What I did wrong in this course was not editing and revising my work immediately. I waited too long to do this, and I ended up feeeling confused about what I should or should not revise in my work at the end of the semester. What I should have done was go to a resource center and had someone look over my work. I had some serious grammar mistakes and obvious spelling mistakes in parts of my portfolio. I was not aware of them until shortly before I turned it in. Also, I realize that I tend to make a lot of run-on sentences. I always felt like I was a good writer before taking this course, but now I have been humbled, and I realize that I still have a long way to go in improving my writing, What went well for me was actually just the act of going and doing the two service activites. This really helped me to overcome my anxiety. Everytime I face a fear of going to a place I have never been to before, and I get through it without a panic attack, it boosts my confidence and makes me feel like I am getting bettter. This is why I am glad that we had to go places and write about them.I liked this course because there were deadlines. I have taken other online courses with no set due dates until the final, and this caused me to wait untik the very last minute to do everything.I learned that sometimes when you go back and look at your work two months after you did it, you realize that it is not as great as you thought it was when you wrote it, and that serious revisions need to be made sometimes. I also learned some helpful editing strategies through the lessons we learned before submitting our final portfolio. This taught me how to edit. Another thing that I learned is the meaning of writing style, and that also helped me to edit my final portfolio.
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Natalie Nalepa
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Natalie Nalepa
I think that everyone is pretty much born into their writing style, and it is very diffuicult to change your style once you have developed it. I can tell the different styles of some people in this class, and could probably identify who wrote a few different things if I haven’t read them before. As for vocabulary, I’d much rather not have to whip out the dictionary while reading your work. I hate it when people try to use big words that most people do not know unless they read the dictionary on a regular basis. I know a couple people outside of this class that seriously study the dictionary and use big words just to make themselves seem smarter and to try and make other people feel like they are stupid. As for descriptions, it is nice to create a nice visual image, but sometimes people go a little too far with that, and it is obvious that they are just trying to fill in those extra 250 words they need for their 1,000 word essay.. The more you describe, the less is actually left up to my imagination. I think I am going to have some trouble revising my writing. I have not really started to yet, but I reread everything I have written severl times to make sure it was satisfied with it before I submitted it. Maybe I am wrong though, maybe looking back on things I wrote months ago, I will have better ideas now.
— McGuire, Michael. “Writing Style: What Is It?.” learning.writing101.net 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2012 -
Natalie Nalepa
Is it just me, or does this website take a ridicdulously long amount of time to load? Takes me like 5 minutes to sign in. I know it’s not my computer, all the other websites load instantly. Too much content on here?
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Natalie Nalepa
This reading was long, but very easy to follow. First of all, once again I think this is pretty old. I was thinking at first that this was from the ’80s, but I see things cited from 1993 at the latest. Still, that was almost twenty years ago. I thought the word “negro” went out of style back in the ‘60s. I was born in 1989 and mostly grew up in the ‘90s, and was immediately told that “negro” and “nigger” are bad words and should not be used. There is a different between political correctness and harassment. There is also a difference between freedom of speech and insults. If I write, “A black police officer pulled me over on the way home from work,” then that is irrelevant, because the police officer being black is not important to the main point of the story. I was told to use the word “African American”, when I grew up and went to school with 99% white kids. However, after I left school and joined the workforce, I began to work with people of all races and ethnicities. One time I was talking to a group of black ladies at work, and I said something was “African American,” and this made them mad. They told me, “Just say ‘black’”. My best friend is black and a lesbian, and she jokes around with me and calls me “peckerwood” sometimes, and I don’t care. I would never call her the forbidden “n” word, even though she says it all the time. If I want to piss her off, I would call her “African American.” She hates that term so much. She says, “I’m not from Africa!!!!!!!” if someone calls her “African American, and she will also probably ignore you for a week if you call her that. However, she has complete tolerance for any gay jokes or slurs that people make to her. She usually just comes back and owns them with an insult to the person who called her that. Most of my black friends say that the “n” word refers to “an ignorant person,” or “a person with no money.” When I hear black people use this word, they don’t use it to insult each other. Back in the day this was different before the civil rights movement, but now they joke around by using the word amongst themselves. This is a very debatable word. We are not supposed to use it, but people still use it anyway. The actual meaning of the word doesn’t even mean “a black” person, but somewhere around the line it became associated with black people. I think that name-calling amongst children results as a form of jealously, a form of competition, or a form of blaming someone for something. It also has to do with what the parents are teaching their children. For example, one time I used the word “retarded” to describe a disabled person when I was in fourth grade, and the teacher got very mad. She said, “Say mentally challenged.” I guess this is because the word “retarded” is being used incorrectly, just as the word “gay.” These words are being used for anything to describe that something is “stupid” or “not cool,” and this is why we should not use these words. The reading gives a lot of examples of children’s name calling. Most of these examples are names that I have never heard of. For example, they say kids made fun of kids that have braces. That does not happen anymore. Now having braces is kind of a status symbol, because it usually means that your parents have money.
Winslow. “What we call ourselves and others: Names, Solidarity, and Stereotypes.” Language Matters. New York, Pennsylvania: n.a., 1965-1968. 293-333. Web. -
Natalie Nalepa
Now once again this whole 5-paragraph essay thing is mentioned. But what if there are five good paragraphs? Wouldn’t that be better than ten paragraphs of total garbage, or a confusing layout of mixed ideas that do not flow properly? Also, once again, it is mentioned that a lot of people do not think that they are writers. This was mentioned in other chapters, but I have still yet to meet someone that tells me that they can’t write. Honestly, I thought that this com102 class was “creative writing,” and I thought that I’d be writing poems and fictional stories, and plays, and science fiction stories, and all sorts of stuff that comes from the imagination. I guess it can still be creative too though, if it’s non-fiction. I just speak my mind, I don’t care what others think about what I have to say, I say it anyway. This is true of me in real life as well. I have no filter, and I make up fictional stories all the time on the spot and just keep going along with it. I don’t necessarily think of following the rules, as chapter 6 states, but still the rules are important, and if you know them, you should not have to even think about applying them while you are writing- kind of like breathing or driving a car. It is very difficult and annoying to read a paper with a major grammer, spelling, or punctuation error every other sentence. It is hard to take the person that wrote it seriously too. I will probably think of them as uneducated and kind of dumb while I am reading the work.
