My experiences in English 111 have been rewarding as a writer. I have always had difficulties with school and writing. English has always been my worst subject. In high school I just couldn’t grasp the deeper meaning to things that I read. I tried to take from the text itself but just did not understand what I read. Sometimes I had to reread over and over because I found myself losing concentration easily. Forget even trying to remember what was in the stories. If it wasn’t fresh in my head then it was lost somewhere in transition. Even now I still have some difficulties but this class has taught me how to break the story down and to pick it apart. It taught me how to analyze things to a greater degree of understanding it. I never even knew what rhetorical appeals were until coming to this class. Those appeals have helped me to get a better grasp on things I read and hear now. The synthesis was also difficult for me as well. I still have a little trouble trying to synthesize between two pieces of work and compare them but I’m working on that. Everyday is a learning process and I get better with more knowledge and understanding of the things around me.
As for the actual class itself, it was definitely an experience for me. I have to admit that when I first read the blackboard, I thought I was in for one heck of a time. I had the impressions of a strict college professor. I had this image in my head of a suit and tie guy that was uptight. I was a little scared coming to class for fear of failure. Then when we finally met the teacher it was a sigh of relief that he had this sense of humor about him. I still remember the first day of class when all the students sat there wondering where the teacher was at. We all sat quietly and patiently. It was pretty funny when all of a sudden he got up from the middle of the classroom after about ten minutes had passed. I didn’t see it coming. I thought that was pretty crazy and figured this may be worth sticking around for. Then he stated his expectations of us as students. He laid out the outline of the course and gave us all the assignments and due dates up front. He pretty much made it as clear as possible so there will be no excuses for missed work. I was a little worried that I may not be able to perform since this was my worst subject. However, this is a class that was required so whether I stick this one out or go to another, I will still be in the same spot of performing. The most difficult part for me was the presentations and to hear up front that I had two by the end of the semester was terrifying. I figured that if I just blink and take that deep breathe then I can make it through. I’ve never liked to be in the spotlight and still don’t but that’s okay. It was part of the assignment and I realize now that I was not alone.
I will take what I did learn in this class and hopefully do well in my English 112 class.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
How I ended up here
First Draft:
This is my first essay in college. I have chosen to write about the person that has changed my life because I never thought I would be where I am. It all started back in high school. I had met this amazingly cute guy named Danny. He was a bagger at the Food Lion down the street from my home. I always thought he had a good outlook on life and what he wanted to do with it. To me, he always looked down the road at the long term goals. I, however, lived for the here and now. I did great in school when I attended but that was the hard part for me. I was always looking for the fun things in life and did not care how I ended up because I thought that I would always bounce back and just be there somehow making do with what I had at the time. I had a very poor outlook on life and no set goals I was working towards. Sure, it's easy enough to tell people that “I wanna be...when I grow up” but to actually believe that's what I wanted was harder than that.
When we dated, he used to yell at me for not attending classes like I was supposed to. I always felt like such a terrible person and had those broken promises of going back the next day. I remember one day I had skipped classes yet again and he had caught me parked at a store while he was riding by on the city bus to work. He was always the stable one. I got in so much trouble but that wasn't the bad part. It was the fact that I knew I was not going to school and could have at least given him a ride to work but did not want to have him mad at me. I think back to that day a lot. Where were my priorities that day and any day at that matter. He always pushed for my education to better myself. Believe it or not, he actually married me after all that. He believed in me. I had dropped out of school at that point but he did push me to go back and finish. He never gave up on me. I eventually went back to night school and finished my high school diploma. Even though it was three years past my original graduation date it was still the happiest day for my mother, my husband, and me. Things in the marriage had been so rocky over the many years with us. Always up and down. It's funny because he always reminded me of something I said to him once a long time ago. “It's not how much you love someone but how much you can work through with that person.” I was so proud to have said something so inspiring creating such deep meaning to the person that meant the most to me. He helped me overcome a lot of obstacles in my life. I ended up relying on him so much that he was my backbone. Even though he helped me to learn to stand up for myself, I never truly did because I always knew he would always be there to do things for me. It is unfortunate to say that he is no longer a part of my life. I thought my world has ended. My best friend, husband, and backbone is gone. I never forgot what he taught me and realize that I was always capable of doing things myself. It was always within me. I just had to reach deep and find it. I had decided to finally go back to school. I still hold him in my heart and think back to the struggles with school in the past and how he always believed in me. I thank him for helping me to find the courage to do the things that are right for me. I can now say that my life has definitely changed because of him. I finally found the strength to stand up and truly do things on my own. Of course I still stumble along the way and still ask others for help, but I am doing it myself now. I don't go to him and ask him to find the answers for me anymore. I have found my very own backbone.
