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.

The World of Happiness Part 2

Analysis of the World of Happiness Report

In John Helliwell, Richard Layard , and Jeffery Sachs’s non fiction persuasive essay called The World OF Happiness Report (2012) the authors propose that happiness should be at least more if not  as equally considered as financial success to policy makers. The authors develops the thesis by addressing the general activities of life that make up the social reference material that politicians use to guide there decisions and plans. The authors’ purpose is to convince and gather support and awareness to the subject of happiness and its importance to the way humans interact with one another, life on the planet and the planet itself.  The authors’ audience is abroad brush stroke , including any one concerned with happiness and or policy makers .

I was glad the authors chose to cover this humanitarian topic. I believe the subject matter is an important sign that the human condition is becoming a more commonly considered and discussed. The way they introduced the subject matter made it clear that the issue of happiness has an effect on more than just the individual. I was confused why the authors chose to cover so many ways happiness is important. If there point was to convince lawmakers to clean up the environment then they should of focused on that. If there purpose was to get more awareness around environmental issues then they should have been very specific and left the unrelated information out of it.

The text provides an alternative view on how people move through their lives with out considering the most important facets. The most important information I think the essay offers is that a simple raise in income does not  necessarily grantee in increase in happiness unless poverty is the state of affairs.

The World of Happiness Report Part 1

In John Helliwell's, Richard Layard's and Jeffrey Sachs' The World of Happiness Report (Apr. 2012) argues that the quest for happiness is linked with the goal for sustainable development. The authors do not write in chronological order but more in sections of relevance. The authors' purpose was to show the readers how dependent we can be on material things and how it affects our level of happiness in order to get the readers to be less materialistic. The intended audience could be anyone looking to benefit their level of happiness or be less dependent on material things.

I feel that Helliwell's, Layard's, Sachs' "The Word Of Happiness Report" was interesting. I agree and also disagree with this essay. There were sections I agree with, for example when they explain that many people's happiness if based of the materialistic objects they have. I disagree that happiness can be measured. I believe happiness something you find on your own and I just do not think it can be measured. I really enjoyed the section of the essay where the authors explain that happiness can effect a person's physical health. The authors state some very interesting points in "The World of Happiness Report" that really make you think.

I think the meaning of this essay is to get countries to understand that their main goal for their country should be to boost the happiness level. The whole text states nothing but facts about surveys taken about happiness around the world. I also believe that the authors are trying to stress that materialistic things do not make long lasting happiness, only temporary happiness. The authors go on to say "the world's economic superpower, the United States, has achieved striking economic and technological progress over the past half century without gains in the self-reported happiness of the citizenry." Thee authors are basically saying that we, as Americans, depend on technology and have made many advances but cannot enhance our level of happiness.

Stay positive, Be healthy.

Sara Rimer's research article "The Biology of Emotion-What It May Teach Us about Helping People To Live Longer" (2011) informs that a positive outlook on life will improve your health. Rimer gives facts about health from researchers and her own research from being in college. Rimers purpose was to inform people on the health rates and how to stay positive in order to live a healthy lifestyle. The intended audience would be anyone trying to be healthy or who isn't healthy already and needs to get there.

I feel like Sara Rimer's "The biology of Emotion..." was uninteresting because I don't usually focus on my health and what I eat, but it was also very informative. Being that I am a teenager and we're known to eat unhealthy things and most of the time not care about our health, this article gave me a different outlook and makes me think about my health. At the end I was learned something new so I was more interested in my health and how I could better myself in life.

"Could a sunny outlook mean fewer colds and less heart disease?, Do hope and curiosity somehow protect against hypertension, diabetes and respiratory tract infections?"(83) are rhetorical questions that Rimer asked in the beginning to get the audience attention. "emotional vitality- a sense of enthusiasm, of hopefulness of engagement in life and the ability to face life's stresses with emotional balance appears to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease"(84) is the example she gave to say that being able to be stress free and have an balance on your emotions reduces your risk of getting a coronary heart disease.

