Bye Bye Bye

Wow, sixteen weeks later and i thought the day would never come. I am so relieved I got through this course and that my classmates did as well. When I was first introduced to the course and I saw all the work I did not know how far along I would last. i thought the recommended hours per week for this course was outrageous but I managed to spread the work out through the week and the 6 hours did not seem so bad then. The whole online environment intrigued me but did have me worried. I was able to overcome my fear and get through the course perfectly fine. I really enjoyed the fact that we had a whole day until 12am to turn assignments in and believe me I took full advantage of that (wink), it is something we do not get in face to face course. My biggest worry was the group project which turned out to be much less scarier. I was so worried how we (my group) could do a group project online but with Ms.Gross’s great organization skills everything worked out well. The blogs were a lot of fun because it did not feel much like an assignment, it felt like free writing to me most of the time and I absolutely love that. It was almost like another type of myspace or facebook, being able to read what people are feeling and their perspectives, I am a nosey person so I liked to read everyone’s post. I wanted to comment on everyone’s blogs but I thought I would be doing too much; fortunately my blogs were just as interesting because the feedback from my peers were always great.
It was very cool getting to bond with my classmates online and never seeing each other face to face. I can tell you that I have painted images in my head of all of my classmates and it would be so cool to see if any of them actually match what I thought they might look like. I appreciate all the help from my peers from the peer draft reviews to the blog comments and the homework help. It was great working together and I thank you all for your help, including Ms. Gross. Everything was done quickly ; responses and help were never delayed and always an email or post away. I hope to eventually run into a class mate from this course and meet them face to face, maybe it will be in the classroom again or maybe in a future job since we are all well on our way. Congratulations to all of us who stuck with this course, I know from Ms.Gross comments we have done a G-R-E-A-T job. To those of you who graduate on Friday night I’ll be there with you experiencing the memory and knowing we are the first graduates of the new stadium; to those who do not keep perusing it will be well worth it in the end.

Writitng papers have never been easy and in this scenario it has been even harder. In my English 103 course that is wrapping up this week I am required to write a comprehensive 6 page paper on education. I chose to write about the budget cuts and how they are effecting education in a negative way. Throughout my research I have found out many statistics that just should not be realistic but the sad truth is that it is. I remember all my years in school, we had many programs offered to us throughout and things started getting tense financially two years ago when I was in high school. It is unfortunate the students now have to deal with all the cuts and the sad news is that the students are eventually going to be required to write a six page paper just like me, but will never have the proper knowledge of how to.
Through out my paper I have really realized how much I struggle with the organization. I have so much to say, I just do not know how to express it correctly into the essay and I loose my patients. I see that I need help in areas were I was never addressed before. This is where I question though, why it was never addressed before. I know I have been making the same mistakes but why didn’t my high school teachers catch it earlier to save me the frustration later on. This is a point in my paper as well because with the budget cuts this is going to be an issue; students will not have the dedicated teachers they deserve. I see it for myself now, in my own two shoes how important proper education is, since I am struggling with things now that should have been taken care of years before.
Due to the research paper I have be become familiar with “help”. I have asked for direction from many people. I address different people because they all see different things. It has helped me to not be scared to ask for help, and I once before was to stubborn to ask for help. I have learned all the internet sources that help you with grammar and things of that nature. I have learned to take full advantage of every resource available to me as well such as smart thinking (I love them). They taught me were the appropriate spots for commas and colons are, because I used to struggle in that area also.
Over all the research paper has been an experience in its self although it is not my first and I know I will not be my last. I am slowly learning how to take guidance and assistance. I have been taught how to punctuate correctly and when I am getting to wordy. The research paper will definitely help me in the long run with all essays, and I will just have to continue to work on the things I have yet to learn from the research project.

