Occupy the Classroom Op-ed

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/opinion/occupy-the-classroom.html?src=mv&ref=general

This persuasive op-ed piece is about the gap between the rich and the poor. In this article, Nicholas D. Kristof looks at how early education affects a person and often times decides whether or not he or she will be rich or poor. He suggests that even before kindergarten there starts to be a gap in performance between the rich and poor.

It was a pretty persuasive piece because it provided facts and quotes that could provide an understanding of the importance of early education. He touched on important ideas like success, inequality, and money. Everything was believable and came off as very logical as well. I thought that it was very persuasive because it informed and persuaded in a way that wasn't condescending at all.

I liked the sprinkles of facts and quotes because they made the point he was making very believable. Also, the way he wrote the article and his sentences were easy to understand and worded in a way that kept me reading.

Deaffff vs hearingggg

I thought the documentary Sound and Fury was really interesting. I think it's gotta be hard for parents to make the decision on whether or not to have their child get the cochlear implant to allow for them to be able to hear. Especially when the culture of deaf people is being thought about.

I think that if I had a deaf child, or any child, I would want them to have the best opportunities that they could have. That would mean that I would definitely consider and most likely follow through with the decision to get them the cochlear implant. I understand why deaf people are extremely hesitant. They don't want their culture to disappear; they don't want deaf people to become robots. But...I can't help but think that the best opportunities would be for a child who can hear. Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but I think it is.

Communication is a huge part of life. Yes, there is sign language, but the majority of people rely on voice or verbal ways of talking. I don't think that that makes deaf people stupid or anything like that. It just means that they often times don't get to move as far in life as if they had been hearing (I don't like it, but I think it's true).

The thing I didn't like about Heather's dad's argument was that it wasn't very strong. He kept talking about culture, and I completely understood what he was trying to say. But then he would bring up these points about his life. Like how he probably won't be able to move much further up in his job, and that being deaf does make things complicated. Thinking about the things that he said like those and the comments from his mom (she hated seeing what he went through as a deaf child), I just don't understand. It was like he was saying that he had a lot to go through and that it's tough, but his daughter should just do it that way too because it is possible to live. Why not just make things easier and allow for more opportunities?

I also don't really agree with the parents decision to move to the deaf community that would understand them more. I get why they thought to do it, but I almost think that they are fencing Heather in. What is she going to do when she travels or moves away?

I can think of one thing that might hold me back, but something tells me that I wouldn't have to worry much about it because of the technology and advancements today. I just wonder how safe the procedure to get the implant is.

Overall it is the parents decision, and I they are going to choose what they choose. We can't really change that, but I think if I was deciding, I would let my child have the opportunity to hear.

spiders :(

I am not a fan of spiders...they are scary! I guess I'm not always afraid. It's when I don't expect them to be where they are, and they start crawling all over the place, and I can't keep track of where they are. I especially don't like when they are in my room, on me (!!!!), or on my stuff. It freaks me out!!

I went camping this summer and there were spiders everywhere! I had them climbing on my sleeping bag, tent, leg, everywhere! One time I swear there was one on my face...

I used to think that spiders were okay...but now...not so much. Thank goodness for my family members that aren't afraid to kill spiders or take them outside! :)

Songggggg

I guess the song that I am choosing may not work for everybody, but for me it seems right. Where Corn Don't Grow by Travis Tritt is a pretty good song about how one young man who grew up on a farm thought that living in the city would be better and not have as many hard times. When he asks his dad, "Daddy, there's a lot that I don't know, but don't you ever dream about a life where corn don't grow?" His dad goes on to answer about how things may seem slow, but that "hard times are real." He explains to him, and the son later finds out, that there are "dusty fields" and "weeds" "no matter where you go."

I don't live on a farm, but I think that this song can speak to pretty much anyone. There are a lot of times when I expect that a certain place or situation would be better for me, and I often find out that there are almost always problems or hard times that I need to deal with. Sometimes it's easier to look at where you are and think that something else would be better and easier. The truth is though...the grass isn't always greener on the other side. And I think that a lot of people these days are looking at the other side (whatever that side is..in pretty any situation) wishing they were there, when in reality it may not be as pretty as they hoped.

I write....with words...

Supplies needed: a pen, paper (notebook!! :) ), chair, table. (chair and table optional)

I guess for me, I don't really care where I'm writing. I like to be comfortable. A lot of pillows and a blanket are useful. Most of the time I just pick a spot and start writing. I don't really have a way that I do it...normally. I just write. For some reason, when I actually write out stuff on paper, it seems to be better than when I type it first. I would say that it's probably because I can think more, and I don't get rid of sentences and things as quickly that are actually decent. Sometimes I notice that the words just flow easily, and sometimes I have a hard time putting a sentence together. Usually I try to fix that by drinking some water or taking a quick nap.