Brent Staples' Black Men and Public Space

Brent Staples' personal narrative Black Men and Public Space, (12 February, 2012), explores racism and it's difficulties. Staples tells his experiences with racism and what growing up as a black male was like. Staples describes his hardships with racism in order to show how he overcame these incidents and become a better man. The intended audience could be anyone really, particularly people struggling with racism themselves.

I feel Brent Staples' Black Men and Public Space was insightful. He really expresses what racism was like for him and every struggle he went through. I also felt that there was no point or ending to his story. I understand his meaning to writing this narrative but his conclusion could have expressed his point more clearly. He never comes out and says why he is writing the narrative, it is like an underlined meaning you have to read into or just understand by yourself.

"My first victim was a woman-white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties.", is the first example of the racism Staples' gives to explain his struggle as a black male. In the first paragraph of the narrative he gives a detailed example of a white woman who just takes one glance at him and writes him off as a black male who might possibly rape her. This is racism and that is what Staples is trying to stress throughout the essay. Another says "The proprietor excused herself and returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash." This memory of his just shows the real life difficulties Staples overcame. Staples says I whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular composers. Even steely New Yorkers hunching toward nighttime destinations seem to relax, and occasionally even join in the tune." In this quote Brent Staples explains the changes in his life he has made so he doesn't get pegged as a rapist or a thief or a criminal. Changes he has made so he can go on to have a normal life without people judging him and being racist towards him.

Salvation

In Langston Hughes narrative essay "Salvation" (1940), Hughes described that his experience at church and pretending to be saved from Jesus made him feel like Jesus wasn't real. He gave an example about a time he had at church when he was younger. Hughes purpose was to inform people that you have to see something in your own eyes in order to believe in it. The author's intended audience are people who have a hard time fitting in with others and who feel like no one is actually there for them when they need them.

I was understanding to what he was going through and how he felt like Jesus wasn't there for him because he wasn't able to experience him like others did. I don't agree with him saying there isn't a God because I think you just have to have the faith. no one has actually seen him in life before but having the faith gives you some sort of visual. That's why you hear some people say they have spoken with God before, it's not like he is actually speaking back but having the faith you'll see signs or clues to let you know that he's actually listening to what you have to say.

In the first sentence of  the story Hughes stated: "I was saved from sin when I was thirteen. But not really saved." (69) I felt like he thought that just because he didn't actually see Christ he was sinner and would be looked down on in life. I think they he should've spoken with his aunt at first to understand exactly what being saved meant. He took it as God was suppose to show up in front of his eyes and tell him that he has been saved. He really didn't have the faith from the beginning to believe there was a God out there. "why don't you come? My dear child why don't you come to Jesus? Jesus is waiting for you" (70) these words spoken by the pastor got to him even more. He pressured his self to see Jesus the way everyone else did because he felt like he had to and it wasn't his choice. Really the pastor was asking him why don't you believe yet. All he really wanted out of him was to believe in himself and believe that Jesus was there for him.

My Rhetorical response to "Between the Pool and the Gardenias" by: Edwidge Danticat

Arturo Boykin, English 1101

  

   In the realistic fiction story,  “Between the Pool and Gardenias” (New York: Vintage 1996), author Edwidge Danticat describes an attachment between an infant child and a woman that has been desperately trying to have a child. The author portrayed the Country Maid as a woman who had lost several children to miscarriage and stated how she imagined all of her children  would look if her body could tolerate the developments of pregnancy. The author’s main purpose of this story is to give the reader a vivid view of the blinding love for a child, from a woman who is unable to conceive herself, giving the reader the sense of sympathy in order to explain the connection between the maid and the dead infant. The author’s intended audience was for women, specifically those who have difficulty having children, and women who want children.

     My assessment of this story was that it was very sad and depressing and a bit confusing at times. I felt as if the author was trying to portray a woman who had a great longing to experience motherhood.  So the way she felt and the love she had to share was so tremendous that when she finally did have a child to direct that love towards, she became so lost in her own wanting of a child so badly, that she was in denial of the child actually being alive. 

