All I asking for is my body

 Kiyo is the oldest brother.  Toshio fights with their parents when they expect him to fulfill his "filial duty" to repay the family's debt and when they refuse to allow Tosh and Kiyo to enroll in high school. Their culture teaches them that the oldest sibling is the one that has to pay the debt and the bills the family (Grandparents and parents) has accumulated.  Tosh claims that the money his parents made was stolen by the grandfather and that therefore it is not up to him to repay it; moreover, he argues that filial duty must be earned and that the parents haven't earned it. Still, Tosh goes along, giving the parents a combination of his and his wife's earnings. Kiyo, observing these problems, realizes he must resist being subservient; he eventually joins the Army, both to get away from home and to help his family with their income. The story goes on about how paying your family debts is the oldest sons’ responsibility.   At the end, Kiyo wins enough money in a barracks' gambling match to help Tosh pay off all the debt. 

The meaning of the title is that Toshio is fighting against his heritage and has his own mind in what he wants to do.  He believes Grandpa stole all their money and that it’s not anyone’s responsibility to   pay back any debt that Grandpa has and that Grandpa should pay it himself.   That is why this books title is “All I asking for is my body”.  He wants to do what he wants to do!!!!

What a cute story.   I really enjoyed the book.  I enjoyed reading about how the Japanese did things.  It’s so different than the things we do here but that’s what made it so interesting to readJ

All I asking For is my Body, part II, Dialogue

Why does Kiyoshi believe Obaban is a substitute for his mom?
There are a couple of reasons why I believe Kiyoshi believes Obaban is a substitute for his mom.  As Kiyoshi is taking care of his dying mother she tells him she is dying because someone did something bad and she is taking the reprocutions for it.  This is where the substitute comes from in the book.

Kiyoshi is taking care of his sisters and very ill mother.  His father is off to sea fishing.  This is what he does for a living.  As, Kiyoshi's mother is dying she procedes to tell him that she has been chosen for somone else's punishment. She believes somewhere down the line, in the family, someone did something bad and she is suffering because of it.  Kiyoshi's father doesn't believe in superstition.

Obanan tells Kiyoshi if she can find a "substitute" to take her place she will be ok.  Sadly, at the end of the story Abanan ends up dying.  Seems as if, she was her "substitute" afterall.

All I asking for is my body

Who is Makot?  Do you feel sorry for him?  What are your thoughts about him and the way he copes with his parents?

Makoot is a boy who enjoys playing with younger kids.  He tends rule the pack of them by doing what older boys do his age.  He enjoys being the leader.  I really do feel sorry for him because he comes from a family with no values or morales.  When Kiyoshi tries to thank Makoto's mother for feeding him, she just laughs at him.  Makoto tells her to shut up and shoves her into the house.  Obviously, Makoto has no respect for his mother.  I think Kiyoshi's parents are right about not letting Kiyoshi hang out with Makoto.  Makoto's parents seem to be a little off.  There are scary people waiting outside of their house and Makoto's mom's reaction to saying "Thank you" is very bizaare.  I feel sorry for Makoto because he is probably very embarassed by his parents behavior.  My father was an alcoholic and I felt the same way about him.  I had no respect for him and was very embarassed by him.
The way Makoto deals with his parents by saying "shut up and get out of here" is very strange.  It's very disprespectful and it's almost as if he is acting as the parent.  As I stated before I have lived through this kind of life with an alcholic father.  I definitely acted as the parent but would be to terrified to tell him to shut up.  Makota was just a child himself and that was the only way he knew how to deal with his parents.

Writing Chapter 5 Summary

Good document design contributes to readability, but readability really depends on your purpose and audience and sometimes even on other elements in writing such as your subject, length restrictions or any other specific requirements.  Margarins help control the look of a page.  Most academic and business documents leave a margin of one to one and a half inches on all sides.  These margarins create a visual frame for the text and provide room for annotations.  If you have a choice, select a font that fits your writing situation in an easy-to-read.  Font styles such as boldface, italics and underlining can be helpful for calling attention to part of a document. 
Headings should be as brief and as informative as possible.  Certain styles of headings, the most common being -ing phrases, noun phrases, questions and imperative sentence-work better for some purposes, audiences and sujects more than others.  Using lists to guide readers is a great tool. Lists are easy to read or scan when they are displayed rather than run into your text.  Lists should usually be introduced with an independant clause followed by a colon. 
Using visuals to help your writing, not to substitute for it be to visualize it.  Always consider how a visual supports your purpose and how your audience might respond to it.    A visual may be placed in the text of a document, near a discussion to which it relates or it can be put in appendix, labeled, and referred to in the text.  If you download a photograph from the web or scan an image from a magazine or book, you must cite the information even thought the visual is your own.
Next time while I am writing a paper, I will make sure I have my margins set to 1 inch to 1 and a half inches. I knew it was something close to those measurements but I wasn't sure.  Also, I will make sure my headings are brief and not ramble on which I tend to do:-)  I will try and make it look clean and easy to read by placing lists after a semi colon.  This kind of paper seems to make it easier on the visual eye to read the document.  It also really makes those ideas stand out if that is your intention.

