Number 14?????!

Ehrlich describes cowboys in a positive light. She describes them very fondly from her memories. From her vast experiences and memories with cowboys, Ehrlich her tone supports how she believes culture has portrayed cowboys wrong. Her knowledge makes her credible and very insightful towards her purpose.

# 14 Secrets, Secrets

Secrets are told to strangers for money, power, blackmail, and many other reasons. But, secrets are also told to strangers for no reason sometimes; people post secret information on the internet for no reason, people talk to a group of strangers to solve their problems, and some people just run their mouth and release secrets. I do agree that the internet is the nemesis to secrecy. Like I said before, people post secrets on the internet not knowing they're secrets, or because they're angry, and once a secret is posted on the internet, it is nearly impossible to remove.

# 13 Bizniss Ethics

Ethics and values should definitely be taught in schools. I think that they are taught to a certain extent, but not enough. Values such as manners and sportsmanship and stuff. Classes such as how to set the table, kindness to the opposite sex, and how to lose correctly should be taught in school. Categories for these subjects would be: in school (how to respect teachers and your peers), outside of school (good sportsmanship and losing with dignity), and at home (respect your parents and not degrading the opposite sex with humor).

# 12 Movies My Way

To me movies are categorized into definite categories. First of all, there are good movies such as comedies, actions, and thrillers. There are also bad movies such as horrors and most animated movies. And finally there are certain movies that nobody wants to watch (except for as the name implies) such as chick flicks, romantic comedies, and dramas. In my opinion, what constitutes a great film is if I like it. For example, I love comedies because they make me laugh; if they make me laugh until I cry, it is a great film. Or in the case of action movies, if the majority of the movies is fight scenes, it is a great film. So, my criteria is basically if it is good or not based on my decision.

# 11 My Self-Review of Myself

Culminating Writers Profile:
1- I believe that my writing style will greatly improve in this class; based upon the first month of i class, this is will teach me a lot about good writing techniques and styles.
2- As a writer, I think that I am good at responding to a prompt. I can analyze writings fairly well, and from that, I can respond pretty good.
3- I feel like i am not a very confident writer. From writing more and more, i can figure out what is good and what is bad, and this improves my confidence.

Evaluating Your Writing Process:
1- If had time to make another draft, I would elaborate on my concrete details more.
2- I found that the easiest part of my essay to improve was added story/experience, the peer review gave me ideas for concrete details.
3- The biggest problem I had in writing this essay was trying to indirectly state the main idea. I attempted to indirectly state it, but from my peer reviews, I realized that I didn't do a very good job.

Evaluating Your Successes:
1- My best revision was my introduction, I think that my intro was the best part of my essay.
2- I used descriptive images to reinforce my main idea, and i also used a personal experience to support the essay.
3- I think that appealed to my audience quite well because I used sports to connect the theme to the paper, and I am knowledgeable about sports.

Being Honest With Self:
1- What intimidated me was that there was no set structure for the essay. I took this on by using good, detailed paragraphs with a conclusion.
2- After reading example essays, I decided to use a good personal experience that strongly tied into the theme.
3- In one sample essay, they used multiple examples that may not have been personal experience, so I used a personal experience and a situation that wasn't personal.
4- I learned that I could add length and detail to my concrete details.
5- I think that after writing this, I have learned about using figurative language, especially metaphors. Also, I learned that I can relate to topics better that I thought I could.

# 10 All Alone In the Paragraphical Neighborhood

"Nobodiness" in writing comes from many aspects. One thing is lack of sentence variety. If all sentences are too short or too long the paper will get boring. Writing needs to have long, complex sentences complimented by short descriptive sentences. Also, lack of figurative language will lead to a boring essay. If the writer just says everything straight forward, clean-cut, the paper won't be as engaging as an essay that has metaphors and imagery etc.  

# 9 Into the Future

After reading "Tuesdays with Morrie", I think i won't take life for granted. I may not have the chance to know when I die like Morrie did, so I will live everyday like its my last. Who knows I could die tomorrow (knock on wood), and if I did, I wouldn't want any regrets about not doing something or being mad at someone. I may have thought of these things before reading "Tuesdays with Morrie", but the book put everything into perspective and I think I drew from that. I have thought that being a successful person in life, like Mitch, is the right thing to do, and I'm not saying it's not, but if I ever became like that I don't want tp lose sight of the truly important things in life; love, relationships, and human connection.

