A.

Max Beverly

English 102 Kirsten Kaschock

3/10/15

Reflective paper

The long term writing process that I experienced over this term is one that I have experienced before.  One of my English teachers in high school had us write papers on books like normal, but instead of just moving on to the next book when we finished a paper, he always gave us the chance to rewrite the paper and improve on it based on the feedback, and we always got a better grade for it.  I feel like this is when I learned the most about how to write better.  I felt more connected to the work I was doing because I was able to learn mistakes and fix them.   My writing improved and I got a better grade for it too.  That’s why I was glad to hear that this term we would be working on one paper throughout the term.  If this class (ENGL 102) is about writing skills, why do we need to write 5 papers to learn these skills?  If we are able to practice the same skills in one big paper that I am proud of, then I see it as a better writing experience.  I think my strengths as a writer really only come out when I write like this, where I truly care about the paper.  Dr. Kaschock told me that my paper was severely off topic after my midterm.  In the paper that I wrote for the midterm, I basically defined what liberalism is in 1000 words.  She told me that the paper shouldn’t be a definition of our identity, but how we view the identity in society and it’s culture’s dynamics.  After I understood the true topic at hand, I began writing personally and with inspiration.  I found it incredibly easy to write about how I fit into liberal culture because I have been living in it all my life, I just haven’t been defining it all my life.  I was able to talk about my grandmother, my sisters, and myself.  Even more, I was having fun!  The research also meant so much more when I could apply what it said to myself, rather than just a boring definition.  I could talk about how public schools affect me, and how I feel about them.  I wish I got into the writing more earlier in the course, so I would feel this way about all of the writing prompts that we were given.  While I enjoyed the topics at hand, I didn’t take them all as seriously as I should have.  I think I could have grown more as a writer if I did.  For example “http://thinkprogress.org/about/” was my post for week 6.  While I do look on this website sometimes because I find the topics interesting, I didn’t really take the content to heart as something that I really care about and something that I want to be apart of, which is how I felt in my essay.  Perhaps second most rewarding is gaining a connection between other writers by responding to their work each week.  I actually got a really good friend out of it too!  Not only could I respond to others viewpoints on something that I wrote about, I could connect on a personal level, too.  I really enjoyed the format of the class.  It was casual and I felt a part of a community of writers exploring modern topics.  Thank you for an exciting term of writing.

E.

WEEK 1

Gabrielle,

I am science-minded.  I'm sorry to say that I don't know too much about art or making art.  That being said, when I feel moved by a piece of art, weather it be a painting, a song, a piece of literature, or any other medium, I value it all the more.   I struggled through the mandatory art classes at my high school, because I'm not too good at creating "conventional" pieces of art.  I agree with you're definition of who is an artist, because it allows anyone to be an artist.  My dream, and many others, is to do what I love.  I believe that if my work consist of doing and creating things that I love, then I have made my own art.

Max

I really enjoyed your piece because I also identify as an outdoorsman.  I took survival class in my high school in junior year, which means that I was on a solo camping trip in the middle of winter.  I had my own site for myself where I set up a shelter, and had an area for fire.  I was in the woods in January for 3 days and 3 nights.  Also this is in Massachusetts, so it got very cold at night.  We were provided a sleeping bag, a knife, water, and food, as long with other various tools.  The hard part was making the shelter and making a fire for the food.  After 2 days I could really appreciate the wilderness around me.  It is one of my most cherished memories and I love going into the woods now.

I agree, Chris.  I think acknowledging the awkwardness of a situation is really being mindful.  We're expected to always say the right thing at the right time, but when we don't, there's suddenly something wrong with you.  Being able to laugh at an awkward situation is realizing that we're just humans, and we don't have to be right all the time.  I also think that there wouldn't really be any humor in the world at all if it weren't for awkward situations.  We need to be able to laugh at yourselves sometimes to be able to laugh at other things, and I think you really understand that.

Zach

I think one of the most important things about respect is self-respect.  I believe that if one does not respect oneself, everyone else will have a very hard time trying to respect this person.  Anyone deserves respect as long as that person acknowledges this fact.  I think that that store clerk who's a jerk to his/her workers won't get respect from you is because this clerk doesn't respect his/herself enough to be a decent employer.  