Gosh Darn Research Paper

This time of the year is the time I look forward to; less than a month left of school and in no time we will be on summer break. In order for me to enjoy my summer break though I have to get a couple things done in the classroom. In particular I have this six page research paper due in MLA format, by the end of this week. I enjoy writing papers but when the requirements get past three pages I start to get worried. When I read the directions for this particular assignment it made me feel good because my professor was only requiring four pages of the six to be completed at first, she has since changed it to five. It gave me a chance to have people look over it and help me with fixing the things she may catch before the final thing is do. Big assignments such as this one are the only thing I do not like about this time of the year.
I am worried about this assignment only because it is such a large chunk of the grade. I went to her office today to speak to her about it because there was a miscommunication with the topic choice of the paper. She gave me a lot of insight on how to make my paper better and how to narrow it down. I tend to have a lot of ideas and throw them all into the paper and that ends up ruining the paper. I look forward to sending my paper into smart thinking tutors because they help a lot with any type of paper. When I read their feedback I can make my paper look much different, and I appreciate their help.
One of the requirements my professor has listed is to cite and use a scholarly journal in our research, I am not very fond of this. I wish we could pick and choose what sources and from where we use them. It makes things more difficult when you have to remember to incorporate everything the professor wants just to meet the minimum and your work will or will not bring the grade to its maximum. I will most defiantly include all the things in my paper because I am hoping to pass the course with an A or B and to do so I know what needs to be done.
So far I have 2 full pages completed and I need three more, I am a little nervous on what information to include but time will allow me to find the right information and prepare it for my research paper and pretty soon it will be at the necessary six pages. I have taken all assignments serious but I feel like this one is the do or die assignment. Since I feel like this assignment is so detrimental to my grade I will take it seriously and do my best to complete it and get the desired grade I hope for.

Online Communication Style

It has been said often that patience is a virtue; unfortunately I could never perfect my inability to remain patient. When I speak with people it irritates me when I know what they are going to say but they put so many unneeded words in between the important text that I begin to grow inpatient. I often want to cut them off and finish their statement for them. The same goes when I communicate online with friends and family, sometimes they put superfluous information that confuses me, not to mention I once again lose my patience waiting on a reply when it should only take a couple seconds, but since they want to elaborate it takes longer. I have learned from all this and keep all my lines of communication as short and sweet and they need to be. There is a time and place for everything, so depending on who I am talking to and what one is asking is how elaborate my response will be weather in person or through online communication. I like to keep things as short as possible but use descriptive words to help guide the person I am talking to, to my main idea or thought. I take my own advice into consideration, I figure if I put too much into what I am saying I will lose the person I am speaking with to confusion. It is often harder to lose someone to confusion during an online conversation with very detailed responses just because it is hard to tell what point of view you are coming from since they cannot hear a tone or feel your emotion. Grammar is another thing, if the grammar in a text in not proper it will also cause confusion. It is just best overall to keep things detailed enough for one to follow but not to thorough that they get lost in your text or speech.
When I chat or email with people online I do not think they think much of my ways of communication because it is something we all practically do the same. We tend to short hand things and abbreviate words that do not need to be abbreviated for instance “YOU” as “U” and “AND” and “N”. I think when I others and I do such a thing, it shows a sign of laziness and impatience, both in which I have no problem admitting too. I like to give fast responses as much as I like to receive them, the point is much more important to me then the unnecessary information that others tend to provide. Unfortunately when we speak we cannot short hand much, our best bet is just to eliminate the extras and get straight to the point, this shows impatience I am sure, however the majority of the time I am on full schedule and my time is limited. If someone asks me a yes or no question, more than likely it will be exactly one of those two answers and nothing more, not even a reason as to why, just to save time and get to the idea as soon as possible.
I am almost positive that I would impress more people in person and online if I elaborated a little bit more on things. It is too bad that I have this issue with patience and rush things that should be looked at and evaluated a lot more in depth than what I do. Although it comes in handy, I am motivated to work on this problem and elaborate much more on things

Expanding my knowledge

I have always felt confident in my ability to write and express myself. I did very well throughout all my school years up until I hit English 101 this past year. It definitely opened my eyes and made me realize the difference between high school and college English. I managed to barely get through English 101 and how blessed I am to have landed in our current course English 103. It has definitely been an experience in itself being challenged in such ways it caused major frustration and at points almost overwhelming. Now that we are three-fourths of the way there I am glad I hung in there. I have learned and expanded my ability to do things I never experienced or thought of doing. I still struggle with things here and there but continue to do the assignments and allow them to assist me.

All the writing assignments and multiple critical thinking work has allowed me to start to think about things a lot more. I have started to ask many more questions when faced with situations and realize how these questions that are assigned to the readings allow us to understand the passages a lot easier. These critical thinking questions have also assisted in the writing assignments that have been assigned. When I start to critically think I come up with more information for my paper and new conclusions. It has paid off immensely and will continue too as the course goes on.

