It’s Getting Old

Honestly?

America needs to grow up. Everything about this is absolutely ridiculous, on both parties. I am so tried of everyone constantly being offended by every single thing. The comment on Facebook was absurd, and while yes, it makes me want to drop kick Samson in the face, there are sooooooo many stupid people in the world who say stupid things. Why don’t we look up racist comments on social media and hold a protest against every single person, black or white, who has ever said anything racist? I am all for standing up against what you believe in, so if students wanted to have a sit in, fine, but I felt their condemnation of Vitter’s original statement was harsh. The way they were talking made it seem like Vitter liked the comment, and shared it on his page. Obviously Vitter in no way supports Samson’s ignorance, he’s the chancellor of a college for goodness sake. Let’s be real, slavery ended 150 years ago, isn’t it time to move on? I believe in history and learning about it and paying our respects to it, but America has gotten to the point where everyone constantly thinks everyone else is out to get them all the time. Stupid remarks that symbolize ignorance and unawareness are made daily. People are going to be stupid and no protest will ever stop that. Protesting and spreading awareness of Samson’s idiotic comment only draws more attention to him and makes him famous, is that what we want?

I Think My Answer is Probably Yes

Step One:

  1. The context is millions of men, women, and children are dying in Syria because of the civil war; Americans have become cold and turned against helping the refugees, meanwhile we mourn the loss of a dog to great extent.
  2. The purpose is to make the reader think about priorities and what really should come first in this world.
  3. All human lives have value, but also that a human’s life is worth every bit as much as a golden retriever’s.
  4. Logos: examples of what past presidents have done in situations that are similar to Syria’s; pathos: children and dogs are the two things that touch the hearts of most
  5. The article begins somewhat informal, as he talks about his dog and how she would have won the Nobel Peace Prize, but then the tone switches to formal as he gets into foreign policy and almost a political debate about what our government has done in the past that they should be doing now
  6. He uses sarcasm when addressing this issue; his exaggerations make the reader think and reflect on their personal values
  7. n/a
  8. bias might include comparing Syria to the Holocaust which I believe is a slight exaggeration at this time; he uses little evidence that is specifically relevant to Syria, instead he brings in evidence of what past presidents have done, but does not give us specifics on what is actually going on

Step Two:

The most effect strategy to me is comparing something almost everyone loves, dogs, to what everyone should love and care about most, human life. I don’t know if that has a specific name, besides using pathos to connect emotionally to the reader, but I find that this strategy of making an American treasure seem minuscule after juxtaposing it to the most valuable thing on earth makes the reader stop to think.

Synthesizing Life

At the beginning of this unit I was confused about the term “synthesis”. I had never really heard it before, or maybe I did, but didn’t know what it meant so I just breezed over it. I came to learn the word to mean connecting two pieces of literature in a way that not only compares, but explains the significance of the comparison. Later we learned, we could relate an article with a video. Pretty cool. But last week I learned I could relate an article, or video, with my life. I began to synthesis the passing of my grandmother with the passing of Frank’s dad, even though that was never an assignment. I saw things differently and used Frank’s struggle with identity after the loss of his parents to help me with my own personal struggles. I’ve never met Frank Snake Church, but if I did tomorrow, I would thank him for helping me cope with my current family situation.

To be honest, I was getting annoyed at the beginning of the unit with the kernel essays. It crossed my mind to drop out of college once or twice. But, when it came time to write the final paper, it became so clear why we did all the kernel essays. I would say writing those were the most helpful in preparing me for the turning in of my synthesis paper. Without those I feel like I would have been lost on where to even start my paper.

I didn’t really have a writing partner due to being absent from class, but I used Alexie as a writing partner and reviewed his work to better mine. When Alexie became too silent (get it? because books can’t talk), Kaitlin helped me a lot in the peer review. I feel she wasn’t totally harsh enough however, which was good for my self esteem, but I’m not sure as good for my paper. Also, having a teacher that cared enough to go on my google doc and make comments and help me better my paper meant the world to me. I loved being reassured I was on the right path, but being pushed to dig a little deeper.

Take aways? Assignments have value that you may not see right away, but will reveal themselves eventually. The power of peer editing is something not to be taken lightly as it could lead to something wonderful. Turns out that what we learn in college, really does have real life appeal. Don’t take anything for granted. Remember to tell your loved ones you love them, no matter how much you think they already know, because you never know when you won’t be able to anymore. But some of these may not be writing related…..