Smoke Signals Rough Draft

Forgiveness is a very powerful and relieving feeling.  When you feel you have been abused and abandoned you will carry around a lot of anger and hostility towards life.  Talking it out plays a huge role in healing.  Healing is the only way to achieve happiness.  A young child can only take the blame for his father leaving the home and not ever returning.  In turn, he carries around a lot of pain, hostility and anger.  His feelings are taken out on another child that lives on the Indian reservation. When the child can forgive his father, he then can become a better person and treat others around him with dignity and respect.  Another child taking abuse from the child that was abused continually forgives his friend that he truly admires.  No matter how bad he is treated, he will do anything to be his friend.

Victor’s father would hit him when he was drunk.  He was very abusive to him and his mother.  Both of his parents would argue all the time.  The movie “Smoke Signal” shows Victor’s father, Arnold hugging Victor and leaving, never to see his father again.  Victor may have felt as if it was his fault that his dad left.  Victor carried a lot of anger around with him.  A boy left without his father is very hard on a young child.  He then in turn took all his frustration, hatred and anger out on Thomas.  Thomas lost both of his parents due to a fire and looked at Victor for friendship no matter how horrible Victor treated him.

Victor allowed Thomas to go with him to get his father’s ashes.  When they showed up at his father’s house, a friend named Suzie approached them with Arnold’s ashes in hand.  At this point, Victor was able to talk about his hurt and frustration of his father’s actions.  He felt comfortable talking with her about how hurtful it was to have lived without his father.  Suzie reassured Victor that his father talked and thought about him every day.  This is when Victor felt a sense of relief and compassion for his father.  I believe this made Victor realize it wasn’t his fault and that his father loved him very much.  I can’t imagine the sense of relief he felt after all these years of holding all that in.

When Victor and Thomas are younger, Victor beats Thomas up for no reason.  Victor has a lot of built of anger from his dad beating him and leaving him and his mom.  I believe all the built up anger that Victor had, he took it out on Thomas.  Thomas always looked up to Victor and wanted so badly to be his friend.  I believe Victor separated himself from the world.  Thomas tried so hard to become Victor’s friend.  The movie shows how they are riding bikes and hanging out together as kids on the Indian Reservation.  Thomas says something that sets Victor off.  Victor starts beating up Thomas and if it hadn’t been broken up by an adult, it could have been very bad.  Thomas forgave Victor and decided to go on a road trip with Victor to obtain his father’s ashes.  Thomas put all those mean things Victor said behind him and insisted on traveling with him to get his father. Victor continually put Thomas down about how he didn’t dress like a real Indian.  Eventually, Thomas went and bought some clothes that were Indian suitable (up to Thomas’s) standards.  Thomas told all sorts of stories that people couldn’t understand usually and Victor would tell him nobody cares and nobody is listening.  Victor asks Thomas “why do you tell such stupid stories that nobody understands?” Victor acted mean throughout most of the movie to Thomas.  I believe he took all his anger he felt for his father out on Thomas. 

The power of forgiveness is a beautiful thing.  It’s a very strong sense of relief.  It can be a difficult thing to achieve but in life you must forgive to become a better and stronger person.  We all make mistakes in life but it’s also a learning experience.  This movie “Smoke Signals” had a lot of scenes where forgiveness was a key factor.  Carrying around all that anger makes you a miserable person and when you can accomplish forgiveness you are a much happier person and treat people a lot better than when you are angry and miserable.

Extra Credit: Optional Writing Topic Summary

When you analyze and write about a film, remember you aren’t writing a review.  Reviews are mostly subjective.  There are different papers you may be asked to write about in a film studies course.  A formal analysis of a film requires that the viewer breaks the film down into its component parts and discusses how those parts contribute to the whole.  All films are part of our cultures history.  They derive from and contribute to historical events.  They also influence events.  Even films that are made to entertain promote some kind of beliefs.  It is important to remember, when watching a film, that even films whose purpose it is to entertain may be promoting or even manipulating our feelings about certain values.  Films reflect the cultures and nations in which they were produced.  Auteur criticism understands a film as the product of a single person and his vision.  Most of the time, this is the director.  Film is collaborative medium.  It’s important to understand that no one person can control the product. 

