blog entry #10

This article by Thomas Armstrong is about how all brains aren’t the same just like flowers are unique in different ways. It is no because a person has a dysfunctional brain, that doesn’t react and work like a normal brain that this person should be treated differently. We have to be aware of the vast natural differences that exist from one brain to another regarding sociability, learning, attention, and mood. Treating them differently is a way of discriminating them. According to the author, we are all related just like the ecosystem so we need to have a greater tolerance upon those whose neurological systems are organized differently than our own. Armstrong also explains how the environment plays a major role for our brain, so for example for a person that has a problem to pay attention putting him in a environment where they have to sit down and concentrate won’t be the ideal working condition for them; the ideal working condition would be a job where they will have to move around and do different things. Another example the author gives us, is children who have a genetic vulnerability to depression or anxiety, the appropriate environment they need is a safe, warm and predictable homes and school.

I never really take into consideration or ask myself about what the author here is presenting us. After reading this article, I agree with Armstrong ideas; it is no because they have a different brain as ours than we should treat them differently. In the matter of fact, they are the one who should treat them differently because each one of their brain are unique and respond differently while ours (normal brain) are just normal, nothing special.

The video from Jeremy Rifkin really grabbed my attention. First Rifkin talks about how in the 1990’s the scientist discover through monkey, mostly chimpanzee that they have a mirror neurons and then later on discover that human being have also mirror neurons. Mirror neuron is like s soft wired for attachment, affection, sociability and companionship. To illustrate his point, he gave us different examples; in a new born nursery, when one child starts crying for whatever reason, the others babies will start crying as well without reason. Another examples Rifkin explains is how when one person is watching another person being sad, happy, stress or anxious the same neurons in his brain will react as if he was the one being sad, happy, stress or anxious. This is how we express empathy, by knowing how other feels.
Among the different topics Rifkin introduces us, the one that surprised me the most is when Rifkin says, that there is no empathy in heaven because once you in heaven there is no death, no morality and no suffering. And when there is no suffering there is not empathy. Rifkin also talks about how our first drive on the earth is to figure out where we belong to, and where we fit in.

Rifkin explains how our conscience changes throughout the years, from forager hunter to a medieval serf to a modern man. Rifkin also promotes how it is possible to extend our empathy to the entire human race (animal, human and biosphere) so we could safe our species and our common planet. And to symbolize his idea, Rifkin uses a hand as a form of empathy that will stretch our empathy.

Another factor Rifkin illustrates is how the communication helped us empathize over the years; blood ties, theological consciousness, detribalize and association, religious ties and nation ties. Rifkin also use how people responded so quickly at the disaster, the earthquake in Haiti; one hour by twitter, two hours later YouTube was projecting videos of the earthquake and three hours later people were already moving to rescue them. And this was an example of the entire human race in empathic embrace.

The main point Rifkin is describing here is that we all came from two human being, which mean we are all related in different ways, we are a family. As we take care of our own family, we should also take care of our planet and safe our biosphere.

I really liked this video from Jeremy Rifkin, this was a creative ways to express his ideas and make a point. Rifkin’s way of express his ideas is so powerful, that while I’m writing this reaction I still have the images in my head.

blog entry # 9

This passage, “The Myth of War” by David Hume, is about how war is affect everyone, the countries fighting and how the media tries to give the public the wrong idea about War. Hume described here two types of wars, the false information we get from the media, that lies about what is really going on in war and the one that the people in the war are seeing, which is the real vision of war. Those who goes to war, the soldiers (…) are the one that really know what is war, and the media is just giving us another image of the way so we won’t go against it. But we have to be aware that more we remove ourselves from the war for mythic the war becomes. Like the author described it “ the myth of war is essential to justify the horrible sacrifices required in war, the destruction and the death of innocents. It can be formed only by denying the reality of war, by turning the lies, the manipulation, the in-humanness of war into the heroic ideal. (p116)” One sentence that really stroked me was when the author said, “If you kill your enemy his body becomes your trophy, your possession, and this has been a fundamental part of warfare since before the Philistines beheaded Saul. And when the rhetoric of war is long forgot, what happens to the heroic dead, the bereaved mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, and children of those killed lost? What comes of those who made, in the glib term of politicians, the supreme sacrifice? (118)” and I know Hume is telling the truth.
I have my own opinion about war and use of violence to solve something. I don’t think there is no necessarily for human to use violence to resolve a major problem, there is always a way to stop something, that how I see things. I see the images that the media tries to promote from the war but I know that is much worse than it is.

