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In chapter two of “why White Rice?” there is important point that is mention. Unfortunately, many of us do not intend to follow this rule. I’m talking about comfort zone. In high school, I have always tried to write papers that did not revile anything about me. When I say that I mean, when I had to write anything about myself, I did it but it wasn’t anything about me. I wasn’t feeling comfortable writing about my feelings, even if the only person that was reading my paper was just my teacher. After reading chapter two, I understood that the whole purpose of writing is to put down feelings on the paper. Before I went to college, I hated to do any type of writing; I couldn’t figure out what was about it that I just couldn’t bare it. Since I started college, I slowly opened up to the concept of reviling my thoughts and feelings on paper. My college 101 teacher helped me in discovering new ways of looking at what I write. Also this book made me realize that writing isn’t just something that must be done in accordance to what professor wants but more to what I want to include in it. That was my major mistake that I kept repeating in my high school; I kept trying to write paper that I thought that my teachers would like. Sometimes I didn’t agree with what I wrote but I still turned papers that I completely didn’t like in hope that my teacher would. Michael, McGuire. “Chapter 2.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. 25-59. Print.
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Grzegorz Bednarz
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Grzegorz Bednarz
In a first chapter of “Why White Rice?” there is couple ideas that are never mention in high school English class. We have always been tough in school that writing must be proper and according to some rules that are, as we proceed our education, useless. For instance, five paragraphs essay style that was always recommended and even forced on students but it was never truly explained why such a way of writing must be done. Another problem that it seems big to me is putting a lot of pressure on the grammar. For me, high school teachers focused too much on mechanics and not enough on developing the creativity and forming writing style. Chapter one in this book made me think a lot about high school structure of education and how it could be changed a little in order to allow students to develop and even start to like writing. This is big problem because it is very easy to discourage student to do something that is very hard for them. I was one of them; I hated to write anything in high school. I’ve always thought that I will try to stay away from it as much as possible. Since I took communication 101 and came across this book, I changed my opinion about writing. I see now that writing helps me getting my emotions out and understanding myself better by going through what I wrote. This is the first book that I would recommend to anyone that hates to write.
DeVillez, Eric R. “Chapter 1.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. 1-24. Print. -
Grzegorz Bednarz
In the short clip about homeless people on English streets called “No One Bothered,” with only couple characters that were interviewed, I could deduct that many of those people were talented. Life has a lot challenges that could bring people down and some of them could bounce off and still continue to be on their track. Sometimes, once you find yourself too far behind, it is very hard to go back to normal life. This short clip perfectly presented how people that lived normal lives couldn’t get back to the society, once they had break down. This documentary was shocking and sad but it should be broadcasted to the general public to show how people live without homes and what they are going through on the daily basis. It was unbelievable when people that were interviewed talked about how they are bullied by “normal people” every day and that being beaten up is just part of their lives. Those people have very hard time in adjusting and trying to do their best to live in better condition, and the fact that they are blocked and left without support it makes that much harder for them. Most of the part, it is our fault, people that do not accept differences of others. In my opinion, government should help those people by providing them with jobs that could lead them to better lives. If we, as a people can’t help them, higher authority should step up and do anything in their powers to improve the situation on streets.
Boxwell, Josephine, dir. No one bothered. Laurie Nicholls.Film. -
Grzegorz Bednarz
I think that the exercise “who will survive?” wasn’t very well constructed when it comes to showing our biases and prejudices. For me, it made me think about who would be able to survive after the nuclear attack. From given information, I took into consideration the radiation that would occur after the bombing and usefulness of those who survived and what would they bring to help later survival. I believe other member of the class went on similar reasoning.
