May 18

“My Faith in Nonviolence” by Mohandas K. Ghandi

This short story is written by the famous Ghandi in 1930.  It talks about the struggles of nonviolence and the hardships taht come with or without it.  Ghandi uses the words “conquer him with love” when talking about an oppenent.  He uses this theory to fight his battles, he states that he is capable of anger, but he succeeds on almost all occasions to keep his feelings under control.  I think in a lot of way Ghandi can be compared to Martin Luther King Jr. becasue they had a very similar task that we built on going about the solution in a nonviolent way.  Ghandi says the law of love will work, whether we accept it or not.

 “Of Cruelty and Clemency” by Niccolo Machiavelli

This short story is based around the question “is it better to be loved more than feared, or feared more than loved?”  The story talks ab0ut the actions a prince must take in order to be a good leader.  It talks about the prince being loved, the prince being cruel, and the prince causing fear.  The author says it is safer to be feared than loved, if you had to pick one of the two.  The author says for a prince to make perople fearful is good, but not so much to envoke hatred.  The story basically talkes about the necessities a prince must have to keep order of his citizens and also his army, he must be mean and cruel but not to a level where his followers will hate him.

“Immigration: Newcomers by Numbers” by Anna Quindlen

The author is writing in support of illegal aliens, and talking about their positive impact on the economy.  She says immigrants make up 15% of the workforce and that a third of those are illegal.  She talks about the effects of not having any of these immigrants and what would happen to this country, from prices going up to hotel rooms not being cleaned.  She then goes on to talk about how immigration is not about today but always about tomorrow.  She talks about the immigrants working these jobs so their kids dont have to and these kids can actually have a real shot at the world.  The author makes some very good points in this short story, its a pretty one sided story but she makes some good points.

May 3

The Gettysburg Address

             “The Gettysburg Address,” written by Abraham Lincoln, is a short speech to dedicate a cemetery for the soldiers who were killed in battle there the previous year.  According to the story this is the most famous speech in America.  I feel kind of bad because I don’t remember myself ever reading this speech.  I’m sure I have sometime but not that I can remember.  I think it’s important for all Americans to take part in a realize the history that this country has been through, especially speeches like this one that came from a man who helped shape the country in which we live today.

I Have a Dream

            “I Have a Dream,” by Martin Luther King, is a speech that was given in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  One of the reasons for this destination was because Lincoln was the man to sign the Emancipation Proclamation and begin the civil rights movement.  Martin Luther then goes on to talk about how the Negro is not given any of the rights that America herself promises her people.  He talks about the hardships they endure and makes clear that now is the time to fix this problem once and for all.  He shows that they will not back down, not until justice is served and they are treated as equals.  They will not turn to violence no matter the case; they will keep the peace until they get the equality they want.  This is truly an amazing speech that must have given people so much strength and pride to fight through all the hardships until it was there turn finally, to be free.

April 19 writing

Jeremy Williams
4/19/10

Warm, Warmer, Warmest

“Warm, Warmer, Warmest” by Nicholas D. Kristof, is yet another piece of writing on global warming. It’s been a fad for the last few years in the media and seems to keep growing. This is another example of “facts” and examples of when the earth is going to be covered by water. This particular writing talks about glaciers mainly, saying they are melting at an alarming rate which will raise sea levels. The author talks about the immediate importance of this issue and that people are not taking it as serious as we should. In the end of the article he even lists his ideas to stop global warming, what a shock two of them came in the form of taxes, this made me laugh. Overall an informative story on different examples and situations of global warming.

Electronic Corpses

The story “Electronic Corpses” by Pierre Haski is about a part of Southern China which specializes in recycling of waste from richer countries. They get things like computers, strip them apart, and then do as they please with the parts. The story then goes into talking about the dangers of these people who work in the plants. All the chemicals they are exposed to, breathing in and around all day. According to the story they wear no protective gear and just do as they are told. The story goes into not just the health of the workers but also its negative effects on the environment. At the end of the story they talk about the environment, but also that if the government puts too much regulation, they will not be able to feed their families.