blog entry #8

This passage by Keith Douglass Warner is about how the science affect our environment and our ecology. The first section introduce us how the role of science is to gather information using the scientific method and then obtain data and result about the nature or society. The science and technology have brought us advanced tools that makes our life’s easier. Cars, automobile made transportation easier for everyone, fossil, fuels and gas have made industry easier to manage the machines, nuclear technology have helped us promote health such as doing radiation treatment for cancer. All this factors have helped us in a certain way but still have an impact on our earth. By having cars, automobile we replaced farm land to street and high ways, the carbon dioxide is destroying and disturbing our atmosphere and climate ( global warming), and nuclear technology is used for war and have a tremendous impact on the population for years. This mean the scientific should take in consideration what are all this new technology will impact us and our environment.
The next section is about ecology which play a strong role for the understanding between humanity’s relationship with the natural world. We should know that all living organism share characteristic just like Darwin theory promoted about us the human being and the primate. “ Ecology is the study f the distribution and abundance of living organisms and the interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment (p93).”ecology is about studying living organisms in dynamic systems. And to make sure certain living organism won’t extinct the environment ethic propose to conserve the ecological processes upon which life depends.
I don’t really know what to say about this passage, I’m aware of how the technology is affecting our environment and every day I try to do something that will somehow help our earth, for example recycle the garbage, use less paper… I’m a open mind person, and I completely follow Darwin theory and the fact that all living organisms share characteristics.

This dramatic and heartbreaking play “ The Merchant of Venice” by Shakespeare is illustrating us how the Jew were mistreated at that time and had to live in certain bad conditions. Shakespeare here doesn’t present the Jewish people as bad person, and doesn’t make fun of them like others plays at that time did, Shakespeare present the Jewish as the same people as them. This play is about a Christian Antonio that wants to borrow money from a wealthy Jew Shylock. However, Antonio have mistreated, spit and called this following a dog, which Shylock doesn’t appreciate but will lend him the money with certain conditions. They made a pact which is Shylock will lend the money, but Antonio will have to give him his money back in three months, if he doesn’t Shylock in return will take one pound of Antonio flesh anywhere in his body. Antonio thought Shylock was joking about the flesh pound and accepted the pact knowing he will pay his money on time anyway.
The boat where Antonio was expecting drown which mean Antonio won’t be able to pay Shylock on time. On the meantime, Shylock have grow a bitterness about the Christians because his only daughter flew with a Christian and he wanted now a revenge. Knowing that Antonio couldn’t pay his money, he now wanted what he have wrote in the pact, the pound of flesh from Antonio. Shylock brought this to court and is exigent about it and want justice. The judge and everyone asked Shylock to be merciful and just get what Antonio friend was offering, the double of the amount. Shylock didn’t want the money, but wanted his flesh, he was angry and was thirsty of vengeance. At the end of the trial,one of the judge Portia, who was a girls dressed up as a man, and was clever enough to find something Shylock didn’t cite on the pact; shylock didn’t talk about blood in the pack which means if Shylock shed on drop of Christian blood he will be punished and killed. Knowing that cutting out Antonio chest and getting pound of flesh will mean he will also shed blood on the floor; Shylock had to give up on his revenge and agreed to just get the money offered. However, Portia didn’t let it go that easy on Shylock, and command a severe punishment for Shylock. The punishment was that, Shylock must give part of his health to Antonio and the other part to the state, to give up his religion and become a Christian, and to beg for pardon.
None of the character is merciful to one another, they all trying to get their part of revenge. It is beyond horrible to demand someone to give up her or his religion. The justice at that time was unfair.

