Freshman Composition
Critical and Argumentative Writing
Blogging in the Blogosphere
English 100 and 103
FORMAT:
When you blog, in the Title, write your first and last name as you would as if you are turning in a paper to me. Then you do not have to write my name because I know you are in my class. Write what English class you are in whether it is English 52, 60, 100 and what College.
For example, one would write:
Yue Hayes
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #1
Homelessness
Font size
In addition, for the title, pick the topic of discussion, grammar/organization, content, current events, pop culture or literature as a TITLE that we have discussed in class. Write the posts like this: write #1 Post or #2 Post or Post #50, so I can easily keep track of them and how many you write.
Of course, you are welcome to write more than several posts, and in doing so is another form of participation and does count in the participation grade. Perhaps, in class, you may not participate all that much but in the realm of the blogosphere, you can from the comfort of your own home,
* reflect on the day's class discussion or offer up an insight that you found particularly interesting, etc., etc.
*
* How does it change the way you think or thought before on the subject?
*
* What actions might you take in the future? Anything is open to interpretation.
Of course, I need not go on and on about being respectful towards your peers' opinions and beliefs. If you disagree with another student's views be discreet about it: Do not say so and so is completely wrong because of this and that. Instead, say, I disagree with so and so and here are the reasons why I do. Go after their evidence and support and do not, I repeat do not attack someone else personally. This is supposed to be a forum for everyone to share their ideas and views.
*I will enforce the blogosphere by either deleting your hard work, making an example out of you here in the realm of the blogosphere or in class* . . .
3,403 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 2201 – 2400 of 3403 Newer› Newest»Brittany Williams
English 110
GWC
Post #39
Revised Paragraph
The shrill ring of my phone on that spring day, signified the opening battle for what was to be the confiscation of my coveted cave. The disconcerting sound of my phone set the tone for what was to follow. I proceeded to answer the call and was quickly met with my mother’s quivering voice on the opposite end. “Joey is in the hospital. We found him unconscious with wounds to his arms.” At that moment, the crude reality of the situation set in, and my life was changed forever. My younger brother had a problem with cutting - this we were all aware of. For years, plump, red scars would appear on his freshly marred skin. For years, they were deliberately ignored, for something so undesirable was detrimental to the perfect caves we had all created for ourselves. We had all created an alternate world, one in which was filled with only the positive things that life had decided to bestow upon us. Anything negative, including my brother’s self-destructive issue, was not permitted into our fictitious caves, as it posed a threat to destroy the ideal caves that we had created. As my mother began expressing her anguish, grief started to take hold. How did it get this far? Why did we not do something sooner? These thoughts violently raced through my mind as my husband and I swiftly jumped on the freeway and headed toward home. Anxiety began to grasp at my throat as the miles began to accumulate on the odometer. It seemed as though each new mile brought about a new question. Is he okay? Will he make it? Why? How? What? None of these questions had an immediate answer. Time was our temporary solution. Distressed and restless, tears began to gush from my already swollen eyes as we finally reached our destination - St. Mary’s Medical Hospital. Frantically, I jumped out of the car and headed down the lifeless corridor that lead to an even more lackluster hospital room. Without any hesitation, I hurled myself across the room to my brother’s feeble body. As I saw a smile begin to form on his pale face, relief slowly eased my restless heart. Looking down, I noticed the cuts that had been displayed on my brother’s arms for years. Reluctant, I glanced further down his arm and noticed the vivid, white gauze, which was impeded upon by the growing amount of dark, crimson blood that was seeping through. Warm tears slowly started to caress my troubled face as I wondered why I had not done something sooner. The familiar sense of guilt began to surface as I recounted the many ways I could have helped. It was too late. In this moment, the grim truth was brutally exposed to me. The blunt reality of what lied before me pierced my soul as the pain of this realization began to permeate my being. This pain, similar in nature to that of the prisoners in Allegory of the Cave, is expressed in a comparable instance when Plato says, “at first, when any of them is liberated and compelled to suddenly stand up and turn his neck around and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains” (15). The prisoners in the above quote, when finally exposed to the vibrant truth before them, experienced pain in the process of their realization. The truth, symbolized by the “light” in this quote, proved to be too harsh for their well-adjusted eyes to the darkness. For them, the truth was much too hard to bear. Likened to these newly freed prisoners, I too experienced much pain by the savage truth that lay before me – my brother’s maimed arms.
Alyssa Wall
English 103
Cerritos
Post ??
What is Poverty?
Okay, so this story always makes me super sad. I swear I cannot read it without being semi depressed after. Anyways. I really enjoy this story because it really does put things into perspective. I mean, we really do need to think about what is important in life. Money can cause such a problem. It is sad to read about this lady who is trying to get out of this deep hole she is in, but cannot seem to find her way out. She has a VERY limited amount of money to live on, even for one person, but she also has three kids to take care of. She has to make her super small budget work for a whole month, and support herself, and her three kids. How sad is that? SO sad! This story really makes me think about how good my life is, and how much I have. I am glad we read this story again, I needed to be reminded! :)
Yi-Hui Chiang
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #20
What is Poverty?
By Jo Goodwin Parker
This story makes me think that how many times I have tried to ignore the poor people when I passed by them and noticed they need my help. What I think is cheap, which I can get with only a few dollars, is not affordable for the poor. Everything costs money is a luxury for them. Soap is a luxury, shampoo is a luxury, hand cream is a luxury, and hot water is a luxury. They do not have the luxuries; they save all the money they have for food in order to survive. I could not imagine my life like the author’s, living with hot water, living without the right kind of food. When she talks about her children, she already sees them have no bright future. “I can already see them behind the bars of their prison instead of behind the bars of my poverty” (10). How terrible it feels for a mom. She could not even provide her children good education and good health; the money she has can barely keep them alive. Poverty has taken away all her pride and honor. If she does not ask for help, her children will suffer and die. It is sad too know that there are people living under this kind of extreme condition, and they are no different from us as human beings. They are just around us; perhaps we just never pay attention to them. They are always silent; they are living in desperation; they are waiting for help. The author hopes that we do not just give the poor pity; when we hear the small voice of the poor, she wants us to have an angry heart and urge to help them.
Arturo Lopez
English 103
CC
post #idk
What is Poverty?
This story was a powerful description on what it truelly is to live in poverty. The words she uses to describe her situtation gives you the feeling that you are their with her experiencing everything she is going through. I was eating while reading this and i lost my appetite. This sory was meant to have a powerful affect like that. She goes on and describes why she cant afford to do things such as pay for medicine and hot water. As she goes through every situation you feel empathy like anyone naturally would. You feel bad for her and her children. She doesnt wan your pity though. What she asks for is your anger. Anger will help cause change. It isnt an anger toward anyone in particular. Its an anger that this is happening to good people.
Samantha Shepherd
English 103
CC
What is poverty??
When I first read the first paragraph, the tone of voice and the diction was so powerful, immediately I looked for a copy of it online and emailed it to my boyfriend so that he could read it, too. I knew it was going to be an overwhelming experience reading this because I feel so strongly for the poor. It just reminded me of last Saturday night, when my boyfriend took my family out for dinner. On the way back to his house from the Thai restaurant I asked him if he could come with me to drop off the box of leftovers in the hungry hands of the homeless. We drove for a while, past his house, into the streets of LA and we finally came across a bus stop. There was an older lady, African American, who had a wheelchair and a cart with her collection of items. She sat there all alone. We pulled over and I got out of the car and I handed over the box of warm food into her cold hands. She looked at me, with one eye aloof (she had a vision problem) and thanked me for the food. She then proceeded to ask for a couple dollars to buy dry soap so that she would be able to attend church tomorrow. I said certainly, went back into my car and looked inside my wallet and all I found was a ten dollar bill and a twenty. My boyfriend had no cash on him, only a card. I said, what the heck, and I pulled the ten dollar bill out of my wallet and walked back over to her. I handed the bill over to her, and I saw her thank me as I gave her only one bill. I noticed the slight look of disappointment because there was only one bill, but when she glanced at the dollar bill and actually acknowledged the amount her eyes grew wide and she became extremely grateful. She gave me her thanks and then I said, "May God bless you" and then for a slight second she seemed confused, as she seemed preoccupied with other thoughts, and then she said, "Oh, okay okay! Thanks!" That sort of thing made me think that she wasn't going to use the money for church, but as I've learned in my own church, who am I to judge what they do in their own lives. Why should I make them miss the opportunity for food or a necessity like dry soap if they really need it. If they use it for other things to continue their downward spiral into poverty, then that is not for me to judge.
This sort of thing, the little things we can do, is sort of the thing that Parker describes in the last paragraph. I may not do it with an angry heart, but at least I try to do a little something here and there.
I am not going to sit back and be silent.
Gabriela Tovar
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #25???
What is Poverty?
I wanted to cry when i read the story... It is sad how one day you can have everything e.g. house, hot water, rooms, clean clothes, etc. and the next day all you are left with is are your kids, your own self, and the world waiting for you to make it your home...
I do not believe that my family is anywhere near poverty but we are in a bit of a tight budget... My dads company shut down and that was the main check that would bring in money for rent and supplies, his part-time job as an assistant manager is bolony; it is bolony because not enough hours, a bit more than minimum wage, but not enough for rent and debt that we are in... We are not in debt like in big trouble but in debt with that bank, credit cards from stores... Even though it is just two or three big things, we do not bring enough money for those... Thank god my mom works too and helps out... I wish i can help, i will, but it is hard to get a job now a days and always have in the back of your head if the job is going to have a background check on me or something...
Anyways, i do not wish my family can go to being that poor... Even though it was just one story, it is one emotional, truthful story that i will always remember...
Macey Lindsay-Clinton
English 110
Golden West College
Post #17
Revised Paragraph
Every person at some point in their lives will make decisions that are wrong, but what is fundamental is their ability to realize what is right and become enlightened. My personal enlightenment was recognizing the uselessness of drugs and the effect on people and the decisions they make. When I was a freshman in high school, my friends and I became involved with marijuana, and we soon let it take over our lives. Thus, we created our cave. A friend of ours, Becca, had been smoking marijuana since she was in middle school. She had an eighteen year old boy friend when she was fourteen, so we all thought of her as mature. Becca was tall, skinny, and beautiful and looked nothing like the drugged out people they showed us in D.A.R.E. We thought, “If this was what someone looked like from doing drugs, then they can’t be that harmful.” At first we would get high on the weekends at her weekly “kickbacks", but quickly the use became much more constant. Every day after school, we would go to her two bedroom apartment which was always messy with dirty dishes in the sink and stains on the carpet. Everywhere one looked, there was a lighter on top of a huge stack of papers or a detailed drawing of marijuana posted on the wall. We would enter her room, sit on the floor, and start rolling a “joint” or loading up the “bong”. As we inhaled the cloudy white smoke, our brains would be entertained by the patterns of the room and of the smoke when we would exhale. Everything was more beautiful, more complex, more delicious than regular life. We thought we were flying high in the clouds, soaring over the average person, with their average life. It was our daily enlightenment. Eventually, we had forgotten what life was like with out it; like a person who is kidnapped becomes accustomed to their life and shuts out the thought of escaping. We did not remember the life that was left behind. A seemingly harmless, and what we thought to be non-addictive drug had taken over our lives and consumed every aspect of it. We were unaware that we were prisoners of our own decisions. After getting straight A’s throughout the entirety of middle school, the B’s and C’s came as a surprise. The drug had put a spell on me. What was once so important, was now a minor problem. As well, my relationships with those who were not involved with the drugs diminished. As for my family life, it suffered greatly. Most nights, I would come home, sit down for dinner, eat as fast as I could, and talk the least amount possible. I would use the excuse of having homework, so that I could go hide in my room. My parents are not strict or conservative, and in their youth they partied and tried drugs. I figured that they had to know what was going on with my sudden change in behavior. After a while, I believed that they knew but they did not care because they never mentioned it or drug tested me. After increasing use and disregard of caring, my parents soon found out what they had been speculating was in fact the unequivocal truth. Under strict watch, I was unable to delve back into the drug-world, and I was forced to live the life that I had forgotten. Though my journey out of my cave was forced, my enlightenment was a complete personal choice. As Socrates explained to Glaucon, “When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities... He will grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world”(19-21). I was the prisoner who had left the cave to discover a different and dazzling world. The light that astounded the prisoners eyes was my enlightenment and my decision to live life with out the drug and to forever leave my cave. I “[grew] accustomed to the sight of the upper world,” one in which I needed no drug to find entertainment or to enjoy my life. I, the prisoner of my own cave, was finally freed of the restraints that I had put on my self, and this freedom enabled me to feel, dream, and most importantly live.
Martha Vazquez
English 100
CC
Post 23
What is Poverty?
This piece was truly eye-opening for me. I know it is common sense that lotion and a bar of soap costs money, but I never really thought of people having trouble getting these things. A line that struck me was in verse 6 "Poverty is cooking without food and cleaning without soap." This blew me away. I had no idea. It puts things in perspective, but it also makes me sad. Its difficult to think that there are people living in this sort of poverty. Poor children will grow up to be poor adults, and the cycle goes on and on. It makes me sad to think about the times I have looked down upon someone whose dirty, asking for spare change and smells horribly. We rarely stop and think about what this person has gone through. We rarely stop and think that maybe this person once had what we have. We rarely stop and think that this could happen to us.
Eric Contreras
Engl 103
Cerritos College
post#(x)
What is poverty?
This is a very discriptive story about how a woman sees poverty. She describes it in very extreme ways that puts the reader in that exact situation. This is like nearly rock bottom for this woman and she tells you to look around and that there are others just like you, poor. It is sad to read this story and wonder if it real at all, or based on a true story and if it really happened to her but, it opens the eyes of everyone who is blind to these events, or denies that they are true. In fact i would not be surprised if this exact situation happened or if there are worse going on today. I would not doubt it at all, even in our own neighborhoods. She describes coutless things of what poverty is and my response is: yes, that is exactly what it is and...i can relate. There is no running or hiding from it whatsoever. It is the truth of your life. Having an empty refridgerator, dirty house, torn clothes, smelly everything... and that is not the half of it. poverty is many things and unfortunately it affects the whole person from psycological, social, economical(obviously), and spiritual aspects of their lifes. Its heart-wrentching to realize it but avoiding it will not help. So stop being silent. Stop running from the truth. Face your fears and toughen up. Do what you have to do to get out of that cave and break free from poverty!!
Michelle Pachas
English 103
Cerritos College
What is poverty?
My mood was completely different before reading this. This is definitely a reading that sends chills up your spine. Jo Goodwin creates a window into where we could see what the life a poor person contains. Not only does she paint a vivid image of the circumstances she lives under but she gives reasons why her living situation is this way. “Poverty is seeing your children forever with runny noses. Paper handkerchiefs cost money and all your rags you need for other things.” (5) We take so many things for granted, that we presume that the simple solutions of life that we have are available to everyone else. I think what caught my attention the most was the ending where Jo reminds the reader that she was once like us. Her misfortune was not self-made but a ripple of other things that slowly ended in this. If your motives were to make us feel guilty for not going to the past field trips, mission accomplished Mr. Hsaio.
Andy Tran
English 100
Cerritos
Post #25
What is Poverty?
The author Jo Goodwin Parker uses emotional thoughts and feelings to emotionally sway the reader into his or her own imaginative world of poverty. Details and descriptions are very well written out; so vivid it makes the reader feel the pain and suffrage of living the life of poverty. It breaks my heart to even imagine living the life of poverty. How everyday life is a struggle to survive. It makes us think about everything we take for granted such as the luxuries of hot water, shampoo, and soap. Everyday we use these items as a normal everyday routine and for those living the life of poverty, one can only dream of using these luxuries. Poverty is becoming a greater problem in today's world as the economy has gotten worse. Crime rates will only rise as unemployment and poverty continue to rise. We must reach out to these helpless people and give a helping hand to get them back onto their feet.
Brenda Flores
English 100
Cerrios College
Post #?
What is Poverty?
This story puts everything in perspective for me. Why am I complaining about my trip to New York when people out there only dream of visiting places like that. I am not the type of person that feels homeless people can find a job if they wanted to. I understand how difficult it is for them especially now and days. I wish more people would have a little compassion instead of pity the way the woman in the story says. What good is their pity if they do not do anything about it. This woman should be apllauded and given some kind of medal of honor along with other poverty stricken people who are trying to support their families. Most people do not understand the struggles they go through. What we see as basics these people see as luxuries. It is amazibg to know that still goes on in America today.
Michael Swisher
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #38
What is poverty?
That is a very obtuse, and difficult question to answer. Is poverty simply “not having what others have”? Or is poverty something more indefinite, and more profound? I really felt compassion, and sympathy for the author of this story, but I cannot, for principal and reasoning, ever feel empathy. I am relatively intelligent man, and by reading the words of the narrator, I can easily see that she was not mentally impaired. One does not need formal education to apply oneself into the workforce. I understand that it is difficult, and I understand that children cost exorbitant amounts of money (I have two myself) but I cannot and will not take pity on someone who has that much responsibility, that much to lose, and does not instill within their nature a yearning to improve. This is not a third world nation. This is not the jungle of Africa, this is America, and there are avenues of progress in nearly every direction. I did not come from a family as desperate and ill-fated as the author, but we were by no means well-off. I have found my own way, despite being relatively homeless at 19. Passion, virtue, and faith are all essential components to being a family. Never settle for demeaning, and hurtful scenario simply because momentarily you cannot conceive of solution. I would lose everything, and if I was allowed to retain possession of only my loved ones at home, I would consider luck to be with me. Material things can all be won, lost, earned, stolen, given, pardoned, wished for, broken, fixed, burned, frozen, buried and forgotten…….but a child’s love, a wife’s devotion…… these are the possessions that cannot be traded, bartered, or forgotten. What is poverty? Poverty is the mind of the pauper, for is a man with no walls homeless if he calls the alley home? Is a man penniless if he uses not the penny? Is a man worthless, if just 1 person finds him worthy? The author has had many struggles (the insects, disease, loss of heat, etc..) but all of these things are circumstances. They are not the problem. The problem is mindset. If you want something, if you desire to be better, the wonderful thing about this land in which we live is that someone, somewhere, will help you to get it. Government programs, non-profit shelters, rich people with too much damn money that pilfer some away in the name of charity bidding for a seat in heaven, these are all methods of our madness that people in desperation can seek. After watching the movie “Pursuit of Happiness” I cannot pity those who have the ability, but not the will.
Amber Decker
English 110
GWC
Post #?
Sunflower Sutra
I dislike poetry, but i adore Allen Ginsberg, so finding this poem in the binder pleased me. I am obsessed with the Beats, and, to me, Sunflower Sutra depicts the perfect scene of that entire generation.
It takes place in a dock, looking out over the hills of San Francisco. Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac are sitting underneath a old train, surrounded by "trash". Other people may not think of this scene as beautiful, but it is exactly the kind of thing I love. I think this is the reason that I can understand Ginsberg's poetry. He discovers a sunflower, covered in dust and grime, yet still finds it to be exquisite. He is not fooled by the dirt and odd location. He knows its supposed to be a flower, and it entrances him. Ginsberg declares that the sunflower is no less beautiful in its current state than it would be if it were growing in a meadow somewhere. He means to say, that you cannot hide who you are inside. Outer appearances do not hold any indication for what something or someone actually is. "We are not our skin of grime, we're not our dread bleak, dusty imageless locomotive, we're all beautiful golden sunflowers inside."
The sunflower covered in dust, laying in a pile of trash by a riverbed is still a sunflower. Its dirty appearance can (and usually does) deceive people, who are only interested in the most traditional ideas of beauty and perfection.
Sarai Vazquez
English 100
Cerritos College
Post ??
What is Poverty? By Jo Goodwin Parker
Reading this made me see poverty in a whole new light. It was kind of funny because I read this yesterday after I was home from church and what the speaker had talked about what exactly what I was reading. Reading this made me really sad because when you see these kids of people all you do is judge them. You think "why do they not just get a job and make a better life for themselves?" But we never stop to think about what they are doing. It is not an easy task to take care of yourself, and then to add children to the picture. That is one thing that kills me, is seeing children that do not have the proper shoes or have dirty clothes and you can tell that they have not been giving the proper food to eat. It breaks my heart because they are so inoccent. The woman in the story was so couragous to talk about all the things that her family and herself were going through. I cannot begin to imagine how hard it is to sit there night after night staring at your children all dirty and cold and not knowing how you are going to feed them or how you are going to pay rent. I love the fact that this woman did npt give up. She kept working too keep her children fed and alive. She did everything to try and help her children suceed in life. Even though hse did not have much she gave all she had for her children. It is sad to think that now more than ever because of the economy, there are more and more people living this way. Hopefully something will be done soon to help all these families out.
Yesica Vasquez
English 100
CC
Post #: ?
What is Poverty
Upon reading this story, It gave me a much more specific understanding on how poor people have to struggle to live. Its so sad to see this lady with her 3 kids struggling to survive. I could defenetly tell she is not interested in any material things, rather than she prefers to feed her children first. Its sad, since many people are going through the same struggles that she is. With unemployment at its highest and so many losing their homes. I can really relate to this story since my mom was a single mother and all she worked for was to provide food for us and have a roof over our head. Like the kids in this story, growing up we did not have much like other kids did. Now as an adult I think back to my childhood years and wonder how did my mom get us this far.. We dont realize how difficult it is to live in this world till we experience it on our own.
Steven Cordova
English 100
Cerritos
Post #7
What is Poverty
In this story the author discribes what it's like to live poor, dirty, and hugry all the time. The narrator claims that her intention is not to bring about feelings of sympathy, but for those it may concern, it must tug on a few heart strings. In my oppinion her entrapment in poverty has nothing to do with lack of chioce, but lack of will power. I was taught growing up that nothing is impessble and everything has a solution. She claims she hated living poorly and exposing her children to such a life. But if eating cheap food and starving her kids were a problem, she could find a solution, even if it didn't involve her. She even said herself that poverty changes a persons mentality, so she already knows it is a mental barrier. Perhaps her biggest distraction is the problem itself. With such a state of mind, poverty may be dispised, but her actions say that she has subcontiously accepted such a life.
Priscilla Daza
Cerritos College
English 100
post # 22
what is poverty?
i was fortunate enough to have read this story by Jo Goodwin Parker this past spring semester. Despite the thorough discussion in the spring, i still find the story to be strong. at the very beginning Parker says, "Listen withou pity. I cannot use your pity" (1). to me, Parker commences her story by being direct. There is an intense honesty form parker that does not fade in the reading. for example she discusses at moment where she was working. she left her kids with "granny" and came back to her kids that were playing with glass and unchanded diapers that dried up and stucked to their skin. she stopped working after that. then the moment when she saved up for two months to buy vaseline just to find out that the store raised the proce two cents. she left the store empty handed. her baby continued to have diaper rash and she continued to have cracked, frigid hands. Desides the honesty, desperation is also expressed through her words. She does not wish for us to feel "pity" for the poor, she wants us to speak. the fact that the poor keep quiet, as Parker mentions on paragraph 14, "the poor always stay silent" she wishes that her story will make an impact on us and i guess to take charge and voice our opinion on the matter as oppose to feeling pity and keeping quiet.
Raul Moreno Jr.
English 103
Cerritos college
Post: ???
Poverty
This piece gets me pretty bummed out. I can't say that I have experienced the same poverty the author has, but I can definitely relate to some of her troubles and circumstances. The worst circumstance mentioned though, is her mindset, her spirit being devoid of hope. She thinks lowly of herself as her family was probably a terrible one that she could never ask assistance from (6). This early instillment of low self worth carries on in her memories and the place she puts herself in relation to her ex husband: "I hope he has been able to climb out of this mess somewhere. He never could hope with us to drag him down." (8)
Her circumstance shapes her reality where hope is absent. Surely her situation is bleak and almost unfathomable to the average middle class citizen, but the spirit and will to fight past is stronger than any "bars of... prison or poverty." It is mightier than an even worse outlook for a daughter's future.
Toss in some Logotherapy here and she's got something to fill all three spots. Her children are an outlet for her love, a reason to push forward and push hard for their futures. She can look ahead, as Frankl did and imagine, not if but WHEN she succeeds, how she can help others that remain in her current status. Lastly, God can be found everywhere. He IS everywhere. Jesus Christ came around for people like her, so if anything, she's got easier access than the rich man who is like the camel passing through the eye of a needle. She's got the ingredients, but she won't cook.
The author wants me to understand and not pity, but I cannot help but pity someone who allows circumstance to crush their living will and spirit. Perhaps I might be seen as apathetic, but I hope to never understand such a desolate and dark mindset as this one. Should I ever find myself in such a situation, let me find the best of it all. Let me refuse to lie down. Allow me the perseverance and love to fight for my children's futures. Let me crush this pitiful cycle and in turn show others that it is possible.
Archie Kaaua
Professor Hsiao
English 110
Golden West College
26 October 2009
post28
Homonyms by Giorgio Agamben Essay (Revised)
A stereotype is not an I pod. A stereotype is assuming something about someone before you actually know it to be true. An Ipod on the other hand is a stereo and only plays music.Giorgio Agamben tells us that an object in a group has its own properties and although part of a group, it can have properties that make it different. This sets it apart from the other objects in the group. It is sometimes true for us to see patterns and believe that they always hold true. He goes on to say that our representations refer to objects. In Giorgio Agamben’s Homonyms he asks, “What does it mean to say the concept red designates red objects” (p3)? This refers to what we know of being red may in fact be mauve or a combination of other colors. Giorgio Agamben was asking, “Who is to say this red is the main idea red”? I did the same thing with people. I put them in groups that I thought they belonged in. I by the same mistake called red things red. I needed to feel what it was like being stereotyped in order to learn not to stereotype other people. I was misunderstood as a Hawaiian and stereotyped in a negative way as a youth. Today I find that most times no harm is intended but there is still a Giorgio Agamben’s lesson with certain stereotypical remarks. I will be more patient with other people who label me in the future. Here, I explain my personal experiences and future plans about stereotypes.
Alonso Llamas
Cerritos College
English 103
Post ?