As our English103 course starts to wind down I have seen 2 essays that literally made my stomach ache when I seen the instructions; I did not think I could complete the assignment. After I sat down for hours trying to figure out what to do, with some help from the smart thinking crew, compliments of avc.edu , I actually wrote a good paper. I do not feel like I am a pro at writing analysis papers now after that one, but I do feel confident and now know what I am actually supposed to do. The current synthesis essay we are working on is most likely going to have the same effect on me. The multiple drafts she allows helps me to get an understanding and improve my work every time.

I enjoy writing essays on more personal levels and opinions, however the assignments that Ms.Gross has assigned throughout the course has helped me to become comfortable writing other things. I am starting to see the value in writing assignments and all the work that has been assigned throughout my school years. I will use all the techniques and skills taught to us and all the skills gained to further any paper or assignment from here on out. My writing can only improve from here and I have slowly started my way through this course. Despite what difficulties I have run into along the way, I can see improvement in my writings and I am satisfied with that, I look forward to gaining more knowledge and being able to meet the criteria for that “A” paper.

Cartoon Worth 1000 Words.

According to Mort Gerberg “Cartoons are the most powerful, the pithiest form of communication, used everywhere and in many forms. In the above picture is a 994 unseen words; I use that phrase because we are used to the saying a picture is worth a thousand words and since there are 6 words in the photo I adjusted the 1000. Now back to my photo, the illustrator whom remains unknown sketched out a photo of a high school graduation with seven students, three women and four men. As I acknowledge that, it tells the viewer that more males are enrolled in high school than females and since the male is in the front of the line it allows us to believe males are usually at the top of the class. On the contrary there are more male drop outs in the photo that then females, that ratio is 2/1. This ratio gets us to believe that men have the whits but they lack the motivation to fully utilize their smarts. The fact that the men do not have feet or shoes in the drawing like the females do, is an observation I made that backed up my previous statement about how the males are not motivated on their own, they need a push or a leader to follow. On the other hand there is one woman to every two men that graduate. The women have shoes which illustrates that they make their own decisions and walk on their own two feet. The challenge is the same for both genders, it is the same work and teachers that they deal with but only the strong survive, and in this instance it is only the highly motivated. The illustrator uses creativity with their idea to eliminate but yet still include the drop outs in the photo by outlining them. The effect of the outline gives us the idea that they are there but not completely because they do not get the full sketch that the others did. The illustrator’s humor comes in the way he drew these cartoons up. The cartoons used look much older that high school students. I can easily confuse them for mothers and grandmothers, which leads me to the next conclusion drawn from this photo; more and more older people are going back to high school to get their G.E.D, also known as a diploma. This makes a valid conclusion due to the fact that the economy is so bad many people did go back to school to complete what they left behind.
The diploma in the right of the photo along with the gowns that the people are wearing and the noticeable sign that reads “High School Graduation” is what shows us the social function in which it was taking place. This add was most likely used in a high school newspaper or article that discussed dropout rates and men versus women in the education. The illustrator most likely put this in a school newpaper to open the eyes of the sometimes stubborn and ignorant high school students and get them to realize that the person sitting to the left and right of you just might not be graduating and if you are to the right or left of someone it may be you who is not graduating.