blog entry #7

This passage form Peter Singer, is describing us how the movement that prevent animal cruelty is significant. This movement is called the animal liberation movement; the main idea of this movement is that the Human beings have duties toward the lower creatures and mistreating them will be a prove of lack of ethical morality form the human. According to Singer, animals and humans have similar interest, so we as human should take in consideration by avoiding physical pain, these interests must be counted equally. Each tradition have different way to treat different species; the Buddhist adopt the idea of compassion among animal as well as human, the Western tradition which are ignorant, resentful and won’t be kind to species that aren’t like them. The author relates his thesis to Thomas Aquinas, who believes that being cruel upon animals might lead to being cruel to human. Singer also bring an extreme point that is stated from Bentham that shows when we propose a test to be aware of the capacity of reasoning, of autonomous action of use of any language in order to separate human from non-human animals, they are some human that fails the test just like the non-human. Bentham also point out the fact that infants will fails on this test as well because they don’t have any capacity however will be treated as human because they will be adult humans in the future. The author also makes reference to disable human, “human vegetable” and assume they won’t be able to do any of this things, just like animals. The point he is trying to illustrated us is that why would we treat them as equal to human but then treat differently non-human animals when they both have no capacity. The “crux of the philosophy of the animal liberation movement is to prevent the cruelty among animals because from an ethical point of view, whether we stand in two feet, or four or none, we all have the same interest.

This essay by Terry Tempest Williams, is describing us first the massacre of the prairie dog that occurred at the Cedar Ridge Golf Course, where over 400 prairie dog where gassed to death. There are 5 species of prairie dog and they are now threatened and might be in extinct in couple of years.  The people wanted to exterminate the dogs because they were running the range because they consume a large amount of green grasses and forbs. According to Williams, “Prairie habitat not only for themselves but also for other grassland species. Prairies dog create diversity, destroy them, and you destroy a varied world (p86/87).” In other words she means, killing specie is also killing other species because is a circular, each one of us is in this world for a specific reason. If specific specie is destroyed, therefore, the other species that was relaying on it will progressively die as well.  According to Williams, being in a world that mistreats animals is like living in a poisoned world, we are living increasingly toxic world, we showing that we have a lack of respect for life because these animals have a life just like we do and taking it away is just not right. Some country really tried to get rid of the prairie dog and when they did they saw how the dog had a tremendous impact on their environment and that now it different without them. Williams believes that animals know what is joy fear and love, and she doesn’t see a world without them. Williams won’t be able to live in a world only habited by single specie because it will be so lonely, and isolated.

These two passages are relevant to me; the authors are talking about the same main idea but with different approaches. I agree to their statement even though I won’t deny that I love my meat, chicken and fish and don’t think I will be able to give up on it. However, I believe that there is no need to be so cruel to animals, I have seen some video about Ohio farmers who were actually beating a cow and I found it horrible I was horrified. This event occurs all the time and there should be laws to enforce and prevent the cruelty against animals. I personal love animals, especially primate, I always been fascinated of all the resemblance we have with them. One thing that I really like is when they tried to make you laugh, when they smiles, when they play with each other and one of my favorite is when a female primate is breast feeding her child.

blog entry #6

In this passage from Paul Robert who was a scholar of linguistic. Robert is describing us here how we could ameliorate our writing and became better writers. The thesis of this passage is” All subjects, except sex, are dull until somebody makes them interesting. The writer’s job is to find the argument, the approach, the angle, the wording that will take the reader with him. But there are some things you can do which like make your papers, if not throbbingly alive, at least less insufferably tedious than they might otherwise be.”(p35 #13). In other words, this passage should help us became better writer, make our paper stand out from the other papers and make our colleges essays interesting.

Robert gave us different ways of improving our writing such as; to avoid the obvious content and take the less usual side that everyone in the class will try to avoid it. That will make the paper different from other and when the teacher will start correcting the paper, when they will get to that paper he will be glad to read another type of essay. Doesn’t matter if you are not taking the side the teacher seem to like. Robert advice us to avoid abstraction, and instead of being general we should try to use more specific approach to illustrate the ideas. Using extra words to fulfill a sentence will just make the paper mediocre; according to the author instead of turning around the bush we should go straight to the point and make the sentence clear. Robert advice us to delete the cliché sentences and find academic word that could replace them. Writing and speaking is two different ways, writing like you speaking will lower your grade. Like the author mentioned here, one of the most struggle the writer face is to find the right word in the right place. However over using fancy isn’t the right solution either, because it will leave an impression to the teacher that you are trying to hard or you don’t even know how to use those words. The last ways the author mentioned were colorful and colorless words. Which mean instead of just using one adjective to describe a moment, a place, a person, (…) we should use multiple words that will make our writing more vivid and make the reader have a picture of what we describing. However, using too many of this work will overload the paper and make it even less interesting.