The Salt of the Earth By Mumia abu-Jamal
I found this story very intriguing. It stated many truths that I personally belive in which simply increased my bias towards it. However, I strongly agree with the main topics of the author. This country was allegedly founded on good Christian morals. Despite the founding fathers good intents this country has never truely been equal and morally sound. As time progressed the situation only deteriorated, and now we are afixed to deplorable situations that we have become accustomed to. Poverty being one of the worst situations that people have come to accept. Many people have come to look down on the poor, as if they were some how lesser people. The reasoning for this is easally found in Staus Anxiety, where De Botton argues how people attach theirselfs to costly objects as a sign of higher status and superiority. Yet, ultimately a wealthy individual will hold no more status than an individual living in poverty withing the next hundred years. Eventually eveeryone will die and people will cease to be remembered. As a result, the status one holds today is of no true longterm importance. However, I digress from the main topic. Our fundamentally Christian government is the cause of such turmoil in the world. In true Christian fasion they have wreaked havoc thoughout the world, and they have truelly tried to control many of the worlds population. Whether it be from illegitimate involvement in countrie or simply on missionary quest to convert indigenous people of foreign lands. In reality this so called Christian government has done more harm than good, but one cannot blame the religion. It is a nutural peice of human nature; one individual will eventually try to surpass one of his peers. However, there is a way to overcome the diverse destrction and according to the author it it dialogue. Nevertheless, the government has found a way to confine this last avenue of equlity by imposing a certain rule on the media. The media is nothing more than a hierachy of government intervention, and with the Christian leaders standing promptly at the top. This is why there is an FCC comission to over rule what is "appropriate" to be shown or heard. This is why many pople refer to the media as the fourth branch of the government. According to this comission it is not applicable to say a swear word on air waves or telvision, but it sis certainlly suitible to show horendous sceanes of violence on day time television and even on childrens programs such as certoons. It seems like a pretty big cotradiction. It seems that the well-maning Christian government is not deeply rooted in its own beliefs to stand paramount against others, as it would like to be seen. As a consequence, one cannot take the word of ones own government or the media and truely investigate to find the truth. As a result, one will be able to come up with ones own truth and have individual power, and not be a blind sheep that follows the masses.
Ronald Cabiltes
English 110
GWC
Post #16ish
Revised Paragraph
Throughout my high school career I have always been labeled as part of the “band nerds” group and was called “loser”, “geek”, and other degrading names. During my freshman year my friends were all in various sports programs and I was the one that went the music route. When I hung out with my friends in the band, my other friends, who considered themselves jocks, always asked questions like, “Why are you hanging out with those nerds?” or “Why don’t you ditch them and hang out with us?” Soon my “jock” friends and I grew apart and talked less and less as the months moved on through freshman year. It was very disheartening to see one’s friends for years turn their backs and join in with the rest of the labelers in calling the band and myself a bunch of “nerds.” I remember one instance where one of my closest friends and I grew apart because of the labeling. It was the freshman year during the very first football game of the school year. Before every football game the band lines up in front of the stands plays the national anthem. It was my first time performing in front of my peers. My heart was racing and I was very nervous. Thoughts were racing in my head, “What if I mess up?” and “Do I look dorky in this uniform?” After we played the national anthem the band went to sit in the stands. As soon as we got up to the stands many of my friends that were not in the band were making jokes about the band. I heard things like, “Wow I’m glad I don’t have to wear those stupid looking things and look like a complete dork” or “Look at those losers over there.” I just remember I sat there and I was in complete shock. I never knew how cruel my friends were and how easily they labeled and stereotyped people. Friends that I knew for years did not even try and stop their other friends from making those jokes and statements. This continued on throughout the whole game. After awhile my friends and I grew apart. They went on to continue with sports and enter themselves into the “jock” group and I continued on with music. In Giorgio Agamben’s Homonyms, he states, “the name, insofar as it names a thing, is nothing but the thing insofar as it is named by the name.” (5). This quote means that even though someone has labeled a person, that person is still whoever they are and the label given does not matter. A person's label is meaningless. Underneath all the name calling and labeling they are whoever they are. Being given a label is tough to live through sometimes, but a label is just that, a label. A label does not define a person; it is who they are that defines them.
Brandon Hebert
Goldenwest
Eng110
Post: 30ish
Sunflower Sutra:
This poem is about the revitalization of ones inner beauty, and then is extended to revitalizing nature. Ginsberg also hints at his sexual orientation. I dont know Ginsberg, but I just got the impression he was a homosexual? He juxtaposes a locomotive to a sunflower, two staunch examples of first Industrialism, and Nature.
He lists things like condoms, and pots, as if to suggest it is wayward flotsam and waste, carelessly discarded by a material society who needed its hands to pick up the next best thing.
Although the sunflower is dead, it is still a symbol of life, which i found interesting. My favorite part was the optimism. He picked up the dead sunflower, and carried it like a scepter. It is not too late, never too late, to be reborn, and live anew. Our appearances may change, but we must never lose the passion of youth, the wonder of innocence, and the awe of nature forward far.
Note: scepter, to me, was a symbol, that he rejects the conservatism of religion, and decides that life will be his religion. I heard he was a buddhist....
Kim Luong
GWC
English: !!o
REsived paragraph Homonyms.
Kneeling down and quietly listening to the moans, I saw my grandmother cried for the loss of a dear husband and also a friend for 40 years long. At age 11, I experienced my grandfather‘s great funeral and the taste of being labeled as a cold and deviant child. It was a huge funeral ceremony of my grandfather. On that day, my grandfather’s coffin was surrounded by 23 grandchildren, including me. Everyone was crying except me. My father and my uncle did not cry like others. However, I could clearly see their sad faces, red eyes and the tears in their hearts; their suffering amount was equal to others but the pride of being the only mature men in the family did not allow them to cry vigorously. I was envied my father because he had a really good excuse of not to cry which I did not. Strangely, I was the only one that did not show sadness or tears during the funeral. At that age, I was able to know that a normal girl could not be this calm in this situation. I tried to hide my unemotional face while obediently kneeling among my 23 cousins who were honestly cried for grandfather’s death. Another cousin of mine just entered the funeral room; she ran straight to the middle of the room, abruptly knelt down in front of grandfather’s coffin and burst into tears. Her cry was truly vigorous loud and emotional that made the sorrow of others became greater. I felt embarrassed and frightened at that moment because of my dishonest behavior and cold heart; I could not cry and feel the pain of grandfather’s death just like others. Instead of crying, I was afraid of my emotionless face being discovered by others. I prayed to my grandfather that do not let anyone notice my abnormal behavior, I prayed for his forgiveness of my deviance. A few weeks later, after the funeral had been settle down, my uncle suddenly questioned my strange behavior. In front of everyone, my mother, my grandmother and my father, he asked: “How comes I do not see you cry in the funeral ceremony, Kim?” That question became the start of my labeling. I became an insensitive, cold-blood girl, who did not shed a tear for my grandfather‘s death. The reason I did not cry was because it was the first funeral that I ever attended, and I did not know what to do except panic.
In Homonyms, by Giorgio Agamben, the author states: “Even if we can distinguish a shoe form the term “shoe”, it is still much more difficult to distinguish a shoe from its being –called-(shoe), from its being–in–language” (6). Once people start to use homonym too much, they will eventually get confused and unable to understand the real meaning of the word. Homonym does not have an absolute meaning; it is unclear and weak. Using homonyms should be avoided because it can become a bad habit that makes our conversation seems confusing. The way my uncle described me as a “bad child” was a type of using homonym. My behavior was not similar to others but it did not mean that I was entirely a horrible child. I was young and immature during the funeral incident; I did not cry at all but it does not mean that I am deviant and insensitive. I did not agree with my uncle. I did not cry like everyone, and he gave me a horrible label that was reflected the whole contents of my characteristic at all.
Dalene Kolb
English 110
Golden West College
Post #46
Brittany~ I saw Owl City at the House of Blues in Anaheim. Awesome show, just wished they would have played longer. I would love to see them again. Adam is a amazing. He kept going from different instruments. Amazing!
This weekend was horrible, besides the concert. I got sick. Had to miss a class due to a fever. Also Angels lost to the Yankees yesterday. Were out, there in. Well now to blog about a story...sorry if it does not make much sense, haven't been feeling good.
Sunflower Suntra:
In my opinion this is a point of view poem. A guy is walking around the banks and notices everything that is around him. He speaks of the sunflower as if he loves the flower. The sunflower represents the women he loves. The poem ends with Ginsberg watching the sun go down with his sunflower.
I am not sure if I had a correct interpertation, but I tryed.
~Dalene
Jasmyne Young
English 110
GWC
Post#14???
Revised paragraph
One day I had a revelation. In middle school, eighth grade exactly, I pulled a little incident. It was a gloomy day, break time, and I was feeling a little low that day. I told my best friend, Sharon, I was going to kill myself in the girl’s bathroom. As I was walking towards the girl’s restroom, I had a choice to make: sit in the bathroom and contemplate on how exactly I was going to kill myself in there or got to the library and relax for the rest of the break. I ended up going to the library because reading lifts my spirits. As I was sitting and reading, towards the end of break time, my other best friend, Elisha, rushes toward me in a fitful rage. She was sternly explaining how everyone was worried about me, how they checked all the girl’s restrooms for me, and how glad she is to see me alive and well, and also, how dumb I was to even think about killing myself. I was in total shock of this whole situation, I was happy again and not even thinking about killing myself, so all this information kind of rushed through me like a hurricane. She drags me outside, where I find Sharon and Zach looking at me, worried sick as well. Everyone is asking me why I said something so stupid, and I had no answer. I was loved. I was wanted. I mattered and that was all I could think about. I never felt I was that important to my friends or my family, but the way my friends reacted to this situation, I realized I was essential to them. Later on that day, I eventually started thinking about me and my life: who I am, what my purpose on this earth is, how I fit into the lives of others, etc. As I was looking within myself, I saw devastating darkness. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave it utters, “…they see only their own shadows…” (5). When I dug deep , I saw that the shadows of my self inflicted pain enveloped me, and this self discovery made me even more upset. I could not believe had put myself through so much anguish for such a ridiculous reason. I allowed my grandmother to determine who I was; I never gave myself a chance to speak up. I allowed my grandmother’s perception of me as an unworthy, unlovable person to guide me into a path of self destruction. I pushed myself too hard. I hated myself. I wanted to take my own life because I allowed myself to be overpowered by my grandmother’s negativity and anguish she imposed on me. I wanted, needed to change the way I looked at myself. I learned that I am worthy of being loved, happy, and of having a full life to live joyfully. Also, I learned that people do not need to be so hard on themselves. I have realized that I need to start loving, cherishing, and appreciating myself for my own benefit, not for other’s benefit. One only has one life to live and one should not live it constantly trying to make others happy. One cannot make everyone happy, so I have learned to strive to make myself happy. Lastly, I found that if one is happy, the world will be happy with them. Therefore, I left my shadow behind me and moved toward the light.
Jasmyne Young
English 110
GWC
Post #15???
The Statue That Did Not Look Right
I know this is the easy reading out and I am sorry, but I still need to work on my thinking skills so there you go.:-)
I do not get the point of this reading. It is a statue that has everyone confused. Is it a real kouros, is it a fake?? I do not see why it is of such importance. It is a beautiful statue that people of all backgrounds will be able to see. What statue, what work of art looks right anyways? People interpret works of art in their own way. I understand that J. Paul Getty collected rare works of art for others to see and he wanted to make sure they were legit. Art is art, what more can I say. Maybe the statue did not look right because it gave the observer a different feel or sense than other greek statues have, and the observer did not know how to handle that new sense. Whatever reason it did not look right, it is still a form of beauty that should allow others to see how it looks wrong for themselves.
Kim Luong
GWC
english 110
The statue that did not look right.
Wah. this essay is very interesting in the first 2 pages. The author did not let me know that whether or not the kouros is real until i read the last paragraph of the 2nd page. When they found out that the kouros was a fake one that "it had been dipped in the best caffe latte from Starbucks and potato mold", i laughed a lot at that part. At the end, the author concluded that sometimes, snap judgments and first impressions can be helpful. I think he was right. This situation is similar when one takes a guess on his or her multiple choices exam. For 80%, most the first guesses are correct answers but students often change those when they go back to double check. However, making an instant guess does not mean that we make the right decision.
Monique Gutierrez
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #59
Class
Today's class was great. I enjoyed hearing the different opinions of my fellow classmates. Wow 2 concerts in one week Mr. Hsaio? Lucky you! Weezer? Amazing! U2? OMG! Concerts are a great and thrilling experience. I need to make a list of all the concerts I've been to. I still have all my ticket stubs. I love the energy of not only the band, but the crowd. Man! I need to go to another show. It's been too long! Argh!!!
Beatrice Fisher
English 110
GWC
Post 16?
Picking which reading I would post on was very easy. I chose The Statue That Did Not Look Right because it was the piece that was most forward and that I understood. I liked the fact that experts, with reason of science, thought the statue had to date back to the sixth century BC. I especially liked that other experts, with no reason other than a hunch, knew it had to be a fake. The entire time I read it I kept thinking about relationships. I think the “intuitive repulsion” the reading mentions helps us see through people to the core of what they are really after. What sparks my curiosity is why some have that intuitive repulsion stronger than others. At the end of the reading it also speaks about making snap judgments, and that this is not a gift but is something that can be learned. This brings me back to the relationship thing. I have never really dated. For some, this is hard to believe. But in every one of my relationships, one “date” turned into years. I believe I have a strong intuitive repulsion. What baffles me is why some people are so blind to it. The reading explains the answer perfectly. Some want so desperately for the “fake” to be real that they become blinded to their instincts. It further explains that our unconscious can be thrown off, distracted, and disabled. Not that long ago I had a good friend explaining to me how she caught her boyfriend in a lie. He was supposed to meet her for dinner after he got out of work. She never received his phone call so decided to go out to dinner with some girlfriends instead. She excused his non-existent phone call by saying he was probably working overtime with a client. Well, long story short, she gets to the restaurant and he is there and talking to another girl at the bar!!! Of course he fed her a few lies and because she wanted so badly to be with him, she believed them. Needless to say, one day he woke up and decided to just stop calling. She had the hunch many times, but she had chosen to ignore it. The next time I have a girlfriend who has that intuitive feeling I might just have her read this piece.
Betsy McPherson
English 110
Golden West College
Post # IDK
My Cave – Paragraph 3 Revised
In the future, I hope to be more confident in my stance outside of the cave. I am currently working on my Al-Anon program on a daily basis. I still struggle with the idea that it is okay for me to say no and that if I do say no my family will not desert me or turn their backs on me. I know that to an extent, no matter where I go or what I am doing, I will always feel the need to care for people. That desire and that need is so deeply ingrained in who I am, as a person, that I do not feel right if I do not have someone to care for. Hopefully though, as I get older, the people I am caring for are more deserving than the people I have cared for in the past. I hope to one day get married and have a family of my own to care for, instead of caring for the families that my brothers have started but are not around to be there for. I do realize, however, that no matter how far away I get, my family will always be my family. As I watch my parents slowly kill themselves with alcohol, there will come a point in my life where I will be responsible to care for them again and I hate the fact that they will fall into my lap and become my responsibility. I hate that three of my brothers are addicts and will not take responsibility of themselves because I know that eventually they will need my help as well. It frustrates me to watch everyone in my family slowly kill themselves from their addictions while they depend on me to keep everything functioning. I am the glue in my family and my role as that will not change. I know that my father and his girlfriend will end up living with. I know that my brother will probably never get the help he needs because he does not want to get better and nothing will change until he decides that it needs to. And after he is gone (which is only a matter of time at this point) I will be put in the situation to care for my sister in law and my nephew. And though it sounds like my life will not change, I do not want my life to change. I am a realist and I know how my family operates. I know that they will be depending on me forever. And not everything will be the same. Just as Plato said “Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner” (30) I will still be living with or near them, but I will be doing so because it is what I want to do and not because I feel like I have to. I love my family and I will want to be there for them as they grow old because I know that they need me, however I will not be living in their world or operating with the same “norms” that they accept to be true. In the future, I will be financially and emotionally independent, taking care of my family out of love instead of out of force.
Ronald Cabiltes
English 110
GWC
Post #17
Sunflower Sutra
I like the details and the way Ginsberg describes the scenery. I noticed he uses a lot of descriptors throughout the poem and i like how he does it. The scene starts off with him and a Jack Kerouac walking on the banks of a dock. Then he finds a sunflower. This sunflower did not have the yellow and green look of a healthy sunflower. Ginsberg described it as a, "dead gray shadow against the sky." He describes the "Unholy battered old thing" and how the industrial area around the sunflower had turned it into what it is. He then goes and personifies the surroundings of the sunflower. "..skins of machinery...empty lonely tincans with their rusty toungues...milky breasts of cars..." In the end I think Ginsberg is talking about the inner beauty of people. Inside all of us is a beautiful golden sunflower. Sounds kind of cliched but it makes sense.
Tien Tran
English 110
GWC
Post #21
Revised Paragraph
Society is embedded with a plague that sheds away the delicate minds and hearts of people. It goes unnoticed, yet its deadly venoms strip away the mask of even the fearless. It varies through its attacks, but its name is the same: stereotyping. In Homonyms, Giorgio Agamben illustrates the crude reality of placing an individual into a pre-set box of perceptions. He states that human beings are precursored into a destined box as others view them from what they are, not who they are. Agamben further argues that like homonyms, we as human beings may look the same, but beneath the layer of our being, there are complex levels that make up who we are. These complexities are unique and cannot be boxed up in a four-wall containment. Rather, we as human beings can move from one box to another as our self grows and evolves into a person full of great potential. In stereotyping us into a specified class or group, we are stripped away of our sense of self and the individualities that make us our own being. No longer are we our own recognized self, but we are individuals limited to what others have prejudged us to be. Our immobility is stagnant and ceases to make us who we are. As I live my day-to-day life, I am seen as a weak individual whose potential is limited to sub-satisfactory standards. My character is seen as a weak individual in the past and present as others belittled and underestimated my abilities. These two events would eventually become a significant factor into shaping my future as it becomes a foundation for the person I will evolve to be.
Raufiel Matias
English 110
GWC
Post #16?
The Statue That Did Not Look Right
As I was reading the first part of the story I was intrigue right away by this statue because of how the author described the story. So, I kept on going and read some more because I was hooked of the whole statue thing. I didn't really get what part of the statue didn't look right to the observers. They already have the top observers out there to look at it and still couldn't figure out what was wrong with the statue. The observers at the Getty Museum was probably so interested at the statue that they didn't have the "intuitive repulsion" when they look at it that the other observers from Greece have. Even though the Getty statue had some looks and figures that are similar with other statues they compared from they still wouldn't figure out what was wrong with it. I only found out that the statue was fake was at the end of the story which was interesting to keep the readers hooked in the story. The second part of the story was also interesting because the author started talking about our consciousness and decision making. I agree with the author in some way when he said "Decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately" (5). One reason is because in a given unexpected situation our snap judgments are the one that works right away and we have to decide right away in order to react to the given situation. It was a good reading overall and a pretty easy one to understand.
GREG BURNS
english 110 revised papragraph
English is a very hard language for non native speakers to grasp, for English has many words that are spelled the same but have a different meaning. These words are known as Homonyms, for example weight. This word in the English language can mean how much weight is in this box, or wow you have put on a lot of weight since I have seen you last. After reading Homonyms by Giorgio Agamben I was not sure what he is trying to get across to his readers after looking deeply into the reading I have a better understanding the message is much deeper that what is on the surface. Giorgio Agamben is talking about the differences in classes that still are in place today he is talking about how people do not have the will power to understand a fellow man, and put themselves into another shoes. Giorgio Agamben is also talking about how one has been stereotyped, in the past present and, the future. Homonyms broken down into the simplest form is about putting people that you are unsure of into groups, and stereotypes. Homonyms written by Giorgio Agamben, states “Actually, since every term refers by definition to every and any member of its extension…, words can…, both are and are not members themselves (6).” This is what everyone should strive to do during their time on earth. The quote is talking about being able to have your feet and hand in many doors at one time, but standing in the middle of everything. One must be able to flex like a rubber band walking in and, out of doors without being grouped with others. An example of this would be a great professor, for they have the ability to work with many different types of people. Everyone wants this trait but few strive to achieve this power. It will take one person to change the world, but the change must start from within.
Amber Decker
English 110
GWC
“So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key.” The Eagles were right. We do live our lives in chains, from the moment we are born and often until the day we die, we are chained to something or someone. It falls on to the individual to find the key to the armor. After years of following the lead of elders and peers, there comes a time in which one must forge their own path. This is easier said than done. No one is comfortable admitting it, but parents raise their children to mirror their own morals and opinions, thus shaping their offspring to follow their beliefs without question. Just like in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, everyone grows up surrounded by darkness and chained to a proverbial wall. The power to break the chains that bind lies within one’s self. But it is by no mean easy. The process is long and very painful. To even begin to start thinking for one ’s self, one must distance themselves from the views of their parents and peers. It is necessary to look back to the past and accept that parents have made all these important decisions without their children’s permission or even knowledge. That is very difficult to accept. It can feel like being lied to, and it does hurt. The next step is to search deep down into one’s self and figure out what makes sense and what does not. This part is confusing, upsetting, and often frustrating. It is in deepest human nature that the desires of a person are the antithesis of way they were brought up in. It takes a lot of time and a great deal of maturity to accept one’s self and one’s own desires exactly as they are. This is the most frightening part of the whole process because of how much there is to loose. Most young people are scared of disappointing their loved ones, making it very difficult to gather up the courage to defend one’s self against any hindrances. In Allegory of the Cave, Plato describes the process of awakening as “painful.” He paints a picture of the prisoners being relieved of their chains. “At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up… he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows.”(15) The path to becoming a true individual can be one filled with pain, confusion and guilt, but the light at the end of this exhausting tunnel is one that cannot be found any other way, and it arguably the most important thing in this world; freedom. For me, the path was clear, virtually painless, and definitely free of guilt, but it is a journey that is forever continuing, as I have so much to learn, and have so much room to grow. My cave is my lack of independence and my craving to be free, but it is almost impossible to break free from, due to daily routines, responsibilities, and lack of knowledge.
Kevin Santamaria
English 110
GWC
Post #16
What is poverty?
This passage is very detailed. From the beginning I was shocked and naturally assumed it was a male talking because of the incredibly impoverished state that he is in. I realized he was a she only when Jo begins to talk about the birth defects of her new born baby. I can smell the smell she describes and see the dirt she describes. Her descriptions are almost too good and vivid; they made my nose crinkle in disgust. When she talks about the lack of care for her baby you kind of hate her, but you fight to think she is sacrificing what she believes to be "luxuries" such as warm water, for the survival of her baby. When she comes to describing her search for help I sort of became disappointed because that is where I wanted the most information and detail. The last line of paragraph eight is what hit me the most; it impeccably shows her state of mind and character. I also could not believe how she witnessed the future lives of her children. I never thought a parent could even touch fruition of such dark futures, yet it’s probably true though. The passage does not make me sad, it makes me angry actually. I carry so many notions with me about people living in poverty that it’s hard to begin. She addresses how we would try for about a month or even a year, but eventually we would give up. I do not understand this. Maybe I'll get some new incite in class. Very interesting topic and read.
Whitney Young
Golden West College
English 110
Post #19
Sunflower Sutra
I believe the sunflower signifies what one is inside. Sunflower Sutra is about the poet losing that inner beauty because of everyone around that does not accept him. The outside world is changing him. It is slowly concealing who he really is inside. He realizes that it is never too late to look at life creatively. This makes me think of how crazy our society is today. Everyone is so fixated on being skinny and perfect. No one is perfect. Society is shaping people to be unhealthy and to have low self esteem. This poem makes me think of the effects of our society. What’s going to happen to all the little girls who will grow up to have low self esteem because they can never feel perfect? They will never be able to truly shine. I believe that everyone in beautiful on the inside, and that is how we should judge a person. We should judge them by their personality rather than their appearance.
Kayla Marley
English 110
Mr. Hsiao
October 26, 2009
On Going Work of Art
Fat, pig, chubby, or overweight however one reads these words this is how I have been described ever since I was in elementary school. Ever since I was little I have been overweight; I cannot remember a day where I was normal weight. Being overweight for so long has been an ongoing struggle. I have been judged and discriminated against by classmates and by people I do not even know. People were so quick to judge me because of my looks that they never got to know the true me. Things these people would say would tear my self esteem up. When I went to a local Boys and Girls Club one of my friends called me “fat”. At first I was in such shock that someone that I thought was my friend would say such a mean thing to me, but when she saw how hurt I looked she explained that “fat” meant “cool”. When she explained herself my nerves cooled off a little, but I was still hurt. In this situation the word fat had two different definitions: 1. Overweight and 2. Cool. In Homonyms written by Giorgio Agamben he explains how two kinds of words may have the sound the same or be spelt the same but could have two total different and opposite meanings. One may think that the word belongings in a certain group where as in reality the word may belong in several different groups. In the beginning of Homonyms by Giorgio Agamben he talks about a man by the name of Gootlob Frege where he claimed to have discovered one of the postulates of The Basic Laws of Arithmetic. Frege was a happy man and when he was contradicted by a man, Bertrand Russell, Frege became upset and angry. In Homonyms Giorgio Agamben is trying to say that everyone has different meanings and outlooks on different situations. One word may supposedly be classified in one “group”, but another person may classify that word in another “group”. Agamben had stated that one can be in a group but not be of the group. I can relate to Frege most because before I was told something negative about myself I was very happy. When I was made fun of at such a young age I became angry and hurt. I may be overweight but that does not mean that I should be judged and have rude remarks said about me to my face or behind my back. Being overweight as a child resulted in fellow classmates taunting me in front of other classmates and going home to cry. Being made fun of at such a young age really tore my self esteem up. To this day, being a grown woman, I am still made fun of by people I know and do not know. Unfortunately there are adults who still act as if they were in middle school and think that making fun of someone else is okay. Not only do boys make fun but also girl too. Girls think they think they will have nothing in common with me because I am overweight and that they cannot relate to me. One day I will realize that I should not take to heart negative things people say about me.
Kayla Marley
English 110
Sunflower Sutra
I absolutely loved reading Sunflower Sutra. The first few lines one would think that this is going to be about color and happy items in one life, but slowly Ginsberg goes into a dark area with lots of shades of gray. I think Ginsberg tried to say that the sunset was a transition from happy times to dark gloomy times. I think that Ginsberg was trying to say that although there is a beautiful sunset surrounding the sunflower that was covered in dust that if one was to get past the dust and the dirt on the flower they will find the true beauty. I think that even though someone is surrounded by trash everyone somewhere is able to see a positive side in or of something. Just because there is dark and gloomy surrounding one’s life does not mean that they have to look at their life negatively. I love the fact that relates to a situation that is close to my heart. I hate to see people suffering and someone I love dearly is suffering. Unfortunately I cannot help her because this situation is out of my hands, but I absolutely adore her for being such a strong beautiful woman, and for her staying positive in this horrible situation that she was put in. This woman is looking at the beautiful yellow peaking through the dirt and dust and admiring it, and she is not looking at the dirt and dust thinking how horrible the flower looks. This woman is looking at her life and is happy to be alive, and I love the fact that she is able to be positive. This short story makes me think of a painting with a beautiful sunset in the background and slowly going from bright brilliant colors to dark gloomy colors. This story showed me that even though there can be negativity surrounding one person one just has to look at the positive and hope for the best.