Before you can write about a film you must view the film.  The best thing to remember is to be a careful and observant viewer.  Take the time to familiarize yourself with the film terms in the glossary.  Knowing the terms sometimes helps you to see them on the screen.  If you are entirely unfamiliar with the film, talk to your professor.  He/She will be able to help you.  When preparing to write a paper, you should take notes; labeling each shot in sequence.  When researching, don’t rely soling on the internet.  It generally doesn’t provide you with the thoughtful analysis that will be useful. When citing sources make sure you cite any sources that you use.  Film critics cite sources using the citation method of the MLA.

When writing my essay #3 about the movie “Smoke Signals” I will review the movie.  While watching the movie I will take notes and label them in sequence.  I will try and make sure not to summarize the film as it states the “not” to dos.  I tend to want to summarize, so this will be challenging for me.  I will be a careful and an observant viewer.

"This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizonza" Dialogue

Are you more impressed with the film or the story?  Why?

Personally, I felt the feelings of the characters in both the story and the T.V.  I felt the compassion that Victor really actually had in the story more.  It seemed as if the way the story was written gave you more feeling towards the characters such as Victor and Thomas rather than the movie.  When watching the movie I knew that Victor was an angry kid and Thomas was just a happy story telling kid but the story made me feel more compassion towards Victor and made Victor seem much nicer than actually seeing in on T.V.

When seeing it on T.V. you could see that Victor was not nice to Thomas. I felt the anger more on T.V. But, I felt more of the bonding time between Victor and Thomas reading the story.  When seeing how mean Victor was to Thomas on the T.V., they showed him actually beating Thomas up.  Actually, seeing that a nice kid get beat up is more touching than just reading about it.  There were more in depth details of how they got along on their trip in the story versus how they didn't get along.

I also felt Victor was much nicer to Thomas in the story versus the video.  In the story you read detail by detail of Thomas telling one of his stories and Victor just laughing, which tells me he was listening to the story and interacting with Thomas.   Finding out  that Thomas went on this trip all along for repaying Victors dad was much more detailed in the story.

All in all, I enjoyed the story more because it seemed to put Victor and Thomas having a better relationship than the movie.  I really enjoyed reading the story more than watching it on t.v.  I have a hard time staying awake while watching t.v.  So, the story made it much more interesting for me.:-)

Chapter 52 Rules for Writers

Writing an MLA paper is challenging and you will face three main challenges such as: supporting a thesis, citing your sources and avoiding plagarism and integrating quotes and other forms of material.  Supporting a thesis will need support with well organized evidence.  Once you have read different sources of materials consider all sides of your issue.  The thesis will answer the central research question.  After writing a rough draft you may decide to revise your thesis.
The body of the paper will have evidence in support of your thesis.  Try sketching an informal plan that organizes your ideas.  After you have written a rough draft, you can go ahead and write a more formal outline.
After thoughtfully plannine, gathering your ideas will make an argument more complex and convincing.  Sources can play different types of roles as you develop your point.  You can use facts and statistics to support generalization or to establish the importance of your topic..  If readers are unfamiliar with a word or and idea important to your topic, you must explain it.  As you draft your argument, make sure to back up your assertions with facts, examples and other evidence from your research.  Don't ingnore sources that seem contrary to your position.
When writing an MLA paper I will make sure I cite all sources I have used. Also, I will not write in pligarism.  I know this is a really important fact.  When writitng an MLA paper I will sketch an informal plan with my ideas first.  Then, I will gather my ideas to make an argument.  These are the important things I need to work on.

Smoke Signals, the movie dialogue

What do I think about the relationship between Thomas and Victor?

In the beginning, Thomas a Victor were kids.  Thomas was a nerd whose father passed away from a fire.  Thomas and his mother were left by themselves.  Thomas and Victor didn't like each other much as kids but they somewhat tollerated each other in certain circumstances.  Victors father was a raging alchoholic who soon left his family.  Both kids were left without dads.  Victor's mom got a phone call that Thomas's father had passes away.  Thomas talked Victor into going to where his dad passds away.  Victor didn't have the money so Thomas insisted on paying but with one alternative in mind........that he gets to go.  Victor wasn't too happy about Thomas going but in the end I think he was glad he did.
I believe they had a unique friendship.  They tought each other a lot about what a friend is.  Thomas taught Victor that no matter how dorky you are, you are a true good person and friend.  Victor learned that even though Thomas was a nerdy guy that it didn't matter.  This is the feeling I got from the movie.  Victor was harsh in his words towards Thomas but I believe he just had a lot of anger from the abuse he had sustained from his father.  I felt they had a special bond because they both had lost their father.
I truely sympathised with this story because I lived a similar life as these boys.  I had a friend who I grew up with and have known since we were 7 years old.  Today we are 41.  Growing up our family lives were not so pleasant, but we had each other and that's all that mattered in the end. I will always have that bond with my dear friend and I am sure Victor and Thomas will as well.