Michael McGuire. “Existential Angst, Orgasm (s), and Jazz Recognizing that All Writing Is Creative Writing.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt, 2010. 133-162. Print -
Natalie Nalepa
I completed my five hours of community service today, and I had a great time. I did watch the video for lesson 12 about objective and subjective writing, and I watched the video about using photogrpahs. Unfortunately the place that I chose to serve at does not allow photographs to be taken, but I have very bold visual images of what I saw, some areas on the building were my first impression, other areas of the building were not. Either way I was surprised at the way a lot of things were done and some of the things I saw, and I am very pumped up and eager to write about it. With the experience I had, I don’t really think it is necessary to map out the building because it is kind of irrelevant to the whole big picture, but if asked to, I could draw a map. My fixed positions probably have little to do with the experience I had, unless I was significantly younger than I am, but my subjective positions definitely did, and I have changed my mind about a lot of sterotypes I had by the time the day was over. All the questions that I had in my head when I walked in the door were answered, but it just led to more questions and I am quite intrigued and delighted and wouldn’t have wanted to spend my day today any other way. I can see how my experience would be very similar to probably anyone else that went there to volunteer’s experience, but would probably change over time if I worked there as a permanent employee or volunteered there on a regular basis. Like one of my friends that volunteered there said, “I spent three years there. It taught me more than I wanted to know about life.”
L12: Reading Space -
Natalie Nalepa
I remember something going on in Egypt around this time, but did not know much about it. I don’t know from the video exactly what this dictator did or why everyone hates him so much, but I’m sure if people are rallying over it, he must have been a real jerk. So good for the people for protesting, I hope that they got what they wanted/deserved in the end. I wonder if they were protesting in the US because they expected the United States to do something about it, because they wanted it to be taped and broadcasted in Egypt to show their support, or if they all were just united for a common cause. Whatever the reason, they must have really cared because last February was totally brutal outside- they must have been freezing. I noticed that in the video there were men, women, and children, some signs in English, some in Arabic, some women dressed more traditionally, some not.
Lesson 11.2 -
Natalie Nalepa
I was kind of confused throught this whole reading, but what I understand is that this is also a class that has to community service hours to receive a passing grade, just like in our class. The only thing is they have to do twenty, and we only had to do like eight, and it sounds like they did not choose where to go to. Since they are working with children and explain how some can become attatched and how some are underprivelaged, wear the same clothes everyday, or have not been bathed in a long time. I am going to be working with children for our next project, and I assume most of them will not be underprivelaged, but I really don’t know what to expect. I have never worked with children before- not since I was a child at least. Towards the end of a reading one of the students challenges why they are doing community service. She says, “I began to wonder if it affected kids to see so many volunteers come through the organization about the same time each year, and then watch as the workers dwindled back down to permanently employees as the holiday season neared.” I had a teacher back in Catholic school that used to stress that upon us. She reminded us that we could do our food drives for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but what were these people going to eat for the rest of the year? I guess that’s the difference because doing community service because you have to vs. doing it because you want to. This same teacher also told us that we are hypocrites if we are doing community service or donating money, food, or clothes, to an organization just to make other people think that we are a good person. This is why she said we should keep these things to ourselves. But this class is different. We definitely don’t keep it to ourselves because we have to do projects on our service, and if we didn’t, how could we even prove that we did it? I think the point is to just get us to experience things that we maybe would have not experienced if we haven’t taken this course, and to expand our minds.
Hamler Carrick Tracy, Himley Margaret, and Jacobi Tobi. Language and Learning Across the Disciplines. Reptura: Acknowledging the Lost Subjects of the Service Learning Story. (2000):56-74.-
Patrycja Gola
I too was very confused by this reading, you really had to pay attention to every single word in order to grasp what the reading was even about. I like how your teacher made the point of, these people will have something to eat on the holidays but what about the rest of the time? It seems like everyone is so willing to help out and volunteer around the holidays seeming to forget that people need help all year around and not just for a few days.