Brandon Hebert
Goldenwest
Eng110
Post: 31ish
decisions and revisions...
There have been a few times in my past when I have been taken as a stoner, but one specific incident goes beyond the rest. Ironically enough, it was during an alcohol education class, and the group was going once around the room for introductions and prior usage, alcohol or otherwise. When it was my turn, I explained I had never taken a drug besides alcohol. No one believed me. I asked why they were so convinced I use drugs, considering none of them had met me before. A woman across the room stated: “You just look like a stoner”, and everyone in the room laughed. At first I was so angry. I am serious when it comes to abstaining from drugs, and yet this woman so easily and readily insulted me. That is what it was: an insult. If I could just have my monologue, and really explain that I do not smoke, and more importantly why I do not smoke, if I could just right that wrong comment…I felt like if I didn’t, then I was guilty as charged. I remember deciding not to pursue discourse and correct their opinions. They only knew my appearance, and I look like a stoner. Therein lay my dilemma. In Homonyms, Agamben writes: “Homonyms, according to Aristotle, are objects that have the same names but different definitions (***2). Although we (stoners and I) look the same, and in that respect are synonymous, we are defined differently within, and in that sense are homonymous. If they only knew me, they would know I never even debate whether or not to smoke. If they only knew me, they would not classify me. But then, I must then agree to participate in that class, if only by appearance, since we are in some way synonymous.
Kevin Santamaria
English 110
GWC
Post #17
Revised paragraph
If we are lucky enough, something tragic will happen to us to come to a sort of epiphany or enlightenment about the universe, but most people are not lucky. We have been raised to indulge in the pleasures that satisfy our human desires. It is proven so in the case of the movie Troy, in 2004. The movie had been based on Homer’s Iliad, but the philosophical thought of the myth had been ripped away, in exchange for action and love; entertainment. Entertainment as we know it in, movies, theme parks, food, pornography, drugs, etc. has become our barricade, our chains holding the world in the dark. They all are self indulgent expression of society which hold us back from achieving any true potential. What I had to conceive was that my cave- my social life- kept me from seeing this, from seeing myself. This is all represented in, The Allegory of the Cave by Plato. He begins the excerpt as if it is a show, “Behold!”(Paragraph 1) he exclaims as he reveals the enlightened or unenlightened figures living in a cave; leaving you to conclude which of the two are definite of the people. The human beings here have been born into this cave from the beginning of their lives; they as the reader comes to realize, are unenlightened. Their heads are shackled forward with nothing in sight except the shadows they perceive before them that dance along the wall. Since every human is born witness to this, each believe the false imagery because what else do they know, and who else can disprove them? The heard that cannot even itself so listens to others within it, therefore strengthening the false images to a reality beyond a doubt because to the left and to the right of them come about the same notions. All the heard can see and feel the same presence though. Pretty are the images, cool is the cave, safe is the shackles, and reality is easily understood; that is life in the cave. I have been born in this fragile cave where false images lead me to believe a true reality, but my cave was sustained and strengthened by my social life. The more people within my cave, the more it strengthened my weakness. I was entrenched in my social life, which made all notions I had for life accrue. I never wanted to leave my cave, but I was pushed out. Only when there were socially too many people in my cave, was I alone kicked out of it. I had not seen what was to come; I found a new person and had found the new world. I had two situations build which lead to my omission and the expulsion of my cave; being drunk at prom and being drunk at the first football game of the season. I was then expelled and left alone wondering aimlessly, mute and able to listen and see what I had never before; people. I then discovered a world beyond the 10 mile proximity I created for myself. I now stood above the ruble of my cave; the smell and knowledge beneath me was putrid, and the text in front of me smelled riveting.
bradnon hebert
Goldenwest
Eng110
Post: 32ish
Owl City...
alright owl city is pretty good, they remind me of a more electronic Thrice. sorry to be typical, but best song: fireflies.
BTW their new album is good but i hate the cover. the album cover features a picture of the Burj Dubai (U.A.E.). Idk why any intelligent band would consider donning an image of a country that is beyond human rights violations and international greed. Oh well.
Eric Torres
English 110
Golden West College
Post #16
Revised Body Paragraph
In college some people may call me a “jock” because I play football. The word “jock” itself is such a degrading name. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, a jock is an athletic supporter. The word “jock” originated from the word “jockstrap” which is a male genitals supporter. Who would want to be referred to as a male genitals supporter? It is definitely not a compliment most athletes look forward to hearing. Those athletes who carry out their character in society as being a jerk to others live up to their typical description as the “jocks”. They are seen in society as unintelligent, dirty, disrespectful or even perverted athletes. It is a great shame that those athletes who do make a jerk of themselves have to ruin the name “athlete” for everyone else who is truly not a “jock”. In society today, the word “jock” has been used so many times that many athletes do not even feel ashamed by the insult. Actually, many people do not mean to insult athletes when calling them “jocks”. The word “jock” just evolved to be interpreted as the slang word for “athlete”. I have been called a “jock” by people who do not even know me just because they see me sitting down in the middle of the campus by the cafeteria where all the football players hang out between classes. In Giorgio Agamben’s Homonyms, he states, […] “all (or almost all) words can be presented as classes that […] both are and are not members themselves” (6). The word “jock” is presented to society as being an unintelligent, dirty, disrespectful or even perverted athlete. The word athlete is sometimes mistakenly replaced as the word “jock” because they are both similarly close in meaning (the way society has placed it). Even though the word “athlete” has been placed in the same group as the word “jock”, athletes are not members of that group. When I practice with the team and carry out my athletic ability like all the others, I am a member of the same class in which the “jocks” belong to. However, I do not carry out my character the same way the “jocks” do outside of football. Because I choose to spend time studying for exams and writing papers until 3 in the morning instead of partying and making a fool of myself, I am not a “jock”. Instead, I am a leader to those “jocks” who need help academically by tutoring them and setting an example in getting good grades. In doing so, I have shown it is possible to be athletic in performing well on the football field while maintaining good grades. These are the characteristics that make up a great leader.
Raufiel Matias
English 110
GWC
Post #17
Revised Paragraph
The four years of high school for many teenagers and students are the years that they are going to experience and experiment with activities such as partying with the involvement of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and gangs. Going through a different path in four years without experiencing or even trying to do those activities was difficult because of all the influences and peer pressure that is surrounding all over. Many of my friends and peers that I have met in junior high school went to parties and started drinking, smoking cigarettes, and smoking marijuana. I knew in my mind that time that they are not the type of friends that are going to influence me to make the right decisions because of their lack of knowledge about decision making. The first year or so of high school was somewhat hard time for me to find and fit-in with the right type of crew or friends that shared the same decisions of being a straight edge. Straight edge refers to a lifestyle whose advocates make a commitment to refrain from drinking alcohol, using tobacco products, and taking any recreational drugs. It is not that I did not want to experience the hang-over feeling the next day but, it is just that I was not really enthusiastic about drinking and was not really excited either. Also, I feared that if my parents found out that I had been drinking, smoking, and doing all kinds of activities that they would give me some sort of punishment that will make me regret that wrong decision. The cave that I lived in as a straight edge throughout my high school career helped my to be a better person in different aspects of life because of the decisions that I made that took me where I am today and the ones that I will make towards a better future. Also, it gave me a different perspective of how a person should live their lives, as to be a follower or the ones that can stand-up for him/her self and say, no. I will not regret that I chose that kind of lifestyle and will take with me for as long that I am living.
Joshua Greenroyd
English 110
GWC
Mahabharata: Bhagavadgita
Just typing that his hard enough. Imagine trying to say it. wow. This piece has a few parts. The two main parts talk about two different religions. One religion talks about reaching soul and wisdom. The other talks about acts in triples or threefolds. They both however talk about fruits of a person.
Religion by Separation of Matter and Spirit
The main point of this one is that a person needs to be good in fruits in order to see the correctness of their soul, and be considered truly wise. Some of these fruits are humbleness, purity, control of self, and patience. These fruits are surprisingly similar to the Bibles fruits of the spirit. I'll leave it at that.
Religion by Deliverance and Rununciation
Fruits of a person are also mentioned in this one. However, the main point is the threefolds. Worship, penance, alms. Knowledge, action, doer. True, imperfect, false (there are synonymes used). Intellect, steadfastness, pleasure. These are all threefolds. They all have things in common with each other as seen in the passage. The three folds are all fruits of labor. It is also explained which fruits are seen correctly. whether its pure, evil, or somewhere in between. there is a lot to this epic poem.
Joshua Greenroyd
English 110
GWC
Revised Paragraph
When a person thinks of someone who is high in status, it usually involves that person being somewhat of age. Rarely do people see a person of great status in their teens. This brings up a stereotype. A stereotype which states that a person must be older if they dress in nicer attire. A dress shirt and tie compared to jeans and a shirt would be two different attire styles. The dress shirt and tie is the nicer attire. In October of two thousand and eight I went into a Verizon Wireless store to fix a problem with my phone. I was dressed in my work attire. This consisted of a black shirt, tie, dress slacks, and shoes. A woman, maybe three or four years older than me, helped me with my phone that night. She treated me with a good amount of respect. I did not feel judged at all, and left feeling well. A few months later, near the end of August, I went back to that same Verizon store. The same woman who helped me the first time once again helped me. There were two differences in our second meeting. First, I was in more casual clothing. Second, I had my mother with me. In order to make a change on a phone in the account, the account holder must be present. My mom is the account holder. Everything was going well until I had to pay for the services. I had done all of the talking up to this point. My mom just stood by in case she was needed. After the woman was done, it was time to pay. The woman turned to my mom and asked her how she would be paying for the services. My mom chuckled and mentioned to the woman that I was responsible and would be paying. The woman had a very astonished look on her face. She turned to my mom and said, “Oh, he doesn’t look old enough to even drive.” Once again I was boxed into a stereotype about my looks making me seem young. In Homonyms by Giorgio Agamben, he states, “If we try to grasp a concept as such, it is fatally transformed into an object, and the price we pay is no longer being able to distinguish it from the conceived thing” (8). This is basically stating that when a person stereotypes another individual, that person is no longer able to see the individual as a person, but only as the stereotype. This happens every day to a countless number of people. As for me, I have been boxed into a stereotype. This stereotype of age puts me a step down from others around me. It gives me a status less than par. I do not hold up to peoples’ expectations. Not having a high status causes me to lose respect, and this is the problem.
Priscilla Daza
cerritos college
english 100
post #23
this is especially for Raul:
(and im not trying to call you out)
i did not get the chance to fully explain myself for the what is poverty discussion. now, as i recall, and forgive me if im wrong, but Raul mentioned that parker lost all hope, and she could have done better the fact that she has three children. as oppose of doing something she stood mourning for her husband, and losing all hope. what was tossed around was all parker knew was what was around her: teen pregnancy, gang relations, broken families, little high school education perhaps. it was thrown in the discussion that this is not a third world country. we live in the united states. the land of opportunity. parker could have stepped her "ill fitting" shoe through some door of opportunity for the well being of her children.
(this is what i wanted to say)
granted, she could have done all the things that were previously mentioned. from my perspective, she knew of a better life. i mentioned this in class that once upon a time she was married and her and her husband had jobs. once upon a time, she had (i guess one can call) a normal life being married and living in home. maybe that is as normal as it got for her. within three years she had three kids. she knew at that point that her husband was going to leave. as adrian brought out that in paragraph 8 "...i destroyed my marriage... it had been a good one....i knew my husband was leaving the day he left, there were no goodbyes between us. i hope he had been able to climb out of this mess somewhere." again from my perspective, she might of lost some of her hope when her husband left, but she knew it was coming. now as for the hope that was left off within her had withered away. the everyday situation she lived in, using bed sheets for diapers, sleeping on one dirty old matress, eating onions, rice, milk and beans, the stench of poverty, one abused outfit for each of her children washed before the next day for school...it goes on...who would not lose hope in that situation. knowing that she cant keep a job because the money she'll have left over from working after childcare will be $2. two dollars for three kids and one adult with food and rent to consider. i dont blame parker for thinking how her children will end growing up negatively. its like she couldnt even afford hope. i asked "what CAN she do in that situation?" i was corrected in class that i asked the wrong question. i should have and im asking now, what CAN'T she do in her situation?
michael, you mentioned that it was the husbands fault. its a marriage and a commitment and he should have stayed. i always had admired you, now i think very highly of you with that comment! but getting back to reality...husbands leave. now for reason i will leave out. but it happens. it has happened, it will happen and its happening right now. yes, they are family guys like you, but again this is what i think.
Eric Torres
English 110
Golden West College
Post #17
The Statue That Did Not Look Right by Malcom Gladwell
Malcom Gladwell talks about how it is possible for human beings to make decisions quickly. The way we can do this comes from the part of our brain called the adaptive unconscious. This instinct reaction to situations or first impressions guides us to make quick efficient decisions without even thinking about it. Gladwell applies this quick thinking to explain how Aeri, Harrison, Hoving, Dontas and the other experts were able to come to the conclusion that the Kouro was fake. They could tell right away that the statue was fake because they knew what a statue looked like after it had been in the ground. At the first glance, the statue did not look like it had been dug out of the ground. It looked as though "it had been dipped in the very best caffe latte from Starbucks" (6). The decisions made very quickly were in fact more accurate than those decisions made by the musieum experts who took fourteen months examining the statue. The reason these decisions were made so accurately was because of their "intuitive repulsion". That adaptive unconscious response led them to the correct conclusion about the statue within only a few seconds of seeing it.
Thomas Rios
GWC
English 110
Post #20
Revised Paragraph
There are defining moments in one’s life that dictate the future. These moments can be
successful, and then again, these moments can be disastrous. The moment I found out I had been
accepted to Cal State Fullerton, I was ecstatic. My parents were so proud. I was the youngest child in the family and I had managed to make it to a good college before my siblings. They were so proud, in fact, they bought me a new Ford Mustang. My life was absolutely great. I was a college bound student driving a brand new car right into the bright lights of success. After the first few weeks of classes, it was apparent that I had driven right into the bright lights of oncoming traffic; I was far less prepared for college than I could comprehend. I soon found myself completely uninterested in class, bored, and waiting for the end so I could go out and party. I began to smoke pot, drink beer, and smoke cigarettes. I dropped out of my classes; my experience with CSUF was not a successful experience at all, or so I thought. That moment that I fell flat on my face allowed me the opportunity to go into the working world. It was not easier than school, in fact, much more stressful. I worked for a financial advisor for over two years and contemplated going back to school following several pathetic attempts to get back to a community college. After two years of becoming less and less interested in getting drunk and high, I became rather interested in my education again. This time around, I actually wanted to get back into the classroom. Getting laid off also helped me to make my decision. It seemed like my bad choices were catching up with me. Back to school I went. Enrolling in Goldenwest College has been one the best choices I have made in a long while. I have met many great students and many interesting professors. In The Allegory of the Cave, Plato writes, “How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads” (6)? The relevance in this quote rings deep with me. I was on a fast track to becoming a college dropout junkie, eyes focused on getting high and never straying from that path. I was the one that was restricting the movement of my head because at that time, I did not want to see anything else,I only wanted fast times and good intoxicants. The shadows that masked my reality were soon retreating. Reality called. I did not answer. Reality slapped me in the face. This time, I was more than willing to listen. I was able to change my lifestyle in a more beneficial way. I have found success and happiness in pursuing my education. I consider this to be the main reason why my unsuccessful experience at CSUF was actually successful. I now have a deeper respect for myself and am prepared to go back to Cal State Fullerton to show them what I am really about.
Samantha Sullivan
English 110
GWC
Post #15
Sunflower Sutra
I really loved this poem! The hidden meaning was beautiful and uplifting. The sunflower represented a different kind of beauty. Beauty does not make the sunflower. The sunflower’s old and dead appearance is outshined by its meaning and its significance. Although the sunflower is so dark, not like your usual sunflower, it is still beautiful. It is life. The sunflower is ironically related to a locomotive. They are both completely opposite of each other. Nature, which is the sunflower, and industrial, the locomotive both have a story of their own. Barely dwelling in the filth of the work yard, the sunflower still shines with beauty and life. It may be hardly visible as a sunflower but will always be a sunflower no matter its outer image. Just like out inner self. No matter what we look like or how much we can be distorted, our inner self will remain. Our image should not determine our state of beauty. Like the sunflower, we are all beautiful and should never think otherwise.
Thomas Rios
GWC
English 110
Post #21
The Statue That Did Not Look Right
I really enjoyed reading this story. I found it rather interesting that paid professionals could not figure out that the statue was a fake. They scoured over it and analyzed it and still could not see through the smoke. Then the statue was evaluated by others and was immediately noted to be fake. It is interesting how many times I have found out that my "gut instinct" was the better of my choices. I think that when I think about things for too long, I form expectations and predictions instead of just going with it and seeing where I stand afterwards. Of course, it is not good to just go into some things blindly. That could be diastrous. Example (I am guilty of this) Going into a test where I have pretty much no clue what the material is, winging the test. That USUALLY turns out unfavorably for me.
(Andy) Nam Pham
English 110
GWC
Post #20 (woo)
The Statue That Did Not Look Right
Instincts and doubt was a clear theme in this story. The first part of the story was about the purchase of Paul Getty's "new" kouroi statue. At first, evidence seemed to show that the statue was legitimate. Having Margolis examining the statue through a microscope and finding calcite was good enough for Getty to believe. At first, he fell in love with his purchase. Later on, he had experts come over to observe his questionably historical purchase. They started staring at it, questioning the history and detail of the statue. They concluded that the statue was not real at all, and was actually a fake. Getty began doubting, and further investigated the statue. The more the statue was investigated, the more doubt and confusion the repertoire of the statue arose. The statue came to have such different origins from different experts which led to the question "where was the statue originally from?"
The second part of the story describes the thought of doubt and intuition the experts had at the first sight of the statue. The whole idea of Getty spending so much time on investigating the legitimacy of the statue was a waste of time. At the first sign of doubt, Getty started investigating and that led to the same feeling of doubt at the end of the investigation. The statue was a fake and all the experts that just glanced at the statue, who had a repulsive feeling, were right. Getty was just obsessed with his success, which was too good to be true, that he squeezed out his feeling of doubt at the first sight. Until he finally had a second (third) opinion, he began doubting. Instincts could lead us astray, and sometimes it works well in our favor.
(Andy) Nam Pham
English 110
GWC
Post #21
Revised Paragraph
If anyone looked at my plans for the future, they would think of the typical bookworm Asian who always lands a job in the medical field. My plans for the future are simple. Soon, I will be a licensed pharmacy technician at CVS Pharmacy. I will transfer out from Golden West College, and attend UCI. There, I will be majoring in Biology and eventually obtain my BS. After I graduate from UCI, I will follow the career path of my brother, and hopefully get into Pharmacy school at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. I will work hard for the next four years there. I will be hired at CVS Pharmacy and work full time until I pay off my student loans and gain enough money to support my own business. When I do make enough, I will start my own pharmacy and be my own boss. It is what is expected of me by peers and by my parents especially. Since I am always with my friends at UCI, the successful and ambitious group of friends I am glad to know, I am expected to live up and match their future success. Being doctors, lawyers, or something incredibly rewarding seems like something I have to obtain. My parents look at me the same way too. Having a successful pharmacist brother, they look at me to become even better and more successful than the people around me, simply because I have a better start. People will see me as a work-obsessed bookworm. What they fail to see is that landing this type of job and having such success is not an easy task to accomplish. Not everyone was conditioned to maintain such pressures and large workloads. The field is competitive, and will continue to be. It requires balance, diligence, perseverance, tolerance, and time. Throughout my life, I have worked hard to excel at whatever I do and to be successful in my experiences, and I will continue to do so until the day I die. Does this define me as a typical “nerdy” work-loving Asian? In Homonyms, Giorgio Agamben says “the idea of a thing is the thing itself” (2). I am a hard worker, and that is what I do. Not because I am just another Asian kid who studies just because he is an Asian and has nothing better to do. I do this for my future. I do this for my parents, I do this for my friends, and I do this for myself. Being a pharmacist or a doctor is a great reward. To me, it is the epitome of success, and a reward to my struggles that I have worked so hard for. Agamben also says “Not a hierarchy of types, but only a theory of ideas is in a position to distangle though from the aporias of linguistic being (or better, to transform them into euporias)” (1). Agamben explains that figures of greatness have no defining labels or definitions. This clearly lays an ideal for a figure to become. Becoming a stereotype, or being categorized in one is so easy and automatic. Overcoming and transcending the labels and borders is what eventually everyone achieves. In a lifetime, there is so much time to experience everything, it is difficult to stay in just one bubble and be a single “thing.” In the future, people will have looked back upon my lifetime, and they will see that I have experienced so much more then just studying all day long and being such a scrawny, “FOBish,” hard working “nerdy” Asian.
Jessica Atthowe
English 110
GWC
post #?
The Statue That Did Not Look Right
This piece was very interesting to me. I was blown away by the amount of people that had to view and investigate this statue before anyone concluded that it was not legit. Doing an investigation on this statue, then deeming it real, and writing an article about the statue, shows how bad the Getty wanted this statue to be real. Although a complete fake, the Getty workers heard the news they wanted, that it was real, and never looked back. Luckily, once someone questioned the statues history, the Getty was not opposed to further investigation, even though it made them look a little bad. There will always be people in the world selling phony items trying to pass them off as real. The Getty almost wasted about 10 million dollars, but did not rush too much into the purchase, and was open to the allegations of the phoniness. I think we should learn from this story that we cannot believe everything we hear and see. We should further investigate the idea and find out the truth when there is hesitation in belief.
Erica Lloyd
English 110
GWC
Post #20
Revised Paragraph
All my life, I have had a label that follows me to this day: I am seen as the stereotypical good girl. People often label me and don’t give a second thought to what other qualities I might have, but as Giorgio Agamben discusses in his essay Homonyms, although I do have good girl qualities, that is not all that I am. Agamben explains that objects have many different qualities that make up what they are. A fire truck, for example, can be put in to several different categories: red, truck, emergency vehicle, loud. But the fire truck cannot have just one label. It is not just red and it is not just loud. The fire truck is the collection of all the different labels it has, and, therefore, once a person tries to separate out the different labels, the fire truck is no longer a fire truck. Another idea about labels that Agamben relates is that each individual person can have a different concept of what represents each label. Ask around and it will be found that five different people will have five different ideas come to mind when “loud” is imagined. Each concept will fit into the label “loud” and the qualities assigned to the label remain the same, but each concept is a different perception of what represents “loud”. Because every object has multiple labels that can apply to it, it has many different qualities of those labels. However, just because an object can fit one quality of one label does not mean that it has to fit every quality of that label. This makes the classification process that much more complicated. Every person fits into many different labels, but no one is just one label, and no one has every last quality associated with each label. Everyone seems to agree that the label that fits me is the good girl label. When they say this, they are really saying that I am trustworthy, responsible, naïve and demure. There is the connotation that I am someone who would easily win in a game of “I’ve Never”. While some of these qualities do describe me quite well, others do not fit at all. Either way this label is a part of who I am, and it has had an impact on everything thing I do. Through this essay, I will show how this label has affected me in my past, how it is currently affecting me, and how it will affect me in the future.
Jessica Atthowe
English 110
GWC
post #?
revised paragraph
My Cave
Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Everyone has something that has caused tremendous stress in his or her life. For most people, this stress or time in their life has somewhat shaped the person they are today. At this point, all we can do is let the past be the past, and although it says a lot about us individually we do not need the stress in life. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, he discusses people being sheltered from reality. Plato shares the journey from an unknown world, to the true reality of the real world. One person is fortunate enough to break out of this cave and experience the outside world. He sees the light and is drawn to the new world. The light is his way out, and his chance to begin a new life. He can no longer turn back to his comfort place, the cave, instead he must move on. At first, stepping out of the cave is stressful because there is only sunlight, only new beginnings, and no more shadows or darkness. For the first time, he is forced to make decisions by himself, and for himself, and cannot turn back. At this point he is free to be his own person and can make something of himself being fully in control of his destiny. Unknowing of what to expect or what is out there, this individual becomes more intelligent and is able to almost live on his own in a world far different from the cave. After the escape from the cave, he will have learned what is most important in life and not just ways to get by in life. Although being overprotected for most of my life has held me back, recently I have begun to find myself. I was sheltered growing up, went to school and had to learn to live on my own, and from this experience there is a new me.
Yue Hayes
English 110
Golden West College
Post #28
Revised paragraph
When I type an essay, the very first word I type is always underlined in red, indicating a spelling error. No, I never mean to type Yuen, Yule, Yew, or any other word that the computer might suggest. I do mean to type the underlined word, “Yue,” which is usually not found in any dictionaries. Even if it is in the dictionary, it cannot be given a definition, and it cannot be given any list of synonyms and antonyms. Not one person will be able to see my name and know that my name requires total of thirty two strokes in order to fully write my name out in kanji, and that it means “blessed with kindness.” No one will ever be able to understand what my name means without asking me, nor will they understand who I am just by looking at the name. Giorgio Agamben describes in Homonyms that in the process of organizing everything into words and by carefully giving those words definition and properties, we have come to take away individuality, and instead generalized everything. Instead of turning a whole concept into an object, we need to look at the concept as a whole. Otherwise, the concept loses some, if not all, of its properties and is replaced with an entirely different set of properties. When someone labels me as an Asian, all of his/her connotations of “Asians” immediately become a part of me, even if it is not entirely true. I, or any one word out there, cannot fully define who I am because there are many words that may describe me. Those words, however, do not define me. Once I am put into a stereotype, I gain extra characteristics that are not of my own and lose some that are. The very concept of “me” gets modified, which means I am no longer completely myself. Furthermore, we are very time-sensitive beings. Throughout my life, I have gone through many stages and many different “looks.” I am and have always been “me,” but the characteristics that make up “me” are ever changing, because different experiences that we go through in life make up who we are. Growing up with a single, working mother, I had to take care of I and my younger brother. Because of these experiences, I have come to be a person of compassion and empathy. People often mistake these characteristics for weakness, like my manager recently at my workplace. I know, though, that these are characteristics that I do want to keep in the future, when I become successful in my career.
Yue Hayes
English 110
Golden West College
Post #29
The Statue That Did Not Look Right
I think it is very interesting when things that we know as a society is disproved. I find myself always making sure that my decision is the right one. I always find myself looking for more information. It has become very difficult to trust my instincts without having the evidence or proof to back it up.
