3D

I think I know how to write in 3D


This is amazing, I think the contrast of colors makes 3D or something like that. It only works with the blue. Hmmmm

Racism and Stereotypes 2 (Science)

This week I learned a lot about how others in class experienced discrimination and how race is an illusion. Many people gave their personal reports this week. I enjoyed hearing about everyone's history and how they had different experiences with discrimination. I was surprised with some of the discrimination some people still face today based on their skin color and he they look. One thing that stood out to me was when someone said that they were having trouble getting a credit card because they were black. This was surprising to me because I would have thought that discrimination against black people had been long gone. When I heard this, I thought, "Really! This still happens". Other than the really sad experiences that people shared, I found the personal reports to be fascinating.

After watching the movie "Race, The Power of an Illusion" I felt that race was indeed, an illusion. It is manmade, just like all the machines, computers and cars everyone uses. I learned in my high school biology class that everyone is genetically different. The probability that two people on Earth are 100% genetically the same is about 1 in a trillion. I do not remember if it was more or less than that, but I do remember that it was around or very close to a trillion. If people used biology as an excuse or evidence for race, then everyone would need to be placed in  their own unique race category. Another reason why race is an illusion is because it said that genetically, "Humans are the most similar". Humans think that they are different from each other only because they can distinguish between each other through looks, only what they can see. However, when it comes to things like pinto beans or fruit flies, humans think they all look the same. This is because things like fruit flies are too small for humans to closely observe with the eye. Things like pinto beans have huge amounts of variation in the different spot pattern, size and shape. Humans just do not take time to examine these things.

Humans also like to categorize things. This may be another reason why there is an idea of "race". People love to group things, to put everything into a little category so that things can be organized. This was probably how the idea of "race" developed. One person decided that he/she was bored and started to make up racial categories for people, then "poof" race was developed. People thought that since they were so different from each other, they had to organize different people into different categories, this became race. Once race was established, people started to dislike on another, or judge people based on their race. From that came the stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. I think that the people who came up with "race" just wanted to hate on people.

It was very interesting to see that the Mitochondrial DNA from a white person could be exactly the same as Mitochondrial DNA from a person in Africa. Even though everyone is genetically different, the different could only be a single letter in the sequence of DNA. DNA is made up of a double helix of sugar and phosphate with the bases Guanine, Adenine, Cytosine, and Thymine. This is the G, A, C, and T of DNA. A sequence of DNA for skin color in one person could be GATTCGATGGCCCGTAT, while it could be GATTCGGTGGCCCGTAT in another person. The only thing different in the second sequence was that the seventh letter of the first sequence was replaced with a G. A simple change like that could have a significant impact of the look of a person. The first person's skin might be white, but a simple change in the sequence might turn the second person's skin brown. This is why some people from different parts of the world have very similar DNA sequences. This explains why everyone is different genetically, but also very closely related.

One thing about humans that is funny to me is how a lot of people make fun of people because of their skin color. If a white person was living near the Sahara Desert, he/she would die of skin cancer. Your skin would need to be very dark to block out the UV rays. Again, if a black person was living in Iceland he/she would either freeze to death, or die from the lack of vitamin D. People make up stereotypes and discriminate against people because they have adapted to the place they live. If they did not adapt they would be dead. People are trying to survive, what is so funny about that. This was probably how the stereotypes, black people do not like the cold and white people get sunburned easily came to be. They are probably true. 

Racism and Stereotypes 1

I haven't blogged for a long time. I wrote this for my Psychology of Minority Groups class. I thought , why not put it up on my blog.

In class this week I learned that there were many stereotypes that could be applied to people of different color. There were many more stereotypes that the class did not even think of. When we were making a list of stereotypes for people of different color, I realized that many of the stereotypes under one column could also be applied to another column. For example, under the column for black, it said “Have lots of flow and can dance very well”. I thought about it and realized that this could also be applied to the brown, yellow, and even the red column. There were many stereotypes like this, which made me question why this stereotype was only applied to the black column. I think most of these stereotypes were developed when one ethnic group saw that another ethnic group was doing something different or looked different. This may be because of ethnocentrism. Many people might have thought their ethnic group was at the center of all others. If many ethnic groups from different parts of the world thought their ethnic group was the best, it would result in prejudices, conflict, and ultimately, stereotypes.
          I also noticed that some of the stereotypes the class came up with were very specific and only applied to one column. I noticed that it said, "Own Casinos" under the red column. Some of the stereotypes that were very specific were probably true. Not all red people have Casinos, but a small group of them do. I don't know a lot about other countries and if they have casinos or not, but I know that in the U.S. Native Americans are the only people allowed to have casinos. Another reason why some stereotypes were specific might be because they applied to a large percentage of the population. For example, "White people can't dance" was under the white column. There are many white people that can dance very well, but a large percentage of white people probably cannot dance. This might have caused people to make assumptions and judge people based on their color. After a period of time, this stereotype developed and people started to use it directly toward white people. This stereotype did not appear in any other of the columns not because all black, brown, yellow, and red people can dance, but because a large percentage of those people could dance, and a low percentage of them could not. I am Chinese, and I cannot dance, but there are not any stereotypes targeted against me because there are many more yellow people that can dance. This shows that many stereotypes are specific to one ethnic group because they are, in part, true.
            Some of the stereotypes the class came up with didn't make much sense to me. One of them was, “Black people like Kool-Aid and watermelon.” This one stood out to me because it seemed like it applied mostly to black people in America. There are a lot more black people in Africa, than there are in America. The people in Africa probably don't even know what Kool-Aid is. Africa is the second most populous nation in the world with almost a billion people living there. Many of those people have never tasted watermelon. I think this stereotype of black people liking Kool-Aid and watermelon is not very accurate. This is similar to a scientist looking at how tall ten people are to get an average. This would be a very small sample size to look at. This is what people are doing when they start making up stereotypes. They only look at what is in front of them, they do not dig deeper and find out more about something that is foreign to them. Another stereotype that did not make much sense to me was, “Asian people can’t drive”. This did not make much sense to me because, Asia is the biggest continent on Earth and to say that Asian people can’t drive seems a bit strange. In addition, most of the cars in the U.S. were developed in Asian countries like Japan and Korea. So basically, millions of people in the U.S. are driving cars made by people who cannot drive. It sounds like a contradiction to me and does not make sense. Although there were many stereotypes that might have had some truth in them, there were also many that did not many any sense at all.

So far, I think this class is great. I love the different conversations we have, and how it can be funny and

interesting and still relate to the subject of the class. This class is by far, the best college class (out of three) that I’ve taken so far.

