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)
intro-conclusion
Get INVOLVED
Throughout this semester I have worked on many different papers talking about getting out there and helping people that are less fortunate. These papers have come from the heart, these experiences were life changing and found my inner soul and were expressed on to paper. The organizations that I went to volunteer at this semester changed my life and whole perspective on volunteer work. I always thought that I was to busy and had too much to do I didn’t have time to help others in need. But when you take the time to actually step back and try and understand why these people at organizations help every single day you realize that you can make a difference in actually saving someone’s life. How many people can go home and say I saved a life today? That is normally not a part of everyone’s normal day routine. So to volunteer whether you are feeding the hungry, giving low-income families food, or packing shoes to give to a third word country you are saving a life and you should not cut yourself short of this accomplishment. Not only did I feel a sense of accomplishment throughout this semester but through these papers I have expressed what I’ve learned and what I will carry with me for the rest of my life. A class is only a semester long but what really matters is when after the class is done with what you can take along with you through the journey of life. To me this portfolio isn’t just a bunch of papers put together in this book it is life experiences almost like letters to myself of what I learned along the way. From when I went to my first organization at share your soles to my last organization at Orland food pantry I learned something from beginning to end and noted that all onto paper. Every college student that I have talked to says that they are either too busy or just feel that they cannot make a difference so they see no need to help out but you shouldn’t feel this way and after going through all this volunteer work I have realized that this is far from the truth. I met very extraordinary people that care so much about what they do and really made a difference on there own so don’t use this an excuse to not help out. If your so busy that you feel you cant get anywhere to help out you can help out for just an hour when you have nothing to do people say they do not have time but then turn around and say they are bored well if your bored get out there and HELP!! What you need is a push and ill be the first to admit that is what I needed to do community service just because and that’s exactly what this class was it was a push to help those in need. After I got that little push I got really into it I noticed that when going to my first organization I was dreading it I couldn’t wait to go and get it done with but by the last time I helped I was actually excited to go and help and couldn’t wait to tell my classmates, friends, and family what I learned by going and what I did to help. Community service I consider to be contagious once you go and get hooked on it you want others to get involved to and you want to spread the word. There is nothing wrong with not being sure if you want to help or not but if you aren’t sure just find something that interests you and help out there. I hope through my writings you can find an organization that sounds interesting to you and you can get motivated to not only help out but to help out others. I hope to achieve my goal through my writings and that is that the people that read this portfolio understand how much my perspective on volunteer work from beginning to end changes and that motivates them to get out there and get involved in hope that they will change there perspective also. All it takes is one day one experience that really had an affect on you to change your life so try it think about it you have nothing to loose you only have knowledge and hopefulness to gain!
Its your turn..
Now that you have read all of my papers it is your turn to get out there and help. I hope that my portfolio has motivated you to do this. Writing this conclusion to this portfolio I feel a sense of accomplishment. After I went through so much and learned so much and I was just able to put it all on paper and include it in this book. I hope to continue my journey and to keep helping others that are less fortunate then me. This is not only the conclusion to this class and semester so it is a big accomplishment to make it this far. After my group completed the Orland Food Pantry project there was an Act Out volunteer fair that my teacher Mr. Mcguire organized. My group had to make a poster board and take it to the volunteer fair where we talked about what we learned from this organization and educate others that may be interested in volunteer work they just don’t know where to go. After sticking by my poster for a while I walked around and looked at other places that other students in the class had went to and helped out. There were people there to represent the groups and tell you a lot more information that you need to know about the organization and how you could get involved. I could not believe how much work people put into these poster boards it was amazing to see how much hard work went into this fair. I enjoyed my time at the fair and going into this class I cannot say that I would have had the good time that I did looking at volunteer work like I did at the end. By walking around the fair I got a sense that a lot of my classmates felt the same way because their poster boards were awesome and everyone had a smile on there face and was laughing and joking around. This fair in my opinion was a great way to end this volunteer work and semester because it made everyone realize that all of there hard work paid off and now they can talk about it and get others involved and want to be involved. This is my first year in college and this was the first class that I actually had life experiences and can take it with me for the rest of my life. When I was looking back at all of papers I felt as though I was looking back at accomplishment and achievement. Volunteer work is not just going and helping out it helps you find what kind of person you want to become. It makes you feel good about yourself and motivated and that to me is the best feeling in the world. Volunteer work doesn’t have to be boring you can take friends with you or family the more people you bring the better it is. There is no certain way that you have to volunteer so make it fun and hopefully you will come out of it with a whole new look on things like I did. I hope that by reading my work you can reflect back on some of the pieces that you read and try and get involved. I thought that I could never make a difference but the truth is I already have I’ve helped out at two organizations and changed the peoples lives that I’ve worked with just as they’ve changed my mind. So get out there and touch the hearts of others I believe that anyone can make a difference all they have to do is care.
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Grace Cosentino
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Grace Cosentino
does anyone know if the elevator outline speech has to be in our final portfolios?
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Grace Cosentino
For my last journal I am going to talk about the ACT OUT volunteer fair! When I walked in on May first I was really surprised because it was a pretty good turnout it can always be better of course but a lot of people really took it upon themselves to get their organizations leaders to come and represent their poster boards. I had the Orland Food Pantry and our representative Mary Ann ended up coming which made me really happy and when she said that it was a great thing what we were doing it really made me realize that it was a great opportunity to be able to participate in this fair. The poster boards were all really awesome too I did not go to one stand that someone just slapped something together overall as a class I think everyone really put time and effort in and cared about the project. At the end of the fair after walking around and talking to all the representatives of each poster board Mona Purdy from share your soles talked and I actually went to her organization in the beginning of the year and she was a great person to have wrap up the fair in my opinion because she just has such an upbeat attitude about things and you can tell She’s really passionate about what she does it motivates you to want to help. I thought it was a positive experience and I hope as the years go on if you continue to do this the turn out just gets better and better.
“Act Out”. Volunteer Fair. Moraine Valley Community College. 1 May 2012 -
Grace Cosentino
For my journal this week I am doing it on the poem that we watched in class on language recited by Taylor Mali. It made me laugh because he kept saying “like” or “like yknow” and I say those things all the time and I never really realized how stupid that sounds until you hear it coming out of someone’s mouth who is trying to make a point of how stupid that sounds. I feel that this video corresponded with what we were learning in class on Tuesday that the way you write or say things can greatly influence the way you want to portray something. Just by adding simple little words to your sentences for example “like” it can completely alter the point you are trying to say not only when speaking but also when writing. Mr. Mcguire went through a slide show of different sentences that though meant the exact same thing or was trying to mean the same thing was a completely different emotion of how you felt when you read it. For example one of them that stood out to me was “I am deeply sorry for your loss” or “hey I heard your uncle died” though both of those are hinting at the same point this person is trying to get across it comes off in a completely different way and one of them might be taken offensive by the person you are saying it to. I think this is a good thing to remember when writing a paper that you have to be careful the way you are wording your sentences because what you are trying to say could come off completely offensive to someone else. When you are writing a paper you have to think of your audience and readers and what people will think of your statements and opinions.
