Drake Matney

 What does it take to be a rancher? Well, in my opinion, not a whole lot. It probably takes about two or three things, maybe more: a truck, barbwire, some more barbwire, hay, and A LOT more hay. So like I said, ranching is not super hard. The only hard parts are the heat and running cattle all over the place. I myself have never liked ranching a whole lot due to doing it my entire life, so in my case, it's really not even ranching anymore. It's just an everyday occurrence. Now, what goes into ranching? Well, you got your cattle to either slaughter for some meat to feed your family or several families; you have your hogs to breed and to either sell off or butcher; you got your horses, chickens, goats, and even llamas if you're really weird. But you're probably asking, "Drake, what are you trying to get at here?" Well, I will take you through a short day of ranching. We've already gotten through the simple things, not we get into the tedious things, the crap...

 As a resident of Arizona and a college student myself, the topic of higher education in Arizona is one that hits close to home for me. After reading both articles from azcentral.com, the first thing that struck me was the tone and rhetoric used by the two authors. While Governor Ducey's article focused on the economic benefits of higher education and the need for more college graduates in Arizona, the second article took a more critical approach, questioning alot of the accessibility and affordability of higher education in the state. As a student, I can relate to the struggles of balancing the rising costs of college with the desire for a higher education. Though, I also see the value and potential for growth that comes getting a college degree. Governor Ducey's article makes a good argument for the need for more college graduates in Arizona, using statistics on the benefits of a college education like increased earnings potential and economic growth for the state. As a resid...

Today, I'll be talking about what it's like in the day of a hard rock mining workforce, just like any other day, my father, coworkers, and I, in the same truck. Heading out to start the day. Oh, and if you were wondering how and why my coworkers drove off with us, no, they don't stay in the same house with us every morning; they meet at our house. So after driving off, we stop by the old cafe in town, get a few breakfast burritos, we take off from there to the office now a little context we have two main places that we spend most of our time at, the office and the site if we go anywhere else other than it's to get parts or equipment, So, we stop by the office for a quick briefing on what the plan is for the day run through what we need to get done, make sure we know where to start drilling then we take a couple of guys in aka what we call "The Crew" and head on out to the site to get some work done. Photo From Google Now, a lot of what goes on is confidential ...

  For this blog post, I stumbled upon an interesting example of slanted reporting in this article from CNN. It really highlights the importance of understanding media bias and its impact on an audience.  CNN removes description of Wisconsin protests as “violent” (studentnewsdaily.com) This article is about CNN removing a description of the Wisconsin protests as "violent." This incident sheds light on the rhetoric used by media outlets and the potential uses of biased reporting. The report begins by stating that CNN had included the word "violent" in their article about the protests in Wisconsin but eventually removed it without any explanation. This raises a lot of questions about the credibility of the source because it shows a lack of accountability for their own reporting. It also opens up the possibility of a hidden agenda behind the use of the word "violent."  Actual Photo from Riot. Photo Credit Unknown. If were going to have an analysis of the rheto...