Revised Draft:
I have decided to write about the person that helped to change my life as my first essay. It all started back in high school where I had met this amazingly cute guy named Danny. He was a bagger at the Food Lion down the street from my home. I always thought he had a good outlook on life and how he wanted to pursue it. He always seemed to look down the road at the long term goals. I lived for the here and now. I was always looking for the fun things in life. It didn’t matter how I ended up because I thought that I would always bounce back. I always thought I’d just be there somehow making do with what I had at the time. I had a very poor outlook on life and no set goals that I was working towards. Sure it's easy enough to tell people that “I want to be a doctor when I grow up.” It was actually harder to believe that for myself.
Danny used to yell at me for not attending classes like I was supposed to. I did great in school when I actually showed up for class. I always felt like such a terrible person for those broken promises of going back the next day. I remember one day I had skipped classes yet again. He had caught me parked at a store while he was riding by on the city bus to work. He was always the stable one. I got in so much trouble but that wasn't the bad part. It was the fact that I knew I was not going to school. I could have at least given him a ride to work but didn’t want to have him mad at me. I think back to that day a lot. Where were my priorities on that day or any day for that matter? He always pushed for my education so I can better myself. Believe it or not he actually married me after all that. He believed in me. I had dropped out of school at that point because of a pregnancy, but he did push me to go back and finish. He never gave up on me. I eventually went back to night school and finished my high school diploma. Even though it was three years past my original graduation date it was still the happiest day for my mother, my husband, and me.
Things in the marriage had been so rocky over the many years with us. Always up and down. Every couple goes through those times. Without the downs then you couldn’t have the ups and the happy endings. It's funny because he always reminded me of something I said to him once a long time ago. “It's not how much you love someone but how much you can work through with that person.” I was so proud having said something so inspiring to create such a deep meaning to the person that meant the most to me. He helped me to overcome a lot of obstacles in my life. I ended up relying on him so much that he was my backbone. Even though he helped me to learn to stand up for myself, I never truly did because I always knew he would be there to do things for me. It is unfortunate to say that he is no longer a part of my life. I thought that my world had ended. My best friend, my husband, and my backbone was gone. I never forgot what he taught me and realized that I was always capable of doing things myself. It was always within me. I just had to reach deep within and find it.
I had decided to finally go back to school. I still hold him in my heart and think back to the struggles with school in the past. I remembered how he always believed in me. I thank him for helping me to find the courage to do the things that are right for me. I can now say that my life has definitely changed because of him. I finally found the strength to stand up and do things on my own. Of course, I still stumble along the way and still ask others for help, but I am doing it myself now. I don't go to him and ask him to find the answers for me anymore. I have found my very own backbone.
Danny and I still talk on a friendly basis. He heard that I enrolled into college. He told me, “I am so proud of you.” I said to him, “I just wanted to get a better job when I am done in a few years.” What I really wanted to say to him was that it was because of the separation. I really didn’t know what I was doing and I just wanted to keep busy. It did help to keep my mind off of things. I have to admit that it’s a difficult thing to work a full time job, raise three children, and go to school at night. My mother has been a great help though. She’s always been a person that encouraged school. She had a difficult life and wanted to do everything in her power to make sure her children led a better life. When I first wrote this essay, I was so proud to have written it that I allowed Danny to read it. He said, “You are giving me way too much credit.” I told him, “It is all true though and it’s what I feel.” He said,” It is really good.” I guess he was trying to be nice. I read it again and thought how stupid it really did sound. Now I just feel a little ashamed to even have allowed him to read my thoughts. He has come around a little bit and is now trying to help me. He said, “I want to help you with school. I hope you do really well. Let me know if you need any help with the kids or with any school work or anything.” I told him, “I’ve got this. I don’t ask for help and you know that but thanks anyways.” I guess I was still a little mad about everything and didn’t want to have to rely on him anymore. Since then I have allowed him to help on some things. He has watched the kids for me on off days so I can go to the library to study. I even had him come over to help me with my PowerPoint for my research presentation. He told me, “This is exciting. I’ve always loved doing projects for school and I English was one of my best subjects.” I was never any good at those things. He is the business person that deals with those things for his career. He was even concerned with how I did when I finally presented my PowerPoint. I probably will not allow him to read this revised version of my diagnostic essay but that’s because I should have known better the first time. I am doing well for myself now and I have come this far on my own. I don’t want to backtrack and rely on Danny anymore because I need to keep moving forward now.
