Lee McKinnis (57)
Kristina Marynczak (37)
Killian Noonan (36)
Melissa Castillo (33)
NikoVelazquez (27)
Shannon Ratzel (23)
Michelle Reyes (22)
Kyle Barczak (21)
Maura Bilek (21)
Susan Bayaa (21)
CONGRATS TO ALL!!!!!! and thanks to Prof. McGuire
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Zahra Ratli
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Zahra Ratli
Act Out is what my topic is about for this last journal entry of this semester The project started couple weeks ago when professor Michael McQuire asked us to go look for a service that we should volunteer in . This act really took a lot of efforts to do so , but the result was a fantastic event that took place the 30 Th of April and 01 st March in the Moraine Valley Community College Library. My class was scheduled to attend this event in our regular class time,which means that we have to share our experiences with people attending this event by a huge board stating where we have volunteered , what the organization is bout , and give wide understanding on how to join them with the presence of one of its Representative. My group work was with the Elsie’s food pantry located next the compass . So we have invited them to accompanied us in that event that will last from eleven to two in the afternoon. The people in charge was very helpful and really two of them were with us in the library.They were very excited to be with us and funny to have a wonderful time. When I arrived that morning , I found one of the team already there waiting for the rest of the group to come and the board is already displayed on the table. I made sure to be there before the start time to be ready and watch every single detail of that event.People started to come , my classmates brought their board , and organization Representative were there already.My professor gave a speech at the beginning and mentioned that will be two speaker in that day .The first is Mona Purdy ,the lady that I am proud of and a good model for me and the second one is from Sertoma Centre.He mentioned that Mona may show up late around one o’clock which really made sad because I really want to see her again but I had a class directly after that .He suggested that we can walk and see each other work and board to know what experiences did we had. We have so many people coming to our table asking a lot of questions on how to join that food pantry What location they serve and what that the requirement to get the food. We were already prepared and ready for these kind of question and the presence of those people of the pantry was more helpful to get a response to every body interested in a service. After that , we have watched a documentary about Share Your Soles and then the lady from Sertoma Centre gave a speech in volunteering and its benefits share some of the storied that had experiences while working in that organization.Well the fair had so many important information and the main reason if this is having a clear idea that volunteering is really helpful not only professionally but spiritually .
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Zahra Ratli
Critical Reflection Of Service
Community service was one of the amazing experiences that I had in this class. I did not have the opportunity to join any services in the past. I have never been obliged to do so because none of our high schools in Morocco require it unlike here in the United States .Also, in my home the community service does not add anything to the resume. More than that, there are no much opportunities or places to go volunteering. So, I grow up with the idea that volunteering is just a waste of time and has no importance in our lives. Even if I have learned through my life that helping people is a good thing to do, but I have really never thought about volunteering in organizations and its connection to the term HELP.
When my professor told us about choosing one of the organizations that we are planning to go volunteering, I really did not feel interested to this service because of no prior idea on how it is going to be, and being lazy to do so too. I chose the one that was schedule on Saturday since I have a tight time and I am free only in Weekends. My choice was Share Your Soles. I had no idea about this organization and what they do.But while my professor mentioned in the class the story of Mona that her decent apartment was destroyed in a fire the day before she came back from a visit from one of the countries that she helps. At that moment , I still had no clue about that organization, but the fact that I felt so curious to go and look online about this tragedy. I found an article that talks about her and her shocking surprise that she had after returning to her country. I felt so sad and continued to search and surf in the web to know more and more about this women. I really liked all her dedications and hard work that she did in order to help people in need and how this women could achieve all this success. At that moment , I was capable to have a brief idea about this place and its founder. Because there were an opening on Saturday , it was a good opportunity for me to go and see Mona in person and know more about her work. I really wanted to be there because it was my first place to go and do a tiny thing for the community in whole my life.When I woke up that Saturday, a beautiful shiny day of March, I had no desire to go anyplace. The only thing that I really wanted at that moment is having my breakfast with my family in the balcony while enjoying the warmth and beauty of that day. I really did not want to leave them and go for a volunteering work. I had to go because it is a commitment that I have to do. I started preparing myself and headed to the location. It took me too long to go there since I came from the far north side of the city. I had no energy at that moment and was asking myself how I am going to perform any task in that place. When I arrived, I saw my classmates waiting in their cars in the parking lot of that huge warehouse. We waited few minutes until 10 O’clock.While standing there , I have seen people coming and dropping shoes in the box outside the warehouse. After that one of the guys working in that place opened that door.We all went inside where we were seated to watch some documentaries and see what Share your soles is about. When I started watching that videos, I felt so sad and my tears could not stop. I really know more than anybody sitting next to me how those kids and people are suffering because I came from a place where those cases were seen with my abstract eye. I belong to Africa, a continent that many people are talking about; many documentaries are made on it. I have seen many kids who are illiterate because they had not the opportunity to go to school. In small villages with no roads, with no bus schools, four or five miles away from school and with one teacher who is lecturing for all grades. It is impossible to be as any normal child that has all the opportunities to go to school. Even that those kids struggle for education and for a shiny future, once they finish the last grade in the elementary school, they cannot finish their education. Why? High schools are always located in cities and low numbers of those kids are lucky in order to continue going to school. They may stay with a member of family or if their parents are financially able to support their needs while attending school. People in those places can struggle to eat, to drink, and to survive. Although, all these circumstances, you will find that these people are living a very happy life that luck a lot of conditions. This hard life that people see had become a normal way of living. While people in some places in the world are spending hundreds and thousands to go to the gym in order to lose weight whether for their silhouette or minimizing the risk of sicknesses, others like the ones in Africa, South America are starving to death because of luck of foods and too much daily work that burn a lot of calories that they don t even consume.
After watching and recalling all the cases that I have seen in the past, I had a huge energy and felt more responsible to devote couple hours that I may just waste watching a movie. I took a moment and imagined how it is going to be if I were one of those kids. It is hard and painful. At that moment, I saw a tall women with gym clothes and a hat coming toward us. She was having a big smile on her face . I could not recognize her at the beginning , but while she was approaching to us , I finally could guess who was that lady.She was Mona Purdy, the founder of Share Your Soles, coming toward us with her big motivation and energy. I was so happy to see and thank her for all the work that she does for other people in the world. I even dreamed in that moment to become one day as her . The day when i can be able to bring a smile to people who are miserable and feel very excited and proud of my work.She started explaining to us about the foundation and how they work. It is simply an organization that was created by a brave woman, Mona, in order to put shoes on the soles of children and adults in the most impoverished area in the world. So typically, this foundation collects donated gently worn shoes and sends to people in need in many places in the world.
We, classmates and people who came to volunteer and I, were divided into two groups. Men are strong enough to collect all the boxes and load them in the container for the next shipment to Haiti. Whereas, we, women, were asked to work on the sale shoe event coming the following week. The task was preparing the shoes in the other room. I liked Mona because she was always asking us about our views and suggestions on doing a specific work. We all shared our energy and love of doing that. We started by putting all the shoes in boxes and relocating them to the other place exactly in the front room that where the kitchen and the office of Mona is . So it is going to be easy for people coming to the event and find the shoes just in front of them once they entered to the warehouse. We had lined up long tables and covered them with pink and black satin, where we put all the shoes, sandals, boots … from size six to size eleven. we started by picking each size and make sure it is in the exact place. we were so exited in doing this task and each of us was busy doing his part of the job . Some people were sticking the prices on the shoes , where others were lining them up. Meanwhile, these people are doing this, Mona suggested to others to whether help for the collecting some kids books that she is planning to take with on the her next trip, or going organizing , stocking items in boxes and throwing up all the old stuff, preparing for the move-in of the organization to another location. At that time, Mona brought us her big burned box that was left from the fire that destroyed all her loved things in her apartment and she was demonstrating to us with a sad rhythm of her voice that that was lucky to get that box left as a seveunir .I really enjoyed doing that work since it was a collective task with my classmates whom I had the opportunity to know more and enjoy the moment with them by having a fantastic day volunteering in this organization..
Share Your Soles was an opportunity for me to know more about volunteering work and experience it. Before that day I was not thinking that dedicating three or four hours can make a change, but I am really now sure that helping others cannot always depend on money. Now, I am thinking in joining other organizations and be an active person in helping others in need. -
Zahra Ratli
while reading chapter , i found an article named ” Write That Down” written by Tom Dow. While starting reading that small article. I thought that it will include not so many points and easy to read. Yet while skimming between the lines. I figured out that that little piece of writing that looks so small has a very important message to any body who writes. when i saw that the author had mentioned Michael Tyson, I thought that the article may talk about competition or is related to boxing. Once i continued to read the whole thing ,i figured out that the aim of the article is informing the reader how to be a successful writer. the author has mentioned that being simple is the most important thing that we have to consider once we are writing . no matter ideas we have, how complex they are , and long they are, we always have to send a clear message in simple words that will help all the readers to get the point easily. sometimes, we try to put fancy words and do more efforts to get a well written paper. the writer has connected Michael Tyson to usage of the language. we have to use a language that is familiar and comfortable. the author mentioned a good point which is very significant for a good writing. he said that the more your ideas are complex, the more we should use simple language . Writing is a way of communication as speech. when we deliver a speech that do not depend on simplicity, then the listener will find a lot of difficulties to get the message. But once we use uncomplicated and unsophisticated language to address our point , it becomes easier for them to understand what we are trying to say . After reading this, i become aware that using sophisticated is not always a good way to get your message understood. I knew from Mr Tom that we should think simple .
—Tom Down. ” Write That Down.”Why White Rice?: Thinking through Writing. Dubuque, 2010.98.Print., IA: Kendall Hunt Pub,2010.98.Print. -
Zahra Ratli
while reading chapter , i found an article named ” Write That Down” written by Tom Dow. While starting reading that small article. I thought that it will include not so many points and easy to read. Yet while skimming between the lines. I figured out that that little piece of writing that looks so small has a very important message to any body who writes. when i saw that the author had mentioned Michael Tyson, I thought that the article may talk about competition or is related to boxing. Once i continued to read the whole thing ,i figured out that the aim of the article is informing the reader how to be a successful writer. the author has mentioned that being simple is the most important thing that we have to consider once we are writing . no matter ideas we have, how complex they are , and long they are, we always have to send a clear message in simple words that will help all the readers to get the point easily. sometimes, we try to put fancy words and do more efforts to get a well written paper. the writer has connected Michael Tyson to usage of the language. we have to use a language that is familiar and comfortable. the author mentioned a good point which is very significant for a good writing. he said that the more your ideas are complex, the more we should use simple language . Writing is a way of communication as speech. when we deliver a speech that do not depend on simplicity, then the listener will find a lot of difficulties to get the message. But once we use uncomplicated and unsophisticated language to address our point , it becomes easier for them to understand what we are trying to say . After reading this, i become aware that using sophisticated is not always a good way to get your message understood. I knew from Mr Tom that we should think simple .
