Cutting and Pasting.

 In Brent Staple’s Cutting and Pasting: A Senior Thesis by (Insert Name), (12 July 2012) he explains the theory of what happens when you plagiarize someone else’s work and use it as your own. The author uses his friend as a source to develop his theory on plagiarism. Staples purpose for writing this is to express the seriousness of plagiarism and how college professors have to become more like cops now when grading their student’s work. The intended audience would be college students so they can see why plagiarism is so wrong, but anyone could benefit from reading this exert so they are less likely to do it themselves.

            I agree with Brent Staple’s thesis on plagiarism. He expresses thoroughly the consequences of committing plagiarism throughout his paper. Staples uses a direct source to base his thesis paper on which makes the paper a reliable. He explains that the internet today is an easy way to access information and use it as your own causing teachers to do unnecessary work. He points out that professors have to be more like enforcers than teachers to make sure their students are not committing plagiarism. He also mentions that plagiarism is such a serious offense now that professors are exposed to websites to check if a student used someone else’s work.

            As a college student, committing plagiarism has such serious consequences that if caught you will be put on probation, but more than likely expelled, along with failing that class. Plagiarism is easily accessible through the internet that it is done accidentally without realization. Even though it is done by accident, it is still a major problem and is affecting college student everywhere. 

Critique of The Deer at Providencia by: Maitreyah Bell

Ann Dillard’s non fiction essay The Dear at Providencia, expresses that pain and suffering are interwoven into the tapestry of life are inescapable no matter how unexplainable they are. Dillard makes these points by reflecting of memories in an order that connects general themes. She describes scenes from her personal experience in order to insinuate the connections between hardship and longevit y.  She is writing for any one who feels empathy for suffering.

This reading insinuated the connection between life, suffering, and the necessity of both.  On Dillard’s journeying through the Napo River Valley, she came upon a cultural confrontation with her understanding of cultural normalcy. Like other metropolitan people she too possessed a slightly separated understanding of meat and where it comes from. So when she came to witness a deer being painfully restrained in order to make the flesh more palatable.  This made me feel that human nature is naturally empathetic and does not enjoying inflicting pain on another life form , but through the disassociation between meat and living being it easier to do with animals as we please.

The text is well written because it provokes the reader to think out side the normal frame of reference. Dillard allows the reader to draw their own conclusion and, simultaneously leads the reader into drawing the conclusion she wants. She accepts that death and suffering are apart of the Napo Valley culture when she states “It ha given up ; now it will die(Dillard, 149).” She also draws a subtle distinction that the deer trapped in the rope continued to struggle for its life   but the man considered ending his own after being burned twice. I feel she was make the point know that blaming God for ones fait does no create a desired affect on the human psyche. 

Martin Gansberg's Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police was a report telling information about a incident that happened in Queens on March 14, 1964. The article was published in the New York Times on March 27, 1964. A young lady was bombarded by a man who who stabbed her as she was entering her apartment building. The report goes on to tell that neighbors of Catherine Genovese saw her being attacked and did not call the police till after she was dead. The author writes in the report in chronological order, then goes to tell the what the neighbors say about why they didn't call the police when the attack was happening. The author leaves the article open ended so the reader can make their own conclusions about the incident. You can tell though that the author wants you to think this was wrong and that her neighbors are also to blame for Catherine's murder. It is stated in the article by a police that if a neighbor were to call them while the attack was happening that Ms. Genovese would have survived the attack and the attacker maybe would have been caught.  In my opinion these people are doing their civil duties. As a civilian you should help out others if they are being hurt or anything else. This report in a prime example of how people can be, even in the 60's and I'm sure it probably has only gotten worse. 

In Dianne Tice's "How Can We Get Willpower Back Once it Has Been Depleted?" (15, June 2011) she explains different ways to improve willpower that will help once it gets depleted. She develops the thesis by explaining different mechanisms in which people can use to replenish willpower. The author's purpose is to help people have willpower in order to finish their daily activities without being tired before the day ends. The audience is anyone who wants to have energy all day long.

