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

media and advertising

I cant exactly say that I enjoyed reading these last two articles, in fact the second one I kinda just breezed through and got the main jist of it. however, I do agree that society is taking a downward spiral and desensitizing people in general. It seems that women are being portrayed more sexually than anything else in advertisements. It is a shame that people have to create and think up these ads, but it is, in all reality, a personal decision to take part in one of these forms of entertainment or ads. I dont think the blame should be placed on one party, but it shouldn't all be placed on the mans shoulders. a model or female who chooses to take part in something like that, I feel, is pretty much doing it to herself. no one is forcing anyone but it is obioulsly influencing tons of people around the world. I just didnt like how in the article seemed to be so much leaning towards the inocence of the ladies and so negative towards the men.
all in all, I realy feel that it boils down to a money matter. the mighty dollar is just that, mighty. it can persuade people to do and see things they wouldnt normally or naturally do. its a shame, but unfortunatelly thats the way it seems.

My 20 questions

1. How does the media react towards gun control?
2. How does the media affect gun control?
3. Do violent video games affect behavior?
4. Does the media affect self esteem?
5. Does the media influence eating disorders?
6. Does the media affect hunting regulations?
7. Does the media affect hunting in general?
8. How does television add to obesity?
9. How does television promote health?
10. How does television affect education?
11. How do video games affect education?
12. Do video games affect social life?
13. Does media influence drug use?
14. Do people adopt abusive behavior viewed in movies and T.V.?
15. How does media affect personal debt?
16. How does media strengthen families?
17. How does media weaken families?
18. how does media promote service?
19. How much time do people spend viewing media? its affects.
20. How are media violence and actual crime related?

Serving in Florida

This essay by Barbara Ehrenreich on Serving in Florida, was a very well written paper. I guess that's why it is in our 2010 English book though aye! it starts off rather interesting, I thought. I was trying to figure out where it was going at first, but then it all tied together quite nicely.
I feel that, when in the introduction it states, "If you are considering dropping out of college and settling into a comfy minimum-wage job (or two) please read this excerpt first.." It is obviously trying to get a point across that it is not even close to worth it. Most of us can relate to these types of jobs. when I say these types of jobs I mean the ones where you do mundane tasks and get paid minimum wage, there is not hardly a chance in this life for advancement, and you dread going there because all of the drama and crap that goes on.
It was interesting to read Barbara's points of view and her story of work. As I was reading I kept thinking that spending money and struggling through school for a few years with an end occupational goal in mind, is far more worth it than settling for a minimum wage job. As she continued she talked about the living conditions. when you make minimum wage you pretty much have to have two jobs to make the bare minimum payments of life. she talked about the trailer park and how that's upper class for someone who makes minimum wage. not that there is anything wrong with that, but if you just hang in there with school you can make a ton more money as well has choose the field you want to go into so that you can be happy at work. rather than being told what to do all the time and deal with all the drama like with her slovakian friend. it is just obvious to see, and very well pointed out in this essay, that it is far more worth while to stay in school and and plan for the future rather than take the seemingly easy way out now, because most of the time the easy way now dosent amount to much later on.

clauses

Independent and dependent clauses are basic grammar rules, but I thought they would be nice to review since I haven't studied them for a few years.

Independent clauses is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. It is a complete sentence.
Dependent clauses contain subjects and verbs, but do not express a complete thought. it is not a sentence. most of the time a dependent clause is marked by a dependent marker word. some examples of these marker words are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, and whenever.
even though this is a fairly elementary level grammar rule; it was nice to review and learn more.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_clause.html#definitions

Money!

I have never really been into the whole poetry thing, but reading these poems was rather interesting to me. i liked the first one the most. It talked a lot about how it burns holes through peoples pockets. how true is that. for most people, as soon as they get a little money they go buy something. they find it extremely hard to save. they think, "i have it, why not spend it?" I like how the author indicates both the problems of money as well as the importants of money. She states, "feathers a nest, holds a head above water" people feel secure when they have money. It keeps a smile on their faces and gives a sense of happiness.
In politics, with all the "whopla" that's going on about the economy, money is number one. To our world money is everything. if you dont have it, good luck. I recently read an artical in the Spectrum about how our country is so far in debt that we will most likily never get out from under it. But yet people continue to spend massive amounts of money on "just stuff." as i was looking at the art gallery I couldnt help but notice how expensive these works were. I mean I am not trying to say anything bad about art, but fifteen thousand dollars for wall haning? dang!
So politics impacting art, I think it can both in a positive way by by polotitisions buying fancy art and setting a standard for other people, and in a negative way by taking money from people to bail out companies and soforth so that people dont exactly have the money to go buy things they want.