Mali, Taylor. TOTALLY LIKE WHATEVER, YOU KNOW? http://www.tayormali.com. Copyright 2009 -
Grace Cosentino
service part two Project #5
To me community service is not necessary I know that these things have to get done but it just is not for me I do not really like to do it and never have. This semester taught me that sometimes you have to do things that you may not really want to do and I feel that this is what Mr. Mcguire has been trying to teach us that to really learn what kind of person you are and are going to become you have to do things that are completely out of your comfort zone. You have to put your thoughts aside and think in a different persons perspective you have to try and walk a day in someone else’s shoes to understand what this lifestyle consists of and why they do this every day and some like the Orland food Pantry actually have made it their lifetime job.
The reason for community service is to change the world it is not just to go for a few hours and be done with it. From going to this organization along with the other one, the share your souls foundation, I have realized that it may take a certain kind of person to do this every day but you just need to understand that you can make a change. I feel that I may have been so against going to do service work because I felt like me myself and I could not make a difference but that is not true. In both organizations there were people that really put their hearts and soul into helping and they are making a difference. Anyone can do this and you just need to really care it was nice to just sit and observe at first to really see these people care so much about what they do and helping these people that are starving, hungry, and have no food try and make a better life for themselves.
The first part of this project was to meet with the group and decide what kind of service we will be doing to understand more about the community and be able to reflect on the work that we did and be able to write about it. Getting together with the group was a struggle because everyone has different times at their jobs and everyone in the group has a different schedule but we were able to at least pick a place and decide what days we were all going to go. My group decided on doing the Orland Food Pantry. Maryann is the leader of the volunteer work there and is a very nice lady and will work with you if you want to come and help out but you have to be willing to be flexible because there are only a few amount of days that they really need help. I was able to drop by for about an hour so far and plan on going again today so that I can finalize my draft and get the full experience. When I went there to just step in and observe there were shelves to be stacked of tons of food and canned goods to send to these people in need. It was amazing to see all these non-perishable goods that they were going to give away to the hungry. They take these items off the shelves and box them for the families in need. It is amazing to see this because you have to think about what if you family was in need and you needed food who would be there to help you? By going to these places I got a whole new perspective on things I may not care so much because im not in the same position as these people and I don’t have to go and get my food from a food pantry or soup kitchen but if I had to I would be so upset if no one donated or helped out.
The truth is if nobody cared about those less fortunate then you then these people would never eat we would have people dying around us and families, children looking as thought they are starving. Their may always be more and more people starving and you may not be able to feed everyone but you can try and help out to feed as many in need as possible. You cannot think of it as there is too many to help you have to think of the ones you helped as one down and you contributed in making that persons life better and maybe even helping them survive. People in the U.S are lucky to have all of these places that are willing to help them because third world countries are not so lucky that is why you see all these people dying and not really looking like people but looking like skeltons. It is sad to see this and even though there are way to many to help even helping one person should make you feel better about yourself.
Community service is not a burdon it is a way to help people in need you cannot go through life taking for granted everything you have and just saying “oh well” to others that do not even have close to what you have. I realized this is a selfish way to live and I should try and help people in need. Even though this is just a semester class and helping out will not be a requirement for much longer since the semester is almost over I realize that it is not that hard to give a little of my time to these people in need. You do not even have to give you time all the time by going to these food pantries and shoe drives I realized they have people that dedicate their lives to helping these organaztions succeed you could even help out once a year and actually put your time in but when it comes down to it they really do not need you to help all of the time. It would also be a nice gesture to donate money to help these organaztions stay in business both organzations loved doantions they need them because the people that are helping out are not rich their just normal everyday people that care about these people and want to help but they do not have the money to do it all on there own. So by donating food or shoes or money you can help there jobs and days be a little easier to get these things that they are trying to help these people with to them. I am truly glad that I got a chance to help out and I am looking forward to going back again today to get a full experience and really put my observing to the test and help out and I cannot wait to continue this paper for my final portfolio and show the class what I did and maybe hope that they learn a lesson that I did. That even though your young and busy with a million different things you have on your plate remember that you actually have a plate. Some of these people don’t even have the money to stop and order off the dollar menu at mcdonalds and they don’t want you to feel bad for them they want you to help them get back on their feet and really make a difference in their lives!-
Gregory Laurenzana
HI Grace, so I’m pretty sure that I read some of your paper in class when we did that thing where rotated our paper around the room and we had to write one answer about that paper from a list that professor McGuire gave us. I don’t really remember what I said about your paper, but now that I have had the chance to take a closer look and read it more thoroughly I must say that I am so glad that something chanced your mind about volunteer work. I know that we can all be pretty busy, but if we all just took an hour or two and spent in helping someone in need, then we will have done a great service to those we are helping, our communities, and ourselves. I really did enjoy reading your paper and so happy that you are excited to finish it and show off your accomplishment. I did however notice that there is no link to a web page for the organization that you and your group visited. It may be helpful for anyone who reads your paper, this way they can just go right to the website and have all of the information at their finger tips. Also, I might be useful have facts about the homeless and the type of people that the Orland Food Pantry helps, how often they ship and where they ship to.
I did like your euphemism at that end of your paper, “That even though [you’re] young and busy with a million different things you have on your plate remember that you actually have a plate.” This sentence made chuckle to myself, mostly because it’s true. I also liked the way u ended your paper, nice and strong. Good Job and keep up the good work!
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Grace Cosentino
For this weeks journal I chose the article Ruptura that Mr. Mcguire provided for us because I feel that it links with everything we have been doing so far in this class. We have been learning about how to put ourselves in the world of someone elses. Almost as if we are walking in someone elses shoes and by doing this we learn the way others live and we broaden our minds. The community service was one way in this class that we did this because for example when I went to help out Mona Purdy it was a life changing experience it gave me a way to really understand that not everyone has shoes or lives a normal life. In this article they wanted to find an undergraduate class and teach them how to write on a real world experience. I feel that is a really important thing for children of a young age to start to learn and experience real life situations. Anthropologists are trying to find the link between community based service learning projects, and why people throw away perspectives and they want to help to benefit someone else. Being able to be put in a situation that you don’t understand fully like the community service projects and then being able to write about them will prepare us for a future and get us ready for other life experiences we may not be comfortable with or used to and be able to adjust and get used to them.