I know that when I am not respected by someone who I have never spoken to before, it's one of the worst feeling I can get.  I am always trying to be respectful to people that first meet because of this.

WEEK 2

Max,

Out of your extreme struggle you were able to better yourself.  Confidence is a weird thing because you can only have it if you use it.  I don't consider myself a very confident person, but being able to show confidence when you were in a unnerving situation is impressive, even more so because you experienced a similar difficult situation.  Your ability to overcome the disability you faced is incredible.  You may have felt uncomfortable in your situation but you came out stronger.

Chris,

I remember you saying that sometimes you feel socially awkward sometimes.  I know that it's hard to try to be in a group, especially when the other kids know each other.  However, I think the best thing you could do is just approach the guys.  I know this is easier said than done but if they really are nice guys then I sure they wouldn't mind if you just hung out and played smash bros.  Also, I got respect for the Wii-mote.

Hey Zach,

It sounds like you really gave the wrestling team your all.  You got through a whole season which is a feat in itself.  However, when another hobby came along, you tried to balance the two and school.  This was obviously a tough decision to make which is why you really tried doing both for two whole weeks.  However, in contrary to what intimidating coaches say, some things are not possible.  You chose the hobby that you had a real passion for, and I can respect that.  

WEEK 3

Hey Chris,

As someone who has gone in and out of many board/card games, I know that the reasons and stories of getting behind one of these games can be really interesting.  I also think that the fact that you're sitting across from the person you're playing against in real life makes the game more fun and makes a better community.  Maybe you could talk about how sitting across from your opponent changes the game, compared to a computer game.  I really want to hear about the competitive side of the game, and why some people take it as seriously as they do.

Max, 

I like how your questions really span the experience of a product designer in the professional world.  It seems like a profession that, like any profession, takes years of experience to become an expert, including ups and downs.  Asking someone with so much experience will be interesting to see how great things can go when designing a product and how horribly wrong it can go too.

Zach,

You have clearly chosen a very powerful subject, and you have a close resource to tell you a lot about being a cancer survivor.  It sounds like your father must have struggled greatly with the disease, but I know your interview will provide insight on hardships he faced.  I like that you ask about the community, because I know that when many strong people band together some incredible things can be done.  I look forward to the paper.

Gabi,

This seems like a very interesting subject, but your readers probably don't have much previous knowledge on it.  I think giving a good background like you did in your post would be very helpful for your readers.  I like how you introduced the fact that the practice is controversial when used over traditional medicine, it adds another level of interest to the paper.

WEEK 4

Hey Chris,

It sounds like your introduction isn't completely done.  I think you do have a good start which introduces the game well to people who may not know anything about it.  to better your introduction you'll probably want to talk about your topic of the essay, which is not just Magic.  Maybe you want to talk about the person you interviewed, and what it means to be a player of the game.  You probably know this because you said it's not done yet, but those are my ideas.  

Max

I like your introduction so far.  It not only is interesting and grabs my attention, it gives me a good introduction to what a product designer does.  You may want to add more to it, such as what you will be writing about and introducing you interviewee.  I think this is a good start to a really interesting essay!

Gabi,

It sounds like you have a great start to your essay.  You started with an interesting topic that many of us young adults face or will soon.  However, the strange twist on the topic made your paper seem more interesting.  I like how the paper that will come after really means something about your future and wellbeing, which is very interesting.  I think the question posed at the end of the paragraph was implied by the rest of the paragraph, so maybe you might want to end it a bit differently.

Zach

Your introduction states what you will be writing about and the reason that you are writing it.  I think you have a very good opening to your essay.  Perhaps you would want to start the paragraph with more of a hook, because your paper seems like it will be very interesting to read.  Also, maybe mentioning how your father has been effected by the disease will give a better introduction to your paper.

WEEK 5

Gabi, 

The way you set up how chiropractics is a part of your family and your life is very interesting.  You first show how you closely follow the practices, and then why, because of your family.  The most interesting is probably when you talk about how these beliefs affect your personal life.  You bring up the idea that these ideas were placed on you more than you chose them, because you don't truly understand the reasons behind them yourself, or at least not enough to argue with people who disagree with the ideas.  This sounds like something you still have to figure out how you will chose between traditional medicine and alternative medicine.