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Natalie Nalepa
I do not believe that people with physical disabilities are being oppressed badly. There’s a handicapped stall in every public washroom, there’s usually a handicapped fitting room in every clothing store (I know this, I have worked at quite a few clothing stores), there are handicapped parking spaces; there are ramps at malls and public schools, colleges, most of the time. There are also special handicapped seats on buses, airplanes, and in sports arenas. Sure it’s an inconvenience to be physically handicapped, but people adapt. I saw a lady on Oprah with no arms and she cooks, types, and does everything with her feet. I have also seen a man and a woman on TLC with only their upper half of their bodies, and they function quite normally walking with their hands. There are many laws and regulations for buildings protecting the rights of handicapped people. It is not as big of a deal as it was many years ago to be physically handicapped. People adapt and learn that get around. It’s kind of how like when you lose one sense, (sight, hearing, etc.) all of your other senses become powerfully strong, and you adapt to survive. The people that are really being oppressed are the people that are mentally handicapped, because the government is cutting back drastically on funding for their health. My friend’s aunt was born with a similar disease, and she cannot walk, but she became a doctor anyway. Disabled people have plenty of job opportunities, despite what this video says. I was just watching a show about little people yesterday, and the wife is a doctor, the husband is a business owner, and they are both under four feet tall. There are labor laws protecting the rights of people with physical disabilities. My friend Ed’s SUV flipped over on I55 several years ago and he has been paralyzed from the waist down ever since, but he still drives, get in and out of his car by himself, works, shops on his own, works out at the gym, and goes on dates. Only thing that stops him is stairs. But amazingly, he texted me a couple weeks ago, and he said he was out shopping and he felt the urge to stand up, and somehow he did. Then he did it again a couple days later. He never gave up on himself. He never let his disability prevent him from living just like non-disabled people, and he never wanted any sort of special treatment. Like him, most disabled people want their independence. Naturally I open the door for him when we go places, but he doesn’t like that. He just wants to be like everyone else and he doesn’t want anyone making a fuss over him or having sympathy for him. One case of a disable person who is being opressed though is my friend Mikey. He is the innocent victim of a drunk driving accident, and is paralyzed from the neck down. He really needs care and attention. He cannot do anything at all for himself. I feel like he is being opressed because the government isn’t giving him the help he needs, yet they waste money on all sorts of uneccessary things. Obviously he can’t work, so he can’t buy groceries. He badly needs physical therapy, and I believe the government shoud provide him with it, but they don’t. So now he suffers from congestive heart failure and his arms and legs shriveled him up into a little ball. And it sucks because he was never a trouble-maker. He was quiet, stayed out of trouble, always willing to help people. Now I fear he will die soon. He can’t sue the drunk driver because the drunk driver has no money. There’s really nothing he can do.
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Thomas Nemec
Agreed! Im glad you posted what you did, after reading it I thought the samething, but at first was a bit weary of posting my thoughts, simply put, I don’t want to come across as a jerk or anything. I do have pitty for most of the disabled, not to mention as you stated, just about everywhere you go there is wheelchair accesible ramps, stalls, fitting rooms and so forth. Glad I seen your post so I know im not the only one thinking the same thing.
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Natalie Nalepa
Yeah, most people just learn to accept it. Not really much of a choice when there’s nothing you can do about it. Except for all the gigantic fat people that come to Walmart and sit on the electric carts and ask you to reach stuff for them, even though they’re just pretending to be handicapped, because they clearly made it out of their car and through the front doors without any assistance. Then when the real people who have trouble walking come in, they have to wait for the batteries to recharge.
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Natalie Nalepa
At first I wondered what the point of this was. At the end in the fine print, it said that this was a test measuring prejudice against Chinese or Asian Americans. I would not have guessed this. However, if I was the subject of the vision test, I would not even be able to answer almost all of these questions about who I would feel more comfortable with. Whoever the president is or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company is or my supervisor at work is pretty much beyind my control. Like Morgan Freeman said, (in reponse to the question “How do we end racism?”) “Stop talking about it.”
Vision Test by Wes Kim -
Natalie Nalepa
I’m not really sure why, but I have taken three sociology classes. All the information in this passage is things that we have examined in deep detail in sociology. This is not the first thing in this class that has pertained to sociology or reminded me of it, that’s not a bad thing though. However, I wonder when this was written. It seems a little outdated. Kind of reminds me of a civil rights speech I would have heard fifty years ago. We have come a long way since then. We covered a lot about gender roles in sociology, this passage mentions that. However, I think things have changed. The text says something about a stereotype that only white people should join the tennis team. What about Venus and Serena Williams, two of the most famous tennis players of all time? This was probably written before then. There’s a lot of “black this” and “Jew that” in here, but the president of the United States is black and the mayor of Chicago is Jewish. I don’t know if things are just different on the south side of Chicago, and I’m just ignorant, but it seems like not too many people care too much about who’s black and who’s gay and who’s Jewish. Sure, stereotypes still exist, but it doesn’t matter if you’re from the wrong side of town. That doesn’t mean people should have lower expectations of you. There’s lots of positive information out there and ways to succeed, and if you choose to join a gang or do drugs or become a prostitute, you can only blame yourself, not the neighborhood you were born in. Another thing is that sociology teaches us through legitimate statistics that some stereotypes are actually true. More domestic violence is reported in lower-income families, Asian Amerians do tend to have higher incomes than other ethnic groups, lesbian women tend to have higher incomes than straight women, etc. This was all proven by the US government.
Harro, Bobbie. “The Cycle of Socialization.” 15-21. Medium. Mar. 21 2012.-
Patrycja Gola
Oh hehe…that makes sense.
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Patrycja Gola
Lesbian women have a higher income than straight women? Maybe that’s because they don’t shop as much..that’s interesting.
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Natalie Nalepa
Lol, no I was thinking more along the lines of they tend to not have as many children as heterosexual women, so there is more time to invest in a career. Book didn’t even say why, just straight up stated it. One of the things I’ll remember from that class.
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Natalie Nalepa
This film brought me to tears at the end. The traditional Catholic funeral hit me very hard, having experienced it many times. After almost ninety minutes of viewing, I had become so familiar with these men and this wonderful woman. I know addiction like the back of my hand growing up with a drug addict/alcoholic/physically abusive father. Like Sister Helen, he completely changed his lifestyle and now devotes all his free time to help other people get sober. I have heard the worst of worst of stories of people hitting rock bottom to recovery. I met a man that was eating out of a trash can on crack ten years ago, and is now a rich businessman, dedicating all his time to helping the alcoholics. Addiction is a horrible, horrible thing. I’m sure almost everyone in this class has a friend or family member that has suffered from addiction. But you never really know until you experience it yourself. It’s easy to think, “Why don’t you just stop?” But you can’t just stop. It feels like you’re dying trying to stop. You get into these habits and rituals and you think you need it. You can’t remember life without it. Slowly it eats you up alive and your family hates you, you lose your job, you lose your friends, you lose your integrity. You lose everything to that one substance. People that do not understand label you and laugh at you. But not Sister Helen. She gave these men love, a family, and a second chance- which is exactly as the Catholic religion goes- as long as you are sorry, you are forgiven. Even for the worst of sins. I am very glad to have watched this video. It hit me harder than anything we have read or anything we have watched in this class. I am sad that she died at the end, but I hope she rests in peace, because she has done well. All men are created equal, drug addict or not. If I was her, I would be very proud of my life.