I was very interested in this story because I'm always tired before the day ends and try to get in as many naps as possible.I even go to bed early some nights but that still doesn't help. It seems like if I walk anywhere or eat a good meal I get tired instantly at any time of the day. I never realized you have more energy in the morning because when I wake up I feel like I don't have any energy at all and I don't want to wake up and go to class.

 The text is written in an informative way. The author knew what she was talking about and she explained the concepts well.

Brent Staples Black Characters in Search of Reality. By: Maitreyah Bell

Brent Staples’s Black Characters in Search of Reality (02/12/2012) asserts that representation of African culture in American dramatics both commercial and theatrical is biased towards the expression of the black struggle. He supports this by providing examples of roles that have won Grammys and characters that are used and not used in advertising as well as providing proof that the alternative lifestyle of affluence exists. Staples wrote on this subject in order to bring awareness to the subject of stereotypical media in order to stimulate a shift of the way black are portrayed in American media. Staples wrote this essay to the populous that  consumes media on the regular basis.

I conditionally agree to Staples argument on the basis of the time period.  It is true that racism in media was opaque and un-malleable in the past , but now the characters portrayed by blacks in theater and commercials has been forced to change. The standard of living for a considerable percentage of blacks has transcended the status of deep poverty, and media has accepted degrees change. It is to be understood that there is much room for improvement in media representation, but many of the stereotypical roles of blue-collar employees are still the deployed in movies but, at least the context has changed from maid by force to maid by choice.

The essay used specific language that highlighted the examples of stereotypical media subjection of blacks to uneducated states of being. He talked about “pancake –mammy” , “ Jemima and Rastus”, and other Maids that have graced the hollowly wood kitchens with their service.  She also gave examples of black resistance in Hollywood to the assigned stereotypes, naming  Sidney Poitier as a member of the black resistance. Over all I appreciated the writing and felt that it was written well. 

The Poor and Their Psyche

The author of "Why Can't More Poor People Escape Poverty? A Radical New Explanation From Psychologists" is Jamie Holmes claims that poor people have a harder time with willpower. Jamie Holmes essay is written in groups of general ideas related to an experiment or study. Holmes apparent purpose is to explain depletable self-control in order to show the difficulties poor people have. I think the audience could really be anyone, i don't think it is directed towards a certain group of people.

The text sort of confused me because of the amount of experiments mentioned. I understood her main point about willpower and self-control. The text has a lot of information to back up her thesis and that made it difficult to read and understand. She mentions a theory of depletable willpower and that was a hard concept to grasp at first but she goes more into detail during the middle of the essay which makes it easier to understand.

Holmes uses a lot of quotes in her essay from different authors or scientists. She gives many examples of research to support her claim. In each paragraph she uses a different thing of evidence to support her thesis. She is formal with her writing and expresses herself in a very educational way. Her thoughts are complete and supported.

Cheating doesn't come naturally

In Wendy Shalit's "Is Infidelity Natural? Ask the Apes"(02, Sept. 2010) she states that men feel as if its ok to cheat because they're considered animals. Shalit doesn't write in chronological order, she quotes words from articles on the subject. The author's purpose was to entertain in order to show how ignorant men in this society think after cheating. The intended audience would be women and men because women should know how they think and men need to know how stupid it sounds.

I liked this essay because I always wondered what would make a man cheat. I never knew they would do it for such silly reasons, for ex: what a woman brings in the house money wise. I feel as if you're in love with a person it shouldn't matter how much money they're bringing in vs. yours because you're in it together. Men have to learn self control and understand that just because something happens in nature doesn't mean that they're supposed to act that way too.

Shalit quotes the title of an article "Men More Likely to Cheat on Women With Bigger Paychecks" (116) she states that the headline quoted "A man who makes significantly more money than his girlfriend or wife is also more likely to cheat"(116) she thought it was ridiculous that something like that could cause a man to cheat. It made high and low-earning ladies everywhere beware of men like that. She states "I have already notified my husband that I am onto him, and that he may no longer defend or accumulate me for "pair bonding".(116) She said that in a joking matter after saying that men marry women only to have possession of something for "women duties" around the house and have a mistress on the side for other things.