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Zahra Ratli
After attending that one day volunteering that I did in Share Your Soules, Our professor asked us to make a group of three or four and start looking for a place where to do volunteering by our own. At the begining , when I heard about this project, I was really afraid of it.How can I get involved in an organization?Who is going to be in my group?How to pick him or her up?I had so many questions that scared me a lot.But,while attending my Tuesday class when my professor tried to make things more easier for us,he suggested to do a kind of a speed dating . So ,he asked us to talk to each single person in the class for two minutes and ,rotate untill we have the opportunity to know every body’s good and weak points and then get a clear idea to help us choose which one can be a good much for the group that we are willing to make. I really liked what he proposed because it was also a good opportunity for me to sit down and talk to people that I have been seen and never been able to have a conversation with for the whole weeks that I attended
this 102 class.Typically , this method was a great way to pick the right person for the team. At the end of the session , we were all able to have a clear idea on each student and capable to know which one is the perfect match.For me, I was concerned on finding somebody who is hard working , helpful , and respects meeting times..Procrastination was one of the biggest thing that I have been hearing constantly from the most of the class.This was not a big problem for me because I do too have this bad habit that we really need to get rid of.The main issue for me was finding somebody who is responsible ,always on time ,and makes
the work done before the deadline.I thought I was not that hard picky person to not find my team.Exactly! While talking to my classmates , I found out that most of them have what I am looking for.
After this whole process , the girl sitting next to me,Ashlie, picked me as one of her team with Tom and Havier. I was positive about this group the reason that let me accept being with them.
Now, the first and the hardest part of this project is done, so we know with whome we are going to work . The second step was what tasks each one is going to take care of . Ashlie, the one who picked me up suggested to be the group leader because she is good at doing this , and she feels confident in doing this type of work.We all agreed on that and tried to devide the rest of the work on the three of us. At that day we determined where our meeting will take place . After some discussions, we were able to get the exact time and place. Our group decided to meet each Thursday at three o’clock in the library whic is going to be a perfect location for all us to discuss our project.
The next class, one of our team ,Ashlie, did not show up. We were worried if she was sick because she did not come to class for two weeks. Tom tried to call her and send messages to her but with no answers.So after so many attemps to contact her ,we were shocked that the group leader had dropped off.
The group get confused for a little bit , but missing one person in the group really did not impact our strenght . We were still three people, three minds which are capable to do a fantastic work . We just had to
concentrate on the task , trust each other, and believe that we have enough power and competences to make the work done as it should be.
So , we discovered that we we should focus on our goal, getting involved in the organization.The choice was hard a little bit because so many organization with different services. Well, after a long discussion , we came up with the decision .It was going to one of the food dipository in the area near the school ,Moraine Valley.
The one that was near to the college was the Orland park food dipository. We were very excited that we found an organization,but fortunatly the process is not that easy as we imagined.Sometimes, involving in a volunteering is worst than getting a job in this hard time. Havier took the responsiblity to contact the organization, but after one weak of calls , he was incapable to contact any of the people’s in charge. We felt kind of despair because time is running, the deadline is approuching and the we did not even know where to go. We were scared more once we know that one of the groups had already went there or at least had confirmed with an organization.
The next class, we mentioned to our professor that we are having obstacles finding a place where we can volunteer. He mentioned that one of the groups is going to volunteer in The Moraine Valley Community Church where Elsie’s Pantry is.The other group was really helpful and told us that they have already contacted them ,people there are super nice and willing to accept volunteers.
At that moment , we started getting our confident back and feeling positive again. It was really bad when you see people arround you are doing an important part of the work whereas we are still in the bottom of the montain.
My team called that pantry and finally we are welcomed to spend some hours volunteering.Tom sent a message where he explained that he and Havier are in their trying to get some pictures of the location . He told me that there will be an opening in the next Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon. Yet , he informed that Wednesday only need male volunteer because they are going to help them move some heavy boxes to their new location. Even though I wanted to be there twice , I had no choice to do so since the only time left is Thursday afternoon. Any way , I was happy to visit that pantry that my friends already there.
When my team members came back from there, I asked them on how things went there , and how it is . After I gota brief idea on what they did , I was more excited to experience that on myself.
Thursday has came. I am ready to go . My mathematic class is ending and three o’clock is approuching, I am happy to go. I started packing my stuffs and getting to the destination. I walked from
the school to the pantry .It only took me ten munites to reach the place.Once I arrived , I knocked the door,
an old man whith white hair opened the door for me . He smiled and told me : “oh!!! you are coming from Moraine Valley for the volunteering work . yes come in.” I entered from the back door where food is given to people. I noticed that they have two rooms, kitchen , and one door leading to the church. Yeap! It is a church. I have never seen the inside of the church directly . I always did though television or pictures in books…. because I am a non christian.The first room in the right is painted in orange,in the far back , there is a picture of Jesus on the wall . there were two lines of shelves and each one has three raws. Each raw has multiple kind of food. I have seen cans( tomato, beans,olives…),soda,pasta,candies,cereals and so on. It also contains pet”s food.The room was well organized and has different kinds of
food .In the other room , where I did work for the most time was a stocking room.Abviosly, there
was plenty of boxes and food in there. My task was collecting several types of candies, cookies and pack them in zipbags . I did this work with one member of the other group, a nice person that really enjoyed the conversation with and had the opportunity to know much on her . While doing this , I have seen my friends serving people food. I have observed that they are asking them what they want . I also knew that when there is an exess in one of the things, people are allowed to take two instead of one item ,whereas, where is a shortage , they tries mixed different kinds in one bag as we we did in candies and cookies. When I finished, i went to the other room and helped set bags in the middle table to make easier fro my friends once it is crowded. At the end , when people started to vanished, We , went inside and worked cooperatively to transfer all that big pet’s food to small zipbags to have more people benifit from it.
My experience in “Elsie’s Pantry was fantastic. I learned so many thing and knew new information on how these pantry works.I have seen the efforts that this pantry is making to feed people starving. It is really a great thing to see that this place has served thirty thousand person was in need of food. People who dedicated their times and money surely they are proud of themself because they have made a chage in people’life . I am two proud of myself. I started having more selfesteem once I started volunteering and feeling happy because I can help. -
Zahra Ratli
My reading journal for this week is the article “Sometimes It Is to Lose the Map {everything is not a position paper} by Michael McGuire. I have many times in the past wanted to read this article , but i had no opportunity to do until today. Each time i start reading one of the articles or chapters in book , i feel astonished on how good information and advice are implicit between the line of each piece of writing. Since the beginning of this semester until now , i fell that i have learned so many techniques on how to improve our writing and how to be a good writer. the book seems small and tiny ,but it has tremendous good points that we should follow as an example. I liked this article because it is one of the best ones that i have read through this semester. i loved how professor McGuire compares writing to traveling . he mentioned that writing is more than a position paper , the tradition way of writing. i really liked the idea to keep the map under the car seat and then start to discover the area , place where you are . for sure this way will teach us how to be more creative in finding new places and ways . same thing as writing in which we need to avoid the position paper and start expressing with no limits.no maps. and no obligation. writing is an adventure as traveling , the more you depend on your thoughts and discover more ways to deal with the subject , then you will more capable to do a nice journey that may be unforgettable one to talk about. just ask questions and the more you do ,the more you will feel that you reach a good level of writing. to be a good writer , you should be creative and critical . and then the more you take risk and stop using maps , you will find yourself capable to go any where in future because you already discover it as so writing.
——-Michael McGuire.”Sometimes It Is to Lose the Map {everything is not a position paper””Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Dubuque,IA:Kendall Hunt Pub., 2010.82-83 Print -
Zahra Ratli
Why White Rice is a nice book that inspires me each time. I have read so many pages in it and each time find more important advices and ways to be a good writer. Even if some articles seem strange or far from the topic, but once you start digging in it you will find the connection between writing and what was compared to. This week, my journal entry is going to be on chapter six. “Existential Angst, Orgasm, and Jazz Recognizing that All Writing Is Creative Writing”. When I started reading this section, I tough is difficult and not easy to see the connection between the writing and jazz. But after I had looked at the whole thing , I had a clear picture of the relation of music and writing. Writing and music both need efforts to give a very beautiful neat work. When a musician is making up notes for a new song, it is not an easy work. He may work on it hours, days , or may be months. Depending on how creative he was. To achieve the level that he wants to present to his funs, he has to be very creative and make sure that the work he did is revised and well done. Same thing is for writing. The writer may spend hours, days , or months as the same for musician. The idea is very clear; they both have to do a perfect work. To have a nice piece of writing, it needs more work and creativity. The more you proofread, the more you correct and get new ideas to get an improved writing. This work seem easy, but really needs time and practice .Yet, when a person has talent to that, it becomes easier for him. Creativity is a good thing that we all have to think about it while writing. Once you are creative, for sure people will like your work whether it is a song or an article. A person should always think while he is writing that what he is working on it is as song. People listen to music and read articles and books. So be more creative and do not worry about next.