# 8 Negative Connotation

     When one hears the word "stripped", the first thought is a negative connotation. The word has many uses in the English language for stripped, and in most cases, it is not used as a good action.
     From this, one can see that the word stripped has a very negative connotation. It is used when something is completely taken or removed from someone, and (from my experience) no one would want this to happen to them or anyone close to them. Stripped bring dark and negative thoughts of the worst.
     If someones says their child was stripped from them, the image of the child being forcefully torn from the parent comes to mind. No one would ever want their child "stripped" from them. In the military, if someone is stripped of their rank, this is definitely not a positive occasion. Being stripped of rank would only be caused if the person being stripped did a very punishable offense.
     Stripped has a strong meaning and is a grave verb for the right situation. Like any word, it has the right use for the right situation. Used correctly, this is a good word to make a reader imagine the situation at hand.

    
    

Today, redemption is spelled: A-M-I-R

In the book The Kite Runner, the character, Amir, lives extravagantly with his dad in Afghanistan. They have servants, one who grew up with Amir's dad, and the other a good friend of Amir. The servants a very much a part of the family. But when Hassan, the younger servant, gets raped and Amir witnesses it without doing anything, Amir feels awful. Amir can't live with himself and every time he sees Hassan, he remembers what he saw. So, he does the selfish thing; he frames Hassan for stealing in order to rid the servants of the household. Amir and his father flee to America after the Russians invade Afghanistan. In America, Amir erases the thought of Hassan from his memory. Years later, a friend of his father called and asked him to return to Afghanistan. He told him he could be good again. He tells Amir he has to rescue Hassan's son. He must because Hassan was Amir's half-brother, therefore Sohrab (Hassan's son) is his nephew. He rescues Sohrab, but not without trouble. He gets beaten within an inch of death by the man who has Sohrab. He then adopts Sohrab and takes him to America. The author is arguing that anyone can be redeemed. He described Amir's conflict and how he was tearing himself apart after not helping Hassan. Amir had the chance to save Hassan andpossible get beaten to a pulp But in his adulthood, he is redeemed by saving Sohrab and getting beaten.

Hippies

To the average person, a hippie is a dirty, smelly tree-hugger. People see them walking, and they get on the other side of the street to avoid them. You see them sitting on park benches and think they are homeless. But, they are truly thoughtful people. The reason they don't take showers is to conserve water, the reason they dress weird is because they make their own clothes, and the reason they have long hair is to show their non-conformity to society. In reality, hippies are the ultimate "green" people; they're saving our world one shower (or lack there of) at a time.

Box Man or Better?

In my group, we discussed whether or not the Box man chose his loneliness, and if he did would he want it any other way? As in the story, the Box man was satisfied with his aloneness and didn't want it any other way. But, if he had had the chance to be successful, would he take it? I don't think he would. He was of an outcast from society and therefore he chose to be homeless. Unlike the old woman who would gladly accept a letter from an old friend or something of the sort. But the Box man doesn't take handouts from the mayor or people who feel like giving, he is content with himself and his boxes.

Dolphins!!!!

When one thinks of dolphins, they normal don't think, "they're just like humans, they're mammals and have normal babies." No, they think of very smart fish that can do flips and stuff. At first glimpse, dolphins and humans and very, very different. But, when we take a closer look, the only thing separating us from dolphins is the water (and flippers and blow-holes, but who's counting.) We are very closely related to dolphins in that we are both mammals.

The Kite Runner

This was an amazing book. The storyline was impeccable, every time I sat down I couldn't stop reading. From the first chapter I was hooked to Hassan's tragic story, from not being loved to betraying his friends. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good book.

Nonfiction

I only know of 2 nonfiction books I have read: Anne Franke and All But My Life. In both of these literary works, the writers were put through many hardships and they overcame their hardships in different ways. I believe that a philosophy in these two books is that no matter how hard your situation is, always have a positive attitude. I would emulate into my entire life.

My name is...

My name is Travis. I lived in Utah until i was five, then my family moved out here to California. In Utah I was introduced to skiing. When we moved to California, I brought skiing with me. I go up skiing a lot every winter at my family's cabin. I have gotten progressively better over the years and hope it will take me somewhere.