Dina Dodd

Happy Endings, "Obituary," and "Oompah Loompah" Dialogue

What is the significance of Shirley Temple?  What meaning does she hold for Lovey?

Every Sunday morning Jerry would come over to Lovey's house to watch the beinning of Shirley Temple movies.  They always had to leave in the middle of the show to go to Sunday school.  So, since they couldn't watch the endings of the movies, they would make up happy endings during the Church service.
I believe that Lovey didn't have a lot of happiness in her life and that is why she would make up happy endings to stories all time.  I think that Jerry was such a good friend he went along with it for Lovey's benefit.  Lovey admired Shirley Temple.  Lovey was inspired by Shirley Temple because she had all the happiness that Lovey was missing in her life.  She was cute, important, special and most of all very loved.  Lovey lived her life in ferry tales through Shirley Temples movies.  Shirley Temple was a great role model for Lovey.  It also seems as if Jerry was the only other person in Lovey's life to make her happy.  Lovey and Jerry have a heartwarming friendship that will last a lifetime.

Chapter 48 Rules for Writers

When reading and in your own writing, evaluate arguments for logic and fairness.  Many arguments can stand up to scruitiny so you have to be careful.  A line of argument that at first seems reasonable ends up to be fallacious, unfair or both.
Many hasty generalizations contain words like all, ever, and never when qualifiers such as most, many, usually, and seldom would be more accurate.
It isn't always easy to draw the line between a reasonable and unreasonable analogy.  An analogy can be off base, which is called a false analogy.
Tracing causes and effects:  Demonstrating a connection between causes and effect can be difficult.  You will need to investigate each possible cause.  After investigating the possible causes then you will be able to weigh the impact of each cause and suggest appropriate remedies.
Deducing conclusions also called deductive reasoning can often be structured in a three step argument called a syllogism.  The three steps are the major premise, minor premise and the conclusion.  The major premise is the generalization.  The minor premise is a specific case.  The conclusion follows from applying the generalization to the specific case.
Distinguishing between legitimate and unfair emotional appeals have words with strong positive or negative connotations.  Attacking the persons who hold a belief rather than refuting their argument is called ad hominem, a latin term meaning "to the man".
Judge how fairly a writer handles opposing views.  In your own writing, you build credibility by addressing opposing arguments fairly.  You can access the credibility of your sources by looking at how they deal with views not in agreement with your own.
Quoting opposing views is a good idea because it assures some level of fairness and accuracy.  Sometimes, unfortunately, both the fairness and accuracy are an illusion.
I will use this information in my writings from her on by first making sure that I don't use the words all, never or ever.  I am a pretty intense person and let all know of my feelings, especially in my writings, so this will be hard to do.  Although, I am aware of it, so now I will make sure I do not use those words.  Also, I will make sure that I quote opposing views because that will assure some level of fairness and accuracy.  I want to make sure my writings are of honesty.

Rules for Writers Chapter 47

In writing an argument, you take a stand on a debute issue.  The question being debated might be a matter of public policy.  When constructing a reasonable argument, your goal is to not win or have the last word.  Your aim is to explain your understanding of the truth about a subject and to provide the best solution available to solve a problem without being combative.  Examine your issue's social and intellectual.  Many readers will be aware of the social and intellectual contexts in which your issue is grounded anprd this is why its a good idea to do research before preparing your argument.  Think about skeptical readers as you prepare your document.  It's a good idea to  as you are a panel of jurors that will make up their minds by listening to all sides of the argument.  In your introduction, establish credibility and state your position.  When constructing an argument, make sure your introduction contains a thesis sentence that states your position on the issue you have chosen to debate.  Back up your thesis with persuasive lines of argument.  Arguments of any complexity contain lines of argument that when taken together, could possibly persuade readers that the thesis has merit.  If you sum up your main lines or argument, you will have a rough outline of your essay.  You will need to support your central claim and any subordinate claims with evidence such as facts, statistics, examples and illustrations, expert opinion and etc.  You need to use facts and statistics.  A fact is something that is known with certainty because it has been objectively verified.  Examples and illustrations rarely prove a point by themselves, but when used with other forms of evidence they bring the argument to life.   The views of an expert can contribute to the force of your argument.  Skeptical readers may not be persuaded by your arguments,  a reader has to see that there is a more reasonable one.  Try and build common ground with the readers who do not agree with your views.  If you can relate to the reader and share their concerns, your readers will be more likely to acknowledge the relevance of your argument.  Be careful when you are presenting your opposing views.  Make sure they are fair before providing counterarguments.