Transitions

I have really been finding out lately how important transitions are when writing papers.
I felt that with the upcoming assignment we have, it would be a benefit to better understand transitions. I am finding that there are many different uses for transitions than I thought. there are transitions to show comparison, contrast, time, limit or prepare, cause, effect, and conclusion. Holly cow! transitions for all these? I don't know if I can do it. However, as i've read examples they are worth there weight in gold to the English field and should be to all of us. words such as: To repeat, in fact, to put it another way, similarly, like, likewise, nevertheless, unlike, rather than, before, mean while, following, to illustrate, for instance, consequently, and for that reason. are all examples of transition words that I hope to intergrate into my personal writing for this class.

http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/writing/transitions.html

parentheses

Parentheses are punctuation that I seldom use. I guess I just haven't seen its uses or found ways around using them cause I haven't known how. ha ha
You use parentheses to set off words, phrases, or sentences which are used by way of explanation, transition, or comment. which are independent constructions.
for example, Swen wanted a lifted vehicle (Jeep).
Another thing that I noticed is that the final punctuation is after the last parentheses.

http://www.tedmontgomery.com/punctuation/prnthses-b.html

6th grade

As I approached the 6th grade, I had the same rotten attitude as I did in the past five years. I hated going to school. I would have much rather stayed home and shot my BB gun! I grew up on a farm and had tons of space to just be out doing things like building huts, shooting my gun, and riding a four-wheeler. some days my mum would actually have to take me right up to the doors as I kicked and screamed. I am quite embarrassed about how I acted, but that's really what I felt like. I just didn't do well in school, and I felt dumb around the other kids a lot of the time. Spelling and English were, and still are, by far my worse subjects. I would always do terrible on my tests and because we graded each others tests, people would see what I got. I got teased a bit and that kinda sucked. I cant say my dislike for school was just because of that, but it played a role.
In the sixth grade my teacher was Mrs Shaw. I remember her being the nicest lady ever, but when I heard her say, "get out a piece of paper. We are going to have a spelling test first thing." I quickly remembered the past and got a bad taste in my mouth, if you will. I was stressing through the whole test and knew that I wasn't going to do very well. I was waiting for her to say "pass them to the person on your left to grade them." but she never did. She came around and picked each one of them up personally. She then stated that this was just for here to see where everyone was in the class so she would know how to teach. I quickly felt a relief come over me. Mrs. Shaw was so good to all of us in the class and worked extra hard to make sure everyone was learning. What I liked about it is that she kept it confidential. No one picked on anyone else because we only knew how WE were doing and no one else. As she taught us I found myself liking school and enjoying going. I mean I didn't love it but I liked it.
Mrs. Shaw gave me a better understanding of what school was all about and helped me prepare for my future classes in middle and high school. I remember getting several hundred percents on my tests that year. It was a great sense of accomplishment. I am grateful for this teacher who took the time and helped me gain a positive attitude about what school was and is. It turned my life around for sure.

Colon's

I figured that I already did a semicolon, so I might as well learn the proper use of a colon too. I dont think I can remember a time in all my writings that I have ever used a colon. Sad I know. but its the honest truth.
Colons are to be used before a list.
eg. I have a lot of things to do today: work, Psycology, English, Humanities, Homework, fix my car, and find time to eat.
Also, colons are to be used with an explanation that is preceded by a clause that can stand by itself.
eg. The windows dont lock: watch out for intruders.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/colon.htm

Average aye

I found it extremely difficult to get into this essay. the first few pages just seemed to drag on. I could see the rhetoric and how i needed those little definitions down at the bottom. I would have been lost without them.
When Mr. McFarland was introduced, that is where things started picking up. I really don't like the way Rose writes, but i liked it and it was more interesting to me because I could relate to it. I like Rose struggled with school for a long time. I had an English teacher turn me around also. I havent gone on to make something big of myself because of it, but it helped me get through school and made things a lot more enjoyable.
I cant say that this was anywhere near one of my favorite readings, but I think it had a pretty good message and outcome in the end.