Sister Helen, a film by Rob Fruchtman and Rebecca Cammisa-
Iwona Ligeska
Natalie,
Your words said it all.You lose everything to that one substance, love, family and a second chance. That’s how my father ended up. He lost home, family and died at a young age.We hated him. I still can’t understand this horrible addiction. I am trying so hard to have some compassion for these people, but I just can’t. I do not know how Sister Helen could deal with that. Even though her personality was so harsh, her heart was so caring. I wish I could never have to deal with this problem ever. I know it will never dissapear from my life. Maybe one day I will understand.-
Natalie Nalepa
He never made up for his behavior. Thats the problem. If my father had not changed, I would still hate him.
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Natalie Nalepa
I can tell that this reading was written a long time ago, but it still has very useful information. I take it we are going to be interviewing someone later on in the semester. I would not mind doing that, I have no anxiexy about interviewing someone, unless it is someone really famous, which is unlikely to happen unless I become some sort of journalist. Interviewing someone is basically just like having a conversation with someone, which is what we do every day anyway. I do not see why there should be any tension while doing so. The author mentions use of a tape recorder, and says that he does not use one while conducting an interview. I probably would because then I wouldn’t have to write so fast and I could focus more on what the person I am interviewing is saying. But nowadays with modern technology, we could do that from our phones. I think it is illegal to record someone without permission though. Author says he prefers to write with a “No. 1 pencil,” never seen one of those, only No. 2 pencils. I wonder what the difference is, although this is not a significant point in this chapter. Interviewing people is a very important part of history. I like how the author mentions people being interviewed from the Great Depression. It is better to hear a story from a person’s personal account to get a better idea of what the situation in history was like, especially from an average person, not a celebrity. I find it easier for average people to relate to average people than celebrities. I can tell this is old because the author mentions something about someone smoking a pipe, and people don’t really don’t that anymore, plus you can’t really smoke inside in most buildings now. I can also tell that this is pretty old because of the way the author refers to women, and if you notice the author keeps saying “interviewing him”, not “interviewing him or her.”
Zinsser, William. “Writing About People: The Interview.” ON WRITING WELL. 100-115. 7 Mar. 2012. -
Natalie Nalepa
First of all, I didn’t know diarrhea is a disease. If someone is gonna jump into a fountain to save a small child and they’re debating if they should or not because they don’t want to mess up their shoes…can’t they just take the shoes off then go in the fountain? Anyway, anyone who would pay $900 for a pair of shoes or a purse that was probably made in India by a worker who got paid like fifty cents to make it is a jackass. Who created money anyway? We did. Somehow it is based off of gold, but why is gold valuable? Nothing about money really makes any sense to me. Now, this guy is talking about us having the right to eat meat…but animals eat other animals! It’s called the circle of life. Even Jesus ate fish. I remember in a culinary class we were making lobsters, and some people chose not to participate because they thought it was animal cruelty…but then our teacher reminded us. Lobsters don’t have boyfriends and girlfriends, they don’t have jobs or go to parties or celebrate holidays or think about anything at all. I don’t know if I misinterpreted this, but it seems as though this man is an atheist. I think atheist combined wth ethics is somewhat of an oxymoron. I have tolerance for all religions, but no tolerance for atheist. I liked the video up until that point, then I got mad when he mentioned that. He offended me. I would rather just live rather than wasting time thinking about the meaning of life. We’re all here, and we’re here for a reason. We might not know what that reason is, but there has to be a reason.
Peter Singer on Ethics-
Joan Garrity
I loved your entry here. I really think it was an insult as well. I feel like it is the circle of life, people/ humans, always ate animals, back to the beginning, i respect vegetarians and their beliefs, i can also basically tolerate all religions, some special privilages i do not agree with though. However, Atheists don’t even bother me, i have my faith and thats all that matters, my opinion is “to each their own”. but the video did rub me the wrong way i must say. The 900 dollar shoe issue really irritated me. Why couldn’t you just take the shoes off? shoes are more important than a life? unbelievable. I agree totally that only a jackass would spend 900 on a pair of shoes that most likely cost 50 Cents to make!
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Eric Wisch
“atheism” isn’t a religion. Atheists do not believe in gods, or goddesses, special powers, voodoo, or wooden arks with one of every animal.. If there was an atheist on the ark though, and he or she didn’t eat meat, that person would be called a vegetarian.
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Natalie Nalepa
I know that, and that’s the problem.
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Natalie Nalepa
I find that a lot of information I have learned is actually going to help me in another class that I am taking. I have to write an argumentative speech, and it has to be about something that I care about. I am struggling to find a topic, but I think the strategies mentioned in 2.3 and 2.4 may help me. It’s not so much that I am afraid to take a risk in my writing, because I am not, it’s just that the teacher listed pretty much every topic that I thought of as a “forbidden topic” on the assignment sheet, so now I really have to get creative and find something that I care about that is also debatable and people will have different perspectives on. I think that the school system does encourage creativity, but only in English and Art. It is very hard to get creative with math. I had a math teacher once who wanted us to make a creative math project, and I thought that was rather silly. I do find college classes to encourage a lot more creativity than high school classes did though. I think maybe this is due to the fact that I can use a lot of words or mention a lot of things in my writing that would have been flagged as inappropriate in high school. You learn to stand in line and raise your hand, etc., early in school, I guess as a point of respect and obedience, but I don’t even think any of that necessarily works, because some people still grow up to be crazy and out of control.