Reading this passage made me realize how so far I have been using what the author here advice us to avoid. I now know what kind of expression and transaction words to not use. Before when I was getting ready to write an essay I always first analyze the teacher of examine which side the teacher will prefer then decide to take that side. But now I know that taking the side the teacher doesn’t support in a subject is fine. The least the teacher could do is to give us a hire grade afraid that we will use it against him because of the impartiality.

This amazing searching paper from Emily Martin who is a professor of anthropology is showing us how the language has a important power and it can influence people way of thinking and seeing things.  Martin thesis is” The stereotypes imply not only that female biological process are less worthy than their male counterparts but also that women are less worthy than a man. Part of my goals in writing this article is to shine a bright light on the gender stereotypes hidden within the scientific language of biology.”(p42).Martin is accentuating here throughout the sperm and egg how the man is seen as the superior and the egg as the weaken one is this stereotype is promoted from the scientific.  According to the author the scientists characterize the egg as “femininely”(p43), “large and passive, does not move or journey,”(p43) and the sperm is characterize as “masculine”, streamlined, activate the development program of the egg, strong, and efficiently powered.”(p430. They also promoting the fact that the woman cycle which produce 400 to 500 in her lifetime and the menstruation are identify as a waist even though the man system produce 100 million sperm per day which mean two trillion sperm in his life time but the man reproductive system isn’t identify as wasteful. And also the fact that the men system will stay productive until the end of his life when the woman system will worn out and loose strength years after years. Even when they found scientific prove that the sperm was less powerful once it get the woman system, the scientist found a way to turn it around and make the woman be as the evil person who will spread her spider wed and trap the sperm till death. The woman role also get lowered whether we are weak, useless and passive or whether we are a big danger, seen as deadly spider.

Reading this passage made me realize how language is powerful, how by insisting over and over and making people believe certain thing it could have an impact on everyone. I’m sure that most of the man who will read this passage will feel insulted and will try to find arguments to go with the scientist theories. As a woman, I believe my reproductive system is the most amazing thing because the feeling I will have when my baby will grow in my placenta no other man could feel it. I feel lucky for that and I know for sure those scientists are wrong and they can’t fool me. The scientist don’t want to see the reality or may be trying to lie to themselves to make them and other people believe that the man still have a certain power in everywhere. I strongly believe that we are as strong as men because what we going throughout for ninth months and then for 24h during the labor no man can’t go through it. The scientist are may be trying to fool themselves and their ego but all woman know that our system is the most beautiful and amazing thing.

blog entry #5

After watching My sister’s Keeper which is a remarkable and heartbreaking movie I try to understand how each of the character manage to make an ethical decision. The mother was hopeless and wanted to save her first daughter, Kate, who had leukemia. Because any of the parents were compatible to be a donor, the only way she could save, Kate, would be to give birth to another child, Anna, who will dedicate her entire life being a donor.  It wasn’t an easy decision for a mother knowing that she could loose her daughter because she is suffering from leukemia and putting Anna into painful treatment in order to save Kate. Kate, who had leukemia, was suffering and believed it was time for her to live the world so she could be free and have a normal life. She was tired of all the treatment she had to go through and preferred to put end on her life. Kate told Anna to stop being her donor and claim to her parents that she didn’t want to help her anymore; Kate didn’t want her parents to know that she wants to give up fighting against the leukemia anymore. Kate believed that by not getting kidney and all those terrible treatments she will be relieve from all this pain and she will also relieve her family that is suffering as well. Anna, who was Kate donor, had to make the decision between keeping on saving her sister life or following her sister will. She finally decided to follow her sister will and made her parents believed she just didn’t want to be a donor and be able to decision for her own body.

I can’t put myself into any characters from this true story because I believe I wouldn’t be able to make the right decision. I have an older sibling and God forbid if this situation was happening in my life I would have been selfish and make the decision to keep on helping my sister to survive. My argument for not following her will will be that she isn’t capable of taking the right decision because of the treatment she is going through. That the treatments are making her weaker and sensible to anything and that she had lost hope on surviving. Taking an ethical decision is hard and a long process because you have to make sure this won’t have a negative impact on anybody else. In this kind of situation it is hard to make the right decision because someone will suffer anyway.  

blog entry # 4

In this passage “Too Much Pressure”, Colleen Wenke is illustrating how cheating became a habit upon students in high school or college. Wenke defines cheating as getting your work done by somebody else, you don’t spend take the time and do your homework and learn from it but you are just copying. According to Wenke, there are different types of cheater, there are those who will wait and ask their peers who just take the quiz what were the questions Wenke’s history teacher named them as “cafeteria scholars”. They were the cheaters who won’t even realize they cheated by asking their friend to copy on their homework. There are those who will have too many activities that will push them to cheat because there is a grade required in order to stay on the team. And finally there are those who will cheat because they just want to get over it and get their diploma.