A Clone is Born

The third story, by Gina Kolata, is called “A Clone is Born.” This story is about the famous sheep “Dolly” who was a clone. The story goes on to talk about a little bit of history of science and then goes into the making of Dolly. The scientist who developed Dolly, Ian Wilmut, goes on to talk about the endless possibilities of cloning, from going back in history and cloning historical figures, to making clones of oneself. I thought it was interesting that after he cloned the sheep, he said there is no reason that a human cannot be cloned, but “all of us would find that offensive.” So even though he discovered the way to do it he still did not believe it was right to clone humans. The story then goes on to talk about all the religious beliefs that would come and go with the cloning of humans and the effect that would have on people. I think this was a very good story with tons of information. It goes not only into the process of cloning, but also the effects, religious and otherwise.

The Language of Comics

Jeremy Williams
4/12/10
The short story “The Language of Comics” by Scott Mccloud is very different from any story I have ever read. It was a very unique idea to use an actual comic book setting to tell a story. The author uses the same character throughout the comic story. The character tells what he is thinking in his mind and I think anyone who reads this definitely took a different approach than if they were going to read a regular story. Because of this unique way of telling the story it kept it fresh and interesting because most people will always want to see what’s in the next comic box especially if the story had a little bit of humor to begin with. After you get past all the pictures and jokes you begin to actually read what the author is saying and it all makes total sense. He is talking about the language of comics and how it is so real and true, just way more in depth than were used to. For example he says, this is not a pipe, it is a painting of a pipe, then says no it is drawing of a painting of a pipe. He goes on more and more about this picture and it all makes total sense and makes you realize what he is saying is all correct, we just don’t think about it in that way. He then goes on to talk about symbols and faces and brings up some very interesting facts about how we connect with these symbols or pictures as if they were something real. For example there was a stick figure type face in the story and he talks about even though we know this face isn’t real, we all accept it for and know it as a human face automatically. Overall this was a very interesting story and definitely unlike anything I have ever read. The author does a good job of getting the reader’s attention and keeping it for the whole story.

March 18th Blog

“What’s Wrong with Cinderella?”

In the short story “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” a mother expresses her feeling on this world trying to turn all little girls into princesses. At first I was skeptical, but as she started to site these examples I started to agree. She talks about the corporate world being obsessed with producing princess items to make little girls look up to this “princess figure.” The mother is a feminist and strongly disagrees with this whole princess era where girls are taught to only look at themselves based on body and beauty rather than what’s in the inside. I agree with her on this, everything now to a little girl is about pretty and sparkly, I cant remember the last time is saw a “tom-boy.”

“Facebook grows up”

The short story “Facebook Grows Up” by Steven Levy, is a writing about how Facebook turned from something that was made for college students to keep in touch, to something that the world, no matter what the age, is logging on to. This is true, now when I have lunch with my parents friends, I find their friends always talking about how many hours they’ve been on Facebook, and everything they have been doing on it. It’s kind of weird to me. The story begins with a 40-year-old mom telling her story of a day when Facebook went down, she didn’t know what to do without it. After trying to login to the site five or more times, she realized she was addicted to Facebook. The story goes on to talk about the change Facebook has made from a student site, to being full of business professionals and politicians. The story says that the site has a growth rate of 3% a week, which is an astonishing number. I learned a lot from this story, numbers wise, on how Facebook works, and what kind of activity this site actually does generate. Overall it was an informative story about how Facebook is changing communication in this world.

“Harry Potter and Divorce among the Muggles”

This short story by Constance Matthiessen, starts off with a family listening to the tape of latest Harry Potter book. It was a mom and her three kids; they were driving to their new house, fresh from a divorce. As they family was on the way home from the beach they were listening to the tape and discovered the death of a main character in the story. This raged the family especially Aiden. I can understand the families rage in this death, after you get into something like a book, it makes you mad to see a part of it disappear. But I think this anger had more to do with to with the recent divorce than the book. The mom is really worried about the divorce and the effect she knows it will have on her kids. I understand that must be a tough situation, knowing what you have done will affect your kids in a negative way. I do agree with the author that a divorce will change a lot for the children, and not good change. I think this author did a good job of comparing her divorce and the effect on the children, to Harry Potter and the story he goes through. I think I would read something else by this author and I would recommend it to any parent who is divorced.