This piece talks about kouros, which I remember looking at in the Getty Villa. Yes, it was a very beautiful piece, but it looked very fake. Without the experience or the knowledge, however, I think my opinion was more that of chance.
I think it is very interesting that we are capable of teaching ourselves to think on our feet, or making good instinctive decisions. Why do we not focus on making this decision-making better? I think it is rather difficult for people to trust others' instincts.
Erica Lloyd
English 110
GWC
Post #21
Sunflower Sutra
I enjoyed this poem because I like the idea of beauty being found in something that appears to be so unfortunate and dead. Often we forget that there is beauty in all things, we merely have to search it out and claim it.
The scene that Ginsberg sets is bleak, dreary and disgusting. Not somewhere that you would expect to find beauty. The sunflower that he describes is not what we normally think of when we picture a sunflower. It is dead and gray, losing its seeds and covered with the grime of the world. And yet, he loves the sunflower and he can find the beauty in it.
We really are all beautiful on the inside, and I appreciate Ginsberg's enthusiasm to pick up his "scepter" and deliver this message. I think it's a message that we all need to hear now and then to remind us to look past the grime of the world at the sunflower within.
Hey guys from 100
Can someone send me the Homework please.
Gabriela Tovar
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #26???
The Salt of the Earth by Mumia Abu-Jamal
I really liked and believed it is true the part where he talks about the media... If one holds one's paycheck, one will do what is told... I know that if i cannot get a good a job and the one i had right now, and i was getting paid well,i would just do as i am told... It is good money, but i would reconsidered the fact that i am just giving pure bullocks to the whole entire world... One day i saw on the news a lady get hit by a metro; her wheelchair apperantly moved and she fell on the tracks... Now, when i saw that on the news that it said "coming at 11" i was pertrified... That video is nation wide and seriously how many kids are going to watch the news... I got so mad and from that day on, i realized that the media does want to "control" our lives... I just really liked that part and it spoke so much to me...
Andy Murphy
Eng103
CC
Post #20
The Salt of the Earth
I really do believe what Mumia abu-Jamal expresses about the media in this excerpt. At the beginning of this he describes what is already known. How our forefathers who came over for religious freedom did the exact opposite of their faith, raping and murdering the natives. This has happened throughout history with Christians (Spanish Inquistion,etc). After Christ died and before Constantine declared Christianity the New "it" religion, Christians were treated like utter S***. Many went into hiding or were rounded up and executed in the most horrific ways, no matter what age and gender they were. After Constantine (start of the corrupt leaders in this faith) became Roman Emperor in about 300 AD his hypocratic ways of spreading the religion lasted for hundreds of years to come. Today, in society some religion's are looked down upon or cast unfavorable stereotypes. When 5 o'clock comes rolling around and the guy next to you kneels on the ground headed towards mecca society usually associates that with "get the hell outta here... he is guna blow, etc". Being brought up with this religion and going to Catholic High School, I was detested by the Nuns, Brothers, and Faculty. Their minds were so set and focused that this religion was supreme and the truth. But, I, being a factual person always asking the 5 W's and seeing the world in a different perspective then every else (still do today), I saw how full of holes and corrupt this religion was from square one and how it has lead to the horrendous atrocity that makes up our government, judicial system, and pretty much everything stemming from our forefathers "ideas" of freedom. Complete hypocratic BS that has been fed to us spoonful after spoonful for years.
Now to the media; something I compare to fecal matter.
Just opening up the Yahoo! homepage I click on the tab that has local news updated every minute. Tab 1. Murder in attempted Robbery Tab 2. Murder of elder couple Tab 3. Murder of Murderer who Murdered that other Murderer.
Really? I mean come on. Then in the LA Times it tries so hard to make Mayor Villaigosa look half decent. False. Just by looking at the first page of any paper you can see what type of party owns it; Optimistic, everythings getting better - Left Wing Liberal Murder, Economy falling, World's on fire because of Liberals - Right Wingers. Then there's always the Onion. (haha) Crazy NoCalians. Why does the Media keep feeding this? One answer I can think of is the higher ups are keeping us in check, in line, making sure we don't see the truth and become to radical. They don't want another 60's Revolution. Is it just me or has after that era in American history (late 50's-early 70's) have we just given in to what is happening? No more change for us? What happened to "Yes we can"? Fizzled out like a day old soda.
The Media is our leader now. It has been ever since W. Randolph Hearst displayed how powerful one can be who controlled the media. Control the media, Control the World. You can manipulate the public opinion with the swip of your hand. Display what you want them to see and not what is reality. But, there is nothing to radical and it never will be that way again.
Last time I watched the local news a couple months ago (I had an anuerysm...) The top stories bounced between "Dancing with the Stars" and the 2 month deceased Michael Jackson Puppet Show. I think I actually lost a few intelligence quotient points while viewing that joke. Thats headline while two wars are going on, a president and followers are not doing anything, the judicial system is mirroring a circus act, are economic situation has evened out but left numerous people unemployed and more people richer!!!
Now Eric Idle's Monty Python Tune of "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life" is getting that much harder to whistle.
Danielle Kennedy
English 110
GWC
post #15?
sunflower sutra
i really enjoyed this stature because it had alot of imagery and symbolism and i have always found myself drawn to these qualities in any genre of reading i read. anyway, i liked how not only did he paint this beautiful picture of a sunset/sunrise with a siloutte of a sunflower but he also showed the dirty and grimmy side of the way we live. all the trash and dirt that surrounded the flower represents how we have all failed to keep up on our part for saving the area we live in. the entire stature was about the disappointment the author has on how we have forgotten our main roots and let our once beautiful liveing area fall to the waste side and covered with trash of laziness and the dirt of crime and greed. our once beautiful place has fallen by the knees, is there still hope? i believe that the sunflower says yes. the sunflower is still able to bloom in all of the dirt and trash that shows that there is still hope for the main land that will one day become the beautiful sunset picture again.
Tien Tran
English 110
GWC
Post #22
What is Poverty?
I know of poverty, but really did not know it until now. Jo Goodwin’s piece is strong and told how poverty really is. It was real, straight to the point, and depicts a life some of us never even thought of. Her detailed wording is like a knife slashing into our innocence. It bleeds out the horror that is her life. It makes us feel despondent, helpless, and pushes the reader to feel her jabbing pain.
Her repetitious “poverty is” brings out poverty from the shadows casted away from what is society today. It etches the word in our minds and makes us see what it really is. As I read this, I could not help but feel her pain. Her life became my pain, my wants to help, and my agony to do something. She writes to tell her life, to share her story, and at the same time, it brings a change into her readers.
Her story is like an earthquake shaking us up from our life. She writes about what we neglect, what we rarely see. She writes about her life. A life that we neglect, a life that we rarely see.
Ana Cervantes
English 100
Cerritos College
Post# ??
Status Anxiety
Well to be honest i dont get the overall theme of this story, but i'm going to talk about what the story spoke to me. Well to me the story talks about how one cannot too much value to the status of one individual. That sometimes can lead to be deseive by that individual. For exmpale the shirt example in the story to me it was used to portrait that because one wheres good clothes does not makes that individual be at a higher status or even better than one that does not have a nice shirt. Also having a higher statues should not be the only purpose in lfe of some individual theres more than that.
Tess Elizondo
English 100
CC
Post 18
The Salt of the Earth
As I started reading more into the story, I got to thinking about how execution is wrong. Who are we to say that the criminal(s) should die and be executed? I started thinking how police officials arrest murderers, and sometimes thoughs murderers are sentenced to be executed. That makes us as a society murders as well, and makes us no better than them. Since the people choose whose executed, should we not be arrested or executed ourselves. Then reading more into the story I got to thinking about my stepfather, and how he too is an officer. He takes his authority to the next level. I remember how he would bring his work home and act as an officer than a husband or a father. Some people cannot handle that much power because it gets to their heads. Some people are thirsty for power and go crazy when they do have it.
Archie Kaaua
Professor Hsiao
English 110
Golden West College
27 October 2009
Post30
What is poverty?
One would think that it was living below a level of society in a low income housing project. This is a question that has another set of rules depending on what the circumstances are. Here we read about the young woman who has a life above living in the streets, but she has next to nothing to eat, wash with, wear, or live on. It makes me think of how I feel so impoverished at times, yet, by comparison I look like I am well to do. What does it feel like to have red hands? I have only had them one time. I was commercial fishing in Key West Florida and did not have a tetanus shot current. My hands cracked and turned bright red. The cracks began to bleed and I could hardly hold anything due to the intense pain. It was my fault for not getting the shot but sometimes I would forget things that did not bother me at the time. Still, my pain was nothing like that of this poor woman.
Archie Kaaua
Professor Hsiao
English 110
Golden West College
27 October 2009
Post30
What is poverty?
One would think that it was living below a level of society in a low income housing project. This is a question that has another set of rules depending on what the circumstances are. Here we read about the young woman who has a life above living in the streets, but she has next to nothing to eat, wash with, wear, or live on. It makes me think of how I feel so impoverished at times, yet, by comparison I look like I am well to do. What does it feel like to have red hands? I have only had them one time. I was commercial fishing in Key West Florida and did not have a tetanus shot current. My hands cracked and turned bright red. The cracks began to bleed and I could hardly hold anything due to the intense pain. It was my fault for not getting the shot but sometimes I would forget things that did not bother me at the time. Still, my pain was nothing like that of this poor woman.
Monique Gutierrez
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #60
The School Days of an Indian Girl
I took a liking to this writing because anyone could relate to how the writer felt. Rejection. Zitkala Sa, being of indian ethnicity felt rejected by white people a.k.a. "fairskinned" or "palefaced." She felt inadequate with her own life. Her "bronzed" skin tone drew attention from other people who saw her as different and this made her feel ashamed. She felt humiliated because it was as if she and others like her, were placed under this microscope for all to see and for all to judge. Her journey was a long and tiring one. The journey caused Zitkala Sa great termoil. Her emotional anxieties got the best of her and nothing could satisfy her. "I had arrived in the wonderful land of rosy skies, but I was not happy, as I had thought I should be"
(13). She felt helpless and with no one to lean on for support. She had to learn to take care of herself. I liked how she compared herself to a slender tree. Her "coat of bark" symbolizing the armor that protects her "oversensitive nature". I thought that was beautiful, but also sad. She was admitting that she was in a vulnerable state and that she did not care anymore. Zitkala Sa soon solved the dilemma of her "inner self". She made a plan herself and now sees the past from a higher calling.
Jaime Valadez
English 100
CC
Post#22
The Salt of the Earth by Mumia Abu-Jamal
This story was good from the get go. I particularly liked when he brought up the question is America really a Christian nation?. In todays society more and more people are worried about money and material things than each other. Like Mr. Hsiao said in class the people that are wealthy and powerful seem to get free things even though they do not need them. When someone that really needs them but does not have high class status society sees them as burden. So why is it that our society is becoming more and more money and power hungry? Personally i know money does not make you happy. The reason i say this is because i am happy and its not because of money.
Zachary Duke
Eng 103
CC
Post ???
Status Anxiety
This is one of my favorite stories that we will read. this story has changed my life the first time i read it. it talks about how no matter what human kind would and has done, it is insignificant to what god can do. our I Pod Touches and fashion that some think is needed is worthless.
Samantha Navarro
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #1000?
The School Days of an Indian Girl
By Zitkala Sa
This story is a demonstration of how a culture and its traditions were murdered to “civilize” them, in the name of God and the greater good. At first, the young girl is excited of where she’s moving to because of the golden picture that was drawn in her head, she describes, “Under a sky of rosy apples, we dreamt of roaming as freely and h appily as we had chased the cloud shadows on the Dakota plains. We had anticipated much pleasure from a ride on the iron horse, but the throngs of staring palefaces disturbed and troubled us” (1). Right away on the train ride to her destination, she notices that she is perceived as an abnormal human being, and what she thought of her future is truly not so. The way things seem as they are told to us might not be reality. This idea is also present in Status Anxiety, where we are told we will find happiness if we own something, but in reality it brings on more stress and anxiety.
When the author realizes that whites see her as an uncivilized savage, she begins to believe it. She is engulfed in this idea that she is different, therefore, wrong. She loses her natural self because of what she is being feed throughout her life. Her “civilization” is seen by white people as a necessity, but in reality, she, like many others, were stripped of their culture, their roots, and their homes. Salt of the Earth talks about this idea of “civilizing” natives for the greater good; but because of this “greater good,” most of the cultures that existed in all of America were terminated, all that is left is memories of their natural state. The author writes, “But few there are who have paused to question whether real life or long-lasting death lies beneath this semblance of civilization” (12).
Janice Silva
English 103
Cerritos College
Post#19
Status Anxiety by Alain de Bottom
We do base the moral quality of a person on their status. How many times have we looked at others and discussed their apparel? thinking that whatever they did must have gotten them to that point. As most of us are working in school towards a career, we look for the job that may give us a higher status, and more respect and money. A higher status does not necessarily mean that the "important person" is better than any other human being. A higher status (without inheritance) is looked as a person that had the good qualities to keep on going, not giving up sort of thing. There are many people that judge others on appearances; from a person being interviewed, walking down the street, what kind of people we come in contact, yet, anywhere and anyone judge. Decisions are based on status, can they handle? a person of a higher status might have an advantage with worldly significance, but the others are just as equal. " In sum, we may best overcome a feeling of unimportance not by making ourselves more important but by recognizing the relative lack of everyone on earth" (19) Every person is important, but we look at the people that have the higher paying jobs "more important". Every single person has a place on this earth, but we need to see them as important to society as everyone around.
Sarika Vaswani
English 103
CC
Post #idk
The Salt of the Earth by Mumia Abu-Jamal
I like this piece because it really ties in with most of the readings/discussions we have done so far. It really makes me question this democracy or more of a "system" we have created for ourselves to live by and live in. I agree when Abu-Jamal states "fear is the national currency" (2). I find that most of our actions are solely based on fear. We all live in fear of getting hurt, whether it's emotionally, physically or financially. Because of this, we find ways to protect ourselves. We keep our guards up. We get jobs to receive shelter, food, and proper education. However our initially motives are all wrong and in the midst of everything, we forget about the basics such as love, family, and nature.
The media is something else. It literally poisons our minds. I feel like majority of people are oblivious to this, but I also feel like there are a lot of people who are completely aware of how corrupted the mass media is. However, it's a growing powerful force in today's society and that's because we give in to it and we are willing to buy into its false truths. The media continues to feed us distorted images and stories and we continue to let. Why is this the case? The more I think about it.. should all the blame be placed on the media? Or should the people also take some responsibility? =l
Edilu Medina
English 100
Cerritos College
Post # No traffic yay!
Today i decided to forget traffic and take the streets. I got here within 40 minutes! Compared to 1 hr and 20 min. I loved it no traffic, green lights it was beautiful. This week has been a bit crazy on Monday I got in my car and saw a crack on the top left corner of the front windshield. I didn't think much of it, after I got out of work, it seemed the crack kept going (my eyes could not stop looking at it as I was driving) I started making calls to people I knew to advise me a window replacement place. Someone found me a good deal by Alameda street, so now I have a new window but I missed school :( Then yesterday I was still taking the horrible freeway, got to work late, everything at work was stressful it did not seem my day. UNTIL I went to school and my really close friend gave me a thank you card with a cookies and cream bar. It was so sweeeeet!!(i almost cried) hes a really close friend and were always there for each other. He knew my day was going bad and that completely cheered me up! On the card he wrote I don't show you enough appreciation for being a great friend and some other details but it was really really nice. I gave him like the biggest hug, no bear can hug like that lol. Lets see what today brings.. Wish you ladies/ gents a good morning and good day.
Belinda Reed
English 100
Cerritos College
The School Days of an Indain Girl
Nice story! I liked the whole story, however my comment is on the first coulple of paragrahs. She is on the train and she is writting about how she is being stared at by white kids. I'm assuming that they are kids as her self. She is taking as being something that might be racialy motivated towards her. Here's why. Our Eye sight is a prscious god given ability that we need in order to surive in a proper manor. We take it for granted until we no longer have it. I know cause mine aint the greatest. It is struggle for me to focus. That could have been the case with the kids on the train. So how's that.
Danielle Kennedy
English 110
GWC
Post # 16
Revised Paragraph
It is said that one cannot have a future unless one has a past. Being a protector all my life I have no doubt that in the future I will remain the same. Even though the future is the unknown and no one can completely predict everything that might occur; I am positive on what I will be doing. It is every woman’s goal to become a mother as an adult and in the future, whether there are flying cars or we decide to go back to the horse drawn carriages, I will become a mother. In our beautiful house with a nice backyard, one will hear the pitter-patter of little feet running down the hallway or the laughter of bubbly children. Being a mother is not easy task and should never be looked upon lightly. Becoming a mother opens up a world of enormous responsibility and these tasks will decide how well of a mother one will become. In Agamben’s story “Homonyms”, he states “When we say that certain object all have a certain property…we suppose that this property is a definite object”(2). Even though a mother is classified as something completely different as a protector, they both have the same qualities. A mother must defend her children and no matter what the time era is, this principle will never change. A protector, say like a police officer, has a lot of the same qualities as a mother. Police officers defend those who cannot defend themselves and a mother’s main focus is to defend her children which at a young age, cannot defend themselves. Both a mother and a police officer share the same property and in which, this property has become an object itself. Being a protector is a full time job and cannot be seen as a light job. In the future, crime and distort will still be present and there will still be a need for police officers. Also in the future, to keep the population going, mothers are also going to be needed. Both of these persons are going to be just as important as they are now and there will never be a cease for protectors. I, in the future, will be part of the movement to continue the population and it has always been my dream to become a mother and start a family. My entire life, I have protected those who have needed it and plan to continue my legacy defending those in need. The future, might not be any different than present day, however, no one knows but it might be completely different. All I know for sure is I will and forever become a protector.
Steven Cordova
English 100
Cerritos College
Post # 8
Satl of the Earth
The author almost seems as though he is a fan of the Matrix movie. Hs speaks of a system the lies to people and seeks to control the masses. Of a media that does what ever it can to instil whatever it wants into the minds of people. I am inclined to agree with him. But I feel as though that is is not the system that is to blame, but the people who inhabit the system. The reason liberal nesw shows such things on television is because that is what people want to see. I am convinced that if there was a majority of mentally stimulating show in television and a minority of trash, people would still watch trash. One cannot even say that "if only people were smarter". People are smart, but only as indeviduals. Often times people as a mass are dumb and impressionable. His entire state on mind is to completely abandon the system. I think one sould work with the system. Change the syetem to what it sould be. It inly seems imposable today because of all the distractions that exsit. The worse part of it is that almost everyone does not try to avoid these distractions, but embraces them. He feels so negativel about the whole system, but he fails to explain that the system may want you, but it does not need you. Anyone may leave the system whenever they please, it only takes the desire to leave. But that of coures is the lazy way, the right way is to fix the system.
Jon Croft
English 110
Golden West College
Post #27
What is Poverty? by Jo Goodwin Parker
A single story by a person completely devoid of anything but their own life is a tragedy.
However, there are millions of those same tragedies happening across the country. We cannot save them all. Even if they were taken from that environment, others would soon replace them. There will always be those who have, and those who have not.
Sorry Marx, your system will never ever ever never ever ever ever never never never forever never work.
Veronica Vasquez
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #29
The Salt of the Earth
Mumia Abu-Jamal
This story expresses a lot of anger towards the way America is, and has been. It first goes into how people say America is a Christian Nation, and begins to compare the horrible things this nation has done to the world and its people, and notes that this must be the Christian thing to do (sarcastically). This nation has such a twisted idea of justice, but it continues to believe they are the better than everyone else. The system is corrupt, and does not help out those who really need the help. Only the views of the same "experts" are shown, but never the poor, the racially discriminated, or disabled. It then goes on talking about how the media helps decide what is important, and who matters in this nation. The media use to be just a group that was close to big businesses, but now they are the multimillion dollar industries that control all. They decide what airs on the news, whether it is a stunt some celebrity performed, or the latest news of a young celebrity yet again coming out from Rehab. The news does not feed its viewers things to think about, talk/converse about with others. It only feeds them what is appealing to the eye. This reminds me such much of that new TMZ show that has been airing for only a couple years now. When it first aired, many people hated it, and showed great disapproval towards it. Now, it is all people talk about: "Did you see the balloon stunt on TMZ?". It is getting worse, as the author predicts, and imagines that soon our media will be driven by cartoon characters, which really makes no difference with the hole they've dug themselves into now.
Michelle Pachas
English 103
Cerritos College
The school days of an Indian Girl by ZITKALA SA
The US has a reputation of “helping” people from third world countries. People living in America are often told stories of how we have saved a dying society or civilized primitive people. These stories usually began to lose authenticity and we are left with a bias opinion on what type of progress we made when providing these aids. Zitkala gives us rare insight into what it is like to be on the other end of one of these raids. She, along with seven other children, was taken from the comfort of home to schools where she would learn the right way to live her life. She faced ridicule, embarrassment, loneliness and fear during her stay with a missionary. “..Wishing her to let me stand on my own two feet but she jumped me up and down with increasing enthusiasm…I began to cry out loud.” (8) In the woman’s efforts to sooth Zitkala she only created more panic. We cannot help another person based on our standards. The US does this a lot. Many third world countries have issues which we try to fix by instilling our morals and our values. I believe many times this causes more damage than good to the people. As Zitkala grows she began to notice the corruption that surrounded the institute than she had been forcefully put in as a kid. She realizes that most of the people’s motives lie with money or power. Those who truly have the intention to help are so rare that they are not heard. It is a sad but very realistic cycle that many institutes lead.
freddy Villalobos
Enbglish 103
Cerritos College
Post 21?
Status Anxiety by Alain de Bottom
Is Based on life and society. i belive that most of us pay atention to the things, objects and people around us but we have no sympathy of helping those in need. All materealistoc objects are not a nessecity but we assume it as it is one. we cannot stop to buy new updated things. if we see some one with a new ipod, we want it. we do not stop and consider the consequence. when we buy, it is suppose to fill up our happiness, but in reality its not. we think it is untill we see another object and proceed it with the same mind set we had in the first place. in the end we will always buy new objects, filling up our unnessearly things.
Celina Rivera
English 100
Cerritos College
Post# 61
Status Anxiety
This story was stating that our world has conformed to status. That for some reason in time we were all giving labels. The labels where how you looked and what you have. According to status white people are of higher class. In one of my classes I learned that if a white rich man loses everything he is likely to commit suicide. Why is this? It is amazing that people who pick up trash are a lesser person than one that is an attorney. They both provide for families and both buy thing for themselves. They may not be the same things, but to the attorney their things are better. How so? I see life as though I am happy and loved and that money is not everything. Why do we judge bases off of money or stature. Some of the people who have lesser jobs are just as smart, but do not have money to continue on in education. Does money really get a person respect. I would say no it just gets followers. The person who has money and passes away is not as much of an important person once they are gone. The person that has less is more than often remembered forever.
I can argue this point everyday with my brother. in my brother's mind money is everything. I know that money is a way of survival. i know what I want in life whether you agree or disagree in if there is mioney in it I really do not care. My brother always gets mad when a freiend of family memeber brings a baby to the family. He seems to think that person should have money to bring the baby into life. I see is point, but you do not have to be rich. My brother also seems to think that living in apartment or a family member with that child is horrible. Actually in words why would you want to bring a kid into a f..ed up life. I totally disagree with that point because children do not know money when they are born. Is does not matter what kind of job you have or how much money you make in a kids eyes. Children only know that love and support that you give then. I have met people who are still happy and have less. I see families come in everyday to work and can not spend a lot on glasses and the child understands that. to me if that person is happy and content in what they are doing then it is okay. On the other hand if they do not feel happy about themselves well go out in to the world and work or do something till you are satisfied. I am not talking about hurting others though.
Priscilla T. Daza
cerritos college
english 100
post #24
the school days of an indian girl
i enjoyed reading this sotry very much. its about a young indian girl with seven others like her herself, traveling to the land of apples. at first she was excited for her journey. dreaming of being free and riding on iron horses. once the train with the palefaces
they were no longer excited. they felt uncomfortable. the pales faces staring and point at their feet. it metnions on paragraph four "this embarressed me, and kept constantly on the verge of tears" (4). again i enjoyed the story very much. i love how the writers descriptions are. its all about the life of an idian girl goin away from home to for education. half way down to the story, the indian girl now grown up, looks back at her past and has a better understanding of what went on. hence the title of the second half Retrospection
Romero, George
English 103
CC
Post #....
salt of the earth
such an awsome story that challenges the very basses of american christianity that has been set up for hundreds of years. for an individual to map out not just ones but many individuals ideas is a nice change of pace to your everyday preachers. over all the meek must rise if there is anything to fight for while the ones in power must be brought down to the earth.
Samantha Shepherd
English 103
CC
Post...
SO IM SO SAD THAT MY LAST POST DID NOT POST. :(
School Days
I have to say that while reading this story it reminded me of the many mistakes that people make when trying to impose their religion and their view points of how society works on others. When the narrator talked about how the white man was happy that they were "educating the children of the red man" (10) it just takes away so much of what it is that adds meaning to human life. Everyone is different and everyone has something that works for them and not others. Personally, I think that as a Catholic, the Christian faith is right for me and I do not try to impose my beliefs on anyone. I do try to educate and I am not afraid to tell others what I am, but that is something that is very different from forcing someone to believe. It takes the beauty and the majesty away from the choices that we make in our lives. I think that's why God gave us freewill. Everyone was created equal and everyone should be able to make their own choices and decisions, otherwise without it we'll just want to have to turn into unfeeling stone (5). I do not know why anyone would want that for humanityl; as long as it strengthens someone spiritually and in their body, soul, and mind, why not let it be if it's morally good?
Rayray J.
Englis 103
post-x
Salt of the earth
Amazing piece. This points out critical flaws in western civilization. This points out the irony the members of a christian nation such as the united states participate in.
I am really at a lack of words here because this piece pretty much sums up my frustrations with the western civilization.
I would like to ask if this is only an excerpt and if so, where is the rest of it because i would really love to read more
Brittany Williams
English 110
GWC
Post #40
What is Poverty
Poverty is something that I had to grow accustomed to in my young life. Foreclosure notices, “Cash in Advance” loans, tattered hand-me-down clothes, shoes with holes in the soles, chilie for dinner every night of the week, no electricity or gas for periods of time - these are all things that have shaped the essence of my childhood. Today, the wrinkles on my parent’s faces clearly tell the tale of the struggle they endured to feed, house, and dress us five children. It is after reading What is Poverty, however, that I have grown to be truly thankful for the trials my family was faced with, for even in the most trying of times, my father never gave up on our family. In addition, in the midst of foreclosure notices, late fees, and cold showers, my parents always found a way to make sure that our basic, and most essential, need was met - our health. On numerous occasions, my father would humbly solicit my extended family for financial support. This was always a difficult task for him to undertake, but he always had our family’s best interest in mind. As stated by Jo Goodwin Parker, “poverty is asking for help.” This is true. If it weren’t for my father’s modest pride, our family would have likely ended up like Parker’s family in What is Poverty.
