Lee McKinnis (57)
Kristina Marynczak (37)
Killian Noonan (36)
Melissa Castillo (32)
NikoVelazquez (27)
Shannon Ratzel (23)
Michelle Reyes (22)
Kyle Barczak (21)
Maura Bilek (21)
Susan Bayaa (21)
For this week’s reading journal I read, “To All the Good Ones Along the Way, We Salute You” by Eric Devillez. I really liked how he shows just how important education is at early stages of a child’s life. I like how he connected this with using his story about the dinosaur poem and how he has never forgotten that teacher and what she did for him. I really liked how connected to the reading in the chapter this helps the reader not have to change the topic of what they are reading about. I thought it was cool how he still remembered all the names of the teacher that he thought were most influential in the years of learning. This can show the character that he has and that he wasn’t getting anything out of it. I think that the students who really like their teachers and connect with them are the ones that get the most out of learning. I think that most kids are scared to go to their teachers and ask them questions or ask for help if their struggling. The reasons for this may vary but I think that if kids weren’t afraid to go and ask questions they would be utilizing the resources they have to get a better education. I really liked the end when he addresses the reader and asks them to make a list and analyze it and think about the reasons for it being a short list of a long list. Overall I really enjoyed reading this piece.
Devillez, Eric. “To All the Good Ones Along the Way, We Salute You” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. Page 144-145. Print
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Jami Busse
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Jami Busse
For this week’s reading journal I read “The Ones That Got Away,” by Tom Dow This passage is about how Dow looked back on a paper he wrote in college and looked at all the things that he could have done differently. He had to write about his family roots and his background. He did not talk about the angle of his cultural background and that is what he thinks is the one that got away. I really liked this because I felt the family connection while remembering specific things about his family. I also liked how he talked about his grandparents. I work at a retirement home as a waitress and my grandparents live there so I feel a strong connection to grandparent’s and the elderly in general. I really like how he goes into detail and quotes the letter that his grandma wrote him explaining his family history. I also liked how he referenced Wonder Bread, I found this to give a bit of humor to the piece. I think that the reason he wrote this passage was to show an example of what you might not notice in the present but when you look back on it you wish you did something different. I think that this is a great point to share in this book, giving examples helps the students reading and all other readers that not everything can be perfect when it comes to writing. I think that this is a very good passage and enjoyed it very much.
Dow, Tom. “The Ones That Got Away.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. Page 177-178. Print -
Jami Busse
Animal Welfare League
From the start of this project I thought that it was going to be a tough, but not impossible thing to do. At the beginning of this project, we had to do this thing in class which Mr. McGuire called speed dating. We did this to get to know all of our fellow peers and see who we would like to work with in our groups. At first I thought this was a really stupid way to find people that we thought would make good partners because someone could tell you they are a really hard worker and then be lazy and not contribute to the group at all. As the class went on I got to talk to some people that I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to in class even though we have been together since January. I meet a lot of cool people that I thought would be great to work with but I kind of already had my group picked from the very beginning. I wanted to be partnered with the people that I sat next to because I have gotten to know them and I would feel more comfortable meeting up with them and be more open to share my thoughts more openly and not feel like I had to hold back. After we established that we would all work together, we had to pick a cause that we would like to research and volunteer for. One of my group members told us that she did her previous research paper on Animal rights and that she had connections and could look into some places that we could go and volunteer at. Immediately we all thought that that would be the best thing and we all agreed that we all liked this cause and decided that it was the one. I really liked our cause because I think it is such an important issue that often gets over looked and when people think of volunteering and giving their time up they would rather use their time to help other people in need rather than animals. After that, we picked what days we would meet and discuss our project it was fairly easy to pick a couple days within the month that we could all get together. When we got together for our first meeting we basically just talked about what organization we would reach out to and discussing how we would document our volunteering there. One of the group members said that she would get in touch with the paws organization in Tinley Park and we all thought that would be the best place to go since it was so close to where we live and we all liked the organization as a whole. The next time we met which was a few days after that we kind of hit a rough patch. The person in my group that said she would call said that the lady from paws that she had contacted said that we all had to sign an agreement that we would commit to them for 6 months coming in 3 times a month. At first I thought that was kind of stupid but that was just being mad that the only place that we really wanted to go and volunteer at would let us. After talking to Mr. McGuire though I didn’t think it was that stupid for the organization to do because they are just doing what they have to do in order to keep their organization going. We all agreed that we didn’t want to sign up and commit to 6 months especially for one of my group member who was moving in 3 months. After we concluded that there was no way we could volunteer for paws we said that we would try and contact other places animal shelters around the area. the next class when we reconvened we found that the places that everyone called either didn’t call back or had the same agreements as Paws and wanted us to sign a contract. We then asked Mr. McGuire and he said that another group in one of his other classes were able to volunteer at the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge. Once we heard that we called but got no answer so in a latch ditch effort two people in my group said they would go to the place and see if they could get us to volunteer there. If that didn’t work out we were going to look for a different cause to volunteer and research. Since me and another group member had to work we were not able to go with them. When they went there they were able to talk to someone about volunteering. So we have yet to go and volunteer their but we will get it done within thins upcoming week. I think that animals are just as important as humans are even if they are nothing like us they should have the right to be safe and live in a good atmosphere where their loved and cared for. I’m just nervous for when we go there and spend time with the dogs that I’m going to fall in love with them and end up taking one home. What I like about my group is that we are all coming together and trying to work together and working equally to get our project done. I think that we will be fully prepared for the Volunteer fair at the end of April. Also one of my group members thought it would be a great idea to bring her 2 dogs that she adopted from a place like the animal welfare league and have the their at the fair and we all thought that is a great way to draw people into our display and make them aware of how they can volunteer.
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Jami Busse
For this weeks reading journal I decided to write about, “Why I don’t care what you believe… the difference between experience and history,” by Troy Swanson. Right of the bat when I read the first sentence I was surprised. I was surprised at the fact that he jumped right in and said a very bold statement, he said that himself and many other professors don’t care about what we(their students) believe. This kind of surprised me because in some was it may be seen as a negative comment and one that can make the professor seem like he doesn’t care about his student at all. As I read on thought I understood what he was getting at. He was trying to say that he doesn’t care he was just saying that he doesn’t care because he wants to test our beliefs, to challenge what it is that we believe in. another point that he makes is what the difference between experience and history. He’s not meaning history like the books, which is exactly what I thought of when I first saw it in the title, he means history in the terms of understanding events that you have lived through. I liked how he explained experience. He said, “ these are the stories we tell ourselves about the things we witness and the things that happen to us.” This is a great way to define it I think; it really helped me understand it. He went on to explain history as being the broader view of the event, to try to go beyond your experience, to find a bigger picture. I really liked how he said that because I never thought of history in that way. At the end of the piece I liked how he tied in what he said in the beginning with restating that he doesn’t care about what we believe. He cares about what we can prove and argue about what we believe in.
Swanson, Troy. “Why I Don’t Care what you Believe…The Difference between Experience and History.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Pub, 2010. 106-107. Print -
Jami Busse
For this week’s reading journal I read, “Writing is Limitless” by Basima Ismail. I really liked this piece. I liked how the author started it off with stating something that I’m sure everyone really thinks about. The author says, “Many times people assume that an English teacher has always been a great writer” I think that by pointing this out and saying that that is not the case. I was surprised when she says that the foundation is the same for everyone. I think like how she connected to the writer in this chapter and referenced the Moraine Valley Writing center because I don’t think the teachers here really let their teachers know that there are resources out there. I was also surprised when she said, “As someone who loves English, I never thought of myself as a greater Writer or even a good creative writer.” This really caught me by surprise because you would think that someone who loves English and I presume is an English teacher. I like how she talks about how she feels when writing and how she feels about her writing. I think this really helps the readers connect with her writing and her advice when she shares how she feels about it. I think that this was a great piece. I think it fit in with this chapter great and I also like how the author connects with the readers and how she shares that sometimes everyone shares the same foundation of writing.