“Pumped, Pierced, Painted and Pagan”

This story by Joe Woodard, goes through the female fad of breast augmentation. But not just small augmentation, what the doctors call “unnatural.” The doctors say that the size of breast enlargement is getting bigger and bigger, up more than four times the size of the past. Personally, I don’t like these huge unnatural looking enlargements, and they can’t be good for the women carrying them around. One surgeon says that the demand for “monster breasts” is a geographical issue. I learned a lot from the article from the effects of the surgery, to how the different religions feel about this change to the body. The story compares the American fad for breast enlargement, to the cultural body of tribes in Africa the Amazon. I think this story hits a lot of important points, especially when talking about how women now think they need this to be considered beautiful. I think this is an important story that many women need to read and see the facts and numbers on. It provides information that women can look at if deciding to make a decision about any of the subjects covered, and I think its important for them to know the effects before having the procedure.

“A Fearless Press”

The starry “A Fearless Press,” by Lisa Finnegan is a story about how the press deals with disasters, and how they report it on the news. Some parts in the story I agree with, others I don’t. The parts in the story that discuss the effects the press has on what people think and how they react, I believe is true. The press can manipulate and change things to make people feel safe, or make them feel scared. In this case it was talking about 9/11 and how the more people watched news on what happened, the angrier and more scared they got. I felt like this author was very liberal and saying a lot of bad stuff about stuff about George W. Bush. It almost seemed like it was one of her main reasons to write the article. It sounds to me like she is blaming the government for 9/11. When she says of the president and his staff, “the very people responsible for protecting this country.” The author goes on to talk about the automatic change the president experienced following 9/11. He went from not being liked all that much, to having the highest approval rating ever. I do believe that the media has a large effect of how we look and feel about things. If it weren’t for them we probably wouldn’t know about it, but I think this story is trying to touch on the subject of “is it good for us to know and watch and listen to all they have to say?” I found this text somewhat confusing because it seemed to jump around a little bit. But it did have good information about not only 9/11 but also other terrorist attacks, and how the media portrays things.

“Fast Food Nation”

In the short story by Eric Schlosser, it discusses the growing popularity of fast food and the effect on our lives. This I think is something that all people will agree with, the convenience and routines of fast food. Its something that were so used to it seems ordinary. From reading this story I learned a lot about numbers and percentages of people who eat fast food. The story says on any given day one in four adults will eat at a fast food restaurant, and that McDonalds builds around 2,000 new restaurants a year. Some of the numbers in the story were staggering to me. Out of the entire story I think the last paragraph was the best. I enjoyed the story because of the good facts and the realization of how these meals area actually made. I would definitely recommend this story to anyone who makes fast food a part of his or her daily routine.

Climax (Orenstien 361) “Saks bought Club Libby Lu in 2003 for $12 million and has since expanded it to 87 outlets; by 2005, with only scant local advertising, revenues hovered around the $46 million mark, a 53% jump from the previous year.

Parallelism (Woodard 465) “In the past six years, the annual number of breast augmentations has climbed 400%, to over 120,000 in the United States and 10,000 in Canada.”

Understatement (Finnegan 487) “The likelihood of being killed by a terrorist in the United States is very small.”

 

March 11 Blog

Just Don’t Call Me Mr. Mom

In “Just Don’t Call me Mr. Mom” by Brian Baker, he talks about himself as a stay at home dad, and the grief that is coming from his dad because of this “Mr. Mom” job. I have always found it funny when parents sniff diapers and apparently Brian Bakers father did as well. His dad in this story is implying to Brian that men shouldn’t be the one home taking care of the kids, but should be the primary breadwinner. Like the story said, his dad was gone from 7:00 AM and didn’t return for twelve hours. I don’t agree with his dad entirely, I see where he’s coming from, but I don’t think that staying home and taking care of the kids should be limited to a women’s job. In the last decade the number of stay at home dads has went up 300% and its up to 11% of the population, this number was surprising to me. I think the men have a good reason for staying home, and they just want to raise their kids in a good way. Perhaps it also has a lot to do with how much there own fathers worked and how little time they spent with them. I think this was good story about something that is somewhat an embarrassing subject for men. The number of men that are starting to become stay at him dads is increasing, and I think it is something that people are going to have to adjust to. I think this author does a good job of describing the things a stay at home dad must go through, but mostly the rewards that a dad will get by doing so. I thought this story was entertaining on was on an interesting subject that I have never read about before. “Rather, I want her to know that in me she’ll always have a place to turn to feel safe, to calibrate her values, to seek council, to receive encouragement.” (Braiker 240). Asyndeton.

