Arguing

I really thought this reading was good. It made me feel like i am not the only one who argues. From when i was a kid I have always argued with everyone. I always thought my way was the best. I do agree with the fact that we are a arguing culture. We do always have to say something about soemthing.

Guns

Well I have not been around guna alot. But I do feel safer when I am. Maybe just about all of america does. Look at all the people who have guns. Think about all the fights that have been fought to keep guns. No, no, no the way to stop voilence is not by banning guns. It is mearly taking guns out of the hands of the wrong people. I know that this is basically impossible to do. I feel that if people are looked at closly and you look at there backround you might find somethings.

Now I feel that if i want a gun in my house to protect me, then I should be able to get a gun. There are some people out there that dont care about you or others and will run in your house and try to threaten you. If we get rid of handguns then we will be defenseless. I dont like that feeling and i doubt that anyone else does.

I have been breaking rules all of my life. Not big ones. But still the thought of a rule to me is stupid. People are going to do what they want. No one thinks, "hey i dont want to break the rules", when it comes down to it. They will do what they want to do. Now ask your self when the tides have changed and there are no more guns in homes, what will you do if someone comes in your house?

In Defense of Talk Shows

I loved this article. I dont really like to watch talk shows but this gave me a whole new perspective on them. I love the way that Barbara explained the bad side of them. Because that all I thought of them. The whole girl claiming that she was raped talk show, was classic. "What kinda of people would let themselves be humiliated like this?" is often asked, sniffily, by the shows' detractors. And the answer, for most part, is people who are so needy- of social support, of education, of material resources and self-esteem- that they mistake being the center of attention for being actually loved and respected." (P360) This takes the place of my favorite quote in this class. It explains the whole paper and makes it all makes sense. Basically this whole paper made me look at talk sows in a different light. I think I might sit down and watch one one day, maybe.........

The Whole Horse

First off I had no idea that there was such a plain and boring paper in the world. I mean why would you want to write so much about the making of products, and the manufacturing of goods. And all its odds and ends. But in reading I did find somethings that were interesting. "We do not cherish the memory of shoddy and transitory objects, and so we do not rememeber them." (237) This is so true. If you have something that is crappy and is badly made, you do not rememeber it as well and say a grand piano. A nice grand piano can last forever and a (usually cheaper) model can just break down after a couple of years. This makes you think that buying the more expensive one is a better buy. And if a product is around you for a long time you have alot of memories about the product. The longer you are around things the more attached you can become. I am not a big person on business so the rest of the reading was kind of bland to me. I mean i guess if you were in to the World Trade Agreement then you would find it interesting. In this world I am just like the rest of society. I always look for the deals and try to get the most for my money. I mean if you have the money to buy the best of that porduct, by all means. But you would not have to much money left if you just bought the best of everything.

Attack of the Killer Cats

First of all let me just say the cats are my favorite pets. They are just chill and they are the type of pets that just look out for themselves and I think that is really unique. In pets people just think that dogs are the best cause they are so loyal. But people need to relize that cats are the most like people, I mean with personality. When I am around cats I just relax and when I am with dogs I always need to look after them and make sure they are not getting into trouble. I agreed with the Second writer. 'Since the day he came back, he has been the best pet. He is still wild to a large extent." (229) This relates to me the best because I have had a pet leave me for a long time and come back. My cat Moe left me for 2 months and i was heartbroken. He was the coolest cat I have had. I would play catch with this cat and just let him lay. He was like no other cat I had seen. But one day I left the door open to go get the mail and came back. I thought nothing of it and just went on with my day. When I went looking for Moe he was gone. I searched and searched but he was no where. After tears and sorrow we let it go. Two months later i was pulling but to my house in my car and I saw a orangecat. I went runninng after it. After a chase to the back yard the cat finally came up to me, remembering me. It was Moe. Ever since then he has never left the house and never been bad. I don't know what happened when he was gone but it changed him into a even more amazing cat.

Why We Crave Horror Movies

I loved this reading. It was the best thing that I have read in this english class so far. I love to think about how people think and this is the best way to put the evil things people keep in there minds. I belive that people do keep a dark side locked up in all of them. People do have to let it out sometimes like Stephen King said. The things about horror movies in perfect. That people go to see them so that they can be scared and feed that dark side. that is why people like to get scared and see other people die. And that is what people do when they go to horror movies. They like to see the carnage and the killing it is all in human nature. "I think we're all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better-and maybe not all that much better after all." (311) This is probably that best quote i have read. I think this covers the human mind perfectlly. That we all have a side that needs to be locked up and the people who are not locked up just hide it better is the best way to put it. We just have a better way of controlling our minds. People locked away just let their minds get the best of them. "If we share a brotherhood of man, then we also share the insanity of man." (313) Wow.... this is another perfect quote. I think that he is rgiht and that if we do hang out with people who do something or have a crazy side; we also pick up on that crazy side. I like the way that Stephen King explained this side of people and that we all should listen to him cause he has good points.