McGuire Michael, “Exstential Angst, Orgasm(s) and Jazz Recognizing that all Writing is Creative Writing.” Why White Rice? Iowa: Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. 133 -135. Print. -
Zahra Ratli
My reading journal for this week is about an article in chapter 3 of Why White Rice:Feeling of Inadequacy and the College Experience”. I liked what the author Eric Devillez talked about. I really feel interested to read the whole thing because he mentioned a very point that we all can have as students during our undergraduate or graduate years. While reading what Eric discussed , I automatically remembered myself. I am one of those cases that he talked about .Through my school experience that i had in my life i have many times felt inadequate . I was thinking that i may be the only one in that class that having that problem , but what i read today made me feel relaxed and think that there are other people may be sitting next me and having the same problem.I did agree with what he pointed that the only one who make us inadequate is ourselves and no one else and because of the poor preparation and the unwilling to ask . This is very true. I loved the phrase”Worry about your own head,and leave everyone else’s up to them!In the meantime,know that you belong if you want to belong , and making your self an island is a choice you do not have to make. yes, what as said is very important to succeed. I really read this again and again because we all have to worry about ourselves . As students , we have to prepare before classes, do our homework , read what it was assigned , and ask whenever there is something unclear or ambiguous. After reading this article, I believe that i should correct what was wrong and do my best to not feel in-adequateness while sitting in the classroom, and the other thing is asking question to clarify the point which i really lucked during my whole life.
——DeVillez, Eric.Feeling of Inadequacy and the College Experience.Why White Rice?Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. 62. Print. -
Zahra Ratli
My reading journal for this week is “The Cycle of socialization “by Babbie Harro. I really liked the idea that was discussed in the text. The point was well explained .the topic that Bobbie talked about is very important and many people question themselves about it constantly during their whole life. As it was mentioned ,Socialization starts from childhood .we are programmed into a certain socialization group when we are born. Dad, mom and people around us teach us how to certain things should be . We tend to model our behavior on what we see around us. Everyone knows you acquire certain traits from your family and people close to you that you hang on to for the rest of your life. These people teach us what is morally right and wrong, what is allowed to .what is acceptable to be. How should it and when it would be. All these things we learn them from people around us. But at a certain time, when we grew up and start having the capacity to distinguish things and be capable of choosing and thinking correctly, then most of us start to change what he or she learned through her or his life. I strongly believe that we reach a point in life where we are old enough to make our own opinions and have our own point of views whether they were influenced by our parents or by our own personal experiences. Our behavior change from time to time , from place to place, and from environment to another. We , people , get more experiences and learn new stuff every day which automatically influence our believes. What I believe in today may not be the same thing as what I will tomorrow . what I disagree with may be what I agree and support tomorrow .there are always certain events and time when things change even those we learned from our childhood because not always what our parents believe is true . Yet , we were born in the environment when certain act is allowed but they may be wrong. We human being have a mind to think about even if we are programed .
Harro, Bobby. “The Cycle Of Socialization.”(2012): 15-21. Splatter.writing101.net. Web. 22 Mar. 2012 -
Zahra Ratli
A Critical Reflection Of Service
Community service was one of the amazing experiences that I had in this class. I did not have the opportunity to join any services in the past. Share your sole was my first place to go and do a tiny thing for the community. At the beginning, when all of us were told by our teacher that we have to choose one of the places where we can spend a small amount of hours helping an organization doing a task, I was not really interested and just because of my laziness.
When I woke up that Saturday, a beautiful shiny day of March, I had no desire to go anyplace. The only thing that I really wanted at that moment is having my breakfast with my family in the balcony while enjoying the warmth and beauty of that day. I really did not want to leave them and go for a volunteering work. I had to go because it is a commitment that I have to do. I started preparing myself and headed to the location. It took me too long to go there since I came from the far north side of the city. I had no energy at that moment and was asking myself how I am going to perform any task in that place. When I arrived, I saw my classmates waiting in their cars in the parking lot of that huge warehouse. We waited few minutes until 10 O’clock. We all went inside where we were seated to watch some documentaries and see what Share your soles is about. When I started watching that videos, I felt so sad and my tears could not stop . I really know more than anybody sitting next to me how those kids and people are suffering, because I came from a place where those cases were seen with my abstract eye. I belong to Africa, a continent that many people are talking about. many documentaries are made on it , I have seen many kids who are illiterate because they had not the opportunity to go to school . In small villages with no roads, with no bus schools, 4 or 5 miles away from home and with one teacher lecturing for all grade, it is impossible to be as any normal child that he has all the opportunity to go to school. Even those kids struggle for education and for a shiny future. Once they finish the last grade in the elementary school , they cannot finish their education. High schools are always located in cities and low number of those kids are lucky to continue going to school. They may stay with a member of family or if their parents are financially able to support their kids’ needs while going to school. People in those places can struggle to eat, to drink, and to survive. Although, all these circumstances, you will find that these people are living a very happy life that luck a lot of conditions. This hard life that people see is becoming a normal way of living. While people in some places in the world are spending hundreds and thousands to go to the gym in order to lose overweight whether for their silhouette or minimizing the risk of sicknesses, others like the ones in Africa, South America are starving to death because of luck foods and too much daily work that burn a lot of calories that they don t even consume.
After watching and recalling all the cases that I have seen in the past, I had a huge energy and felt more responsible to devote couple hours that I may just waste watching a movie. I took a moment and imagined how it is going to be if I were one of those kids. It Is hard.it is painful . At that moment , I saw Mona Purdy , the founder of Share Your Soles, coming toward us with her big motivation and energy . She started explaining to us about the foundation and how they work. It is simply an organization that was created by brave woman, Mona, in order to put shoes on the soles of children and adults in the most impoverished area in the world. So typically, this foundation collects donated gently worn shoes and sends to people in need in many places in the world.
We, classmates and people who came to volunteer and I were divided into two groups. Men, strong enough to collect all the boxed and load them in the container for the next shipment to Haiti. Whereas, we, women, were asked to work on the sale shoe event coming the following week. The task was preparing the shoes in the other room. I liked Mona because she was always asking us about our views and suggestions on doing a specific work. We all shared our energy and love of doing that. We started by putting all the shoes in boxed and starting relocating them to the other place . We had lined up long tables and covered them with pink and black satin, where we put all the shoes, sandals , boots … from size six to eleven . I really enjoyed doing that work since it was a collective task with my classmates whom I had the opportunity to know more and enjoy the moment with them by having a fantastic work .
Share Your Soles was an opportunity for me to know more about volunteering work and experience it. Before that day I was not thinking that dedicating three or four hours can make a change, but I am really now sure that helping others cannot always depend on money . Now , I am thinking in joining other organizations and be an active person in helping others in need.-
Michelle Reyes
When my teacher started talking about this organization I was interested on going to help but i really wish I went to share your soles to help people that really need it. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend. I like how you where honest in the beginning saying how you really weren’t interested in going and had no desire of going anywhere on that beautiful morning. I honestly don’t think a lot of people would feel like waking up at 10 o clock in the morning to go. I like how you said that it was hard for you to watch because you actually witness seeing this yourself because it shows a connection that you have with watching the videos. It’s hard to watch something that makes you upset but in a way it’s going to make you want to help more to better these children’s lives. It’s upsetting to hear that a lot of children didn’t have the opportunity to attend school and get the education they need to be successful in life. I myself believe that everyone should have a chance to attend school and get the education that they need. I like how you used the example about how there is people spending so much money in order to lose weight while there is people who are starving every day. It’s sad but a lot of people now a day start worrying about them and don’t think about other people who need help. I think anyone who watched those videos gave them energy to work hard and be able to help those children that are suffering. I hope that everyone starting to think what if that happen to them and made them want to work harder to help those children. I think you should add like what where the reactions to the other classmates? Do you think anyone else felt the same way as you? I’m curious to know how the place looked so maybe when you start explaining about watching the videos you can add how the room looked. Also if there was a lot of people who attended this organization? I like how you also said towards the end how you this experience made you want to do more volunteer work. People don’t really want to volunteer now a days because they think it’s a waste of time but honestly I think its tells a lot about a person who takes time of their lives to go out and help people they don’t even know. I think it’s a beautiful thing and glad that you’re thinking of joining more organizations. Hopefully people could start thinking the same way as you and go out and help other people in need. I think I’m going to do more information on these organizations and start helping others as well. I think that if a lot of people start talking more about these organizations the word will spend and have more people to volunteer. Overall I think this is a good paper but just missing a little more details about the organizing you can add to make it great and can paint a picture in the readers head.
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Mark Reppen
After reading your paper, I liked how you started off by basically narrating on how your morning was going on that day. I can relate to that because I did not want to go to the service thing. I too changed my mind when I was there, when I learned that the service is more than what it seems. I understood what you said about how you felt emotional when you saw the movie about the African children who do not have shoes to wear. I believe that no one should have to go through that. More people should donate their shoes that they do not need to wear or wear at all just to get rid of them and help other people. . I thought it was cool how you talked about what they do in the organization. I think that it is sad that people in the world do not have shoes to walk in. I cannot imagine walking on the street without my pair of shoes. . I liked how you talked about the Share Your Soles on how Mona had this positive energy and motivation. I liked how you used the emotion of the movie to motivate yourself to help out with the organization. . I liked the whole thing and how you addressed the positives and negatives about the service. It seems like a lot of emotion went into this paper about the service and that was interesting. Reading about the details at the end about how the group from moraine were spilt of up into two to help make the work get done quicker. When I was done reading this I felt like there could be more details about the work that was done on that day. What I mean is explain more about the things that you had to do at the Share Your Soles place. I also wonder if you had any issue to address about the service. As in if there was anything that was a problem in the organization that could be improved or changed. I always think that every organization always needs more volunteers. I wondered if that could have been one of the issues that you guys had. Another thing that I wondered about is how is the financing in the organization? Does Mona get enough donations from people to be able to ship the shoes around the world? Having worked at a couple of volunteer/service places; almost every one of them always needs more money to be able to do more. This is always an issue, especially when our economy is not doing well at all. I liked the part when you said that you were able to get to know some of the people more while working with the shoes. I think that is one of the coolest parts about volunteering at services. Getting to know people that share a common interest in something makes the service more interesting.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
I too went to Share your soles for community service, except I went on a Thursday instead of a Saturday. I liked how on the second paragraph of your essay you started off with a description of how beautiful and shiny that day of March was. It really puts me in your shoes and allows me to experience why you did not want to go to community service. I too would not see myself wanting to go to community service if I was eating breakfast on a balcony with my family enjoying that warmth and beauty. But when we make a commitment we have to go through with it right? The way you told your morning was good and really caught my attention. It wanted me to keep on reading your essay. I liked how you related your experiences to the video. I did react to a video with some emotions, however I can never really know how that feels like due to me not living in an environment like that. I did live and now visit a country called Philippines. People there barely get by but are sitting pretty compared to some parts of Africa. But for you, you said that you were from a part in Africa and that you have witnessed children who are illiterate due to not having an opportunity to go to school. Whether it is because of financial problems in the family where they have to go and work or if the children are simply living to far from a school with no way or transportation to get there. They also struggle to eat, drink, and survive. As for Mona Purdy, I feel that her enthusiasm about her work and her organization “Share your soles” really helps motivates you to do a good job. After going to this event, I did notice that they were only around 3 or 4 volunteers. I was wondering however if you too noticed this? Maybe a few more details on about how the shoes are delivered to places, sponsorships the organization has, or their standing financial wise would make this great paper even better. Overall though, I liked the paper. I liked the emotion that flowed out of this reflection and organization of the whole essay.