Quotation marks

I feel like I know how to use quotation marks, but as I was reading about the rules of them, I found that I did not know as much as i thought I did.
I learned that you should use them sparingly. they are more affective that way.
Capitalize the first letter of a direct quote, but do not use a capital when the quote is in a fragment. this is the main one I was a bit confused on. and it is still a little off to me but I found this example.

eg. Although Mr. Johnson has seen odd happenings on the farm, he stated that the spaceship "certainly takes the cake" when it comes to unexplainable activity.
I just kinda wonder why the whole thing is not in "" because it is all what he is saying.

Also if it goes in mid sentence don't capitalize.
your final punctuation should always go before the ending set of quotation marks.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/01/

Idiot?? What??

I really enjoyed reading this article by Michael Moore. He had my full attention the whole time. I love the way he writes, its just like he would talk holding nothing back.
I kind of got a bad taste in my mouth when he started talking bad about President Bush, because i am a bush fan and felt like he has always done his best with what he has been given. also, when he was basically saying that most Americans were just brain dead loosers that sat around and watched tv all day. But as i read on and saw where Moore was coming from I agreed with a lot of his points and statements. I myself have considered being a teacher, but when you look at what they go through and the pay they are allotted its difficult to consider. I like how Moore approches this issue. He comments on how can you expect the kids of America to get a good worth while education when the funds to be able to do anything in a teaching possion is limited. It seems that America is cutting its own thoat when it comes to education. it feels that they are discouraging people from becomeing good teachers and pushing out the ones that are.
I also like how he talks about how the leaders of America say that kids are not learning enough in schools so they give more tests and make the teachers take more tests. they think the whole problem can be solved by some filled in bubbles on a sheet. I dont really want to get started on how i feel about the grading system, but its true. there is only so much a test can tell you and so much that it doesn't.
over all I liked this article. I enjoyed reading about these different oppions that Moore had and I agree with a lot of them.

Changing Families

I actually stayed awake while reading this little story about Changing American Families. I had to keep bringing myself back but I made it through. ha ha Anyway, I found it quite interesting to read the statistics about the different classes of American families. Once again I have never thought about the different classes in the way that they were described by Aulette.
As I read through the Moynihan Report, I couldn't believe that he would come to such a conclusion or make such a statement when his research was pretty much non existent. it seemed that all his "facts" were actually just opinions. How he accused the African American mothers in this working class of being the reason of their problems and dis function was a bit much. he also went on about how he could get, or how the men could be reinstated as head of the household. He talked of how they needed to get the masculinity back in there name. He listed that they should join the army because it boosted self-esteam and would change things to a "world run by strong men of unquestioned authority."
I loved that Aulette took this report a step further and actually went out and got the facts. She talked of how she actually went out and spent two years in these flats and viewed things in a first person way. she stated that things were indeed different than the Moynihan report stated. she listed all the good things about them, and listed facts and reasons for why things were done the way they were in these communities.
All in all this was a fairly interesting read for me. I guess I still dont exactly agree with the statements made on each individual socity, but it taught me a lot and it makes sense with the way that it was researched and documented.

semicolons

I'll be the first to admit that have never been one to use the ";". and i guess i'm not the only one. as I have been reading about them I found that it is one of our punctuation marks that is fast fading the english language. it is very seldom used which is largly due to peoples lack of understanding them.
I found that you can use them as a soft period. when you're still speaking about the same subject.
It is thought to be a more moderate pause. Between a comma and a period.
To separate sentances of equal rank when they contain internal commas

Example: Hunting is an adventure of a lifetime; it is where important life lessons are learned.

cartoons

I really quite like this cartoon. It shows whats basically on everybodys mind when they are watching the news or weather. Implying that the weather dosent matter in the long term. but shows the desertification, mass movemet, coastal flodding, and all leading to economic collaps. Ha ha ha I laughed when i read the second caption "so whether it rains a bit tommorow ist' what we should be worrying about..is it?!" the media is basicly just showing that there are bigger concerns than the weather.
I am a baseball fan myself. when I saw this cartoon of Barry Bonds I just started laughing. its a shame that he had to go out the way he did, because of how many people looked up to him. this cartoon dipicts a very "unnaturally" sized Barry hitting a home run. but the ball is not a ball. it is a jax. meaning pretty much every one of his homeruns is void and has no meaning.

