Reading Response #6

I feel similarly to the way I believe Zora Hurston feels. I do not believe the pigment of skin should have any affect on who a person is or their worth. I think we are all people and we all deserve the same opportunities. As for gender, there are many stereotypes and such, but we are slowly making progress. There is a huge difference in how women in the home were perceived fifty years ago and today. In the mid 1900's, women were primarily home-makers, staying at home, cleaning, and taking care of the children. I don't believe there is anything wrong with staying at home, but I believe women should have the same opportunities as men. Today more women are working full-time and still taking care of their children, while men are working less and helping more with the home.

Reading Response #5

1. Compare/Contrast Stein and Eliot. How are their arguments similar? How are they different? Is one argument stronger than the other? How?

Both arguments are evaluating points that they beleive are the basis for someone to have talent. The writers are sharing their ideas on what they beleive creates a masterpeice and what traits we should look for. T.S. Eliot gives a very clear analysis of his thoughts and beliefs about tradition and talent. Stein's essay about masterpieces lacks punctuation, runs together, and does not make a whole lot of sense. Stein shows her points by writing the way she beleives a masterpeice is created, but I beleive her lack of punctation speeds up the reader to a point where they are not able to enjoy her work. I beleive T.S. Eliot's argument is stronger. He seems very careful to choose his words and his writing flows well, he also shows some great examples of what he means in a more literal term.

Blog #3

Everyday millions of teens are abusing prescription drugs. Many people do not know the mental and physical effects of long term prescription drug abuse, when I say long term I mean using consistently for more than a few months. Can teens stop on their own or should help be offered to them?
Prescription drugs are very addictive not only mentally but also physically. Teens need help to get clean from prescription drugs.

Main points for:

• Prescription drugs are highly addictive and dangerous
• Teens don't know how to stop using due to the mental and physical addictions
• Teens can better their lives
• Parents can feel better about their choices

Main points agaist:

• Treatment is expensive
• Teens can stop on their own
• They just want attention

The purpose of this essay is to inform and educate my audience about the harmful effects of prescrition drugs, and to show that there is help outh there. My audience is teens and parents. I want them to learn about the mental and physical addiction to prescription drugs and how they can get help.

Reading Response #4

1. The author is Ernest Hemingway. According to Nobelprize.org, Ernest Hemingway was a reporter, writer, and also served as a volunteer in the Italian army. I think his experiences and personal interests had a large influence in his writing. The story is about bull fighting; this happens to be one of his favorite hobbies (Mrs. Darrow).

2.The audience seems to pertain to older men who would find interest in the same type of sport. Ernest Hemingway refers directly to men several times throughout his story.

3. This author is not only informing and educating the audience, he is also providing entertainment.

4. The author uses a topic that many Americans do not agree with. I think he approaches this subject very carefully before he lets us in on what is going on. Ernest Hemingway shows his emotions to us and how he views the situation which ultimately provides understanding.

5. Ernest Hemingway is writing about the running of the bulls which is very important to the Spanish culture. In the story he refers to how important it is and also how long it has been going on.

Work Cited

"Ernest Hemingway." Nobelprize.org. 30 June 2009

Joyce C. Oats, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays of the Century.

Reading Response #3

I found a website that is dedicated to providing information about American Poets. The website is called http://www.poets.org/. I found this website when I googled Sylvia Plath. The reason I know this information is reliable is because it is provided by a reputable organization, the Academy of American Poets, and there are many references listed by the website. This website gives an autobiography of Sylvia Plath's life and even descibes the places she has lived, one which is included in the story. This information has helped me understand where the story takes place and also how the little boy in the story must have felt in her presence, even though she was not famous yet, to see all the papers scattered around her house and the poor condition she was in, and then to find out how famous she had become after her death must have been quite the ordeal. This information gives me, not only a better understanding of the story, but also after learning more about her, it makes the story more memorable.

Blog #2

http://www.aa.org/

This organization was founded by Bill Wilson and Bob Smith in 1935. The organization was founded in order to help struggleing alcoholics achive sobriety. Today over 2 million people are a part of AA. The website provides information about the organization, its history, and how to find meetings in your area.

www.unhooked.com/sep/aacouns.html

The authors of this article are Christine Le, Erik P. Ingvarson, and Richard C. Page. This article was published in the Journal of Counseling and Development. There is almost a whole page of references . The arguement in the article shows how some people in the counseling proffesion feels about aa and what they would change about it.

For my contact I went to http://www.prescottaa.org/. I sent an email to the address listed but I have not gotten a response so far. I will also be calling to talk to them personally.

Reading Response #2

"Son of the Wolfman" by Michael Chabon

A tragic event takes place that bring a marriage closer together. Cara is a very caring person but Cara's husband is angry and unforgiving that she wants to have the wolfman's child, but in the end Richard becomes a loving father.

Quote #1
Chabon says, " Im canceling the thing tomorrow, she told him"(pg.176).