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Grace Cosentino
When I went to the Invisible Children assembly on Tuesday the video we watched about Kony really stuck out in my mind. Kony is just a horrible person in my opinion and just the things he does to young children and gets away with is the sickest part. He goes to childrens homes and wrips them away and forces them to train and become soldiers. It is just so sad to think that one day your little brother or sister would just be taken from you at a young age to go fight in something they didn’t even sign up for. It made me think about how happy I am to live where I live and I really thought about stuff I complain about but if you had a life like that things could be so much worse. Kony is also forcing young girls to be sex slaves that is no way to live a life and it is like these children have no chance at ever making it better because they are stuck under the thumb of this horrible man. In the part of this video they were talking to a boy Jacob and he said that he wanted to die. That made me feel so sad like I was going to cry and normally I don’t get that emotional but to hear something like that come from a young person’s mouth is so sad a young person should have all the hope in the world at making a better life for themselves but under the rule of Kony they know that is not the case.
Invisble Children. 2012, April. KONY 2012. -
Grace Cosentino
I wanted to do my journal this week on Why White Rice chapter six. The section in chapter six about Writing is limitless really stood out to me because my English teacher last semester got me to believe that this was true. He told us that writing never is done you just need to keep writing and that a piece of writing is never completed. You cannot ever really look at a piece of writing and say okay that’s done and I’m never going to touch it again because what makes it done? NOTHING is the answer your work always has room for improvement and you can always and should always be revising your work. I feel that when it comes to sitting down and writing your ideas it is limitless because there is no point you should stop at or areas you should not touch the ideas you have in your head are endless and there is no such thing as to personal when it comes to writing. Anything that is on your mind you can write down on paper to me that is what makes writing limitless. The way you write your papers does not have to be a certain way you don’t always have to bring with you what you learned in high school the regular format for the five paragraph essay you can jump out of your comfort zone and write it any way you want to. This semester for the first time I wrote a paper with headings and it was weird for me but it made the paper so much better. The point of writing is writing it in different and creative styles. It gets boring for people to read the same thing over and over again in the exact same format so take it to limitless levels and do something creative that’s what being a limitless writer means to me.
Basima, Ismail. “Writing Is Limitless.” Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. WWR? Chapter 6. pgs 138-139 -
Grace Cosentino
The video “Yes we can.” I thought was a very inspirational video that we watched in class on Tuesday. One day I do believe that we can as a country all come together with ought racial problems and use everyone’s special ability to make the world a better place. I feel that everyone no matter what color or what background you come from is intelligent in their own ways and we could use everyone’s intelligence to come up with new inventions and new things. I feel that racism needs to stop and by having all different races in the video it showed that we can all come together and it was making a statement that all races can come together in some way to help each other. When Obama became president I think that really opened up people’s eyes that things are changing and it will go down in history that YES WE CAN get rid of the past and YES WE CAN have a better future by accepting everyone and realizing you don’t have to be a certain race or color to be an intelligent and life changing person. This video was a great idea and I think that by using celebrity’s that are well known will get people to watch it and see the message of equalism and moving forward for the better of the country. I also feel that this touches on the fact that us as the people should be motivated to go out and help and speak up because we have a say so in the way things are done. I think this ties into are community service projects that we have been doing because it shows that we can help and we should help the video just motivates you to speak your mind no matter what the cause may be that your supporting.
Will-I-Am. “Yes We Can.” YouTube. YouTube, June 3, 2008. Web. Mar. 22, 2012. -
Grace Cosentino
service learning reflection
Every morning I wake out of bed, get ready, and go in my closet and pick from my thirty pair shoe collection. I have shoes for every weather condition; even though every American may not have thirty pairs of shoes there daily routine consists of at some point before leaving the house putting on a pair of shoes. In America we consider the privileged citizens those with diamonds, big houses, and fancy cars. In third world countries such as Africa and Haiti the privileged ones would be considered the middle class even the lower class of our society. To those countries someone with somewhere warm to sleep and even those that own something as simple as a pair of shoes are considered privileged. To be American and have the money and jobs available to buy at least our necessities should be considered a privilege not a right. It took me a day to share my sole and learn what someone else’s life consists of to really see what it was like to not have everything that has just been handed to me my entire life.
To be young means you’re kind of careless for the most part of what goes on around you. You feel that your life is more important and you don’t have to care about others problems you have your own to deal with. I felt the same way all the way up until I entered the warehouse of share your soles and really got a glimpse of reality. When I was on my way there I thought that there was really nothing I could do to help being so young and a lot of times young people think there is nothing you can do to help make this world a better place because you are just a small voice in a big land. After watching a couple videos and meeting this amazing lady Mona I realized this is the most ignorant excuse out of helping make the world a better place. Mona was a hairstylist who lives on about a 30,000 dollar salary a year and it is just her and her kids. She is the owner of this organization and started it just because she cared and got it really going because she wanted to make a difference in the world. Mona did not care how small her voice may be she is now raising it bigger and bigger as her organization grows by the day. Mona does not have a lot of money her house actually recently burned down and she is still helping others in her time of need. It takes one person to just care and if you are willing to be a leader that is all you need to have followers. People look up to other people to get something started because they are too scared to start it themselves and that is what Mona did and she’s a great person and just filled with life and I am sure that Mona will forever be remembered by the people’s hearts she touches every day.
All it took for Mona to get this organization is a trip to a third world country and she was taken back and just blown away with sadness that children were running around with no shoes on at all. The diseases that you can get from this is really bad children are getting their feet amputated all the time because they are catching such bad diseases from the parasites in the ground. The children do not live the same lifestyle as most of us they have to walk miles and miles to get water to bring back to their village and the grounds are hard and rocky so they cut their feet and they just keep re-cutting them and making them worse and worse day after day because they still have to continue with their daily chores or they will not have water for their family regardless if there feet are infected or not. It is sad that children of such a young age have to loose there feet forever because of this reason it’s like they don’t even get a fair chance to have a normal life. Watching the videos was just really sad. Mona actually saw children living on garbage dumps who put tar on the bottom of their feet to walk around and use in the place of shoes. I have watched my driveway get tarred every single summer and just the thought of that makes me cringe. From that hot tar there feet would be blistered and have almost no skin at all and this is how the children are forced to live because of severe poverty they cannot get out of. It is not only the third world countries that Mona is helping she also helped local tornado victims so she cares about everyone not just people in severe poverty this organization try’s to help every person that has had a time of despair and needs a hand to get back up on there feet.
Mona now has a warehouse where she has millions of shoes that people donate to these countries in need. When I was at share your soles I organized different pairs of shoes into sections according to type of shoe and gender. They then made rows and boxed them up when I was there they were boxing up the shoes to take to Haiti the next day so it was cool that I could see that the shoes were really going somewhere and hear a little bit about it, also I knew that the shoes I was working on was really helping because they were being sent out to the children the next day it really feels good to help make someone else’s life better even if it’s just something small. The organization is very professional they do not send any dirty, ripped up, or any bad conditioned shoes at all they make sure the people are getting decent shoes that are going to last them as long as possible. They also wipe the shoes down with anti-bacteria and polish the work boots, or even wipe down any dirt they really do a great job they do not just throw some old shoes in a box and send them on their way.