Freedom of Speech; Not so Free

Freedom of Speech; Not so Free
The first amendment has allowed Americans to believe in a sense of freedom that is not exactly there; Freedom of speech. Freedom of speech has never been free. I once read a passage by a man named Stanley Fish and he claims “The version of crying wolf is crying first amendment”, In the sense that, as Americans, we are lead to believe we can say what we want but the truth is we are limited. We suffer consequences left and right because we are unable to intentionally cause emotional distress upon others or be obscene in public. Society suffers plenty from the first amendment right, we all should be able to express our opinion in a respectful matter and not suffer any consequences.
Having to scream out first amendment rights after saying something someone questioning you on, is unnecessary, it is possible though in today’s day and age it may get you out of a hole. We all have grown up believing we could say whatever we would like, then the reality check came in once we said “shut up” at school and received demerits; that’s when we began to ponder what exactly is freedom of speech then. Truth is, we can say almost anything we would like, as long as we do not incorporate harmful or offending commentary in our speech. We cannot call this freedom of speech though; it should be rephrased to sheltered freedom of speech.
The First Amendment is an important idea and a good principle when it is being utilized in the way it is described and not tossed around with different exceptions here and there. It is hard to make any restrictions at all on speech due to the First Amendment being so broad. As a result of it being so extensive, boundaries are set and made without the deliberation of political groups. Freedom of speech is vital but it must have limitations like all other freedoms. These must be acted upon in the context of conflicts with other rights. If people have a right to life, then yelling “fire” in a crowed would violate their rights, this could not be fair to others and that is why there are exceptions, however, not all are reasonable.
The silencing and the government censorship process are an incompatible combination. In any efforts the government might make to shelter people young and old from bad ideas. We are deprived of the right to makeup our own minds and form opinions. We act with fear when writing and talking because we are in fear of being criticized, censored or punished for our work. It is unbelievable to me that a group of people can decide what is reasonable for a whole nation, especially when they can hardly handle their own problems. Since we begin to fear these things we begin to self censorship. Self censorship is when we bite our tongue or cut the sentence short before we go to far and touch on issues that raise eyebrows like sexual preference, race and religion.
In America we are known to live such free lives, however limitations are set on every form of freedom we have. Just like for every action there is a reaction and for every cause there is an effect. When we utter to much from our mouths we suffer the consequences. Things that are free do not come with consequences so there for freedom should not be anywhere near the word freedom of speech. Freedom of speech needs to either be redefined or made to be what it has been created to be.

Self-respect or Happiness

Respect seems to be all anyone wants anymore, after all it is all I ever hear about. I have also heard people talk about how they want happiness but depend on that happiness through other things then the internal happiness, like money and love. Now to have to pick and choose between self-respect and happiness and which one is most important in my life, I would have to go with happiness. For some this may be mind boggling but let me explain. I have seen people and I personally know someone who is so self-respected it damages everything else around him, I refer to it as his pride. Self-respect is a wonderful quality to have and I suggest we all have it, but in a day and age like today, were depression is sky rocketing, happiness is my preference. I used to be prideful just like the gentlemen I mentioned above but I realized it did not make me feel as good as being happy does. When we expect everyone to respect us, there are too many chances of someone crossing the line and we end up losing someone who once made us happy because we are so concerned with this respect issue. I have watched and been a victim of receiving happiness from love and money. I always found away around the quote “money can’t buy you happiness” because for me it did, when I bought new cloths I was happy, for an hour, and then I was not anymore. Do not get me wrong because money can buy you happiness while it is there, but when it is gone I guarantee you wont be happy anymore. Now I have learned to find my happiness in my blessings. I am happy that I was blessed with the talent to play basketball, I am happy that I live to see another day and the beautiful people that surround me, the less materialistic things. Now if I had self-respect and no happiness and I would fall straight into depression, because it would be as if I was pushing people away who want to be near as soon as they offend me.
Choosing between the two is like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, but the two different sides help to make a precise decision. Thankfully this is not a life or death choice and we can still go on with both. I still carry my self-respect but I never let it get in the way of something or someone that makes me happy. I allow myself to look past the less important things that may alter my emotions and I am fine with that, I wish others would too because some peoples pride (self-respect) is way to much for just them to carry, it can be split between a couple of people. At the end of the day I am proud to be happy and I believe that is most important.

Body Language

Looking away and scratching somewhere when it does not even itch, we all have done these nonverbal gestures that clearly show one is uncomfortable. I have many body and facial gestures that I make when I am upset, sad, happy, irritated and uncomfortable and even ones I do not realize I am making. They range to so many different things that I do. When I am mad I walk away from situations and people heavily, meaning I stomp hard and walk fast and when I am sad I feel as if I glide through the pathways in which I walk but no matter what mood I am in I always have my head held high. While I walk with my head high I know that it says I am full of pride and this is correct, this particular body language sometimes makes people think many other things rather than having pride. I have heard it all through middle and high school that I was conceited and I thought I was too good because the way I walked on a normal day. What I failed to realize when I was younger was the other things I did like my facial gestures that made people think this. I hear that I always looked mad and never smiled, but I never knew that and I was not doing it purposely because I am a very happy person. All together those gestures made me out to be a “conceited B****” to those who did not know me.
Now that I am older I realize other people’s body language and how I pick up on them myself. I catch myself doing little gestures my friends or family do like lifting my nostrils and forehead when I do not like something, it sounds funny but the look really does portray what I now call “the ugh face”. It is so unbelievable how much can be said by a facial gesture, I have got myself into a coupled situations because of the faces I made. One time my college coach was yelling at me and I gave him the ugh face and he made me go sit down. The facial and body gestures are a bit uncontrollable they just come like a natural reaction. I try my best when dealing with body language to not come off uncomfortable because I do not want to make others uncomfortable, so I try and use my confidence and pride to pull things together when I can tell from someone else’s body language. Being able to read body language also helps to be able to control your own. I used to see a girl slouch in her chair and it always bugged me, I noticed that it showed little interest towards what was going on and I always made sure I never slouched in my seat weather I was in class or a meeting, because it gives off negativity.
Although eye contact is still a bit difficult for me to make with people I try my best do to it despite being uncomfortable. It is even more uncomfortable when people know you are uncomfortable and I do not want this to happen to me. I still walk with my head up because that is who I am, I smile to random people now and occasionally make my ugh face. My confidence and strong mind still get confused for being conceited but I am able to look past it. I try harder now to control my body language and always hope it comes off positive and not intimidating.