Essay 2 Roughdraft

Anyone have a dad that was crazy about guns?  Sarah and I both had dad’s who were obsessed with guns and this is where I connected with her right away. Her and I share common interests in being hard headed as kids.  Also, we both had sister’s that were accepted by our dad’s.  Our sisters had a bond with dad that we didn’t have and it was very obvious to us.  Growing up we had a lot of similarities.

Growing up I was very hard headed in the sense that when I wanted to change schools, I did whatever I needed to do to go to that different school.  I would beg and beg and beg my mom everyday and would ask her what I needed to do in order to go to that school.  She told me I needed to get good grades and that’s what I did.  I got the good grades and I got to go to the school that I wanted to go to. When I wanted to quit gymnastics she told me I couldn’t.  I just flat out refused to go and I got my way.   In the story, Sarah is even more strong headed than me even.  She was set in her ways and didn’t have a problem letting her dad know that her love was for art.  Her parents allowed her to have a room of what she truly loved and that was music and art.  It was full of all the instruments she loved and she stuck to her feelings on her love for art.

My father had an obsession as so did Sarah’s dad. They both loved guns.  My father collected guns and wouldn’t go anywhere without a gun.  My father had me and my sister scared of guns.  I had a good reason to fear guns and it was because my father would walk around the house with a loaded shot gun telling us he was going to kill us.  I believe Sarah was afraid of the guns as well.  It was insinuated as the story was told about the loud noise of the gun.  As I was reading this story I felt as if that was a possibility. 

My sister always did what my dad told her to do.  She was much of a people pleaser just like Amy.  They were the “good children”.  My sister would shoot guns with my dad.  She would go fishing and hunting with him too.  Sarah’s sister is the same way.  Their dad wanted Amy to go shoot with him and she did.  They just did what their dads’ asked of them.  I believe Sarah and I must have felt some similar feelings with our sisters having a bond with our dad’s that we didn’t.  It wasn’t a good feeling.

As I read this story I felt there were some similarities between me and Sarah.  I could feel her passion when it came to art.  We both were hard headed kids that would get our way and make it known.  We were both hard headed kids and passionate about our beliefs and our feelings.  We would do what we had to, resulting in what we wanted.  We were both raised by a father who was obsessed by guns and didn’t want anything to do with them.  Also, we both had sisters that would do anything dad wanted them to do.  Our sisters were the “good” ones.  I definitely felt a connection to Sarah as I read this story.  As we got older and matured we realized that we had similar interests with our dad and it was just their love for an art as mine was to gymnastics and Sarah’s was to art.  Our dad’s art was their guns.  We just saw things in a different light as we got older.

The Insuffiency of honesty Dialogue

I chose to write about one of the examples Carter provides.  Do you agree with Carter's reasoning?

The article states "A wonderful epigram sometimes attributed to the filmmaker Sam Goldwyn goes like this: "The most important thing in acting is honesty; once you learn to fake that, you're in." The point is that honesty can be something one seems to have. Without integrity, what passes for honesty often is nothing of the kind; it is fake honesty­ or it is honest but irrelevant and perhaps even immoral. 

Consider an example. A man who has been married for fifty years confesses to his wife on his deathbed that he was unfaithful thirty-five years earlier. The dishonesty was killing his spirit, he says. Now he has cleared his conscience and is able to die in peace." 

 I believe that he held a lie for a very long time and that he came clean for his own being not for his wife's.    I believe it was a selfish act and if that was my husband I don't know if I would have chose to forgive him or not.  It's one of those situations you have to live in order to know how you would respond.

 I do agree with Carter that it is a fake honesty and immoral act.  It's definitely an immoral act of the example that Carter chose to provide but the example I agree with.  This was a good example that Carter came up with.  I agree with the reasoning in the sense that "without integrity, what passes for honesty often is nothing of the kind, it is fake honesty or it is honesty but irrelevant and perhaps even immoral."  The example was a perfect example of an immoral act.

Extra Credit Assignment #2

Many literary terms describe how an author communicates his or her ideas.  There are terms that will help you express the methods such as characterizing, conflict, dialogue, imagery, point of view, symbol and tone.  The literary theory and schools of criticism will help you begin the process of understanding literary theory.  Writing about fiction will help with major topics relating  to writing about fiction.  It covers prewriting, close reading, thesis development, drafting and common pitfalls to avoid.  The writing about literature tab provides examples and description about writing papers in literature.  It discusses research topics, how to begin to search, how to use info, and formatting.  The writing in Literature tab discusses different approaches to literary theory/criticism that you may use to write about literature.  The writing about poetry section covers the basics of how to write about poetry.  The imagein poetry covers images as they appear in poetry and covers related terminology.  The poetry close reading tab will help perform a close reading of poetry and begin developing ideas for writitng papers.
I will use this entire on line writing lab when doing any of my writings.  I am going to go back and use the fiction tab because I need help writing my thesis for my essay.