Reflective Final

Throughout this year of blogging I have learned a lot about myself as a writer and the ways I write. There were many ways that my blogging skills have improved this year. I have learned how to use CD's and CM's in my blog posts. I learned how to use block quotes, and I learned many new ways to write. When I first started blogging, I wrote about many random non significant topics. After some time of doing that, I began writing about emotions, after that, some scattered academic assignments. I think that my writing has gone from, boring and short, to more detailed complex posts. This is exemplified when I wrote

“Q’s defining characteristic is that he constantly wants other people to try new things, but he wont try new things himself. He also goes back and forth between prideful arrogance and shameful embarrassment.

   “We had made various attempts to get him up on land with us”

Q is always trying trying to make his uncle come up on land with him, but when his

uncle tries to convince q to go back to the water, he doesn’t want to.

This was one of the first academic blog assignments where I wrote about Qfwfg. In this post I didn’t introduce quote, and I didn’t have an introduction. This was near the beginning of the year when I just started blogging. The quote in this post was less than four lines, but since we were learning how to block quote, I tried to block quote it. Another mistake I made was not citing the quote. This entire academic post was only about 500 words. In a recent academic blog post, I wrote a book review about My Side of the Mountain. In this post all these errors I made were fixed, this is shown when I wrote,

“Bando is a very friendly person who thinks his life is boring when he meets  Sam. Sam has been  living in the woods for quite a long time and has made himself a house, and many other necessities he needs to survive. Bando was from the city, and when he saw the way Sam was living, he thought he had a boring life. This is exemplified when Bando says, "Thoreau, I have led a varied life- dishwasher, sax player, teacher. To me it has been and interesting life. Just now it seems very dull." (George, p81).”

In this post there was an introduction that included TAGS, a properly formatted quote, and an introduced and cited quote. In this post I improved on all my past errors and corrected them.  This blog post was 1050 words. Compared to the one I wrote about Qfwfg in the beginning of the year, it was 550 words more. All of this is evidence that my blog posts went from short and boring to more detailed and complex posts.

In the beginning of the year it took me a long time just to get over the word limit. An example of this would a post I wrote about Facebook. In this post I had lots of trouble getting to the 350 word limit so I totally strayed off the topic. I ended my blog post with,” This is not even 350 words. I'm so close and I'm almost there. Ohh yea Mr.Sousa lost his keys today. It sucks cause we might not be able to use the field on Monday. Yay 362 words.” There were many other posts like this. As the year went by my blog post started to get better. I didn’t stray off topic and got over the 350 word limit. Some of those posts include “Internet and Wireless in the World”, and “Response to Tram”. In these posts I made very few mistakes and never strayed off topic. Awhile after that, my writing started to improve drastically, I started to blog without even worrying about the word limit. I started writing in more detail and my posts were about 400-600 words. Some of those posts include, “Windows of Truth”, and “The Risks of DNA Manipulation”. I also ended these posts without straying off topic. This is exemplified when I wrote, “Altering genes should not be legal. People should just let Darwin's theory of natural selection take place. People wouldn't be the only species population the earth, religious people wouldn't be mad, and there would still be natural resources left.” This was a post about the risks of DNA manipulation. I didn’t stray off topic at all throughout the post and the total number of words was 411 words. This is a big improvement from barely getting over 350 words and straying of topic in the end. This happened through looking at my old posts and analyzing the weak points. After receiving some peer review comments in class about how my writings could be improved, I looked over some posts I wrote in the past and saw that I made some of the same/similar mistakes. After I recognized these mistakes I immediately knew why I made that mistake and how I could fix it. I rarely made the same mistake after. Analyzing my old posts for similar mistakes has really helped me improve my writing/blogging skills.

The response from my peers also helped me improve my writing. Peer editing comments really helped put more detail in my work and also helped me realize some of the errors I made. For example, when I wrote a paragraph about My Side of the Mountain, Bianca noticed that, “

In your third paragraph, you mentioned the book's pictures and diagrams. You

could probably expand the paragraph more if you described more about these

diagrams so that the person who is reading your post will know what diagrams

and pictures you are actually referring to. I would like to hear more about the

author's "adventure" when she ran away. (I know you already explained it and

used the book to provide proof, so to elaborate more on the author, you could

do some research.)Also, you could include who in particular(for example a   

certain age group) the book was intended and directed to.

This really helped me improve that paragraph so that when it was time to write the final, I knew which places of my paragraph were weakest. Peer review comments are really helpful because I can get a little insight on how other people would write my posts. This helped me elaborate on certain places in this post and also helped me understand the mistakes I made. When I understand the mistakes I make, I try to find out how I made those mistakes to that in the future, I won’t make the same mistakes again. This has really helped me improve my blog posts and also my overall writing in general.
    There are many benefits of blogging. Throughout this year, I feel that I have really improved my writing, going from boring blog posts to complex, detailed posts. I also improved by getting over the word minimum of 350 words without straying off topic. This improvement was in part, due to the helpful comments students in class gave me on my blog. Blogging has really helped me improve as a writer, and I will continue to do so to improve as a writer, and a student.


.

Peer Review Comments

I left comments on Bianca's post, Bassam's post, and Melissa's post.


Bianca-Hola, Bianca, I think your RD was very strong, but I also think that you should try to give some facts about smallpox. When you "The whole book is based off of smallpox, so when the author used real facts, it made it more genuine and realistic, which is a great thing to have included in a book." What were some of the real facts that the author included? Another thing you can do is describe the background of the author in the introduction. This make it clear that the author knows her facts. <---It will make it more believable. Overall great job!

Bassam- Bassam, I think you need to elaborate a lot more on your points. For Example, when you say "book is breath tacking", elaborate on HOW it is breathtaking, do it provide very detailed imagery? Or do the words make you feel awesome. You also need to provide TAGS in the introduction, tell the reader some background about the book. You also need to make the post longer, at least 800 words I think.

Melissa-Hola Melissa, Tony thinks Melissa should include TAGS in her introduction, so that readers can get a basic understanding of what the book was about. Tony also thinks that you could relate some of what Ronnie does in the book to what some teenagers do everyday. Other than that, this was a pretty good book review.