Cara and Richard have been trying to get pregnant for years and this is her chance to have a family with Richard. I think her decision to keep the baby shows not only what a good person she is, but instead of divorcing Richard, she wants to try and create the family for them that they have always wanted.

Quote #2
Chabon says, "Come on Richie. Don't even think of it as sex, all right? A postaglandin delivery system" (pg 190).

The fact that Richard showed up to Cara's house to comfort her says alot to me. This was a turning point for Richard, and the deciding factor on how the story will end. He has sex with Cara to help her go into labor shows to the readers that he has a change of heart.

Quote #3
Charbon says,"No one, Richard felt, had ever quite looked at him this way. Without emotion, without judgement" (pg. 200).

Richard felt a sense of calmness when he first gazed into his son's eyes, all the feelings of hatred and regret left him in this moment. Richard liked the way this child looks at him, he realized he was going to be a father when he got this glimpse into his childs eyes.

10 Communities for Research

1. X Generation
2. Woman/Female
3. Italian/Caucasian
4. Straight/Married
5. Business Owner
6. Student
7. Biking
8. Parenting/Mother
9. AA
10. NA

The first websites I visited were about parenting, more specifically about positive reinforcement parenting. The websites I visited were http://www.suite101.com/, http://www.trans4mind.com/, and http://www.growingwell.com/. In the first website I viewed had a controversy surrounding how to parent a child with ADHD. The second and third websites were debating positive reinforcement vs. negative reinforcement. There is an endless supply of information based on parenting.

The second and third community I would be interested in writing about are Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. The websites I visited for these topics are http://www.aa.org/ and http://www.na.org/. The controversy I am following is whether or not these programs actually work and/or whether or not people use because of a chemical imbalance in their brain or genetics. There is a limited amount of material available to the public about AA and NA, both programs have a strict anonymity policy.

I think AA and/or NA will be the best community for this assignment. I think this is an exciting and interesting topic to discuss.

Reading Response #1

I liked the beginning of this story, the relationship between Jeremy and China was very interesting and heart-warming. I did not like the statements she made about young couples who have children. When I realized she was not going to tell her parents and ultimately chose not to keep the baby, I was very angry for their selfish and delusional decision. I felt resentful after knowing what they did with the baby; I wanted to know what the consequences were going to be for their actions. The end of this story gave me the strongest emotions, when I realized how “sick” China was, after all that happened, the only thing she could do was think about Jeremy, I accually felt some sort of pity for her.

At the beginning of the story Boyle says, “They wore each other like a pair of socks” (pg.1). This sentence sums up the relationship between Jeremy and China, they were in love with each other, or at least physically. Boyle says, “And the sex. They were careful, always careful – I will never, never be like those breeders that bring their puffed-up squalling little red-faced babies to class, she told him, and he agreed, got adamant about it even, until it became a running theme in their relationship, the breeders overpopulating an overpopulated world and ruining their own lives in the process – but she had forgotten to pack her pills and he had only two condoms with him, and it was’nt as if there was a drugstore around the corner” (pg. 139). In this paragraph I understood what a skewed sense of getting pregnant and having children was to them. Most people look forward to having children, maybe not when they are in high school or even college, but eventually when they have settled down with their partner. China and Jeremy on the other hand are very judgmental towards teens that have children and despised them. They remind me of children in grade school who are grossed out by anything that has to do with liking the opposite sex. It is ironic that they forgot to bring protection on the camping trip and continue to have sex even though they are well aware there could be consequences. Boyle says, “For a long while she just lay there gazing out the window, watching the rinsed-out sun slip down into the sky that had no more color in it than a TV tuned to an unsubscribed channel, and then she found herself picturing things the way they were an eon ago, when everything was green” (pg.152). At the end of the story China finds herself reminiscing about how things between her and Jeremy used to be. After everything that has happened, she is still thinking about Jeremy, this is not surprising to me. She is fantasizing about how things were after all the tragedy; this shows me that somewhere in her she probably feels some type of remorse for what has happened.

This is a story about a young couple who have a strong sexual relationship and when the consequences of their actions are apparent, no one will step up to take responsibility and an innocent child dies. I believe the author is showing us how a typical stereotype can be taken too far, if China would have just faced her fears and told her parents the truth, she would not be in the unfortunate situation she is in now.







Work Cited
Oates, Joyce Carol, and Christopher R. Beha, eds. The ecco anthology of contemporary american short fiction. Pg.1

Oates, Joyce Carol, and Christopher R. Beha, eds. The ecco anthology of contemporary american short fiction. Pg.139

Oates, Joyce Carol, and Christopher R. Beha, eds. The ecco anthology of contemporary american short fiction. Pg. 152

Hello!

Hello, my name is Ashton Wall. My first goal for this course is to finish it without any absences. I would also like to finish this summer with all A's or a high B. My last goal is to turn in all assignments on time.