Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Response to Bird by Bird
“We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason why they write so very little.” Anne Lamott opens her piece Bird by Bird with this telling line, off which she bases much of the book. She tells us that we write to learn about who we are, which sounds pretty easy at first. She goes on to tell us though in this piece that it is not that easy at all. Our thoughts on ourselves come out in incoherent blurbs that often have no distinct beginning, end or logical timeline. Our writing starts off confused, Lamott says, and that’s ok. This piece goes on to tell us how to refine that confusion into something that is logical and understandable, and does in fact tell us who we are. It is often a long and arduous process, but it is one worth completing.
Two American Monsters: Consumerism and SUVs
American culture is strongly rooted in consumerism. One might argue that culture in this powerful nation, rich in resources is not just rooted in consumerism, but is consumerism. Americans tend to take all they can get and more, at the expense of anyone or anything. This trend covers everything from Big Macs to blue jeans, and possibly most importantly automobiles and the precious “Texas gold” that makes them go. Americans love their cars and love to drive them. From moms running errands in their full size SUVs to dads burning rubber in their BMWs Americans drive their cars. Little do they know that their frivolous energy consumption comes at a far greater cost than the $1.90 per gallon of gasoline; it costs the health and well being of planet earth and the people in it. It is imperative that Americans come to their senses and start driving more efficient cars, accepting economic implications of energy conservation, and mimicking other nations in their use of public transit. Actively seeking to achieve these simple goals will drastically improve the global environment, and the quality of life for those living in it.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Entry Roundup - February
Here are direct links to individual journal entries in our first batch of postings, in (reverse) order of appearance:
Edirin: Adrian vs. Edirin
Amanda: perverse corpse art
Nate: My best date ever
Megan: Waiting
Lucas: Church and community
Lauren: surprise endings
Allison: Casey Martin and the PGA
Dan: 90-minute dating
Misty: Be proud of your testimony
Evan: Waiting
Dave: My summer trip
Jamie: Thanking the alphabet
Stephanie: DCM on the Holocaust
Cara: The infatuation of February 14
Matt: the NHL season cancellation
Drew: failed expectations
Meg: smelling the roses
Tyler: Athletes overlooking academics
Tim: Age comes, time goes
Adrian vs Edirin (response to Jim vs James)
“Sorry, what was your name?”
“Edirin”
“Eh…what?”
“Edirin”
“Adrian?”
“Edi…”
“Can we just call you Adrian?”
“Um…okay…”
Adrian. Adrian Ibru. That’s what I was called for a good five years of my life. Not because I particularly liked the name but because that’s what was given to me. And I was honestly too passive to care. It all started when I began attending the American International School in Nigeria during third grade. Up until that point all the people I had come in contact with were either Nigerian or British, and the closest I had ever been to meeting an American was watching Rambo or the Fresh Prince of Bellaire on TV. Perhaps it was the culture shock and shyness that came from suddenly being plopped in an entirely American classroom that made me hesitant to correct my teacher.
The Fading of a Pastime
The Red Sox, the Yankees, and the Braves. Every September these are the teams that one can see in the Major League Baseball Playoffs. There are other teams that will make it from time to time and do well, but these are the rare exceptions. Many people say that the teams that are in contention every year are there because the star players want to play for winning teams. This is true, but this can only be possible because those teams can afford to pay the stars to win championships for them. This is an unfair advantage that needs to be fixed. It is time that play is evened out; it is time for Major League Baseball to get a more comprehensive revenue sharing plan or a salary cap rule.
German artist Gunther von Hagens and Corpse Factory
I recently read an article about the German artist Gunther von Hagens, who displays real human bodies with their skin stripped off as a work of art, and plans on creating a factory in a small town in Poland, near the German border, to mass produce his art. The art in itself is just odd and disgusting, and for instance one of von Hagens displays, which was “the corpse of a pregnant woman, complete with a dissection of her womb.” This just seems wrong and unnatural, and as most people would agree, this has lead to von Hagens has being tried in several countries for breaching laws about dealing with corpses.
My Best Date Ever
All this Valentines Day talk got me thinking about my past dating experience. Although I never have really had any real bad dates, I have had one school date that seemed as if it was just awful, but ended up being one of my best dates ever. The whole thing started when my friend Jill asked me to take our friend Rachael to our high school prom. To me this was not a big deal because I wasn’t dating anyone at the time, and she was a fun girl. The main reason Jill asked me to ask her was because she really liked this other guy and was going to wait for him to ask her. This guy apparently wanted nothing to do with her, so Jill thought I should ask her so she wouldn’t get left without a date. So I asked her.
