In Praise of the F Word

I somewhat agree with Sherry when she made the point “a healthy fear of failure” will actually motivate students to work harder. The reason I agree with that is because one of my teachers called my parents and told them I was flunking a class and wouldn’t be able to graduate. I was devastated, and I was really struggling with that class. It was chemistry, and the teacher could care less if you knew the material or not. I had no one to help me, and none of my friends were taking the class. The thought of not graduating with my friends would have crushed me. Instead of trying and talking to the teacher, I ended up getting a chemistry tutor, and I spent hours on homework. I knew that I was smart enough to pass the class, but I just didn’t have the motivation to try hard enough until she told me that I may not graduate. I ended up passing the class with a solid B, and I had never felt more relieved. This is why I agree with what she was saying. All I needed was a little fear of failure, and that put me on track.

The reason I do not agree with her is because of what happened to half of my senior class in high school. Most of them were told that they were going to fail, and instead of trying harder, they just wondered what the point was anymore. So, they dropped out. Sure, that may be the easy way out for some people, but I understand where they are coming from. If you don’t have parents or teachers that care, then what is the point in trying to pass a class? I think that if a teacher tells a kid they are flunking then maybe they should try and help, because if a student doesn’t have support at their house, than they will look for other things to help them just pass. I thought this was a great essay, and I did enjoy reading it very much.

What I've Learned this Term

I have learned so much this term, and I was very pleased with how I did. Writing does not come easy to me, and I have always struggled with this subject. I started in Writing 80, and it was the best thing that I could have ever done. I knew more and felt confident when I was writing. Essays were always difficult for me, but now I have a better grasp on it. I really enjoyed this class a lot, and I thought it was nice that it was a hybrid class. It gave me a lot of experience with online classes, and it made me more responsible for my work since I always had homework assignments due every week. I learned how to blog for the very first time, and I found that very useful. Once I got the hang of the blog, it was actually fun for me, and I enjoyed being able to read everyone’s blogs too.

I have received a lot of great knowledge from this class, and I hope to do well in my next writing class. This class also helped a lot with my other classes that had essays due. I feel way more confident with my writing now that I have taken this class, and I know that I can easily put together a well paper. I’m so happy that this term is over and done with, and I can’t wait to see how my other classes go. I hope everyone has a great summer, and hopefully it stays beautiful out. Good luck with the rest of your schooling and enjoy it!

The Seat Not Taken.

I enjoyed reading this piece, because I don’t think a lot of people have the idea that it is still happening. I grew up in a small town that did not have much diversity. It wasn’t every day when someone of a different ethnic background came into town, but none of us treated them any differently. We respected them just like we would any other person. Color has no effect on me, but I do understand why he would think that his color is the possible reason why the seat is not taken. I also agree to disagree about his analysis on the situation. From my own personal point of view, I do not believe in discriminating anyone for anything, but there are people out there that do this. I hate how bad discrimination was a long time ago, because now it is affecting us as humans. We are not aloud to say a certain thing or act a certain way without someone assuming we are being racist.

When I ride the bus to school, I am glad to take any spot open because I do not want to stand the entire trip. I don’t look at who is sitting next to me; I am just always looking for that empty seat. The only reason I would ever choose not to sit next to someone is if they made me feel uncomfortable. I have many people try and have conversations with me, but I know they are just being polite. I am not trying to be disrespectful, but I think that discrimination is taken to far sometimes. We are now being punished for what has happened a long time ago. As a white person, it is like I am not allowed to say what I feel. I have been teased my entire life for being this white, but no one would ever take me serious if I said I felt discriminated. I think we have discrimination against every color, and not just a few. I enjoyed reading this piece very much, and it really made me start thinking a lot about what he really means. I hope this did not offend anyone, because that was not my intention. We all have our own ideas and opinions.