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Grzegorz Bednarz
The story, “What it means when…” it makes you think critically about the old man past and what could have happened to him that made him emotionally unstable. Soldiers die every day in this world; they give up their lives to protect other and they are willing to die for what they believe. It is unusual for a random man to be very disturbed about picture of a dead soldier, to the point where he can’t continue his daily tasks. This old man was probably in the army at some point in his life and experienced violence during his service. We could assume that he felt very uneasy when he saw this disrespected body of a soldier that was lying on the road. This piece of work showed the feelings of this old man rather ten told which connected the reader to the writing and ignite some type of feelings. For me, it was anger on such a controversial publication. Showing such a brutal picture will only make the viewer angry or sad. In a present world, we are forced to feel indifference to act of violence like that. Media are overloading us with bad news and are only looking for sensation that would only give them higher ratings in readings or viewings. Many of those stories shouldn’t be publicized just for the news but to show how much violence there is around us. It is very sad that media nowadays are fighting over who can present better story and it is sad that most of them are aimed at violence.
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: The Messy Art of Writing.Web. 1 Feb. 2012 -
Grzegorz Bednarz
Life full of choices
Living in today’s world is very hard task to do. It is hard to find yourself in the maze of obstacles that never end. We could say that in order to live your life to the fullest you need to accept yourself and don’t let other people influence your decisions. Making your own decisions will lead you to discover who you are. Actions decided upon and executed by you define who you really are, not words spoken by others. Life is a very short journey that ends unexpectedly and when it does I will know that I will have no regrets.
Leading a boring monotonous life is not a life lived at all. There is no point of taking space in this world if a person does not live the way they want to. Someone that is a prisoner in their own life will be going through their life missing the most important values. At the end of their life such an individual will only have regrets about not living in the fashion that they had wished. Such an outcome is the thing that I fear the most. I fear watching my life pass me by like a spectator at a sports game.
Although, everyone has ups and downs in their lives and would like to forget about some of the things that have hurt them. I take life as an experience that is defines who I am. I do not regret any decisions I made because everyone has only one life and you cannot move forwards while looking backwards. Even those bad experiences are very important to me because they teach very important lessons. These lessons can only be learned by going out, making mistakes, and being brave enough to move forward.
I am continuing my education not because I want to get the degree that would give me job but because I don’t want to miss out on anything that could make me a better person. This is one of the priceless experiences that no one can take away. My parents told me that if I want to be happy in life, I need to find a career that I would do even if I didn’t earn any money from it. That career for me has something to do with law enforcement because I love helping people even without any appreciation from others.
I am studying criminal justice with the goal of devoting part of my life to helping people in need. There will be many life threatening situations and I am willing to sacrifice my life in order to save and protect innocent people. I believe that dying for a good reason is worth it rather than watch a good person suffer from something that I could have prevented. My belief is that a person that does good deeds shall be rewarded at the end of their life’s journey.
Killing a person is always very horrible and unfortunate thing but when it comes to saving someone’s life or mine, it is worth it. Defending innocent life by taking someone else is a very hard decision to make and not many people are willing to do it. As to myself, I think if I had to decide to save a life by taking another’s, I would do it without a doubt. Although, if there is alternative solution I would try that one first but if there is a risk of having innocent people to die, I wouldn’t risk their lives.
Though, there is one other thing that makes life worthwhile and that is adrenaline. The risk and my heart pounding is what drives me forward. That feeling is worth a million bucks and cannot be substituted for anything else. The best way to describe it is when you are driving hundred and thirty miles per hour on the highway and you feel the connection with the road; and that one little move can end up terrible but you still want to do it regardless of the consequences. Although, certain consequences do frighten me and because of that there are certain things that I will never do. An action such as, for example, recklessly speeding while intoxicated which may result in an injury to someone else other than me. I will continue to seek that next adrenaline rush as long as my action does not pose a threat to anyone else.
Death is one of the certain things in life. People die every day and that is the cycle of living that no one can cheat. My way of living is that if I were to die today I would die satisfied having lived my life to the fullest. I take out as much enjoyment as possible out of what I am doing and I would not change one thing in my past. Friedrich Nietzsche said “That which does not kill us makes us stronger” (Friedrich). This is a quote that I believe in strongly because life is a continuous learning experience and as long as I am alive I will continue to become smarter and more experienced. This, in turn, will allow me to become a stronger person mentally, physically, and emotionally.