I don't really know what else to say about how I write. A lot of times in papers, I don't worry about my introduction until the end when I'm doing my conclusion. That usually seems to help me by letting me worry about the body first, and then I can get a nice intro. I like to write most of the time, but when it's for homework...I don't think it's as fun. But! I'm sure I will enjoy writing in this class!!

Inaugural Speech Words....observations

It was interesting to see the words that have been used most commonly. There were a lot of similarities among the presidents for their inaugural words. I noticed that "government," "nation," "people," and "America" were words that showed up a lot. It makes sense because those are words that--I guess you could say--would be difficult to not use. I was kind of surprised that war didn't show up for more of the presidents, but I noticed that they tended to stay more on the positive side by using words like "peace" and "freedom." Most likely those are the words that the people would like to hear.

It's kind of cool to see how those types of words are connected to the presidents. Just by looking at the most used words that any of the presidents used, one might be able to make an observation on what was going on during the time period. Also, it's neat to see how there were certain things that were focused on as the years went by. George Washington obviously focused on uniting and coming together; where as, Barack Obama had words having to do with jobs and work.

Oh man...

Mary Wollstonecraft's essay was definitely a big one. The minute I started to read it, I realized it would be a long, confusing read. I wouldn't say that it was necesarily bad...it was just really long...longer than it needed to be. I thought she brought forth a lot of really good points to show how women are viewed and how there isn't equality and everything else she pointed out. Most the time I was confused. I could tell her points were good somehow...but I didn't really understand them.

Her vocabulary was really...interesting. There were a lot of words that I didn't understand. I guess you could say that's what really confused me a lot. I tried to look up most of the words, but there were just too many of them. Maybe during her time Wollstonecraft's language was understood, but for this time...I was just confused.

Even though I was confused most of the time, there were definitely some points, sentences, and arguments that really stuck out to me and interested me. A huge point she seemed to make was that women are expected to be a source of entertainment, amusement, and pleasure. "She was created to be the toy of man, his rattle, and it must jingle in his ears whenever, dismissing reason, he chooses to be amused." That sentence showed exactly what Mary was trying to point out. Another sentence, "Rousseau declares that woman should never, for a moment, feel herself independent, that she should be overned by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made a coquetish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of desire, a sweeter companion to man, whenever he chooses to relax himself." I didn't like the idea that women can't be independent, or that women are basically there for an object of desire.

Wollstonecraft did a pretty good job of putting out examples and reasons to support her views. I think she was confusing. The essay could have been easier to understand and more to the point. I can't say I really enjoyed reading the 19 pages, but I am willing to say that it intrigued me enough.

The Secrets of the FBI

For my nonfiction book, I read The Secrets of the FBI by Ronald Kessler. When I started the book I was expecting to enjoy it because…who doesn’t like secrets? The book was interesting and very well written. There was huge variety of secrets included. Each was explained thoroughly and in a way that can leave almost anyone in surprise.

Some examples of secrets explained were really interesting to me. The book talks about what really happned in the uncovering of agent Rober Hanssn, who was a spy. It's not what was portrayed in the movie, Breach. There are also tricks and ways the FBI use to plant bugs into the homes and offices of some of the most dangerous and intelligen Mafia figures, spies, and terrorists. A more recent secret includes the mismatching of Osama bin Laden's fingerprints after his death.

One thing I especially liked about the book was that it wasn't just a random gathering of facts and secrets of the FBI. Kessler was able to start wiht fun, amusing, and interesting stories about the FBI planting bugs in homes and offices and end with a fact-filled story about the death of Osama bin Laden. Every chapter was connected by certain ideas to almost make it a little story of how the FBI has advanced. The book was pretty much in order of time. It was clear how certain directors of the FBI helped and/or hurt the FBI. Each chapter keeps the reader understanding how the FBI has changed how it works over the years. Even that was especially interesting to read.

Ronald Kessler impressed me in his way that he kept the pages turning. His writing style was very easy to follow, and his word choice had enough spice to keep from boring me. I can honestly say that my response to the book is that nothing needs to be changed. I enjoyed it very much.

Google!!

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"...the title of Nicholas Carr's article about the internet's affects to our brains seemed pretty self-explanatory of what the paper was going to be about. He went on for seven pages to talk about how the internet is affecting how we read, think, learn, work, etc. He was able to go back through time to basically every advancement in writing and reading. All of them showed similarities in the ways that they changed the human's way of thinking. The examples were like...evidence to the point Carr was trying to make. His basic idea was that the internet and it's search engines have made reading completely different and more difficult. Now we have changed to skimming and hopping around. I personally think he has a good point...but at the same time, I like the easy and quick access to information I need.

There were a couple things that bothered me about the way that he wrote the piece. There were times when I didn't understand why he included what he did. Maybe I was just having a hard time finding a reason to actually understand the first paragraph, but to me it didn't have a point. "Dave, stop, will you? Will you stop, Dave?..." I thought it was a terrible introduction.