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Zahra Ratli
A Critical Reflection Of Service
Community service was one of the amazing experiences that I had in this class. I did not have the opportunity to join any services in the past. Share your sole was my first place to go and do a tiny thing for the community. At the beginning, when all of us were told by our teacher that we have to choose one of the places where we can spend a small amount of hours helping an organization doing a task, I was not really interested and just because of my laziness.
When I woke up that Saturday, a beautiful shiny day of March, I had no desire to go anyplace. The only thing that I really wanted at that moment is having my breakfast with my family in the balcony while enjoying the warmth and beauty of that day. I really did not want to leave them and go for a volunteering work. I had to go because it is a commitment that I have to do. I started preparing myself and headed to the location. It took me too long to go there since I came from the far north side of the city. I had no energy at that moment and was asking myself how I am going to perform any task in that place. When I arrived, I saw my classmates waiting in their cars in the parking lot of that huge warehouse. We waited few minutes until 10 O’clock. We all went inside where we were seated to watch some documentaries and see what Share your soles is about. When I started watching that videos, I felt so sad and my tears could not stop . I really know more than anybody sitting next to me how those kids and people are suffering, because I came from a place where those cases were seen with my abstract eye. I belong to Africa, a continent that many people are talking about. many documentaries are made on it , I have seen many kids who are illiterate because they had not the opportunity to go to school . In small villages with no roads, with no bus schools, 4 or 5 miles away from home and with one teacher lecturing for all grade, it is impossible to be as any normal child that he has all the opportunity to go to school. Even those kids struggle for education and for a shiny future. Once they finish the last grade in the elementary school , they cannot finish their education. High schools are always located in cities and low number of those kids are lucky to continue going to school. They may stay with a member of family or if their parents are financially able to support their kids’ needs while going to school. People in those places can struggle to eat, to drink, and to survive. Although, all these circumstances, you will find that these people are living a very happy life that luck a lot of conditions. This hard life that people see is becoming a normal way of living. While people in some places in the world are spending hundreds and thousands to go to the gym in order to lose overweight whether for their silhouette or minimizing the risk of sicknesses, others like the ones in Africa, South America are starving to death because of luck foods and too much daily work that burn a lot of calories that they don t even consume.
After watching and recalling all the cases that I have seen in the past, I had a huge energy and felt more responsible to devote couple hours that I may just waste watching a movie. I took a moment and imagined how it is going to be if I were one of those kids. It Is hard.it is painful . At that moment , I saw Mona Purdy , the founder of Share Your Soles, coming toward us with her big motivation and energy . She started explaining to us about the foundation and how they work. It is simply an organization that was created by brave woman, Mona, in order to put shoes on the soles of children and adults in the most impoverished area in the world. So typically, this foundation collects donated gently worn shoes and sends to people in need in many places in the world.
We, classmates and people who came to volunteer and I were divided into two groups. Men, strong enough to collect all the boxed and load them in the container for the next shipment to Haiti. Whereas, we, women, were asked to work on the sale shoe event coming the following week. The task was preparing the shoes in the other room. I liked Mona because she was always asking us about our views and suggestions on doing a specific work. We all shared our energy and love of doing that. We started by putting all the shoes in boxed and starting relocating them to the other place . We had lined up long tables and covered them with pink and black satin, where we put all the shoes, sandals , boots … from size six to eleven . I really enjoyed doing that work since it was a collective task with my classmates whom I had the opportunity to know more and enjoy the moment with them by having a fantastic work .
Share Your Soles was an opportunity for me to know more about volunteering work and experience it. Before that day I was not thinking that dedicating three or four hours can make a change, but I am really now sure that helping others cannot always depend on money . Now , I am thinking in joining other organizations and be an active person in helping others in need. -
Zahra Ratli
This week , my journal entry is about that video that we had seen in the class last Tuesday. What Mr Singer talked about in that video was a very important message. It was trying to aware people and explain to them so many important things.He discussed that people in america are living very nice life getting all what they want while other people in the other parts of the word are starving to death. He mentioned the idea that people are spending so much money to buy things and he gave an example of shoes . he told us that a price of one shoe from a known brand as channel, coach, …. can feed so many people somewhere else where people are dying from common sicknesses as Malaria . Even that people have the freedom to buy whatever they want and with the price that they can afford because they are the one that are working and making those money. Yet , as humans we have to help those who are in need to . It is not a big problem if i don t buy shoes for one time and use that amount of money to help some one else or may be help a whole family . I do agree with his message even though some other will not. we spend so much money and sometimes whereas a dollar may be a problem for some people to give to a homeless or beggar. it is really sad when we see this contradicted situations where some are living fancy lives and some others are just struggling to to get food to eat. Singer had the power to give us an image on how world is and tried to convince people to help those who really need to.
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Zahra Ratli
This week , my journal entry is about that video that we had seen in the class last Tuesday. What Mr Singer talked about in that video was a very important message. It was trying to aware people and explain to them so many important things.He discussed that people in america are living very nice life getting all what they want while other people in the other parts of the word are starving to death. He mentioned the idea that people are spending so much money to buy things and he gave an example of shoes . he told us that a price of one shoe from a known brand as channel, coach, …. can feed so many people somewhere else where people are dying from common sicknesses as Malaria . Even that people have the freedom to buy whatever they want and with the price that they can afford because they are the one that are working and making those money. Yet , as humans we have to help those who are in need to . It is not a big problem if i don t buy shoes for one time and use that amount of money to help some one else or may be help a whole family . I do agree with his message even though some other will not. we spend so much money and sometimes whereas a dollar may be a problem for some people to give to a homeless or beggar. it is really sad when we see this contradicted situations where some are living fancy lives and some others are just struggling to to get food to eat. Singer had the power to give us an image on how world is and tried to convince people to help those who really need to.
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Zahra Ratli
This week , my journal entry is about that video that we had seen in the class last Tuesday. What Mr Singer talked about in that video was a very important message. It was trying to aware people and explain to them so many important things.He discussed that people in america are living very nice life getting all what they want while other people in the other parts of the word are starving to death. He mentioned the idea that people are spending so much money to buy things and he gave an example of shoes . he told us that a price of one shoe from a known brand as channel, coach, …. can feed so many people somewhere else where people are dying from common sicknesses as Malaria . Even that people have the freedom to buy whatever they want and with the price that they can afford because they are the one that are working and making those money. Yet , as humans we have to help those who are in need to . It is not a big problem if i don t buy shoes for one time and use that amount of money to help some one else or may be help a whole family . I do agree with his message even though some other will not. we spend so much money and sometimes whereas a dollar may be a problem for some people to give to a homeless or beggar. it is really sad when we see this contradicted situations where some are living fancy lives and some others are just struggling to to get food to eat. Singer had the power to give us an image on how world is and tried to convince people to help those who really need to.
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Zahra Ratli
No More Violence
Dear Editor
I have read your last article in the newspaper that was published on the previous month, February 29 th . The topic was very interesting , domestic violence is becoming a very scary issue that all of us can not permit it. As you explained in the article, it is very sad when we see a violent confrontation between family or household members that includes physical harm ,sexual assault ,or fear of physical harm. it is really harmful when we see people that we love are harming us whether they intend to or not. As you mentioned , women are at least five times more likely to suffer at the hands of a loved one. I have seen many cases not only in United States but also in the country where I came from,Morocco. I have always disagree with people who believe that violence is used by a certain category of men . They have usually related this issue to the origin of the person or the religion. I know for sure that none of the religions is permitting this , also those who think that some parts of the world or certain communities are the one who suffer from this violence because of their culture or any other reason are just mistaken because this act has no relation to whatever was discussed before. women are suffering from violence in all continents , religions, colors, and ethnicity. I believe none of the countries is taking the domestic violence as an acceptable issue and all of them have punishments to this act that may lead to a long sentence in some cases. domestic violence should be fought anywhere in this universe because no one has the right to ruin others life since victims of abuse may develop a very long lasting problems that will negatively impact other generations and other people . The woman is the mother who plays a big role in the society , she is the one who gives all her energy to raise , protect and gives a safe environment for her kids . So, how can an abused mother raise an non depressed and high self esteem generations? we all have to know that the women in general is the school where we learn most of the things . she is the mother , sister, aunt. daughter and grand mother. Any men will not tolerate that their mothers , sisters or daughters suffer from violence whatever its type, physically or emotionally , that is why the man who uses his strength to commit this unfair abuse on his wife or his girlfriend should think for a moment if it is normal for him to see his mother or daughter punched , slapped, pushed, kicked , or insulted. I think if he considered this view will never do this again because none of us accept that our loved one get harmed.
sincerely ,
Zahra Ratli
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Mark Reppen
After reading your letter to the editor, I liked how you used an article from that newspaper to introduce the topic. It was right to the point, interesting, and very understanding. It was interesting reading the fact or statistics on domestic violence. I have heard of domestic violence, but I did not know much about it. After reading it, I understood it a little more. As I said before, I liked how you used an article to refer to about domestic violence. I felt that you used good examples for the topic. I do, though, feel that you could have used more description into the examples. I agree with you that people should not go through domestic violence. I understood the part on how religion can play a part in the violence. I believe that it is important to include little facts like these to make the topic expand more. I did like how you set on that on men enacting the violence, but I did question whether if women did domestic violence just as much as men does? That is the only part that I was wondering about. I did like how you talked about women playing an important role in the family. I was wondering if that can be different, if so; perhaps include a little detail on that in the letter. Overall the letter is organized in a way that the information flows with one another. It was also written with good diction and your point of view on the subject is very strong and supportive. While I think this letter is good so far; I do feel like that there could be more to the letter that will reach out to the community about this subject. Other than that, I think the letter is good. I liked how you included the reason why people, like women are being abused or suffer through domestic violence based on their religion, ethnicity, race, etc. It definitely creates a broad image on the topic. I agree with your statement that our loved ones should never get harmed. I believe that can help reach out to people in the community and beyond to address that issue and work to stop or prevent it from happening. After reading this letter, I found that the beginning, middle, and end were well written. It was easy to understand the topic more and the details set up really good examples of domestic violence. I would describe your “voice” or point of view as concerned about the subject. You have this strong stance against it and I can tell that you are trying to reach out to people about it. It does sound like that you are involved into the topic. You wrote this letter as to inform people about which is a good thing. This is a worldwide issue and I agree that no one should have to suffer through it. I noticed that it happens with loved ones or inside a group of loved ones. I was wondering if that is the only time that domestic violence happens? Or can it be a complete stranger beating a person that you love or that is your family member? I was just wondering about how domestic violence is classified when it happens. Overall it is a good letter to the editor.