As an example, when I was younger I was bullied in my grade school and none of the teachers would do anything to change that. I had to deal with it for a very long time and it seemed like I had no chance to get out of this cycle of mental and physical abuse. It came to the point that I didn’t want to be in school anymore; I felt hopeless. Every day for me was hard to get through. Not until I had to decide to do something about it. I had to step up and show my suppressors that I am much stronger than that and I have the power to overcome them. This taught me that nothing will change until I take my life into my own hands. This was rough experience but I wouldn’t want to go back and change that because it formed me and taught me to be strong. Now whenever I see that someone is bullied, I don’t stand on the side because I know that many of people wouldn’t do anything to help. Actions are what define us and I know that when someone needs help, I will be there to try to help as much as I can. No one was there when I needed help and I know that it is very hard to get out of a situation like the one I had encountered.
The most important thing in life is to live without having any regrets because life is too short to have lived not the way you want. Decisions that we make defines who we are and who we are portrayed as but no matter what people say, we should always do what we think is best for us. No one will live our lives but us alone. People should live peacefully and without worry for their lives. Therefore when it comes to harming them, I am willing to do anything in my power to protect them even when it comes to risk my life by saving others. Killing anyone is a horrible thing to do but I think there are exceptions to that. This is life changing experience but if I have to save a life by taking others, I believe that I wouldn’t hesitate to do what is necessary and needed.
work cited
“Friedrich Nietzsche.” BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2012. 30 January. 2012.
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Dawn Murry
In this essay, Gregorz did an excellent job describing and explaining what life meant to him. Just reading his first two paragraphs I felt and understand where he is coming from and what he was gaining from it. He understands that life in general is a hard task. But, to be part of life you have to be able to continue a positive outlook on things that are not so, positive. I feel when you have a mind frame like Gregorz that you are able to go a long way with life itself. It was one key phrase I felt is absolutely true that was pointed out which is life is “very short” for us not to take the roads of success accordingly. When, you live a life that is boring and or even committing a crime to put you in a place like prison. This is showing your life isn’t taking seriously. This essay here is amazing! If everyone was like Gregorz and his parents, I feel this world be a better place to live in. Your thoughts on live are so, well rounded with such inspiration. Just from your perspective of live just sums it up for the world to hear. Your explanation on killing I totally agree with on the respect if this is your job like you stated and there are some decisions that are needed to be met. But, harming another person just because isn’t the path we all need to take. It is a hard decision to make because, life is so precious that you don’t want to make the wrong turn at all especially harming someone but, unfortunately in law enforcement you have to make those type of conscious decisions at a drop of a dime.
When Gregorz, was been bullied I think that is truly sad because a place like a school full of adults that know right from wrong should have been the first one to jump in and help to make that learning environment a comfortable place to be in. it is a wonder that you have such strength and encouragement to get pass something like bulling. In some, cases that has hindered people all the way to their adult life. Which could of cause other problems. You’re whole summary on what you think Live, Die or Kill is excellent on how this one topic means so, much to everyone in various different ways. The way Gregorz even address these topics were great because, there wasn’t any thought of been negative or critical it was straight to the point with strong thought on this how it should work. All indicting respect everyone surrounding you.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this essay. If you had our thoughts or feelings on life this here will make you turn things around. This essay was strong words of encouragement that can help lead you in the correct path on how things should at least be viewed. I know everyone has different views and thoughts but, this here let you see on an extremely positive aspect on what can be.