On a bit of an “off” note… I remember times when we would come home from school to find bags of groceries sitting on our front porch. These essential gifts were always left anonymously. Today, years later, this continues to be an example of inspiration to me. It has truly displayed the caring nature of the human spirit. If it weren’t for other people’s generosity, our family would have gone without food. In closing, I would like to challenge those who can help the less fortunate, to do so. Even so much as a bag of groceries was enough to get my family through some of the most difficult financial struggles. You have the power to truly make a difference. Please consider those who go without.
Anyway, I hope you are all having a great day!
Jenny Guzman
Cerritos College
English 100
What is Poverty? By Jo Goodwin Parker
This is one of the saddest story I have every read. I feel this story hit close to home because I just had a daughter. My struggle is no where near to Jo, but I understand to feel helpless when your child cries and you can not do anything to comfort them.
She explains how poverty is. The examples are how on is always tired when one is poor. She also says how one is always dirty, and how hard is to have to have clean clothes.
She says how she must always keep her guard up because it can cost her kids their life.
There is a lot that she writes about, how she does not want to ask for help, but if she does not her kids will suffer.
My favorite part of the story how she writes about she was not silent, and she is calling people out. She is saying that if one sees a poor person do not just walks away, but tries to help.
Ibeth Rodriguez
English 100
Cerritos college
Post #28?
What is poverty by Jo Goodwin Parker
Her story touched me in so many ways. It is hard to belive that in America there are thousands of families facing poverty every single day. Although I did feel sorry for what she was going thru, I felt that she was trapped in her own cave. It seemed that she tried nothing at all to get out of the poverty she was in. Yes she did searched for help, but those times she was rejected. I was not sure where she went and asked for help but I assumed it was a bank she went in to. Being realisic people are not going to help knowing that you are poor and you are not going to be having the money to pay back. I felt that she did not wanted to come out of her cave. It seemed that she was not willing to try to overcome poverty. It seemed like if she was afraid to try something because of the fear to failure. What suprised me the most is that she had already thought of what kind of life their children were going to have. In my opinion a caring mother never whishes or even thinks of their children having a negetive lifestyle. A mother always wants the best for her children. To me it seemed that she really did not care about the type of lives their children were going to have. As poor as someone is America always helps out. I know that it will not help by giving money, but it will definelty feed the person and not letting them go through hunger. Just because a person is poor does not mean it should stay trapped in their cave. For example, my grandmother was a single mother in Mexico. She raised four children all by herself and yet she never gave up. They were so poor they had to eat the left over food from the food that they fed to the pigs which was cold tortillas. She could not see her children living in those conditions so she tried everything she could to get her children out of the misery they wer living in. She worked hard and saved money to open up a small resturant in mexico. My grandmother was able to take her children out poverty and give them an education. Now my uncle is a surgeon in mexico, two of my aunts are professor in the best university of mexico, and my mom is running a succesfull business. Being poor is not an excuse to give up, as bad as life gets we should always try and never give up. Everything is possible specially in America.
Jasmyne Young
English 110
GWC
Post #15???
What Is Poverty?
This piece is upsetting. She goes through a lot of anguish and stress. She loses a little of her pride day by day. She cannot take care of her children properly, let alone herself. It is a devastating story. She teaches a great lesson because she is able to get out of it in the end. I beleive that is the point of going through difficult times in your life, so you are able to share and teach others to learn from your life. The question I have is, is she just talking about poverty physically or is it spiritually as well? She is broken down to her lowest of low, but she is revived from it. In the last segment she tells of others like her all around us and the fact we need to be angry at them, to be able to help them out. When I think of someone being angry at me for something, I try to change myself so that they are not angry at me anymore. Should we literally be angry at those in poverty, in order to give them that push to do something about it? I do not think that would help that much. The poor are always silent Can you be silent too?... we need to speak up for the poor since they do not usually speak of their own troubles??? We need to better this world by speaking up for those too prideless to speak for themselves. Silence is not always golden:))
Adrian Moreira
Cerritos College
English 100
Post #26
School Days of an Indian Girl - Zitkala Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin)
This story was pretty cool. It is kind of sad when at the beginning, these 8 "bronzed children" where thinking that their journey to the Red Apple Country was going to consist of "a sky of rosy apples....roaming as freely and happily...chasing the cloud shadows on the Dakota Plains" and taking a ride on what they called "the Iron Horse". Unfortunately, the West was not what they had anticipated. There have been times in my life when I think something is not what I pictured it to be. At times it is disappointing and saddening. Other times it is pleasant. In this story it is not the latter of the two. At the end this girl, who is now a woman, looks back at what she had experienced and is mad. Mad that she had been stripped of her innocence. So mad that she compares herself to a "cold bare pole...planted in a strange earth." I feel that a lot of us in one way or another have been stripped of our innocence, forgetting who we are or should be at times.
Yi-Hui Chiang
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #21
The Salt of the Earth
I was just talking to one of my friend about that America is a Christian nation yesterday before reading this. In this country, there are too many false assumptions that hinder people from knowing the reality and the truth. We are so blinded by false democracy, false justice, false equality, false peace, and so on. And I especially agree on what the article says that we depend too much on the systems. We try to find the sense of security from all the institutions, but we, if as a Christian nation, forget that we only need love, family, and nature, which God has already given us.
When the media exposes us to trash instead of issues that need our attention, we get brainwashed. If we keep absorbing what is on the media, our sensation will be satisfied, but our brains will get shallow. “The real issues behind a story are often ignored” (3). The money and power is controlling the direction of the media, and then the media influences our thinking and even our minds. Ironically, I think we all know that what the media is doing to us, but we still get attracted to it. So why is that?
Arturo Lopez
English 103
CC
Post #idk
Status Anxiety
This story is the definition of capitalism in this country. The protestant ethic that is in place in the united states makes us think that the more money and power one has,the more blessed they are, or the better persone they are. We, as a society, strive for bigger and better things. For us that means buying the biggest house,owning the nicest car, and having the most money. After working so hard to obtain these material things,the object loses its appeal. The new car goes out of style, or a new itouch was made. Then we find ourselves letting go of the very things we worked so hard to obtain in search of the next "status symbol." The point of this status symbol is to show people that you are important. Mankind tries so desperately to leave behind a legacy. We refuse to accept or won mortality. The problem with that is that no matter how much wealt, land, and power we accumalate, we will all die. All the worldy possesions one has worked so hard to obtain will account to nothing after our last breath has left outr body. Death is the great equalizer. Alain de Botton uses the example of the ruins that are left on this earth. These are monuments that were built to pass the test of time. These monuments over the course of hundreds of thousands of years have fallen apart, but their remnants are still present. These ruins are a reminder to mankind of our short time on earth. The vastness of landscapes as well shows us how insignificant we are. Our life is a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things. This realization is humbling one in that it shows us that life should not be spent accumalating as much as we can, rather enoying life as much as we can.
Ibeth Rodriguez
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #29
Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton
I liked this reading because it made me think of what I want to do with my life. It talks about how most people today will rather have a higher salary earning than doing what they like to do. Luxuries are what people today tend to focus more on. Yes it is true, now days it is all about who has what. If your neighbor has the latest car you need to have it too. Of course luxuries are not always easy to get, that is why people either need to have what he says four quality virtues: creativity, courage, intelligence and stamina. You need to have all of those four virtues in order to get what you deserve, or you can simply have the luxuries through inheritance. People will work hard in order to get what they want. They are anxious to get what they want, making them choose a career that they know will help them get a good job and most importantly now a days, a great salary. Basically, people are now choosing careers for the money but now because they like doing it. It is an anxiety to have a great job in order to get what they want. We envy other people for what they have, and that is something that is growing in our society today. We need to control our envy and try to be happy with what they have. We should be happy with our achievements, and we should not let others bring down our pride of what we have accomplished.
Jessica Atthowe
English 110
GWC
post #?
What is Poverty?
This piece was hard to read. Thinking and imagining people who have to live like this hurts. While there are numerous people who live easy and never worry about money, there are even more people who go day by day trying to make ends meet, and most days come up short. No one deserves to live like, and it is even worse for the children born into that lifestyle.
When reading this story all I could think about was how much I take for granted in my own life. I am lucky to have all that I do, but at the same time I do know not everyone is lucky.
It makes me happy to know that this lady did not just give up on her family. She did all she could to make sure her children got food and shelter. Although, all of them were not in good health, she went each day trying to make the next day better. I have great respect for those who do not give up in hard times such as these.
Overall this is a great piece that puts into perspective the real life struggles of people, that others choose to ignore.
cathrina afusia
cerritos college
english 100
The Salt of the Earth and Status Anxiety to me sort of played off of each other. The Salt of the Earth made a very strong argument that I totally agree with. Towards the end it focused on the media all together. It talked about the news not feeding the public information that matters, but instead what they believe will sell. We see it everyday; the news is always broadcasting what they believe to be important. To me, I feel we hear about every law enforcement officer who has lost their life in the line of duty. Let it be an average “Joe” who has lost their life, we will never know that person has ever existed. It is sort of sad how we are blinded to see only what the power of money allows us to. I believe this ties into Status Anxiety because that reading focused on the materialistic aspect of reality. One is set to believe that money gives them a place in the world. I disagree. Money and materials are merely placed in front of us to distract us from the free things in front of us that create happiness. Love, family, and friends are all important aspects in ones life, and then again it is the material things that separate us from these important fundamentals. Why? All because the media tricks us into believing that only a designer purse, shiny car, or labels can make us happy. This is exactly what The Salt of the Earth reading was about, people with money holding the power to control what we view as satisfying. The big question is, how long will one be satisfied? Materials only hold a limited amount of satisfaction. The car example was a great observation. Most go out and get a brand new vehicle, and yes they feel good for a couple of months or so. After a while that shiny new car becomes nothing but another bill in the mail, and we all know bills equal to sadness. No one wants to add to the pile of bills an average American already has. It is an on going issue. You buy something to create a satisfaction, it then gets old. You then have to find something else to suppress the anxiety of wanting something else.
esmeralda Orozco
english 100
cc
post???
School Days of an Indian Girl - Zitkala Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin)
when i was reading the story i put myself in her shoes. i was the lil indian girl shy and scared with everone pointing there fingers at me. i think it was really sad how people are quick to point fingers and laugh just beacuse someone looks different then them. i could feel how she felt all alone. having no one to talk to. its sad that she did not try to make friends even the animals have other animals around them and her she was all alone its really sad to think of the world like that how others do not care what another person is feeling i liked this story although i thought it was really sad.
Janelle Rodriguez
English 100
Cerritos College
Post ?????
Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton
In this story I would kind of say that it is kind of the like "what is poverty" the only difference is that in this story is is talking about the complete opposite of poverty. In "Status Anxiety" the narrator is explaing the difference of poverty and wealth. The narrator explains his point of view of someone being poor and what being wealthy is. When I first here of the name I thought anxiety was mention to be somethig different he describes anxiety as a hole that needs to filled rather than bing inpatiant.
Michael Swisher
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #40
The Salt of the Earth
The author, to which many posts has already eluded, seems to be an aggravated soul. He asks where the God of the poor and powerless is. He asks when shall the meek inherit the Earth. Well, the answer to both of these questions is Nowhere, and never. The author fails to grasp the concept that God, whoever that is, favors not. It is the will of nature, and malevolent forces that admonish the sinful of heart, and award fortune to the damned. It is not God. He asks where is the God of the poor. The answer is Nowhere. There is no God of the poor, there is just God. God loves indiscriminately, he may not offer equal opportunity in all areas of fortune, but that is trivial when one fully understands the power infinity. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, when you truly ponder upon the issues that anger people today, you will notice that none of them will matter 100 years from now, let alone 10000 years. He also asks when will the meek inherit the Earth, and the answer is never. The Earth, as we know it today, shall never belong to the meek and powerless (or those who are like children as described in the Bible). The Earth will belong to the meek, or the faithful, when Christ returns. That is the ownership being described, not ownership like one owns a car, or a house. The salt of the earth is not found in the silver cup of king, it is found in the sweat of the worker.
Audrey Valdivia
English 100
CC
post# ugh..
The Salt of the Earth
Okay so this story is super crazy. it's saying like basically that when people are given to much power instead of doing whats good for everyone else they do what is good for them not thinking about the consequences.people of this country agree with who ever calls the shots because the media promotes the "good" outcomes but they don't show what is hidden behind the curtains. and in a way it makes the media control what we start to belive.
Status Anxiety
i remember the discussion we had on class last semester. it doesnt make you a noble figure if you have expensive things and for those who dont have expensive things look at the rich and famous as if they are noble..AN importnant person is someone who is in your life for a purpose not just because they have pretty shiny things. the only shiny things should be the glow on there face and in there eyes when you do something that makes a positive impact on them. America just promotes drama of the rich instead of promoting the drama of things we can really change yeah it might take some time but when people see more humans caring for others liek them we grown to respect eachtoher. when we stop paying attention to what celeberitites are dating eachother and the million dollar cars they just bought we forget about the things that matter in life like love and affection.
Brenda Flores
English 100
Cerritos College
Post#?
School days of an Indian Girl
So I thought this story was really interesting and let me see from her perspective how others feel when Simone from the outside comes in and tries to improve the way we do things. I see what she felt when the palefaces were starring at her, I see it when they do it to me in their environment as if u do not belong in their side of town. So many people are ignorant and feel they should help others to conform them to be like them. This girl showed me how instead of teaching them out of hearts they were teaching them because they needed the money. It's too bad that people think this way but at least the Indian girl got her education from it.
Maria Ascencio
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #20
Salt of the Earth
This is an interesting piece. Paragraph 2 stood out to me. I definetly agree with, as well as paragraph 3. Why do we use the saying "God Bless America" for? Do these people really find Christian-like to kill, and remove people from their homes and put them in camps? Paragraph 3 states, that dracula should be replaced for God, for we have has sucked the blood of this planet for two centuries. People call themselves Christians, but are they really? George Bush always seemed to use 'God Bless America' when he was the one who sent the many soldiers to Iraq and have died. Even after the poor results and getting nowhere with the stupid pointless war that has made our economy go to shit, he still left them there. Soldiers... why is it ok for them to kill. Instead of honoring them as they come back, why are they not awaited with hadcuffs. Our puppet of president had said he would remove the soldiers from Iraq and bring them back, but they are still there. Little by little he is turning into another Geore Bush. So again, how can people call themselves Christians?
Antonio Acosta
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #?
The Salt of the Earth
The story explains that America is a Christian Nation.If it is it says that we christians wiped out the native people. Also its says that we Christians took people as slaves. Also that we punished Japanese for the word " security". The story acuses Christians for every bad thing that happend On America and what america did. My opiinion is that this is a christian nation but god gives u sfree will. The choice to make bad decision or even the good that this nation has made.
Jenny Guzman
Cerritos College
English 100
Post hw
The School Days of Indain Girl. By Zitkala Sa
I hope I understood this story right. To me I felt this Indian girl was moved from her family and her kind of given up. Yes she was talking away from her family, but it was to better herself. People might think she was good to begin with and did not to be change from her environment. I believe are both sides are true. If it is not broke why fix it.
I just felt she did not give them chance. Yes she is the different one but she could have sought support from the other Indian girls. Life deal had hands everyday but it how we play them makes us different from other people. She was able to play the cards she was dealt by writing this story.
I like the vivid description in the story. I have people stare at me because I was different from them.
Sarai Vazquez
Ebglish 100
Cerritos College
Post ....
The Salt of the Earth by. Mumia Abu-Jamal
When i started reading this I felt very strongly because it paints the picture that all Christians are evil people. He puts them all in a category of bad people. To me that felt like an insult because not all Christians are the way he describes. Like he says in paragraoh 4 "where is the God of the poor, the powerless, the damned, the cursed? Where , in national political life, is even one voice of Christ-like compassion heard?" When he asks where the God of the poor are it makes me think of all the different kinds of things that people with special priviledges or that have money, all that they do to help the poor. We live in the US and there are so mant opportunities for you to get help. Also there are jobs, you do not have to be poor. I understand if you are physically or emotionally not fit to do it but there are so many opportunities to get on your feet. God is with everyone at all times it is up to you to reach our for Him.
Maria Ascencio
Post #21
(not all my music is "satanic' as many think.. haha
Inherited Hell
A time in the future, not too far away
The death of our world, we are told
Destroyed by neglect, now breeding despair
The home of mankind is despoiled
Polluted oceans, unbreathable air
The life of the land under siege
Cancer is spreading and wasting the world
And mankind is now the disease
Look upon the world you knew
And say goodbye, it dies with you
Those who live when we are dead
Will curse our names, they 've inherited Hell
The forests are gone and the ocean destroyed
The world we once knew now is dead
The animals slaughtered, wild life in its grave
The sun burns too bright overhead
Cities collapsing and famine runs rampant
A nightmare where once there was life
Radiation and toxins a part of the children
Who will hate us until they die
We never stopped to think or reflect
On what we have done to the world
The heritage we live our children is Hell
A short life in pain what we mold
We 've squandered resources and wasted the land
And left little for those to come
They will have nothing to claim for their own
Except for the Hell we have shown
Jessica Vasquez
English 100
CC
Post #: ??
School Days of an Indian Girl
After reading this story, I felt so bad for the Indian girl going to the new school and being made fun of and not accepted because she was different. Its even sadder because she had a completely different idea on how it was going to be This story reminds me of not only my-self, but many that daily go through this. Its not fair to get made fun of because your different, no matter if your poor, dark, of ill. I remember many instances were I was not accepted and made fun of simply because I came from a different school. Instead of welcoming me with happiness, I was rejected and made fun of for being different. Honestly each and everyone of us is different, and its sad to see that children at such a young age sit and judge other children simply because they "think" they do not belong.
Edilu Medina
English 100
Cerritos
Post # 32
Status Anxiety by Alain Botton
Excellent piece for todays society. On how we strive for the most modern things if your friend has an Mp3 you get an Ipod. Its the envy that makes one compete for the better of things than who you truly are as a person. The materialist possesions will entitle one to happinness when in but after a while you will want something better"we are not reminded that soon after gaining the summit, we will be called down again inot fresh lowlands of anxiety and desire"(9). Its all about thanking and giving not about competing. In the real world is more of a survival object to not be treated differently, but in reality is how one acts towards that feeling. Or anxiety to be the best by having the worst.
Brian Jimenez
English 100
CC
Post#41
The Salt of the Earth by Mumia Abu-Jamal
“The meek well one day inherit the earth” I think not because I feel that maybe the lower class is the meek and in today society the meek has no voice but only to those that have power. It seems that the U.S has this fake face. I say this because we only see the good of the country but the negativity apparently is never showed. Just like the media it also did not show its dark side or the real true facts behind the curtains. The United States in known for the land of the free but is it really? And is it really a great country as everyone claims it to be? Well, I think not! The U.S has wiped out native people and commends their remnants to barren reservations; they put thousands of people in concentration camps because of security issues, killed thousands of people by dropping an atomic bomb on them as a global demonstration of power. Those that are nameless like the black, brown, and yellow were of savaged by America which makes you wonder how great is America? Just because we live in this country and hear of all the good this country has put out does not mean that is makes it a good one, especially when all the real facts are hidden through the press. That’s why many use the term fuck the press! I agree with this statement. The press hides everything from the people and never provides the real answers and facts which keep people from thinking or questioning the government or who really has the power. For the power is only given to the wealthy. Those with power they are heard and those without it are not. The poor being the majority in the United States makes me think if our voice would ever be heard. “According to Salt of the Earth by Mumia Abu-Jamal, he states, “remember the system is not a true reality, but an idea which can be fought and dismantled” (7). I believe that he trying to say that we live in a country that has a system that is a lie. That it is not true reality we are living in and being controlled by those in power. I think they are only two type of class’s in this world and that is the wealthy and the poor, the oppressed and the oppressor which the oppressor is the rich and takes advantage of the poor by keeping them weak. By keeping the poor weak I believe is how the people that own the means of production stay in power. One great example is the media, according to Mumia, he states, “If I control one’s paycheck, I tell one what to say and what not to say” (4). In today’s society the media is a big business so if one as control what to and not to say they what do we really believe. We are in a cave which we need to beat the system and seek enlightenment by revolting against the government! Thomas Jefferson thought this was the only way people will get change. How do you think?
Gabriela Tovar
English 103
Cerritos College
Her you guys... Tomorrow is Puente meeting in room LC 21... Hope all of you who attend Cerritos can make it... The more people the better enviroment...
Raul Moreno Jr.
English 103
Cerritos College
Post: ???
Salt of the Earth
At the kick off of this piece, I was plainly aggravated and even a little angered at the language and suggestion. Abu-Jamal begins his short text with an attack on "Christianity", or so it seems. He rectifies and sums up the purpose of his flagrant claims in the closing sentence of P3: :Or are we to conclude that perhaps America is not a Christian nation after all?" (3) AOTC is an umbrella for this text with a bit of Homonyms (Dialogue 2) and The Statue That Did Not Look Right (Objectivity and the Media 6) sprinkled in as well.
I believe that Abu-Jamal was not anti-Christ. Rather, this piece is titled as such to pull the foundational, self-righteous carpet out from under the feet of a nation's policies with which he did not agree.
Diana Amezcua
English 103
Cerritos College
Post#?
The Salt of the Earth
This was a very interesting reading because of the way he starts talking about Chritians and then explains it in detail. Abu-Jamal talks about America being a nation made up of Christians, an that therefore Christians are the ones that kill, start wars, and torture innocent people. "If this be so, then it is Christians to wipe out whole native peoples and commend their remnants to barren reservations". But what I feel he doesn't really dislike Christians but rather lets us know that theirs people out their proclaiming to be a good Christian, but do the complete opposite. I totally agree with him because eventhough I am Catholic I can sadly say that I am not a good Catholic because I don't practice everything I should. Eventhough I try everyday to better myself and do good deeds, still believe I can do way more to carry on my faith. Going back to the subject, Abu-Jamal is referring to all the horrible things the US is doing to destroy other contries but still say they are good because it is best that way. We really have to ask ourself who is it best for? The United States or the innocent countries we are exterminating? I feel it is just benefiting the United states and that is what the author of the reading is trying to get at. The US might say it is good and will try to convince others so, but really knows it's not and that it's only for their own benefit.
Whitney Young
Golden West College
English 110
Post #20
What is Poverty? by Jo Goodwin Parker
In the story What is Poverty, it shows a detailed description of what it is like to be poor. It shows her everyday struggles and decisions just to provide for her children. They cannot do what average people do. They cannot shower everyday or even sanitize themselves so they would not smell. She has a sense of hopelessness. In the story, we see her thinking process step by step. We see her making crucial decisions all day, everyday for the sake of her children. She can either buy the expensive brand, or the store brand to save money. This story shows the sacrifices she makes. People often times take advantage of their luxuries. I believe that we take so much for granted. What can be trash to someone else can be treasure to another. It is sad she believes that her children are not going to grow up like normal children. They are already malnourished to the point where they do not even look their age. Everybody can dream, she wants people to help her instead of pushing her away. They push her away to other people and those people push her to others. She constantly has to prove that she is poor, and poverty eats away at any ounce of pride she has left.
Angel Togafau
English 110
GWC
Post #?
What is Poverty?
When I was reading this story, I realized how truely blessed I am. Naturally, we tend to over look and not appreciate the simple things in life, as Parker speaks of not having toothpaste, hot water, food, etc. Now a days, especially in Orange County, people are never satisfied with what they have. It's always more, more, more. Something better. Something more expensive. Yet, after reading this story, It was a reminder to be happy with what you have. I feel so lucky to even have a bed to sleep in worry free, unlike Parker who spends nights not sleeping but watching her children sleep while she protects them.
Parker speaks about a time in her life when she wasen't in poverty, and had everything just like "us." She explains about her husband losing his job, unraveling the poverty ribbon. This really stood out to me because this reminds me of what a lot of American may be experiancing today. The umemployment rates are at all times highs, leaving no option but for families to suffer. This story really shows that anyone can end up in poverty so don't ever think "it won't happen to me." Be sensative to those living in poverty, for they are people too.
(Andy) Nam Pham
English 110
GWC
Post #22
What is Poverty?
This is such a powerful story. The author begins by forcing you into the shoes of her own. Already, you see the tainted, filthy life she lives in. The description of what little she had sounded awful. She went into great detail about how she cannot do what we do daily for hygiene and health. Money is so limited in her life that theres almost nothing she can buy, other then the barest of food and the cheapest of rent. She tries to do as much as possible, and when she begs, she is inflicted with a great shame. Holding such shame of failure, humiliation, and defeat can devour the soul, only leaving behind nothing but desperation. This was where she was standing, living life to survive, with the dimmest of outcomes.
The author was suffering throughout her entire life. She was constantly worrying about money, she was always plagued with shame, she has a very dim future, and there was nothing she could do. She is helpless, and the only way she could go was down. What inspires me the most is that she still connects with everybody else, by dreaming (in paragraph 13). Such wishes for something we so easily can obtain makes you think about what you take so much for granted. In a decrease in an already poor state of health, broken down to the point of instability, and looking towards a future spiraling into the ground, I honestly do not know how she even made it to the next day.
Dalene Kolb
English 110
Golden West College
Post #47
Brandon~
I agree Fireflies is Owl City's best song. They have Hello Seatle also, which is pretty awesome. The best part I would have to say about Owl City is Adam Young and how he plays ever instrument. If you ever get a chance, I would say to def check them out. More electronic Thrice...um...never heard anyone say that. I need to revist Thrice. Been a while since I heard them.
Kayla Marley
English 110
GWC
Post ??
What is Poverty?
This story describes many lives of people today. The narrator does such a great job of saying do not feel sorry for me instead do something about what is going on in the country today. Jo Goodwin Parker did such a great job with describing what her life is like on the streets and illustrating how the milk is sour, how the trash is laying around, and how one sleeps on mattresses that have pee on it. Last fall semester we had gone over this story and hearing the background of why poverty had taken over this woman’s life was heart wrenching. This story puts one in a poverty stricken point of view and makes a person see how hard life is for the poverty stricken. This story makes me feel bad for the situation that any human being has to live like this. I hurt when I see the homeless person sit outside of my work and ask people for money. I cannot give them coffee for free so every once in a while I will buy them a hot cup of coffee, but I just ache when I see them ask for money and then we have to ask them to leave. I wish that there were more organizations to help the poverty stricken here in the United States. I love that Jo Goodwin Parker tells her readers not to feel pity for her and I understand why. Pity is something that no one wants to have felt about them. I would never want anyone to feel pity for me rather I would want them to understand that pity does not help anything, but helping someone makes all the difference in the world.