— McGuire, Michael. “Chapter 2.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. Print. -
Natalie Nalepa
I read an article that focuses on the exact topic that I wrote about in our second major writing assignment. I mentioned violence, homicides, cyber bulling, and youth suicides. The article that I read, from the Washington Post, states that although violent crime, bullying, and gang activity are declining in US schools, cyber bullying and suicides among youth are increasing. The article states that cyber bullying is the next biggest problem to solve, somehow this relates to the suicide rate going up, although that is somewhat hard for me to believe, because I think it would hit me harder to get beaten up at school than to have someone say something about me online. A lot of stuff said online on social media websites can be reported and removed anyway. One thing that I found interesting (bot NOT good of course), 1,579 kids 5-18 died from homicides four school years ago. I can’t believe someone would kill an innocent five year old. This is a pretty messed up world we live in. I’m sure all of these deaths could have been prevented. I hope that the decrease in violence in schools is a result from better parenting, more bullying awareness and campaigns (such as mentioned in my second major writing assignment), stricter punishments for bullies, and more schools adopting strict zero tolerance policies. So now cyber bullying is the problem, and I don’t really know much about stopping it, because even adults do it. The internet is good for a lot of things, like school, research, buying stuff, and playing games, but in a way the internet is also bad because people are using it to bully people, scam them out of money, and steal their identity. I bet one hundred years ago no one would have even imagined such a thing would exist someday. Associated Press. “Report Shows Crime at US Public Schools on Decline; Fewer Homicides, Violent Crimes, and Thefts.” washingtonpost.com. Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.
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Natalie Nalepa
Since we do not have a chapter assigned to read this week, what are we supposed to be writing about in the Reading/Research Journal?
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Patrycja Gola
Something relating to what we are learning such as all the service/activism we have been learning about. You can post something about a book you have read, or any information you found that’s related to what we have been discussing.
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Natalie Nalepa
I agree with everything Margaret Nussbaum had to say. The state of Illinois has taken some steps forward and some steps backwards in acheiving justice for all residents. A step forward was realized when my mother and I want to visit my great uncle at a veteran’s home in Manteno. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, lots of farmland around it. When I got there, my mother told me that her mother used to take her there to visit her aunt. The veteran’s home used to be a place for people with mental disablilities, and people would just be sent there and kind of isolated and forgotten, in a jail-like scenery. I am glad that they closed that place down, it sounds kind of inhumane. Another step forward is Thresholds. I have a skitzophrenic cousin who is in his fifties, and we were all worried about what would happen to him when my great aunt and uncle died. Luckily Thresholds takes care of him and he is actually functioning even better than ever before. They set him up with a place to live, and even got him somewhat of a job. If he was born with this condition one hundred years ago, he’d probably just be ignored and locked up in a jail cell with his condition. A step backwards is that now places offering free services for people in need of medical or mental health care are beginning to shut down because the state of Illinois can no longer afford to keep such places running. One example is a free mental hospital in Tinley. They will be closing soon, and now people that cannot afford to see a doctor will probably have nowhere to go in the instance of a severe mental crisis. If we can eliminate government waste, maybe such places like this would not have to close. Also, there are a lot of people taking advantage of the public aide system, especially food stamps, and I witness this every day at work. If the government can track down and eliminate abuse, maybe they would have money for people that actually need help, like my friend who is paralyzed from the neck down because he is an innocent victim of a drunk driving accident. The government does not provide him with the care he needs, and they should, because obviously he cannot work. I find it rather sad that we live in a world where a football player on a professional league makes more money than a brain surgeon.
Margaret Nussbaum on Justice -
Patrycja Gola
There are definitely many people that take advantage of the food stamp system but others who are in real need don’t get any help, our system and way of doing things is so messed up.
Maureen Rich is discussing. 
Patrycja Gola is discussing. 
Natalie Nalepa, and 
Thomas Nemec are discussing. 
Iwona Ligeska are discussing. 
Joan Garrity, 
Eric Wisch are discussing. 
Natalie Nalepa
Man created pretty much everything we do socially. Laws are necessary to protect the innocent, but sometimes laws can be unfair and contribute to opression. It is interesting to think of how people developed our way of life. They needed to eat, drink, sleep, and reproduce, which is pretty much what animals do. But we are different because we crated currency, entertainment, education, etc., and we also created opression, and the orginal source of it is unknown, because examples of opression are shown even in the earliest times we know of human existance. Noam Chomsky mentions the women’s movement. Somewhere, somehow, at a time and place unknown, it was decided that men had more power than women. This was probably based on strength. For hundred of thousands of years, women just dealt with their gender role, especially because a lot of it was written down as the law. Finally, someone has the courage to stand up and recognize that men and women should have equal rights, because if not, then this is unconstitutional. Women are still being opressed in countries all over the world, and it if not fair, because man created it, and it has been proven that women can be just as sucessful as men. However, many of these undemocratic countries are finally beginning to have their civil rights movements, and hopefully eventually, laws will be implemented all over the world, and people will become less ignorant.