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William Adams
this essay by Grzegorz was very well written and spoken i like how he describe something and connected it to his life and what reasons he had to live. i agree with him on things such as why look be hide you wen your eyes are in front of you. i like how he showed things that connect to his life like what he wanted to do with his life and why he think it would be important to kill die for someone and live for them i like how you explained how you would live for someone the most and i really think you have a point why live life with regrets why not live your live worry free. no one likes stress so you have tot move on from that stress and keep moving forward. i think your reasoning and how you wrote this would be very similar to mine.i think becoming something to protect and serve like a police officer is great. i can see why you chose a criminal justice profession putting your life on the line isn’t something you can just do for anyone its a mental mind set that you would have also same thing with taking someones life.
i think this essay was well written an very good i enjoyed it very much and i think it had all the things needed and they were each very well explained nothing was missing. your essay was powerful and had meaning to it. which is why i respect this essay so much. Very good Essay
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Keitha Cheeks
I love how Grzegorz clearly explains what life means to him. It is very important to live without regrets. I like how he add real life experiences in the story to further express the way he feel about living with out regrets! I enjoyed reading this essay because it made some very interesting points, and made me think about the same things. This essay seemed to be written by a professional because during the time while i was reading i found myself thinking a lot and relating to my life and things that happened to me.
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Corey Gallai
The writer did a great job writing this essay. He does a great job giving an explanation of life means to him. The writer has a great intro to the paper. It seems that Grzegorz is lives for trying to get a higher education and studying criminal justice. I like how the writer says he is not getting a higher education because of the degree but because he does not want to miss out on anything. I agree. I am going to school now to make something of myself and not regret it later on in life. I think we sometimes regret when they are too late. It also seems that Grzegorz wants to help people, which I think is a great thing! I also believe that people who do good things will be rewarded later on. I can agree when the writer said he would want to die having lived his life to the fullest. I would want to do that. I would want to have accomplished as much as I could have and not have any regrets.
I liked the personal connections to the essay. I think that always helps when reading a story. I am sorry to hear that you were bullied in school. It’s sad that that kind of thing has to go on in school. I think that some of the teachers should have helped you out in this situation.Overall, this was an excellent paper!! I liked the stories you tied into the paper. You did a great job addressing the three questions that Prof. M was asking for. I also liked that you gave your own meaning of what life means to you. I agree that life is too short. Live life to fullest. Keep working hard!!!
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Grzegorz Bednarz
To understand what ecological literacy means, one not only has to learn about the environment but also how to implement a healthy way of living with the ecosystem. It is easier said than done. As our industry moves forward with new technology that make our lives easier and more comfortable, we lose the sense of being responsible for our environment. In my opinion, there will never be a dynamic balance in our economy (Capra 85). Companies will always be seeking better ways to maximize profits. New technologies that reduce the harm on environment are still very expensive to not only companies that put effort to produce them but also for the regular citizens of this world. Therefore, there is a long way before people realize how important it is to preserve natural resources that are slowly vanishing from the Earth. The government doesn’t do a very good job with educating people on how to preserve the world because that’s a very expensive process to accomplish and it doesn’t bring any profits. In theory, ecological tax sounds reasonable but in reality it would never work and would be unfair (Capra 83). If the government taxed something that wasn’t previously taxed before it will have to impose strict rules on those resources. That would increase the gap between economic classes. People as a whole will need to take a control of the environment because the Earth doesn’t belong to any institution but to every living thing that occupies it. As to myself, I believe that I am trying to preserve our resources by refusing to buy a new car and saving energy by turning lights off when they are not necessary. What if government imposed tax on every breath I take, since I, as a human produce harmful gasses to the Earth?
Capra, Fritjof. The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. New York: Anchor, 1996. Print. -
Grzegorz Bednarz
Grading contract is well constructed and it doesn’t penalizes for opinions included in the paper.
Dawn Murry is discussing. 
Corey Gallai, 
Keitha Cheeks, 
William Adams and one other person are discussing. 
Dawn Murry 10:08 am on February 16, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I totally agree with you Gregorz because, everything in the high school settings is developed so much on structure it’s ridiculous. I feel also that they need to focus more on what the interests of the students are and incorporated it into the lesson plan. This way you gain there interest, develop their emotions and teach the structure that you are trying to do. Then everyone wins!