Ismail, Basima. “Writing is Limitless.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010.138-139. Print -
Jami Busse
For my Reading Journal this week I choose to read “Be Confident, Not a Know-It All” I really enjoyed this reading because it was so personal. I loved how the author connected it to his son right in the beginning. He said that his son was a, know it all because he always says he know how to do everything. I like how he talks about the confidence of the students and the expressions that students often think to themselves. I also liked how he said what he talks about in his classes with his students. Although I personally am familiar with Professor McGuire teaching style I think for those who aren’t and don’t know anything about him learn more about him and get to know his personality. I think that it’s nice to see a teacher that wants to help his students get confident about their own ideas and abilities. I think that it’s good when he uses the example about one of his student’s shows that he really connects with his students and he really is in it to help the students better their learning and writing skills. I really thought this excerpt fit in this chapter very well. I also really like how he connected the ending of his piece to the beginning talking about his son again. Most people just make a point or tell a story in the beginning but never touch on it again after that I their work. I think that this can confuse the reader but I think it does really help leave a lasting impression on the reader.
McGuire, Michael. “Be Confident, Not a Know-It-All.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. 179-81. Print. -
Jami Busse
For my reading journal I “The Machine that is replacing me is Getting Cheaper Every Day.” Ii really enjoyed this piece because I like what the author had to say. Basically in this little excerpt the author, Troy Swanson, is saying that learning is so important now a days and if you actually read your material for classes like the Why White Rice book. I liked how he put the questions in there to really make the reader think. I think that these questions really help us as readers think because sometimes we just read it to read it and don’t really understand it and think about it which we should be doing. I like how he talked about his personal story about his favorite teacher. I agree with what the author is trying to say that machines are slowing taking over jobs that we should have. I like how Swanson talks about creativity because creativity is an important thing to have. I think this this piece fits in with this chapter and I really helped me think about my writing and that I need to buckle down and focus. When I read the part in the beginning when he said, “if you are using this book as a textbook and you are actually reading these words, then the odds are that you will succeed.” Although I enjoyed this little note I think that some people will take it the wrong way like the author is saying that they will not succeed. Overall I really liked this piece and enjoyed reading it.
Swanson, Troy. “The Machine That is Replacing Me is Getting Cheaper Every Day.” Why White Rice?: Thinking through Writing. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Pub., 2010. 144-45. Print. -
Jami Busse
Changing the World, One SOLE at a Time
Help. This simple word can have both similar and different meanings. Something like helping a young kid with their homework is different from helping a family rebuild their home after a horrible tornado but they also can be alike. It’s the mere fact that the actions you take can greater improve the way they live and function. That’s why helping is so important; you’re helping someone and also helping yourself out by doing such a great thing and reflecting on it. That is what I’m going to do. I recently got the chance to go out and help and I found it to be a great experience. I’ve never really gone out to an organization and done real community service but I really love helping. I have this competition with myself to see in one day how many times I can help someone. So when I found out that we had to go out and do some community service I thought it was great. I went to Share Your Souls with my peers from Moraine Valley and thought it was a great organization. I learned a lot about myself some good and also some things that I could work on about myself. It made me realizes that I kind of just go with the flow of things and don’t really like to stand up and take charge of things. I found that I really like helping out in whatever way I could and it made me think that I should really try to go out and help a lot more with organizations that help so many people out there. My motivation for helping and volunteering have changed I think I need to do it more. After I was done volunteering I just felt like I had done something great and thought about the kids that need these shoes and how great of an organization it was. What Share Your Souls does is it takes donated shoes and sends them to countries all over the world to kids and adults that don’t have shoes.
What we did when we first got there was we watch these videos that talked about the organization and how it was founded and showed pictures of the kids without shoes and how it affects their feet. I think this was great to get people to see what maybe we won’t have if we’ve never been to Africa or any other country that has this problem. We then went and saw the warehouse which was huge. They take all the shoes and sort them out on the floor by their size, type and for men or women, girls and boys. We didn’t sort them though we moved shoes from the ware house into the office area getting ready for their show sale that they were having to raise money, that following weekend. It was awesome how we could help them get ready for something that would really benefit them. We volunteered our time and helped them get ready for the sale so they could raise money to continue to do what they do. One thing I would change if I was in charge is that I didn’t really like how they were kind of unorganized in telling us what to do. When we finished watching the videos one of the people in charge said well we don’t really have anything for you to do. I think that maybe they should really plan their activities and things they have to do better in order for those who are volunteering to really feel like they helped out. I think that as a volunteer I kind of wish we could have cleaned and sorted the shoes that were being sent out and not the ones that were being sold. Even though both of those things still help the same purpose, I would have still liked to have gone through all the shoes and sorted and cleaned them knowing that they were going to some child or adult across the world who really needs and depends on them. I think there were moments of success and humor during my time at share your soles. The founder of share your soles, Mona Purdy is such a fun and outgoing person that she made it fun for us when working. Also I felt like we all felt that we succeed as a group when we saw the end result of the setup up of the tables for the sale. We took one big empty space and turned it into this room filled with shoes that would help raise money for the organization. I feel like we did make an impact. I think that every single person that volunteers there makes an impact, without the volunteers the place wouldn’t be able to work as efficiently as they do. I think this complaints what we talk about in class. We recently had a discussion asking the question, can one person change the world, and I think that this organization is changing the world not necessarily in the large scale but in a small scale and it all started with Mona seeing this problem and doing something about it. I think learning through experience helps me understand it more. Going out there and doing something about it makes you think way more than just reading about it in the newspaper or seeing a clip about it on the news. Going there and see it for yourself always teaches you more.
I think many things can be changed in order to help the situation that is happening all around the world with people not having shoes. I think that the country’s that this is happening to should be more aware of this and do more to help their people out. This defiantly with affect me in the future. Now that I know more about what organization have to go through I think once I make my own money I will donate some of it to organization that I support and that do great things. I think that this will also instill in me what I would like my future children to be active in service projects and go out there and make a change. No one knows what the future holds but I think that great things will only happen for this organization, Share your Soles, Mona is such a driven person that she knows what she needs to do and does it. She knows how to ask people for help and this is something that some people don’t like or know how to do. There are many things that can be done to help this organization. Just by going there and volunteering your time makes a huge difference for the organization and to yourself knowing that you’re helping make a change. You can also help by donating shoes that are in good condition helps a lot because how can they send out shoes if there not getting any in. Just think before you through your old shoes out. Think about the little kids in Africa that are walking bare foot on rocks and getting the amputated. Think about how that pair of shoes that your throwing away can help one kid not have to damage their feet any further then they have. Donating a pair of shoes can change the world, one sole at a time.-
Kristina Marynczak
Your paper does more than just state the events at Share your Soles, because you go into your thoughts before and after volunteering. Your paper was a little hard to read because of a few minor changes that should be made. To start off, you had at least one run-on sentence in every paragraph. As the reader I had to catch my breath a lot to continue reading. The run-ons vary from one to the next. What I mean by this is that some run-on sentences are run-ons because of incorrectly connecting multiple sentences by commas. The next type of run-on sentence I experienced is having multiple sentences connected by “But” or “and” too many times. Some of your sentences you use words that don’t belong so it also keeps me off track from the message our writing; here’s one for example,” I think this complaints what we talk about in class.” (Don’t have no idea what it means or if it’s relevant) I think that if you reread your paper out loud and possible out loud to a friend you will notice the sentences that need to be corrected.
What I portrayed as your papers message is that you kind of enjoyed helping others and plan to continue through this organization. You offer examples of how we can get involved with helping this organization, but not too detailed because I have no idea where. (just how) My impression of your tone throughout the paper is that your second guessing your thought, so confusion. AS the reader I felt very thought-provoked. Especially, in the conclusion I felt like a lot of questions had to be asked for the reader. All the extra thinking or questions pushed me away from the message you were trying to privy. You say you enjoyed the trip but with second guessing yourself I feel as if you are unsure if you really liked it.