Noam Chomsky on Oppression and Resistance
Natalie Nalepa
Rajeev Goyal accomplished so much more than many will in their lifetime. If he was Catholic, I’d say he should be canonized as a Saint. He didn’t have to do anything that he did. He could have stayed in the United States, got his law degree, could be taking vacations to Hawaii and sitting in front of a big screen TV right now with a glass of wine in his hand, but instead he devoted his time to helping others. This reminds me of a Hallmark card that I picked out for someone who helped me with something, a thank you card. I chose the card because I really liked what it said, nice and simple, and it made a lot of sense to me and really cut to the point; “You didn’t have to do what you did (front of card), and that’s what makes it so special,” (inside of card). Sure, you can choose to do nothing for other people and sit in front of your tv on your leather couch and watch sports games. But will that give you peace of mind? Probably not. One day I was sitting in church, and the preist was speaking about treating others the right way and helping people, and I really like what he said; “That new car won’t love you back. That fancy new house won’t take care of you in your old age.” I think this statement is the whole heart of service/activism. My topic that I chose, bullying, is so broad and general that I do not actually know what I could do, other than not being a bully myself, or stopping someone from bullying another person. I think that just reading everyone’s last major writing assignment will have a lasting impact on everyone this semester. I read at least six people’s assignment, and I learned so much information that I was not aware of.
Hessler, Peter. “Villiage Voice: The Peace Corps’s Brightest Hope.” The New Yorker. 100-109. Medium.
Natalie Nalepa
Chapter four of Why White Rice was definitely not one of the more enjoyable chapters that we have read so far, not to me at least. I hate to admit it, but honestly I can say it was pretty boring. It kind of seemed like something extremely similar to an idea that we have already read about; it was nothing new to me and did not open my mind up to anything I had not thought about before. The author uses the word “thesis” repeatedly, but I don’t really think this chapter even had a thesis. And speaking of a thesis, I don’t even think you need a thesis, as long as it makes sense. Also, the author seems to be writing to an audience that thinks that they are stupid and are terrified to write things, when in reality, I find that most students find math or science a million times more frustrating than any sort of writing class. I do not think I have met one person, especially at a college level, that would tell their instructor that they “suck at writing.” One thing that kind of annoys me (but only because this class is so strict on citing things properly), is that the author gives examples of at least four students, and he didn’t even cite the students at the end of the chapter, even though he used their ideas. He even used a student’s thesis statement for a paper as an example and did not cite it. If he did not cite it, how do we even know that he had permission from the student to use his idea? He said that the student came up with it, not him, but still, I have to cite this research journal entry even though I am not saying that I came up with all the information, so I think this guy is breaking the rules a little bit.
DeVillez, Eric. “You Can Do It in the Garden or in an Elevator, Writing Is Critical Thinking.” Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. 77-99. Print
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Joan Garrity
I totally agree with you, If he did not cite the works himself, what is that telling the reader. I like how you were open and honest about this frustration. I assumed the same thought, why did he not cite the students work but yet, he is stating how important it is to do so. We do not know if he even had the permission to use the ideas. very well said.
Natalie Nalepa
Reading “Villiage Voice: The Peace Corps’s Brightest Hope,” I thought about a bunch of research that I had to do for a class I had taken last semester. We had to each choose a “third-world” country, and create a PowerPoint presentation about the sociological patterns of our chosen country. I just so happened to have done my project on Nepal. Nepal is in pretty bad shape, economically and socially, especially in the farm areas. Nepal relied heavily on Himalayan tourism, but civil wars have driven tourists away, making the country even poorer. Aside from the things mentioned in this article, I have researched that Nepal also has many other problems such as spousal abuse, little girls being sold as sex slaves, and various women’s rights problems. I am very proud to be born and raised in America, and I am proud of what the Peace Corps does for the outside world. I think that funding for the Peace Corps is very crucial, and the government should cut some of its waste, like wars that should not be fought, and instead use the money to help other countries develop, and create strong alliances with them. This could probably encourage more trade and strengthen the economy. One thing that bothers me is that we are extremely spoiled in this country. Sometimes I have to go ring people up on the cash register at work when we get really busy, and I see people dressed nicely in designer clothes, with fancy handbags, and they come to me with a cart full of toys, bed sheets, DVDS, and video games, I ring their stuff up, then they hand me an Illinois Link card to pay for the seventy dollars’ worth of candy, chips, soda, and ice cream in their order. This makes me extremely sad because these people are buying all sorts of junk food with food stamps; meanwhile, there are children all over the world who are lucky if they can get half a bowl of rice and a glass of water at the end of the day. I think our government needs to revise their welfare policy, eliminate giving out candy and soda to people who don’t even really need to be a food stamps, and instead use the money for our neighbors all over the world that are starving and dying, and don’t even have schools or fresh water to drink.
Hessler, Peter. “Village Voice: The Peace Corps’s Brightest Hope.” The New Yorker Dec. 20 2010: 100-109. Print.
Linda Seguin is discussing. -
Linda Seguin
Thanks for the additional insight into the region that was the focus of this weeks reading. The reality of the living conditions and hardships of the people in this region needs to capture the attention of Americans. We are very fortunate and need to do more to elevate their living conditions and strengthen their communities. This is a fine line for governments but I do believe the Peace Corp is an excellent volunteer organization to depend on in regards to third world contries. As for the Ill. Link card and what it historically has allowed card carrying individuals ( card blanche) to purchase with it, I to have witnessed its use to purchase fine steaks and junk food. I recently had a conversation with a supermarket manager that said that ithis program has finally been overhauled and many limitations are being placed as to what you can buy with the card . This will soon be implemented. Only healthy foods will be allowed for purchase using the Link card. It’s about time that we address the spiraling problems that obesity creates. It is a very sad state that this government not only has to help those found in less fortunate circumstances but that it had to come to terms that some individuals are taking advantage of the system and causing further epidemic health issues by not using common sense and eating healthy. The government must now act as a dietician .