Chris,

I liked how you got in really good detail about your winning and losing.  The pieces you chose to use in your prose were connected, and showed how the winning and losing really feels in a tournament.  The way you juxtapose the pride you feel from winning and the shame you feel from defeat was well implemented because of the your order of your stories.  This was interesting and well writen.

Max,

It's obvious that you see product design every day in your life.  The way that a product looks and operates to the user is maybe the most difficult part of designing it.  It seems like the product designer could have the hardest job, because they are the ones who have to turn an idea into a product.  It also seems like they don't get much credit, when I see a well designed product I think of the engineer who built the machinery of it, but someone had to decide on the best design of the product to be user-friendly.

Z

ach, 

You've made it clear that the colon cancer has become a large part of your life.  I seems like something that you could be living with all your life.  I seems like a disease that does not as much publicity as breast cancer, which you point out.  This is a disease that you identify with, but it is also a disease that your family identifies with.  You seem to approach the matter with an accepting attitude, which is very brave.

WEEK 6

Gabi,

The blog that put together definitely includes some important points that shows the positives of alternative medicine.  I think that those who practice alternative medicine would agree with the viewpoints that your blog addresses.  The post graphically show the sides of traditional medicine in a way that proves a point and can get across to everyone.  The posts center around ones health but also a meta-health, which is where someone lives a life that doesn't need artificial medicines to sustain.

Zach,

I really like how the community represented in the video was so positive and uplifting.  The day event was a happy event where people could physically, emotionally, and financially fight for the support of people with colon cancer.  This kind of positive energy is what fuels the fight to end awful cancers like this one.  It seems extremely difficult to live with such a disease, however, when there are people that organize events like this one its perhaps slightly easier.

It seems like the community for the game has a lot behind it.  The community is very internet-oriented, and enjoys this kind of internet and user provided comedy.  This shows how the community is a lot of younger people, and this also shows how the community is connected in this way.

I really like this video because is shows hows a product designer has to juggle many things when making a product.  The product designer must weigh the incoming intentions from the clients, even if they are contradicting, and must put these ideas into a physical product.  As I saw in the video, when it comes to actually making the product, the designer must make difficult decisions to make the product physically possible.  They are the connection between the final product and the ideas of an initial design.

WEEK 7

Hi Niki,

It's obvious you are a very skilled writer, the organization of your paper is very sound and this makes your paper very easy to read and you got a large amount of information across over you paper.  The information that you showed was also believable because you had so much evidence.  By the time I finished reading your paper, I definitely knew a lot more about Indian culture and values, and how the people who moved to the United States with this culture had to weigh their options of keeping old traditions and accepting new ones that fit their current situation.  One thing that I was a little thrown off by was that in your introduction, you made it seem like you were going to focus solely on Indian immigrant mothers, however, you talk about a slightly wider range of Indian immigrants in your paper.  This is a small detail, but perhaps you might want to include it in your paper.  Other than that, you always kept a solid focus in your paper and I was never confused as to where you were going in your paper.

I think that you should annotate your bibliography, especially because use cite is so often, this would give the reader a good background on the people and source you are drawing information from.

Also thanks for getting our essays together in one post! :)

Hi Matt,

You paper had a very clear subject from start to finish.  I liked how you stayed with your topic well and was also able to incorporate evidence from multiple sources.  Your paper developed nicely to talk about the technical differences in the 2 schools and then going into more personal stories about how two students felt about the different experiences at each school.  You might want to state how both schools are important to you in your introduction, obviously you are going to Drexel, but how is the University of Delaware important to you?  When I first read your introduction, I wasn't sure if your identity was a college student or colleges in general.  Maybe you would want to make it explicitly clear that the experiences one has in college is similar and different for different schools.  

I think your paper could be helped by having more evidence from scholarly articles looking into the different experiences in large and small schools.  I also think that your works cited page should be annotated because you have 2 different interviews and maybe some background on these students in one place would be helpful.

D

WEEK 1

I am from Massachusetts.

I know this sounds like a very boring statement, everyone is from somewhere.  However, I believe that because of this fact I have gotten to where I am now, and I will have the future that I want because of it too.  I can define much of who I am from this fact.  The reason I am from Massachusetts is because of the choices of my parents.  My mom is also from MA, but my dad is from North Carolina.  He decided to move to Boston after college for job opportunities.  I am from MA because thats where my parents wanted to live, I had no input on the matter.  This identity was given to me.  