Throughout your whole paper you say “I Think” multiple times. It actually gets stuck in the head since it’s so repetitive. Using that phrase is not the best choice for two reasons. The first one being because it sounds like you are uncertain of what you are telling us. If you are uncertain it makes me not want to continue reading because I feel as if you are making things up or unsure of what you are saying. The second reason is that it feels like I’m reading a speech outline instead of an essay. Your sentences have variation so the beginning of the sentences should start in different ways too. This might make your sentence structure less boring.
Also, Your paper may need revision in organizing. Some ideas are scattered throughout the paper. What I mean by this is that some supporting sentences come after the wrong main ideas. I also had trouble finding your thesis sentence. I also feel as if your body paragraphs blend too much with your introduction.
Overall, I enjoyed reading your paper. I’m glad service-learning had opened your eyes to all the help people need in the world. The organization, Share Your Soles, seems like a great place and maybe I can spend some of my time there as well. -
Jaclyn Epstein
Your paper is really good! It is really descriptive. I did not go to Share Your Soles, but you provided a good picture of how it was. “I found that I really like helping out in whatever way I could and it made me think that I should really try to go out and help a lot more with organizations that help so many people out there. My motivation for helping and volunteering have changed I think I need to do it more” I kind of got the same reaction after I volunteered. I volunteered at Feed My Starving Children and I really surprisingly enjoyed it. It made me realize that volunteering is actually sort of fun, and you walk away with a good feeling. I agree with you in that, I want to actually try and volunteer more. “One thing I would change if I was in charge is that I didn’t really like how they were kind of unorganized in telling us what to do. When we finished watching the videos one of the people in charge said well we don’t really have anything for you to do.” I would hate if the organization I picked to volunteer at was unorganized too. It would make me feel like they sort of did not appreciate the volunteers. But at the same time, it is still a great organization. In another student’s paper I read she talked about Mona, the starter of Share Your Soles. She seems like such a kind hearted and genuine person. It takes alot of hard work to start and organzation, especially now a days. With the economy being so bad, I’m sure not alot of people have the money to donate. Something as simple as donating an old pair of shoes seems so easy. So I do not understand why people are still throwing away shoes! It is crazy to think that if you donate them to an organzition like Share your Soles, your shoes are actually getting more use out of them. And your helping someone in need on top of that. I agree with the person above me. You did say “I think” alot. It makes your audience feel like your not sure about your answers and you just lose credibility. I would just go back and maybe change some of them. Other than that, I reall enjoyed reading your paper. You can tell you got alot out of the volunteering expirience and it showed in your paper. ” Donating a pair of shoes can change the world, one sole at a time.” I love this alot. This was a great sentence to end your paper. It is such a powerful statement
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Jean Claud Sunga
I really liked your paper and i think you explained your reflection to your volunteer very well. It made me feel as if i was with you doing the same volunteer. I like how you shared what you actually did instead of the hard part that you wished you would’ve done. I also liked how you talked about Mona how nice and how she made your volunteer fun, but as a reader I wish you could put more things about like what she did to make your time their fun or what she said, stuff like that. Also i like how you said that the ware house is huge and what was in there, it gave me an idea that the place is not just an office and they actually have a place to store the shoes and do everything else. Also i think it was interesting how they have the part where they sell some shoes? What shoes or what kind of shoes are they selling and why, I mean why would they sell the shoes if other people from other countries can use it? i just got a little confused with that. Is it because the people that they are going to help can’t use the shoes, or they are too fancy or something, i agree with that part. Just make that a little clear. “. I think that every single person that volunteers there makes an impact, without the volunteers the place wouldn’t be able to work as efficiently as they do. “Because at the organization that i have volunteered at, they even admitted that without the volunteers, they wouldn’t be able to pack all the things that need to be packed. When you said that they were unorganized in telling you what to do, maybe they are unaware that this is how you or other volunteers feel because they didn’t plan ahead of time. Maybe they need to know to make their volunteer team to be better. Maybe because there are only a couple of employees that’s stopping them from doing all the other things that they couldn’t be that organize everything. I think that you actually cared about those people that the organization that are trying to help and i like how you said you’ll share or donate your money to the organization that you are going to support. i really hope that you get a chance to do that and if not maybe just donate your time:) I also like how you started your paper and how and how it connected with you over all paper. I think it makes more interesting than just going on and telling how the volunteer went. i think your readers gets to connect with your paper easily and it makes them want to keep on reading the whole thing:) Overall you did very well on your paper, just some minor grammatical error, proper placement of commas and periods, spell check and reread your whole paper will make it better:)
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Jami Busse
This week I read “Mash it up…gracefully using sources” this really caught my attention because plagiarizing is such a big thing that school officials enforce in schools. I like how Swanson connected this with Facebook and YouTube and things like that because in doing so people immediately connect with it. I also like how Swanson refers back to what the other authors in the text talk about. I think that this helps readers understand it better and I think that it defiantly helped me while reading. I like the first section that he did talking about give credit but still take ownership. I think this is so true because people often think that you can’t do these two things but you can. I like how he uses a lot of examples I think that this really helps the reader understand. I really think that everyone should cite their sources properly not just to give credit other sources but to show that you, as a writer, have creditably and to show that you know what you’re talking about. I think that the placement of it is also good because you should cite your sources at the end of your work and in all the excerpts that are present in this book. I liked how he ended the first section by instilling in the reader that you should not steal anyone else’s idea. I think this really help me in realizing this. I have a hard time citing my sources and I think that this chapter really helps.
Troy Swanson, “Why White Rice? thinking through writting” Chapter 7 “Mash it up…gracefully using sources”pgs163-174. Kendall Hunt. Print. -
Jami Busse
Dear Editor,
Bullying has changed drastically in the last decade or so. I think that what used to be a semi normal thing for young kids to go through at some point in their school years has gone extreme and is now making these victims of bullying turn to no other choice but to commit suicide. I think that this is very sad and I think that schools should really set up there game and make some changes when dealing with bullying. I think that although schools are doing things they really aren’t doing enough. There have been many stories that have sparked national attention, some even shining light on LGBT teens out there. Although the internet can be a bad thing with cyber bullying, on social media sites, it also can let kids and young teens connect with one another and share their stories and let people know that their not the only ones. There is a campaign out there called It Gets Better which started on YouTube. Two young men who get bullied as a kid made a video telling all young kids out there that it does get better. This then snowballed and has made a great impact on kids out there and many have created their own videos. With that said I think that schools should join this bandwagon to and have more awareness for bullying and set up program that are fun and get the students themselves to connect with one another so that they at least feel like there is someone that is there for them.
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Jaclyn Epstein
I really like and support you topic! For my research paper I used bullying as my topic, so I actually really like your letter to the editor. Bullying is such a sad thing that many people don’t even know it had become so serious. “I think that what used to be a semi normal thing for young kids to go through at some point in their school years has gone extreme and is now making these victims of bullying turn to no other choice but to commit suicide.” I like that you added this in your letter. In my pape I explained that bullyin used to be something that kids would get over in like five minutes…a man wrote an article on how when he was a kid bullying was a five second fist fight, now bullying is something completely different, and completely horrible. Now it has gotten way more out of hand. I think in part because kids these days are so ruthless, and bullying is starting out younger and younger. I also think bullying has gotten alot worse because of cyber bullying. Kids don’t think that they can get in trouble because they are not physically harming someone. Also I like how mentioned suicide is a result of bullying. It is so sad that some cases of bullying are so harsh, that kids feel like there is nothing left to do but take their own life. I have seen the “It gets better” videos, aren’t they more directed towards homosexual people? Maybe you could include another organization for bullying, because kids of all types of backgrounds get bullied. I like your idea about schools should join in more on fighting bullying and creating more awareness. I think educating people on issues is the most helpful thing in any situation. Your idea of starting a program to connect kids so that they feel like they’re not alone is awesome! Alot of times kids in this siuation commit suicide because they feel like they are alone. If there were progrmas like this, maybe suicide rates would go down, and so would bullying rates. I completely agree with you that bullying is so sad and that schools should step up their game. I especially think they should start educationg young kids about bullying so that maybe they can have good values instilled in to them at a young age. Hopefully one day bullying doesn’t exist, but with the world we live in, I think that’s impossible. So, hopefully bullying will become less and less prevelant. I really like your letter to the editor and enjoyed reading it! Good job!