Share your soles was a great experience and I’m glad I got to help out I would defiantly recommend signing up to help it is not a terrible time and are time is not so precious that we cannot even find one minute to help those less fortunate. Mona also hosts a shoe sale on the weekends with high end designer shoes that people donate that she can sell back to others for money to put towards the organization. You can help at the shoe sale and for other ways to learn how to help you can fill out your email on their website and she will send you information on how to get involved with the organization. I went about three weeks ago and she has already sent me about five emails updating me and I’m already planning on helping out with the shoe sale. Just because you are young and have your own problems going on around you does not mean that you should block out the world because there is many people in other countries and even around you that have bigger problems like life threatening problems so get out there and share your sole, better yourself, and really try and make a better tomorrow.-
Gregory Laurenzana
WOW!! What an experience I am sure u must have had. It sounds life changing. As I was reading this piece I couldn’t help but feel sad for these poor children in these third world countries. I love reading what you write, because you put your reader right there with you. You make them see what you see, feel what you feel and experience what you experience. I did hear some of Mona’s story, and it is very sad and very tragic, I am also very glad that you pointed out that she also helps hurricane victims. She seems like a very caring person, and so do you. I know that point of this paper is to just reflect on your time volunteering, but your piece is very inspiring. I may even go to the website myself and see about what days I can go to help out; of course who knows maybe that was another point to this paper.
I just have a couple of criticisms as a reader. When you describing how Mona felt as observed the children putting tar on their feet and so on, it seemed as though you were speaking from first had experience. Maybe quote Mona as saying those things because that might be confusing to some people. Also I would have love to see a link to the website that you mentioned toward that end of your paper, I think that would make it easier and motivate people to take some action and help out at the Share Your Soles organization.
Over all I think this piece is very well thought out and constructed with many clear points and observations. Also it was very hear felt, I can tell that you had an amazing time. As I was reading this, I thinking to myself that you would probably go back to volunteer some more of your time. Then at the end of your paper you wrote that you would be helping out with the weekend shoe sale. I think that is absolutely amazing. Good Job!! -
Alejandro Morales
Isn’t it amazing that something as little as putting on a pair of shoes every morning is such a privilege for us? Every morning you wake up and you are trying to decide what shoes go with this shirt, or with this color pants, or with whatever snap-back you want to wear. Then you look at these third world countries and they are wondering how they are going to go another unbearable day walking miles and miles in excruciating pain from having nothing to cover their feet. You look at American’s and we are not even allowed to go into public places without shoes. If you cannot afford a pair of shoes in America, then people look at you to be extremely poor. Then you look at third world countries and those who can afford shoes are looked at as wealthy.
I know exactly what you mean about not being able to make a big difference because we are so young and feel like we cannot do anything. When I did my service learning event at Share Your Soles I felt the exact same way. I felt that just spending three hours and this place could not even make the slightest change in anybody’s life. Then again I think about Mona Purdy’s story just like you said. She was on a trip to a third world country and all of a sudden she realized how terrible these people continue to live their lives every single day. One woman harnessed the emotions she felt from this and took a stand to make a difference. I could not believe how it must have been for her to actually see first-hand all of these incidents. I cannot even picture the thought of seeing children use tar on their feet just to create a protective layer. I think about how dangerous and extremely hot tar is, then to believe they literally create a huge layer to go around their foot. The infections and diseases she must have seen. I guess seeing that first-hand can really affect you and make you want to make a change.
It is good how you talk about little details like that, but I do not feel like you at all talked about your experience. You talk very minimal and you never actually get into depth with it. You should try and describe the videos they played, or talk about what you saw when you walked in there, or the smell of the room, or what your thoughts of how it would look were and then compare to how they really were. Things like that can make the reader really feel what you are trying to talk about and make it that much more powerful as they read your passage. Along with talking in detail about how the facility was you should talk about what you specifically did there. Did you box shoes, wheel carts and place shoes into categories, did you label boxes, and so forth. I know this was not supposed to be a diary entry and just to merely state back everything you did, but it was supposed to be a reflection. You said this has made such a difference to you, and then you really should talk about how it made a difference to you. Talk about the thoughts you had before and then after experiencing this. I just feel that if this made such an impact on your life then you can talk more about it. Maybe then you can change the views of somebody else’s life and have a huge impact on them as well.
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Grace Cosentino
I thought it was funny in chapter five of “why white rice?” when they talk about google. Google has become a lot of people’s main source for information they cut their brains short and just use the Internet. When prof McGuire talked about how students are always looking up words on there phones that is true I always do that and I laughed because sometimes you use your phone as your brain. If phones disappeared I as one wouldn’t know what to do and I use google constantly to look up stuff if someone asks me the simplest question and I don’t know it I’ll look it up on google but when you think about it google takes ten times longer because you have to search and search and sometimes you click on a website that isn’t even credible. Everyone needs to back off the computers and use your brain or we might as well just have robots. After I read this chapter I actually thought about how much I use google and it’s everyday multiple times. We shouldn’t be relying on technology constantly to do our work for us because when were in the work place we can’t just say to our boss hold on I need to look on google sorry. That probably sounds so ridiculous but just think about how ridiculous it is that teachers have to make a chapter about the over use of technology because we use it that much.
McGuire, Michael. “Googling is Not the Same as Thinking.” Why White Rice?: Thinking through Writing. IA Kendall Hunt , 2010. 1P.19-120. Print. -
Grace Cosentino
I went to sole for shoes yesterday so I decided to do my journal entry on that. When I was on my way I didn’t know what to expect but when I got there they played three videos for us to watch about these children and people not having any shoes. There were children that lived on garbage dumps I couldn’t believe that people actually lived there and it’s just so sad that they will probably never get through life with ought diseases because they are living in such dirty conditions. I get my driveway tarred every summer and I know the heat of it and how hard it gets and people actually put tar on the bottom of their feet to use as shoes because they do not have any, I could just imagine the hurt and pain that causes it probably burns all of the skin off of their feet. When you live in a home with things like shoes not even being a concern you don’t realize how much of a difference little things like this could make. I am a big shoe collector I love shoes and after I got home last night I was looking at them all and I couldn’t believe I have about twenty pairs of shoes and these children have to put tar on their feet. It’s very sad and I advise all of you to check out this organization because you would learn a lot and appreciate what you have so much more I know that I did just from spending a few hours there.
“Soles4Souls.” Soles4Souls. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. .-
Prof McGuire
Your citation is very incorrect. And you have the name of the organization wrong.