Dalene Kolb
English 110
Golden West College
Post #48
What is Poverty? By Jo Goodwin Parker
"The poor are always silent. Can you be silent too"? This last statement from paragraph 14 spoke to me. Having had asked for help, and never recieving help, you stop asking. When you know you will not recieve help, why bother trying? When the author states asking family for a loan, that is how it feels. Feeling like you are at the bottom with no where else to go. Many people do not know how this feels, being they have not asked for help. But let me tell you, it is the worse experience you ever have to go through.
I agree with the author when she states that "hot water is a luxuary". People take things as simple as a hot shower for granted. When they should be grateful for what they have, weather than what they do not have. Poverty is horrible. For 2 years my mother, my brother and I lived in a shelter, and while I do not remember it all, I hear the stories. Crying children that are not getting taken care of, the yelling, and much more.
When will people understand that being rich is not everything? Walk a mile is someone's shoes. One day we should all do that.
~Dalene
Danielle Kennedy
English 110
GWC
post # 17
What is Poverty?
i thought this story was very sad because it literally goes into detail about how a mother who didnt even want to be pregnant is now having to fight for everything and cant provide enough for her family. she is a homeless mother of 3 i believe and has to fight, not just to keep herself alive but also her children. she makes the reader view through her window on life and explains that you dont know what you take for granted until everything is taken away. simlpe things like hot water, soap, tooth brushes, etc. normal life of normal day people, we take so much for granted and the homeless or those who are too poor to buy anything very new or expensive, struggle day by day to survive on the bare essencials. she cant get diapers for her youngest and hides the truth from her now curious daughter. was it her fault for having children when not ready, yes, but have to give her credit for trying. most arents nowadays want raising their children to be easy and when it isnt, resort to beating or abandoning them. this mother loves her children and even though she cant provide a great place for them to live, she makes due with what she has and wants to pass her message onto others who look at this issue with a blind eye.
Raufiel Matias
English 110
GWC
Post #18?
What Is Poverty?
I felt sad after I read this whole story and I just can't imagine how hard it is to live a kind of life like that. At first I thought that the author is just going to discuss a brief description about poverty and maybe give statistics around the United States. As I read on, I realize that this story is about a life of a young mother who's trying to live day by day without having any nutritious food to feed herself and her children. I realize that I am blessed to live a life with food everyday on the table and to have those things she mentioned that she's struggling to give for her children. It was kind of hard for me to read the rest of the story because I just felt really bad for the life she had to live and especially her children because her young ones don't deserve to live a life like that. What also makes it kind of hard to go on is the way she describes her environment such as the sour milk, the onion, urine, etc... it will be just overwhelming to live in a place where you smell those kind of scent day by day. Overall, this is a good but sad story because of how the author described her life when she was young and the way she struggled to live day by day eating cornbread and oleo.
Eric Torres
English 110
Golden West College
Post #18
What is Poverty?
After reading this, I felt so thankful of what I have today. I have complained sometimes when I have to pay for gas or food, but now I am thankful that I have a car to pay for gas to put in. A couple bad living conditions Parker talks about that really caught my attention were, "Every night I wash every stitch my school age child has on and just hope her clothes will be dry by morning" (4). Another horrible living condition Parker says is having to cook without food and clean without soap. How does one cook without food? I never want to become so poor as to find out the answer. The one thing Parker does ask in the opening paragraph is to listen without pity and instead listen with understanding. Parker does not want us to feel sorry for her and other people who are poor. In a way, Parker wants us to feel her pain and understand what she is going through so that we can feel angry about poverty and the existance of it. If enough people are informed about the true sufferings poverty has caused, then maybe enough people will care about the problem and do something about it.
Leydi Espinoza
English 110
GWC
Post #12
I have not posted in a looooong time. Sorry!
Viktor Frankl "Man's Search For Meaning
In Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning", the main idea of the text is for people to use the experience they go through as a way to reach their goals. However, in the search of their goals, they must not aim at it or they would most likely miss it. Frankl uses his experience in concentration camps, during the Holocaust, to help people understand that even in the worst conditions, one still has the decision to decide what to do with his experiences. It is always hard to look with a smile at those events that left our lives with a sour taste. However, as Frankl expresses, it is our decision of how we want to look at our at our life after such event. One can selfishly look at their experience and continue their life the same way. They could also take the negativity of their experience and share that negativity with the world. Finally, they could also take the good and wise things the experience gave them and teach others about those positive things. Then one will have find their meaning of life.
Erica Lloyd
English 110
GWC
Post #22
What is Poverty?
I feel like I am always starting off my blogs this way, but I enjoyed this essay. I know that my statement might sound odd, but I really did. Yes, it was a depressing essay, and yes, it was hard to read, but I also enjoyed it. Jo Goodwin Parker's story is one that needs to be heard, and, despite the dark undertones, I find it inspiring. It inspires me to do something about poverty, to share her story, to be thankful for what I have.
I marvel at the strength of this woman, not only to go through this life every day struggling as much as she does, but to stand up and give a voice to poverty. If I were in her situation I don't think I could be brave enough to share something as personal as she has shared. She lives in squalor with her children. She can't afford to buy anything of substance. The threat of a never ending cycle is bearing down. She came from poverty, she lives in poverty, her children will live in poverty. How does that cycle get broken?
I want to give this story to my mom so she can read it. I'm not sure it will change her mind any, but at least I can know that I tried. My mom is one of the people who wants to get rid of welfare completely. No government aid of any kind to anyone. She believes that everyone on welfare is abusing the system and that the poor should just get a job, stop having babies, and take care of themselves. Maybe this essay will show her that there are people out there who really need help. There are people who are struggling and can't do it on their own.
Beatrice Fisher
English 110
GWC
Post 17
What is poverty?
In the beginning of her story she asks us to put ourselves in her dirty, worn out, ill fitting shoes, and hear her. The problem is this, most of us have never even come close to poverty, so for us to imagine being her is a little far fetched. I often see the poor begging for money and my mind takes off going round and round with all the possibilities of how they ended up on the streets. Was it drugs? Poor choices? Mental illness? This story gave me one more piece to add to the puzzle of possibilities. She was just part of a horrible cycle. Had it been the first of the two possibilities I mentioned, then she would most likely have the option to go back and start all over. But what I guess I hadn't thought of, was the possibility that their (her) parents had lived the same life. And if this were the case, then there is no where to go back to and start all over. It is so sad. Sad to think that she isn't that one standing and begging for money. She is the one that almost goes completely unnoticed. She has a "home" to live in. It is her children that take the label. They are the ones who will be noticed at school. I think back to my school days and can only remember one girl who might have just slightly touched this level of poverty. I take that back. She never smelled or didn't seem to have malnutrition. She only always looked messy with the same clothes. She wasn't my friend. We were in 5th grade, she didn't like me, and for the same reason (none at all) I didn't like her either. Jo Goodwin Parker described poverty as looking into a black future. In the same paragraphs she writes about being able to see her boys behind prison bars and her daughter living a life just like hers. And so the cycle continues. Maybe I am lying a bit when I say I hadn't that about the cycle. I have only the cycle wasn't such an extreme poverty. Let me explain. I have a sister. I actually have many siblings but she is my only full-blooded, non-extended family, sister. We are two weeks shy of being two years apart. We are night and day. While I got the brains in the family, she has learning disabilities. Growing up, while I was usually pretty popular, she normally hung out with the kids like the girl I mentioned above from my 5th grade class. My sister got pregnant young. She dropped out of high school and by the time she was 26 she had 4 kids. She did get married and divorced during this time. Now she is left barely making it and always borrowing money. I think about her "black" future all the time. Her oldest is now 10 and having problems in school. She can't help him because she can barely read much less perform any math besides basic multiplication and division. Her second is 8. She is a timid young girl. So shy that she will barely speak. The rest of the family wonders if she is a bit slow because it is hard to converse with her. The other two are 6 and 3, and they are both huge cry babies. It is sad. I often wonder what could possibly happen to change the situation. Is it too late? Parker talks about birth control being expensive. I'm not sure where she comes from, or how long ago this was written, but now a days you can get it for FREE. When we (my family) discuss my sisters situation, it always comes back to the number of kids. "She should have stopped after Isaiah," or "didn't she ever hear of birth control?" It could possibly be that because the poor cannot fulfill many things in life financially, having children just might be their one way to get at least some emotional fulfillment from life. I don't know? It's just a thought. I don't want to come off sounding like I think I am better. Like I said, I just wonder and wonder and wonder WHY? I wish I had the solution to end poverty. I wish I could find just one family, take them in, and get them on their feet again. I don't know? Maybe one day I will have that opportunity. Maybe one day I could help be the end to at least one of the cycles.
Brandon Hebert
Goldenwest
Eng110
Post:32ish
What is Poverty?
This story is hard to read. It is so desperate, its like witnessing a crime and just watching it happen. Her struggle is not her situation, but the bleak hope of ever escaping it. She tried to get a job, she tried everything. It just isnt that simple. At the end of the day, sometimes it takes a steady hand to reach out and pick someone up.
Poverty is not just a like where income goes below a certain number. Poverty is not having no healthcare or a job. Its this story.
Samantha Sullivan
English 110
GWC
Post #16
What is Poverty?
I have never had to experience poverty in my life. From the start I was enrolled into private schools and always had everything I needed and more. My mom and dad separated when I was very little and so I lived in a single parent household as an only child. I was spoiled! I never really experienced deprivation. My mom and I lived comfortably with her income and the monthly child support. This reading is stressful and has a lot of sorrow. While she and her children are living in poverty she lost pieces of herself. I could only imagine that this would be embarrassing to her because her children see it too. Parents are supposed to be the rock and stay strong. It is sad that her self-esteem is diminishing. It is really hard and sad to see poverty in our own streets. I sometimes look at them and wonder who they were before poverty struck them. I tend to look at them and see a generation of war vets, who in their past life, were strong and very prideful. In my perception I see them not wanting help, but the fact that their lives are on the line they have to stoop low and ask for it. Although I have never experienced a life of poverty I do feel that this reading is about life’s struggles and another battle you must fight to move forward. The reward was a new life for her and her family.
Esmeralda Orozco
english 100
CC
post ???
SO TODAY IN HEALTH CLASS WE WERE TALKING ABOUT ALCOHOL
WELL I CAN TELL WE GUYS A COUPLE STORIES ON THAT JAJAJA
WELL MY TEACHER IS ONE OF THE FOOTBALL COACH AND HE REALLY REALLY FUNNY HE BE TELLIN US THE STUFF HE BEEN THROUGH
WELL ANY WHO WE WERE TALKIN BOUT ALCOHOL AND WELL ONE TIME MY EX AND I WANTED TO HAVE A GOOD TIME THERE WAS NO ONE HOME SO HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN TO DRINK. WELL IM NOT A BIG DRINKER AND HE WAS ON THE PHONE SO I GOT BORD AND DRANK WELL THEN LATER I WAS SHACKING AND THROWING UP AND SO WE HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL I CAN NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING AFTER THAT BUT I SURE DO HAVE FLASH BACKS WOWZ
MY EX HAD TO TAKE ME TO THE BATHROOM LOL HE WAS STILL IN HIS SUBWAY CLOTHES JAJAJA WELL WHEN I FINALLY GOT BETTER HE TOLD ME EVERYTHING THAT HAPPEN WE THOUGHT WE COULD GO BUT THEN THE LADY WAS MAD I QUESS SHE TOUGHT MY EX WA RESPONSIBLE AND WAS GIVING HIM ATTITUDE SO I GAVE HER ATTITUDE I THOUGHT THEY WERE GONNA CALL THE COPS WOW WELL IN THE END WE GOT TO GO HOME AT ABOUT 7AM AND HE HAD TO WORK AT 12PM WAT A NIGHT HUH JJAJAJA
IM SURE NEVER GONNA DO THAT AGIN ;'}(WINK WINK)
Macey Lindsay-Clinton
English 110
Golden West College
Post # 18
What is Poverty?
It is so easy to become caught up with the simple woes that we face everyday. Sometimes we loose track of the numerous things we have to thank for. I live in Huntington Beach. I do not have to pay rent. I have a family who loves me and supports me. I have a car. I have a job. I have money for an education. I have money for luxuries. I got to go to Europe for graduation. Reading pieces like this and remembering the dire situations of others is very important. We need to realize that there are so many people out there in this exact situation. It is disgusting. I think so many people focus on poverty in third world countries, but we really need to focus on what is happening in America. Yes, both are extremely important. America is supposed to be a place of equal opportunity. For children like the ones in the story, there is no hope. There may be anomalies. Children with extremely special gifts who rise above their situation, but this is not the case most of the time. It is like children who grow up with drug addict parents. Most of them turn out the same as their parents, but some rise above. For all of them, they are scared with the memories of childhood.
Currently, Obama wants universal healthcare. Who does not? Obviously the political disagreements of how to do it are keeping us from achieving it. In the Roman Republic, the veterans of war came home and were poor and starving. Their land had been burned or ruined, and they were unable to find a new job. The Roman Senate debated and debated over how to help the situation. They never came to any agreement, and those who were impoverished stayed in this situation. Eventually, these war veterans decided the Senate did not care about them, and their loyalty was toward their generals. This eventually created the fall of Rome. Our governments lack of decision is doing nothing but hurting us. We need to learn from history and realize that what makes a country strong are its people.
Maria Ascencio
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #22
Cancer Diaries
This is an amazing story. What she is trying to tell us is basiaclly to accept ourselves as we are. Luckily I do not have anyone in my family with breast cancer, but I can just imagine the pain she went through. Losing a breast is like losing any other part of your body that you have a pair of. At one point or another we are insecure of how we look and follow trends to try to fit into what you think you "should" fit into. Before she got the prostheses, she knew how it would look and she accepted it after a while. She was scared at first but throughout time she eventually got used to it and accepted herlself for how she was. Women in general, including me sometimes, bitch and complain about their bodies; I have gotten used to mine so i deal with it. It PISSES ME OFF when skinny girls say "oh I'm fat" i feel like slappiping them when they say that! We can not all look anorexic like models do. We all develop diffderently; some are luckier some have better features than others. There are times when the writer says that she sometimes misses her real breast. She now appreciates life more and tries not to take things for granted anymore. I do not understand why women care so much about their bodies. They try to be someone they are not.
Maria Ascencio
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #23
Esme,
hahaha I have had times like that. My worst experience was last year the day of my Reading Final. I had had an argument with my mom the day before and was all upset. That next day at school I had my final. I had like 2 hours to spare so I just hung out with my friends. One of them had a bottle of Vodka and asked me if I wanted some; and ofcourse i accepted since i was all mad/down. One of my friends had the really big cups form 7 1. He was more than half way done with it and the guy that had the vodka puour the vodka in there unitil he filled up the cup again. I do not even know how much I drank, but within an hour i was GONE! so long story short, I missed my final, I was told i fell on my face, 3 girls that hung out there took me home, as i being helped get in the car threw up on my friend's arm.. lol
Monique Gutierrez
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #61
Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
Many women can relate to Audre Lorde's writing on breast cancer. There are a numerous amount of women who have that fear of finding a lump on their breast. Despite doctors orders, most women neglect giving themselves a self-breast examination. They either have the fear of knowing or they are just careless. What some of these women do not know, is that giving themselves an examination could prevent them from future health problems. They do not have to go to the doctors office to get an examination either. You can even go online and google an how to perform a self-breast examination guide. It really is not that hard. Audre Lord is trying to make women more aware of their lives. She wants us all to be better safe than sorry. Audre is a breast cancer survivor. She discusses the heartache and turmoil that a breast cancer survivor goes through. Her life was altered and it was a long healing process to endure. She battled her insecurities of living with one breast and came to the realization that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Even though she felt inadequate in her new life, she learned to acceptance. She learned to make the good out of a bad situation. I think she is a very strong and incredible woman. “I alone own my feelings. I can never lose that feeling because I own it because it comes out of myself. I can attach it anywhere I want to because my feelings are a part of me, my sorrow and my joy” (6). I picked this quote because I think every girl and woman should take it into context. You have your own mind, your own feelings. It does not matter what other people think of you. How are they any different from anyone else? Just because the media tells you that you have to dress a certain way to be appreciated, it does not mean you have to abide by their rules. Dress the way you want to and be your own independent person. I wish I could have taken this advice a lot sooner. High school can be brutal. I think now if I could dress “sexy,” I still would not want to. Reason being is that I am a conservative person. I feel like I would not be taken seriously if I was wearing a short skirt or showing off my cleavage. I would feel as if I was advertising my body and getting the wrong attention from men. But, other women feel more confident, when they dress provocative. To each is own, I suppose. Audre said so herself, she has chosen her own path. Thank you Audre for participating in the awareness of finding one’s true self.
Jessica Vasquez
English 100
CC
Post:??
What goes up,
Must come down.
Instead of enjoying my Friday, I am stressed out & confused...
grr.. cant we just all go to the Bahamas and forget this so called life.. & live a life full of happiness and no worries!
Brandon
GWC
Eng110
Post:33
yah i feel you on the bahamas. or maybe somewhere north where its cold and i just have to shut myself inside. Im way stressed out right now. cant even enjoy a friday.
Samantha Navarro
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #?
Perfectionism by Anne Lamott
Reading this piece could not have come at a more perfect time for me. I have been struggling to get started on my research paper, we are supposed to have 3 body paragraphs by Monday, and I have not started with one. There are two reasons for this; one is that the subject I chose to research deals with abuse and trying to understand the point of the abuser and the abused, a subject that I thought I was ready to explore but have been avoiding for almost two weeks, the second reason is that because this subject is so meaningful to me, I want to write it to my utmost ability, I want it to be perfect. Reading Perfectionism, I have come to realize that I need to open up my wounds to write “the truth as one understands it, as one has experienced it, with the people or material who are inside oneself…to have written one’s version is an honorable thing to have done… Maybe what [I will write] will help others, will be a small part of the solution. One does not even have to know how or in what way, but if one is writing the clearest, truest words one can find…this will shine on paper” (11-12). In order to write from the heart, I must remember that what I write does not have to perfect the first time around, or the second or third. This research paper is deeper that just trying to put the most perfect words together in a perfect sentence, it is more about taking out what has been inside of me for over 4 years; anger, pain, uncertainty, but also appreciation and thankfulness that I am where I am today.
Brittany Williams
English 110
GWC
Post 41
Status Anxiety
The overall feeling that was derived from reading Status Anxiety was one of pure "insignificance." This read was truly humbling in the fact that it challenged one's place in society. Our lives are but a spec of dust; a minuscule existence compared to that of the grand scope of the universe. "What does it matter, really, if we have not succeeded in the eyes of others, if there are no monuments or processions in our honor or if no one smiled at us at a recent gathering" (14). The above quote amply supports the insignificant happenings that we often surround ourselves with. We are so concerned with trivial things, and it is often the case that these "unimportant" events cause more anxiety to that of our overly bloated egos. The vicious cycle of want and temporary satisfaction through obtaining these desired things continue as we boastfully make our way through life. This cycle can be broken, however, through Botton's suggestion of "recognizing the unimportance of everyone on earth" (19), for if this is achieved, you will soon realize that we are all unimportant compared to the vast nature of the universe.
Monique Gutierrez
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #62
Everyone is Entitled For a lil Rest and Relaxation
If I could go anywhere right now, it would have to be a place that has a spa. I would love a nice massage and a mudbath. Ooh and some wine with strawberries. Man!Why does everything have to be so darn expensive? I've never been to a spa before, but I think that it would make a great christmas present. Halloween is tomorrow. I don't have any plans. I have to work and then after I have to babysit. I would love to go to a Halloween Party, but that is out of the question. Right now I am searching through my boxes for horror movies, I want to watch tomorrow. I hope everyone has a good one! Later!
Kayla Marley
I'm really excited for tomorrow. I cannot wait to go to the Isaiah House! I love listening to people's stories about life or things that have happened to them. My intranet was down all this week --since last friday. Luckily I have a gracious boyfriend who let me use his computer.
Tonight I was watching Forrest Gump. This movie is in my top ten. If someone was to ask to sum up the last fifty years of American History I would have to say watch Forrest Gump (and read on the war we are having now and the 90s). Not only because Gump is a simple man living in a large country, but he stands for everything America is. For example, breaking free from a pack of kids chasing him to make fun of him and beat him up, or when he was running just to run and one is able to see beautiful scenery of this amazing country we live in, and he also represents the business world. Being able to start his own Bubba Gump shrimp company with little money to make millions. But it also showed the bad times that America had for example Jenny dying of aids from all the drugs and unprotected sex she was having, people trying to shoot at a president, and war. Tom Hanks did a wonderful job in that movie. five out of four stars.
This healthcare bill is a huge huge deal to Obama, but does anyone know where we are going to get this 82(I think its in the eighties) Billion dollars in the next ten years from? Is the government going to keep cutting back schooling? I heard that some schools are thinking about three day weekends. Government funding for students to go to college are being cut back as well, this is a mess and how are we going to fix it? I mean I'm not sure if this is just me thinking this way or what, but I do not understand why the government is so concerned about a health care bill when millions of people are unemployed. My mom use to live near the city of El Centro, CA. Today I read an article on yahoo that stated that the unemployment rates in that city are at 31%. Can you believe that? 31% of that city are unemployed and the government is more worried about the health care than trying to help with jobs? I know that health care is really important, but so is making a living.
I have also thought of this: during this hard economic times people are being laid off, and people are realizing that they can still succeed in business without the people that they did lay off and save money by not hiring them back when having the money to do so...So what is going to change that when the economy starts going back up? Why would people want to spend an extra 100,000 on hiring back to people when they could do it themselves? I'm not sure but I'm just thankful to even have a job. I'm sure there are people out there with BA's and Masters that would want my job just to have some sort of income.
Jon Croft
English 110
Golden West College
Post #28
Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton
Bugati Veyron: about $2,000,000
Beachfront property in the Hamptons: Well in excess of $5,000,000
Knowing the fact it doesn't mean jack when you die: Priceless
Andy Murphy
Eng103
CC
Post #21
Perfectionism
All students trying to transfer to that college they have always dreamed of going must relate to this like I do. I agree with what Samantha N. said a few posts before mine regarding perfectionism and our research paper. I have always been Mr. Perfectionist throughout my academia career up until a couple years ago. This semester I have returned to my old habits by having 5 A's in my other classes besides this one (estimate B - A-). This paper, in my eyes, is the make-it or break-it line for that angelic 4.0 g.p.a. So when Mr. Hsiao assigned us to have our 1st, 2nd, and now 3rd body paragraph by monday I felt really flustered. I have already found ten articles through the city of Cerritos library database, two interviews lined up from both sides of my project, five books stacked in front of me dealing with the issue, and some ragged old newspapers that have articles too. So altogether I have probably over the 18 works cited. I still need to read, analyze, and then transcribe this into my own words. I know I am rambling, but I believe noone has a half decent paragraph put together so far. In my "perfectionist" nature I need time (probably 2 weeks) just to get a decent rough draft to revise. However, back to this article of perfectionism and how this ties in. My rough drafts I write has to be very close to what my final will look like. While writing my first draft, I take so much time and effort just to creat one sentence. Then I edit and revise that once I'm done.
Adrian Moreira
Cerritos College
English 100
Post# 27
Cancer Journals - Audre Lorde
For some reason when I read this title, I thought it was going to be numbers and statistics. I have no idea why I would think that Prof. Hsiao would have us read something like that but then again, you never know right?
As I read through Cancer Journals, I realized my first instinct was wrong. So much for going with my first impression hey Malcom Gladwell? Audre took me through her journey with breast cancer. It did include some statistics but they were more on a personal level. Audre talks about how her ordeal with breast cancer had taught her. She writes, "It has also taught me to value the lessons of survival as well as my own perceptions. I feel more deeply, value those feelings more and can put those feelings together with what I know in order to fashion a vision of and pathway toward true change." It seems as though a lot of what we have read this semester includes people writing about real bad situations filled with suffering. And although these people have gone through some real messed up times, they always teach us a lesson in the human spirit. That no matter what you may be going through, going through it will usually make you a better person as long as you embrace your situation as a simply a moment in your life and not as your entire life. What I am trying to say is, life is nothing more than a series of moments with good and bad moments. We cannot let ourselves dwell in the bad or simply live in the good. We need to take the good with the bad and keep on keeping on.
When Audre wrote about prostheses serving a real function, I actually thought to myself and said, "There's prostheses other than a breast that do not serve a purpose." As I racked my brain to think of a body part, I could not. Then I read the following, "A mastectomy is not as guilty as that must be hidden in order for me to regain acceptance or protect the sensibilities of others." Basically, there is no need to hide the fact that you lost a breast to breast cancer. Another situation that needs to just be embraced instead of hidden behind silicon.
Jon,
great way to wrap up status anxiety.
Arcelia Swarr
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #idk
Reading Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde was a very heart wrenching read. It was personal, emotional, and hit close to home for me. I have not personally had to deal breast cancer, neither have any of my close friends or family members, but my best friend has been fighting cervical cancer. Audre talks about accepting and loving your own body for what it is, even with imperfections. She talks about having a mastectomy and what that leaves the woman to deal with, both physical and emotional. Some people do not know how to act around cancer patients, I have seen it for myself in being out with my best friend as she was going through her chemo and had little or no hair left. When a woman has breast cancer and has to have one or both breasts removed they may feel pressure by society to look or be a certain way and may be pressured into getting prostheses to replace what they lost so they will still fit the image that society has of a woman. What truly makes a woman is what is on the inside, not what is on the outside. Audre talks about the fact that women have to be able to first come to terms with the loss of their breast before replacing it and then having to deal not only with the loss, but with the prosthesis that replaced it. She also talks about the fact that just about every other prosthesis out there is used to replace a functioning part of the body. Audre talks about the fact that breast prostheses are the only ones given to preserve a certain form, not serve a specific body function. I can say as a woman it would be terribly painful to lose even the littlest part of my body that makes me who I am, but I would have to face it, remember who I am on the inside, and somehow find the inner strength to accept my new body.