I guess that might be kind of picky to criticize for the paper, because it was a good overall paper. There were a lot of things that I liked and a lot of things that I agreed with. I thought that Carr did a great job of putting out an example from years ago and then nicely connecting it to how the internet has changed things as well. One example would be the "like clock work" and "like computers" part in the paper. These allowed me to have a lot of great realizations as I read the piece.

I also thought he did a great job of including important and useful supporting details for the points he was making. I agreed with pretty much everything that he said. The article was a lot better, in my opinion, than the skunk one because it actually made sense to me and was a lot easier to read.

Skunks....and Dreams...

I don't really know if I actually understand "Skunk Dreams" at all, but I do know that I understand more now that I have finished the whole story (which...I guess is really obvious). At first I had no idea where it was going. She started out talking about this incident where a skunk fell asleep on her. With that, though, she was able to move to dreams. In a way, dreams moved the rest of the story along. Through her dream about a fence with wilderness beyond it, she realized that she desired wilderness.

It was with this idea of desire that she could bring up the point that when people desire things, it is required that there is an obstacle. In her case, her obstacle was the fence that she had to get past. Near the end of the story, she gets past that obstacle and gets to see all kinds of animals. It is then that she puts together the thought that animals are put there to die. They have the one pleasure to live. Then finally Erdrich made a complete circle back to the skunk by talking about how she would choose to be a skunk out of all the animals in the world.

I'm not really sure if I liked the story or not. To me it seemed all over the place, but at the same time it was pulled together nicely (I know...that probably doesn't make sense...). Even the two-word title summarized it in a unique, but correct way. Skunks and dreams were what it was all about. Another thing that I liked about the story was how it did start with the skunk story and end with a statement about skunks. I thought that made the story make a little more sense.

Louise Erdrich also succeeded in using a really great word choice. The verbs and adjectives were an awesome addition to the story. "The unkillable and fiercely contorted trees of old orchards, those revenants, spooked me when I walked in the woods. The blasted limbs spread a white lace cold as fire in the spring, and the odor of the blossoms was furiously spectral, sweet." This is an example of how Erdrich used creative verbs and adjectives to help her with the story. I would go as far to say that even though I didn't completely understand what the point of the story was, I enjoyed how it was written and some of the different points made.

The Different Views of an American Tragedy

Updike and Sontag both seemed to show unique and intriguing viewpoints of the attack on the World Trade Center. Updike focused more on being a witness of the event. He explained what he saw in a way that really captured what one would be thinking if they saw such a tragic occurrence. On the other side, there is Sontag. She criticized the government of the United States of America and how they are handling the situation. Sontag tried to make an understanding of why the attack happened.

Updike's view made more sense to me. I liked it better in the way that it showed how America could move forward and push through setbacks that it might run into. It was a positive view after all of the problems that had presented themselves. He made the decision to share his story and his experience rather than dwell on who was at fault and the reasons for the attack. As I read this piece, I guess I felt a little more relaxed.

On the other hand, Sontag had some good points, but she was way too negative. She decided to focus too much on what everyone was doing wrong rather than what people were doing right. At a time like this, it seems like the country should have been trying to stick together more. She did a great job of wording things in a way to allow anyone to understand, and she was smart for trying to look at all sides, but she could have been a little more positive and relaxed.

My Life...

Hey there!

There is probably a lot that I could write about myself to introduce me. I guess the best place to start is with the fact that...I really really really love soccer and music. I've been playing soccer forever, so I guess that kind of makes sense. For music, I've stayed more in the country section of the whole thing, but I love all kinds of music. Listening to music for me is best when it's loud. I guess in that sense I feel bad for Ali because her bedroom is next to mine. She gets to live with my music usually being loud.

I also love guitar. I'm not that great at it, and I don't know much about it. At the same time, I love playing it, and it is definitely my favorite thing to hear in a song. I think it might be a little strange (I don't really know), but I really love acoustic guitar over electric guitar. A while back I thought about learning how to play steel guitar, but I guess I gave up on that idea.

Then there is my boyfriend Ryan Michaelis. He is very important to me, and I can't wait to spend a lot of time with him this summer. We have been going out for about three and a half months! I'm looking forward to a lot more with him too :)

On a smaller aspect of interests...I really like Oreos, pillows, Sharpies, and Mountain Dew. I suppose there are a lot of other things that I like or am interested in, but that pretty sums me up.

I don't really know where I'm going to go in my life. I guess I'm good with the idea of going to college. I will probably go for business, but I have no idea what I'm going to do with that. I've thought of a lot of ideas of cool things that I would like to do with my life, but most of the time I end up realizing reasons why I shouldn't do it. I think my biggest problem is going to be making a final decision on what to do.

Oh...and I have a twin, as probably all of you know. I'd just like to put it out there that her url for her blog is incorrect. I am most definitely the cooler twin :P