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Grace Cosentino
I dont understand why i got no credit for this assignment at all. I did the entire assignment the only thing off was my citation. And now that you mentioned the organaztion it was a typo that was an honest mistake.
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Grace Cosentino
gas prices
Letter to the editor
The people of our society today drive around constantly to get from place to place. Parents have school and sport routes driving and picking up their children to get them where they need to be. Students are going to school and every adult drives to work every day to afford the things in their lives. The world goal is to see that everyone at least has a chance to make it in life if you work and strive hard you should be able to create a life for yourself. To do this driving has to be a part of the picture and with the gas prices being half of minimum wage a gallon, how anyone can get ahead especially the youth of today is beyond me. The gas is affecting everyone’s lives you cannot just take a drive to go see family anymore you have to stop and save for it, middle class children have to pick one sport instead of five because they cannot get there and back, and people even have to choose jobs closer to them so that they can afford to drive back and forth. Everywhere I go today I hear someone complaining about the gas so why can’t we do something about this problem? The whole world is being affected by the pricey gas prices and this is not fair to do this to our country. Let the youth of America get ahead let them make lives for themselves and let’s dig ourselves out of this hole that we as a whole are apart of.-
Thomas Vasquez
Reading your letter I can relate because going to a community college I have to commute back and forwards wasting gas for simple things. I try everything in my power to use less gas but sometimes that isn’t enough. I think that you need a better wow factor to grab the reader’s attention in the first sentence really uses something that will make people stop and be like I really should read this. Also you should get rid of some things and put in some ways either people can save gas or use less gas. Also I think that for such a topic like gas prices you can probably find some of these things online and maybe throw a quote in there to make people read this and think oh there are facts that prove this or hey I can do this instead of who is this person and why should I listen to what they have to say. I do like how you focused more on the youth of today and there future. I mean if gas prices are four dollars to the gallon now what will they be like come twenty or thirty years from now. If we don’t stop the inclining gas prices our kid’s kids and their kid’s kids will all suffer. Some other things you could possibly include are some numbers of the incline and decline of gas because I know that it hasn’t just gone up because two weeks ago it was probably down to three dollars and fifty cents and now it’s going back up. Personally I don’t think any one individual can make a change to the increase of gas because gas companies know how reliant our society today is on cars and they know that even if they increase the prices people will still continue to drive. You see those things or at least in the past where people are like don’t get gas on Tuesday or something like that and that doesn’t stop anyone because either if people are going to not get gas they will do it the day before or eventually still get the gas. That is why I personally think for this to change it has to be done on a greater scale and who knows maybe you can prove me or other people who think the same as me wrong but to do that I think you need to add some ways into your paper.
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Grace Cosentino
I read a lot of papers this week doing the peer reviews and some people were talking about starvation and some about homeless but this issue seems to go hand and hand. After reading some of these papers I did a little research myself and on the hunger project website i realized how bad it could get. Some people in different countries live off only $1.25 a day and that is so sad could you only imagine living off that kind of money. I make $8.50 an hour and my checks of $150 go fast every week. With some countries having to live on that kind of money it is nearly impossible to dig themselves out of poverty and back on their feet. This organization helps people not just by giving them money they actually teach these people skills and methods to better educate them on how not to live in poverty and make a better life for themselves. Most of these people don’t know how to get out of situations like this because they have born into it and it’s all they have ever known. Organizations like the hunger project take it to a new level and teach them how to live a different lifestyle. For the peoples papers that I read that covered these issues i just thought this would be a cool site for them and for everyone interested in this subject to check out. Hunger and poverty is an issue that we cannot just turn our heads and ignore. We have to help if we ever want this issue to start fading away. -http://www.thp.org/learn_more/issues/poverty?gclid=CMfg64_4w64CFQ8CQAodEysMVQ
“Issues: Poverty.” Empowering Women and Men to End Their Own Hunger. Web. 29 Feb. 2012 -
Grace Cosentino
I wrote my paper this week on animal cruelty and one of the saddest things I found doing all my research was the information about puppy mills. Puppies are held in wired cages I watched a video and there were just millions of dogs all over more than five or ten to a cage and they are mistreated and just used for one purpose. They often catch disease from one another from living in these dirty conditions so close together. Most of the times these animals don’t even get let out for fresh air they are just kept in these wired cages all day long. That is so unfair that these dogs should have to live this way and they never get a chance to even have someone take them in that loves them they just have a destined life to make cute puppies for the consumers to gawk over. Everyone should really be aware of where their puppies are coming from because this is the strongest form of animal cruelty that there is and we the consumers are the biggest contributors to the wrong doing. The longer we keep buying dogs from places that get their puppies from a puppy mill the longer we are keeping them in business. After the dogs are used up and no longer useful they do not try and sell the dogs to loving families they either kill them, leave them stranded or sell them to other puppy mills so this life for them never ends. It is sad that these animals should have to live this way.
Puppy Mills : The Humane Society of the United States.” The Humane Society of the United States : The Humane Society of the United States. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. -
Grace Cosentino
outline for elevator speech
Outline (elevator speech)
• Intro- I only have a short time to talk about such a large topic my topic was animal cruelty. Whether you like animals or not I feel that everyone should have a soft spot in their hearts for helpless creatures getting mistreated all around the world.
• 1st point- Puppies on a daily basis are breaded from a puppy mill where dogs are held in nasty dirty conditions and used for one thing only to breed dogs. They live in wired cages and are constantly passing diseases back and forth because they are so close together and never really even get fresh air. A puppy having to live their whole life in this mill is like a human going to jail and having to live their whole life behind bars for no reason
• 2nd point- Animals are constantly being used in experiments with chemicals that give these poor animals defects for the rest of their lives because they are breathing in poisonous toxins and it is being rubbed on their skin. During my research I found that most of the time that information isn’t even accurate and can still be harmful to the human. A more accurate way of testing products such as shampoo, cosmetics, and your household products are by using non animal techniques. So you tell me why are these animals suffering and having to go through the rest of their lives with defects over a household product that could be tested more accurately using a different method?
• 3rd point- Last year my brother and d his girlfriend adopted a dog from the animal shelter TLC the dog was beaten so badly that it was stressing away of all of her fur. When I had to complete service for school to graduate I did a little of my time at TLC where I met Zig. She’s a wonderful loving dog and got a chance at a new home but most of the animals that are victims to abuse like this end up so bad that animal shelters sometimes have to put them down or no one wants them. No animal should have to go through this how can you raise your hand to an animal that is like raising your hand to an infant that can do nothing back.• Closing- Please help fight against these cruel treatments of animals help organizations like the PETA(people for the ethical treatment of animals), ASPCA (the American society for the prevention of cruelty of animals), and the many animal shelters around your local town like TLC( tender love and care) either by donating or signing up online to help them out. Even though these animals are helpless to themselves us as people are not and we can do something to help them so please do something to help because every person can make a difference.