“Loneliness…an American Malady”

In this short story by Carson McCullers, the author talks about Americans and their loneliness. The author describes how afraid we Americans are to be lonely, and how common it is in our world today. Personally I can understand his friends desire to be alone, to a point. But I think more than a problem, its just some individuals way of life. Some prefer to be alone, some always want to be surrounded by people. The author mentions the question “Who am I?” I think this is a question that a lot of people deal with in the world today. I think this author does a good job of discussing a “problem” that many Americans deal with in their busy lives. Also he discusses the importance of not only finding time for people, but also finding time to find yourself.

“The baby reaches for his toes, then explores the bars of his crib; again and again he compares the difference between his own body and the objects around him, and in the wavering, infant eyes there comes a pristine wonder.” (McCullers 267) Balance trope.

“Somebody’s Baby”

In this short story by Barbara Kingsolver, she talks about the difference in the love of children between the United States, and other places. She uses Spain as her example; she says, “people there like kids.” I do understand where she is coming from, because almost everyone here says they like kids, but do you think they all actually do care about them? The author does a good job of using examples of Spain compared to examples of the U.S. Here she describes how children are sometimes looked down upon, such as a burden, and in Spain children were looked upon as a blessing, like the most important thing. After reading this it helps me realize that in a lot of ways, the author is right. At first I didn’t really believe her, but after reading my opinion changed a little bit. I think she does a good job of not overly criticizing the U.S. but emphasizing how important children should be to us. Not looked at like a burden, but a blessing.

“But unlike many other species we are social, insightful, and capable of anticipating our future.” (Kingsolver 283) Balance trope.

“A Respectable Woman”

In this story by Kate Chopin, the author talks about disliking a man from the beginning, but having to pull herself away from him at the end. I think a lot of people will have something in common with this story. It seems like a classic “don’t judge a book by its cover” situation. I too have not cared for someone from his or her first impressions, but after you get to know them you begin to like them. Right after you begin reading you begin to understand why the author named it “A Respectable Women”. This woman was tempted but she realized that by the standards of a respectable woman, it wasn’t the right thing to do, which is something that a lot of people, not just women, can understand. I think the subject of a respectable woman was a good one to write on, it’s something that is important to me as well. It’s always been important to me that a woman respects herself, and the man she is involved with. I think the author did a good job with this story because it had some mystery in it that kept you wanting to read more.

“Oh, she told him, laughingly, after pressing a long, tender kiss upon his lips, I have overcome everything! You will see. This time I shall be very nice to him.” (Chopin 288) Irony.

March 4 Blog

“The Good Soldier”

By Colin Powell

Thesis- “Here at home in America, people sometimes ask what is the significance of my being the first African-American secretary of state. I hope it does have significance, particularly to African-Americans, and I hope the significance is that it happened in America.” (Colin Powell, 2009).

In this short story by Colin Powell he talks about the significance to the African-American community that he is “the secretary of state who is black.” He wants this to give inspiration to other kids growing up in poor communities. He wants this to be a true story to them that you can really can be anything you want to be no matter what your color be. This is true story about conquering a career from the ground up. He started as a soldier, and now represents the United States and the president, in events that happen all around the world. He talks about that success means nothing if you forget where you came from. He believes that you must give back to the community that you came from. He talks about all the ways in which he does this.

“My Hyphenated Identity”

By Jhumpa Lahiri

Thesis- “Like many immigrant offspring I felt intense pressure to be two things, loyal to the old world and fluent in the new, approved of on either side of the hyphen.” (Jhumpa Lahiri, 2009).

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s story she discussed the troubles of being an immigrant child and the battle to stay on both sides, one being an Indian, and the other an American. She says that according to her parents she was not an American, and would be one no matter how hard she tried. She says she feels Indian not because of her looks, the language that she speaks, or her time spent in India, but because of her parent’s influence on her.

“On Being a Cripple”

By Nancy Mairs

Thesis- “As a Cripple, I swagger.”