Rules for Writers Chapter 4

Building Effective Paragraphs:
Focus on the main point.  Make sure the point is clear to readers and all sentences in the paragraph relate to it.
Topic Sentences:
Stating the main point is your topic sentence.  A good topic sentence is one that is a one sentence summary of the paragraphs main point.
Sticking to the point: Sentences that  do not support the topic sentence destroy the unity of a paragraph.  If the paragraph is well focused you can simply delete offending sentences.
Develop the main point: Make sure you have enough evidence to support the readers, even skeptical readers.
Choosing a Suitable pattern of Organization: Either examples and illustrations, narration, description, process, comparison and contrast, analogy, cause and affect, classification and division, and definition.
Examples and illustrations: An example is a selected instance.  They are enough to suggest the truth of many topic sentences.  Illustrations are extended examples, frequently presented in story form.
Narration is a paragraph a story tells or a part of a story.  It is usually arranged in chronilogical order.
Description: A descriptive paragraph sketches a portrait of a person, place, or thing by using concrete and specific details that appeal to one or more or our senses; sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
Process: A process paragraph is one that is structured in chronological order.  It may be a pattern to show how something is made or done or to explain to readers step by step how to do something.
Comparison and Contrast: To draw attention to their similarities, although the word compare also has a broader meaning that includes the consideratin of the differences.  To contrast is to focus only on differences.
Analogy: Draw comparisons between items that appear to have little in common.  Writeres tend to make the unfamiliar seem familiar.  Writers turn to analogy for many reasons; to argue a point, or provoke fresh thoughts or changed feelings about a subject.
Cause and Affect: Ususally cause and affects are a matter of argument, but if a writer wishes to describe a cause and effect relationship that is generally accepted, then the effect may be stated in the topic sentence, with the causes listed in the body of the paragraph.
Classification and division: Classisfication is the grouping of items into categories according to some consistent principle.  Division takes one items and divides it into parts.
Repeating key words: Repeating key words is an important technique for gaining coherence.  Try using variation of words to prevent becoming dull such as: hike, hiker and hiking.
Using Parallel Structures: Parallel structures are frequently used within sentences to show the similar information.  They may also be used to bind together series of sentences expressing similar information.
Maintaining Consistency:  Combine some of the original sentences.  This way you can avoid excessive repitition for pronoun.
Providing Transition: Transitions are bridges between what has been read and what is about to be read.  Transitions help readers move from sentences to sentence.  They also alert readers to more global connections of ideas between paragraphs or even larger blocks of text.
If necessary, adjusts paragraph length.  Shorter paragraphs force too much starting and stopping, and longer ones.
In the future, I plan on making sure my sentences are complete.  Also, sticking to the point is very hard for me because my mind tends to wander.  So, this is where my most energy will be put to focus on.  I tend to write a "buffet essay" because I have a hard time staying focused.  So, I am going to try and stay focused and making sure I am stating sentences that are based on my main point.  This is my biggest issue and I think if I just stayed focused on the main point all the other stuff will come into play when I am doing my final draft.

"Shooting Dad"

I chose to write a dialogue about the significance of "Shooting of Dad". Reading this story tells a lot about the daughter and father having extremely different views.  The father loving guns and the daughter loving art.  As a child the daughter always saw her and her father as completely different people and how they were so separated as she grew up.  She went with dad to try and shoot the guns but it just wasn't right for her.  As she matured and grew up she saw how really they were both people who loved art and had ver similar love for art even though it was a different kind of art.  She tried going along with dad again and watching him shoot off the canon.  The importance of "Shooting Dad"  is when she realized we really have a lot in common.  The daughter just looked at things in more of a positive way of what they had in common rather than what differences they have and how they aren't alike.  This cannon was eventually what brought the two of them together.  In the end, when dad passes away, he wants the daughter to put his ashes in the cannon and shoot him away on the first day of hunting season.  The daughter is willing to do this for the love of her father:-) 

I really enjoyed reading this article.  It's very sweet how the daughter at first was very separated by her father by what she thought was having been total opposites.  As she grew older and wiser she didn't fall in love with guns, but decided to look at the positive in it such as; they both loved art.  This was her way of showing dad how much she truely loved him and wanted him to see how much she really cared about him.  As we get older we see things differently that when we were younger.

