Dance Dance!

Friday Morning Dance!!

Mitford response #1

From Journal to Essay.

   As a nation that would rather describe death as "passing away" or "resting in peace", compared to being blunt and saying they are dead, the typical embalmer must have a vast customer list. However popular blissful ignorance when speaking of death may be, and however hard people may try to "shield" their youngster's eyes from the horrible clutches of death, death is death. A person is simply dead and they are not meant to look remotely alive, even zombies do not physically represent a human complexion.

   Of course the mortician is out to make money, people do anything for money. Not to mention it is a nice quiet job where one can be left to themselves in solitude to think about anything they wish. He or she feeds the hunger for ignorance by skillfully chiseling an appearance of life onto the deceased individual. For the family it is easier to see their family member in a peaceful state so they can be left with a fairy tale image of their loved one, trying to wipe away the memories of suffering and tears. No one has any desire to face the truth that the word dead brings about.
   There are costs to a society that hides everything under the sheets, if the dead are taken advantage of, there is no limit to what else is swept under the rug in order for the "ugly" not to be seen. A parent's drinking problem, a serious health problem, some individuals actually go out and pretend they have a job even when they have lost it. All out of shame, afraid to show weakness. Such a society that is built upon weakness cannot not advance rapidly if at all. People only grow stronger and advance through making mistakes and learning from them.
   It may seem insignificant but when the dirty laundry is aired the embalming process is truly a molestation of a human being. And even though the relatives may not be aware of what exactly is happening they are partaking in a ritual of ignorant selfishness. The phrase "don't judge a book by it's cover" goes both ways, not only may you pass up a good book with a bad cover, but just because it looks good doesn't mean it is.

Country vs City

Ta da!

Perfect Churchgoers.

Definitely an oxymoron.

Structure

      In this passage Kozol targets the audiences emotions. His paragraphs give countless examples of daily tasks that everyone in society takes for granted, anyone that can accomplish these tasks that is. Kozol narrows his focus with a thesis stating that America is no so democratic if close to 60 million people cannot read and thus cannot vote. They have trouble with contacts and bill paying, they cannot read what the contract desires from them and thus may be tricked verbally into obeying something that is not there or accidentally break the contract. 

      Not only can they not vote but also they cannot read the labels on prescription bottles, or buy the necessary food when they are out shopping. When smoking they are not bale to read the warning on the side of the package, but to a majority of humanity the idea of smoking should not sound healthy in the first place. When in an emergency situation the illiterate individuals may not be able to get proper help because not only do they not remember where they are or how to get thee, they may in an entirely different location than what they are used to and are not able to read to have a familiar location for the police or anyone else they are calling. 

      The breakdown of situations and the detail placed into them is meant to grab the audience’s attention, truly relating to turmoil that the people go through not occasionally but daily. The examples are daily tasks because Kozol is targeting a large audience, one which is bound to do one or more of those things. All the appeals are used, logical ethical and emotional. 

      This emotionally based structure may evoke empathy and perhaps even sympathy from some, but everyone has the ability to learn to read in America. That is the beauty of being the, free public education! The passage mentions that one of the illiterate persons children could read, they could easy teach their parent how to read. 

Narrative Essay!

Here it is!

Culinary Arts!

The culinary arts! Something that I have always desired to learn about, feeling incompetent not knowing the first thing about the kitchen, except obviously how to boil some noodles and scramble some eggs.  My mother has never been a chef and does not have a large conviction to prepare much food for the family, at least not on a daily basis. It has been every man for themselves for a long time. With this unfortunate predicament one would guess that each individual would have developed some sort of skill, but once again no such luck has struck, at least for me. Even some attempts of cooking from a recipe has not turned out as fortunately as expected. As anything in life, hard work is ahead in order to try and salvage a part of my womanhood.

From the start of my culinary career, which is only about since the beginning of this school year, a lot has already been learned. Such as there is a difference between mixing and folding items into batter. Almond Poppy Seed Muffins, from the box, require that the poppy seeds be folded into the mix and no mixed, the reason being that if you mix them the seeds will all congregate at the bottom of the batter instead of being evenly distributed. My best success other than the muffins has been no bake cheesecake! Easy and delicious! With simple ingredients of cream cheese, vanilla, sour cream, cool whip and sugar one cannot go wrong. Add some blueberries on top and you have a tasty treat for the next day. The baked cheesecake is yet something that will be experimented on later.

One major actual food success has been soy pizza! A strange thing to be called a pizza considering it has no cheese AND no tomato sauce the invention is delicious and something I can actually ingest without suffering! Yes, being lactose intolerant is an awful thing. An addition of olives, spinach, tomatoes, and two kinds of peppers makes the pizza even better. Taking no longer than an hours work a delicious dinner is on the table.

Hopefully with plenty of experimentation and time one day I shall know how to cook a variety of things, and have the actually be edible! 

Greasy Lake

Anna Sukhova

Per 2 Ap Eng

9/7/12

“Greasy Lake”

Desiring to "fit in" and be a part of the "cool crowd" the teenagers try desperately to do anything they can in order to be something they are not. From T.C. Boyle's breathtaking description, three male nerds attempt to party for a night and it ends very badly. The description in this passage is amazing. It conveys the idea of the narrative clearly, allowing the reader to easily interpret every idea that the author has attempted to convey.

The “nerd” characteristic of the boys is never lost throughout the passage. At the very least in every three paragraphs there is a historic reference as the narrator describes the events taking place. When discussing their error of mistaking the car the narrator references Westmoreland’s decision to dig in at Khe Sanh, while being beaten he describes the attackers fast as a Toltec mask. Recalling a past fight, of which there is only one, he described the hit he took as a “Louisville slugger”, the boys are clearly at a disadvantage. They do not know anything about the life of “thugs”, and the only other fighting experience available to them is Digby’s kung-fu course, being only nineteen and inexperienced, defending against a man is seemingly impossible.

The passage starts out as a humorous description of boys who try hard to have a “good time”, as defined by the people around them. Going to “Greasy Lake” to party was the common activity. The teenage boys who “sniffed glue and ether” drinking “gin and grape juice” as well as other cheap fruity alcoholic drinks and last but not least they drove their parents “whining station wagons”. The narrator considered himself to be with “two dangerous characters” as they set out on their adventure to Greasy Lake “driving through the strip, and past the housing developments.” A drunken mistake landed then into a situation which truly only “bad characters” would be in. The dead man the narrator finds symbolizes what their fate may have potentially been that night. The narrator describes the man they meet as a “greasy character” echoing the earlier description of Greasy Lake which was previously called Wakan by the Native Americans, as a symbol of is clarity. The narrator goes on to describe the condition the lake is now, “fetid and murky, the mud banks glitter with broken glass and are strewn with beer cans”. The lake was once pure, just as the man with the “Toltec mask” had once been but now he is greasy just as the lake is now greasy, and just as the boys have an opportunity to learn from their experience that night.

Description Essay!

Descriptive Description Essay! ;).