Extra Credit Blog #1

I love animals, dogs especially and at the beginning of this year in January my New Years resolution was to do volunteer doing something good like at a nursing home. I personally am not as strong to volunteer at a nursing home because I think I will leave sad so I decided to volunteer at the Animal Shelter in Medley, right off the Palmetto. The volunteer composer's name is Aileen Sanchez and their address is 7401 NW 74 Street in Miami, FL 33166. I have done over 40 hours, I believe and I do it for personal enjoyment. Luckily doing some good can give me extra credit and I can use those hours as service learning hours for one of my classes. It always pays to be good and give back to the community in some way.

Blog #16- I Have A Dream

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great leader in American history. He will always be remembered through his legacy and his famous powerful speech of “I Have A Dream”. He spoke about how America was not respecting African Americans and how we needed to change. All they want is what we all have- which is equality and freedom. How they want to be able to walk the streets without people looking weird at them and how they want to stop feeling ashamed and feeling pity amongst them. Dr. King had a great message and although he was killed before he ever got to know how big of an impact he is message was, I’m sure he’s looking down from heaven smiling because he knows that he was a big reason why America has changed and is know as the Melting Pot. He would be so proud to know that racism, although still exists, has dramatically been improved and he was a major reason for that improvement.

Blog #15- Growing up Old

Millions of Americans are impacted everyday by the media and propaganda. There are little girls, 10 years old, having boyfriends, wearing make up and cursing. There are 8 year old boys talking about sex and money, and disrespecting their families. This is a horrible time in America for our youth. Parents are not teaching their kids correctly as they are doing what they please. Of course it is their fault, but we, the adults are also at fault. We make laws that we cannot hit our own children, not even to teach them a lesson because then we can get fined for child abuse. Children need to learn, they need to be hit because if they don't feel pain and hurt they won't know whats right from wrong. If we aren't allowed to teach them, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. Our youth is growing to fast and we complain, but the solution should start with us and the government controlling the laws and what is shown on TV and the media.

Blog #14- Cultural Baggage

Most people think that culture is a good thing, it helps know where you come from, what your ancestors have done, and who you real family is. The truth is that no one really knows their culture. For all we know African Americans were powerful and they overturned people like Christopher Columbus. For all we know the pilgrims fought back and "Thanksgiving" never happened.They were probably killed by diseases or something and the ones that were left were the ones who the great stories are about and they decided to look strong and change the story around. No one really knows their culture unless you were there. The author in this story explains about how culture shouldn't make you who you are, you should know right from wrong and you shouldn't depend on others telling you "well this was done in our past, blah, blah, blah". I think everyone should stop depending on culture and make up their own.

Blog #13- The Holocaust

I think that the author of this essay must have been Jewish or must have some friends that were Jewish because he talks about the meaning of The Holocaust so deeply. He explains how the word Holocaust means "burnt offering" and how that is offensive as the Jews did not offer themselves to be killed in gas chambers. They did not resist but they could have. I'm not saying that I approve of the word, but if you think about it, someone who does not resist and goes is somewhat offering themselves. I think that every event weather it be good or bad needs a name. A name to explain the event that took place so others can know what happned and from the Holocaust, we have learned just as from slavery, that there are certain things that are wrong that we must fight.

Blog #12- College Pressures

While a student is in college they experience so many pressures and it's so hard to keep up with school and your own life. I think the author may have come from a well off family in the suburbs in California maybe because his pressures include having to have his parents pay for college and how there is so much school work students have less time for extra curriculum activities. By the people we are surrounded by in college we seem to come from families that don't have the privilege to be able to afford paying for their kid's school. We have to deal with having to work and financial aid and personal problems rather than how many activities in school we are involved in. Also, the essay was written a few years ago so that should also be taken into consideration and things are always changing throughout the years.

Blog #11- Cinematypes

In the essay of Cinematypes, the author goes on 3 dates. All 3 of her dates have a different personality and act different ways. One was very shy and kept to himself. Another seemed normal but he was very cheap, he would park far from the theater so he wont have to pay for parking and wouldn't mind her paying the movie tickets from time to time. The other was seemed very into her and he was a gentleman, he would open the car door he would only pay and they seemed to have a good time but he was a player- he had a girlfriend. Finally the author went on a date with herself and she explained how she enjoyed it so much better by herself because she was comfortable, she didn't have to dress up, and she didn't have to worry about making a good impression. I personally think that the author is trying to make a point that if you have to try hard to be with someone then its not worth it because the happiest you'll be is with someone you can be your self with and feel comfortable.

Blog #10- Sexism in English

I was actually very into this essay although it was quite long. The essay discusses how women are treated in the world. As women we have to be Queen to the King's Kingdom. We have to have a man in front our our married names- Mrs has Mr. We have to "loose our virginity to men" but they just "score". Women are passive and men are active. Women are sexy and men are successful. These are just a few examples used in sexism. In this world, the sad truth is that there has always been sexism in English and in all languages and country's. Sexism will never go away- so as women we have to fight it and we have to stand up against it, we must defend ourselves and stand together.