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Jackie Xiques
I felt the issue that you chose was small yet very powerful. Many people overlook the fact that there are children who are victims of bullying. It is something that is hard for young kids to have the ability to speak out about being harassed. They are embarrassed to face the issue. Because of their embarrassment they continue to take the abuse and parents remain blinded. The child may show signs of being sad and withdrawn from others. Bullying is not only recognized for those at a young age but continue on. The forms of bullying in younger grades are more sever because it can affect how the person later views people and life and the experiences that they were forced to deal with can hold them back. I liked that you listed an organization where I can get involved. It shows that you did you research and you are standing strong about your issue by informing others of the actions that can be taken. I also liked how you added how bullying is not only a problem in schools but also online. Our society is becoming more and more technologically advanced and that gives more ways for problems. Facebook is a way for people to bully and embarrass others. It makes it not only visible to classmates but every single person that can view your profile. It is also worse that it is online because computers and phones are so accessible. It showed the letter from different angles which are good being that there is only limited space to state your opinion. Also how you showed that there are cases of suicide as a result of bullying was a good point. It made the letter more serious to know that there are others taking their own lives because they are being tormented in their own. It is so unfortunate that another person can affect someone so much to where they feel life is not worth living. I wrote my piece on suicide and one of the causes I found was bullying. The tormenting can be too much to bear when in reality everyone is just looking to be accepted and to fit in. When someone is treated as an outcast they react in a negative way. This person is vulnerable and the person that is committing the bullying feels the need to be inferior to someone they can pick on. I agree with the way you presented the fact that schools should become more involved and aware of the issue. Instead of just hopping on the bandwagon maybe you could give more detailed examples of what could and needs to be done to get the situation in better control. I feel as if this topic is only getting worse and people need to take action before lives are taken and others and scarred. Growing up is difficult and we have all been subject to some type of disrespect from another person. Children need to be taught young that bullying is not a joke and it is not something that should be taken lightly.
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Jean Claud Sunga
I really liked your letter to editor, i was reading a letter with the same topic and said a couple of suggestion to make her paper better and when i was reading your, i felt like our thoughts connected. I really believe that there should be more activities in school for children or teens so that they can take their mind away from bullying or being bullied by someone. I also think that there is another reason behind every story, why those bullies bully other people. I think that we should not only pay attention to those people who are getting bullied but also the bullies because they might also have problems or some kind of a reason why they bully other people. maybe not all of them do, but it wont hurt to ask and try to talk to those people. If we only show anger and disappointment to those people they will never change, but keep doing the things that hey\re doing which is bullying. All those bullies need are attention and they want to be happy, thinking that they would find their happiness from bullying. Maybe its their only way of venting out or showing their emotions. There was a part on your where i got a little confused though, What is the LGBT teen? also maybe you should try to make your other statements clear and your transition too. Also when you said that schools should also do something about bullying, i think that parent or guardians are the first ones who should do something about this issue because they are our first teachers in life. we cannot blame the schools if they don’t have enough resources to stop these bullies because they are only their responsibility while they are inside the school, and when they are outside they don’t have the authority to tell these children what to do. i think it is very important to let a lot of people know about the bullying issue, i think it is not advertised well enough or broadcast well enough to show everyone how bullying really affect people. The issue needs to spread more around the world and we all need to show love and care to one another. We also should be careful with our actions towards other people and be a good model to the younger children because they pick up things very quickly thinking that it’s okay to do since we they saw us doing it.Young children should be educated with this issue, maybe it will help them be growing faster and become more matured. They may also help other people who are struggling with this issue since they know about it and they may help prevent the suicidal rates from bullying and better yet bullying may not even happen if these kids are educated about it. They should see more videos and hear more stories about it, because children are the ones who are easily affected mentally by what they see or hear, so if this happens maybe what they see will get stuck in their heads and not bully anyone or know what to do when they are being bullied.
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Jami Busse
This week’s reading Journal I did it on the Reading from chapter 1 of Why White Rice? The reading is called “Passionate Writers Write Passionately” I liked how Mary Brewer, the author, started off the piece with asking if we were paying attention or falling asleep. I found this humorous and wanted me to read on. I also found inspiration when she said, “Well if you remember something from this excerpt, remember this: You only get a few chances in your life to show people what you’ve got , what you’re good for, why you’re still breathing- because you have a purpose and you have a story. So tell it!” I found this to be a great way to motivational and inspire the readers to go out and tell their stories. I thought that this is a great way to start off the excerpt and get the reader to read more to find more inspiration. I liked how Brewer said that you should make them care about your story. And I think this is great advice. I thought it was kind of strange that she said you should want to make them cry and I don’t think I would want to do this because I don’t want to make them sad about my story but I understand that this mean that you want them to feel it. I thought this excerpt was very inspirational and it made me really think about my writing. It also gave great advice on how you can make your work better.
Brewer, Mary. “Passionate Writers Write Passionately” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. 56. Print -
Jami Busse
For this reading I choose to read “You Can Dodge All the Bullets” from Why White Rice. Just reading the first sentence I connected with it immediately, it brought me back to when I was little and even remembering how my little brother and sister would do that. I thought it was funny how Kinsella talked about how her dad would use really big words which then cause her to ask more questions. I believe that this happens a lot in the world were we trying dismissing and issue and then in the end are dismissing it just cause more problems. I like how she said, “the difference who succeed and those who don’t is how well you problem solve. I think that this is very true because of how many people do fail because they look at things from different from a different approach. I think it was gutsy of her when she talks about how you can finagle your way out of a life ending debacle. I think that Kinsella gives great advice about exhausting resources that you are paying for and I think this is very relatable to what I’m going through. When taking classes here at Moraine I only went into thinking it would be easier if I just took the classes that I needed to. Now after reading this piece I realize that once I get out of school, I most likely will not go back. What Kinsella is saying it that you should really learn about as many things while you can in order have knowledge that can help you in life.
Kinsella, Kate. “You Can’t Dodge All The Bullets.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. 80. Print -
Jami Busse
Elevator Speech Outline
My issue is No child left behind.
1. The No Child Left behind Act is a law that increases the reach that the federal government has on the management of local schools and raises the stakes for schools, districts and states.” It also gets better funding for the schools that have poor students and authorize that there are highly qualified teachers in every classroom.
2. George Bush signed this law but now supporters say that it is not being enforced enough and might need to be altered and that is exactly what Obama did when he took office. He is proposing an overhaul of the law that many critics say the eight-year-old law has hurt education by overemphasizing standardized tests and unfairly labeling schools as underperforming without providing help to improve. Obama plans to enforce this just on the lowest- performing schools. He is also changing a lot of things with the No Child Left Behind. These changes begin with the overall goals, in Obama’s new plan he thinks all students by 2020 to be college or Career ready when the graduate from high school. Whereas Bush’s Goal was that all students must be proficient in reading and math by 2014.
3. At This point, Obama is just trying to get this law signed in order to change the No Child Left behind Act.
4. Things you can do to help this issue is to really research into candidates for the next presidential election which is coming up soon and see which candidate supports this and which ones are doing something different.
Conclusion: This issue greatly important for the future of education for our country that is why it is very critical to go out and vote and get your voice heard on these issues. -
Jami Busse
No Child Left Behind
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” This quote by John Dewey is so true and is how I view what education should mean to everyone. This brings me to make a point against how schooling is done today and how so many kids in the schooling system are not getting the right amount of attention and assistance that they need to succeed. Things need to be changed in order for young kids in America to become successful people. Students are not being educated fairly just because of their race, location and also if they come from low income families. This can either be because the schools, that they are enrolled in, do not have qualified teachers or that the schools aren’t getting enough money to fund themselves. This wasn’t just happening in a couple of cities or states it is happening in a most of them. All these things can be easily corrected and that is exactly why the No child left behind act came to be.