Book Review: My Side of the Mountain

1. What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
2. Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.                              

        My Side of the Mountain was a fictional book written by Jean Craighead George. It is about a boy named Sam who goes to live in the forests of the Catskill Mountains because its is too crowded at home. In the woods he, looks for his grandpa's old farm. Sam survives by making his own house, foraging berries, and hunting animals. Along the way he makes many animal friends and human friends. Sam experiences many problems when during his first few days trying to survive. He can't make a fire, and has trouble finding a place to live. Over time he makes a home from a giant old tree and learns how to easily makes a fire. 
       There are many reasons why Jean Craighead George wrote My Side of The Mountain. Two of those reasons include telling about her own life, and educating her audience about wildlife and nature. George talks a lot about her own life when she was young and tried to run away. She also gives instruction on how to make survival tools like a hook and traps.
      In the preface George talked about her life when she was younger and the things she did. I think George wrote this book because she planned to run away only to be back at her house some time later. This is exemplified when she writes, " As I envisioned it, I would live by a waterfall in the woods and catch fish on hooks made from forks of tree limbs" (George, ix). George had already planned to run away, but later it said, "Forty minutes later I was home" (George, ix). I think the adventures of Sam were all the events George imagined when she was planning on running away. George ran away at a very young age, and since she was so young, couldn't handle being alone and caring for herself. After she ran away she probably wrote down everything she was going to do and put them all together to create this book. Over time George probably went did go on some of the adventures Sam went on, thus expanding on what it was really like and giving a sense of realism to the readers.
      Another reason why she might have wrote this book was to educate people of all ages about wildlife and the nature. The things that Sam do in this book are explained in depth with lots of detail. It even incorporates detailed pictures/diagrams. Some of them were about how to make a fishing hook out of tree branches, and how to make dead fall traps to catch animals. It seems that George either went out and did these things herself when she was older, did research, or learned from an expert.. The diagrams in this book are explained in so much detail, that it could be used as an alternative survival guide. George talked about making hooks from tree limbs in the preface, and later Sam explained how to make it. This could be very useful to someone who is lost camping needing a tool to get food. George probably wanted people to know more about survival and how people interact with nature. Overall George's purpose in writing this book was achieved very well.
      One of the most interesting characters in My Side of The Mountain, was Bando. Bando was a stranger found sleeping next to Sam's tree and his store house. He was an English Teacher that happened to get lost in the woods of the Catskills and found Sam's camp. He calls Sam Thoreau.
      Bando is a very friendly person who thinks his life is boring when he meets Sam. Sam has been  living in the woods for quite a long time and has made himself a house, and many other necessities he needs to survive. Bando was from the city, and when he saw the way Sam was living, he thought he had a boring life. This is exemplified when Bando says, "Thoreau, I have led a varied life- dishwasher, sax player, teacher. To me it has been and interesting life. Just now it seems very dull." (George, p81) Bando seems to really love the woods. He makes friends with a stranger and even lives with him whenever he has free time. Bando probably thought that since Sam's way was living was very adventurous with many unpredictable factors, it made his life very dull and boring. Since Bando was an English teacher, his time there was limited and could only visit when he has break. I think that Bando didn't live with his family. He was living with Sam whenever he had free time. Wouldn't he spend at least some time with his family? He was with Sam even during Christmas. It mentioned somewhere in the book that Bando was rather old, so I assume that his family no longer lives with him, and that his wife had died some time earlier.
      Bando was also a very knowledgeable and trustworthy man. All the times he's visited, not once did he tell the news or another person. Bando was like a second dad to Sam. He helped him make jam, played instruments with him, and even brought some newspaper clipping to share and laugh about. An example of this would be when Bando read the newpaper clippings, it read, " Wild boy Suspected Living off Deer and Nuts in Wilderness of Catskills and Old Woman Reports Meeting Wild Boy While Picking Strawberries." (George, p121-122). I think Bando brought the newspapers to show Sam that he needs to be careful of who he talks to. Another reason might be to have a laugh at the people Sam has met. Bando was great company to Sam, and I think part of the reason Sam stayed so long in the woods was because of the thought that Bando was going to come.
      Bando's unique dedication to Sam's life and personality make him one of the most interesting characters in My Side of The Mountain. Bando adds spice to the story, making it more realistic. His talents and personality remind me certain people in my own life, making the character of Bando the best and most interesting character in My Side of The Mountain.

Character Analysis

      One of the most interesting characters in My Side of The Mountain, was Bando. Bando was a stranger found sleeping next to Sam's tree and his store house. He was an English Teacher that happened to get lost in the woods of the Catskills and found Sam's camp. He calls Sam Thoreau.
      Bando is a very friendly person who thinks his life is boring when he meets Sam. Sam has been  living in the woods for quite a long time and has made himself a house, and many other necessities he needs to survive. Bando was from the city, and when he saw the way Sam was living, he thought he had a boring life. This is exemplified when Bando says, "Thoreau, I have led a varied life- dishwasher, sax player, teacher. To me it has been and interesting life. Just now it seems very dull." (George, p81) Bando seems to really love the woods. He makes friends with a stranger and even lives with him for awhile. Bando probably thought that since Sam's way was living was very adventurous with many unpredictable factors, it made his life very dull and boring. Since Bando was an English teacher, his time there was limited and could only visit when he has break. I think that Bando didn't have a family
      Bando was also a very knowledgeable and trustworthy guy. All the times he's visited, no once did he tell the news or another person. Bando was like a second dad to Sam. He helped him make jam, played instruments with him, and even brought some newspaper clipping to share and laugh about. An example of this would be when Bando read the newpaper clippings, it read, " Wild boy Suspected Living off Deer and Nuts in Wilderness of Catskills and Old Woman Reports Meeting Wild Boy While Picking Strawberries." (George, p121-122). I think Bando brought the newspapers to show Sam that he needs to be careful of who he talks to. Another reason might be to have a laugh at the people Sam has met. Bando was great company to Sam, and I think part of the reason Sam stayed so long in the woods was because Bando was there.
      Bando's unique dedication to Sam's life and personality make him one of the most interesting characters in My Side of The Mountain. Bando adds a spice to the story, making it more realistic. His talents and personality remind me certain people in my own life, making the character of Bando one of the best.