“I’m A Mess”

With the overwhelming events of last week and early on this week, my mind has been clouded. Missing four days of class in college I believe should be means for prescription drugs for stress. Missing Monday and Tuesday this week started me off behind and what’s worse is I can’t even catch up because I still can’t think clearly. Every time I try to study or focus on homework my mind drifts off to thinking about the hole in my family. That being said, I have spent 90% of my time this week in the study room in Burns. Jeremy, Fred, Peyton, and I basically moved into the study room this week, but I suppose it was worth it because I made a 100% on my math test. However, where I excelled in math, I lacked in writing. My paper is struggling and all I can do is just stare at it blankly. I know there is so much more I can do with it, but right now is base level which upsets me because the topic has the potential to be deeper. What can I say? I’m a mess.

More Can’t’s in a World of Possibilities

-Can’t use first person

– First sentence can’t be a question

-Can’t use one syllable words

-Thesis can’t be anywhere besides last sentence in intro

– Can’t use sentence fragments

-Can’t use simple sentences, make it complex

-Cannot use contractions

-Can’t vary from 5 paragraph essay form

 

Oh, and don’t breathe too much either …

Ironic, Isn’t It?

Death provides an interesting insight into a new perspective of life. On one hand, you are devastated and crushed by the loss of a loved one, but on the other it is somewhat of a relief to know that one day the pain and suffering will end.  Burying my grandmother today was a whirlwind of emotions. I want so badly to be angry and upset with God, but scripture and Christian music are the only things keeping me sane as of now. Ironic, isn’t it? My grandmother had a disease in which the veins in her legs were unable to pump the blood back up to her heart which resulted in blood pooling in her legs. This led to sores that eventually became infectious. The medicine she took for the sores made her extremely sick, and the medicine she took for the sickness made her kidney fail, and the medicine she took for her kidney made her lungs close up, and the cycle continued. Ever think medicine has advanced too much for our own good? Ironic, isn’t it? A long, sad story short: my grandmother was on life support and given only a few hours to live, but her heart was so strong she made it 36 hours before we saw her heart rate hit zero. My dad says she knew what she was doing, and simply did not want to pick between my sister (a UA grad) and me this weekend during the Ole Miss – Alabama game. My dad always knows the right things to say. It’s hard to think about her not being there for my college graduation or my wedding or anything like that, but I know it’s selfish for those to be the things on my mind. Between the tears today at the graveside service, I saw my grandfather’s tombstone for the first time in 10 years. I think it is kind of morbid to visit cemeteries, and thus never went to visit him after his burial in 2006. As heart wrenching as it was to see Granny in a box, there was also a sense of peace that rushed over me when I got to see my grandparents side by side again. Ironic, isn’t it? I am positive I could use a 15 letter word to describe how I am feeling, but nothing seems as appropriate as sad. Just plain sad. When you die, you don’t get to take anything with you. So everything tangible she worked for for the past 71 years disappears. However, even though she is gone, I know she has touched my heart in a way that will last forever and thus makes her immortal. So maybe the only point of living is to impact the lives of others before you die. Ironic, isn’t it?

The “Catch”

Before when I thought about going to college there were so many things I wanted to do. I wanted to explore, experiment, make new friends, life long friends, go to parties, go to football games, drive to Taco Bell at 3am just because my mom wasn’t there to tell me no. Few of the dreams I had about college included class. Class was kind of the “catch”, if you will, of going to college. Then when I got here, my mindset completely flipped. I went to class, went to the dorm and studied for hours on end, went to bed around 12 and then got up and started it all over again. I went to one party and suddenly wondered why that had been what I was looking forward to this whole time. But with the events of the past week I think I learned, more than ever before, the need for balance. 99.9% of the time, class is a must, but maybe playing hookie (or hooky?) one day wouldn’t hurt. Even though I was so excited about leaving home and being six hours away from Mom and Dad, perhaps taking my homework on the road so I could sit on their couch and study instead of mine would be okay. I think the most important part of college is growing as a person and I thought the best way to do that was on my own, but my family helped me grow this far, might as well keep them around for a little longer. As far as football games? Yeah, they’re still top priority. So what’s the real catch you ask? Learning to balance all the things there are to do and accepting the decisions you make, and that’s something no class, nor party will ever teach you.

 

PS: I know that EDHE is supposed to teach us balance and time management and all that crap, but that is the worst class I have ever experienced and if and when I skip class, it will be that one.