Natalie Nalepa
Giving/receiving peer feedback this first time around was rather difficult for me this first time around. This is especially because I do not know the unique personalities of everyone is the class, and I am not sure how people will interpret the feedback that I give them. I know we are not supposed to be the teacher, but its a lot easier to say, “You spelled this wrong,” or “You used the wrong too/to/two,” than to try and state something that you liked about someone’s essay, especially if you honestly did not agree with anything they said or like it at all. I hope as the semester continues, I will get better at this peer review thing, and I will try to look at comments others have given to someone’s writing, and try to respond with a completely different idea. Maybe as our skills continue to grow and the subject manners change, peer review will become easier. It’s kind of hard to judge someone by what they live/die/kill for, but it seems much easier to contribute and add to someone’s idea about an issue in the world that deeply concerns them.
Alex Jellema, and -
Alex Jellema
I definitely agree that it was difficult to not “be the teacher” as that it what I am used to when peer reviewing.
It was interesting though to give mainly positive feedback on the works, this way people would know what to do in future writing projects and may help more than telling them what is wrong at this point.
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Linda Seguin
I agree that the first paper for peer review was difficult because of the very personal topic that we had to explore. It was an extremely individual opinion paper and it could be easy to blurt out the wrong thing that could be taken offensive to that indiidual writer. We are not the instructor. It is not our responsibility with peer editing to make judgements or assumptions and if we do not agree with another students viewpoint we must realize its OK to disagree but do not start a debate on the issue. Its about writting and with positive tips here and there by the end of the course we in theory should be better at it.
Natalie Nalepa
This is what kind of bothers me about writing in general…there are hundreds and thousands of books, magazine and newspaper articles, encyclopedias, etc., written all over the world. It is definitely impossible to have read all of them. So how do you know that someone hasn’t already thought of an idea that you think is your own, and already written it down, if you do not know anything about the existence of that writing? The author states on pages 172-173 of the text that President Obama gave a speech almost identical to a speech given by Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. Can we be sure, (because it has not been proven in the textbook) that Obama even heard the governor’s speech? The words and ideas they both stated were similar, but not exactly identical. However, they aren’t even coming up with their own complex ideas; they are quoting what others have said throughout history, “I have a Dream.” “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” If you reword something that is an obvious scientific fact, is it plagiarism? Do you have to cite the book, even if you rewrote what you wrote into your own words? There is nothing scarier than getting an F on a paper, being accused of plagiarism, especially if you did not intentionally do it. I can read the same fact in twenty different encyclopedias, but no one really owns the idea, since each encyclopedia says the same thing, just with different wording.
Troy Swanson.” Mash It Up…Gracefully”. “Why White Rice? -Thinking Through Writing”. Kendall Hunt Pub. 2010. p.163-174
Sujoud Jumah is discussing. -
Sujoud Jumah
Natalie, I totally agree with you. Techinically no one had a new idea, we all learn everything from watching tv, reading books, magazines and so on….. so every time we write anything in our papers we have to cite that? I never seem to understand it. I understand if you use word for word you have to give that person credit, however what if you are re-wording it?
Natalie Nalepa
The Dan Pink video completely blew my mind. The big turning point was at the part where he described his business idea back to his teacher in the 80s, and it sounded a little crazy to me, then he pointed at that it actually ended up happening.
I understand there is a great importance of people working on what they feel they should work on rather than doing something they are told to do. The boss may oversee people’s work, but they don’t actually do their employee’s jobs. Therefore, the employee most likely knows what is best for productivity. That is how I have felt in some of my recent work experiences. In a previous job that I had, I worked on the logistics team at Old Navy for three years. At first, I would have to look at a book and set the floor based on the how a book showed it. Eventually our time got shortened, and my boss just trusted me to set the floor however I thought was best, I grew very confident and took a lot of pride in my work, and tried my hardest to complete it at an even quicker level than before, even though I was wasn’t getting paid at a higher rate.
Eventually I needed to take a second job because I was not making enough money, and ended up staying at the second job and quitting Old Navy because the pay was higher, I got more hours, and I needed to go back to school. However, even though the pay is higher and I am probably making twice as much money, there is no motivation because the expectations are extremely low and I never get verbally rewarded for going far out of my way to do something extra for the company. Therefore, I do not care much about this job like I did the other one, and money is not motivating me.
Kelly Creed, 
Kimberly Kolozy are discussing. -
Kelly Creed
Natalie, you bring up a good point that a lot of us are guilty of. Just like you, I am currently working at a job that I do not get verbally rewarded for the extra time and effort I put in on a daily basis. This gets very frustrating because when we work so hard to make a difference in our jobs and it never gets noticed, it almost gets to the point of “Why am I putting in extra work at all?” All i can say is do not get discouraged because although you may not think people are noticing the hard work you put in on a daily basis, your job work would probably not function without you. Keep your head up, and hopefully you’ll be able to find a job where all of your hard work is noticed.
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Sujoud Jumah
I loved Dan Pink video it was truly amazing! All of the point he mad were great, I even went on youtube and searched him to listen more to his speeches. I think money is a motivator for work, the biggest motivator perhaps but if you are truly unhappy the money starts fading away slowly.
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Kimberly Kolozy
Money is not the motivator for me either, but more of it surely helps. I enjoy the current position I am in, but because I haven’t finished my degree yet, I am not making all that I could. I do know that even without a higher salary, I would likely still stay with my employer because I do love what I do. I am sorry to hear that you do not receive acknowledgement for your hard work and that expectations are low at your current position. You were, however, able to identify what motivates you versus what doesn’t working in your two positions which is a great thing. You seem to be a leader and one that works to exceed expectations when given the chance.
Natalie Nalepa
Chapter three was another wake-up call for me, and it scared me a little bit. It seems like such a long, painful struggle to get a masters degree in anything, especially teaching apparently, and even when you do get that degree, it is not one hundred percent certain that you will even find a job. For this author to do all this while working and married, this sounds very impressive to me. I only have two classes, I work usually about thirty-two hours a week, I am not married and I do not have any children, and it still seems like there needs to be more time in the day.