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Grace Cosentino
everything and anything should get a chance to live
Animal cruelty is not only a local issue but a global one and a reoccurring issue at that. Globally millions of animals are being mistreated, abused, slaughtered, and used for testing each year. When you think of animal cruelty you may think of it just as animal abuse or mistreatment by a human being, and that animal being a house pet such as your cat or dog. For an animal to be considered as being cruelly treated it does not have to be a house pet it can be any animal such as the ones you eat or animals that are being tested day in and day out to make the products such as your makeup. Organizations that are against animal cruelty try to show society that animal cruelty can come in many different situations and each one is equally important and if you are against the cruel mistreatment of animals you should be against all animal cruelty not just the ones you pick and choose against. You may not know it but animal cruelty can come in the form of things that we practice in our everyday lives and it is up to you to stop and stand against it for a brighter and better future for all animals.
Animals are not people and are helpless creatures they cannot defend themselves against humans because they cannot fight back. Hitting or killing an animal for no reason is like killing an infant or a baby because they are helpless and cannot fight back. Every day on my way to work I pass TLC which stands for Tender Love and Care and they take care of animals that people abuse, adopt, or just don’t want anymore it is a clinic for animals. I had to do a service for my school and since this place was so close to home I thought why not I should just try it and get my hours over. While I was working there I met Ziggy she was a big black lab who I just couldn’t get over how cute she was. Sadly Zig had been abused by her previous owners until it was finally too much and when the owners were not home the neighbors took her to TLC to get adopted by people that would love her and treat her right. My brother and his girlfriends dog marly had recently died and they really wanted a new dog so I told them to come and look at Zig when they did they fell in love with her and never left her side she lives with them now and is the happiest dog you would ever see. Every time I look at her I just cannot think how someone could abuse this poor sweet animal that did nothing wrong. Dogs do not know any better they are truly like babies and you need to have patience and be willing to train a dog if you are not ready then you should not buy a dog. I just can’t understand why someone would abuse an animal when they could just give it to someone that would be happy to have them and give them love and affection because they truly want them around. Not every animal is as lucky as Zig and never get the chance to be with a loving family because they were either killed in the mistreatment or never adopted. Puppy mills are often used to breed puppies and they use these poor animals to just breed and they never even get a chance to live a life they just live in a wired cage their whole lives and are just used to make more puppies for consumers to buy. When you go to buy a puppy you don’t even think about where the puppy might have came from and by this way you are contributing to the cruelness of these mills. The conditions are dirty and there are hundreds of dogs just all crammed into this tiny spot that they live in everyday and when they come out its to breed not to play or walk around and just get some fresh air. Living in these puppy mills for dogs is like a human living in jail but for doing nothing wrong for the rest of your life and just be forced to have babies day after day and after you are used up you are shot and killed. “Puppy mills house dogs in shockingly poor conditions. After their fertility wanes, breeding animals are often killed, abandoned or sold cheaply to another mill to try and get “one more litter” out of the dog.”(“Puppy Mills: The Humane Society of the United States.” The Humane Society of the United States: The Humane Society of the United States.) This quote just shows that they are used and then just given away and sometimes to other mills so the torture starts all over again.
When you take a bite of that ham sandwich or feast into that thanksgiving turkey you do not even thinking about how for this meal the animal that you’re eating had a life too and maybe a family they want to be eating dinner with but instead you are eating them. Eating meat is part of a global economy as a wholes way of life the majority of the world kills and eats animals. I could never personally cut out meat and I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way this is definitely a selfish thing to say but let’s face it, it’s the truth and you are still going to eat meat and not feel bad about it. Meat has always and will continue to be a part of your diet forever. Eating less meat would help save more animals because the less meat you are eating the fewer animals they have to kill to make the meat. The consumer is always in control so if we decide to stop the buying of meat on a daily basis they would not need so many animals to produce the food the consumers need and want. “Many individuals and organizations try to leak these facts to the public through eye-witness accounts, photographs and video footage of inhumane treatment. Despite their efforts, most people either remain unaware of such abhorred practices or value their taste buds or perceived dietary needs over the welfare of animals.”(Facts about Animal Cruelty.” Animal Cruelty Facts. Web.). No matter what people are always going to take their selfish ways into consideration and not even think about the animal that was maybe killed in a sick and severe way to eat the meat that they have on their plate. Animals used in anyway then what they are naturally supposed to live to be doing to me and to organizations against animal abuse are considered wrong. Animal abuse such as circus animals, horse racing, and using animals to fight such as dog and cock fights. You cannot take an animal and make them fight they get all torn up and hurt and most of the time if they get hurt the owners don’t care about the dog obviously if they are putting them in the ring with another ferocious dog usually for them to win money if they win the competition. These owners do not care if their animal gets hurt they just want them to win so that they can benefit from it and win the money that they think they earn even though they are doing nothing but selfishly watching a helpless living creature get hurt for no reason. If the animal does get hurt during the fight most of the time they don’t even seek medical attention by a vet they just let the wound heal on its own which can lead up to a very bad infection sometimes a deadly one. If the owner sees that the dog or cock suffered too much damage sometimes he or she will just set them loose because they don’t want to have to put up with them or have the burden of trying to sell them. That is the reason for so many stray pets that we see just living on the streets just left to fend for themselves. When we go to the circus we are in awe and love to watch the animals prance around and do tricks but you just don’t see a tiger In the African dessert prancing around jumping through hoops. These animals have to be trained and most of the time they are poorly treated to get the animals to do their best. The trainers whip them and abuse them to perform in the shows. The animals get exhausted and are forced to be over and worked and keep going. It is sad that these animals cannot even open their mouths to stop this torture they just have to take it because there is nothing that they can do to stop it from occurring. When I went to Mexico I watched a circus show and they had all different dogs jumping through hoops but I didn’t even stop to think what they were doing or how they were treating these dogs to act this way. Animals are not meant to be part of the show or used to fight or race they are meant to live in their natural habitat and do what the animal is naturally accustomed to doing.
The testing of animals is one of the worst forms of animal mistreatment in my opinion. Animals are cruelly experimented on to make some of your everyday products that you use such as cosmetics, house and hair products, and even food and beverages. It comes at a surprise to most because you don’t even think about how this product was made when you just pick it up at the store. During the procedure of these tests the animals are forced to inhale toxins and eat these test substances in order to see what will happen when used on a human. Animals can become blind and have skin burned or have to live the rest of their life malfunctioned all because of some product that even though tested on an animal can still end up being harmful to a human. Just because an animal did or did not react to a testing substance it can still have a different effect on a human. “Even though the results of animal tests are often unreliable or not applicable to humans. Even if a product has blinded an animal, it can still be marketed to you”( Animal Testing 101.” PETA.org.). Even though an animal is harmed if you still get the product then there was no point in hurting this animal. It has been proven that it is more accurate and less expensive to test products the non animal testing way. Consumers need to look at the products that they are buying and make sure that they have not been tested on animals because as consumers we do not want to be contributing to these horrid acts.