My Side of the Mountain

      There are many reasons why Jean Craighead George wrote My Side of The Mountain. Two of those reasons include telling about her own life, and educating her audience about wildlife and nature. George talks a lot about her own life when she was young and tried to run away. She also gives instruction on how to make survival tools like a hook and traps.
      In the preface George talked about her life when she was younger and the things she did. I think George wrote this book because she planned to run away only to be back at her house. This is exemplified when she writes, " As I envisioned it, I would live by a waterfall in the woods and catch fish on hooks made from forks of tree limbs" (George, ix). George had already planned to run away, but later it said, "Forty minutes later I was home" (George, ix). I think the adventures of Sam were all the events George imagined when she was planning of running away. George ran away at a very young age, and since she was so young, couldn't handle being alone and caring for herself. After she ran away she probably wrote down everything she was going to do and put them all together to create this book.
      Another reason why she might have wrote this book was to educate people of all ages about wildlife and the nature. The things that Sam do in this book are explained in depth with lots of detail. It even incorporates detailed pictures/diagrams. It seems that George either went out and did these things herself when she was older or did research. The diagrams in this book are explained in so much detail, that it could be used as an alternative survival guide. George talked about making hooks from tree limbs in the preface, and later Sam explained how to make it. This could be very useful to someone who is lost camping needing a tool to get food. George probably wanted people to know more about survival and how people interact with nature.
      Jean Craighead George wrote My Side of The Mountain for many reasons, but the two most important reasons are to put all of the things she wanted to do on paper, and educate people on survival and interactions among people and nature. 

Vignettes Response

      While I was reading through some of the vignette projects people wrote, I found that Luis Alba's post, Lhadzhe Bosiljevac's post, and Mercedes Thorne's post had the connection in which they were running away from something. In Luis's post, he was running away from the police, in Lhadzhe's post she was running away from someone who was molesting her, and Mercedes was running from "something" evil in her dreams. The emotion that caused Luis, Lhadzhe, and Mercedes to run was fear.
      Humans are similar to animals and therefore react in similar ways. People respond to life threatening situations by freeze flight or fight. According to Joe Navarro "In order to ensure our survival, the brain's very elegant response to distress or threats, has taken three forms: freeze, fight, and fight" (Navarro p25). Luis, Lhadzhe, and Mercedes all responded to distress and threats by flight, or running away. Specifically, in Lhadzhe's post she responded to a threat and distress by fight, then flight. In other words, she fought back, then ran.
      In all three vignette posts there was a stimulus causing a person to run. Luis's vignette post was about graffiti and how he and his friend had to run away from police. In the post it said,

 "All of a sudden, a motorcycle engine just turned off. We ran. I looked back while running, across the train I could see red and blue lights on the floor and on the bridge on top of us. We heard a distant deep voice on a speaker...we ran and ran. “Stop! Come here! Stop!” is all we heard. We never looked back" (Alba)

When I read this, it immediately reminded me of the different ways in which people respond to different situations. Luis and his friend ran. Other people might freeze or maybe even fight back, but in this case he ran. When he ran, his brain was probably telling his body that he was scared and raised his adrenalin, allowing him to run faster. Since the police arrived right when he was about to pain a wall, he probably got scared and ran. If I was in Luis's situation and police were on top of a bridge telling to stop, my first reaction would be to run too. It's a normal response that humans make. This is similar to Mercedes post in which she was running away from something "evil" that was chasing her. She too, was also scared, which caused her to run. In Lhadzhe's vignette post, she fought back, then ran. It said,

"The struggle to take him down, only made him pull harder on my clothes. Step by step, second by second I began to fade. My last chance to leave I kicked him and fled. Rushing down the stairs, past his mother. Out  so far that the doors shut and he was gone away, but not from my mind."

What happened to her was horrible, but the way she responded to get out of that situation was by fight, then flight. If she didn't respond by fighting back, then running, a lot more horrible things might have happened. This was Lhadzhe's way of respond to distress. She was scared, and the person was doing some very bad things to her. After reading all these blog posts, I learned that the way Luis, Lhadzhe, and Mercedes got out of tough situations was by flight, or running. I think that this is the way most people will respond to distress when in tough situations.
    
      

Esperanza's Future

      The future holds many things, some of which are success. Hovever, in The House on Mango Street, Esperanza leaves her home on Mango street hoping to return one day to "come back" for the ones she "left behind". I think that Esperanza is leaving so she can go get an education to better prepare herself so that she can help the people she left behind on Mango Street.
      I think Esperanza's future holds success in education. Esperanza is going to go to school to get educated and then come back for the friends and family she left on Mango Street. This is exemplified when she says, "One day I will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango... They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out." (Cisneros p.110). Esperanza is leaving because she does not belong there. She is going to do this so that one day in the future she can come back and help the people who don't have the ability to leave. Most of Esperanza's neighbors probably have never been outside of Mango Street and lived there their whole life. Unlike her neighbors, Esperanza has moved around a couple of times so she knows places to go such as schools outside of Mango Street. Getting an education is the best decision Esperanza has made for herself.
      Esperanza has plans for her future. Esperanza has never really belonged to Mango Street, this is shown when she says, "No, this isn't my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I've lived here. I don't belong" (Cisneros, p106) Throughout the story Esperanza kept saying that she did not belong to Mango Street. Esperanza feels like she doesn't belong because the people there are so different from her. I think that Esperanza is saying that she belongs to a place where she can start her own life and make decisions for herself. This is why Esperanza is going to go to school. I predict that Esperanza plans to go to school, get a job, buy her own house, live there for a while and relax, then come back for the friends and family she left behind. For example, Esperanza says,

 "Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man's house. Not a daddy's. A house all to my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my stories. My two shoes waiting beside the bed. Nobody to shake a stick at. Nobody's garbage to pick up after. Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem. (Cisneros p108)

Esperanza wants her own house, with her own rules and her own things. I think that this is a goal Esperanza set up for herself. She is doing this because when she leaves Mango Street she has an incentive for going to school. Esperanza going to get educated and get a degree so she can get a job. Once she gets a job she is going to work hard. After a couple of years Esperanza is going to buy a new house, a house of her own. After that she is going to relax a bit. Finally after she accomplishes all of that, she is going to go back to Mango Street and help the people she left behind. Esperanza is very determined to succeed, and that determination is going to fuel her for the upcoming years in her life.
      The future is currently unpredictable, but I predict that Esperanza's future holds lots of hardships and success. Esperanza is planning to leave Mango Street to get education then eventually buy a new house. After she succeeds in getting all of these she will finally "come back" for the ones she "left behind" on Mango Street. Esperanza's need to leave Mango Street will be the spark that will eventually light up success.