According to CQ researcher, “The No Child Left behind Act is a law that increases the reach that the federal government has on the management of local schools and raises the stakes for schools, districts and states.” It also gets better funding for the schools that have poor students and authorize that there are highly qualified teachers in every classroom. For the schools that do not meet these qualifications two years in a row, are labeled as “in need of improvement” and suffer sanctions. George Bush signed this act in 2002 and it has been hit with scrutiny ever since. George Bush based his whole campaign around education. Three days after his inauguration he proposed a plan that was the blueprint for the No child left behind act. This act called for annual testing on grades 3-8 and school and state report cards showing student performance by ethical and economic subgroups. This act is a very controversial one being that the supporters say that it is an evolutionary change in the educational system while the critics say that it is an attack onto the states domain and that they are demands that cannot be funded. The National Education Association sued the Department of Education saying that the act is not properly funded. The reason why the states do not attend to it is because the government only pays for 8 percent of totally funding for public education. Educators also say that the best thing that it does is shine light on minorities and low-income students. In 2004, legislatures in 31 states introduced bills challenging certain aspects of the law yet only 3 subsequently got a bill passed that changed the bill in some way. 11.000 schools, nearly 12 percent of nation totals were identified as needing improvement.
Supporters also say that it is not being enforced enough and might need to be altered and that is exactly what Obama did when he took office. He is proposing an overhaul of the law that many critics say the eight-year-old law has hurt education by overemphasizing standardized tests and unfairly labeling schools as underperforming without providing help to improve. Obama plans to enforce this just on the lowest- performing schools. These schools will have to make changes by firing staff, converting to charter schools or shut down altogether. Another thing that he wants to do is to hold the teachers more accountable for student’s performance.
Presently there are many things being down right know about this issue. The U.S Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who before he was the secretary of education was the chief executive officer of Chicago Public schools. According to the U.S Department of Education, “In seven and a half years, he united education reformers, teachers, principals and business stakeholders behind an aggressive education reform agenda that included opening over 100 new schools, expanding after-school and summer learning programs, closing down underperforming schools, increasing early childhood and college access, dramatically boosting the caliber of teachers, and building public-private partnerships around a variety of education initiatives.” This man knows a lot about how to change an education system. In 2001 when the No Child Left behind Act was first presented he firmly supported it and was glad to see it go through and get signed. Then he became irritated by some of the requirements and even threatened to sue the Department of education. Today though he is the leading the administration efforts to over haul the No Child left behind act. Duncan says the no child left behind law creates perverse incentives for school districts, sometimes encouraging them to lower instead of raise their standards and fails to measure growth for individual students or to reward schools that raised scores. The changes that are being made are now called Blueprint for Reform. These changes begin with the overall goals, in Obama’s new plan he thinks all students by 2020 to be college or Career ready when the graduate from high school. Whereas Bush’s Goal was that all students must be proficient in reading and math by 2014. The differences in standards are that in Obama’s the states should upgrade existing standards in conjunction with state public university or consider state-developed common standards geared to college and career readiness and also adapt English language proficiency standards for English language learners. Bush’s standard was that each state permitted to adopt its own standards. The alterations in the testing is that in the Blueprint for Reform they have “new generation of assessments that will help get higher-order skills and provide more accurate measures of student growth and better inform classroom instruction to respond to academic needs. Bush’s law on testing was standardized testing in reading and math required annually for students in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. Obama’s law only focuses on the bottom 5% of schools whereas Bush’s applied to all schools. Obama’s plan also changes the way they would penalize the schools. There are four options and these options include: transformation model, turnaround model, restart model and school closure model. Some of these include replace principles and strengthen or replace staff. In another model they will convert or close and reopen school under management of it being a charter school the last option id to close the school and enroll the students in higher performing schools in district. This blueprint of reform is just that a blueprint. It hasn’t become any big-time legislation yet though.
So at this point you may be asking yourself, what can I do to help this issue? Well there are a few things that you yourself can do and the one that makes the most sense is when it comes time to vote for the next president whether it be Obama or one of the Republication candidates. Most people think that one vote won’t matter but it will. If you share what you know with others it may affect what they think of the issues. You should really do your research and look into what their views on education are. This will help you decide whether a candidate supports what you believe should happen to the future of education for our country. a second thing that you can do is to take part in National Education Association’s campaign to better these laws that are being made. To do thinks you can go to Educationvotes.org, which you will learn more about below.
To learn more about No Child Left Behind and how to get involved visit these sites:
- Education votes
http://www.educationvotes.nea.org/
This site helps you stay up to date on what’s going with the election going on currently, how to get in touch with your legislatures and informing you what you need to know about your state. All these things help you to get involved with the way the government handles are education. This site is sponsored by the National Education Association. This site also lets you inform others about the budget cuts have affected school in your area. There are videos that tell peoples stories about how bad the conditions of the schools that they work at are. This site makes it so easy for you to get in touch with your legislatures by where you live. It also is really cool and helps you inform others through different social media sites and sharing your story and learning from other peoples stories also.
- Education Week
http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/no-child-left-behind/
This site gives more background into what the No Child Left behind Act is about and all the specifics on what it enforces. This site is a really good source because it talks about all issues involving Education. You can also learn about more information about other issues.
- Department of Education
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/edpicks.jhtml?src=ln
This site will show you explain each law specifically how they were formally written. I think that this is very important with seeing everything from the direct source and not from other sources. This will help you better your understanding on the subjects of matter.
Work Citied
Mantel, Barbara. “No Child Left Behind.” CQ Researcher 27 May 2005: 15-20. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
Jost, Kenneth. “Revising No Child Left Behind.” CQ Researcher 16 Apr. 2011: 20-15. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
“No Child Left Behind (NCLB)” National Education Association. 2012. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
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Jaclyn Epstein
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” I have never heard this quote until I read your essay, and it really made me think! After I thought about it for a minute, I couldn’t agree more with. I honestly think education is so important in everyone’s life, wheter they be five years old, or fifty years old. Education honeslty should be life long.
Before I read your essay I never really thought of the “No Child Left Behind” act and I never really knew too much about it. So as I was reading your essay, I found everything to be pretty new and interesting.
“Students are not being educated fairly just because of their race, location and also if they come from low income families. This can either be because the schools, that they are enrolled in, do not have qualified teachers or that the schools aren’t getting enough money to fund themselves.” I always have heard about like public schooling in Chicago is bad, and unfair. I have never actually thought about schooling in other areas being ‘bad’. When I read that part in your essay it made me actually kind of mad. It shouldn’t matter what race, location, or how much money your family makes to say if you deserve a good education or not. Everyone should have an equal oppurtunity to become wel educated. Reading this esay I have found a greater appreciation of the education that I am able to receive. I feel really bad for those who don’t get to have equal oppurtunities for a better education.
When I read what Duncan said about schools wanting to actaully lower, instead of raise, their test scores, it kind of confused me. Wouldn’t the point of the act be to improve student’s skills? Like I said, I have never really had knowledge of this whole issue so I still have lots of questions. I will deffinetly be looking up some of your suggested websites to gain better knowledge on this.
I’m really glad that I got to read your essay. I found it really interesting and well written. I deffinelty have a better understanding of this issue. Altough, you might want to add two more sources into works cited. You should have five sources, not including the sources you used for your “more information” section.