Being Married Isn’t Easy…Especially at Calvin
Being a college student is tough, especially with the added responsibilities of being married. And while there are many sources of support for the average undergraduate students at Calvin, the same can not be said about those undergraduate students that choose to get married. The atmosphere at Calvin toward married students is pessimistic and isolating. Calvin prohibits these couples from living on campus, adding to the stress of being both a student and married; these students are made to feel ostracized, with virtually no support from the Calvin Community. Other colleges of similar size provide support and housing for their married students, help the students to save money and energy on their housing and focus more on their schooling, and isolate them from the rest of the Calvin community, Calvin could learn from these other schools and do so much more to support their married undergraduates.
the nuances of “obviate” and its synonyms
I said in class today that words have subtle nuances. Look at how subtle these disctinctions are among “obviate” and its synonyms. This is from www.m-w.com:
obviate \AHB-vee-ayt\ verb
: to anticipate and prevent (as a situation) or make unnecessary (as an action)
Example sentence:
Rob checks every ledger entry twice to obviate any problems when it comes time for an audit.Did you know?
“Obviate” derives from the Late Latin “obviare” (meaning “to meet or withstand”) and the Latin “obviam,” which means “in the way” and is also an ancestor of our adjective “obvious.” “Obviate” has a number of synonyms in English, including “prevent,” “preclude,” and “avert”; all of these words can mean to hinder or stop something. When you prevent or preclude something, you put up an insurmountable obstacle. In addition, “preclude” often implies that a degree of chance was involved in stopping an event. “Obviate” generally suggests the use of intelligence or forethought to ward off trouble. “Avert” always implies that a bad situation has been anticipated and prevented or deflected by the application of immediate and effective means.
Word Choice Exercise 2
In the spirit of Strunk and White’s deliberately poor rewrite of Thomas Paine’s “These are the times that try men’s souls” (see p.67 and Zinsser p.37), take each quote and rewrite it to make it worse (or better).
3. Some people make headlines while others make history.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
*Some people are in the tabloids while others are in the textbooks.
4. We come to love not by finding a perfect person but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
Sam Keen
Alt: Love is all about bearing with imperfections.
5. If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He gives it to.
Old Irish Saying
Alt: God gives money to people who characterize how he feels about money.
6. The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.
Matthew Arnold
Alt: The radical thinking of one generation is picked up by the next.
Word Choice Exercise
Looking for the wrong word can help writers look for the right word. Take the following words or phrases and write at least two bad alternatives for each. Put a star by any alternative you think is better.
1. “oatmeal” in “the other four are like oatmeal.” (Zinsser 37)
manna
*tofu
2. “punch” in “can carry a tremendous punch.” (Zinsser 37)
weight
meaning
3. “vacuum-packed” in “Every summer vacation our family of seven vacuum-packed ourselves into it” (Rushin 2)
our family of seven stacked ourselves into it like sardines
4. “Skippy peanut butter” in “the heroes of my youth were all as smooth and wholesome as Skippy peanut butter” (Rushin 2)
the boy next door
Vitamalt
5. “the genesis of my exodus” (Rushin 3)
the beginning of my journey
the start of my adventure
Cartoon Coercion
In a time when the media injects viewers with a steady influx of sex, violence, and mature themed programming that waves the flag of prevalent non-Christian worldviews, it is difficult for parents to know whether to turn their backs on their TV watching children without exposing them to harmful material. However, one source of entertainment that has been trusted to raise western society’s children for decades is cartoons and animated movies. To many, this form of media seems to have an innocence that the others do not, but this is a misconception. The media is subtly using children’s cartoons and animated movies to shape the worldviews of the young and impressionable. Examples of this molding can be seen in the very popular Saturday morning X-Men show from the mid-90’s, and Walt Disney’s Pocahontas, and Lion King.
Waiting-Megan
When I look at the quote by Henri Nouwen about waiting, I can not help but agree to an extent. The society that we live in just completely hates to wait, take a look around us, we have our fast food chains, expressways, and the do-it yourself check out lanes and Meijers. We want everything done quickly whether eating or driving somewhere. When we are waiting to leave to go out for the night, if we by chance end up getting ready early we will sit and put on the television, just so that we do not have to sit and wait.
persuasive essay - shawn
The United States of America has the most fair and just court system in the entire world. Corruption in the American court system is almost nonexistent, and even though the American court system works well, it could be better than it is right now. The problem in the court system is at the highest level, the Supreme Court. These justices are allowed to stay on the Supreme Court too long. Many problems arise from letting eighty-year old men and women govern the entire nation’s rules and regulations. The Supreme Court needs to change in order to fit the needs of the nation.
Church and community
This past Tuesday night, the 22nd, I visited my old friends at a drama group called HEARTS. It stands for Helping Educate Abstinent Responsible TeenS. It was perfect to see all my friends again; however, the best part was afterwards, when we went out to eat. We spent some time at Applebee’s. We had a really great waitress. After we talked to her for a while, then we all decided to go smoke the hookah at our friend’s house. After several questions about what the hookah actually is, my friend Brad realized it wasn’t a drug or really bad for you at all. So we all went into a very small room, and sat in a circle. We talked about several different things, and played a game or two. The discussion ended up getting really serious, and we all learned from one another’s experiences. It was by far the best night I have had in a while, and it was also the most rewarding night I have had in a while.