     I felt as if the story could have been a bit more descriptive and should have included more details to describe her and her husband. Throughout the whole story neither her nor his names were revealed. I also wish that the author would have given a better description of the number of miscarriages she had. I also felt that the story was a bit confusing on who her husband really was, or if it was also a part of her denial. She described on how she left her husband after all of the miscarriages by stating, “The girls who slept with my husband while I was still grieving my miscarriages. They might have sent that vision of loveliness to blind me, so that I might never find my way back to that place that I totally plucked  from my life when I got on that broken down mini-bus, and left my village two weeks ago (p.74). Then she retorted later in the story by stating, “ I was a virgin when I married him. He made me feel proper. Next thing I know, it’s ten years with him. I’m old like hell at twenty-seven and he’s got ten babies with ten different women. I just had to run.” (p. 74). She then switched subjects rapidly explaining her husband to the infant, to her dreams of the house she cleaned to being all hers, to making love to a sweaty Dominican. She went on to explain to the infant that she loved the man at one point because he was nice to her and made her feel proper, that she was a virgin when she met him, and that she was with him for ten years. (p. 74 par 8) She further explained to the infant that she pretended it was all hers, the terrace with that view of their private beach and the holiday ships cruising in the distance to the pool that the sweaty Dominican man cleaned three times a week. She  pretended that it all belonged to them, the man, Rose, and her. (p. 74, par 10). With the first reading of the story, it had me wondering if her whole life was a dream or a form of denial she put in her head to suppress all of the miscarriages that she had experienced. From the infant that she nurtured and  mothered for four days that was actually dead ,to the reason of the pool man grabbing her, and calling her “Cannibal”. She still felt as if it was all an act of love and caring by saying, “He only kept his hands on me because he was afraid I would escape. ” She said this while envisioning the dead infant crying and carrying on as if the infant were still alive. (p 76) She also went on to state, “We made a pretty picture standing there. Rose, me, and him. Between the pool and gardenias, waiting on the law.” (p 76) The story in a whole was decent, but became confusing and leaves the reader with some foreign language, interpretations, and expressions that the average person or a person of  non-Haitian decent wouldn’t understand. Such conversations include, “I go already. I call the poste on you. The gendermes. The police. They coming.” (p 76) and also, “She’s probably  a mambo.” (p 74) I felt as if the author needed to explain the character better, to give a better understanding of her views and mental state of mind. The short story was appropriate for the intended subject of the author but lacked the necessary clarity and comprehension needed in order to make this a smooth read.

Amy Tan's Mother Tongue

In Amy Tan's narrative essay "Mother Tongue" (1990), Tan explains to her audience that she was introduced to the English language in many ways. She gives numerous examples of different language from the different influences in her life. Tan's purpose is to show how her mother's tongue affected her English in order to improve her own English. The author's intended audience are people of different nationality and languages.

I feel that Amy Tan's Mother Tongue, was uplifting because of the way she talked about how she overcame the judgement about her nationality. I was also confused in the middle of the reading because of the examples she gave of her mother's speech. I find it very moving that Tan embraces her nationality and uses both Englishes on an everyday bases. I also feel she explains language in a beautiful way, you can tell she has a real passion for English. I understand the point she was trying to make in the narrative, which was that even though she comes from a Chinese background and many Americans think she would not do strongly in the English department, she did succeed and proved many people wrong.

In the beginning of Amy Tan's narrative, Mother Tongue, she states "I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time time thinking about the power of language - the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth." (63) In these few sentences you understand the passion she has for the English language and what it can do. She goes on to give examples of her mother's 'broken English' as she calls it, "He come to my wedding. I didn't see, I heard it. I gone to boy's side, they have YMCA dinner. Chinese age I was nineteen." (Tan 64) This confused me as I was reading because I did not understand the text. She also gives other examples of moments in her life, that are of her mother's broken language, that helped me understand the point she was trying to project in the narrative.