All and all, I really liked your essay. It sparked my curosity and actually made me want to look more into this issue. I think that’s what a good essay is supposed to make you want to do. I can’t wait to furthur research this issue, because like I said, I still have more questions. Good job though! -
Jackie Xiques
I thought your selection of choosing the no child left behind issue was inspiring. It has to do with the long standing issue that deals with the status of education of children in America. I agree that there is not enough being done with this issue. Many schools that are looked at as “underperforming” are neglected. This includes having the right administration to run the school, up to date school books, and teachers who appreciate their task to help children who are the future of our generation learn. Overall I felt your paper was very informative and I was able to find ways to become more involved with the issue. I liked how you incorporated information such as explaining the child no left behind act and how past and present president have affected the act. I was surprised to know how much Bush helped in standardized testing. He made it a very big point that students’ test scores on these tests show how smart they are and are even stepping stones to get into the right colleges. I was also unaware on how much Obama is overpowering what Bush did to take it to an even further point to make schools not only go from underperforming to performing, but to help children know their career choice by the time they graduate. This shows that our country is in a dilemma and we are so behind that need acts such as these. Not every school is as privileged as the next. That is unfair for some students to receive a better education than others when our main goal is to work together as a generation to improve our economic goals and stand points. I like how there were websites that incorporated how we can become involved politically and it makes me realize just how much our vote counts. We should look for candidates that look to not only focus on this act but to improve it to its entirety. This may be a stepping stone as our country is constantly looked down on for education. The only thing I would say is to maybe have more information in your annotated bibliography. I felt the overall paper was very successful. It was interesting to find the ways our government looks to improve our educational system. I have not yet had the experience of voting but I plan to register for this upcoming election. Because of this paper I will now do more research on my candidate that I may choose and I will look to see what changes they will be making for the school systems. Depending on how the candidate plans to handle our country’s educational issues, will help me to determine if he is the type of person I feel we should be looking up to in office. It is unfortunate to come to find that the candidate you have chosen is a disappointment if they do in fact take office and nothing seems to be changed. We live in a world of politics and we need to take a stand in order to have our voices heard about our educational disadvantages.
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Jean Claud Sunga
Reading your paper made me realize what is actually going on not just in the school system but also with the politics and the political issues that are going on. To be honest I am not really into politics, I don’t pay attention to it just because I have other things in mind, but because of your paper it made me want to research about politics especially about the school system because whatever we do as a student, now or before, it affect the decision of the common people and also the politicians. Then later on it will either give students opportunities or more laws. I believe students have improved a lot because of the no child left behind and also public school. I remember when I was still in high school, one of my teachers showed us a video of US students and other students from different countries, and it shows how US students are having a hard time or are not taking advantage of the school opportunities here and they are given more than what other countries have but are still getting low scores. The other countries like china have high test scores and supposedly don’t have time to “not do anything” or just “chill at home” because they are either busy studying or have a type of musical club. My point in sharing this is that yes we are improving or some people are improving their education, but not all, some schools are given more but they do not take advantage of it, I’m not just talking about money but also resources. I’ve read a couple of articles about the no child left behind and its saying that its helping school who needs more money, but I think the students’ needs to realize what they have first and also do their part, because if they don’t, all the hard work of other people, like teachers and counselors, will go to waste. I think I should start caring about politics now and that is because of your paper, it opened my eyes and made me realize what else I should care about. About the part where you said we should pick the right candidate who support our views, but as far as I can see, those people keeps saying things that they are going to do, but then they don’t really do most of them and then voters regret voting them and try to vote for someone else, who then does the same thing. Politics is really
crazy that is why I don’t pay attention to it because I don’t see any changes and I used to have high expectations from those people until I realized what is actually going on, so I stopped caring. I think its Money is another reason, I’ve never seen a broke politician before, NEVER. And us, working people are the ones who works really hard to sustain our lives but at the end of the day our money from taxes goes to the government and we are left with nothing because of the other things we have to pay for, while other politicians have all the money they want and need and have the life they wanted and can spend their money lavishly.
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Jami Busse
For this week’s reading journal, I read” Your Mother and I” by Dave Eggers. I liked this piece a lot because of how it was written. In it Egger wrote basically in a conversation form but left the one side of the conversation out of it. This is very unique and I think is what made it so enjoyable to read. The main character in this piece is kind of humorous in the way he tells what I’m assuming as his child or children about the accomplishments that they have achieved. When he said that the roofs weren’t being used in any way and he thought hey lets have the building generate their own energy. This is kind of random but yet kind of inspiring to just think of something on a whim and have it turn into something really great and sustainable. He says all the things about making all the roads red and getting rid of school funding tied with local property taxes. All these things are a pretty big thing to change but yet he makes it seem like it was nothing. I can tell when they talk about the cheese that Egger is doing It to show that this is just a casual conversation and that it just seems natural. Reading this piece kind of made me think of super hero’s conquering one thing flawlessly and starting the next thing without a blink of an eye. I think that all these things are things that maybe Egger wants to change and in his mind would like to be the one to do it. He might even want to go to the extent of starting off his sentences to his son or daughter with Your Mother and I also.
Eggers, Dave. “Your Mother And I.” How We Are Hungry. McSweeney’s 2002: 115-123. “Splatter: The Messy Art of Writing.” Web. 02, Feb. 2012 -
Jami Busse
After talking and learning about service and activism, I think that both these things have similarities and differences. I think that the service is a planned or set up thing that you can go out and do. It could be working at a soup kitchen or boxing food to send overseas. Service can be a one-time thing that you do or a repeated thing that you do. Activism is something that isn’t necessarily planned but it’s the part where you go out and do the planning and finding things that need to be change.These are the things that can make a difference on a certain issue. The similarities between them are that they both have to do with going out and making a difference on an issue. Without service and activism we really would be no change in the world. So both these things are great and very important in helping better the world.
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Jami Busse
After reading “Village Voice” by Peter Hessler, I was instantly inspired by Rajeev’s story. I think that it is amazing what he did and what he is still continuing to do for countries in need. Rajeev doesn’t let anything or anyone hold him back. He took his role at the Peace Corps to the next level by going around and setting up a village in Nepal called Namje to get water from the nearest spring without having to travel a ways to get it. I liked how how Hessler threw in the background about the Peace Corps and how President John F. Kennedy founded it because I didn’t know the history of the Peace Corps and this helps fully understand it better. I think that the Peace Corps is a very good organization and I think that presidents should do more to get money to fund it. I think it is amazing how Rajeev never gave up and even though his time in the Peace Corps was up and he left to go to laws school; he still helped in developing Namje. He then knew that he could help get more support for the Peace Corps and but his time and effort into helping expand the organization. He knew the key to this was getting congress to back and support the organization fully. He also set out to contact influential people that could help him give the organization attention. This shows his dedication and his work ethic and how caring he is to others especially those in third world countries. I think that what Rajeev is doing is great and I hope that he continues doing it to show others that one person can make a difference.
Hessler, Peter. ” A Reporter at Large, Village Voice, The Peace Corp’s Brightest Hope.” Online book the New Yorker. 2010.Last accesed February 8, 2012. pgs 101-109 splatter.writing101.net -
Jami Busse
While doing the “Who would survive?” exercise I thought that it was very interesting. Even though you our ultimately picking out who should live and who should die it does make you think about what would really happen if that situation was real. I thought that this is a very weird concept to think about. When I first saw that there were families and young children I based my decision off of that and said that all the families and kids should survive, even though some of my other classmates decided to do the exact opposite. I think that the people who don’t have any children should be willing to sacrifice themselves because they don’t have a child to look after and be there for. If a parent would die then that could be detrimental to the child’s life. I think that everyone got rid of Mr. Garcia right away because of his health. That and also his age, he was 66, the oldest of the whole group. I think that this does come to play in our society a lot that everyone wants to stay young and healthy forever. Ageing is one thing that we cannot help and that comes to us all. I found it hard to keep the woman who was a prostitute because i also feel that if the person didn’t live there life right that them to should sacrifice themselves and give others who want to have a positive and meaningful life to get their chance. The only reason why i kept her was because she had a baby and she was still nursing it. I think that with all that was said and discussed about this exercise it really makes you think about if you were put in that situation how would you handle it.