What Cisneros Thinks

      Right now in the world, there is lots of sexism and debate on how teenage boys and girls should be raised. In the book The House on Mango Street written by Sandra Cisneros, there are many instances of sexism. It seems as if Cisneros thinks teenage boys and girls should be raised differently and shows this through many vignettes like "Alicia Who Sees Mice", and "What Sally Said".
      "In Alicia Who Sees Mice", Cisneros talks about the responsibilities of teenage girls and seems to convey the idea that they should be raised differently. This is exemplified when she she writes,

"Alicia, whose mama died, is sorry there is no one older to rise and make the lunchbox tortillas. Alicia, who inherited her mama's rolling pin and sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at the university...is a good girl, my friend, studies all night and sees the mice, the ones her father says do not exist. Is afraid of nothing except four-legged fur. And fathers" (pg.31). 

Since Alicia is a girl she inherited all the responsibilities that her mom had. The responsibilities didn't go to the boy, they went to the girl. I think Cisneros is trying to say that girls should be raised to go to school rather than staying at home and having to cook. Since Alicia has all these responsibilities, she does not have a lot of time to study or do her schoolwork. Alicia probably tried to devote more of her time to studying, but her father might have got mad at her and made her do her chores. This is why Cisneros writes thats Alicia is afraid of fathers. Cisneros thinks that girls should have less responsibilities at home and have more freedom in choosing what they want to do.
      Another Vignette that shows what Cisneros thinks about raising teenage boys and girls is "What Sally Said". In this Vignette it talks about the horrible things that Sally's dad did to her because of Sally's beauty. Cisneros might think that girls should be raised differently because of their beauty. An example is this is when she writes,

 "A girl that big, a girl who comes in with her pretty face all beaten and black can't be falling off the stairs. He never hits me hard.  Until one day Sally's father catches her talking to a boy and the next day she doesn't come to school. And the next. Until the way Sally tells it, he just went crazy, he forgot he was her father between the buckle and the belt. You're not my daughter, you're not my daughter. And then broke into his hands.

Cisneros thinks that because girls are beautiful, parents need to raise them differently so that boys can't take advantage of them. Some parents, like Sally's, are very harsh because of her beauty. There are no Vignettes in this novel that talk about how beautiful boys are. It only talks about how beautiful girls are either beaten or locked up in a room. Since Sally was very beautiful and was talking to a boy, her father got really mad and started to beat her. If Sally was a boy and was caught talking to a girl, her father might have not done anything. I think that Cisneros is trying to say that in the sense of beauty, parents need to be stricter in raising girls and less strict in raising boys.
      In conclusion, it seems as if Cisneros has a strong sense in raising teenage boys and girls differently. She thinks that girls should be raised differently because of their beauty and should have more freedom in choosing what they want to do. In raising teenage boys, Cisneros probably thinks that parents should not worry about their beauty all the time. This is all very similar to the real world and how sexism is a big part of determining how teenage boys and girls are raised.

 

The Memories in Tony's Head

Table of Contents

-Humerus 

-The Funny Flood
-Blue Fire, Red Fire, Green Fire
-I Need a Doctor
-The Man in White

Humerus

Everyone in my family has a different sense of humor. My dad’s idea of a joke is similar to the different colors of the rainbow, it can range from very light and funny to really funny and a crying little brother. My sense of humor is similar to my dad’s except a little worse. The jokes I play are more harsh. My brother has not yet developed a sense of humor because he is still little, but words like poop and making armpit farts are funny to him. He is a monkey. He thinks that scaring people is funny. He will try to scare someone by hiding and then jumping out. If he succeeds he will drop to the ground and roll around laughing.

My mom’s sense of humor on the other hand is very subtle. It is sometimes hard to tell when she thinks something is funny. It’s like a mystery waiting to be solved. She smiles a lot, but I only hear her laugh when she watches TV or when she is talking on the phone. She watches some Chinese shows so when she laughs at the jokes, I don’t always understand what is funny. My mom’s sense of humor is unique and is only triggered at very specific times.

The Funny Flood

The water was rushing. I could hear it outside. My dad opened the door and ran to pick me up. “NO! PIGGYBACK RIDE” I yelled. I think it was the afternoon, I was about two or three years old, and my family and I were still in China. There was a flood and my family had to leave our house. The houses in China look like giant giant office buildings and usually have two houses per floor. We lived on the fourth floor. The water was rising. “ Did someone forget to turn off the water?” My dad jumped into the water with me on his back. My mom followed.  The water was cold. I started to laugh. “Yay, lots of water! Hey Mom can I go swimming?” My mom started to laugh, “ Are you crazy?” There were other people around. They were also leaving the building. The distance between our building and higher ground was about 24 feet. My dad began to swim harder. About five minutes later we were out of the water. I never really got to swim.

Blue Fire, Red Fire, Green Fire

Fire is very fun to play with. It helps pass the time. I know how to make fire, blue fire, red fire, and green fire. I have played with fire since I was little. It started with candles and melting wax to make animals,  then I used alcohol and a little Boric Acid to make green fire. I’ve burned myself many times too. One time I burned a piece of skin about a big as a penny off one of my fingers. I’ve also launched fireworks before, not the small ones, the big ones you see on the Fourth of July. When I stood under it, I felt my body pulse and my adrenaline rush. It was one of the most energetic experiences I’ve had in my life. I also make fireball. I hold the fireballs in my hand and play catch with myself. They help warm my hand when it is cold. Fire is relaxing to play with, is my invisible friend.

I Need a Doctor

He was coming at me fast, grasping the football like it was a newborn baby, cradling it carefully putting his body in front of the ball. I grabbed onto his waist and spun him around. He didn’t fall. I tried again, but this time I used all my strength to pull him down with me. He fell on top of my right thigh. I could feel his hip digging into my unflexed thigh. I heard a loud snap, and a second later, I felt like I was just shot with a gun. “FU**” I screamed. The pain was unbearable it felt as if someone was taking a nail and hammering it into my femur. My leg was throbbing and that wasn’t the worst part. The ambulance arrived. They told me that they were going to extend my leg so that it was straight. I thought “Aww fu** are you serious?” That was when I started to scream. They put my leg into a splint and carried me into the ambulance. My parents arrived a while later and followed the ambulance. Well that was fun.

I arrived at Children’s Hospital in Oakland about twenty minutes later. I felt as if my leg grew another pair of legs and decided to take a stroll. I could only feel pain, only pain. I couldn’t feel my leg. After I got into the hospital they took an x-ray. I waited about five minutes and they told my parents and me that they had good news and bad news. The good news, I had fractured my femur in three places. I thought  “WHAT! Are you serious” The doctor then told us that the bad news was that they had to put a titanium rod into the middle of my femur where the bone marrow would be and stabilize it with two pins. One right behind my knee cap, and one under my hip. Now, I was scared. I began to shake and soon started to cry. Lot of my friend were there comforting me and telling me that it would be OK. I think it was a day, but all I remember was that a nurse injected something into me and then I woke up sometime later. My leg hurt and noticed that I had about 30-40 stitches on my thigh and next to my knee. Breaking your femur is not fun. Life long lesson, don’t try to tackle someone that is twice as big as you and is fat.