Writing Topic: Rules for Writers Chapter 3

This chapter walks you through the aspects of  global revisions, revising and editing sentences,  proofreading and final drafts.  While looking at global revisions you may drop paragraphs of text and add others or rearrange entire sections.  Many people resist global revisionss so it's best to put it aside for a bit and come back to it at a later time.  In global revisions you will need the following:
Purpose and Audience; inform readers, persuade them, entertain them.
Focus: Is the thesis clear? If there in no thesis is there a good reason for omiiting one? Any ideas obviously off the point?
Organization and paragraphing: Are there enough organizational cues for readers.  Are ideas presented in a logical order?  Are any paragraphs too long or too short for easy reading?
Content: Is the supporting material relevant and persuasive?  Which ideas need further development?  Are the parts proportioned sensibly?  Do major ideas receive enough attention?  Where might material be deleted?
Point of View: Is the draft free of distracting shifts in point of view?  Is the dominant point of view appropriate for your purpose and audience?
Revising and edit sentences:  You can do revisioning and editing right at the computer.  The grammar check makes it possible to help with a draft but you will also need to look it over, as it won't catch everyting.  Also, you can print out what you have, mark it up and the return to the computer to enter the revisions.
Proofreading: After revising and editing it's time for the final manuscript.  Proofreading is a special kind of reading. It's reading it slow and methodical search for misspellings, typographical mistakes and omitted words or word endings.  Try to proofread outloud or try proofreading sentences in reverse order.  You can also use the spell checkers on the computer. They are a little more reliable than the grammar checkers but still use with caution.
Final Drafts: Have classmates give you feedback on what you have written.  This will give other people ideas on how to make your essay better and stronger.  Now, you should be ready to write your final draft.
When writing I will definitely use the global revisions, revising and editing sentences,  proofreading and final draft ideas mentioned in this chapter.  I will make sure I have the purpose and audience; inform readers, persuade them and make sure I am entertaining them. I will make sure the thesis is clear.
I will go through my paper and make sure there are ideas presented in a logical order, making sure the paragraphas arent too short or too long.  I will check for supporting material such as relvancy and persuasive.  I will go through the paper and check for my purpose and audience.  Last, I will have the computer do spell check, grammar check ect.  I will print out a rough draft for further editing and mark up changes and type up a final draft.  I will have classmates give me ideas on how my writing assignment can be better and stronger and then type the final draft.

"Coming Home Again"

I chose to respond to the importance of food in this essay.  While reading this touching article it seems as if food always brought the family together.  It was their means of all coming together and having that special time of enjoying each others company and having some time to enjoy each other.  The mother became very ill and couldn't eat anymore but the son still wanted to have mom there just like the old days when he was a child.  He really enjoys bringing the family together to just sit together.  It reminds him of when he was a child and mom would cook for him.  The son was taking care of his dying mom.  She was dying of stomach cancer and he thought that was particularly cruel because having that "eating time" together was their bonding time as a family and having stomach cancer was just not right.  While his mom was dying the son put together some special Korean food which was mom's favorite food.  His sister and him decided to put together a bunch of different finger foods to get to try and eat something.  They prepared a try of smoked salmon canapes, fried some Korean bean cakes, and made a few other dishes that he thought she might enjoy.  His sister helped by arranging the platters and carried the dishes to their parents.  Mom really tried to eat but just couldn't get it down.  She told her children how yummy the food was although they knew she couldn't eat it.  This family moved here from Korea and the only food they would eat for the first year was Korean food.  Then they had neighbors bring them recipes of swedish meatballs, tuna casserole and angel food cake.  This family lived for Mom's cooking and not just the cooking but for the time they spent together while they would all sit down together and enjoy the time together.
This article gets me thinking that I wish our family could sit down together and talk everynight.  It seems as though maybe once a week we are able to do that because with 5 kids everyone is constantly going in different directions.  It seems like a very important thing to do just to check in with everyone and see how their day is or just to sit and all be in the same place at one time together.  My husband travels during the week as well so it makes it that much harder to come together as a family on a daily basis.