G.I Jane

My favorite movie of all time is G.I Jane, which came out in 1997. The major stars in my favorite part of the movie are, Demi Moore (Jordan O’Neill) and Viggo Mortensen (Master Chief). The storyline basically is about how the Navy Secretary begins full gender integration of the service, and they give the opportunity to one female to train in the U.S Navy’s elite SEAL program. Jordan O’Neill is the one female that is able to train, and everyone expects her to fail from the very beginning. All of the men, including Master Chief, hate her when she first arrives, but she is determined to succeed. My all time favorite scene of the movie is when O’Neill is in training, and gets captured by Master Chief and his buddies. When they capture her, they take her into their house and beat her up to try and get information out of her. They are doing this just in case it ever happens when they aren’t in training anymore. Master Chief takes it a little to far, and all his friends begin to walk away and are disgusted with how he is punishing her. Master Chief and O’Neill end up in front of all the trainees that are captured in a gated off area. They watch O’Neill get beaten, and start to turn away and resent Master Chief for acting that way. Once Master Chief goes over and tries to talk to the guys and tell them he’s doing her a favor, O’Neill slowly gets up with blood dripping from her face and calmly says “Master Chief”, and he responds with “Lieutenant, seek life elsewhere.” A few seconds later, O’Neill yells “Suck My Dick!!!” all her partners begin screaming, and this is when Master Chief finally realizes who he is dealing with, and knows how strong she is. The reason this is my favorite scene is because O’Neill finally gets the respect she deserves. Even though her partners did not agree with a girl coming in, now they are all friends with her. Finally, Master Chief is pleased with something she does, and she finally gets her independence. I thought this was one of the best movies I have ever seen, and it will continue to be my favorite movie. Demi Moore is a great actress, and was such an inspiration for women during this movie. Oh, and she actually did shave her head for the role of G.I Jane.

This clip is the scene I was talking about, but it has violence and explicit language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuDAV_FWTb8

Chapter 20 Response

I think it is great the cigarette companies put warning labels on their packages, because you can only blame yourself if something happens to you. I think anything that can be harmful to someone should have a warning label, so that people know exactly what they are putting in their bodies and the consequences that follow. Now, I have thought a lot about which law I would like to pass, and I know many people will not agree, but I find it quite necessary. The law that I think should be passed is the drinking age. I honestly think that we should lower the age to 18. Everyone tells us that we need to be adults, think on our own, get jobs and pay bills, but yet tells us that we are not responsible enough. We as adults are not responsible enough to make the right decision when we are faced with alcohol, but yet we are aloud to smoke cigarettes. How can you tell us to grow up when you don’t trust us enough? This forces kids to be stupid and hide it from their parents. Having the legal drinking age at 21 just pushes teenagers into binge drinking in dangerous environments. Everyone says that as an 18 year old we do not know how to tolerate the alcohol. Well, tolerating alcohol doesn’t come with age; it comes with experience. You can’t tell us that we are not old enough to tolerate our alcohol when adults over the age of 21 still can’t hold down most of their drinks. Other countries that have the drinking age lowered to 18 have fewer alcohol related deaths than anywhere else in the world. No matter what the legal drinking age is, there will always be problems with alcohol. I just find it very amusing that as an 18 year old, they are capable of making every other decision as an adult, but yet they are not allowed to decide whether or not they can drink.

Social Media

I have a Facebook and Twitter account. I love Facebook because it keeps me in contact with relatives from other states, and friends that have moved away. Just like what the author said, I am also very careful what I put on the Internet, because I know that anyone can see it. My parents have taught me from a young age that my future employers can see any pictures I post and any rude remarks I make. I don’t have many close friends, but I have over 500 hundred friends on Facebook. Many of those people just want to be my friend so they can judge what I post, or go run to their friends and talk about what I did. You see it all the time on the Internet, people gossiping about the latest drama that happened on Facebook or Twitter. It makes it very hard to have any privacy when everyone knows all your secrets. I also think that Facebook has made it extremely hard for relationships and friendships to be true. To have a certain bond with someone you need to be able to have a normal conversation with him or her in person. It is so hard for people to talk with someone nowadays, because we are not used to the face-to-face interaction. There is always a computer or a phone in-between him or her making things easier, so how do we know when someone is telling the truth? Everything that I have said does not mean that I hate Facebook or Twitter, because I actually do enjoy both of them. It just means that I understand that I need to be careful what I post, because you never know who can see your profile. Do I think social media is good? No, not necessarily, but it is the easiest way for people to stay in contact.