Conversation Obstacles

I have noticed while growing up I have always bonded easier with girls. I have had 5 best friends in my life time and all have been the same sex as me. Now do not get me wrong, I have had boy friends that I say hi and bye to but have never told a boy my secrets or been close enough or comfortable to have a deep conversation with. Even today it is much easier for me to approach a girl and start a conversation. A woman to women talk has much more things to discuss because women have a lot of things in common. Now if a women and a man held a conversation the topics are limited because the man may not know what topic will offend the women and quite frankly not all women are into cars and sports so how much they talk about and how easily it is communicated is limited. I tend to feel uncomfortable while talking to men, in no way do I mean insecure. When I try to strike up a conversation with a male I always feel like they are trying to hit on me or they think I am trying to hit on them. The feeling really is unfortunate because it has cost me a lot of friendships and opportunities because I shut a lot of people out of my life due to this issue. On another note females are not approachable but are very conversational and understand things. The majority of women talk about their issues and care to comfort those who are having issues too, thus Is why mothers and daughters are able to hold conversation easier than a father might to his son. Men are also known to be egotistic and full of pride, a father expects more from his son than anyone else and in many situations a son may not feel up to his father’s expectations. It is also harder for a son and father to hold a conversation due to the fact that men do not like to express emotion in most cases, so a man’s son may not feel like his father would be interested in his feelings and this causes barrier. Men like to talk about the more materialistic things rather than emotion and issues. I am a daughter of one man and a step-daughter of another; I have never gone to either one of my father’s with a problem I was having and I have never heard them speak of a problem themselves, it has always been my mom. I have even tried to whisper things to my mom just because I feel like my dad just does not understand the things and feelings we girls feel. I know a man’s relationship with his daughter is different than a relationship with his son but in my opinion men are just overall hard to communicate to and in my situation is even harder because I have this wall up anyway that makes conversation with the opposite sex awkward.

Foreign Language is a choice

In high school we are required to take two years of a foreign language and in high school we were limited to one choice and that was espanol (Spanish). I have yet to hear of any schools that offer any other form of foreign language besides the Spanish classes. I had to take two years of Spanish to graduate and quit honestly I still have not mastered the language. It was a pain in the butt as well because I rather of taken a different elective that I was interested in rather then forced to take the course. I believe that colleges and universities should not make it mandatory to have foreign language experience to get in or to graduate because the classes would not do much if the student is not interested in the subject to begin with. There are many individuals that roam our world that are bilingual or can even speak three languages, why must we need anymore? The foreign language classes should be exactly what they are labeled as and that is electives. According to my counselors electives were a group of classes you got to choose from as a kind of a leisure activity, and studying Spanish was not fun to any of my classmates or me. Students should be able to choose extra classes that they are interested in. Spanish is not a core class and most people who take it forget it in a year. if they are interested in it then let them take the class voluntarily! In another aspect foreign language is not something as individuals we need to survive in the world. Of course it is very nice when we receive incentives for being bilingual at jobs and such but there is no real need to be fluent in more than one language. Learning a foreign language is beneficial but it is not so crucial that the state must demand it be taught to students who would like to attend college. I know there have been discussions about adopting English as our language here in The United States of America, and if this is as serious as they make it out to be then there really is no need to learn or have background familiarities with another language because it would not do a single thing. They are discouraging any other form of language to be successful but yet demand and require we learn more about it. The poor children in schools have enough on their plate since English is required. How can we learn two different languages at one time, this even gets interesting because the two languages can get mixed up and make things harder than they should. Despite that there are plenty of youth who are already struggling with our language, the language they are familiar with and then the high schools throw another difficult course at them, it is no wonder the dropout rate is so ridiculous; we are overwhelmed sometimes. These foreign language courses should just be available and let the students pick and chose them as they please, after all if English is going to be our dominate language we should not be required to know about another

