Journal #9

1. This picture claims that on your 18th birthday you can go away to war but you are not aloud to drink alcohol.

2. This picture shows this is true because the war side of the picture has a thumbs up whereas the drinking side of the picture has a thumbs down.

3. I think that you should be able to go off to war and fight for your country at the age of 18. However, I don't think that any 18 year old, although an adult should be able to drink. I don't believe any 18 year old is wise enough to make a decision and I think they still have a lot of growing up to do.

Lightman and Gloud Question's

1. Yes, I do believe that reading the first and last paragraph of an essay gives you a good preview of the article.
2. It is important to know that Lightman is a scientist because he knows a lot more about this subject than an artist or social worker would know about the earth being round or flat. It also tells us he is knowledgeable and we can believe what he is telling us.
3. Lightman is using a lighthearted tone when he talks about conducting his experiments in Greexe because it seemed satisfying. He is serious when he talks about Aristotle being the first person in history to give proof that the earth is round. The effects of his tones showed that he could be humorous but also very serious.
1. To support the theory of evolution Gloud talks about the imperfections of nature. People think that nature should be elegant when in actuality it can be gruesome, but this is what the animals do to survive. Another theory to support evolution is the transitions are often found in fossil records.
2. Gloud talks about Einstein’s theory of gravitation replaced Newton’s apple theory.
3. I have never heard of the Darrow and Bryan trial and by reading about it my understanding was not reduced.

Journal #8

This picture claims that there is not enough social sercurity for everyone. This image show viewers by the safety trampoline that only has enough room for one person, yet there are several people who are falling and depend on the safety net (social security).

Journal #7

I do not think it makes sense to let children have a mock election, they are too young to understand all the different debates and don't realize the significance of an election. I think the children are getting the ideas from their parents, after all they look up to them. So if they know who their parents are going to vote for they will vote for the same candidate. I don't think its accurate to say that children pick the right candidate for the presidential election because they don't know anything about it. They are voting for who their parents are choosing or who their friend is going to vote for that is sitting next to them. Kids are influenced with their choices. So I don't think children can really predict the future President.

This I Believe- Revised Draft

What is love? Love is many different things, happiness, friendship, fear, luck, feeling emotions and much more. Love makes your heart grow stronger, but I believe it makes your heart grow bigger. For me love is all the above but mostly fear. I remember the day I feared for the life of my father like it was happening all over again. I will never forget that day; it was a Friday March 14, 2008. I was at a softball tournament and had not spoken to anyone in my family the entire day, but I never for one second thought it was because my dad had a stroke that very morning.
I got home around three o’clock in the afternoon and my mom and brother were waiting for me so we could go see my dad in the hospital. As we were driving there I was scared, of what I don’t know. Maybe I was scared that the night before could’ve been the last time I ever saw my father, scared that I never had the relationship that I always wish I had had with him, or scared that he might have another stroke. I should’ve been happy that he was still alive and my mom kept telling me that he was in good spirits, but I wasn’t going to believe her until I saw him for myself.
As we arrived at the hospital I remembered walking up to the entrance of the automatic sliding glass doors and feeling the cool air from the inside send chills down my spine. It wasn’t the feeling you get when you walk outside on a beautiful day in the fall that brightens your day, but a depressed sad feeling. When I walked in, I was cold which made me miserable, and the lights were dim which made me depressed. Then, we finally got up to the fifth floor which was recovery, and as I walked into his room I saw him on his blackberry back at work. He looked up, smiled, and cracked a joke which made us all feel better. We all sat around his bed and talked to him for twenty minutes. Those twenty minutes were the last time our lives would ever be the same. The last twenty minutes that we would that we would not fear for the life of our father, husband, son, brother, and uncle. The stroke he had earlier in the day became increasingly larger. He was quickly rushed down to ICU where he would fight to make it through the night.
The fear of living in the dark is what scared me the most. The doctors and nurses would not tell us anything. At the time we were unaware that he had another stroke, we did not know how large the bleed in his brain was, and we were not sure if the bleed would ever stop. I feared hearing the words “he didn’t make it” they would have been too sudden; I was not ready to let go of my father. I sat in the waiting room thinking of all the good times I had with him. Then I realized I didn’t want to think about what we had but what was to come in the future. But I just became more fearful, I thought of many things, such as, what if he is not here when I graduate high school or college, he may not be around to walk me down the aisle when I get married or to meet his first grandchild. He may not be around to help coach my brother through football season, or to spend retirement traveling the world with my mom.
When you become fearful you never remember the bad times, but only the good times you shared with that person. You realize that although you’ve had your differences you still love them and you always will. My dad is now healthy and I am so happy that I get to spend more time with him and cherish every moment of it. I will still fear for his life every second of every day because I love him.

Journal Entry #7 Orwell

1. Orwell tries to prove his point that the English language is in trouble by blaming our foolish thoughts and bad habits.
2. From the time Orwell wrote this essay I believe the English language has become worse. Many of my teachers will agree with me when I say this because they witness it first hand with the upcoming generations. They would always correct students and say, “Bobby and I not me and Bobby”. Today we have overused shorthand, instead of saying, “got to go, talk to you later” we say, “g2g, ttyl”. Also I receive many text messages with words put together, for example; the word out of combine and form outta. There are many forms of this shorthand which I consider to be a misuse of the English language.
3. I do not agree with all of Orwell’s rules. I think that if you can use a big and intelligent word in a sentence I think you should instead of replacing it with a word a five year old can understand. I think if need be you should also use a scientific word. I believe using words people are unfamiliar with is good for us, because if we don’t understand something we can look it up in the dictionary. I don’t think someone should have to scale down their writing skills or knowledge for someone else when they can simply look something up that they do not understand.
4. When Orwell says you should focus on pictures and sensations before you put words on paper, I think he wants the writer to know what they are describing and describe it in detail as if it were right in front of them and not in their brain. I have focused more on the details while writing a paper and I think that it makes an essay become more alive and realistic. Also I think it keeps the reader interested and makes them feel like they are experiencing it themselves.

Murray Chapter 6 Questions

1. In my euthanasia essay that I wrote I believe my information was well described, but I don’t believe I captured the audience very well overall. I should’ve asked more questions to keep them interested in what I was about to talk about. I could’ve organized my essay better; it went back and forth quite a bit. It did not develop into the essay I thought it would.
2. As I was reading my essay aloud to myself I realized that it was very disheveled and uninteresting. I need to find a better introduction and get more opinions of euthanasia. I interviewed many people but each one had the same opinion about it. Finally, although there are many different types of euthanasia I need to focus on one kind.
3. Yes, Murray telling me who the speaker was grabs my attention and influences how I read and comprehend the quote. When he tells us the speakers name and where they are from I start to think of the heritage and how things are or in another country or day and age. It really helps me grasp the meaning of the quote and that it might have been taken differently a hundred years ago than what it means today.