I’m twenty-two and I don’t even have the slightest clue of what to do with my life. Money is definitely a big restraint. You have to spend money to make money. And I sure don’t make enough at this terrible retail job. I know the point is not to work for money, it’s to work to do something you are passionate about, but even when I do find my true calling, I don’t even make enough money to take more than two classes a semester. If the author of this chapter took twelve years to get a master’s degree, it will probably take me twenty-five years, which really depresses me to think about. I really need to do something to chance my life. I do not like the direction it is going in.
I know I care about a lot of things, and of course I would not write about something if I did not care about it. I like that the author proved this Beatrice character wrong with 400 pages because of what he cared about, but I do not understand why he cares so much about that particular topic. It seems so uninteresting to me. My brain would just totally explode if I had to read 400 pages about why men are important in nineteenth century Victorian literature, or especially if I had to write about that just because I disagreed with a classmate. I know that wasn’t the point of this whole chapter, but still, it makes me wonder.
Natalie Nalepa
What’s the difference between service and activism? I really do not know for sure, but activism seems like a lot stronger of a word. Maybe activism is caring for/concern/doing something for a cause you believe in, and service is doing something that you’re supposed to do/should do? Service seems like more of a job term. A waitress serves you food. A police officer serves his community. Activism brings to mind some sort of protest or demonstration.
I really enjoyed the Dave Egger’s stories. The first one, I liked the writing, but fail to understand the symbolic meaning. However, the man described in the story reminded me of myself, always in a panic, can never relax, always tense and uneasy about something, not sure what though.
I liked “Your Mother And I” best out of anything I had read in this course so far. I have never read anything quite like that before. It was random and engaging. It doesn’t make complete sense to me, but that’s okay because it doesn’t have to. At least it was not dull and boring. I do, however, kind of enjoy billboards. What I liked most about this story was all the love and sex mentioned, and I like it how the author said, “fuck” in the story. I’m pretty sure this author works for Al Gore, but still, he is a great writer, and I am very glad that I got to enjoy that story. Now I have all sorts of brilliant ideas flowing through my head.
Natalie Nalepa
This quiz about finding information on Google really proves that you have to know how to identify credible and non-credible sources, and not just think you can site anything that is on Google. I definitely thought at first impression that site #1 was the credible one, and site #2 was not. A major part of this reason is because site #1 is a “.gov” site, and I think all “.gov” sites are reliable, if they are from the United States, right? When I clicked on the link the site #2, I knew just from reading the first two statements that the information was false, but this is only because I had a class last semster where we had read a whole chapter regarding woman and HIV/AIDS. But if I had not taken that class last semester, I would have had to have done some research to make ensure if site #2 is a credible source of information or not.
From this section, I really enjoyed reading the article about procrastination. I find myself doing a lot of things that were mentioned that procrastinators do, without even realizing it. I especially like the idea of the “unschedule.” If I did that, I would probably realize that I have a lot more time to get things done than I think I do. I only have one other class, and a completely random work schedule, but the schedule for the other class is set, and my work schedule is not. However, I always have a copy of my work schedule available three weeks in advance, so I would have no problem making an “unschedule.”
I hate putting a big paper off to the last minute, but I have done so before. There is usually no excuse for it. I find that the earlier I write the paper, the more time I have to think about what I have written and if I am really ready to submit it or not, and I end up getting a better grade than if I had written the paper the day before it was due.
Natalie Nalepa
This is a college class! No one would probably even make it through high school thinking that they can cite Wikipedia in a research paper. People should know the difference between valid and invalid sources by the time they are in junior high school. We have all written papers before, you had to make it past com101 to get to com102, and this chapter provides some common sense information. Of course I’m not going to write a paper about global warming and site what my mother, who answers phones all day for some trucking company, says as a source. Referring to 5.2, I cannot stand the fact that the author wrote seven paragraphs trying to make a point using the topic of football. Many females, like myself, do not understand sports, ESPECIALLY football, and I cannot stand it when a professor or teaching includes sports into a lesson plan, because any sports terminology is like a foreign language to me, and I have no idea what any of it means, nor do I care because that is a leisure activity, and I would rather do other things than watch or play sports. I do not know what mystory is, but am eager to find out, because I assume it is something we will be doing in class later on in the semester. When I told my sister that I signed up for this class, all she had to say was, “I will never forget mystory…” I don’t know if that is a good or a bad thing.
— Swanson, Troy. “Dry Your Hair and Don’t Lick the Frozen Flag Pole Reaserching and Infromation Literacy.” Why White Rice?. IA: Kendall Hunt, 2010. 101-132.Print.
Natalie Nalepa
The author of chapter one quotes on page 18, “The worst that can happen is they don’t like it- and so what?!?” (in regards to others reading your writing). Yet he mentions on page 20 how offended he was in regards to reviews he got on ratemyprofessor.com. Also, he states that, “writing is not perfect,” and then mentions how the student that wrote a review about him fails to capitalize the letter “i.” Out of all things, why would the student care about proper grammer and spelling for a stupid one sentence comment on a website that he is not being graded on?…I don’t get it.
However, I did enjoy reading the rest of the chapter, and agreed with most everything else that the author wrote. A lot of it was things I already knew, but the one thing I read that I did not really think about before reading chapter one was the elimination of using the words “I think” while writing a paper.
When it comes down to others reviewing your work, I know that is always a good idea. After I write something and re-read it, others that I ask to check it usually find grammar and spelling errors that I did not notice. I never believed in the myth that it is a waste of time to have other people read my writing.
Maureen Rich 3:19 pm on April 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Natalie, I have the same problem.
Maureen Rich 3:34 pm on April 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Even once I am in, if I click on different areas it will tell me can not connect.