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Michelle Reyes
After reading your letter to the editor it shows that this is an issue that a lot of people should have knowledge about. I would like to know the name of the article that you got all the information from. I think it would help someone who is trying to learn more about this issue. I also agree this is a sad and scary issue. It’s scary to know those women are five times more likely to suffer at the hands of a loved one. As me being a woman and in still young it’s scary to know who you can trust not to harm you in anyways. It makes me think why people choose to make the person they claim they love feel so hurt. When you said you seen many cases not only in the United States but in Morocco it shows how this issue is everywhere. That it’s a big issue and people are suffering from domestic violence that should be taken care of. If people are well educated about this issue maybe people can stop harming there love ones. I also disagree with he people say that violence is used by a certain category of men. I think it doesn’t matter on the person or religion because it matters on the person. I even heard of cases where woman are the ones who cause violence between there partners. I like you said woman are suffering from violence because of there religion or color. I don’t think that anyone should be suffering from violence because of their color or even religion. Honestly I don’t think they should be any violence at al but it’s sad to hear that people still do. I like how you stated that domestic violence should be fought anywhere in this universe. I agree with you when you say that no one has the right to ruin others life. No one should ever feel like there are in control if there own life. I love how you stated hat woman is the mother who plays a big role in society because that is so true. I agree that how abuse mother can raise a non depressed and high self esteem generations. I believe that men should look at the way you explain it. How would they feel if they found out someone was abusing there mother or a loved one. Once they think about it that way hopefully they stop and think twice about it because it’s not right. I like the last sentence of the letter because if you think about it if people do considered looking at it as someone hurting there loved one they won’t never do this again. Hopefully someone out there would read this and think about what issues are going on today. Overall I think you got your point across and had really good information. It really made me think that people need to really learn about this issue and by someone reading your letter they are going to feel the same way as you and others. Overall, good letter to the editor.
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Melissa Castillo
I came by to read your letter to the editor. I really liked your letter and it was very close to home for me. I felt like you paper was sincere and very heartfelt. I felt when I was reading a sadness or very deep concern for this issue about domestic violence. Did you do a lot of research on the issue? A lot of women who are being abused might feel like they have no where to go after being hit time after time. I really wish maybe you gave a little more detailed experiences about the issue.
I know many women who have been abused by their boyfriends/husbands. They feel like they have no where to go or they don’t know how to start a new life. How would you address this issue to a woman who has been battered? Also it would have been more interesting if you put more statistics in your letter. I can feel you passion in this story. Maybe if you became more personal with the editor and maybe gave an example on the situation. Speaking of other nations with this problem was pretty interesting to me. I did think that there was certain religions that excepted it and let women be stepping stools. I always thought women had no authority in other countries and were beaten for all things they did wrong. It has a lot to do with media and movies just showing us how bad other countries are.
And you’re right! How can an abused mother raise a healthy child? I don’t think they can. I know there has to be some damage made to that child. Maybe they are violent or quiet. We already know that this effects the child. They are like little sponges that watch and absorb everything. Also, men know what the hell they are doing when they are beating down a woman or a child. They feel like they have all situations under control with their might. Nothing can compare, because they are the man of the house and they say what goes. I know a lot of men have issues of their own and maybe they grew up watching their moms get beat or they themselves were beat up, but that doesn’t make it right for them to continue the pattern and walk in the same footsteps as the one who abused them. Men put their pride before anything and they worry about what other men think of them.
Are you going to continue to proceed with this issue at hand or are you going to stop after class is over? I believe with all this research we all have found something that has really affected us and we will no longer be the same after this class. Do you feel like you will volunteer to spread awareness about domestic violence? I hope you do continue with this topic and thank you for standing up for us women. This means a lot to most of us and thank you.
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Reynaldo Tamayo
I liked the fact that you used one of the editor’s articles in your “letter to the editor”. It really allows the editor and other readers of that article to relate to the problem that is being pointed out in the letter. Also, it can help me reference to that article that was published in February 29th. Especially since I do not know a lot about Domestic violence, I can use that article to see where you are coming from. I know that this letter to the editor was supposed to be short, but a few more descriptive examples about certain topics would help. The examples can maybe also put a wow factor in your letter, causing more emotions in the editor and other readers, eventually causing one or all of them to do something about domestic violence. I liked how you flowed through the letter in an organized manner. It allows me to get some background on domestic violence before the ending of the letter. I do however wish that you provided ways that we can help in solving the issue of domestic violence. He editor already knows what to do about domestic violence but other readers of your letter might not. Domestic violence is something that people should be more aware of. How can someone commit violence to someone they truly love? I believe that the violence committed to love ones is an act of cowardice and is something that should not happen at all. Also, you said “So, how can an abused mother raise a non-depressed and high self-esteem generations?” I agree with this, the psyche of a child is very vulnerable to surrounding environments. If a child is exposed to domestic violence, that child can grow up being more susceptible to domestic violence or may even commit domestic violence themselves. It’s like a never ending cycle of domestic violence. All in all I found the letter to be clear and an interesting read. It was organized and it was an interesting read.
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Zahra Ratli
my journal entry for this week is on chapter this article in chapter 3,” Why Money Won’t Cut It and Why Extra Credit Makes you Stupid “by Michael McGuire. i really enjoyed reading this article because it talks about an important issue that most of us are believing in it. Nowadays, the majority of human beings are thinking just in money . As it was explained in the article , money is important in our lives because we need it to provide ourselves and our loved one, but the unbelievable love toward it became scary since we all do things for gaining money. we can go school and choose a major not because we love working as it or enjoy being in that environment or doing that type of work, but we select that field because we are going to make more money . the problem is when our aim is focus on money , then our competences is very low and we can not succeed in that field and for sure we will figure it out once it is too late. it was described in this niice piece of writing that a person should consider money , extra points , or grades while doing a task, yet he or she has to give whatever energy and efforts just to do a perfect work regardless of material wants. the article was very powerful and has a deep meaning concerning our choices and money.
—-Michael, McGuire.” Why Money Won’t Cut It and Why Extra Credit Makes you Stupid”Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010.67_68. Print -
Zahra Ratli
Elevator speech Topic Domestic violence Domestic Violence is…
Elevator speech
Topic: Domestic violence
Domestic Violence is a violent confrontation between family or household members involving physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm. Family or household members include spouses / former spouses, those in (or formerly in) a dating relationship, adults related by blood or marriage, and those who have a biological or legal parent-child relationship
What are the kinds of abuse?
Physical and sexual abuse
Emotional abuse
Economic abuse
Using children
Using isolation
Using jealousy
What are the results of domestic violence or abuse?
Sleeping problems.
Depression, anxiety attacks.
Low self-esteem.
Lack of trust in others.
Feelings of abandonment, anger.
Diminished mental and physical health.
What is the effect of domestic violence on children?
Children who witness domestic violence may develop serious problems:
Emotional problems
Behavioral problems
Developmental problems
Academic problems
What’s being done?
Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 .
VAWA has had a huge impact.
Domestic violence dropped more than 50 percent.
Call and talk to organizations.
- If you know someone who suffers from abuse , bring them to someone that could talk to them about their problems and inform them.Helpguide.org
Stopfamilyviolence.org
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Zahra Ratli
Googling Is Not The Same As Thinking, is a very interesting article published in the fifth chapter of Why White Rice . Micheal McGuire has discussed an important issue that most of us nowadays do which is googling. i agree with him in the idea of loosing our confident and we try to search Google even if we read the text or whatever because we all get addicted to this web. for us , Google is the key for anything hard to look or need efforts to do so.but the big problem is that we started using Google for every thing in this life and our mind started to shrink because of the luck of using it. we became lazy even to think or search something in your mind that we already have a background on it. i liked the sentence:”So. Mike, how are you feeling today?’Hhhhh I think I feel ok ,but let me check that on Google.’ It seems funny but it has a deep meaning that we all are at risk of overusing Google even for our own things that is really bad and he mentioned we lost confident foe what we know and we are sure about it, still we have to check Mr Google for the right answer. i really liked the essay and made me think of my relation with Google and i was chocked when i figured out of my tremendous use of this web even for easy things and minimizing my thinking .
——McGuire, Michael. “Googling Is Not the Same as Thinking.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. 119-20. Print. -
Zahra Ratli
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Domestic Violence is a violent confrontation between family or household members involving physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm. Family or household members include spouses / former spouses, those in (or formerly in) a dating relationship, adults related by blood or marriage, and those who have a biological or legal parent-child relationship. The batterer uses acts of violence and a series of behaviors, including intimidation, threats, psychological abuse, and isolation to coerce and to control the other person. The violence may not happen often, but may remain a hidden and constant terrorizing factor. Domestic violence is not only physical and sexual violence but also psychological. Psychological violence means intense and repetitive degradation, creating isolation, and controlling the actions or behaviors of the spouse through intimidation or manipulation to the detriment of the individual. Domestic violence destroys the home. No one deserves to be abused. The responsibility for the violence belongs to the abuser. It is not the victim’s fault.
While men are also victims of domestic violence , women are at least five times more likely to suffer at the hands of a loved one. On a typical day in the United States, three women are murdered by their spouses or partners, Young people between the ages of 16 and 24 are most at risk. The victims include teens who are abused by their parents as well as young parents who assault each other or their children .Moreover, teen dating violence touches more than 30 percent of young men and women. On a typical day in the United States, three women are murdered by their spouses or partners.