This is my first essay in college. I have chosen to write about the person that has changed my life because I never thought I would be where I am. It all started back in high school. I had met this amazingly cute guy named Danny. He was a bagger at the Food Lion down the street from my home. I always thought he had a good outlook on life and what he wanted to do with it. To me, he always looked down the road at the long term goals. I, however, lived for the here and now. I did great in school when I attended but that was the hard part for me. I was always looking for the fun things in life and did not care how I ended up because I thought that I would always bounce back and just be there somehow making do with what I had at the time. I had a very poor outlook on life and no set goals I was working towards. Sure, it's easy enough to tell people that “I wanna be...when I grow up” but to actually believe that's what I wanted was harder than that.
When we dated, he used to yell at me for not attending classes like I was supposed to. I always felt like such a terrible person and had those broken promises of going back the next day. I remember one day I had skipped classes yet again and he had caught me parked at a store while he was riding by on the city bus to work. He was always the stable one. I got in so much trouble but that wasn't the bad part. It was the fact that I knew I was not going to school and could have at least given him a ride to work but did not want to have him mad at me. I think back to that day a lot. Where were my priorities that day and any day at that matter. He always pushed for my education to better myself. Believe it or not, he actually married me after all that. He believed in me. I had dropped out of school at that point but he did push me to go back and finish. He never gave up on me. I eventually went back to night school and finished my high school diploma. Even though it was three years past my original graduation date it was still the happiest day for my mother, my husband, and me. Things in the marriage had been so rocky over the many years with us. Always up and down. It's funny because he always reminded me of something I said to him once a long time ago. “It's not how much you love someone but how much you can work through with that person.” I was so proud to have said something so inspiring creating such deep meaning to the person that meant the most to me. He helped me overcome a lot of obstacles in my life. I ended up relying on him so much that he was my backbone. Even though he helped me to learn to stand up for myself, I never truly did because I always knew he would always be there to do things for me. It is unfortunate to say that he is no longer a part of my life. I thought my world has ended. My best friend, husband, and backbone is gone. I never forgot what he taught me and realize that I was always capable of doing things myself. It was always within me. I just had to reach deep and find it. I had decided to finally go back to school. I still hold him in my heart and think back to the struggles with school in the past and how he always believed in me. I thank him for helping me to find the courage to do the things that are right for me. I can now say that my life has definitely changed because of him. I finally found the strength to stand up and truly do things on my own. Of course I still stumble along the way and still ask others for help, but I am doing it myself now. I don't go to him and ask him to find the answers for me anymore. I have found my very own backbone.
Revised Draft:
I have decided to write about the person that helped to change my life as my first essay. It all started back in high school where I had met this amazingly cute guy named Danny. He was a bagger at the Food Lion down the street from my home. I always thought he had a good outlook on life and how he wanted to pursue it. He always seemed to look down the road at the long term goals. I lived for the here and now. I was always looking for the fun things in life. It didn’t matter how I ended up because I thought that I would always bounce back. I always thought I’d just be there somehow making do with what I had at the time. I had a very poor outlook on life and no set goals that I was working towards. Sure it's easy enough to tell people that “I want to be a doctor when I grow up.” It was actually harder to believe that for myself.