“Dream Catchers”

I think I am going to write on option four. I ruled out number three because I am white and do not romanticize Native Americans and I am not sure I even understand what Corliss means when she says that. Prompt two is a touchy subject for me since my boyfriend is African American and my dad does not approve of our relationship and therefore I don’t want my paper to get too opinionated and focused on my specific situation instead of the United States as a whole. I really like both the first and last prompts. The first however, focuses on quests, which includes my personal quest, but quests imply a gain of self knowledge at the end and I have yet to reach the end of my quest and therefore lack the quest-enlightened self knowledge and would rather write on this prompt at the end of senior year perhaps. The final choice instructs me to write on what it means to be college-educated, and with the passing of my grandmother today I am already starting to realize I am learning a lot more in college than book smarts. I am concerned simply about writing my first real college paper and relating all three elements(Ten Little Indians, Dream Catchers video, and my own person testimony) in a cohesive manner that flows properly.

Kernel – What Ever Happened to Frank Snake Church and Search Engine

(by: Amber Schmidt and Kaitlin Havens)

Throughout Sherman Alexie’s “Ten Little Indians”, the theme of identity is brought up time after time. Frank Snake Church and Corliss particularly struggled with the ultimate battle of Who I Am vs. Who I Am Supposed to Be. Corliss, who “wasn’t supposed to read the books she read and [who] wasn’t supposed to say the things she said,”(Alexie 41) found herself an outsider in a room full of family due to being “too young and too female and too Indian to be that smart,” (Alexie 41.) Frank Snake Church however, found himself lost in his own home due a lack of family. Although Frank mostly is at war with himself and Corliss usually battles it out when members of her family and community, both characters could agree that the reflection they see in the mirror is not how they feel inside.

In What Ever Happened to Frank Snake Church, Frank finds himself lost after the death of his father. He decides to get into the best shape of his life and play college basketball as a “second wind”.. Playing ball was always his dream until the death of his mother when he was a teenager which resulted in him hanging up his basketball shoes for good in order to honor her memory. Alexie juxtaposes the idea of Frank giving up basketball to honor his mother with him retaking up the sport to honor his father. Compared to Corliss who reads poetry despite her father and uncles in Search Engine, Frank does what he does in remembrance of his parents. Frank Snake Church is chasing after his dream which in essence is chasing after his late mother and father while Corliss runs away from her father and tribe and chases a poet. Both Frank and Corliss go on a quest, but endure different demons, which include age and mental illness for Frank, which ultimately leads to a much different gain in self knowledge. Frank learns after his knee injury while playing with college kids that even though both his parents are gone, he is going to be fine.

In relation to the short story mentioned above, Sherman Alexie wrote Search Engine which is about a girl named Corliss who is also struggling with identity.  She is constantly being patronized by her Native American father and uncles because she loves to read poetry.  She accidentally stumbled onto a book of poems written by a mysterious Spokane indian, Harlan Atwater.   She became very interested in him because she was also a Spokane indian.  She asked around her tribe about this Harlan Atwater guy.  No one seemed to know who he was, or know about the book.  She ended up finding his phone number, calling him, and getting turned away by his rude attitude.  She was determined, however, and found his address.  She was nervous, but made a trip to Seattle anyway.  She ended up getting lost and asked a homeless man for directions to Harlan’s house. Although not finished with her quest, the homeless man unlocks some self knowledge by introducing her to the idea she has a lot more in common with being homeless than she ever thought before.  When she wandered up onto Atwater’s house, she had no idea what or who she was about to come in contact with.  When Harlan opened the door, she was devastated with what she saw.  She described him as being “homely.”  After a heart to heart conversation with the poet, she finally realizes that she needs no one’s approval but her own, and must learn to let things go.  She said to Harlan, “you’re a lost bird,” (Alexie, p. 40) which is exactly how she feels.  In a sense, she is similar to Atwater because she does not exactly fit the description of a typical Spokane, like he does not. Harlan wanted exactly what Corliss has and vice versa.  Corliss is unable to fully be herself because of the constant negativity towards her interests, but gains the self understanding and confidence in order to try anyways.

In these two short stories, Corliss and Frank both struggle with finding themselves.  They are both looking for acceptance and for happiness.  Corliss finds her happiness in poetry while Frank finds his in basketball.  They both battle their demons and conquer them, regardless of what others think. However, they are also completely different. Corliss found Harlan and learned from what he told her, while Frank found Russell and got in shape to play basketball again to honor his late parents and discovered that he had become too old to continue  playing. These stories broaden the outlook of the real world as well as teach the balance of what you want to do, can do, and are supposed to do.

 

Reference Citation:

Alexie, Sherman. “Search Engine” and “What Ever Happened to Frank Snake Church.” Ten Little Indians: Stories. New York: Grove, 2003. 1+. Print.