Favorable judgment Vs. Unfavorable

My Favorable Judgement: I remember back when I begged for my Ugg boots. It took me a year to realize that Ugg boots were not just an ordinary pair of fluffy boots and another year to actually get my boyfriend to buy them for me. The original Ugg boot was made of Australian sheepskin and they are incredibly warm, and soft. They fit a little larger so you feet have room to move around in. Ugg boots are very sturdy; they are heavy and stand out in a stylish way. These boots have become a major hit with celebrities and trendsetters alike over the past couple of years. These boots can be worn with anything; amazingly they even look great with my basketball uniform. The come in four prominent colors which are black, chocolate brown, tan and chestnut. They sell for a very nice price of 164 dollars after taxes and all. The price is nothing to complain about once you see the quality of the boot. You almost feel left out if you do not own a pair of Ugg boots because so many people have them; be careful though you do not get bamboozled by the fake Ugg boots, you know the ones that look pretty much the same but do not say Ugg on the back of the boot and are made of anything but Australian sheep skin. The” want to be” Uggs are sold almost anywhere but the true Uggs are only sold in certain shoe stores that reside in major malls. I feel in love with these boots when I saw them and fall in love every time I put them on my feet.


My Unfavorable Judgement:I had to beg for a pair of Ugg boots before I got them, I suppose it was because they cost so much; 164 dollars and some change was the price on those things. I could buy sixteen pairs of the lookalike ones that sell at the Los Angeles fashion district for ten dollars a pop. They look exactly the same, not to mention some even look better and come in a variety of colors; I am not just limited to four. Also I can travel to a local store to purchase the non-name brand boot rather than driving across the city to get to a store that sells them. The original Ugg boots have so much fur inside that it expands the boot and makes your foot look larger than it should, not to mention although it is made of Australian sheep skin the boot cannot withstand rain and liquid without a noticeable change to the texture of the boot. The boot is so heavy and because they fit a bit big it is hard for them to stay on your feet and it feels like you are walking with weights. These boots Ugg or not are so popular, everyone has them, in a world where everyone claims to be different why are we spending 164 dollars to all be the same. People think the boot looks good with anything, it is pathetic you see girls wondering around with dresses and Ugg boots on at the same time. It is either winter or summer not both at once.

Letter to The Editor

To The Editor: 5-19-1963

I am a resident of location I would prefer to keep discreet, however I live were racial issues have been the talk of the town lately. As a Caucasian woman it is odd and beyond dangerous for me to even be speaking out like this, since I am fed up with the racial issues I believed it would be best to try and start something new. Just last week I heard an amazing speech by a very motivated young man who has been trying to get some justice for all in this country of ours. This same speech I came across in your New York Post Sunday Magazine today. I must admit the excitement that flowed through my veins once I came across it. I was worried the day he delivered it was the last time I would hear or see it. I thank you for including it in your Posts this week. The speech was Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He could not have delivered his speech more effectively than he did and nor at a better time. The unfortunate circumstances in which we currently face leave our society in such a way no one should ever have to live. These white men who rather continue to live in hate are demolishing any hopes of a civilized nation. Martin Luther King explains every one of his concepts in depth and provides very adequate arguments towards his fellow clergy. He attacked every doubt they had in such assertive ways I do not see how they can rebel with a comeback.
As I recall MLK provided a very touching example in this letter.
King stated : When you finally find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told Fun Town is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky , and see he begin to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness towards white people.”
With this statement by him it showed so much and put a family perspective on things. Children who do not understand what is going on are forming opinions on matters they do not know about. As he says he stumbled upon words to explain to her makes me acknowledge how courageous he is to attack these grown men and their racist ways but is so over taken by the thought of making his little girl sad. Martin Luther King is such a spirited man. His speeches never imply violence nor does he. He is all about peace and this is what I admire about this man. His goal will one day come true; I mean after all we cannot continue to live these ways. I yearn for the day I can speak to a mother of a black child and have her explain to me how she ever told her child they were unable to be somewhere or do something because of their skin color, it would break my heart to see my child so confused as to why she could not go to that amusement park but fortunately I am on the good side right now, and I do not have to worry about that.
Once again I thank you for the reposting of his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. I hope my reply will allow him to see he has at least one white person on his side for the abolishment of racism. I hope to hear more from this young man and see his words turn this world around, and I would hope you will provide all of us with a copy of his next movement.