Those dang commas

I'm not gonna lie. My grammar is terrible, so I'm just going to start my first grammar post with the basic comma. I have always struggled with commas. I think I know where to put one and it turns out it was wrong, or I don't think I need one when I do. so I decided to read up and refresh on them. I relearned about the "fanboys" meaning I use a comma before for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. I am also supposed to use them after an introductory clauses or phrases. such as after, although, as, because, if, since, and when. I also learned that I do not use a comma to set off essential elements of the sentence. like that.
there are so many rules for these dang little squiggles and People have written books on them, but i feel that by reading this website it has helped me understand the rule a bit better, and I look forward to be able to use them right.


http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_comma.html

To each their own

I think that Soto did a fine job of useing a little Hispanic boy to depict the seemingly "idealic" nature of a white family. Soto was able to keep my attention better by using a story line rather than the factual writing of "What we really missed about the 50's. however both writings were very interesting to me and opened my eyes to not only family but how everything is not always what it seems.
In the first essay, it took me back to where I spent a couple years of my life, the Gillbert Isands. I remember seeing some of the very first television's arrive in those Islands and that was in 2004! crazy. The shows they watched were fairly violent and they believed everything they viewed to be REAL. I remember one instance as We were walking down the street and there were a group of people huttled around a grass hut watching Die Hard. One of them saw us and yelled, "Imatang, nako mai taraia te bwai aei!" or "White kid get over here and check this out!" they were all wound up and they asked me, " Is this what Americans do? Just drive around in really fast vehicles and shoot people?" then someone got shoot in the movie and everyone went, "AAAAHHH, he just shot that guy! now he is really dead!" I had to explain to them how it was not really dead but it was just a movie and was not real but for "Entertainment." I saw a lot of the same thing in Sotos message. how you can see things on tv and think that that is the way it is or supposed to be. when in reality all it has to be is what you want and feel good about.
I think that the 50's article could both challange or critique cultural beliefes depending on who is reading it. whether that is someone who grew up during the time or some one like myself who did not. I really enjoyed reading this article though. I, like most people i guess, thought that the 50's were great and a fairly idealic time to grow up. but after reading, it opened my eyes to all the problems hidden on the inside. how pople carried their problems differently and coped with more. It was Shocking to read all the facts about the 50's and and how the author came to the conclusions that he did. things were quite different then than they are now and people reacted differently because of diffent ideals and upbringings that doesent meen that it was bad or good, but it was how it was then.
I feel that both authors were driving at the same point. That is, as my title states, "To each their own." No matter what ethinic background, color of skin, place of residence, or decade/ time period people grow up in it will always have its goods and bads. there are good things about the 50's and some not so good. there are good things and values about today and some that are not so good. The grass is not always greener on the other side, and what we see or think we see is not always right. I think that it is good for us to allways being improving on what we have and be happy with that. I think both authors did this or tried to get us to see that there is not really anything that is perfect or idealic and that dosent necessaraly mean bad but that there is allways pros and cons to every part of life.

What it means to be an American

As I read through the introduction of Rereading America I find the myths fairily interesting and I guess I haven't thought about things that way much. I can tell that the text will make me think and understand differently than I am used to. I kida have my own way or thoughts about things. I dont cosider myself stubborn or narrow-minded but I tend to stand fairly strong on my opions. this will be good for me.

Also, as I think about America, I think about all the "blessings" we have. It might be hard to believe, but I have lived for a few years in another country (the Gillbert Islands) and just seeing them, there way of life, there coulture, and there outlook on life makes me gratefull and honored to be an American citizen. We have so much here. I think it is important to take a step back and look at how it all came about. I like the text. It is a bit different, but it made me think a lot.

When I realy think about what it means to be an American, several things come to mind. I think about Honesty, Hard work, Freedom, and Progression. All these aspects where and are present in the characters of those who shaped and are shaping this country. I think about the founders of this great country and the types of people they were. The sense of honesty and the hard work ethics they possesed are evident in that we have a free country to live in and the ability to progress and excell in the areas of our choice. To continue to improve our lives, and more or less even have a life of our own. It is almost too bad that some people take these qualities for granted and give us a bad name. As I think about this, I just hope that I will always be a good example of being a honest hardworking American citizen and to keep my name in the same respect as it was given to me.