Danny used to yell at me for not attending classes like I was supposed to. I did great in school when I actually showed up for class. I always felt like such a terrible person for those broken promises of going back the next day. I remember one day I had skipped classes yet again. He had caught me parked at a store while he was riding by on the city bus to work. He was always the stable one. I got in so much trouble but that wasn't the bad part. It was the fact that I knew I was not going to school. I could have at least given him a ride to work but didn’t want to have him mad at me. I think back to that day a lot. Where were my priorities on that day or any day for that matter? He always pushed for my education so I can better myself. Believe it or not he actually married me after all that. He believed in me. I had dropped out of school at that point because of a pregnancy, but he did push me to go back and finish. He never gave up on me. I eventually went back to night school and finished my high school diploma. Even though it was three years past my original graduation date it was still the happiest day for my mother, my husband, and me.
Things in the marriage had been so rocky over the many years with us. Always up and down. Every couple goes through those times. Without the downs then you couldn’t have the ups and the happy endings. It's funny because he always reminded me of something I said to him once a long time ago. “It's not how much you love someone but how much you can work through with that person.” I was so proud having said something so inspiring to create such a deep meaning to the person that meant the most to me. He helped me to overcome a lot of obstacles in my life. I ended up relying on him so much that he was my backbone. Even though he helped me to learn to stand up for myself, I never truly did because I always knew he would be there to do things for me. It is unfortunate to say that he is no longer a part of my life. I thought that my world had ended. My best friend, my husband, and my backbone was gone. I never forgot what he taught me and realized that I was always capable of doing things myself. It was always within me. I just had to reach deep within and find it.
I had decided to finally go back to school. I still hold him in my heart and think back to the struggles with school in the past. I remembered how he always believed in me. I thank him for helping me to find the courage to do the things that are right for me. I can now say that my life has definitely changed because of him. I finally found the strength to stand up and do things on my own. Of course, I still stumble along the way and still ask others for help, but I am doing it myself now. I don't go to him and ask him to find the answers for me anymore. I have found my very own backbone.
Danny and I still talk on a friendly basis. He heard that I enrolled into college. He told me, “I am so proud of you.” I said to him, “I just wanted to get a better job when I am done in a few years.” What I really wanted to say to him was that it was because of the separation. I really didn’t know what I was doing and I just wanted to keep busy. It did help to keep my mind off of things. I have to admit that it’s a difficult thing to work a full time job, raise three children, and go to school at night. My mother has been a great help though. She’s always been a person that encouraged school. She had a difficult life and wanted to do everything in her power to make sure her children led a better life. When I first wrote this essay, I was so proud to have written it that I allowed Danny to read it. He said, “You are giving me way too much credit.” I told him, “It is all true though and it’s what I feel.” He said,” It is really good.” I guess he was trying to be nice. I read it again and thought how stupid it really did sound. Now I just feel a little ashamed to even have allowed him to read my thoughts. He has come around a little bit and is now trying to help me. He said, “I want to help you with school. I hope you do really well. Let me know if you need any help with the kids or with any school work or anything.” I told him, “I’ve got this. I don’t ask for help and you know that but thanks anyways.” I guess I was still a little mad about everything and didn’t want to have to rely on him anymore. Since then I have allowed him to help on some things. He has watched the kids for me on off days so I can go to the library to study. I even had him come over to help me with my PowerPoint for my research presentation. He told me, “This is exciting. I’ve always loved doing projects for school and I English was one of my best subjects.” I was never any good at those things. He is the business person that deals with those things for his career. He was even concerned with how I did when I finally presented my PowerPoint. I probably will not allow him to read this revised version of my diagnostic essay but that’s because I should have known better the first time. I am doing well for myself now and I have come this far on my own. I don’t want to backtrack and rely on Danny anymore because I need to keep moving forward now.
