Thursday, March 31, 2005
Response to Eric Bentley
I think that Eric Bentley hit the nail on the head with his statement, “Ours is the age of substitutes: Instead of language we have jargon; instead of principles, slogans; and instead of genuine ideas, bright suggestions. ” I think that all of these things that he mentioned result because our society is built around ease and cost-effectiveness rather than quality and meaning. To really communicate with language well, time for studying is required. To hold real principles, commitment and effort is required to live by them. To come up with genuine ideas one must spend time truly thinking about and developing their ideas. The problem is that no one has enough time, and no one wants to commit to anything or put forth effort for anything besides personal gain. This is a serious problem—one that needs to be solved before any genuine progress can be made.
Steriods in Baseball
Professional athletes have always been pushed to exceed expectations. I find it no surprise that some of them are using performance enhancing steroids and other substances. They are constantly being faced with having to prove themselves and trying to standout from all the other players. Overall, I don’t think that this is a problem with sports today. If the athletes choose to use these substances, they know the possible side effects and that they can cause significant damage to one’s body.
Response to “Waiting”
Evan brought up a good point in his journal called “Waiting”. I never really thought about the fact that we do wait a lot. It’s very mind boggling that we wait seven years out of our life in line. That’s crazy. I would call myself a patient person, so I don’t really mind waiting in line very often. Sometimes I will admit that it does get quite annoying. “Why can’t people just move quickly?!” I think to myself. “Waiting”, most people hate that word. It has a bad connotation. As Americans in a fast paced world, we want things now, right away.
Flour: My Mom’s worst Nightmare
Have you ever made a really big mess? I have. This is a story about my fascination with flour. This love began at a young age, I do not remember how young. I love flour because it is so light and is just so cool.
Megan’s Descriptive Paragraph
Outside, in the frigid March air as spring at times has tried to sneak in, but winter this year continues to force it out, keep its time, knights there to make sure it stays. Winter, showing everyone that it will be here for awhile is leaving its mark. The snow continues to fall. It is interesting though, as you look out into the distance, it looks like it is falling with such force, being thrown from the sky. But, as you look closely, it is really note the case at all. The snow if just fluttering down, swaying back and forth as it goes, it has a little speed, a little attitude, but it si not as mean as it may look when looking out into the distance. The snow as it lands is covering the earth with a sheer blanket, a sheer blanket with a white tint. At places though, the blanket of snow is bunched, folded over a few times, as in those places the ground is no longer seen. The snow is falling this march morning, much to most peoples dislike. As spring is still being kept out, we look forward the next day, where we will at least see a peek, a foot in the door, and on that one day, probably not too far away, where it will be here to stay.
Descriptive Writing-Misty
Tha snow. The light white particles fall from the sky like confetti falling at the stroke of twelve at New Years. As the cotton-like particles swirl around, vision is blurred and the air is filled with a film of grayness. As I watch one of the intriguing and unique particles float to the frozen, powder covered earth, it falls and twirls until the wind changes its course, just as if one were to blow at a piece of lint in front of their face.
The Coming of Spring-Megan W
The warm weather that we have had this past week has been amazing, it is something that by the end of the summer, I will once again be taking advantage of it, and want my jeans back. Though, that is not the case right now, I am so sick of my jeans and my sweaters and just want my capris and t-shirts back. We love walking to class without being cold, even though in September we hated walking to class because it was hot. The window was able to be opened again, even though we were so excited that we could close it when the snow started to fall. The sun and blue sky is something that it hadn’t seemed like we had seen in months, even though it was exciting when the first snow fell. It is odd, on how in the span of six months, so much of our views and what excites us changes. People are now excited to go play out in the sun, while a couple of months ago it was exciting because they could actually go play out in the snow. You have got to love Michigan weather.
Journal Response to “Age Comes, Time Goes”
Tim presents an interesting idea in his essay about age and time. While he realizes that time is always constant, he alludes to the fact that time always feels to change paces when you do. He moves from childhood to college to married and work life and finally to retirement days, documenting the different speeds of time throughout these stages in life.
The Discontinuation of Spring Break
Although breaks are normally welcomed to those of us who are day after day forced to pay attention to countless professors lecture on topics that are perhaps mildly interesting at best, returning from a break proves more difficult than simply pushing through without a break.
The Bane of My Existence
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts, the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the learned astronomer where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
-Walt Whitman
The last class I ever expected to be taking as a strict English major was Astronomy class. Although I realized that part of Calvin’s core curriculum required a physical Science course, I never completely understood that to mean me sitting three days a week in a half-filled lecture hall, absorbing astronomical data.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
A Student Guide to Working Off-Campus
I am a student who currently works off campus and has a full load of classes. The following is a guide for students thinking about getting a job and a reminder to those already working of how such a life is.
Descriptive Writing-Tim
The weather has been teasing us this week. It was warm and sunny, feeling like spring wanted to relieve us of our winter blues, but this morning it is cloudy and lit only by the snow falling once more. It is a think snowfall. Each flake that shows us its presence seems to be larger than the one before it. Although these flakes are huge, they seem very light. As you watch it fall, it never seems to touch the ground; rather it swoops to the side and travels by as if it had somewhere better to be. Don’t be fooled. It all eventually lands and we can see it by the accumulation on the ground. Then you think, “It’s not that bad. It is actually quite pretty.” You stare intently at it falling and you forget to notice all the other things going on outside. It captures your attention as though it is the most important thing to look at. You find yourself just staring.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Writing on Steroids
Like baseball sluggers who juice themselves up to hit more home runs, we did an in-class “writing on steroids” exercise to artificially pump up our writing. Now that we know what it feels like to be bulked up, let’s go back to our “weight room” (or our dorm rooms) and strengthen our writing muscles for real!
Here was the most juiced-up page from the bulkiest group:
While language began as an oral tradition—starting anciently [editor’s note: I didn’t think this was a word until I looked it up] and continuing through the 15th century—literacy changed communication with its invention. [+2 for a complex sentence] As Ong states in his many works on the theory of literature, written communication established a sense of eloquence in our culture; it made us appear more educated. [+2 for a complex sentence, +2 for semicolon]
Monday, March 28, 2005
‘Al-Jazeera’: And Now, the Other News
Isabel Hilton takes on a tough review for the new book Al-Jazeera by Hugh Miles. Miles is a young, Arabic-speaking British journalist, who has spent much of his life in the Middle East. Miles focuses not only on the controversy surrounding the broadcast company, which has been dubbed the “world’s most notorious television station,” but also the skirmishes between the broadcasting company and the Bush administration.
Cara - descriptive piece
Winter in Michigan, there has never been a more dreary sight. Cars rush by in a sea of endless white swirls of cold moisture, eager to arrvie at a destination, to any place warmer.
March winders whirl past with their relentless tantrums, suggesting to Michigan dwellers that perhaps we aren’t as far from the North Pole as previously imagined. Hopes are dashed when, upon awakening on that frigid early-March morning, one finds that the unmerciful wind once again caters the unwelcomed regathering of winter.