In Praise of the F Word

I agree with Sherry's point that if students do not have "a healthy fear of failure," they will not be motivated to work. When I was growing up, I had that fear of failure instilled within me by my parents. My parents would set up educational guidelines that we had to meet in order to please them. If they weren't met, then failure required punishment, and punishment helped with the process of working hard in school. No one wants to be grounded over a weekend because of grades or being unsuccessful in class. I believe this is a healthy fear of failure because a good kid doesn't want to disappoint their parents in anyway. Kids try hard to please their parents so that they have more privileges in the long run. Having a fear of failure can be bad and unhealthy as well, because to please someone when you don't understand a certain situation can cause you to cheat and squeeze by each class. I did this in a few of my classes throughout high school, and at the time it seemed like the only option I could take because of how strict my parents were on my grades. Today I am in college and I have the fear of failure, but I think it's the healthiest fear it has ever been because it is me who will be disappointed if things don't work out as planned. I don't like letting myself down so I am doing the best I can to push myself and learn everything without feeling like I have to cheat to make it through. To have both healthy and unhealthy types of fear of failure helped me to realize that learning is necessary and my hard work will show in the end.

Write First CH 34

When I think of ideal affordable housing, I hope for a kid friendly neighborhood that looks livable from the outside. A housing structure that doesn't look appealing on the outside screams "Creepy" to me! I would hate to have to live in an area that looked haunted like the picture at the top of this chapter. It isn't easy to feel good about being in the lower income families. I understand that low income means that you aren't going to get everything you have ever dreamt of, but if the outside looks descent then it helps build every one's opinions of your house as well as your own. I know some low income families that have more in their lives than a full time, hard working individual. It blows my mind knowing that some reasons for having more are that the low income people get everything paid for them. No wonder families aren't trying to get out of the lower income bracket, it keeps them from having to pay for things themselves. I feel like water, sewer, and garbage could be paid for completely without harming or spoiling the lower income people. I don't think the accessories should be paid for by the states, this includes telephone, cable, etc. Those are extra amenities that are not necessary to have to live. I would hope for an appealing neighborhood that shows everyone that good people live in the area and not to be afraid to come over and visit.

The Seat Not Taken

The seat not taken has made me agree with Wideman's analysis of the situation that took place on the bus. Having an empty seat majority of my bus rides would cause me to rule out certain instances on why someone wouldn't chose to sit next to me which would then lean toward the fact of skin color. Although I am white, I have black friends and I have no reason to not sit next to a colored person on a bus. There are racist people in this world that would judge a colored person enough to chose a different place to sit, but I would not use that against anyone. For Wideman, he just ruled out all the possibilities and reasons why someone wouldn't sit next to him and it turned into there was no other reason other than his skin color in his mind. He has the right to believe or not believe that his color is the problem for others.

If I were to ride a bus daily to and from work or even on a short trip through town, I would sit by almost anyone. Although there are people I'd prefer not to sit by, if there was only one seat left, I would chose to sit there no matter how uncomfortable it would make me. I am the type of person that is too nice to really speak my mind and will worry of what someone will think just like Wideman did. If I were to chose to stand instead of taking the last seat available I would feel just as terrible as I would if I chose to sit at the last available seat.

"GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE!"

At the beginning of this assignment, I had a hard time figuring out what my favorite movie was. I kept thinking about movies I had recently watched and realized that all I had watched lately were kid movies. I couldn’t really come up with any ideas until I started thinking about what the best movie was during my childhood. That is when I realized that my all time favorite movie is “The Goonies,” hands down. This movie is about Oregonian kids who adventure out to seek One-Eyed Willie’s treasure in hopes to stop their homes from demolition. The cast of this movie includes, Corey Feldman as Mouth, Jeff B. Cohen as Chunk, Sean Astin as Mikey, Kerri Green as Andy, Jonathan Ke Quan as Data, Martha Plimpton as Stef, Josh Brolin as Brand, and John Matuszak as Sloth.