In Nancy Mairs short story she starts off by telling a story of her falling in a bathroom in her office because she is crippled. She says she doesn’t like words “disabled” or “handicapped,” she prefers crippled. She says that hearing the word crippled makes people cringe, and maybe that is what she wants people to do when they here that she is crippled. She discusses her diagnosis with MS and how it effected her, she says her disease has been slowly progressing causing her to lose movement throughout time. She then goes on to talk about all the little things in life she is no longer able to do, and she says she fears one day she will be writing that one day she will never walk again.

“Smashed: Story of Drunken Girlhood”

By Koren Zailckas

Thesis- “My intention, in telling this story from the very beginning, is to show the full life cycle of alcohol abuse.”

The author starts off by telling a story of a horrible accident she had when she was sixteen and drunk. It started as a young girl for her, her cravings for alcohol. She tells of the years she spent growing up and the alcohol that was related to those years. She talks about her years of drinking all the way until the age of 23, when she quit. She talks about how drinking has a become less of a big deal, just something that is a lot better than getting into drugs, and that’s why she thinks so many young people today have alcohol problems.

Parallelism- “Girls don’t drink in the name of women’s liberation, for the sake of proving we can go drink for drink with t he boys. We don’t drink to affirm we are “sassy” or “self-confident.”

Blog 2

“The Angel in the House”

“The Angel in the House” by Virginia Woolf was honestly a very confusing story about a women writer. This woman writer talks about the difference between men and women and the way they do things in life. She talks about how easy writing as a job is and shares what she did with the first amount of money she made. She then begins talking about “the angel in the house,” telling about how bad this angel is and how she wants to kill her. It sounds like she was talking about herself almost, like she was talking about a split personality. She says if she didn’t kill this angel it would have plucked the heart out of her writing, so she had to kill her. She says this angel tells her that for a woman to succeed as man would, she must tell lies, this angel of the house keeps coming back even after the woman thought she had killed her. She keeps going back and forth on what a woman is and what’s the difference between success of a woman and man. Towards the end of the story she says that men condemn freedom in women.

“A Homemade Education”

“A Homemade Education” is written by Malcolm X and talks about his self-teaching in prison. He says he commanded attention when he used his words on the streets but when it came to writing in simple English, he wasn’t sure of himself. He talks about learning from reading in prison and even studying dictionaries. He began copying down every single thing that was in a dictionary and then going over the notes. After he started developing writing speed, he began getting the notes down faster and faster until he decided that he was just going to copy the every word in the dictionary. When lights out came, he would still read by what light he had until the guards came by and he had to jump back into bed.

“If on a Winters Night a Traveler…”

Italo Calvino writes this story. He begins the story explaining how one goes about reading, the position you sit, how you have the light, etc. He then goes on talking about how you bought the book, where you got it, and goes on to say nothing about the actual story he wrote.

“On writing,” “Reading, the most dangerous game”

The first reading “on writing” was about Stephen King. He talks about his love for reading, and why it makes him a better writer. He talks about reading seventy to eighty books a year not to study the art of writing, but because he likes to read. He tells about how much you can learn from reading a bad book as compared to a good one, and how the bad things in a book can stick into your head. He also talks about the amount of learning one can get from reading good books as well. He says it teaches you as a writer what good style is, character creation, plot development, and other important subjects. He then goes on to say that reading a good story gives some writers a sort of jealousy, and can give them the inspiration to write something as good or better. He says once you read and experience the bad in someone’s writing, it helps you as writer to stay away from that, and create your own unique style. Stephen King also states that anyone who is not a reader cannot be a good writer, period. He believes that if you don’t have the time to read many books to get a feel for what’s out there, you cannot expect people to like what you yourself have written.
The second reading is called “Reading, the Most Dangerous Game” by Harold Brodkey. He calls reading an intimate act. His reasons for this are that when one reads his or her mind is exposed directly to another through the feelings of their writing. He then goes on to talk about how people have changed in the type of books they want to read. He kind of uses the example that people nowadays only want to read “sexy” books and that they don’t actually like a good book if they have read one. He talks about how the United States is not organized by religion or politics, but by economic fashions such as making money and spending money. All summed up he tells about the difference in a “good book,” and what the readers of this world actually want to read.

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