I don’t think I belong to any of this type of cheaters even though I won’t deny it I did find myself cheat couple of time by coping over my friend homework, but that was because I had completely forgot that specific homework was dues that day or I didn’t have time to finish it all. My point of view about cheating will be what the point of cheating is and get the best grade when you know you don’t deserve that grade.  I prefer do the test get the a bad grade, know where I should improve and work harder and get a better grade on the next test and be proud of it because I know I deserve it. Cheating is like lying to yourself, you make yourself believe you are a A student when you are only a B or C.

Colleen Wenke think it is not right for student that work and deserve their grade, because the others that cheated get better grade than them. Even good students are tempted to cheat, because they see other students who cheated get better grades than them.  Wenke blamed the school system because they are allowing students cheating and are not reinforcing the rules about cheating, so cheating was alright as long as you don’t get caught. Because of the school system not fulfilling their role students don’t know anymore what is right or wrong. We can’t blame our parents because they taught us that cheating isn’t right, that we should earn our grade, we should blame the school system. Like the author I’m intrigued just by thinking those cheating are the one getting the best grade ending up in the best school and ends up ruling our country. I can’t imagine having a doctor who cheated throughout his entire education and didn’t even know how to be a doctor even though he has on his wall posted his doctoral diplomat.

I know step back and see cheating as the author Colleen Wenke is describing us in this essay; we created a society that believes cheating is okay, how far would this go? Just like the author, I don’t respect any of those people that cheated because they don’t deserve anything that they earned from it.  We have to stop this from spreading further, and this will only stop when schools reinforce the rules and people realize that they aren’t earning their diplomat.

In this passage, Stephanie Ericson did a deep study about lies and came up with all this different way of lying. The one I could related to myself are, “the white lie”, which is when you tell to your friend that she looks good even though you know she looks horrible. I remember when this happened to me, I was shopping with my friend and she started going ballistic about a shirt and “OMG this look so nice!!!” I knew it looked horrible but she seemed so into it that I felt like I had to lie so I won’t hurt her feelings. Ericson thinks we shouldn’t make the decision about what would make other people happy or sad, what will hurt their feeling.  The other kind of lies I could relate to is “facades” and “omission”. I think everyone could relate to the facades kind of lie because the way we dress up to go out with our friends isn’t the way we would dress up to go to work. When we go to certain places we have to adapt ourselves to those places and dress appropriate. For example we can’t wear bikinis and go to school. Putting on a suit and go to work or meeting is a way of projecting an appearance, showing that you are a serious person and hard worker. According to Ericson “omission involves telling most of the truth minus one os two key facts whose absence changes the story completely.”(p29) For all the people that wear glasses this already happened. I actually had an omission lies recently, my mother brought me this new glasses that were horrible and she spent a lot of money on it. I lied and said I like it and wore for couple of weeks when she was around just to show that I did like it. However, after a month I threw them on the garbage and told my mother that they have been stolen and next thing I know I was back in the store with her choosing another pair of glasses, this time I made sure I was around to pick them. One kind of lie I found it funny and relevant that Ericson cited is the “out -and -out lies”, this kind of lies you know that person is lying because it is obvious but you just can’t get mad because you find they way that person lied funny. It happened to me couple of times when I was with my nieces and nephews.

Ericson has other ways of defining lies, but the overall is we can’t stop ourselves from lying. We basically lie at least once a day. Stephanie Ericson tried to spend an entire day without lying but it was too frustrating. We lie for little things every single day. For example, when somebody ask you “how you are doing” you may be not feeling good or having a really bad day but because you don’t feel like talkind you will just end up saying “I’m fine and you?”.

This two passages are related in a way were, when you cheat you are lying to yourself because you are earning grades and post you don’t even deserves. And when you are lying you are cheating because you make other believe you are someone you aren’t.