This identity has made me who I am today.  I grew up in a town that had a very good public school system, I was able to realize my love for science at a fairly young age.  When I got into my junior and senior years, I could take advanced science courses that prepared me for college courses.  This is all because I am from Massachusetts, a fact that I had no control over.  It is also the reason why I can go to this school in the first place.  Drexel is an expensive school, however it's engineering program and coop system made it great opportunity for me.  The only reason that I could go here is because of my parent's economical status, something else that I did not work for or choose.  One more way that being from Massachusetts has changed my identity is that I am a democrat.  This isn't just because Massachusetts is a overwhelmingly blue state, or because my parents to.  It's because I have seen the benefits to great health care and fantastic public schools.  I want everywhere to be as good as Massachusetts, and I want everyone to have the same opportunities that I did.  I am very grateful to be from Massachusetts. 

WEEK 2

I grew up in a pretty normal suburban town.  I had friends from elementary school that I enjoyed being friends with because they were nearby and fun.  I wanted them to be in my classes when I moved onto middle school.  Not particularly because we shared a special emotional bond, but because I knew them, and they were my friends. These friends were my friend because of similar reasons.  We grew up close by, and we knew each other.  We had very few similar interests.  They liked a lot of sports and rap music, and by the time we were getting older, they started doing drugs and treated me not really like a friend at all.  I'm not saying that I felt endangered or saw my grades drop because I was around them, they were just my friends (However, I do remember a specific instance of going home crying after a particular day of them making fun of me, and I tried to hide it from my parents).  However, something strange started happening.  By the time I was in high school, I could talk to whoever I wanted, people all around my hometown, not just my friends.  These people were weird and nerds and silly.  They did something that I didn't know the name for at the time, but I do now: they respected me.  I got over a weird social bump where I realized that I could make decisions for myself and friends could be who I have mutual interest with and respect for.  After a day of choosing to be with some new friends over my old ones I remember being questioned by my old friends the next day:

"Where were you yesterday?"

"I was hanging out with Gabe."  I remember reluctantly admitting it.

"Is he that gay kid with blonde hair?"

I felt a distinct sense of betrayal, as if I was doing something wrong.  I wasn't supposed to be like this, I should just stay with what I know.  However, years past, and I made the choice to stay with the friends who actually care about me, because I cared about them too.  My parents would ask me "Hows Damien been?" to which I would respond " He's good I guess."  And as I chose my mew friends over the old they would ask "Have you seen the guys around here recently?"  I had to explain "I just don't hang out with them anymore really."  While this may not be the most explosive or heart-wrenching examples of someone rejecting a culture that was set upon them, it is one that I can still remember to this day, and my decisions made me into the person I am today.

WEEK 3

1.) I am going to ask my friend from my hometown in Massachusetts who is studying in England about how liberalism in England is different than in the United States.  My questions look to see how liberalism is viewed differently in these two places and how the people view topics differently.  I will be conducting my research online, through Facebook instant messager.

Is there a relatively liberal party in England and how is it viewed by the public?

How do the political parties in the United States (democrats and republican, liberal and conservative) differ to those in England?

How does the scale of liberal to conservative differ in England to the United States? (Who is considered radically liberal in England?)

Would you consider the young people in England to be more liberal than those in the US?

How are controversial topics viewed in England? (topics such as gay marriage, abortion, ect)

Do radically liberal parties (such as socialist) hold weight in nation-wide politics?

Do young people of England talk about politics on a normal basis?

Do you see benefits or downsides to living in a country that has different political stances to the United States?

Are you able to see people generally becoming more liberal in England, such as changing views in politics?

How does the political history the country reflect it's liberal views?