SYMPTOMS OF ABUSE:
The first kind is using physical and sexual abuse which is applied in hair pulling, biting, shaking, pushing, pinching, choking, kicking, confinement, slapping, hitting, punching, using weapons, forced intercourse, unwanted sexual touching in public or in private and depriving her of food or sleep.
The other way is using emotional abuse which is the fact of insulting her in public or in private ,putting down her friends and family ,making her feel bad about herself ,calling her names ,making her think she’s crazy , playing mind games ,humiliating her ,making her feel guilty ,using Male Privilege ,treating her like a servant ,making all the big decisions and being the one to define men’s and women’s roles.
the third type is using economic abuse which is described as preventing her from getting or keeping a job ,making her ask for money ,giving her an allowance ,taking her money ,not letting her know about or have access to family income ,not allowing her a voice in important financial decisions , also demanding exclusive control over household finances.
The fourth type is using children in a way that the men makes her feel guilty about the children , uses the children to relay message , uses visitation to harass her , and threatens her to take the children away
The fifth kind is using isolation that means the husband or boyfriend is controlling what his partner does, who she sees, what she reads and where she goes. Moreover, he refuses to let her learn to drive, go to school ,or get a job and not forgetting the fact that he does not allow her to freely use the car or the phone
The last type is using jealousy ad blame to justify actions; Minimizing, denying, blaming ,making light of the abuse and not taking her concerns about it seriously, checking up on where she’s been or who she’s talked to ,accusing her of infidelity ,saying the abuse didn’t happen ,shifting responsibility for abusive behavior , and saying she caused it are all ways to abuse the women.
What are the results of domestic violence or abuse?
The results of domestic violence or abuse can be very long-lasting. People who are abused by a spouse or intimate partner may develop sleeping problems, depression, anxiety attacks, low self-esteem, lack of trust in others, feelings of abandonment, anger, diminished mental and physical health, poor relationships with their children and other loved ones. And also physical abuse may result in death, if the victim does not leave the relationship.
What is the effect of domestic violence on children?
Children who witness domestic violence may develop serious emotional, behavioral, developmental, or academic problems. As children, they may become violent themselves, or withdraw. Some act out at home or school; others try to be the perfect child. Children from violent homes may become depressed and have low self-esteem.
What’s being done?
In the decade after Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, domestic violence dropped more than 50 percent, according to government figures. “VAWA has had a huge impact,” says Jill Morris, public policy director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “It has changed attitudes. It’s a great success.”
Are judges and police doing enough to protect domestic-violence victims?
Forty years ago, a wife beater would not be arrested unless police actually saw the incident or had a warrant. Police and judges would routinely dismiss the problem as a “family matter.”
Things have changed, particularly in the last decade, as police officers, judges and prosecutors have received VAWA-funded training on how to deal with domestic violence. But women’s advocates say much still needs to be changed, both in the courtroom and on the police beat.
Nationwide, more than 300 judicial systems have established specially designed “domestic-violence courts.” Some states have created courts that handle only domestic violence, while others have staff trained who provide support to victims, Dunford-Jackson explains. New York uses both approaches, with more than 30 domestic-violence courts plus special units that include victims’ advocates and staff members who monitor those convicted of domestic violence to ensure they are complying with the terms of their sentence.
To learn more.
Helpguide.org is a website that was launched in 1999, following the suicide of Robert and Jeanne Segal’s daughter, Morgan. They believe that Morgan’s tragedy could have been avoided if she had access to well-written professional information that gave her a sense of hope and direction. In the past 12 years this website has grown from a small local project to an internationally recognized resource now serving 1 million visitors weekly.
Stopfamilyviolence.org Stop Family Violence’s is a website that organize and amplify the nation’s collective voice against family violence. They are a catalyst for social change – empowering people to take action at the local, state and national level to ensure safety, justice, accountability and healing for people whose lives are affected by violent relationships.
NNEDV :The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), a social change organization, is dedicated to creating a social, political and economic environment in which violence against women no longer exists.Citation
Prah, P. M. (2006, January 6). Domestic violence. CQ Researcher, 16, 1-24. Retrieved from http://0-library.cqpress.com.library.morainevalley.edu/cqresearcher/-
Mark Reppen
After reading your project/essay post, I came to like how you wrote it as in how detailed it was. You started off by explaining what domestic violence is and how it has a huge impact in families or household members. After that you wrote about the background of domestic violence and I learned a few things about the topic that I didn’t know before. Sure, I knew quite a few things about domestic violence, sexual assault, etc. I still learned more about it though. The whole piece was detailed and it was easy to understand and to read it. I really liked that you found different sources to go to get involved and help out with solving the domestic violence in homes and to prevent it from becoming a problem. I also liked that you put more sources to learn more about the topic if any of the other readers wanted to know more about the topic. I, honestly, think that perhaps you could have written more about how people like family members or spouses deal with domestic violence and what happens to them when they deal with it. I feel like that part could have slightly more examples or details added into it. I also think the part with the children dealing with domestic violence could use more examples too. As I was reading this, I realized that there weren’t any sources that I could look at to learn more about domestic violence. Yes, there were some for how to help out with preventing it but not to learn more about it. Overall it is a good paper; it just needs more illustrated points or information inserted into the topic. That way it could expand or enhance your writing on this subject. I wasn’t confused at all on what you wrote, I just felt like it could have more to it than what is already written. I was curious though about how do you feel about this topic? I just thought if you wrote what you felt or thought about this topic, it would make this paper more interesting. Not that it isn’t interesting, it already is. My point is that if you wrote that it would make it more interesting. Like I said before, I learned some things from it and it was an informative topic to read and I think this issue should be addressed by everyone in the world. After I read the background part of the paper, I felt that it was just right, as in it doesn’t need any more information added to it. I’d leave it as it is. I definitely liked that you wrote it in a way that it can hook the reader into the issue of this topic. Once again, overall it is a good paper. It needs more information and details put into it to make it expand more. That way the paragraphs have a more fluid and smooth paper. The intro was a good one by the way; it really made the topic more interesting to read. That is all I can think of to say about this.
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Zahra Ratli
thank you for your peer reviewing , for sure i will consider your advice thank you again
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Michelle Reyes
After reading your project I had a clear understanding about domestic violence and learned about the subject more. I knew about the issue but didn’t know a lot about the different types of domestic violence and who is affected by domestic violence. The first paragraph gave me a clear understanding of what domestic abuse is. It was a clear and thorough definition of domestic violence. I like the way you listed every type of domestic abuse not only the first one that pops into everyone’s head, which is the husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend situation. People should be aware that a domestic violence situation can be between sisters and brothers and parents and children as well. Also, I think it’s important that people should be aware that domestic violence is not just physical or sexual but psychological as well. Psychologically abusing someone is a clear sign that there is domestic abuse in any kind of relationship and no one deserves to be abused or feel guilty for being abused. I also like the fact that you spoke about men being victims of abuse but that women are more prone to abuse than men. The ages are also important. Even though at any age domestic abuse can occur, 16-24 are the ages that most people may encounter this type of abuse. Your statistics gave me clear picture of who exactly experiences domestic abuse.
The paragraph of symptoms of domestic abuse is very detailed. I liked the way you organized each symptom of domestic violence. When I first started reading the symptoms of domestic violence I wasn’t aware of all of the symptoms that there was. I like how you gave a lot of information about some of the symptoms but feel that you could have put more information about domestic violence on children. You could have added about how much percentage to children witness domestic violence. You can talk about how many households have domestic violence and how it’s affecting their children everyday. Also when you talk about what can be done, I felt that you could have talked about the “VAWA” and how it did have a big impact. You add more information about “VAWA’’ in case someone didn’t really have any background information about it.
I like how you but that if police officers and judges are doing enough to stop domestic violence. I didn’t know that more than 300 judicial systems have established especially designed domestic violence courts. Its shows that some states are trying to address this issue and try to help people deal with this problem that is going on in everyday life. I think you should add information about how much it’s affecting people in the world and what is going on in the news today. Overall it was well organized and well written. I learned new information about this issue and the symptoms that people have and what can happen if they are domestically abused. Just adding a couple things will make it a great paper. Good job! :)-
Zahra Ratli
thank you for your peer review
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Reynaldo Tamayo
I liked how detailed the essay was. I only had a basic knowledge of Domestic Violence. The introduction, in my opinion, was an informative one. It gave me a little more knowledge on what domestic violence was and what happens to both the victim and the batterer. Domestic violence is something that we should be aware of. Domestic violence is something that a young child can learn and commit to his or her future spouse. In my opinion, domestic violence is something that happens due to lack of love or acknowledgement in a childhood. You stated some symptoms of abuse which I think is useful for visualization. It gives me and other readers a visual of the abuse making us more inclined to do something about this problem. Also, it would be nice to see some statistics about some of the fact that you stated in your essay. It would tell me and other readers that these facts are documented. Also, in the part on what is being done about this problem, you mentioned the Violence Against Women Act or VAWA. It would be nice to have so more information on what VAWA actually does to lower domestic violence. Also, some direct links to content from sources about domestic violence would be appreciated. I would love to learn more about this problem. All in all this is a good essay, it was organized, and it made me want to find out more about the topic, but it needs more information.
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Zahra Ratli
This week, I chose to write my journal on the first chapter of Why White Rice. When I started reading this part of the book, I found it very encouraging for me. This chapter includes a lot of stories and explains how a person can believe in himself and ensure that he can be a writer. The beginning of the book taught us how to be confident while writing. The book start was very important and talked about the idea that if you are writing about something, it means directly that you are a writer. In these pages, I have read a lot of advices on how to write and what to avoid while you are trying to put your ideas down in the paper. it really helped me because I have met so many teachers in high school and college but none of them simplified and made the writing easy for student. They have always made attention to grammar rather than creativity which also was a cause for getting a low score that kept ma always feel unable to write and express my ideas on y own way. Because I am a shy person , I prefer my communication to be written and not verbal. I like to write to share my feelings, ideas, and news. Before reading this rich chapter , I was always worried about what others will say when they read what I wrote. But when I went over the whole thing, I figured out that I am a writer and I can be proud of myself and work on my writing to achieve the top and be more proficient while writing. I learnt that writing is a practice and I can do it over and over again until getting to the point and letting others as friends or relatives to read and comment on what I did will surely help me to make a nice well developed a piece of writing.