There are many organizations out there that help animals and can better inform you on ways to help fight against animal cruelty. The PETA is one of the largest organizations in the world with over three million members involved in their organization they are trying to fight and stop the cruelty these poor helpless animals have to face on a daily basis. The PETA goes about helping animals by teaching and informing the public about the local and global problems of animal cruelty through special events, legislation and protest. You can join the PETA and become a member online and help the world become a better place. The Anti cruelty society is a shelter for animals on the North side of Chicago where specialists try and help animals recover and get them adopted. Organizations like this could always be helped and encouraged to keep going because they helping thousands of animals each year and are treating them with respect and kindness that the animals deserve. The last organization I’m going to talk about is the ASPCA. This organization helps to pass new humane laws to protect the rights of animals and to stop the abuse of animals. The origination also rescues abused animals and shares recourses with other shelters all over the world. To help these organizations you can either join them as part of their team on any one of their websites or you can just go the easier route and donate to help them be able to keep helping the animals. I know that a lot of people at a young age thing what are they going to do there is really not much they can do being so young. I felt like this for a long time and sometimes still do because I feel like I’m so young and what can a kid do to help millions of animals. I would always think to myself what can a dollar do or sixty cents do to help all of these animals and you cannot think of it in that way you have to think of it as it’s a start and its going somewhere and if everyone starts donating it will add up a lot faster than you think. I always heard that saying every penny helps and as it goes this is the truth. You can help as much as you are able to help and don’t ever think it’s stupid or not good enough because these originations will take any help you can give them and appreciate it that you took the time to care which not many people can say. These animals do need help and the bigger picture is these organizations can help thousands of animals at once but by the help of the world as a whole and that is why every donation that you can give will always count no matter what.
Animal cruelty has been around forever and as sad as it is it will probably be around for a long time but everyone needs to really see this as wrong and look into some of these originations and not be shy or lazy and just help out. You don’t have to make helping animals your whole life but just by helping by donating a few dollars you can make a difference in these animals’ lives. These animals should not have to suffer like they do and it is not fair the way that they are treated they honestly deserve to life. No matter what kind of animal they are they deserve a decent and happier life. So help these organizations make it possible for these poor animals to live a normal life and go online and check out these sites and before you know it you could be making a difference. These animals may be helpless but you are not so help and stand up for the lives of these animals and make a happier and brighter future for the next generations to come.Works Cited
“Animal Use and Abuse Statistics: The Shocking Numbers.” Change.org News. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .
“Puppy Mills : The Humane Society of the United States.” The Humane Society of the United States : The Humane Society of the United States. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .
“Facts about Animal Cruelty.” Animal Cruelty Facts. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .
“Animal Testing 101.” PETA.org. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .
“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): The Animal Rights Organization | PETA.org.” PETA.org. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .
“ASPCA | The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.” ASPCA. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .
“Animal Shelter’s Behavior Experts Face Life and Death Decisions for Animals.” Chicagotribune.com. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .-
Gregory Laurenzana
First I want to tell you, not to down play your abilities. You might be young, but everyone can make a difference regardless of your age. I thought this was a very informative and well thought out paper. You’re right, most people don’t think about how the animal that they are eating was killed. I know I certainly don’t. Also not too many people think of horse racing, and dog or cock fighting as animal abuse, but it most defiantly is. Bravo, on your topic. I know that this had to be hard to write about, without getting too emotional. I loved the concrete examples that you used, and yes I agree that killing an animal that is defenseless is like killing a baby who is also defenseless, but I don’t that that was conveyed very well.
The second paragraph of your paper, for some reason was hard for me to read though. I think it was because there was so much going on in that part of the paper, and there were so many great ideas and quotes that they all just kind of mixed together in that paragraph. But your other paragraphs were clear with a main focus and put together very well.
I am glad that you added the websites that people can go to get involved. Even though, we all see the commercials with Sarah Mclachlan, who supports the ASPCA; most of us change the change because we feel it’s too sad. But the reality of it is, this is a real problem; almost to an epidemic level. I did notice that at one point you had started to humanize these animals. And while they are not human, I do believe that we all need to treat all of creation with dignity and respect.
I am also an animal lover, I have a cat and I can’t imagine hurting her or not loving her the way she deserves. It breaks my heart to see the way people treat animals and each other for that matter. It is really and truly disturbing. If everyone took a stand against something like animal cruelty and we all worked together on something like this, we would all have a sense of accomplishment and self-worth.
I think you chose a very good topic and you did all the research, complete with quotes and directions on how to help. I really enjoyed reading this, it makes me want to go and volunteer and the local animal shelter. Good job.
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Grace Cosentino
In chapter four of, Why White Rice the part about acting like a big five year old really stood out and grabbed my attention. Eric talks about being in the grocery store with his wife and questioning her about the vegetables on the grocery list. I tend to ask a lot of questions on a daily basis about just the dumbest and most irrelevant things but I never really thought about adding this technique to my writing. First of all I never thought about using the “question technique” because well let’s face it that’s kind of annoying that is probably why Eric talks about his wife griping about it when he does it. This technique though may be annoying it can be really helpful when writing your papers because you should understand what you are writing about, you should be able to answer all questions that come your way about your piece of writing. If you cannot answer a question or you say “oh well I explain it later in my paper” then maybe the answer is in the wrong paragraph. I feel that to become a good writer you need to be confident in your work and if you are not then that will show by your lack of knowledge on your own work. Being able to answer questions shows your confidence in understanding what you wrote which will make people want to read it. No one wants to read somebody’s writing that has no idea what they are talking about so you should be able to be confident and answer questions when they are thrown at you I feel this is what Eric was trying to portray in this section of chapter four.
- DeVillez, Eric. “You Can Do It in the Garden or an Elevator, Writing is Critical Thinking” Why White Rice? Ed. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt, 2010. 77-97. Print. -
Grace Cosentino
The Village Voice by Peter Hessler was such a touching story. Rajeev’s story is definitely an inspiring one to show that you can make a difference in our world and he did this just by not only being in the Peace Corps but taking it upon himself to set up the village Namje. Rajeev tried to make attempts at getting people to speak for him and increase the popularity of what he was doing by getting celebrities such as Jay Z and Beyoncé but that such as other attempts fell through. This did not stop Rajeev he still kept pushing to make the world a better place even though he had bumps along his journey it didn’t stop him from still trying to make it a clear path which is to me very inspiring because many people just decide to give up when something bad happens. Rajeev did not give up he pushed to get influential peoples support like the congress. He did this all for other people he put all this dedication into helping others and it made me really stop and think maybe I could be doing more to help others because I feel like if something doesn’t work out perfectly I just give up and by reading this I realize you can’t be this way.