WEEK 4

I grew up in Massachusetts, a primarily blue state.  I enjoyed the privileges from the public school and the good health care system.  Because of these benefits, I am a liberal.   It’s easy to be liberal when you grow up in a state that is mostly democrats.  I think that liberal is a relative term, depending on where you grow up.  I wondered what would make others in other countries define themselves as liberal.  I wanted to know what would make someone liberal in a place in the world that has different ideals and a different government.  I have a friend who also grew up in my home town in Massachusetts, but she is going to a University in England.  She has helped me better understand the difference in culture and politics from the United States and England.  Liberals in England are similar in thought to liberals in the United States.  There is a kind of universal thought that can define liberals in any culture.  This attachment can be used to compare and contrast the two nations and their peoples.  The nations differ because they come from vastly different backgrounds and histories.

WEEK 5

On a warm summer day, I stood outside the T station waiting for my friend.  Harvard square is a great place to people watch, do some shopping, or just have a nice lunch out.  This day, similar to many other days before, I would be talking to my friend about politics.  We found a nice spot to sit inside, across from the Ben and Jerry's.  We start out simple, talking about video games or something.  Then I ask the question that always came up in our talks, "Adam, Why are you an anarcho-capitalist?"  Adam initially replies with a sigh. Then he tells me about his philosophy on government.  To give an overview of his views, he thinks that being forced to give your money to the government is equivalent to being stolen from.  The basis of anarcho-capitalism is that there is no government, and that companies will be able to run without government interference, and people can make their own economic decisions.  He thinks that the economics of the situation agree with him, and that governmentally-supported programs would be upheld by people's own economic know-how, or by donations of the public.  Now, me being the good-little-democrat that I was born and raised to be (Adam always found the multiple pictures of Obama and his family around my house funny) I had to debate him on every point to my last dying breath.  However, I met up with Adam many days over the summer, and the simplicity of his philosophy was getting to me.  The basis of science is that 95% of what we know will be proved wrong.  That's why discoveries are so important, they offer a possible truth to our world of uncertainties.  As a forward thinking youth, I decided to accept Adam's political opinions as my own, I guess I realized that a democracies ability to dictate the people's lives was too autocratic for me.

\

"YOU'RE A WHAT?" My sister yelled in disbelief.

I smiled, I knew she would take it so seriously.  "I'm an anarcho-capitalist.  I think there should be no government."

"You've been talking to Adam too much." she retorted.

"I think that the person who knows what to do best with my money is me.  Being forced to give the government your money is immoral.  People should have the right to make there own economic decisions.  For example, the Obamacare system took health care away from millions of people and is making businesses lose money. People have the right to find a heath care plan that suits them best"

My sister stood, staring at me in disbelief.  "Max, you know that Obamacare updated the requirements of the health care system, which took away plans that were incompetent.  There's a story of a woman who developed cancer and because of it she lost her health care plan, and then couldn't get another one because she had a pre-existing condition.  She died because no plan could cover her needs.  The Obamacare system makes it so plans cannot deny you care because of a pre-existing condition or other complications.  People lost their plans because they had shitty plans that would let you die.  They then got new ones, provided by the government."

"Oh."

\

My French teacher in high school was French.  Like she grew up in France, and then, at some point in her life decided to come to the US and start teaching the French language to high schoolers.  Sometimes, she would tell us about the differences of France and the US.  She once told us how people rarely get married in France anymore, how now people just sign an economic housing agreement that states that two people live together, regardless of gender, age or anything.  We didn't exactly understand what she meant, so we asked "Could two siblings be bounded in one of these housing agreements?"  

She replied "No, that would be incest!" The nation of France was willing to look past the pretense of who two people are, and just let two people in love live together.  With all of the complicated traditional views about marriage, why not just leave it out.  I agreed completely with this idea, I think that two people do have this right, and the government doesn't have the right to tell you who you can love.

However, she told us about another popular idea in France.  There is a book that recently got a lot of press.  It is a children's book that introduces children to the idea that everyone in nude underneath their clothes.  It strives to fight a culture that puts a taboo on the real human body.  The book is called 'Tous a Poil', and depicts many people in a young child's life getting naked.  Like, fully naked.  Like, yeah, I mean that kind of naked. It shows your grandmother, your parents, your cousins, your teacher, even your mailmangetting naked.  And, in the book, there's nothing weird about it.  Everyone just has a nice day at the beach, totally naked.  Everyone in the class, including myself, were completely taken aback by the books practices.  It's just too far to show a young kid that age all of those people really nude.  My French teacher said that many people in France thinks its a good idea to show kids this stuff at a young age.  And as I thought about it, I gradually agreed with her.  Today's culture, especially in the US, places such a taboo on nudity, however, we love seeing half naked women on beer ads.  The reality is that the real human body is not respected, and this book offers a first step to a more accepting culture.