——-DeVilez, Eric. “Myth Busting”. Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub 2010. 1-24. Print -
Zahra Ratli
This week, I chose to write my journal on the first chapter of Why White Rice. When I started reading this part of the book, I found it very encouraging for me. This chapter includes a lot of stories and explains how a person can believe in himself and ensure that he can be a writer. The beginning of the book taught us how to be confident while writing. The book start was very important and talked about the idea that if you are writing about something, it means directly that you are a writer. In these pages, I have read a lot of advices on how to write and what to avoid while you are trying to put your ideas down in the paper. it really helped me because I have met so many teachers in high school and college but none of them simplified and made the writing easy for student. They have always made attention to grammar rather than creativity which also was a cause for getting a low score that kept ma always feel unable to write and express my ideas on y own way. Because I am a shy person , I prefer my communication to be written and not verbal. I like to write to share my feelings, ideas, and news. Before reading this rich chapter , I was always worried about what others will say when they read what I wrote. But when I went over the whole thing, I figured out that I am a writer and I can be proud of myself and work on my writing to achieve the top and be more proficient while writing. I learnt that writing is a practice and I can do it over and over again until getting to the point and letting others as friends or relatives to read and comment on what I did will surely help me to make a nice well developed a piece of writing.
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Zahra Ratli
When I heard the two words Activism and service , I thought that that they mean the same thing . But after searching, I found out that the two words lead to the same path but they are quite different. Activisms is to find an issue in the world and begin to make others aware and make things happen in order to solve the problem. For instance , if we have a beach that has plenty of soda cans and a lot of paper thrown away , the beach is becoming dirty day after day , then in this case we have to act to find a solution to make our beach clean and the task will not be cleaning the dirt but thinking how to get a permanent way as talking to the city to increase the number of garbage cans in the beach . So you act to solve an issue or a problem. Whereas, service is the act of volunteering to help doing a task like we go and dedicate a certain days or hours to go and help pack some foods for people in need and also the fact of cleaning the beach is a service .
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Zahra Ratli
Village Voice by Peter Hassler is a very inspiring article. The text is talking about Rajeev Goval , a second generation Indian who is living in the united states. He is a member of the Peace Corps, founded in October 1960 by John F Kennedy which was formed out of political debate not for helping people and countries around the universe. Rajeev Goval spent a lot of work and dedication to help people of Nepal. He did a lot of thing to support other people who suffer from poverty .he felt that he is responsible of the help of people that are in the other part of the world and who were unlucky to be in a place where they can be very happy and enjoying their life in a clean and good environment. He stood for the help of miserable humans that in need of many things that are essential in this life. For example, Rajeev thought of a way to clean water in the place he was located in Nepal because it was hard for those people to drink water because they had to walk two hours away just to get clean water. The essay also talked about some few celebrities in the music industry like Beyonce and Jay Z who are helping also those people that are suffering in the other part of the world. those two people gave a very important picture on them and on american people. they express from their joining that they also feel what others are suffering from and they can be there or them. Rajeev took an important and brave decision when he sacrificed his med school , the dream of his mother , to go back to his country of origin and try to be there and give them support and try to change that country. It is a wonderful thing to hear that there are some people who prefer volunteering for the happiness of others. This means that a lot of people will like doing also the same thing , no matter where in this huge world but the most thing is to help others. I liked this essay and really inspired me that is why I am planning to do a lot of volunteering work in the future and dedicate my free time to see the smile in other people s face.
——–Hesser, Peter. “A Reporter at Large: Village Voice, The Peace Corp’s Brightest Hope.” New York: The New Yorker.2010. 101-109. Splatter.writing101.net: The Messy Art of Writing. Web 9 Feb. 2012. -
Zahra Ratli
Who should survived was a very good exercise for my thinking. It is very hard to choose who is going to survive because as human beings , we can not think that leaving someone to die is ethical . It took me a while to decide which of them should survive and who is not . My decision for to sacrifice Dr Garcia because he had two heart attacks in the past five years and he may experience another one any time during this hard period and if he doesn’t have his medication then he is gone. I really didn t want at the beginning because he is a doctor and an old man who has a lot of wisdom but his sickness made me and my group agree to do so. the other one is Mrs Hernandez because she is a cocktail waitress and a prostitute and had experienced a hard unbalanced life , so her whole life is down .Then i let go father philip and Bobby Lang . I made bobby go but i kept his father who is an active teacher/counselor in the community. This activity was enjoyable but very challenging especially when i discussed my decision with my group and we all tried to convince each other which one should survive.
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Zahra Ratli
When I started reading that long title “ 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”. I was scared and curious at the same time to read the whole article. The way it was written fascinated me and made me feel every expression while depicting the whole image on how that man was acting. At the beginning, I thought that person is in military especially, with the way he was described as he is feeling anxious and unease. I got in mind that may be he is suffering from a psychological disorder as a result of war tragedy. But, after reading several lines, I discovered that the reaction of this man is normal . It is obvious that when we see our soldiers killed and mutilated in other countries, we feel sad. These soldiers are sacrificing themselves in order to do their mission as it is. When there is war , we believe that whoever is killed must be shot .Yet ,when we see a soldier with no trace of blood , it hurts us because it is unfair act .The tragedy of this soldier is happening to many other warriors who are suffering abroad. The article is very interesting and depicts one of the real facts that face our soldiers. The topic was expressed in a very talented way which gives the reader the opportunity to imagine and feel the sadness of this tragedy.
— Eggers, Dave. “How We Are Hungry”, What It Means When A Crowd In A Faraway Nation Takes A Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him From His Vehicle And Then Mutilates Him In The Dust. McSweeney’s, 2004. pgs 17-18. Splatter.writing101.net 2012 -
Zahra Ratli
Live.Kill.Die
Life is series of events that could be good, bad, or mixed. For some people, life is boring and horrible, but for me, life is beautiful. To feel the happiness of this life, a person should always have aims and reasons for which he lives. When I was asked this question, I went to the calmest room in my home and started thinking while drinking a very tasty cup of coffee. I decided to stay alone in that place because I wanted to have a private conversation with myself. At that moment, I started recalling all the things and writing them down in my black notebook.
The first reason I got to my mind is that I live for my family including mother, father, siblings, and surely my lovely husband and kids. We have all seen and heard about so many people who had committed a suicide because they have lost their beloved. These people thought that life is impossible to continue without the existence of the lost ones .For me, I live to love, care, help, protect, and share good and hard times with my family. I live to be the mother who gives all her tenderness not only to her babies but to everyone in need of . I am in this world to be the shelter whenever there is none. And to be their support once they become weak and aimless. As a woman, I am the daughter that should look after her old parents, and the wife that should provide a lovely happy palace for her children and spouse. Even this big responsibility makes me as a squeezed sandwich, I feel so pleased to do so since without them, there will be no taste in my life.
Moreover, my other reason that I live for is going to school. Regardless of the circumstances that faced me before, I had always wanted to continue my education not only for a career but for me. I believe knowledge is my power and also my identity since a person is usually assessed by how much he knows and not from which class or origin he came. For this concept, I did my best to go back to college seeking a high degree and no matter what hardship that can stand in my path, I will always confront it since education is very important to me and for my family also in providing them with a good level of living by getting a respectful work that pays a decent salary.
Typically, these are the most important reasons why I live and they really make me always motivated and excited especially when I feel that I have a role to do. I had always had reasons that made me more active and optimistic toward this world. Starting from my childhood until now, I had a cocktail of goals that refreshed my days from time to time. Being capable to do so, made me sure that it is impossible to live with no reasons. With no exceptions, all beings in this universe have reasons to live even animals do. For instance; dogs do not spend their lives just eating and lying on their back. As animals, they also do a job to protect and live to be a loyal friend for their owners.
To respond to the questions asked what to kill for and what to die for. For me, killing is an act that I cannot even think about. I do not have the right to kill somebody because we did not agree on a certain thing or even that person did something bad to me. In this life, there are plenty of courts and police departments just to protect us and practice the justice between people. In some cases, there might be no justice especially when we find ourselves in a non-perfect environment that experiences unfairness and corruption. Although these causes may make a person aggressive for not getting his rights, it is impermissible to act fool and commit a crime since none of us in this world is allowed to terminate the life of other human beings.
Yet, discussing the fact to what I can die for. In my beliefs, I can only sacrifice myself in two cases. The first one is for my country. Country means my home, my breath, my ancestors and my offspring. The country is the identity and no one can erase it. I can fight till death if any enemy wants to destroy it or even distract its peace. I think none of us in this world can accept seeing his land stolen or taken by enemies whatever the reason is, and stand applauding for them. The love of our countries start from the first breath we inhale in day one and the attachment to its streets, buildings, customs, and even the water that we drink. All people do share the same love to their country and cannot agree to lose one of their belongings that can be precious than clothes and money. What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours. Even the baby won’t share his toys with a stranger. So how come a country be so?
My other case that I believe I can die for is my kids. Not only human beings are attached to their children, animals also protect their babies from any stranger or danger. Imagine yourself approaching a couple of chicks following their mother. Surely, she will defend her babies if she feels that they are in danger. Also, imagine that you are passing by a jungle or a forest and seeing a lioness surrounded by her babies .It is obvious that she will attack you if you get closer to her or her kids in order to provide protection and shield this latter. The picture that I just draw gives an illustration on what parents do to provide a safe and cozy environment for their lovely kids.
As a conclusion , there are always good reasons to live for, to kill for , and to die for and whoever has no reason behind his actions, has no life.-
Michelle Reyes
As reading the first sentence of your paper I love how you mention that life is beautiful because some people don’t really see it that way. Some people take their lives for granted. When I started to write it required a lot of thinking and figuring out how to put my feelings and thoughts on this paper. I like how you supported your opinions and answers to these difficult questions. I also picked family for my paper and I like how you said that you would protect your family and kids and used the example of you protecting your kids like you being in the jungle protecting them from anyone who tries to hurt them. I don’t have any kids but when I do that’s probably the same example I would use. Its shows that you are willing to do anything to keep your family and the people you care about safe.
