no education background, Cathleen Black, to be the city's schools chancellor.
• Ms. Black will be peering across an almost unbridgeable gap between her and the largely poor and working-class parents and students she will be expected to serve.
• "So here we have the billionaire and the millionaire telling the poor and the struggling — the little people — that they will just have to make do with less. You can almost feel the bitterness rising."
• As The Times reported this week, U.S. firms earned profits at an annual rate of $1.659 trillion in the third quarter — the highest total since the government began keeping track more than six decades ago.

I agree with Bob Herbert's claim, becuase in a time when most of the country is at its worst, the higher class citizens are taking advantage of it, and are at their best. The rich are in power, and are in power making decisions for the poor, which result in only helping the wealthy and keeping the poor down. If changes aren't made, it looks like the U.S. could be headed for some type of oligarchy.

Wake Up America

"Hiding From Reality" is the name of Bob Herbert's column that was published on November 19, 2010. The main point of the article is that America is in a monumental crisis, yet many try to deny the severity of it. Problems are everywhere in our country: the economy and job market, public schools, budget deficits, and relentless warfare overseas. Herbert's purpose of the article was to make the reader aware of the issues our country is facing. He wants our national leaders to stop covering up the situation we are in and to start realizing the tremendous amount of effort that is needed to revive the United States' situation.

Bob Herbert's stand on the situation is pretty self-explanatory. He knows changes must be made to raise the country out of the hole we have dug for it. Herbert is convincing the reader that we need "a resurrection of the American Dream." The U.S. will never fix our situation, until we realize the monstrousity of a crisis that we are actually in.

Persuasive facts, reasons, and examples:

• We need to either raise taxes to pay for the wars, or stop fighting them.
• The most vulnerable (children, sick, disabled) are being punished.
• Many teachers are being let go, not for poor performance, but for budget cuts.
• It is becoming more about the cost of education, than the quality of education.
• For some reason, more money is pouring into the hands of the wealthy.
• We are in denial of our problems.

One characteristic of Herbert's writing that I found effective was his way of relating to and involving the reader. He repeated words, such as "we" or "our", to let the reader feel the impact these problems are having on him or her. The article was about his opinion, but after reading it, it also becomes our opinion.

The link to Bob Herbert's "Hiding From Reality" is below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/opinion/20herbert.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Op-Ed Writer

The Op-Ed writer I'm going to be following is Bob Herbert, a columnist for the New York Times. He writes about politics, urban affairs and social trends in a twice-weekly column. Mr. Herbert has been writing for the New York Times since June of 1993. He has worked with The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Sunday Edition, and he hosted the TV program Hotline. Herbert was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from State University of New York (Empire State College).

"Bob Herbert has won numerous awards, including the Meyer Berger Award for coverage of New York City, the American Society of Newspaper Editors award for distinguished newspaper writing, the David Nyhan Prize from the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University for excellence in political reporting, and the Ridenhour Courage Prize for the 'fearless articulation of unpopular truths.'”

Herbert grew up mainly in New Jersey, and now lives with his wife on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.