The Man in White

I don’t know who he is. I don’t even know what he is. I’ve seen him multiple times. The first time was when I was going to Lake Tahoe. We were driving down one of the main roads when I saw a man about 6 feet tall wearing a full white suit with a white fedora and black shades. I thought it was just the snow playing tricks on my eyes, but about 3-4 years later I saw the same man. He was on top of the mountains near Costco. He stepped out from the clutter of trees, stood there for a couple of seconds, then disappeared back into the trees. I don’t know if I was just hallucinating, but I’m sure that I saw him. I also remember that his face was all white. I might have been a scarf, but every time I see him, I feel like I know somehow. I’m determined to find him someday in the future.

Symbols

      Throughout The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros leaves many significant, but subtle representations of how the characters feel in the story. These symbols are used in a wide array and usually represent more than one idea. Some of the objects include shoes, windows, the color red/pink, and trees. One symbol that stood out to me was the trees. Cinseros writes about the trees on numerous occasions throughout the novel.
      I think that the trees represent the will to keep on going. 

Cisneros states, “Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted by the city…Their strength is secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the ground. They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger. This is how they keep (p.74)”.

These trees inspire Esperanza to keep on going. The trees also represent the situation in which Esperanza got put into when her family moved to Mango St. She moved to a place in which she doesn’t belong. Esperanza is a new stranger to this neighborhood just like the trees. They are both very similar to each other. Four slim, skinny trees were planted by the city in a foreign environment, they look weak and hopeless yet they keep on growing and pushing though. The trees secretly anchor themselves with their roots and keep on growing. This is what Esperanza does. She adjusts to the foreign environment and keeps on growing herself.
      Another symbol that the trees might stand for is that they are a source of comfort and can be a place where Esperanza can go to let out her emotions without anyone judging her. This is exemplified when Cisneros writes, “And then I don’t know why but I had to run away. I had to hide myself at the other end of the garden, in the jungle part, under a tree that wouldn’t mind if I lay down and cried a long time. I closed my eyes like tight stars so that I wouldn’t, but I did (p.97)”. The trees are a place where Esperanza can go to relieve stress and let out her feelings without feeling the odd one out. There is no other place where Esperanza can go without someone disturbing her or making fun of her. The trees act like a safe house where she can hide and let out her feelings. 

Another example would be when Esperanza says, " But what you remember most is this tree, huge, with fat arms and mighty families of squirrels in the higher branches. All around, the neighborhood of roofs, black-tarred and A-framed, and in their gutters, the balls that never came back down to earth. Down at the base of the tree, the dog with two names barks into the empty air, and there at the end of the block, looking smaller still, our house with its feet tucked under like a cat. (Cisneros p.22)".

This shows that the trees sort of "protects" their house and is a place where other creatures can go to live. The trees are what Esperanza remembers the most thus making them very significant to her. I think the trees also represent the comfort she feels when feeling down.
      In conclusion, the symbols Cisneros includes in her piece creates a unique experience for the reader. In this case, the trees symbolize the comfort Esperanza feels when she is feeling bad, they are also a place where she can go to let out her emotions. Esperanza is also similar to the trees because there were four weak looking trees that were planted but still kept going. They represent the emotions Esperanza feels after moving to the house on Mango Street.

 

The Windows of Truth

      I think the symbolic significance of Windows in "The House of Mango Street" is that the only place where a woman or girl can see the outside world is trapped in their house looking out the window. Women that were wild and wanted to do something else were locked up in a house, and all they could do to see the outside world was look out the window. The only difference between a prison and a room are the windows. This is exemplified when Cisnero states, " On the corner there is music from the bar, and Rafaela wishes she could go there and dance before she gets old." (p79) Rafaela is trapped in that house looking out the window because she was too pretty and her husband didn't want anyone looking at her. Other women like Sally have the same problem, her beauty creates conflicts for herself.
      Another possible meaning of the windows is that since the women want something and were strong, they look out the window and imagine it so that maybe one day it would be real. Esperanza's grandmother, was a wild woman and was very strong. "She didn't want to get married (p11), Mamacita wanted to go back to her home and didn't want to speak English (p76-78), Rafaela wanted to dance, and Sally wanted to stay pretty." (Cisnero). By wanting these things, men start to get mad and end up locking the women and girls in their rooms. The windows are the only place where they can use their imagination. Sitting in a room all day gets pretty boring, so what else is there to do, but look out a window and daydream.
      The window also the only possible place where these women and girls might be able to escape one day. Rafaela dreams of Rapunzel and says, " Rafaela leans out the window and leans on her elbow and dreams her hair is like Rapunzel's." (Cisnero, p79). She does that because she hopes that maybe one day she will be saved from that prison.
      I've noticed that the how the women are treated in the book are similar to how they are treated today. They are expected to stay home while the man goes out to work, or meets up with his buddies, but when the woman goes outside and wants to do something, the man gets mad. It's like the men treat the women like property. This is like the sexism that is exemplified everyday. Some women are underpaid, and other are looked upon as sluts or hoes by the way they dress. It's very degrading. I think that Cisnero incourperates the windows because its the the only thing that separates a room from a prison.

My Name

      My American name was given to me in the first grade. My legal name is JinCan Lin, but when I went to first grade my parents gave me the name Tony so that my friends could pronounce it. I remember them telling me that since I was lazy and didn't want to do a lot, they named me Tony, which sounds like like dragging someone in Chinese. My Chinese name means golden happy in Chinese. It looks like this 林金灿. My parents named me that because they wanted me to be very positive and be successful when I grew up. My mom also told me that her sister came up with the name, and the day that I was born was the day my aunt and uncle had their anniversary.
      I have a couple on nicknames. Some include Tony baloney pizza macaroni, "bruh", or toe knee. These were some of the names people called me throughout my life other that Tony. Someone in middle school started calling me Tony baloney pizza macaroni because he was bored and started making up nicknames for everyone. He obviously had way too much time on his hands. Some of my friends got creative and pointed to their toe, then knee and said toe knee every time they saw me. They obviously had too much time on their hands too. "Bruh" isn't really a nickname, but I get called that at least 102 times a day. Its very annoying. The funniest one was Tony Montana. First of all, I really don't even know who this is. Many people called me this, and my reply would be who the F*** is Tony Montana! I even gave myself a nickname. Its Tony, and thats what I liked to be called.
      One thing I like about my name is that not many people have it. I don't know about other schools, but in Alameda theres only one other person with the name Tony. Sure its not as unique as Lhadzhe, but it's still pretty awesome. Another thing that is unique about me is that I don't have a middle name. Some people think that JinCan is two words and the can is my middle name, but its really just one word. So theres how I got my name. Pretty awesome huh?