Thank you and much respect
Anonymous

prompt #1

As illiteracy continues to erupt through out America many new individuals become victims of the epidemic. There are those of us like myself though that take or have taken the blessing of literacy for granted. I assumed it was something everyone was given and that everything I understood with ease so did everyone else, and what I struggled with were the same things others struggled with. Once I snapped out of my selfish world and into reality is when I began to notice the unfortunate epidemic.
In this beautiful life of mine I am very involved with people and activities. It recently came to me that my ability to read and write ables me tremendously to be able to do the things I love with ease. I enjoy shopping, playing basketball, reading gossip, and much more. My ability to read and write is somewhat what allows me to be able to participate in these activities. As we read and writes it expands our vocabulary and we become more knowledgeable.
As I previously mentioned reading gossip is a favorite pass time of mine. I actually would not narrow it down to just gossip since I enjoy reading the newspaper as well; especially the day after my team and I win a game. I read magazines to keep up with latest styles, new make-up, and of course what the starts are saying. If I was not able to read about this stuff I do not suppose it would be harmful to me, but it is just the fact that I enjoy it and I could not imagine sitting there starring at all the pictures wishing I knew what the text read. The same goes for the newspaper only one minor difference. When I read the articles about my team and I and see my quotes included in that article, I become filled with pride, joy and confidence. It’s a great feeling to know you were apart of that success story and everyone who bought a newspaper that day was reading about you. If I was not blessed with the skills to read those articles I most likely would never feel those emotions.
As an individual I am very self conscious, if I were to be illiterate it would destroy all confidence within me. I love being confident and able to go anywhere I want when I want. If I was illiterate I could not travel because of road signs or the inability to read a map. It bothers me when I come across one unfamiliar word and I struggle with it, I could not handle every word in a sentence giving me a hard time. My drive for success would be demolished and I would eventually give up. This is what is nerve racking to me because as more people become illiterate the more our society is jeopardized because their drive for success doesn’t match the same drive as a literate person. Illiteracy is a very unfortunate up hill battle. I am so fortunate and grateful to have the ability to read and write.

Oh Boy, Thinking Critically

When I think about what critically thinking means, for some odd reason I picture a girl sitting at her desk in class pulling her hair out because she is thinking so hard and nothing is coming to mind, well maybe I am picturing myself, cause thinking out side of the box for me is harder than it should be. Now when I come across the definition of critical thinking I begin to realize that it consist of many different things. Critical thinking relies on reason rather than emotion and requires us to think beyond what is given and come up with the unknown. I am very good at this I suppose in life outside of English; when dealing with clues I am given and making my own opinion or judgment with them. I would not say I do it all the time; I just do it sometimes when I feel there is something I should know. Now when I get into readings and such things my mind tends to think one thousand things and stresses me out, it leaves me unable to come up with anything, sometimes I even think my own opinion is wrong. As far as analyzing goes I do not do that often either. In my English 101 course this past semester I was just introduced to it. I analyzed our Language Awareness book and also Marius, I did it every week but as far as media and politics go I don’t really care to much for all of that to pay any attention to it all though I should. I do have interactions with other people who do break everything down and look at people and situations from every angle. I may analyze my friends or people I know to try and see what they are about but other than that I have no prior knowledge to doing so. Even though I am not fond of critically thinking or analyzing I have no other choice but to get used to it and fully understand it. My career path is corrections and in many situations I am going to have to take the whole scene and break it down into many different parts and take criminals and figure out why they do the things they do. I believe I psyche myself out most of the time. It seems like it may be easy for me to analyze a crime scene rather than a novel but it is just because I am much more interested in corrections and not so much in novels. I am hoping when June roles around I will be able to analyze anything or anyone that is thrown in front of me. I do not want one thousand things running through my mind when I hear analyze or think critically. I believe this class will help me to be much more aware of the things going on around me, since I will be able to look deeper than what the eye can see and I won’t be such a lost soul anymore.