As I said before, I do not have personal experience with breast cancer, but my life has been touched deeply by my friends battle with cancer. I have been there to help her through everything, even the loss of her beloved hair. She had an awfully hard time when her hair started falling out and the day she decided to shave what was left of it off was one of her toughest days. I remember talking to her about how she was feeling and the one thing I remember she just kept mentioning was how a woman's hair can identify her. Everyone remembers people differently. Some people remember names, some remember physical features like "the red head" or "the brunette" or "the one with the curly hair" and my friend lost all of that. She had many bandannas, beanies and hats that she wore to cover her beautiful bald head that she only revealed to her family and closest friends. I saw my best friend struggle with the loss of her hair, but at least she had every body part that a woman traditionally has. I cannot imagine the hardships a woman with breast cancer will face, but with inner strength, a strong positive support system, and the love and acceptance of those who love them I believe a woman can overcome anything.
Brandon Hebert
Goldenwest
Eng110
Post:34
Isaiah House
First and foremost the house itself was striking. It was elegant in a weird way, and practical for its use. I’d have to say the biggest thing I took away from it was the chat with the director (I’m not good with names). His coarse language was perfectly placed. That is to say, that it was, in my mind, completely appropriate in regards to the situation. It added to his conviction, which was striking in of itself. I don’t think there was one person who walked away not feeling “awakened”. This was juxtaposed to his care and cause, which are both admirable and selfless. It came down almost as a frenzied rant, but the kind of rant that seems to perk the ear and rattle the brain. He came at us with facts, he came at us with emotion, he came at us with frustration, and I believe every word was true and correct.
Among the most appalling of incidents was one woman’s toe. I cannot say exactly what it was infected with, but it was obvious it needed immediate attention. This is a clear example of what I will paraphrase as such: “No one gives a shit. Shut up and take what we give you or get the hell out.” If I could record and sell what I heard on Saturday, even distribute it to every citizen for free, I guarantee the people of this county and nation would make a point to correct homeless outreach. The food was excellent. The company was even better. It is not something I will forget.
Brandon Hebert
Goldenwest
Eng110
Post:35
Status Anxiety
We have all heard the moral and phrase: "You dont take what you have in this life to the next life". This is true.
But sometimes I wonder. I only have this one life. Would it then be so wrong to make the most of it?
I believe this story addresses my question, with another: "what is making the most of it?"
My response: Ask anyone who has felt a real sense of happiness. It doesn't come from material posession. It just doesn't. Things are nice, but that's all they are.
Jasmyne Young
English 110
GWC
Post #15?16??
Isaiah House
This trip was a great experience for me. I was reminded that stereotypes are just stereotypes and should not be taken in a literal sense for the peoples that are being stereotyped. I walked into that house thinking we were going to help out some scary, stinking homeless women. I had already prejudged the situation before I even got there. I knew Mr. Hsiao was not going to put us in danger, I did not think these women were mentally ill, but I did think I was going to be disgusted. When we got there, all the stereotypes flew out the window. It is a very beautiful home these women are sheltered in and they are taken care of very well. The house and the women just blew my mind; when we actually started talking to the women and hearing their stories, their stories humbled me and made me think about my own life. The women are such beautiful, strong, courageous women who are just in a bad predicament at the moment. Something went wrong in their lives and they ended up homeless. This experience has helped me appreciate my blessings a lot more. It has also helped me realize the life I do take for granted. Everything happens for a reason, one just has to learn how to deal with life in the right way, no matter what life throws at you. These women are just taking life one day at a time, never knowing where they will end up. The fact that these women are so positive about their situation is an encouragement for me. I hope and pray they do find their own place to call their home, but I am also glad they have the Isaiah House to call home right now.
Brandon Hebert
Golden West
Eng110
Post: 36
I am going to post this because I had a conversation about this and I didn't want to argue with the person i was talking to. But i believe everyone around me who heard the conversation should know the facts.
Sources of Funding for California schools:
• Funds from the federal government are about 11% of the K-12 education budget.
• About 61% of the total comes from the state’s budget: business, corporate and personal income taxes, sales taxes, and some special taxes.
• Local property taxes are about 21%, an amount that is determined within the state’s budget.
• Miscellaneous local revenues, about 6% of the total, include such items as fees on commercial or residential construction; special elections for parcel taxes; contributions from parents, businesses and foundations; cafeteria sales; and interest on investments by local school districts.
• The smallest amount at the bottom is the California Lottery, which provides 1.5% of the total, or about $125 per student annually.
Source: http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us
Total revenue:
57,580,282,691
Lottery contribution:
841,786,825(1.46% of total budget)
Source: www.ppic.org (public policy institute of california)
-California School finance revenue manual(.pdf)
Jasmyne Young
English 110
GWC
Post #16?17?
The Salt Of The Earth
This piece is like a conspiracy theory to me. I understand the truth needs to come out some way or another, but the passion Mumia has is both eerie and attention grabbing.This country was founded on Christianity, but I do not think it is based off of Christianity anymore. The morals and conservative part of this country is starting to die down to me. The U.S. is slowly becoming a lot more liberal and careless. The morals are out he window in California at least, but the conservative nature is still holding on. I understand where he is coming from when he writes about the "do as i say, not as i do" aspect of our " christian" country. Also, the control aspect of this piece is very radical as well. The government, media does control the people to a certain extent. We, as a people, have been taught to look the other way in certain arenas of our American culture. Some people do tend to look down on the unfortunate, never wanting to help our American peoples. It is a shame, but it is very true. Just like the media controls what Americans can and cannot view. The media shows us what they want to show us. What Americans do watch, does reflect who we as a whole are. Californians, as far as I know, are completely caught up in reality television shows. We watch this crap because it is stupid, entertaining , and we do not have to think. That is what television is for right, to entertain not educate. Why is that? Have Americans dumbed down so much that we find beautiful women fighting over one ugly man entertaining and not feel bad about watching such filth? Or a group of people competing for money, while they are tortured? Why is this so inviting for us? I feel our generation has lost itself in the media's web and we need to get out. I love this piece of literature, it speaks the horrible truth, in a horrible way,but sometimes one needs a slap in the face to wake up from their stupified daze.
Veronica Vasquez
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #30
Cancer Journals
Audre Lorde
This is a very powerful story of women who experience breast cancer, and the surgical removal of the breast. The author speaks of prosthetic devices, and how they are meant for function, such as an arm or a leg. Breast prosthesis, on the other hand, have no function but mere appearance. Audre speaks of how women feel ashamed, sad, and lose a sense of worth in the world after breast surgery, because of the image implanted in their heads of what a woman should look like. She also notes how even when women wear prosthesis, they don't believe it's their own true breast, as she didn't either. Her emotions, and sexual feelings, as she mentioned, were missed for a while, but not after she realized it is not what controlled all her emotions. She sees the surgery now as a lift, an experience to grow, just as she compares the surgery to having once been 32 years old. It was not an incident, but a chance to grow out of the mindset of what beauty is. Although preferred not to have cancer in the first place, Audre wouldn't sacrifice anything else for the sake of keeping her right breast. Not love, friendship, or her soul.
Belinda Avila
English 110
Goldenwest College
Post#1
Hello everyone! This is my first time blogging and I already can tell I am going to enjoy it. I am slightly confused on where I am supposed to blog. I am very sure it was supposed to be under Fall 2009 but my classmates all commented on the other blog. I guess I'll have to be the silly one that comments in both haha. Anyway I am really excited to be taking this class. The last english class I took was about two years ago and that is where I realized that I am not half bad at writing. I hope this class can transform my writing skills. From what I hear it will do that and then some.
Feross Khouraki
English 110
Golden West College
Post #1
Introduction: Hi Belinda, this is also my first time blogging, but I’m pretty sure this is right place for our class to post. This class does sound like it will have a large impact on us as writers, so I’m looking forward to that. See you in class. :)
My name is Feross Khouraki. I was born in Anaheim, California on February 10, 1991. I’m Syrian, and my name is Arabic. My name “Feross” - which I take a good deal of pride in - means keen, perspicacious, just generally perceptive. I’m 18 years old, the second youngest of my three siblings, all girls. I live in Fountain Valley, and I’ve been at Golden West College since last fall. I hope to transfer by next fall to either UCI or UCLA, but I’m not totally set on any specific university. My major is currently undeclared; something which I hope is rectified as soon as possible. English has always been a favorite subject of mine, and from what I can tell, Mr. Hsiao’s class will not be one I will soon forget.
Feross Khouraki
English 110
GWC
Post #2
AOTC: I think in the big picture, the cave is an allegory for time. Human beings, since the beginning of time, have been and still are in an endless search for the truth. When the first caveman encountered fire as a naturally occurring phenomenon, he feared it, as if it were an entity, a being, a god. Over time, after encountering fire again and again, questioning its appearance, its capabilities, he recognized that he could harness the fire, even create it, to cook with, to warm himself. What he once hollered and cringed at has turned out to be the most important utility to mankind. Throughout history, whatever man could not explain in his own lexicon, he explains it to himself in what he considers rational terms. The ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as other ancient peoples, explained seasons, rainfall, warfare, and countless other occurrences by adopting gods to rule over any particular one or set of these. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it was widely believed that the earth was the center of the universe, that God had ordained the earth as all that ever was, is, and will be. Through the use Baconian inductive measures, scientists and astrologers proved that the earth and other heavenly bodies revolved around the sun, creating basis of the heliocentric theory. Today, we continue to try to explain things we don’t yet have a certain answer for – global warming, for instance – with explanations that can’t be entirely verified. Perhaps there are things today we believe, things we think we know are the answer to, but perhaps that answer is our clouded understanding. Perhaps the answer that we have found, that light of the sun burning through the uncertainty, is what brings us back to the cave, staring at shadows, and sets us on a journey back up the mountain, in an eternal search for the truth. I think that all things – scientific laws, statistics, proven methods – should always be under continuous scrutiny. There is really no way to know whether or not any one answer is the answer.
Cathedral: The short story Cathedral, I thought, was an interesting one. The beginning I found to be a little boring, about his wife’s ex-husband and how he met her, and about how his wife met the blind man, Robert. The narrator is very cynical to the point where he isn’t entirely considerate of other peoples’ feelings. When he narrates the story of the blind man and the death of his wife, he ends it with the word, “pathetic,” which I found a little harsh and superficial, but part of me agreed with him; what a miserable marriage, where a wife’s existence is just a concept in the mind of her blind husband. The story gets comforting when the narrator and Robert begin to drink, as the narrator introduces a feeling of camaraderie between the two. The feeling is also set when they start smoking marijuana, which I found sort of to be a weird thing to do with guests. The story takes a profound turn when the narrator begins to describe a cathedral to the blind man. When that doesn’t work out, the blind man asks him to draw it for him. At this point, the narrator begins to understand the blind man, how he lives, how he enjoys the world without the sensation of sight. He briefly experiences the world through blind man’s eyes by closing his eyes, in this short moment changing his life entirely, giving him a new meaning and appreciation for life itself. When he says, “I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything,” he comprehends that perhaps this is what the blind man always feels like. He comprehends that a home isn’t just four walls and roof, a home doesn’t begin and end at the door; it begins and ends in one’s mind.
Heather Brown
English 110
GWC
Post # 1
Hello everyone, my name is Heather! I typically don't enjoy discussing things (especially about myself) with people I've never met in person, but now's a good time to start I suppose!
My siblings and I very different personalities. I consider myself as the "black sheep". Expressing emotions is not highly looked upon in my family. As an outlet, I used to write poetry every now and then but I don't have the inspiration or time to now days. Two of my poems were published but I still don't have the courage to share them with anyone I know (including my family). Oh yes, one more thing..I like long walks on the beach! I look forward to getting to know everyone here soon!
Belinda Avila
English 110
Goldenwest College
Post #2
Hi Feross! Thanks for straightening things out for me! I was confusing myself. I am glad someone else finally posted. It seems like not half of the class has done this yet or I do not know what half of the class looks like haha! I look forward to seeing you in class. Hopefully you are in the night class otherwise he has more than one English 110 class at Goldenwest College. Either way see you in class or see you here :).
Macey Lindsay-Clinton
English 110
Golden West College
Post #19
The Salt of the Earth
This piece was interesting. I was thinking on doing my research paper on the relationship between the arrogance of humans and how they corrupt religion. After reading this, I changed my mind.
After reading the first seven paragraphs, all I had annotated was "harsh" and "biased." First, I would like to point out the misuse of historical reference in paragraph six. Not all Romans viewed Christians this way. At first, they were just an offset of the Hebrews who seemed to segregate themselves. Romans dislikes the christians because they misunderstood their religion. They were poor, like other Hebrews because of the massive amount of unfair taxation and the devastation that Israel faced. The author then questions how they came from a "tribe of the lowly to the vampires of the planet?"(Paragraph 6) Personally, I do not believe he/she answers this question. This seem like the Fallacy of Straw Man. The author states historical references that do not have much to do with the rest of his/her piece. Somehow the first seven paragraphs are supposed to be supported by the following ones. Although, they never relate back to Christianity as the root America's historical and social issues.
I generally agreed with the rest of what the author said after the first seven paragraphs. Our system is built on fear. The fear of not being able to survive; the fear of not being accepted. The author asserts that this fear makes us susceptible to believing that we need things that are unnecessary. Materialism is a huge problem in modern society. Secondly, that "poverty is widespread, and fear is the national currency." (Paragraph 2) Poverty is also a huge problem in society that should be dealt with. The last section, Objectivity and the Media, basically shows the corruption of the press. Corporations sell us juicy stories that barely stimulate our inactive brains. For example, the vast array of people who are hooked on mindless television shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The things we need to be seeing are current events, acts of bravery and courage, new discoveries; things that will inspire instead of dull our minds. Though I agree with all of this, I still lack to understand how this relates directly to Christianity. Let us not use Christianity as a scapegoat for the troubles of America. What causes corruption are people, arrogance, and power.
Sandra Valadez
English 100
Cerritos College
Post 736284
Cancer Journals:
Reading this made me think two ways. One was how this woman felt after her mastectomy and accepting her new body. Losing her right breast was difficult; however, she did not want a prostheses to replace her breast. Media has an influence on self-image and certain expectations of “normal” She states “the idea that a woman can be beautiful and one-breasted is considered depraved, or at best, bizarre, a threat to ‘morale’” (7) Because of what the media tells women what beauty is, a woman with one breast may be view as she said “bizarre” Nowadays women change their bodies constantly to be “in and sexy” so for her not to perform and have cosmetic surgery I applaud her. But I feel that she would look down on a woman that did perform cosmetic surgery after a mastectomy. I understand and feel that the media influences people especially women of how we are to look, but I would not find it terrible is a woman decided to perform cosmetic surgery after loosing her breast/breasts. Breast are part of being a woman, breasts come in a variety of ‘natural’ sizes from very small to very large, they are women’s unique distinction from men. I do not believe that a woman is letting the media influence her on having cosmetic surgery after having her breast/breasts removed. Ok how can I explain this? I feel there is a difference from a woman who has the same size implant/implants of her breast vs. a woman who gets implants larger than what her breast size actually were. The one who chooses to replace her breast/breasts with her original breast size is trying to be herself, not the image in the media. We all need to learn to accept our bodies and love them for what they are, how they are, having your body physically altered is a completely different issue.
Jaime Valadez
English 100
CC
Post #23
Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
The author is speaking about the effects of breast cancer. As we know any type of cancer is bad because in all cases in can be life threatening. She talks about how people use prosthetics to get around such as prosthetic legs or arms and also dentures that are used to chew food. When she talks about a silicone breast that is implanted she feels that is derogatory towards females because a silicone breast is not going to do anything functional.
Yi-Hui Chiang
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #22
Isaiah House
It was another experience with the homeless again after the Second Harvest Food Drive. At first, I thought we were just going to serve them with food again, but this time, we actually did more activities that brought me into deeper thinking than simply serving food.
I was assigned to this group that we were given a long list of phone numbers of many shelters and social services organizations. Our task was to pretend like we are homeless people, and we are calling for a place to stay tonight. We only made one success out of the first eleven calls; the chance is not even 10%. Imagine how hard it is for a homeless person, who has no cell phone and no enough money to use the pay phone, to find a bed if he needs to make over 10 phone calls. Out of all the phone calls, we got a lot of answering machines because the office hours are Monday through Friday. It is okay for us since we were just making phone calls for an experience and for fun in a way. However, for the homeless, this is probably what they do every day in their real life. How frustrating is that! Also, we found that the organizations we were calling have many restrictions, such as age, gender, and special conditions, which might turn them down for several reasons. Finally out of all the phone calls I made, I got one success. It was a church organization in Buena Park; I said I have two kids, one is 3 and one is 6, and my husband too. lol For some reason, I tried to sound like I was really sad; I guess I was trying to be more like a homeless mom, and I think I sounded very funny. Anyways, it was a cool experience even though I kinda feel bad because we were lying in a way.
Later on, we moved to another group and this guy (I forgot his name) talked about the idea of Isaiah House and the difficulties it confronts. He said that around the neighborhood, a few blocks from the house, there are prostitutes, gangsters, and a park where lots of homeless people congregate. Basically, the walls of this house provide the homeless women safety and protection from those dangerous areas. It is sad that all they need is that simple but so hard to get. I feel bad about living a better life than they do; I am just lucky, but I am no better than them.
In the Bible, it says, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). Isaiah House is a religious organization without preaching the gospel. In Isaiah House, they do not preach the gospel to them by words, instead, they put their belief into actions and show the homeless people there is still love and hope. It is a great ministry. I hope I will have a chance to come back to help again. It always feels good and encouraging to help others.
Samantha Navarro
English 103
Cerritos College
Post # …
Isaiah House
On the drive towards Isaiah House, I did not know what to expect. I didn’t know how many women we would be helping, or how much time we would have, or that we wouldn’t eat breakfast until 1pm! When we got there, I set up my area to cut hair, the way it was set up with the chair, table and mirror it felt as close to a salon as possible. This is probably why the atmosphere in that room was like a day at the salon with regular women chatting about normal life. They told me of their bad experiences with previous hair stylists, and how much they trusted me with their hair, and they talked to each other about the other women just like any normal women do. They told me how sometimes different donators bring fried chicken three or four days in a row and how it can get tiring, they said there must have been a fried chicken sale somewhere. They also spoke of their annoyances with little noises that they hear in the middle of the night. These conversations indicate human nature; no matter where one is placed, one keeps being the same person, having human reactions. But the truth is the women we meet have experienced circumstances that forced them to live in a shelter; circumstances that many of us would never understand or experience. At least for one day, at least in the room I was in for 3 hours, the women that got their hair cut and styled felt like regular customers at a salon, a pleasure most of us take for granted.
Sarika Vaswani
English 103
CC
Post #idk
Perfectionism by Anne Lamott
Oh gosh.. I have been anticipating this reading. I remember when we first got our folders, I was going through all the stories/poems and I was compelled to read this one. It had my name written all over it. I struggle with perfectionism. I have this tendency of needing things to be perfectly done, especially when it comes to writing. I find writing to be one of the most difficult and stressful things for me to do. Writing this post is even hard for me. As I sit here and type, I am judging what I have written thus far, word for word. I'm thinking, what can I change to make it sound better? Does it make sense? Maybe I can rewrite such and such. I admit, last semester I was able to free myself somewhat from this bad habit, but it seems as though I have fallen back into. This form of paranoia literally takes over like a muscle cramp, as Lamott states. It's like a mental headache that drives you insane, and manifests itself into other problems. The purpose of rough drafts is to allow ourselves to let our creative juices flow in any direction, to be messy, to make mistakes, and learn from them. This is how our writing improves. I don't take advantage of this. I don't allow myself to write "a sh*tty first draft". Instead I treat my rough drafts like they are the actual prompts, and I go from there. I don't know how to, as many say "bs" a paper. I have to try for several hours before giving up, even then I at times end up with a blank canvas. It's almost like I have no choice. Either turn in something that has been done to the best of my ability or turn in a blank paper.. even when I know what the consequences may be. There are occasions where I cannot budge from this mentality. It's brutal, I tell you! I'm on the same page as Samantha N. and Andy in terms of the final research paper. I have all the material in front of me... but getting the ball rolling is beyond difficult. Sigh, this is more of a rant than anything else. Back to the piece.. After reading it, I feel very enlightened and hopeful. It's as if Anne Lamott is telling me, IT'S OKAY. It's okay to make mistakes and it's okay to have everything in a mess. I really should be telling myself this on a daily basis, rather than trying to be in constant control of everything. I love how she explains, towards the end, what writing is. It is a powerful art form, that comes from the heart.. and is meant to captivate and touch others.
Belinda Reed
English 100
Cerritos College
Perfectionism
Perfectionism is a powerful word. The meaning holds true. In my english 52 class as well as my english 100 class, I have turned in some real messes as far as my essays are concerned. But that just goes to show what being out of school for such a long time will do to a person.Though I am no writter by no means, I have indeed enjoyed writting all of them. They have a meaning to me and only me. They have been to the best of ability at the time under the circumstances. To me they were perfact in every aspect. But I'm not a English major. Coming from a military family with alot of men who have been in US Marine Corp as well as in the Navy and Army are concerned. I have learned to some what of perfectionist, maybe not in writting, but I can clean a house like there is no tomorrow. If one knows of someone who is or has been in the Armed forces, than the word perfectionism takes on a whole new meaning.
Kayla Marley
English 110
GWC
Post: Lost Count
Isaiah House
Earlier today I experienced a trip to a house that I have never experienced before. Today I saw firsthand what life is like having little to no personal belongings and no family. Today Mr. Hsiao’s English classes went to the Isaiah House in Santa Ana. The Isaiah House is a privately owned homeless shelter for woman and children. When we first arrived at Isaiah’s House I was kind of shocked. I had this idea that the front landscape was going to be barren and not have many colors, but to my astonishment there were flowers and the house was beautiful. The colors of the house screamed “you are welcomed”. When I first stepped through the door I felt at home. I felt welcomed and I could feel that I was going to be appreciated for spending time there. I went into the kitchen and I was assigned to cook eggs and ham with cheese. I was really excited to be able to cook for the woman of the homeless shelter because I love to cook and I was excited to share that passion with them. I and four other people cracked a hundred plus eggs. During cooking I got to know a fellow classmate named Stephanie. She had gone to my high school and I recognized her. She is such a sweet person, and I got to know a little bit of the background of her family. Stephanie and I both ended up cooking the eggs and we were great teammates. I was really happy to see that the woman (and fellow students) enjoyed the eggs. I had met a woman named Sylvain. She was a really quiet and quite shy woman. She had told Danielle and me that she tends to keep to herself because she thinks that certain women try to “run” the homeless shelter. I kind of understood where she was coming from because I could see what she was talking about. I think that the woman that was cutting and styling everyone’s hair was a saint. She did such an amazing job and just seeing how happy everyone who got their hair done really made me smile. I do not recall her name but she did an excellent job. Once we sat down in our groups I really enjoyed listening to what everyone had to say. What the director of the Isaiah House was saying was surreal. The government does make life harder to get out of being a homeless person. I could not help buy tear up when we were all talking just knowing how lucky I am, and that I do take the time out of my day to be thankful—not enough anyways. I definitely plan on going back to volunteer and look forward to go back.
Feross are you Sarrah Khouraki brother?
Alyssa Wall
English 103
Cerritos
Post??
Perfectionism
First of all I want to say to Sarika that your post on this reading is amazing! I am so glad that I read it..I loved it! :)
Okay..so this reading...wow. I was not expecting this to pertain to me..as i did not think that i was a perfectionist at all. But, i have officially changed my mind. It is so true what perfection can do for a person. It can tear you down, or build you up. It is every thing all in one. I will sit and do something for hours on end, and sometimes never get it right. I have worked myself into tears with homework, and even things that dont really matter that much. I enjoyed this reading, it made me reazlize a lot...as always..a good story.:)
Alyssa Wall
English 103
Cerritos
Post??
Perfectionism
First of all I want to say to Sarika that your post on this reading is amazing! I am so glad that I read it..I loved it! :)
Okay..so this reading...wow. I was not expecting this to pertain to me..as i did not think that i was a perfectionist at all. But, i have officially changed my mind. It is so true what perfection can do for a person. It can tear you down, or build you up. It is every thing all in one. I will sit and do something for hours on end, and sometimes never get it right. I have worked myself into tears with homework, and even things that dont really matter that much. I enjoyed this reading, it made me reazlize a lot...as always..a good story.:)
Brian Jimenez
English 100
CC
Post#42
The Isaiah House
Well I had other great experience with people that were in need and I gave a little but did a lot. It was nice having the same bus driver which I always shake hands with him and talk for a while. In the trip a ended up bring my friend Val and she was also happy to come alone a different and helping experience, helping those in need. We donated toothbrushes, floss, tooth paste and tampons that Val brought along. Mr. H made an announcement about the time we were going to eat and told us that this time there wasn’t going to be any breakfast. My stomach and I were hurt and then thought to myself I should of ate before I came but oh well what’s done is done. Furthermore, we made it in one piece to the House which was in a pretty nice area. I did not know what to expect but nor did I care. I was here to help in anyway I could. Everyone was in teams which I ended up being in the kitchen. I cut apples and a pineapple and the others were mixing eggs, cutting ham, and cooked the food as it came. Once everyone cooked the food I ended up walking around and checking out the place. Pretty nice house I thought so. Outside I join a group discussion between and Processor and the other student about what they would do with a million dollars. My answer was to buy a house, put some on stocks, and the rest would be to help out the poor in some way or other. Upon finishing the discussion we were advised to speak to any homeless women in the house. I did not want to just walk up to any women because I knew some just wanted to be left alone. I worked off the responds of how the women interacted with me so I knew who did and who did not want to talk. I spoke to all the women in some sort of way, whether it came from a hug, words and gestures’ I did my job. Later that day, I joined once again another discussion about poverty and how it came about. Sorry to say I think I really only paid attention for about the first eight or nine mins but from the message I got from the speaker was how everything was blamed on the government for them being homeless. It seems this man really hated the government with a passion. After my attention span wore out all I could think about was food, food, and some more food. I ended up serving and helping out with in giving out the chow. One thing I did not like is at the end we had once again another discussion but this time I only paid attention for a few mins because during the discussion the woman were again left alone and pushed away from our groups. I would rather talk and bust out my jokes and make them laugh than to push them away for I feel they had been push away for to long already. Towards the end of the trip I end up hugging or shaking the hand of the women in the house good bye. Mostly hugs are what I ended up doing. I had fun overall.
Brian Jimenez
English 100
Cc
Post#43
Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
I felt the author was trying to explain three points.
The first one was about how every woman should self check themselves to be aware of their bodies to lessen the chances of having cancer or catch it early. According to Audre, she states, women need to face the possibility and the actuality of breast cancer as a reality rather than a myth or retribution or terror in the night or a bad dream that will disappear if ignored”(1). She explains that anyone can get cancer and if the person who does attain cancer should have the knowledge that it’s real and not a bad dream that can be ignored and later forgotten about. Cancer needs to be understood by women that it is reality that at anytime this disease can hit their lives.