 

blog entry Shitty first dratfs

The author here is talking about the procedure of making a great essay.  She making an ironic, humorous and sarcastic approach about how we all struggle to find ideas put it together throughout several drafts then finally come to a great draft. She points out that even successful author make an awful first draft, we all need this step so we could improving it with other drafts.  She defines all draft with;

The first draft as a “the down draft” (p25) - where you suppose to put all the ideas that came to your mind, doesn’t matter if it is not organized, “child’s draft”(p22) nobody will see your draft so you could write anything you want relating to the subject.

The second draft is “the up draft”- where you try to fix things around, try to put it all together so it could be coherent, add up details where you think you could, develop some ideas, erase some ideas that where foolish…

The third draft is “the dental”- where you overlook for everything, check on the grammar, punctuation, spelling, making sure that every words is where it suppose to be.

She states that “the right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker most of the time” in other words, you need to take time think thoughtfully, and revise in order to have the right sentences, it doesn’t often come like a strike.

Reading this passage made me feel comfortable about my first draft and me not achieving a perfect essay on the first draft. Sometimes, I found myself sitting down in front of a blank paper for several minutes, just staring at it, the only words that I wrote were my name the date, the assignment due date, and the teacher name. I just don’t know where to start and it frustrated me.  It made me realized that even professional writer goes through the same process as mine even though their writing still ends up better than mine. I found it humorous the way she put her voices on her head away, I don’t think I will be able to do that because the only voice that I here when I’m writing is “ OMG I will never finish this essay”, “ this is crap, improve it!!”....  

Blog Entry #2 Nickel and Dimed; On ( not) getting by in America

This passage is about Barbara Ehrenreich who is a known outspoken social critic, she is demonstrating us here the research she did so she could have a subjective point of view about poverty. Barbara used an informal language so we could have a vivid observation of how the people around her (low-wage workers) really are. Barbara is a journalist earn over 50,000 per month, she is a middle class worker. However as a journalist she prefers to apply the “old-fashioned kind of journalism” and live like a low-wage worker and see how it really feels. She had to find a new house with a low rent, and then find a low-wage job. Like every low-wage worker, she struggle finding a job but finally got one at a “restaurant family”.

I have experience myself the going around every store for a job. Few months ago, I was looking for a job, a part time job but I couldn’t find a reasonable one. Whether they were asking too much and paying less or whether they needed me to stay till late. Me being a student I can’t allowed myself spending more time at work then studying or in class, so I decided to stop looking for a job and just concentrate in school. My parents were against me going to work anyway!

Barbara left all her luxury behind her and was now living like a normal low-wage worker, just that she didn’t have children or wasn’t paying health insurance. She was paid $2.43 per hour plus tips and was working hard as if this was her real life job. I think the quotation from Booker T. Washingtonian is relevant “If you’re going to do something, do it well” I think everyone can relate this quotation to themselves. Personally, when I’m doing something I always make I’m putting 100% attention to it. When I’m doing something I try to make it unique and make it better than anybody else. For example when I’m writing an essay I do extra research and add my own style of narrative to make it come out from other essays.

Throughout this experience, Barbara was amazed how this people (low-wage workers) was struggling and doing everything to survive but was still good people and were way too smart to be working as waitress, hostesses …

Even though there are hard worker out here working hard for their family working two jobs at the same time, this part of people are a minority. I think American rely too much on welfare and believe that what is the point of getting up and work when you can get money just by making babies and staying home. If I was a single mother and I was receiving all this help from welfare going to work would never cross my mind. I could just stay home and take care of my children. I think they should reduce several options they give on the welfare or give the welfare to only people that need it!

critical thinking #3 Stupid Rich Bastards

This passage describes a really poor family that the father works multiple jobs at the same time the mother has one job and they still don’t have enough money for their family. In their town, there is a huge separation between the poor and the rich people, Laurel’s father called the rich people “rich bastard”. The rich people had no respect for the poor people and underestimated them all the time, they though they are superior when it is not the case. The poor people talk with a raw language, they swear all the time just like how American always say “you know what I’m talking about”, and in the other hand the rich people that live in that town have a descent language and a hostile attitude.  Rich people didn’t respect the poor people valuable gadget they gave away in order to pay bills. The rich people thought that having money and wearing nice cloths was the secret of being happy but Laurel’s family were as happy as them. Laurel’s family put all their hope on her back hoping she will be the one to bring the family out of the miserable life once she will go to college and be successful. This is why Laurel never gave up on her university studies; she had this heavy duty on her back. I could refer this story to my own experience, I don’t come from a poor family however I’m the only one that my parent invested a lot of money for me to go to school and be successful. My brother and sister went to a community college I’m the only one who is in a private college. And I feel like I’m carrying this heavy weight on back because my parents are spending a lot on money one me and that I have to give them back by being a successful woman.