WEEK 6

http://thinkprogress.org/about/

WEEK 7

I was asked to split the second paragraph into two separate paragraphs to get the points I make across easier.

When someone identifies himself/herself as a liberal, this person could be defining their political, social, or economic viewpoints.  To which of these viewpoints the person is referring depends on how and where he/she grew up.  “Liberal” is a relative term in many cases, however, there are some fundamental ideals that all liberals follow.  However, these ideals are so general, most people understand them and follow them whether they are relatively liberal or not.  The origins of liberalism are centered around “‘sustained rational examination of self, others and social practices.’” (Tate)  In the free world, being able to judge yourself and others in a society is a right, so I will not be talking about liberalism this generally.  Becuase I am talking about the difference of liberalism in two countries in the free world, I will focus on less fundamental questions of liberalism, and focus more on more modern questions. The liberalism in the United States and England will differ most in small social and economic ways.

In the United States, someone is likely to be considered liberal based on their social views of current controversial issues.  However, in England, social topics are generally not debated as often as economic ones: “Most parties in the uk disagree on economic issues and policies, not social ones.” (Griesmer)  The liberal spectrum in the United States doesn’t truly take economic viewpoints into consideration because there is not a large difference in economic views in the United States. This is similar to the fact that in England, social “topics aren’t controversial. They’re legal and not about to be banned anytime soon.”  The fundimental thought behind one person identifying themselves as liberal is similar, however the actual differences reflect the country's views well. Not everywhere do people define themselves as liberal for the same reasons.

C.

WEEK 1

The first essay speaks to identity because the author identifies himself as an American.  He proves this by dressing up as Captain America, "The ultimate American."  Some people on the streets have a hard time accepting that Captain America could be someone other than a blond-haired, blue-eyed, well built man.  The author challenges these people's beliefs and shows that Americans are not one race or ethnicity.  The second essay is all about identity.  A fifteen-year old boy identifies himself as a 25-year old law expert, and answers people's questions online.   He answers these questions with accuracy and speed, and the users of the website benefit.  However, when she decides to be truthful about his identity, he is unable to help others like he did before.  The connotations associated with age and classical education are shown in this piece and are proved to be pointless.  A teenager was able to prove himself as a better law expert than those with formal training.  The last piece showed how the identity of a man alters the way others treat and see him.  The color of his skin made strangers around him treat him as a danger to their well-being.  The author had to go out of his way to identify himself as someone who is not dangerous by whistling a happy tune or wearing professional clothing.

The first article speaks to American culture by asking "Who is an American?"  Maybe the first person who you think of is a blond-haired, blue-eyed, white man.  The author questions American culture by showing that anyone, as long as they were born in America, can be American.  "Faking it" begins by explaining how business culture changed in the year 2000.  New technologies were surfacing, and the Internet was becoming an everyday thing.  The Internet allows someone of any age or background to be someone important.  The business culture only allowed people with classical training and education to be an expert.  These two cultures, the Internet and law, clashed and created a difficult situation for a fifteen-year old boy.  "Black men and Public Space" shows how American culture views black men.  They are seem as a danger, as something that you need to take precautions against.  They could only be considered docile if they are proved to be, such as by wearing formal clothing, or whistling a happy tune.  They have a presumption of guilt against them that is created by American culture.

"My first victim was a woman--white, well-dressed, probably in her late twenties."

This quote in the opening sentence in "Black men and Public Space."  I think it some the piece up very well.  A person was walking near a woman on the street and she decided to run away.  The only reason that this woman acted the way she did was because the person was a man and black.  I am not saying that this woman was at fault in these actions, she was worried for her own well-being.  The one to blame here is America's racism problem that is very problematic today.  This problem is why the woman acted as she did.  It is America who is making black males out to be predators, taking victims in the night.  This quote on its own may not truly show the power behind it, but with the context, this is a very powerful quote that shows America's predisposition to viewing black males as preditors.