Once More to the Lake

I loved this reading. It made me think about a special place that I go to in my life that makes my father remember his childhood. "It is strange how much you can remember about places like that once you alllow your mind to return back to the grooves that lead back". (p.1) This quote serves this reading perfect, it shows that all people have this certain place that they love to go back to and remanis. I related to this reading so close because my father took me to his childhoosd lake when I was about 10. It was amazing. I was back to my roots and I loved it. I could see all the places where my father grew up. All the stories were retold. We went out on a boat just me and him and I could see how much this place ment to him. It was a place where my grandpa took him when he was a boy and now I was in that position. My father told me, like in the book, that it was just as it was when he left it. The name of this place is Crooked Lake. I still go there from time to time but it is so special that I only take my close friends there to see its beauty. This type of reading is my favorite. I love that fact that I can feel like I am there and I can feel the feelings that the writer felt. And if you have a place like the writer did that is special to you and you can go back to it and see your childhood like my father it makes the reading so much better.

After reading Remembering it really made me think about all the things that I write. i didnt reall think about all the ways that youcould read a story or all the ways that you can write a story. "Reading people's accounts of important people, places, and events in their lives may be the most enjoyable kind of reading we do."(p.159) I totally agree with this statement. When I read a story about other people and there experiences, it makes me really get into the story. Like the book that we had to read over summer. I loved it because it made me really think about what this kid had been through. i gave me that "That hasn't happened to me, but I can see how important it was" kind of feeling. I did find some parts of this essay a little much. Like about the Strategies for Reading and Writing Remembering Essays, that was a little much. When will I ever need that in my life. All in all this was a informative essay and it was a good thing to read just in case I do need to write a Remembering essay.

Walking

"in Wilderness is the preservation of the World." In the wilderness is where we find the real world. It is not in cities and in towns but in the back woods of the old country. Where things have natural beauty and are in there rawest form. They are untouched by the dirty hands of men. When men first came to North America it was new and untamed. This is where I think we find natures true meaning. That is what Thoreau is saying in this reading. And i totally agree with him. i am a out doors kind of kid. I love to be outside in the fresh air with the grass and the trees and the animals. People take the for granted. I had a English teacher, Mr. Kirkley. He belived in nature so much that he hated cities and coming to work in Hollywood because he thought it was so dirty. He lived on a boat in the intercoastal, that is how much he loved nature. it is people like Mr. Kirkley that give meaning to Thoreau's writing. I hate the fact the people take resources from nature and just keep taking and taking. I like the way that Thoreau explains his love for nature. That he doesnt like gardens or flower pots but to see the flowers and plants blossoming in nature is the best thing. "Life consists with wilderness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subduedto man, its presence refreshes him." This is my favorite quote because it basically says that the untouched nature refreshes men. And it does. If you are stressed or you feel bad about something just go for a walk in nature and i guarantee that you will feel better looking at the beauty.

How to Mark a Book

"I contend, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act of mutilation but of love. (p.21)" Unlike the last blog i totally agree with this passage. i mark up all my books. I feel it is the way that you show true ownership and the way that you show that you truly understand a book. Mortimer Adler made some great points in the writing, that it is not a crime to write in a book you own, it keeps u awake. I feel that it true with anything you read. Like Mortimer i would never mark up a statue or a painting. That has soul deep inside it. A book has a soul too, but i feel that writing in a book brings the soul out in a book. Also writing in a book helps you out in the long run. Especially for school, you can make notes in the book and look at them later for the test. What he says about books is so true, "If a friend wishes to read your Plutarch's Lives, Shakespeare, or The Federalists Papers, tell him gently but firmly to buy a copy. You will lend him your car or your coat- but your books are as much of a part of you as your head or your heart." This is the same way that i feel about a good book that touches me.

Shitty First Drafts

When I write I do not really hear voices. I have no one talking to me or have someone to bottle up and listen to scream. When you are a writer you have so many things in your head all at once that you need to find a way to channel these things. The writer of this passage turned all the problems, all the critics, all the people out there that read he writing in to voices. When i write all these things in my head just go away and i just focus on the task at hand. I do not let the people bother me I just write for myself. If I like it then it is good enough to turn in. I have never heard of someone having all these voices to worry about, maybe the write just had problems or was to stressed. She did make a good point about the first, second and third draft. To be a good writer you have to write your paper or writing over and over again.