However I believe that it is not because you have a lot of money that means you are a better person. Actually rich people tend to have lack of gratitude and have the feeling to be better than the others.  

We all have this idea of if we work hard we will get to a better but it doesn’t apply to everybody. Earning a lot of money is a question of luck, you could be a hard worker and have a low income or you could be a lazy person do nothing and earn a lot of money.

blog critical thinking #1 Notes of a Native Speaker

By reading this passage, I can relate my own story to Eric Liu story. Most of us came to the U.S so we could have a better life and end up being a successful woman/man. Eric Liu is describing us how he assimilated to the American life. He was born here, was a citizen but still had to prove himself to be an American. It is ironic how his own people (Asian) consider him as a “banana” “imitative, impressionable, rootless, eager to please” (p2) and how the white people saw him as another Chinese kids. During all his childhood he was confused didn’t know where, and how to identify himself. However he was never ashamed of being Chinese he just didn’t know where to located himself.  He made a list of how he considers himself as a white person, so I decided to make my own list of how I’m a black girl and also an African girl.

-I will get really mad if someone tries to touch my hair, little advice never touches a black girl hair because you might get hurt.

- Where there is chicken fried I will be present!!

- I take a long time to get ready

- I’m often late to my appointment

- Most of the time you will find me at the nails salon or hair salon

-If I see something that I don’t like I won’t hesitated to speak up

- I will try to avoid wearing dark color, and wear colorful close so my complexion will come out

If I’m touching my hair all the time that means I’m wearing a weave (not my real hair)

(…)

Eric Liu said “The essence of cool was the ability to conform. The essence of conformity was the ability to anticipate what was cool” (p3) in other world to be cool you have to know what is it to be cool, the appearance. I think we all went through it when you find yourself two different groups. One group is considering as the cool and the other is seeing as the losers, and you will have to find out which group you belong.  I never really belong to a group because I don’t identify myself as part of the winner group or loser group, I was friend with everyone and was the cool girl that you could always talk, hangout or study together.

Eric was an American but look like a Chinese boy, so it was hard for him to assimilate once he was in school and see his classmate. He wanted to have the perfect hair just like the other white kids, he wanted to be as cool as them and do the contrary of what a rel Chinese boy will do (math and scientist nerd). Like the author of The Lost Art of Happiness cited, that the environment is what makes us, it applies also to Eric. Eric live in United States but his parents still educated him like a Chinese boy, he eat with chopstick… His parents never asked him to be like The American, but once he goes to his friend house to eat he didn’t know what the American table manners are and sometimes he would offend his friend’s parents. In my country (Comoros Island) most of the time, we eat with our hand. When I came here I lost the habit of eating like that and when I go on vacation to Comoros my people make fun of me because I’m trying to be like a “miss American”. So stereotype exist for everyone of us ( white, black, yellow…) some of us try to prove to other that they are  not like that some of us take it as an excuse and act like the stereotype says. And some of us try to imitate other stereotype because they are ashamed of who they are.

introduction about myself

My name is soifiat

people usually call me Sofia because it is way easier...

I was born in Comoros Island which is situated on the North east of Madagascar.

I stayed there for 15 years then I went to France in a boarding school ( Paris) for years then i came here.

I speak 5 languages, french because it is the second language of Comoros, I speak 3 different languages that is from Comoros ( differents ethnics, different dialect) and of course I speak English.

This explain why I have such a weird accent when I speak English.

I seem quiet and shy but I'm a really outgoing person, and friendly.

My mother works at United Nations and grace of her I traveled a lot.

I went to differents places and learned a lot about other cultures tradition... I have a really open mind and I can't wait to know all my classmates.

You want to know what is my major? First i thought I knew what will be my major but now that I'm taking all these new classes about ethnic and East Africa, I realized that i would like to go further on these studies.

I want to be a doctor, I love being with children, so i figured out may be i should be a peditricis but then now I discover that I'm interested in these new subject. So yes, I'm confused, my mother told me may be i could be a doctor without bounderies, work at the UNICEF... I really don't know.

But I will figure all this out soon.

Now enough talkin about me and let's start getting to know each other.

Friendly Sofia ....