At age 10, I watched this movie for the first time and I fell deeply in love with Mikey. For some reason that kid had a way of being the group leader and I thought he was super good looking as a kid. Although I had a massive crush on Mikey, my favorite scene from the movie is when Chunk spills his guts about everything but what the Fratellis wanted to hear like what he had done in the movie theatre with the fake puke he made to play a joke on everybody. That kid was probably the funniest character of the whole movie. He did many things to make his audience laugh. At the beginning of the movie, he is watching the cop chase and squeezes his milkshake cup and it goes all over his face, Mouth made him do the “truffle shuffle” just to get in the gate at Mikey’s house, he breaks Mikey’s moms statue in the most delicate spot, he thinks he’s talking to the cops when he finds the Fratellis’ hideout, and many more. The Goonies are famous for their saying “GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE,” which is said by Mikey towards the end when Andy is saying that things could go terribly wrong and every one of them have a chance of dying if they continue until the end. Andy becomes a part of The Goonies shortly after Mikey’s speech which convinces everyone to finish their adventure. This movie was made in Astoria Oregon and being able to say I know where that is and have been there before makes for another reason big enough to claim that The Goonies is my favorite movie of all time. 

Chapter 20 Write First

Cigarette companies are required to print labels on the sides of the packs to warn consumers of the possible health issues one may face if used over a long period of time. I believe by printing this on every pack sold has developed the tobacco companies a way to get away with slowly killing individuals. Its funny that I even speak of this like its something so terrible, because I am a smoker. The point is that it is done to save the companies behinds if and when there is an event where someone wants to sue for being ill or close to death. This reminds me of instances where people I know have gone out and done things they know is either illegal or dangerous, and when he/she gets hurt it becomes the products fault. Everyone loves to blame other people or things for what happened to them but in all actuality it is all because of their wrong doings. That is why things like warning labels are written all over the many dangerous things that most people continue to use. So when I think of another law that should be passed and used in most states, if not all, I think of a no tolerance law for drunk driving. Today the laws are getting stricter on what your blood alcohol level can be while driving, but why not just cut to the chase and set it to no tolerance. I feel that this wouldn't stop everyone from driving drunk, but those that do have some common sense to abide by the law would most likely take it serious. This could help tremendously with the death rate of drunk drivers. Most bar owners are probably worried that their business will fail due to a law such as this one being passed. I would propose that much like Las Vegas, cheaper alternative transportation such as a bus system could be set up for those that are drinking and don't have other transportation home.

How Facebook is Making Friending Obsolete

My social media experience started with MySpace, where opinion sharing was typically between family and friends. When everything changed to Facebook, I felt as though the ability for privacy had changed drastically. Within time my personal Facebook, without realizing, turned into a friend count of over 400 people. This is when I began to realize that what I said on my Facebook statuses were being shared with many people rather than just my close friends and family. The people I had been talking to in my mind were my close friends, but actually had turned into acquaintances. We all know our most intimate friends don’t tend to be a number higher than ten or twenty if you are lucky. So once you have a higher count of people on your “friends” list, you are allowing your personal life to be broadcasted to the world.

I agree with the writers point about Facebook. Obviously, I use Facebook. My reasons have changed overtime to be honest. To begin with, it was to stay in touch with family and friends from either high school or those that lived a good distance from me. Now, it’s almost as though I can post something of significance or even insignificance and still get a response from someone. Facebook has turned into a social media site for the people whom aren’t famous! It is almost like when a famous person gets attention by random strangers that claim to be their idols. Facebook is just another way for a mediocre individual to get noticed by anyone on their friends list or publicly. It would be silly to not think that Facebook is making friends obsolete. I continue to use it much like many others and that is to get the satisfaction that someone will respond to my statuses. It is no longer for the satisfaction of having a conversation with the ones you are closest to. 

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

First off, I really enjoyed reading this essay because of the unique way Gray talked about women being Venusians and men being Martians. Gray signaled the movement from the first subject to the second subject by transition words. For example, when he is talking in paragraph 19 he mentions how communication is of primary importance to women. In paragraph 20, he mentions how men get their satisfaction when achieving goals. To transition between those 2 paragraphs to the next subject he uses the sentence, “Instead of being goal oriented, women…” This is a perfect transition into the next subject, because he restated that women aren’t like men and then goes on to his next subject of women being relationship oriented. I believe that the subject by subject comparison is much more affective in this aspect because it keeps the reader intrigued. If Gray was to do this essay point by point, there would be less opportunity of getting the real life instances that kept me reading. I felt like it was an argument at some points of the essay just by the way he transitioned back and forth. It related to me and my past relationships to where I felt I had to keep reading!

If I were to add a fully developed conclusion to sum up Grays selection points, I would choose to summarize in a few sentences how men and women aren’t alike. I would also include a sentence or two that explains if women and men knew how each of us felt about things, there would be a possibility of a better life especially being in a relationship. At the same time I feel like this type of selection really doesn’t need such a conclusion. I was pleased with it as a reader because of the comparisons of both women and men.