I’m also glad to hear that you are still working to further your education. There are a lot of people that say that it’s too late for them but it really isn’t. It requires a lot of work and dedicating and from reading this paper it looks like you have a lot more. -
Grzegorz Bednarz
In your essay, I love how you explained what life means to you and I agree with you on some of the aspects of life. Your introduction started great and it kept me want to read more about your life. It looks like you have a lot of experience and you are very decisive of what you want to do in life. I agree with you on the education part because I also think that education is more important than the degree by itself.
This essay has a lot of good points and it is well written; you put a lot of effort to write this piece of work. I enjoyed reading it because I have similar way of thinking about life. I like that you put a lot of emotions in writing and that you have strong opinions about those three questions. It looks like you had no problem in stating your opinion. Your essay would be much stronger if you included life experience in it because it would the reader with the writer.
From reading your essay, I could clearly state that family is very important to you and that you have very close connections to them. In a present world, it is very hard to keep those bonds with close ones and yet, when I read the part where you mention your family, I had feeling that you have really close connection with them. This made me feel of my family and how I don’t have the same connection as you do and how I would like to improve that.
To the part of “what would you kill for”, I agree with you that no one deserves to die but you stated that you would protect your country and your kids by any means and yet, you written that you wouldn’t kill anyone. Isn’t that one of the reasons that would push you to kill someone? I have feeling that you kind of answered the part about “what would you die for” and maybe not intentionally included what would you kill for.
Even thought I don’t have kids, your essay made me think about what I would do for them if I had any. You clearly explained mother to child bond and I am very impressed of how much you could do to protect them. This shows of how good of a mother you are and how much your children will appreciate you when they become grown adults.
Overall, your essay was well written and had very strong argument that would make to think other people that wouldn’t share the same ideas. You have shown that you have a lot of experience in life and even through hardship you know what your goals are and you are willing to follow them no matter what. You deserve a lot of respect for following in what you believe what is right and what is wrong. It made me think about how I feel what is most important to me. -
Reynaldo Tamayo
I liked how you explained life at the beginning of the essay. It really helps me to start relating to the essay right from the start. I liked how you went to calmest room in your house to think about these questions away from the distractions of life. I basically did the same thing when I was writing my essay and was thinking about these questions. I agree with you that family is an important reason to live for. Family helps each other out whether it’s emotionally, financially, etc. They are always there to help you through tough times. Knowledge IS power. With knowledge any person can get through life with a little more ease than the rest of us. It’s good that you want knowledge for yourself and not just for a career. Back when I was in a college 101 class, my professor told us that college is not necessary to succeed. In a way I do agree with her, but having a college education will set you apart tremendously from a person with no college degree. On killing, I agree with you that killing is something no one should do. Taking someone’s life is like a domino effect. Not only does it affect you, but it also affects the person’s family and accomplices. On the topic on what you will die for, I respect the fact that you are willing to die for your country. This country although not perfect is far better than other countries when it comes to living conditions and the rights people have. I’ve been to a few countries like Australia and the Philippines. In the Philippines, our government is corrupt. They take the money for themselves, which is why the Philippines are considered a third world country. People usually cannot talk openly about the government there while we make parodies and jokes about our government. The part where you were talking about animals protecting their young was an interesting part of the essay. One thing someone should never do is to come between a mother and her children. The essay as a whole is a well written one. I liked how you presented your answers in a way where the reader can understand the message you are trying to convey easily. One thing though is that I wished you went further into your answer on what you would kill for. I feel that there are some ideas that were not fully expressed. Expressing those ideas would certainly make the reader think more about his/her stance about that topic.
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Zahra Ratli
I believe that ecological literacy is the ability to understand the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. To be ecological literate, a person should understand the natural systems that make life on earth possible. One should feel responsible to learn and strive to improve the human condition and the environment. People who are willing to be Eco literate should first pay attention on the ecosystem and take some positive actions to protect and make a sustainable living to all others organisms in this earth. For example; Recycling could be a good way to keep and protect so many wide forests from deforestation , and reducing can be a good solution to protect our landfills from pulps and ink caused by the production of paper.Moreover,carpooling is one of the best ways to decrease pollution , carbon emission , and green house emission.Donating is also a good way to save our ecosystem. I think that I am ecologically literate because I grow up in an environment where everybody is aware about the importance of other beings in our earth and how we should make efforts to protect them since we are all connected to each other , if there is any problem facing one of us for sure will affect the other part.and I have always imagined that this earth is like a machine that has to function properly and if there is a problem with one of its part then, surely will not work as it shoud or expected and may cause problems because all the parts should be in a good condition in order to achieve our expectation from this machine.
— Capra, Fritjof. “From The Web of Life.” Splatter.writing101.net. Web. 25 Jan. 2012
Mike Gotsch, 
Michelle Reyes, and 
Mark Reppen are discussing. 
Reynaldo Tamayo, 
Melissa Castillo, 
Zahra Ratli, 
Grzegorz Bednarz, and 
Mark Reppen 4:37 pm on April 19, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
After reading this I thought it was interesting on how you approached this topic. Some of the phrases or features of your writing, I found were most memorable. For example: “the group consisted of four people at the beginning.” I thought it was interesting that you explained how one of your group member stopped showing up. I could relate to that as in that some of the other groups in my class had one or two of their members not come to class anymore. I understood the meaning or the message of the paper. I could see that most of it was about working with your group toward one goal and trying to achieve it. I do feel like that there were some parts in your paper that you were going to say something but ended up not saying it. It just seems like it hovers around the edges. I ended wanting to hear more about the organizations that you looked at. I also wanted to hear more about the meetings you had with your group members. I feel that the group work was the source of energy for this paper. Basically it was the inspiration behind the paper. I do feel that it could have more included into it. The beginning of the paper could have more attention grabber including into it. I feel that the writing has little organization. Some of the subjects you talked about were a little difficult to follow through. The beginning, middle, and end should flow better. I would describe this paper as a very basic, simple paper. The only thing that I could get out of this paper was that the way you wrote was in a concerned type of attitude. Your point of view is very different and I am not sure what to make of it. You did speak from an objective position. Also you spoke from a first person type of style. I felt that you treated the reader by just simply telling them what happened. There were some places that needed more details on or more examples. For example, the group meetings or the organizations your group looked at. Another place that could have details was that you could have included was, what were the emotions that you felt during these meetings and such. The words that you used were very technical, along with the sentences and phrases you used. I did not get confused by your sentences because of their word order. Overall I thought the paper was ok. I thought that it could have elaborated on some of the details. At first I thought that you were going to eventually talk about the service you did. I understood that your group could not find an organization to work at and you had a problem with one leaving the group. I hope that it works out with the doing the service. Once you do a service with an organization, it will help with the paper to extend it and add more details to it.
Michelle Reyes 2:11 pm on April 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
After reading your paper I got a good understanding on what your group project was about. At first I thought you were going to start talking about feeding starving children. I hope everything works out and your group finds an organization. I feel that would make your paper more understanding and will expand more after everyone does the service. I like how you started off talking about how we all came across to picking the group we wanted to talk about. I know the people in my class but I never really sat down and talked to them so it was nice to talk to other people in my class. After we had the chance to talk to everyone there was so many people that I wanted to work with. It’s good to know that you are confident with the group you picked and even though someone else left that doesn’t ruin the mood and energy from the group. I feel that maybe you can explain more about how the group meetings went. How did everyone decide on when to work on this project? I think maybe you can organize the paper into sections with heading and titles. I didn’t think it was confusing to read I just think with adding on headings like make the paper a little more organized. I felt as I was reading your paper I felt that you could of added some emotion to the paper. For like example you can as yourself some questions like how you felt about how your group was doing. Was everyone putting in enough time to work as a group? Was everyone putting in effort outside of class on this project? Also who was the leader in the group? Who was the person who was in charged on communicating with the organization? After not getting a good result on going to the food depository in Orland Park what was everyone’s reaction. Was everyone upset about it or just tried to look at another organizations? Did anyone have a second place they wanted to contact? This is some information you can add to give the reader a better understanding on what was going through your head and what you were thinking during the project? I think maybe you can explain a little bit about why your group decided on going to the Moraine Valley Church? Overall I think once you go and do the service it will expand your paper a lot more and with a lot more details to give the reader. I think you did a good job talking about what was going on during the time we had to work on this group project. Just make sure you give a little more detail and explanation and your paper. When you have more information about the organization it will be easier to add headings and split your sections into different sections also will give your paper a different title as well. Overall good job and hope everything works out at the Moraine Valley Church.
Mike Gotsch 10:00 pm on April 23, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
First thing that I notice was the fact that it was about five hundred words short of what it had to be. Another thing that I noticed is the title of your paper. I feel that you could have done a more creative title to get a reader’s attention rather than saying feeding starving people. I think the most important part of a paper is its title. Without a good title, you paper will not become interested in certain people. I guarantee if you had something that was out of the ordinary, that more people would want to read it rather than just be like I guess I’ll read it. When starting to read it. I feel a good thing to put in this paper is the way we got into are groups, because the way we did it was kind of like a speed dating type of thing. We took two minutes to talk to every single person in our class. That is a very interesting way to do it. I think that is defiantly paper worthy. It is really great that you have a lot of trust in the group that you have. It does kind of suck that you have lost a team member and puts more work for the rest of you. My group had a different approach. We actually got an extra person, but it was also hard because we all had different work schedules to get this project done and on time. Another thing I like about this is that you like to work alone. Working alone is the best because you know what you can do and you do not have to wait on certain people to do certain jobs. There are some typos in this also. One I can see is that one sentence says,” They have made sure that every thin is going as it should be.” I pretty sure that the thin is suppose to be thing rather then thin. There is a lot more to do in this paper you need to do your actual service part. Some things that you can look at is be real descriptive in what you type about this place. Also maker sure you can make it a personal paper rather then I did this, that, then this, and then that. You should make it like how you feel. Using the five senses can really help your writing. Another thing you can do is ask the questions we got in class to go farther. Try to interview more than one person also. I have read papers that only had one person interviewed. I feel that one person is not enough to get this project where it should be. I feel that you have a great start with you project I hope that you can get to the food depository in Orland Park. I have heard great things about this place and I know that people are doing a lot with food depositories, which is great to see.