Blog #9- The Lie Detector

In this essay the author talks about why people lie. This essay was actually very informative because I learned that it actually takes more ability to lie then to tell the truth. Lying causes a strain, stress. When you like you have to make up a lie, you then have to make sure that your lie wont be found out by the person whom you lied to. Then you have to make sure that you don't make any faces and you lie correctly. It is such a long process when all you have to do is tell the truth and be on your way. Why would you make your life more stressful after the way that gas is making us all get stressed? Save yourself some white hair and just tell the truth, it's healthier.

Blog #8- Why we Crave Horror Movies

I have always liked the author Stephen King. Stephen King reminds me of Tim Burton as they both like weird horror movies with a rather odd plot. Stephen King talks about how we as people go to the movies and we not only watch but we pay to watch horror movies. He explains that there must be something wrong with us because who would want to pay to watch killings and murder and violence? I totally agree with him, I think that, in my opinion, if someone goes to watch these types of movies they, themselves are planning on how to kill others and they want to know what are the most effective methods of not getting caught or how to do it. I think however that we all are sick or have some kind of mental sickness because if you don't watch horror movies you must have, at one point in your life had a bad thought about someone else.

Blog #7- My Wood

I enjoy short stories because I feel that they get right to the point and tell me what they want to say. In the essay of 'My Wood', written by a man of course, he talks about owning property. The author talks about how when you own property you feel more "manly" and important. He says how when you own property or a house that you always want to be doing something to it and how your afraid other people will do bad things to it and all your hard work is gone. This is true, however, this can be referred to almost anything we own not just houses. And women like owning property too and taking care of it. I feel that this essay was rather sexist but overall it was a nice short read.

Blog #6- Neat People VS Sloppy People

I was personally rather offended by this essay. The author was making fun of neat, organized people saying that we are mean and we don't know what we want in life so we feel we have to keep things neat. The author was then saying how sloppy people are nice and they know where they are going in life and have their heads on straight. I am a neat person and I know where I'm going in life and I believe that if some is sloppy is because they don't have their priorities straight and they are so lost as to what they are supposed to do. The author is probably a sloppy person and is probably tired of people making fun of his sloppiness and decided to fight back. Wrong answer Suzanne Britt!

Blog #5- Why Don't we Complain?

I thought this essay was rather entertaining because as I read it, I thought to myself "wow, that happens here in Miami, but we actually do complain". The essay is a very good piece but the examples that the author uses are thing that we, as living in Miami, are used to complaining about. If the picture went bad in the movie theater, someone would get up right away to have it fixed without giving the technician a chance to know whats even going on. So maybe where ever the author lives (most probably Alabama or Kansas) this is the situation but maybe he should consider moving somewhere it is more busy like New York or Miami and he would be able to hear all the complaining from everyone else all he wants.

Blog #4- Marrying Absurd

I think that marriage is a sacred thing between two people and it should be taken seriously. What the author was trying to explain in this story is that people- especially young people- are taking marriage for granted. They are going off to Las Vegas, getting married drunk or just out of spur of the moment and they don’t really realize what they are doing. There are celebrities like Britney Spears who got married and got divorced the next day. I think that mistakes do happen and should be forgiven, but a mistake like marriage and divorcing the next day? There must be something seriously going wrong in our society.

Blog #3- The Death of the Moth

I personally liked this story by Virginia Woolf. I thought it was very creative and usually moths are boring and they look kind of creepy but the way she described this particular moth was as if it had a personality. The moth was just trying to survive and all she was doing was looking at it. I did think “ok why would someone waste their time looking at a moth and then watching it die”. We later learned by our professor that she herself committed suicide and she was always a very troubled woman. Overall I think that the story was very good and very descriptive.

Blog #2: Reaction to "Salvation"

I was very intrigued by this story. As I started reading I read at a normal pace but then I just got so into it and started reading fast as if the Narrator was explaining it directly to me and rushing the story. The child was waiting to see Jesus, but the boy didn't understand that he wouldn't physically see him so he decided he wouldn't lie about it. After a while, everyone was still waiting on him and he just gave up and lied and said he saw Jesus to make everyone else happy. I think this is quite common with myself, and I'm sure with a lot of people. You want to make someone happy so you lie. He did have to deal with the guilt and that made him feel bad that's why he started crying but hopefully, he did end up telling the truth.

Borges and I Reaction Piece

The 'Borges and I' text that we had to read was confusing at first so I had to read it through twice. Borges seems to have a split personality and he thinks of himself as a writer and then again as a reader of his own books. In my life, I do play different roles, as does everyone. I have the role of a daughter for example, and in that role in my mind I know the things I should say and should do, yet in reality I do and say things differently than my role (in myself) expects me to. At this point in my life i'm not exactly sure who I am. I am still trying to learn about myself and everyday I find out new things I like that I thought I didn't. I ruled out a list of things I shouldn't do but yet I still go against what my mind is saying and just follow my instincts. I may not be sure who exactly I am yet, but I believe to be getting quite close.