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Jami Busse
I read the piece called, what it means when a crowd in a faraway nation takes a soldier representing your own nation, shoots him, drags him from his vehicle and then mutilates him the dust. After reading it I immediately thought of the character who was reading the paper as a very patriotic person. Even though he wasn’t a solider himself, he still shows dedication to his country by caring for the troops overseas. We can see this by the way he reacted. In the piece he says, “He doesn’t feel this way when he hears about trains colliding, or a family, in Missouri, drowning in their minivan in a December lake.” I think that the character in this felt a great attachment to the soldier’s that fight for their country because of what they do for their country. I think that maybe the character has never been exposed to what he saw in the picture. Even if he had, just the fact that it happened to a solider that was fighting for his country died hits a different cord. As opposed to it being just a regular citizen. I like the way Egger wrote this piece. His sentences just blended right along with the each other and went on very smoothly. He uses very good imagery and has an effective storyline. I actually did like the ending even though it did end on somber note. I was really taken by this piece because I do know people in the military and it breaks my heart to see things like this happen to them.
— Eggers, Dave. “How We Are Hungry”, What It Means When A Crowd In A Faraway Nation Takes A Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him From His Vehicle And Then Mutilates Him In The Dust. McSweeney’s, 2004. pgs 17-18. Splatter.writing101.net 2012 -
Jami Busse
Live Die Kill Those three words are simple…
Live. Die. Kill. Those three words are simple to say, simple to spell and simple to define. Except when you ask them in questions like these: What do you live for? What would you die for and what would you kill for? Once put in these questions their not so simple any more. At least that’s the way I view it. I think that when put in those questions the meanings change completely because they have both the literal meaning and the figurative meaning. So when asked to answer those three questions I think it took me a while to really grasp on the answer I would give but once really thought about them many things came to mind.
When asked the question, “What do you live for?” A thousand different things came to mind. I live for my future, I live for my family. I live for music and friends and love. The list can go on and on from there. So maybe the question shouldn’t be what do you live for but rather what can’t you live without? When I thought of the question in that perspective, only a few things remained. I live every day to get to the next. Just so I can experience different things in my everyday life. I live just to see where I’ll be in 5 years or in 10 years. Where will I live? Will I be married? Will I still be having some of the same friends? I ask myself these questions, as I’m sure a lot of people do, every day and I always wonder and guess the answer even though I’ll never know until I get there. Knowing that I don’t have a definite answer for these questions is what sparks my curiosity to see how they will turn out. I wish that life wasn’t so unpredictable and although we have control of some factors of where our lives will lead to. Life does through some unexpected things our way as well. One event in your life has the power to change your whole life forever and that thought worries me. I also want to live my live without any regrets. I dont think it’s a good thing to look back at your life and regret everything that you did. Once you start, your life will be consumed with what ifs and that is not healthy, mentally for yourself. Another thing I live for is to see my younger siblings grow up and go through the changes of going to high school and college just like I did and am doing. I have both a younger sister and brother and I love them dearly. My brother is starting high school next year and I’m both nervous and excited to see how he changes. My sister has a couple more years until she attends high school but I enjoy everything that is happens in her life today. I am a very family oriented person, as you can tell, and I always think about my family above myself. That’s why I live to see my family happy and rise from the bad times and celebrate the good. I live for the moments when we are all together having fun and enjoying each other’s company. Another thing that is important to me is that I live to make people smile and make them feel happy and special. I truly believe that one person has the capability to turn someone else day around just by giving one smile. No matter if they are in a bad mood or just having a bad day. I think that just showing some one compassion really helps turn there day around.
When asked the second question, what would I die for? I immediately thought I would die for any one I really care about. This would include my mother or father, my sister or brothers or any of my younger cousins and my future family, children and husband. I think that this is a big statement that id thrown around a lot but when it comes down to it. I would honestly say that I would die for any of them. Although I think that some of the people that I listed wouldn’t let me die for them but I would do it anyway. I wouldn’t be able to stand the fact that I could have helped and prevented things from happening to any of my loved ones. I think that without saying everyone would say that about their family and as we often see in the news today, people do risk their lives for others every day. People like police men and woman, firefighters and all our troops overseas. Even though they have families of their own they still go out and save the lives of people they don’t know even if it means risking their own. That is one quality that shows the true heart and dedication of people and that is inspirational to me. They die so that others can live.
Now getting to the last one and the one that I think makes people really question their character is, what would you kill for? To answer that question honestly I would never intentionally kill someone for something. But in the circumstances that I was in a situation that would need me to kill to survive then yes I would. It would not be out of hate, rage or jealousy like some of the stories heard around the globe. I believe that if your own life or someone in my family was in danger. I think that if I had the opportunity to save myself or others that it should not be thought of as killing but rather defending. I wouldn’t kill anyone unless it was absolutely necessary. If ever but in any situation that I would need to fight for my life or some else’s I would not give up. Sometimes killing is necessary and we can see this by all the wars and violence going on around the world. Too many people die out of hate and rage of other people and it’s not right.
With all that said I defiantly have a new perspective on those three words: Live. Die. Kill. I think that when you look at them they may not seem like they could have some relation because living and dying are 2 opposites. But in all reality they all can be linked together and that in my case would be my family. I love my family and would do anything for them as I’m sure many others would do to. I live to see them grow. I would die to see them live and I would kill anyone that had any intention of hurting them.
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Jackie Xiques
II felt this writing was very honest and moving. It was easily shown the strong love you have for your family. It made me get a sense of the type of person you are and strive to be which was important for writing this essay. You answered all the questions with detailed responses and emotion. It showed you are a selfless person when you said even if they would not die for you; you would still do it for them. It was interesting to notice that you care about your family so much that you live to see them grow into their future. I agreed with you when you said that you would only kill under the right circumstances. You kill for the ones you love and I can strongly empathize. I felt your paragraphs were well organized and I was able to understand each question you were answering. You provided more than enough information to respond to the questions without sounded short sided. I liked how you transitioned the question that asked what would you live to what can’t you live without. That was very clever to me and you supported the question nicely. It put the question into a different perspective and it was a fresh take on how it could be answered. It was obvious that you are excited for what the future hold but there is still the fear of change. You are scared of what the future hold but you are still moving forward and living life with a family oriented mentality. I agree because family is such a strong support system that will aid in making your future successful and as you grow, you also grow with your family. You also seem to stress the importance of decisions made correctly because one bad one can ruin a life full of goals. Not being able to tell what the future holds is a fear everyone is concerned with overcoming and that is also something I could relate to. You seem to be strong when you said that you would continue fighting and not give up. It shows a deep sense of character that is well respected. In summary I feel that your article was all based on family and making sacrifices for them. The interpretation I first had was that you should live kill and die for what matters most to you and not worry what will happen. You mentioned not knowing where you will be in five or ten years or if you will have the same friends but you seem to see reality and know along the way things will change because life is so unpredictable. My favorite part was your concluding sentence. I felt it was the strongest part of the whole piece because it tied everything together into one simple thought. That is a hard task to fulfill when all of the questions asked of us were of the highest complexity. Overall the paper was a success to me and I enjoyed reading it.
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Jaclyn Epstein
I really liked your essay and could really relate to your responses! I really agreed with you when you said you try and live without regrets. I think alot of people who have regrets become really unhappy with their life and always think what could have been. I also really liked how you “live” to see what your future holds. I also said something like this in my essay as well. What I got from your essay is the fact that you truly care about your family obviously. By reading your essay you can tell they really mean alot, and you would do anything for them. I really enjoyed reading your what you would “die” for paragraph. I found it really interesting that you included your future husband and kids, it made your essay seem really genuine and original. Also how you included firefighters, policemen, and our troops. I seen some people include troops, but I don’t think I seen anyone include policemen and firefighters! Your essay was really well organized. I can clearly differenciate your beginning, middle, and ending. Overall reading your essay was enjoyable. I liked and agreed with most of your responses. I think you provided really good details for your answers. I like how you also explained your answers and why you said what you said.
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Jaclyn Epstein
Reading your essay was nice because you obviously are very passionate about what you care for. Your paragraph on what you would kill for was really good. I like how you said you would keep fighting for yourself or someone you cared for. I agree that killing is a bad thing but if it’s for a good cause like defending you or a family member, it could be understood a little better. I strongly agree with you on the fact that too many people die out of rage and hate. I believe alot of people now a days don’t believe how lucky that they are and take life for granted. People get killed now a days for such silly reasons and no one should have that right to take a human life, when the person doing the killing obviously doesn’t value their own life. It’s really sad. I really like your last few sentences of your essay. You kind of intertwined and related the “live, die, kill” meanings together. That really grabbed my attention and it was really cool!