WEEK 2

A common theme in each on the pieces was that it is easy to go with the flow.   The first video spoke about how a young woman was unable to stop automatically acting the way her mother taught her to act.  Even when she is in a class or in a professional meeting she cannot turn her "instincts" off.  She was taught to keep quiet and keep to herself, and that's how she is, against her will.  She was unable to be how she thought that she should be because she had always viewed herself as less important than the natural flow of things.  She wanted to be quiet in a loud world.  The second video spoke to a more general example of "going with the flow."  The author states how as humans, it is our default setting to drudge through everyday life with the mantra of believing that I am the center of the universe, and when things go poorly for me, the universe has done something wrong.  However, there is a duality in the fact that everything is random while nothing is.  Everything in this world has happened for a reason, whether you believe in fate or not, the cause of anything can be described with enough foresight.  However, to a passerby, these causes will never be known, and the action seems random.  When we go out of our way to find these causes and see the true mechanisms of the universe, we better ourselves, and become more mindful.  But this is a hard process, and it is a hundred times easier to just keep walking, and let your prejudices fill in the gaps.

The last piece is much more about society's willing ignorance to the true feelings of the women in our culture.  The guilt trip that is described in this piece sets a burden on women from the day they're born to muscle through those gritty emotions and put them in the trash.  A face thats easier for everyone to accept is a face that doesn't cause problems, one that stays quiet and in the corner.  To reject this burden is to make everyones life harder, after all, if you always assume your prejudices are correct, you never have to learn, and learning is hard.

WEEK 3

Hatcher, Richard. "The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government's "free Schools" in England." Educational Review (2011): n.pag. ProQuest. Web.

          This article speaks on the benefit and downsides of free schools in England.  It explains the economic, social and political impacts of allowing free schools in england.  It also compares schools in England to schools in the United States and Sweden.  I find this to be a useful article because I think that education is a very important political policy and I think it reflects a countries liberalism.  The US has a public school system that is free from ages 5 to 18.  This is similar in England, however, students pay drastically less in tuition and fees to go to university in England than in the US.

Pestritto, Ronald J. "Founding Liberalism, Progressive Liberalism, And The Rights Of Property." Social Philosophy and Policy 28.02 (2011): n. pag. ProQuest. Web.

          This piece looks in detail at the change of liberalism in the United States.  I found that a background of the change to modern liberalism in the US was helpful to see a difference in the politics of England and in the US.  The piece speaks specifically to traditional liberal topics such as property ownership and freedom.  While the piece does talk about an older era, it still provides insight to the fundamentals of liberalism and what it means to the United States.

Tate, John William. "‘We Cannot Give One Millimetre'? Liberalism, Enlightenment and Diversity." Political Studies 61.4 (2013): n.pag. ProQuest. Web.

          This final piece speaks to the philosophical views behind liberalism.  These views are worldwide, as they are made by famous philosophers.  The statements made in this piece link the views of these great philosophers and liberalism as a whole, including the freedom of the human soul, and a human's right to property.  It will be useful to me because it will provide insight to a worldwide view of liberalism, and I can see the United States' and England's differing view on this philosophy.

WEEK 4

I feel that when I really want to use a quotation in my sentence I often do not take into consideration the grammar of the same sentence.  While I write, I will be using one tense or group of people, and when a quote doesn't use the same tense or has a singular subject I quickly get frustrated.  Sometimes I chop up the quote but that feels awkward to read.  I'm glad I read this article because know I have an example of changing my own text to fit the quote.  Also, I feel that I'm not bad at introducing a quote, I follow some of the tactics that the author mentioned here, however I never thought of setting up a quote so the reader will read it in a specific mindset, and will have something to expect in the quote.  I will try to start doing that in my writing.




WEEK 5
One thing that I think is very important for any identity is to remember that a group of people will always be very varied.  It is wrong to prejudice a group of people because there is no way that you could say a meaningful statement about a group of people that is true for them all without just defining the group.  You have to get to know the people that identify themselves in that group if you want to really find out something meaningful.  To assume something of a group of people that you do not know completely well is to make your self ignorant to the real purpose of that group.  When someone says that feminists hate men or think that men are inferior, this person will be unwilling to really find out what feminists define the group to be, and what their beliefs are.  For me and my paper, I need to remember that the definition of a liberal is very broad and almost anyone could be considered liberal in the free world.  I use the term very lightly in my paper, and I should remember that not everyone in the group of liberals associate with the same ideals that I have.