The second point is about the prostheses used by women and how they use them. According to Audre Lorde, she states, “In other amputations and with other prosthetic devices, function is the main point of their existence and not form” (4). She just explains that artificial limbs perform many tasks like to walk, denture to eat with but prostheses for women breasts has no function and it’s only for show and is offered to women like candy after surgery. Breast prostheses are taken because of external pressures which bring me to my last point.
In today’s society the way women think is because of certain norms made by men in how women are supposed to look. Normal is what the author stated in the story. According to Audre Lorde, she states, “Women have been programmed to view our bodies only I terms of how they look and feel to others rather than how they feel to ourselves and how we wish to use them” (7). The cause of those pressures is the media images portraying women as machines of consumer function as the author stated. The effects make women worry way to much about they look, smell, color color and iron out ones wrinkles and never think about themselves and what really make thems happy.
Janice Silva
English 103
Cerritos College
Post#20
Cancer Journals
I focoused on two main ideas in this story; loving ourself for who we are and realizing how precious something is when we loose it. Women are given this standard, to look beautiful, not for ourselves but for others. It takes alot of self esteem for a woman to walk out the door with no make up on, the "natural beauty" of who we are. I remember when i was younger i never used to wear make up because i thought there was no point. As i got older my fellow lady classmates would wear make up every single day, becoming a norm for high school, to be able to look decent. The older i got the less i was comfortable because i was not used to it. Unfortunatly society has given us a look we should go by in order to be beautiful. Outer beauty comes with insecurity, inner beauty comes with confidence. I am not saying we should get rid of make up, im saying we should not put on a face because we have too but that we want too. The other main idea is realizing something precious before it is gone. Everything about that sentence comes to mind. I always think of my loved ones, and how everyday is a blessing. We never know when we are going to die, and i know that for a fact. I lost a friend in april of last year, because he has a brain aneurism. I never know he was sick, until he passed away. I was so pre occupied with my own life that i did not take the time to catch up with my friends, but the last time we saw each other we ended on a good note. Every moment we have with someone is special, every hug, kiss, talk, touch is something we will never get back because of time. I rarly get angry because i dont want to leave someone while we are mad at each other, because we cannot predict what is going to happen after. This story has many perceptions of life, but the two i have mentioned, stuck to me.
Samantha Shepherd
English 103
CC
Perfectionism
I thought that this was pretty well written. I loved the way she described her passion for literature and writing and how that is how it should be for everyone. Screw the constricting lines of the "right way", and just put yourself outside of the box. Personally for me, I am a messy person and for once, while reading this, to not be condoned for that type of behavior felt really good. Finally someone understands what it means to me to be messy. Messy, that is, in my thoughts and I'll admit, my room, haha.
Lately I've sort of been wondering where it is that I want to go. I have so many passions for life and at times I have crossed paths with thoughts of possibly becoming a writer given to me from other friends. Larnott and I feel the same about reading, it is spiritually invogorating, however I do not write as much (probably due to a lack of time). I think that after reading this I will definitely look into majoring in English more and discovering the possibilities one can attain from it.
Gabriela Tovar
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #27
Cancer Journal by Audre Lorde
I am now twice as concerned as i was before... One is never too young to get checked... I have not gotten checked on anything, i need to get checked what i can as soon as possible; the best protection is early detection... My mom is almost forty, she old, she gets checked when there is money and she does her best to get her physical every year... Us, as women, we have to be careful with even the slightes thing... Not to get too personal, but my mom is concerened and asks me if i have gotten checked... I just get scared because what if the results are not going to be the one i want to hear, i do not know how i would react to anything... I love my body, i love everything about me, i wish i was a little less chuncky but other than that i love my body... This story could not have come at a better time because it is the push i need to go and get checked on all i can... I will make an appointment at the student health center here in Cerritos... Go GaBy...
Alonso Llamas
Cerritos college
English 103
Post#?
Reflection
I thought this particular field trip was eye opening. It is no surprise that the homeless rate in America has increased, and as a result more people are homeless. However, what struck me the most was the case of one woman. She told me her story and how she came to end up in the Isaiah House. A few months ago this woman had a home and a car. She even recalled how she would drive by a bus stop by the civic center and sees multitudes of people, and wonder what they were doing there because she had never used public transportation in her life. However, now she knows what most of the people there are doing. The majority of people cannot afford anything more than public transportation, including her now. The recession seemed to hit this particular lady exceptionally hard. She lost all of her possessions during these hard times, and now all she has is what she can carry. Just thinking of her story I thought how many people could end up being homeless simply because of unfortunate circumstances. However, there was one part of the story I found disturbing. When she explained the differences she has experienced and how people discriminate her based on her situation. She is no longer treated with the same decency as the rest of the people. I could not help to think to myself how ridiculous our society is. We judge others based on their appearance and circumstances. As a society, we are based on classism and believe that anyone below a certain point is unworthy of communicating with us. As a result, we end up alienating others. This is something I believe must change, or else our society will never grow. One must remember that these people who just happen to be homeless are still people and part of the human race, and must remember to treat them as so.
Gina Huynh
Golden West College
Eng.110
Post #1
Hi all,
I’m from the late night 8-weeks class. I just want to welcome all my classmates to this blog and introduce a bit about myself. I’m going back to college now to pursue nursing. This English class is the last class I need before I can apply to Long Beach, so hopefully I can pass!! English is not my greatest subject, but thus far in class, it seems to be going pretty okay (aside from that very first quiz we had). I’m a pretty shy individual, so I guess I’ll try to make up for my lack of class discussions by posting more on this blog. So a few more things about me: as a person, I absolutely dislike being around crowded, loud places, so I tend to avoid them as much as possible. Some interesting facts about me are that I’ve never gone clubbing or to Disneyland. In fact, I’ve never even ridden a roller coaster! I attribute that to my motion sickness, but I’m really afraid to step outside of my box and try something new. A perfect night for me would include snuggling on the couch, watching TV with a carton of chocolate chip ice-cream. I can watch anything, from silly reality TV shows to criminal investigation type shows, like Forensic Files. I admit I do waste a lot of time watching TV; my boyfriend thinks I need to go to TV rehab or else I would develop an early case of Alzheimer’s, but I’m at my happiest place when it’s me with the remote control. Sad, I know. I guess it’s a form of escape from reality for that bit of time, but yes, I’ve actually made quite some progress in cutting back from the hours I used to waste on this mind-stopping black box.
Heather Brown
English 110
GWC
Post#2
Response
Hi Janice! I know we aren't in the same English class, nor in the same college, but the topic you wrote on affects everyone, and everywhere. I have not read the piece of literature you were discussing, but after hearing you talk about it so openly I want to. I fully agree that life can change in a matter of seconds, and there is no way to know when or how. I'm sorry to hear about your friend, and I admire your strength to talk about it with strangers. As I read about how you try not to fight or leave off on a bad note with people, it made me rethink my current relationships. I currently have three good friends deployed in the middle east. Every time they come home I try to spend every moment with them knowing it may be the last. Just as you like to end on a happy note, I write them letters and hand it to them minutes before they leave.
People take things for granted all the time. Main subjects are relationships and their natural beauty. You were discussing make-up, and I agree. Women need to realize each person is made the way they are for a reason. ALL women have flaws, even if they try to hide it with make-up. The funny thing is when they put on make-up, it only makes their flaws more obvious.
Thank you for sharing your insight and your experiences. You've reminded me how lucky I am to have all sorts of relationships, and how I should be grateful for each of them every day.
Brenda Flores
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #?
Cancer Journals
I felt that this story was good because I learned some new information about breast cancer. For example, if someone gets breast cancer in one breast and then gets it in the other it doesn't mean it has spread. This is a new occurance. I thought the cancer spreads to the other breast but Audre says it doesn't. Eventhough I did not agree with her about getting the implants I respected her point of view. I think if ANYONE wants to get breast implants, and they are sane enough to do so, they should. I think it is all about personal prefrence. I understand feelings are different depending on the person. This was written in 1979, 3o years ago women were femenist and felt that implants were more for catching men's interest. Now and days women get them for themselves, and not for the men. I'm sure women these days feel differently. The choice is truely their's. The important thing is that we all get checked regularly and find the best treatment and recovery plan for you.
Hi Heather, it was dark that first night of class, but I believe it was you I was talking to. I just want to welcome you to class and to this blog =). I'm very interested in reading these published poems of yours. You should definitely share them to the class and to your family! Your family would definitely be really proud of you, even though you say expressing emotions are looked down in your family. See you in class soon!
Gabriela Tovar
How was everybody's weekend??? Mine was awesomeness... Friday for the first time i went to one of the hottest clubs in hollywood, Avalon Club... I just wished my friends would have told me i could have taken my costume because as i predicted, i did not had enough fun Saturday night with the costume... Anyway, it was all techno and eletro music, it was the bomb... I was wearing boots but that did not stopped me from dancing all night long... The drinks were a little too expensive but i did not buy them so i do not care... The chicks were so hot, with their little costumes, their bottoms showings, i am not on the other team but girls were at every corner so i had to look, besides, we are girls; we check each other out...Saturday... I am ashamed of myself because i promised Mr. Hsiao i was going to the Isiaha House, but i overslept and i did not hear the alarm clock... At noon, i was getting ready to go to a kids party; it was boring... After, boyfriend and friends went to the lakewood mall to walk around and ask for candy, but we got bored and went to Downey (the rich part) to get candy... That was my Saturday for Holloween... Sunday, i really liked Sunday because i was really close to my boyfriend David Beckham... I went to the Home Depot Center to watch the Chivas USA vs LA Galaxy... We (boyfriend,boyfreind parents, bf brother, and his friends) were sitting behind the goalie... I was going for Galaxy just because of Beckham and the girl behind me, i think she was throwin confeittie on my head on purpose because i was going for Galaxy... What a B***... I was just waiting for her to push me or touch me to get down, i do not role like that.. That was not very nice... That ruined my moment but i kept screaming for my future husband and everything, she was not going to stop me... I had fun... Late that after noon i went to my boyfriends soccer game and they lost, LOSERS... That was my weekend... It was fun, hectic and fun..
Gina Huynh
Golden West College
English 110
Post #3
Cathedral
This story truly touched me because I did grow up with a neighbor who was blind, and it brought back a lot of the memories we’d shared. This blind neighbor of mine, Uncle An, was in his mid 30’s. He was married with two daughters, and aside from his blindness, did everything an able person with sight would do: washed the dishes, walked to the laundry a building away with a load of laundry in his arms, took care of his two young daughters while his wife was away at work, and was a good husband to his wife. In fact, he never acted as if he had a handicap around his children; he would change his baby daughter’s diaper, bathe and feed them, and taught them the lessons of life like any wonderful father would do. The only times he would remind me of his blindness were when he asked me to describe his daughters’ appearances, if they had any of his features and so on, and whether or not they were wearing shoes when outside. He was quite obsessive compulsive with cleanliness and was a complete germophobe, so he would freak out if they would so much as step past the front door with their feet bare. Before I knew this neighbor of mine, I, like the story’s narrator, would assume that his blindness so handicapped him that he couldn’t function normally, like feed himself. In the story, the narrator’s “idea of blindness came from the movies.” In fact, from the movies, he was led to believe that “the blind moved slowly and never laughed.” This, of course, was a stereotype, which the narrator quickly learned. The blind man, Robert, was like any other man: he could carry on a normal conversation, ate dinner without having to be fed, drank and smoke with the host, and “watched” TV in his own, unique way. Only until the narrator began to describe the cathedrals shown on TV were we reminded of the difficulties of the blind. Personally, if I had not met Uncle An, I, too, would base the daily actions of the blind from the portrayals on TV or movies. We all know that this is not the case, just like the stereotype that “all Mexicans are lazy” or “all Asians are bad drivers.” My neighbor, Uncle An, had a unique life, and this goes for every individual out there whose life carries a special story. It goes to show that we shouldn’t prejudge a person from our own ignorance but should keep an open mind and get to know him or her first and base our judgments on his or her long-term actions instead.
Furthermore, reading this story really reminded me to never take anything for granted. We are blessed everyday with the opportunity to be able to do the simplest of things, and those with handicaps have to try twice as hard to function in society, so it really goes to show how blessed we are. Imagine if we were born blind. How do we come to understand color when we’ve never seen them in the first place? While the narrator was describing the cathedrals, I tried to put myself in Robert’s shoes and realized that, based on the narrator’s descriptions, I would not be able to comprehend the appearances of cathedrals even if I tried. And I wouldn’t know how to explain it to the blind, either. Therefore, it is good sometimes to not complain about the little things in life and keep in mind that someone’s life is always much harder than ours.
Yi-Hui Chiang
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #23
Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
Personally I will forever think that losing one’s breast and using prostheses is a horrible thing ever. And yea, why do women have to wear false breasts that are just made for appearance and mental comfort only, instead of having a real function. I think not only do women themselves want to look better, but also does the society give women the pressure to satisfy male demand. We strive to reach others’ expectations, and we care way too much about how people look at us than how we look at ourselves. I like how she wrote that, “…survival throughout these years has taught me how to value my own beauty and how to look closely into the beauty of others” (2). What I learned from this piece is self-acceptance; I should keep telling myself not to mind being judged and judging myself.
There is an awakening message that we should focus on what our priorities are. We sometimes grab things too hard because we are so afraid to lose anything. But would you give up love for what you have lost? Would you give up your life for what you have lost? If thinking about that, we might find out what we have lost is not such a big deal, and we won’t be frightened by it. At the end, she said, “I can attach it anywhere I want to because my feelings are a part of me, my sorrow and my joy” (6). Her losing has brought her into the growth spiritually. I really like this article as a female reader. : )
Jonathan Aguilar
English 103
Cerritos College
Post #28
The Salt of the Earth
This was an attention grabbing peice from the begining. It talks about if we should be considered a Christian faced nation or something else. The comparison with us being vampires was great. I think everything the author said was true. We are sucking the blood out of each other. We have become selfish people and only think about #1; ourselves. It sucks because we are suppose to be united and humble toward one another. It talks about how the press and the news are a joke now in days. Which is true. I was talking about this very thing with my dad the other day. How the news has become commercialized. Its nothing new that we should know. The news should be informative and keep you thinking. It shouldn't be another T.V. show. It is terrible that it has gotten this far.
Michelle Pachas
English 103
Cerritos College
Perfectionism
The excerpt could not have come at a more convenient time. I agree that many times people’s intentions of trying to eliminate all technicalities in writing only result in losing the essence of what was the paper’s sole purpose. I am definitely guilty of this. There have been plenty of times when I over analyze my writing and end up writing a very flat paper. It’s hard for me to open up in my writing to I tend to compensate for that by trying to do everything by the book. At the end of the day all I accomplish is a stressful day with little done. On the other hand I have found that when I let loose and let myself write about nothing the paper that comes about is better appreciated by my professors. Perfectionism is a virus which I have come down with; hopefully someone finds a cure soon.
Michael Swisher
English 100
Cerritos College
Post#45
Perfectionism
A perfect writer has never existed. Writing is neither the pursuit of perfection, nor should it be the idolization of it. Writing is passion, and writing is purpose. I agreed with this excerpt “Perfectionism” on all points. Children should not be taught simply the rules and expressions of “good literature”, they should be exposed to the nuances, and the subtleties of many forms of literature at an early age. Maybe then we will have a literate nation again. The way to reach a student is through correlation, and through interest. If a child cannot find the meaning in The Great Gatsby, or The Grapes of Wrath (much as I didn’t) then other avenues of similar expression should be pursued. The country has stopped reading simply because there isn’t enough emphasis on it during the earlier years of a student’s life. Perfectionism, what a perfect term to describe the story. One cannot find perfection in the best of literature, because it is the imperfections that hold the quality. I am sure that some of the greater quotes of literature were typos or misinterpreted. BUT THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT GREAT. If authors knew it all, why write it down for other know it alls to read? I love to write, and I love to read, but I despise the perfect pretense of supposed “masterpiece” as usually presented.
Cara Tiffany
10/31/09
Isaiah House
I really enjoyed this field trip. I took Makayla with me and everyone really seemed to like her. She was often the focus of discussions and it seemed to be a light happy topic to talk about with all of the women. Everyone was really helpful when it came to keeping an eye on her and I think that she had fun. I really liked that everyone had to work in groups in order to really talk about what some of the issues that homeless women were going through. There was one young lady who came and sat down with our group to talk about her personal experiences and why she feels that she is in the situation of living there. Her story was not was I expected. I expected her to say something about how everything was against her or how she was always unhappy and struggling, but she actually said that she is hopeful and believes in herself. She was very positive. Of course there was some sort of struggle and hard ship in her story but it seemed like she was focus more on how she could improve her life rather then have people pitty her. She talked about how she is going to school and how she loves to draw and how this whole experience has humbled her as a person. I thought that It was very inspiring to hear her talk so much about what inspired her and what her drive was. Another thing that she said that really hit me was that she talked about stress and how she tries not worry I wish that I could learn how to keep myself from stressing and worry. Another thing that we did as a group was talked about money and how a family could break down their spending, this was hard because we didn’t really know the exact costs and I felt like people were under estimating the true cost so we didn’t get a chance to see how hard it really can be to manage money. Finally we our group was asked to take a sheet of shelter phone numbers and call around asking for a bed for the night, that was a little dishardining for me. We called one shelter and they gave us another number then that shelter did the same. That seemed to be the common theme. That or they would offer to put us onto waiting lists. I felt terrible I could not imagine being in that position it seemed like no one was really willing to help. Some of the numbers even had messages rather then people, answering the phones it made me feel like they didn’t even want to take the time to talk to me on the phone. I felt like they didn’t really care about the well being.
Martha Vazquez
English 100
CC
Post 25
The Cancer Journals
Women tend to associate thier femininity with certain body parts, the way we dress, the pitch of our voices or the way our hair looks. Where does this perception come from? Why does it bother us so much when we are deemed to be lacking? Audre Lorde talks about losing and mourning her right breast. That caused her so much pain, but also caused her to examine her pain, and try to cope with it. She talks about the things that she would NOT give to have her breast back. she would not give up her eyes, her arms, or even people she loves for a body part thats missing. She explains that a breast prosthesis serves no real purpose besides making everybody else feel good, and filling a shirt. Losing that breast made her see that her being a woman, was not taken away with her breast.
Andy Tran
English 100
Cerritos
Post #26
Cancer Journals
I have a lot of respect for all cancer survivors. Being diagnosed with cancer is really difficult to cope with. It is very remarkable for anyone to overcome such a tragedy and continue to look past it. As women are generally thought to be diagnosed with breast cancer, in many other cases men are also prone to breast cancer as well. Everyone should get check ups every so often to increase the chances of detecting cancer in its early stage in order to treat it before it gets worse. I recently found out that one of my good friends was diagnosed with cancer in the lungs. I was in complete shock when he told me. I hope that he gets treated and over comes his cancer.
cathrina afusia
cerritos college
english 100
Cancer Jornals by Audre Lorde
What an inspiring reading this was. Let me start off with some personal experiences I have gone through. Around this time last year my mother put up a fight with cancer. For the time being she is cancer free, but there were times where the cancer kept returning. It seemed to be never ending, and uncontrollable. We would get that short period of time of relief, then at her next check up an unfortunate discovery would be found. It has been a tideous battle. This reading brought me back to all the moments and emotions I have shared with my mother. There to was a time when she had a small amount of cancer located in her left breast. Never could I understand what could have been going through her mind at that time. It is sad for a woman to feel any less than the beautiful woman she was made to be. Still, the disease is nothing to try and hide from. In paragraph one of the reading I could understand how many would rather not know if they have breast cancer, or any disease. We need to realize if it is caught early, then something might possibly be able to reverse the problem. It is important for us as women to do those self examinations every month. Honestly who knows our bodys better than our own selves.
Celina Rivera
English 100
Cerritos College
Post #62
Halloween was not to great. I had to work on Saturday and on Sunday. I could not go to any parties. I did get dressed up for Halloween with my boyfriend. We decided to be The Jetsons. We looked so cute, I thought. People loved our costumes. The only place we went was to a friends house to hang out. That was enough for me because I was not feeling well. I am also sick which is not exciting at all. I do not like being sick. I hope everyone had a great Halloween.
WHAT DID YOU DO FOR HALLOWEEN?
Celina Rivera
English 100
Cerritos College
Post# 63
Cancer Journals
I felt that this short story talked about how the world portrays woman as well a how we portray ourselves. Women try so hard to fit in to what society wants us to be. We have to be happy with ourselves. We can not worry about the expectations of how woman's bodies are suppose to be. Women look at magazine's and think that is what we are suppose to look like. When a woman has breast cancer, the lose a breast. Most woman then are not happy with there bodies. They try to get to how they looked before, but even if they get fake breast they are still never the same. I is as though us women try to feel avoid rather than heal that void. Who said that women need to be thin and have to look perfect. I think that is why the world has partners for everyone. Every person has a soul mate. If we all looked the same there would not be options. Most women struggle to find themselves, the can not find themselves until they are old enough to appreciate them selves.
Audrey Valdivia
English 100
CC
Post on cancer journals
Cancer Journals
so this lady is crying out not only on her expierence with breast cancer but also the self image that we must maintain in order to be seen as "normal" to society. the way she decsribes breast protheses is so powerful. basically she is saying look i had cancer i had a mastectomy im normal, if u want to wear something fake on your body go a head and do it yourself but its not me.
Perfectionism,
wow so that is me in writing. i can have this perfect idea for somtehing and then it fall apart. but them again sometimes when its liek this i wrie from the heart in the confidence that someone will one day read this and realize that as a human we struggle to do things with perfection and yet we are all just the opposite of that. "the imperfections in life is what makes life perfect."-unknown.
Janelle rodriguez
English 100
Cerritos College
post #?????
Cancer Journals
after reading this story the first thing that that came to my mind was my tia Monica. This stroy reminds me of her because about two years ago she got Brest cancer. And reading this stroy reminds me of all the things as a family we had to go through while she was going through those rough tmrw during her cancer. No after kimo she lost all her hair and well it's starting to grow back. The doctors were able to get rid of the cancer and now we are all hapy because my tia is now doing better than ever.this story makes me feel the pain that the character is going through.
Jenny Guzman
English 100
Cerritos College
Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
This story is great because she is a woman who struggles about doing a surgery that will scar her body, but will save her life. She wonders how her life will be with just one breast. Will she still be beautiful with one breast? She talks about beauty is not just boobs that makes a women beautiful, but how she feels about her self. After losing her right breast she did not want to stuff her bra to feel normal. She is even insulted at that fact that she has to stuff her bra to feel normal. She says, do what one wants to do, but she will not stuff just because society is making her stuff just to look normal. I think she is a courageous woman that was dealt a crappy hand in life. Luckily for her she found the cancer early and she was able to avoid too much trouble with cancer.
Jenny Guzman
English 100
Cerritos College
Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
This story is great because she is a woman who struggles about doing a surgery that will scar her body, but will save her life. She wonders how her life will be with just one breast. Will she still be beautiful with one breast? She talks about beauty is not just boobs that makes a women beautiful, but how she feels about her self. After losing her right breast she did not want to stuff her bra to feel normal. She is even insulted at that fact that she has to stuff her bra to feel normal. She says, do what one wants to do, but she will not stuff just because society is making her stuff just to look normal. I think she is a courageous woman that was dealt a crappy hand in life. Luckily for her she found the cancer early and she was able to avoid too much trouble with cancer.
Jenny Guzman
English 100
Cerritos College
Post AAAHHH
I had a fun week. I did go out and party and I was all dress up, but let me take you back to Thursday. I have been doing research on my topic. I been looking what I felt like been days. I spent all of Thursday night and the whole day Sunday trying to find what I am looking for. I even asked my sister if she can log me on to her college search engine to find research about my topic. Well long story short. I HAVE NOT FOUND A LOT OF STUFF ON MY TOPIC. I WAS READY TO POKE MY EYES OUT, AND THINKING ABOUT GETTING NEW EYES BECAUSE I FELT THEY WERE NOT WORKING. Oh of course my boyfriend found some stuff and I just wanted to sock right in the nose. At least I feel I have something to add to my paper. Ok I am done. See you guys in class.
Esmeralda Orozco
english 100
cc
post???
Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
when i begain to read the story i thought it was gonna be sad. as i was reading i begain to think about boob implants and stuff like that. its true that ppl get them for kicks and some get it beacuse they had there boobs removed because of cancer. in a way the story made me feel that looks is not everything thats important and i have always known that. life is the most important thing and without it we are dead. i think that its if i was in her place i would have had the fake boob not so i could be acepted but beacuse its what makes me happy. having a missing piece of your body is very traggic most if its a breast. personaly i would get brest implants even more if i had brest cancer and i had to remove my own. although the story was sad it does make sence about being who you are.
Liza Heacox
English 110
GWC
Post #1
Introduction
After the first week of class I am left feeling a bit in over my head. Upon meeting Mr. Hsiao, I was reminded of my seventh grade English teacher with whom I had a love/hate relationship. He was the type of teacher who expected the best and would push a student to their limit in order for them to produce it. It has been 6 years since I have taken an English class, and I am beginning to realize, after reading comments from previous students, that I am going to have my work cut out for me. Thank you Skagway and Cathrina86 for your words of wisdom and understanding that were posted at the beginning of the semester.
Happy writing everybody!
Jenny Guzman
English 100
Cerritos College
Post My Life
Well I haven’t really written about me lately. Let me tell you what is going on with Jenny. Last Monday I missed class because I had one of my wisdom tooth taken out. I felt really crappy. Well it’s has been a week and it still hurts. I have been getting headache on top of the pain in my mouth. So tomorrow I have to go back to the dentist to see if that can fix the pain.
Ok Janelle, (my baby) has been a brat. She doesn’t cry too much, But Lord is she a drama queen. (I wonder where she gets that from?) She has been having fits and just wants to be exploring everything and does want to go to sleep. Obvious that is normal behavior for a baby, but she is getting spoil. AAHHH
Oh ok on Saturday I went to go get Janelle her first baby picture done. She look sssooo cute she was dress up like a bumble bee. She was moving and squirming but as soon as I put her costume on she was calm. (Go figure.) Later at night we went trick or treating and when she saw people were putting stuff in her bag she wanted to see what she got. She is very nosey. She did not get scared of any of the costumes.
Oh now I have decided to move my wedding back to Vegas. I am a normal girl that can deal with all the stuff that comes into planning a wedding.
Ok I have to get ready for class.
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