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Jean Claud Sunga
your paper was constructed very well and i can see that you have put a lot of effort into it to make it enjoyable to read. I give high respect for you for loving your family and how your family has a very big impact on you. I can see that you will be a good parent when you have a family of your own. I think it is really important to have a good relationship with our parents or family and treat them with respect because in a few years or decades we would be having our own family and we would want to be treated with respect and the way we want to be treated. i believe that our family is our first teachers because it is where we learn our morals and values and they are the ones who shapes our personality and attitude. i like how you included yourself to your siblings life, because a lot of old brothers or sisters don’t really do that anymore with their younger siblings because of selfish reasons or they have to work or go to school also, that they dont have time for their younger siblings. I think it is very important for younger siblings to have an older sibling who they could go to or talk to for advice because they become their first role models even if they don’t realize that. I think what we do around younger children reflects what they will be doing in the future because it is what they see and think is right or that they can do it too because we did it. So i think it is important to be very cautious with what we’re doing. I like how you gave credit to those people who are risking their lives to save our country, nation and community. Not everybody appreciates what they do because they think that they are bad people, meaning the police men or women, because when some people do something bad and they get caught they automatically think that the cops are the bad people when the cops are just trying to their jobs to keep the place safe. i also like how you said that you live to see your family happy and rise from the bad times because i can relate to it. I like to see my family happy because it makes me happy physically and emotionally. i feel very relaxed when i see them happy and thank god that i am still experiencing happiness around the people i care about. not everyone are fortunate to spend time with their family and see them laugh, smile or even cry. so i think we are really fortunate and should appreciate what we have.
I really liked your essay because its very interesting and it grabbed my attention specially when you talk about family because i love my family so much too and i would live, die and kill for them also.
as a reader i really liked you writing skills and organization, the words that you have used and i think the only thing i can advice you to do is to re read your essay for grammatically errors or spellings but other than that i think your paper flow really good and you are very honest with your answers and its easy to read and not confusing. I am looking forward to read your other written works.
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Jackie Xiques, and 
Jaclyn Epstein are discussing. 
Jean Claud Sunga, 
Kristina Marynczak are discussing. 
Jaclyn Epstein 4:12 pm on April 21, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I really liked your paper! You might want to go back and spell check some things though. Other than that, I really enjoyed reading it. I too thought it was kind of a weird way to get to know people, the “speed dating” way. I guess he wanted us to get more well acquainted with other people in the class and actually work with people that share the same beliefs as us. So in all reality, it was not that bad of an idea. I really like that you guys wanted to work with animals! I really truly agree with you in that it is a really overlooked issue. Maybe people think we should care more about the wellbeing of humans, over animals? Which is really sad, but hey, that is life! “I think that animals are just as important as humans are even if they are nothing like us they should have the right to be safe and live in a good atmosphere where their loved and cared for.” I agree with you 100%. Animals are living breathing creatures, just like humans, so why do their rights get over looked and pushed to the side? That is weird how paws makes you sign a contract for six months, but I guess that is understandable, because I am sure they just want reliable people who are actually dedicated. So it stinks that you guys could not work with them but the animal welfare league does really great things! “I’m just nervous for when we go there and spend time with the dogs that I’m going to fall in love with them and end up taking one home.” I actually went to the welfare league about a month ago to look at dogs, and I completely know what you mean! I wanted to take home every single dog. I fell in love with about five different dogs, they are all so cute, I wish they could just all be adopted. It is sad to think that most of the dogs, the owners just gave up. I think you will really like volunteering with them because they really seem like nice people, that truly care about the animals and their well being. I really want to read your paper after you go volunteer! I want to hear about the experience and how it went. You sounded like you and your group had sort of a tough time coming up with a schedule, which I can relate to because my group had the same issues. With work and school, it is hard to actually make time to do a volunteer project. I am sure most people do not want to spend their free time doing volunteer work, but it really is a good thing we are all doing. Like I said, your paper was really good, just maybe go back and do some spell checking!(:
Jackie Xiques 10:50 am on April 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
First I would like to commend you on choosing to volunteer at the Animal Welfare League. It is difficult for some to go and volunteer their time there because the work is not the most glamorous. I went there to volunteer and it seemed that they need all the help that they can get because they are such short staffed and only work off of who volunteers to help them. They basically run off the donations people in the area or local neighborhoods bring. When I went to help there I was so saddened by the many animals without a home or who were mistreated and are not in the best condition that they should be. There were some animals that seemed to be so healthy but were overlooked getting adopted because they were not puppies. Puppies are the ones that go the fastest and it was apparent from all the dogs that had been at the welfare for a while. Some of the animals are very sick and they are divided from the other animals. They are not able to be touched be even the volunteers. When you volunteer you are able to help walk the dogs. They also let you clean their cage and get to know the animals on a personal level. When I left there, I left with a feeling of strong accomplishment for doing something I felt was beneficial to the animals. They all seemed so excited to receive attention and I wish I could find a home for each and every one of them. Your paper was well written and I can sense the enthusiasm you have to help these animals. It will be hard because you are likely to get attached but as long as you remember it is for a good cause then the better your experience will be. Your paper showed me that even though your group was discouraged, everyone still continued to pursue this organization even though you had been rejected. It was a good idea because it turned out to be that you were able to help after all. It always makes it so much netter to volunteer when it is an organization you are passionate about. I could also sense nervousness in your paper because of the fact you have a soft spot for animals, leaving without one will not be an easy task. I feel your paper was organized and showed the organization of your group. I agree that the “speed dating” was helpful in terms of meeting new people and being able to decide groups more efficiently. It also gave an opportunity to work with people outside of the circle you have been comfortable with through the semester. Hopefully this project will be an exciting journey for you and the possible friendships you have made. This service project will bring the group closer together because you were all able to share the experience. Overall, the draft was a good read and will make it easier to write the final portfolio piece.
Jackie Xiques 11:22 am on April 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
When I finished this paper I was happy to read that you were going a different approach and looking to help the food pantry. My group has also thought of that as well and we also had the struggle of finding organizations that were willing to work with us. When reading your paper I could understand your effort and frustration in trying to find places and the fact that you are volunteering free work and you are being turned down. It is very discouraging and you feel that you will never find an organization that will accept your group and their mission. When we contacted the Moraine Food Pantry we were quickly accepted but I found an organization that would be closer for me and also do the same as the other organization. I could not help but get angered when we had to change our topic from helping children to the food pantry because organizations were not open for free help. I liked how in your paper you explained that there are people who complain about not eating for a couple hours and there are people who have not seen a meal in days. It is such an important idea that we all take a stand and help those who are less fortunate. I could not believe what I heard about the starvation rate. I liked how you talked about your passion for helping others that do not have food. I also liked how you incorporated your other service project experience, so the other members of your group could also participate. I was happy to see you and your group members were excited to make a change and for a cause you feel strongly about. I could not believe that food pantries would deny help because of all the people who are in need of food. I feel that there are other things that can be done such as more food being volunteered so that there is work to be done for people who want to help. If there is no room for more help then there is not enough food being donated. I feel that in order to also fulfill the needs of this project it should go beyond just the service act but also carry on after this semester. I like your idea not only because my group is also doing it but because it is an issue that is large but unfortunately overlooked. I felt your paper truly expressed your mission and how you went about pursuing it. I do not think that three member s is a small group because I feel it is just enough people to work together organized and effectively. Overall I felt you had a strong draft and I want to know which organization you decided to choose. I hope that everything works out with you and your organization and you could maybe incorporate the other experience with the one you will experience for your final portfolio piece. I wish you luck and I support your idea completely.
Jackie Xiques 11:23 am on April 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
oops this was for someone else !