America

All throughout my childhood I always thought that Americans were good, honest, hardworking, and likable people. I also thought that everyone else thought the same way. as true as all these things are, there are however those outside the states who tend to disagree with this statement. I had the opportunity to live outside the United States for two years in a place called the Gillbert Islands. there were no Americans, except for me, and was mainly composed of Gilbertese, Australian, and New Zealand people. at first i felt that i was looked down upon and i couldn't figure out why. until i started being asked questions like, "What is it really like over there in the states?" or comments like, "You Yanks are hypocrits! you say you try to help other people, and you cant even keep your own country under control." I never knew how outsiders viewd our country. People think because of all the news that goes around, which is all bad, that Americans are just these terrible people.
at the first part of the essay I could relate well when it started off saying how America is looked down on. and how we pretty much stand on our own. which is true in many cases, however, I cannot say that all Americans are bad people. you'll find some of those everywhere you go. But what i liked the most is when the essay talked about us fighting and standing up for a cause. and when we are united with a cause we are untouchable. it states also that America has only lost one engagement, Vietnam. and it was because the troops didnt know exactly what they were fighting for. I feel that this is very true, and when we have a meaningfull cause we will prevail.

Extra Credit

I had the opportunity to attend the Crucible, which was a play put on at the college. This was the first college play I have ever been to, and wasn't quite sure what to expect. this play happened very up close and personal. The seating was "on stage seating" meaning we sat on the stage they were preforming on. We were so close that we could see the spit coming out of peoples mouths as the yelled at each other ( it was a very loud play according to me).
The story of the Crucible is of the Salem Witch trials. The daughter and nice of a preacher along with several other young girls were caught dance in the forest, and were accused of congering spirits. A couple of the girls were overcome by an unseen force which led the village to believe that there was witchcraft involved. however the girls denied it and lied through their teeth all because little Abigael Williams was infatuated with Jon Proctor.
the case grew and grew until there were other priests involved and the law. Innocent people were hung because of these lies that were told. The whole time I was just getting so frustrated because of the hasty judgments and unproven theories.
I left the play feeling weird and upset because of the way it all turned out and all the innocent people that died.

Slash!

I almost feel like I'm running out of punctuations to write about. however, i know that is not the case, because there are tons more that i am just not aware of. I was looking at my key board and saw the slash and decided it would be good to talk about the slash.
the slash is used to replace the hyphen or en dash to make a strong joint between words or phrases. and perhaps the most common is to replace the word "or"
for example, he/she, "the Hemingway/Faulkner generation", and also in many abbreviation's S/E,
O/O, EEB/CBA , R/C and in many others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_(punctuation)

Adverb clauses

I learned that an adverb clause needs to meet three requirements.

• It will contain a subject and a verb
• A subordinate conjunction (next weeks post ha ha) keeps the clause from expressing a complete thought
• And the clause answers one of these three adverb questions: How? When? or Why?
  

e.g. Tommy scrubbed the bathroom tile until his arms ached.
The how question is answered. until his arm ached.

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/adverbclause.htm

Apostrophes

The apostrophe has a ton of rules so I just chose a couple to talk and learn about tonight.

• We use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been removed.
  
• Use the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show singular possession.
• Show plural possession, make the noun plural first. then use the apostrophe
• and the only time an apostrophe is used for it's is when it is a contraction for it is or it has
• In plural possessive terms, place the apostrophe after the "s." This will indicate to the reader that more than one person or thing owns the thing possessed. e.g. The students' success was largely attributable to their hard work and dedication.

http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp

Argument mode

I feel quite strongly about my research topic, so i think i'm gonna take the argumentative approach.

If not or if i get into it and its not working out i think i would choose compare contrast.

Dashes

There have been very few times in my writing where I have used dashes. It might be time that I learned how to properly use them. I guess i'm not to far gone. we are supposed to use dashes sparingly. not more that a pair per paragraph. however there are many uses for dashes in our writing. Dashes for change of topic, dialogues, and summaries and additional information.
change in topic: use a dash when your topic changes in a sentence.
e.g. This is very important to me-are you listening?
To show dialogue: e.g. I-I-I don't know.
and for summaries or more info: Chris, Chloe, and I- we all were taken back.
I personally like the dialogue form. As I read it now I can see how it helps bring you in to the reading, and allow you to feel apart of something.

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/writing/dash