WEEK 6

  The errors that I found in my paper's introduction were mainly do to my sentence structure.  This includes my poorly placed and used commas, and the fragmental nature of my sentences.  There are some cases of switching tense in my paragraph that is due to my talking about the time spent researching verses my time spent accumulating background knowledge, ie. my youth.  I am afraid that I am using too many commas and the sentences do not flow well because of this.  I also think that my sentences are too disjointed because they quickly explain the whole reason for why I want to research the topic.  I think that too improve upon this, I should give a shorter more precise reason to why I am working with the topic.  

         This lecture demands us as humans to regard ourselves not as individuals in the world but as people that interact with people who are similar and different to us.  We are people that too often forget that our actions and beliefs effect others in the world.  We can get a pretty good idea of who we are by thinking about ourselves, but we will never truly know who we are if we do not look at our worldwide standing.  We must observe how we effect those around us to see our true purpose in the world.  I strongly agree with the narrator when he said that someone is empathetic when they are able to make a "two-way dialog" in a conversation, and add their own experiences.  I think that I need to improve on this skill.  My mother is a "people-person",  and she uses this skill very well.  

WEEK 7

Hi Niki,

It's obvious you are a very skilled writer, the organization of your paper is very sound and this makes your paper very easy to read and you got a large amount of information across over you paper.  The information that you showed was also believable because you had so much evidence.  By the time I finished reading your paper, I definitely knew a lot more about Indian culture and values, and how the people who moved to the United States with this culture had to weigh their options of keeping old traditions and accepting new ones that fit their current situation.  One thing that I was a little thrown off by was that in your introduction, you made it seem like you were going to focus solely on Indian immigrant mothers, however, you talk about a slightly wider range of Indian immigrants in your paper.  This is a small detail, but perhaps you might want to include it in your paper.  Other than that, you always kept a solid focus in your paper and I was never confused as to where you were going in your paper.

I think that you should annotate your bibliography, especially because use cite is so often, this would give the reader a good background on the people and source you are drawing information from.

Also thanks for getting our essays together in one post! :)

Hi Matt,

You paper had a very clear subject from start to finish.  I liked how you stayed with your topic well and was also able to incorporate evidence from multiple sources.  Your paper developed nicely to talk about the technical differences in the 2 schools and then going into more personal stories about how two students felt about the different experiences at each school.  You might want to state how both schools are important to you in your introduction, obviously you are going to Drexel, but how is the University of Delaware important to you?  When I first read your introduction, I wasn't sure if your identity was a college student or colleges in general.  Maybe you would want to make it explicitly clear that the experiences one has in college is similar and different for different schools.  

I think your paper could be helped by having more evidence from scholarly articles looking into the different experiences in large and small schools.  I also think that your works cited page should be annotated because you have 2 different interviews and maybe some background on these students in one place would be helpful.

WEEK 8

I first thought that the article was very interesting.  Reading exercises a humans ability to assess emotional situations as a third party.  Prior makes many good arguments as to why reading is a spiritual experience.  She opens how many people have been questioning if reading makes you more moral.  However, she quickly retorts with evidence on how the Nazis in WWII were well educated and read often.  She then moves her arguments to how reading improves someone's "soul", not just makes them better.  The author uses evidence well because she moves the readers attention in a logical way towards her final argument.  She doesn't even bring up her actual point until after she talks about what reading does not do.  This use of evidence is very skillful because she knows how the readers will react and follow the passage.  She then, after presenting her true argument, goes on to explain why reading is anexcersize of the human soul.  

Prior is similar to Said in writing.  She writes passionately about the topic, however, she does not write it with as much voice as Said.  Said writes very aggressively and emotionally, he insults Huntington and believes what he writes personally.  Prior writes much more academically, and she proves her points with only logic and emotional evidence.  Prior's essay is good at making a quick point about reading and what it means when you do it with meaning.  However, Said strives to prove a larger point and because of this he attacks the argument on a larger level.  Both of these tactics have merit, but Said is a VERY persuasive in his writing.

I do find it a little ironic that I read Prior's piece purely for credit...