Celie and Nettie Comparison

Celie and Nettie

The Color Purple was a novel written by Alice Walker about two sisters, (Celie and Nettie) that got separated and then reunited. Throughout the novel these two sister have many experiences with gender inequality and religious beliefs. Celie has more experience with gender inequality and Nettie has more experience with helping out other people. Celie and Nettier have many similarities and differences between their experiences of gender inequality, religious and spiritual life, and the problems they face.

Celie and Nettie have many differences between how they were treated. Throughout her life, Celie was abused more. Celie was beat by her dad, and by Mr.___. She says, “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in Church.” (p5) On the other hand, Nettie has little experience with abuse because Celie protects Nettie. Celie saw their dad looking at Nettie, so every time he tried to touch her, Celie would get in the way. “Sometime he still be looking at Nettie, but I always git in his light. (p5)” I think that if Celie didn't protect Nettie, she would be just like her.

 Since Celie was sexually abused and harassed at such a young age, her sexual attraction toward men disappeared. Celie probably thought that since all this man wants to do is get on top of me and do his thing, then maybe all men are like this. This is why Celie is attracted to women. She even says, "Anyhow, I say, the God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful and lowdown. (p192)" Celie is convinced that her God, the one she writes to, is just like all the other men.  Throughout the story she mentions that she doesn't like men, and even did some very intimate things with Shug Avery. “Us kiss and kiss till us can't hardly kiss no more. (p113)” This is the result of long term sexual abuse. Nettie's attraction to men stays the same. Nettie marries a man named Samuel, and mentions that she truly loves him. Since Celie protected Nettie, she did not experience the pain Celie did, therefore she is still attracted to men.

Celie's religious and spiritual beliefs change many times throughout the story. Celie starts out most of her letters with "Dear God. (p1)" This is when Celie needed someone to tell her feelings to. At one point Celie lost hope and stopped believing in God. She then wrote to Nettie, 

“ Dear Nettie, I don't write to God no more. I write to you.  What happen to God? ast Shug. Who that? I say. She look at me serious. Big a devil as you is, I say, you not worried bout no God, surely. She say, Wait a minute. Hold on just a minute here. Just because I don't harass it like some peoples us know don't mean I ain't got religion. What God do for me? (p192)” 

 Celie's change was probably because God didn't give her a sign. She wrote to God because she wanted a sign and also because he was the only person she could write to. Since she was still going through a lot and God didn't show her anything, she stopped believing in him. Near the end of the story Celie's belief in God sprung back up. After Celie was reunited with Nettie she wrote,“Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear everything. Dear God. Thank you for bringing my sister Nettie and our children home. (285)” At this point Celie Celie believes that everything is God. She believes that everything around her is God and everything helped in bringing Nettie back to her. In the beginning Celie believed in God because she believed God was the only person she could talk to, but now Celie considers God as an Entity, and maybe even as a friend. Nettie was very different, she devoted her life to God and became a missionary. She traveled a the way to Africa just to spread Gods words and teach children in Africa about God. God was Celie's life.

One thing Nettie and Celie had in common was the fact that they both got over some of their differences between people who they spent most of their lives with. Nettie's relationship with Corrine got got a bit bumpy. Corrine said, “ And don't let the children call you Mama Nettie, she said, even in play.” She also told Nettie to not invite Samuel to her hut when she was not present. At one point Corrine made Nettie and her husband swear on the bible that she met Samuel and Corrine at the same time. This was one of the worst problems that Nettie had. She and Corrine were so close but after the Olinka said that Corrine's children looked like Nettie, Corrine questioned Nettie. After they swore, Nettie's relationship with Corrine got a lot better and they became friends. This is similar to Celie's relationship with Mr.____. Celie was beaten by Mr.___, but after she left, Mr.___ gradually started to become a better man. Celie's relationship with him drastically got better. They started to talk, knit, and even become friends. “...just when Mr.____ done ast me to marry him again, this time in the spirit as well as in the flesh, and just after I say naw, I still don’t like frogs, but let’s be friends.” Celie felt that Mr.___ had truly redeemed himself and she decided she could be friends with him. This was the first time that Celie and Mr.___ had a relationship. 

Celie and Nettie overcome their problems with other people that were a big factor to their lives. Without Mr.___ causing problems for Celie and Corrine questioning Nettie, Celie might have never fell in love with Shug, and Nettie would have never found Celie’s children. The problems Celie and Nettie face lead them to a better life.

              In the end Celie and Nettie got over their similarities and differences in their religious and spiritual beliefs, the gender inequalities they both faced, and through the influence of people around them, got to live a better life. Celie overcame many obstacles in her life such as gender inequality, and her beliefs in God. Nettie, had very little experience with gender inequality and overall had more belief in God. There were many points discussed in this novel that reflects how women are treated today and how there are many reasons why people believe in God.

Rebuttal: Avoiding Terroism

      Jesse Valdez wrote about using peace to prevent terrorism. He stated,

"Don't ask other nations for peace. Tell them that peace is going to happen, because the world will get pretty screwed up if we don't put aside the past and start over."

 I don't agree with Jesse about this. It seems like he is saying send an army to any Nation that isn't going to be peaceful and tell them they are going to be peaceful. It seems like he is saying that we are going to force other nations to be peaceful. This basically contradicts his idea of being peaceful.
      Jesse also said that,

 ...we need to stop making plans on how to defend ourselves from threats of terrorism and start making peace with other nations and people alike.

 He has  no evidence for this statement. I found a website call Preventing Terrorism that says,

The best way to guard against terrorism is to have no enemies. No enemies equals no terrorism! Invincible Defense Technology (also known as Consciousness-Based Defense or Unified Field-Based Defense) is a scientifically validated means to prevent enemies from arising

Defending ourselves is a far better way of preventing terrorism because we are ready when the terrorists strike and we can also stop terrorists from before they even begin terrorizing. If we try to make peace with other nations and succeed, there will always be more people in the world that think something we do is wrong. These people will try to terrorize our country and using Jesse's idea of stop making defense plans, a lot of people would be dead, and there would be no more peace.
      In my opinion, in the best way to defend ourselves from terrorist attacks is to properly defend ourselves and create a worldwide anti-terrorism society dedicated to stopping terrorists. Trying to make peace with other nations if a very time consuming idea. In order to do this, we would need to spend lots of time and money. In the end there would still be nations that won't want to be peaceful. If we really want to properly defend our nation from terrorist attacks, then strengthening our defense would be the logical step.
        