My thoughts on Palin's views
I read this blog about Sarah Palin during the 2008 election. I was a little taken back by her stance on things. It appears that Eve Ensler wrote this dated September 08, 2008 titled Drill, Drill, Drill. I really never was one for politics and often find myself keeping quiet when the discussions arise. Those discussions never end well when you have two disagreeing parties involved. I do have my own opinions about things but I find myself learning more about the things involved by just sitting back and listening. I thought that it was great that a woman was running for vice-presidency and that we’ve come a long way for women’s rights. When I first heard of her, I had the impression that she was down to earth and not uptight but then my views changed. I heard that she doesn’t believe in global warming. There were also things like animals were put here for us to hunt so she wanted to take the polar bears off the endangered species list and so on. Then this blog came to light about her stance on the woman’s right to choose. I talks about how she doesn’t believe in sex education or birth control. She doesn’t think that a woman who is a victim of rape or incest should have the ability to decide whether to have her attacker’s child. Although this is Mrs. Palin’s thoughts on abortion, I think it’s an insane way of thinking. I believe that you need to at least educate and allow birth control options for the woman. It is her body and you take away her identity in telling her that not only has she been stripped of her dignity by being raped but now she has been stripped of her rights to abort an unwanted child of an attack. I believe we have come a long way to backtrack. I realize that some of these statements are that of a blogger and may or may not be credible but there are similar statements made in the media form various other sources.Links: http://sadbastards.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/mccain-should-pick-sarah-palin-governor-of-alaska-for-vp/?referer=sphere_related_content/
My thoughts on Kafka - "Metamorphosis"
The story Metamorphosis, written by Frank Kafka, was a very interesting read. It first starts off as a man named Gregor who was pretty much all about taking care of his family’s needs. He worked many long hours and did not partake in self pleasures for himself. He provided everything his mother, father, and sister needed. His family became codependent on his support. Then one day he woke up to find that he had transformed into something else. From the descriptions in the story it sounds like some sort of roach or beetle. It was very hard for Gregor’s family to adjust with this transformation. They went through a wide range of emotions such as fear of Gregor and being ashamed of him to feeling sorry for him. It was almost like they did not know what to do with themselves because they had gotten used to the lifestyle Gregor had provided them. As time passed on, his family realized they had to make changes in order for themselves to survive because Gregor was not going to get any better. His family had to let their help go because they couldn’t pay for the services anymore. They also had to go and get jobs to bring money into the home since they no longer had Gregor’s income. At one point they had also made room in their home for three boarders to help offset some household expenses. By the end of the story, Gregor ended up passing away. It was due to an injury he acquired when his family got scared at the actual sight of him. His family, on the other hand, learned how to manage without Gregor and even though they weren’t as well off as when Gregor supported them, they were going to be just fine. When I read this story, I was a little confused at the ending about what it was really about. As I read on I thought the metamorphosis was all about Gregor’s transformation into this bug. Then I realized that the transformation was not really about Gregor but how his family had changed because of the problems they were facing with their situation. It all made sense then and I found this story to be very realistic with the twist of fiction, with the bug of course. It made it very entertaining.
Links: http://www.ershaw.com/Metamorphosis.html
Monday, November 17, 2008
Textspeak - are we losing ourselves with technology?
In reading the article Is textspeak sabotaging younger job seekers? written in the August 26, 2008 of the Virginian-Pilot, I found myself wondering if this is really true. Are we somehow losing ourselves as we advance? I never really thought that we have come so far in technology that we may actually be getting dumber. I do think that people are becoming lazy with all the advancements in technology. It has become too easy nowadays to do things without even having to get up off a chair. With that in mind, it seems that because of this we have lost our ability to show the proper respect that’s deserved. In this article it reflects on well educated people that just got their degrees in the field of their interest and go through the interview process just to mess it all up in a simple thank you note. It shows immaturity and questionable judgment on behalf of the applicant and is very inappropriate. I do agree with the lack of professionalism in sending a shorthanded email or worse yet, a text message. Some of those even include decorative symbols such as smiley faces. That is definitely the icing on top of the cake as if the shorthand wasn’t bad enough. If the thank you note is even needed at all then it should show the company, you are trying to seek employment with, your ability to correspond appropriately. After all, if you are hired, you will represent that company. Then again this is just my opinion but it seems that according to this article there are many companies that feel the same way. If I was in the hiring position, I would want to make sure that the person I had chosen for the position not only had the qualifications academically but also be able to carry themselves professionally.
Links: http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/mbc/lowres/mbcn737l.jpg
http://www.danscartoons.com/comp127_demo.gif
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