— Hessler, Peter. “A Reporter at Large, Village Voice, The Peace Corps’s Brightest Hope.” The New Yorker. 2010. pgs 101-109. splatter.writing101.net -
Grace Cosentino
In chapter one of Why White Rice Mr. Devillez talks about how he was taking a walk and two boys were playing catch and one of them didn’t catch the ball and really put him-self down about it saying that he sucked. In life I feel that people always give up way to easily I was one of those people all the way up until I got to college. I would try things once not really put my best efforts in and if I didn’t succeed it would make me so upset. I would always just give up on whatever it was because I didn’t want to take the time to actually sit down and learn it so I could succeed at it. In your life there will always be those people that just breeze by that things come to them naturally, the same thing that your trying so hard to succeed at. You have to realize that can’t stop you and you still need to keep pushing towards your goals. When I got to college I actually tried very hard my first semester because it was different then high school I was paying for these classes and it is time to get serious about my future and how bright your future is going to be depends on your grades. I took a biology course last semester and I bombed the first test but I didn’t give up like I normally would have I just kept studying and eventually the scores went from C’s to B’s and finally A’s. You cannot give up in life just because something is hard because if you do you’ll never know how good of a feeling it is to succeed at something you tried so hard for.
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Grace Cosentino
In Everyday Life
In your everyday life you are so busy that you tend to forgot about the things that are most important to you. Taking things that you had naturally given to you is most of the time taken for granted; because you can’t see your life with ought those things. You don’t even think about how it would affect you or your life if the things that matter most to you went missing. Family is one of those things that even though naturally was given to me I take for granted because they are around every day and I never really stopped to think what my life would be like if they weren’t around anymore. When you take a step back from your busy lives and think about those things that truly matter in your heart you realize the extreme lengths that you would go to, to make sure that you don’t take those things for granted and cherish every moment you have with them.
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Gregory Laurenzana
Grace, this is a hugely emotional piece of writing. I have to admit, I did tear up a couple of times. The whole thing is very moving and very well thought out, well organized and filled with great examples of the people who you live for, who you would die for , and who you would kill for. It sounds to me that your family is very special to you and that you love them all very much. In your second paragraph you spoke about your grandfather, it seems that of all your family members he is the most special to you and he holds a special place in your heart. I think the thing that I liked most about this piece is all of the detail, when you were talking about your grandfather in the nursing home I had a visual of this grandfatherly type man laying in a hospital bed in the cold, unwelcoming room on an extended care facility. When you were talking about your dad and his scary bout with pneumonia I felt sad for you, your mom and your brothers. When you were talking about your brother getting in that fight when he had is jaw broken and wired shut, I could see what was happening. I think that it takes a good writer to violate (in a good way) a persons imagination, and allow their readers to literally feel a wide range of emotion.
I liked that there really was no fluff to your writing, it is all meat and potatoes, with a direct point and a clean purpose. At first, when I saw that you had written about your family I thought that it was kind of a cop-out. I mean that’s an easy subject to write, and the point of the assignment was to delve deep into your thoughts and really answer these hard hitting questions. But, I could not have been more wrong. In your case, something tells me that writing about your family is NOT a cop-out. And it is very clear to me, and I hope to everyone that reads this that, at least for you, writing about your family for this assignment is the farthest thing from a cop-out paper.
This paper is a perfect example of what our assignment was about. I really had no issues with with paper. I know its just a rough draft, so the only bad thing that I would say about it, is that it just needs some polishing and should be refined a little, and I know that there will be plenty of time for that. Good Job!
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Thomas Vasquez
Just reading this paper put me in shock and awe from all the ups and downs you have been through in your life and I bet there are more that do not pertain to this topic. These things in your paper have probably made you a very strong individual and this paper shows your true nature and that you are a family oriented person which is good to see with how some families are nowadays. Reading your paper I really did not see to many flaws I mean you hit the topic right where it needed to be hit you gave clear examples that each reader might be able to relate to be it they lost a loved one almost lost a loved one or have siblings. I personally related to the first example with your grandfather. Being a family oriented person myself I never really lost a loved one until I lost my grandfather I really didn’t know what to do with myself once he was gone because I was never really used to someone one day being there and then the next he was gone. He lived under my cousin so every time I go there I have to pass his old house and for a while it was hard to walk past without stopping in to say hi and have a chat.
The only thing I really think you should fix in your paper is you said with ought a couple times and I think it is supposed to be without which is not a big deal since this is just a rough draft but I noticed it once or twice and thought I should let you know. I Really like how you structured your paper and gave your own personally back story for each part of the assignment making me as the reader get to know you and your struggles a little more with each paragraph I read. You wrote this paper perfectly in my opinion some people took this as a joke or just kind of rambled on at some point including myself. Reading your paper made me realize all the things I can do with my own paper and it also showed me that you are one of the people that took this assignment to heart and really put a lot of heart and effort into writing this because you wanted to show the world how strong you have become.
Some final thoughts I will add to this are that your paper really doesn’t need to much changing just the few grammatical errors here and there. I really enjoyed how you put examples and how you did not ramble as much as some people would when it comes to these topics and I also enjoyed how good the structure of your paper was you just kept it going in a forward motion and didn’t go back to talking about living later on or killing in the beginning which is very tough to do for some people when writing a paper like this or papers in general.
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Grace Cosentino
Ecological literacy in my opinion is the way you fit in within your communities and how you work with others to make this planet a better and cleaner place to live in. Ecological literacy is the way you help out as a personal person among a society as a whole. Everyone should be aware of what is going on around them they should not ignore the things that are happening to our environment, such as things like global warming. Fritjof mentions that the way each individual person acts effect a whole community by this I believe what is trying to be said is that everyone needs to work together to make our world and environment a better place to live in. One single person cannot conquer the world and needs help in changing the way our planet is developing. Stress is in everyone’s lives and sometimes your daily tasks and stressful days steer you away from coming home from a long day at work or school and thinking about the way the environment is developing. In my opinion ecological literacy is finding a place for contributing to helping our environment on a daily basis even if it’s not a big contribution, help by maybe doing small things like not littering or recycling. As a whole we have to preserve all of our resources and live an eco-friendly lifestyle. Not only will we be helping ourselves but the things you do today will reflect on a better future, a better tomorrow.
1996. Print., Capra, Fritjof. The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. New York: Anchor
Grace Cosentino, and 
Gregory Laurenzana is discussing. 
Alejandro Morales, and 
Thomas Vasquez is discussing. 
Prof McGuire 12:19 pm on May 7, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
No, it doesn’t.
Grace Cosentino 2:09 pm on May 7, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
thankyou just making sure!