Celie Quickwrite

      Celie's letters to god tell me that she is very scared and talking to god is the only way to get away from everything. Celie is a very hardworking woman who went through a lot. She is also very strong. I bet that a lot of people would have run away or committed suicide if they went through what she did. Celie is very hard working, she does all that she can to make sure Mr.___ is happy, and thats what she basically does all day. Writing letters to god is what keeps her going. Writing is the only place where she could get away from all the violence, distress, and pain in her life. It calms Celie down and is the only inspiration to keep going on with life.
      Celie writes letters to god because she is expecting some sort of sign, she wants god to help her. She says, "Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me." (Walker, pg. 1) She thinks that maybe if she keeps writing letters to god, then god might help her with her situation and make it better. I think Celie really believes that god will help her. Throughout the story so far, all the letters are directed toward god.
      Celie is in a very bad situation right now. "First time I got the full sight of Shug Avery long black body with it black plum nipples, look like her mouth, I thought I had turned into a man." (Walker, pg. 49) I think that Celie might be lesbian. I'm not 100% sure, but there are a lot of things that make me think she is. She mentions a couple of times earlier in the story about how beautiful Shug Avery was. There were even a part where she kept some of Shug Avery's hair and made a quilt out of something Shug gave her. That is kind of creepy. I think that she is finally going to get a sign from god very soon. Her situation with Mr.____ is finally getting better, but if she is tempted because of Shug Avery, then things might get uglier.

The Risks of DNA Manipulation

      Imagine a world in which there were two societies, a society with regular people, and a society where there are geneticly altered superhumans. That's what it would be like if parents were allowed to alter their children's DNA. Parents should not be allowed to change their children DNA because there would be insufficient resources, it is unsafe, goes against some religions, and would split the human race into superhumans and humans.This is a quote from Batul Nafisa Baxamusa.

In the pursuit of producing babies without any genetic defects or hereditary disorders, we may end up producing super humans. Just as the example I mentioned in the beginning of my article, we may have a line of humans that may spell doom to those who are not genetically modified- Baxamusa

      If people were given the choice to genetically alter their DNA to that they could live longer, they would, and all the natural resources on earth would fade away. I think that if people lived for more than 100 years, and kept having babies, there would be more people being born than dieing. This would lead to insufficient living space, food, and people would have to fight for survival.
      Another reason why parents shouldn't be allowed to alter their children's DNA is because of safety. What if something goes wrong. I've learned in Biology that DNA is very complex and even what you eat can change it. What if a scientist messes up can causes a really bad mutation. The baby would probably die or something even worse would happen.
      There would probably be lots of revolts if scientists started letting the public alter their children's DNA. Changing DNA would totally go against the belief that god created man and women. People could just say, "Oh god created your baby boy, tsk tsk tsk, he could never compare to my super baby the top scientist created for me". In the post Science Vs. Religion  it said

Dividing that “baby” in half during an embryo cloning procedure would interfere with God’s intent. 

This would anger lots of religious people. Personally, I wouldn't want my baby to be cloned.
      Altering genes should not be legal. People should just let Darwin's theory of natural selection take place. People wouldn't be the only species population the earth, religious people wouldn't be mad, and there would still be natural resources left.

College and Universities

      No, it doesn't matter if you graduate from a elite college or university, which is why I think (Martha O'Connell's) response was the most persuasive. 

"The key to success in college and beyond has more to do with what students do with their time during college than where they choose to attend." - O'Connell

      I agree with O'Connell, it matters what you do in college rather than what college you attend. If you go to Harvard or Yale and all you do is party all day and night, then it just means your parents had lots of money to waste. The reason I find this response the most persuasive is because she has evidence for what she has to say unlike some of the other responses. I think that the reason most parents want their children to go to these elite colleges and universities is because they have never been to college and/or they don't know about the other colleges and universities because they don't get as much praise. Just because a school is not popular or "the best" doesn't mean its a bad school.
     The response I found the least persuasive was written by James Shulman. He stated that

"...students who get into these schools graduate at higher rates and have clear advantages over peers in getting jobs on Wall Street, earning Ph.D.s in philosophy, or doing medical research." -Shulman

     This is the least persuasive response because he gives no evidence for anything that he says. He could be making up everything that he said. When I read this, I think that he is saying that you're guaranteed a job or going to be more successful in the future if you graduate from an elite college. The thing that bothers me the most is that he is that he's basically saying student that don't graduate from an elite college or university will never be as successful as the students that do. It's totally not true, here is a community college where many famous people have graduated from. This is why I think Martha O'Connell has a more persuasive response.

Response to Billy

I found this quote about global warming on Billy Lau's blog

People need to change their ways and stop polluting the air and to save more electricity. Twenty percent of scientists say that global warming is just another natural occurrence.

      I totally agree with Billy. Pollution is killing the earth and causing harm to the people living on it. I think that the scientists were bribed to say that global warming is just another "natural" occurrence.
      There are tons of ways to stop global warming, but lots of people are just don't know much about it. When I go to Chinatown I always see trash on the ground everywhere. I think people that don't speak English don't know much about whats happening to the Earth, so thats why they litter. Other times people have littered so much that its become a habit. The government should make commercials on foreign TV shows so that people that don't speak English will have an idea of what things like littering do to the world.
      One of the best ways to stop pollution is to recycle. There are tons of things you can recycle that could save money and even earn some money. Every time you drink something from a bottle or can, recycle it. My family save up all the bottles of beer, water, and soda in garbage bags, and every two months we go to a recycling place and sell them for about eighty dollars. Other ways you can be Eco-friendly is to reuse plastic shopping bags as garbage bags. This is a good one, every time you want to go somewhere that is less that two miles, WALK, or BIKE, etc. This could save LOTS of money. Gas is getting more and more expensive and when you walk, there are two things going on that are beneficial to you. One you burn calories and reduce the chance of gaining some fat on your stomach. Two your helping stop global warming by not using a car. If your a boy, it helps your 6-pack, if your a girl it helps with curves. There you go two incentives to be Eco-friendly.