Extra Credit The Owl Purdue

The Owl Purdue is a very useful tool for many different kinds of writing papers.  It helps you write, grammar, structure ect.  This is a unique too in that you can use it for any writing situation such as business, personal, memos, sales letters, personal ect.  It can give you great samples and ideas on how to  write reports and scientific abstracts.   It provides you with information on revising documents for audience purpose with emphasis on language, tone, organization and correctness.  It provides information on examples on parallel structure in business documents.  You can use the OWL tool for providing overviews and examples how to use the proper tone in your papers.  It discusses and guides you on writing good abstracts for reports.  It covers information and descriptive abstract and gives pointes or communicate contents of reports.  This article states infomation on accentuating the positives rather than the negative facts such as stressing something is rather than is not.  You can get helpful hints about writing a memo. Memos bring attention to problems and they solve problems.  It covers sales letters which cover 4 points on how to write a good conclusion such as: 1) clearly state what action you wish the reader to take 2) Make that action easy through facilitating devices and careful wording 3) Date the action 4) provide a reader benefit as stimulu for action.  The Owl tool also discusses how to write good abstracts for reports. It covers information and descriptive abstracts and gives good pointers such as on an Informational Abstract 1) communicating contents of reports 2) include purpose, methods of scope, results, conclusion and recommendations 3) highlight essential points
A Desciptive Abstract should tell what report containing, include, methods, scope but NOT results and recommendations.
This resource will help many in any writing areas of my life.  It seems to be a very useful, helpful and an all around tool.  I will use it in the future for any of my english class assignments such as essays, dialogues ect.  I really need the help with the structure of different writing assignments.  I get stuck on the structure.  The Owl tool with guide you through by telling you what it should include and what it shouldn't include such as the Descriptive abstract how it tells you what it should contain and what it shouldn't.  These are great guides. 

Rules for Writers Chapter 2 Summary

There a some critical parts of a writing assignment that you need to have included in  your essay.  For starters there is the Rough draft.  But, even before that you want to gather all your notes, outlines, freewriting, diagrams ect.  Also, notes and blueprints will help you keep moving.  Next, draft your introduction by coming up with your main point.  The body develops it.  The introduction usually is 50-100 words long.  This is where you want to engage the reader and establish your a for writing.  Basically, it's your main point.  The sentence stating the main point is called the thesis.  The sentence leading to the thesis should hook the reader with a description, a question, an analogy, an anecdote, an example ect.  Next, draft the body.  The body of the essay develops and support for your thesis.  In drafting the body of your essay by writing a paragraph about each supporting point you listed in the planning stage. The next step is to attempt a conclusion.  The conclusion should remind the readers of the essay's main idea without completely repeating it.  It can be relatively short to sum up the essay.  You may want to make the conclusion memorable by including a detail, an example or an image.

I plan on using the structure of this essay plan.  I am going to start my essay by sorting through my notes, outlines and my freewriting log.  This will help me get started with the essay.  Then, I am going to draft my introduction that includes my thesis statement.  For my thesis statement, I am going to probably state something like who get's to celebrate their grandma's 87th birthday?  I will make key points of what we did at her 87th birthday party for the body.  Probably state the main points; the entire family came to celebrate, we all came together and had a buffet, and we all gathered to watch Nonie open her presents.  And, for the conclusion, just sum it all up without repeating the same thing I have already discussed.  This will have to state something about how we enjoyed my grandma's birthday and we look forward to doing it again next year.

"The Ways We Lie"

The White Lie

I agree with Ericsson's definition that a white lie can cause more damage than the truth.  The article has an example of a family missing a loved one who is in the military.  The sergeant tells the family that their loved one is missing rather than the truth that he has passed away.  He does this to help the family receive benefits but doesn't realize the reprocutions.  This family suffered many years of hoping their loved one would come home at some point.  This is truely a tragidy due to a "white lie".   This sergeant did what he thought was best for the family but what we think isn't always the best solution.  Although, in a tragic situation such as this I wouldn't call this a white lie, it would be a lie.  People tend to underestimate a "white lie".  When it comes to death, you shouldn't be telling any kind of lies.

Although, it is my opinion that telling a white lie will cause more damage, there are times when it is not harmful but rather helpful.  My opionion is that there is a time and place to tell a white lie.  Sometimeses the truth can be more harmful than a white lie. I believe it depends on the situation such as the story in this article.  Sometimes, we are having a bad day and you want to cheer up a friend, or maybe you are being asked if the person looks ok, or maybe your trying to protect your spouse in a situation that won't be detrimental to telling a white lie.  It has to be something very simple though. 

Essay 1 (Roughdraft)

This picture is truly amazing to me.  It holds my grandparents (Nonie and Buzzy)

and my children.  They all look so happy together.  This picture was taken during my

grandma’s 87^th birthday party at my house.  It holds many thoughts and memories to me

and my children.

I love this picture so much because it has my grandma, grandpa and my five kids

together.  I have always been very close to my grandparents.  When I was a child I would

call my grandma from school and tell her I didn’t feel good just so that I could hang out

with her. So, seeing my kids with my grandparents is really special to me.  I really see

and feel the love in this picture.  I took this picture at my house while celebrating my

grandma’s 87^th birthday party.  Looking at this picture is special to me since my

children all look so happy to be spending time with their great grandparents.  Also, my

daughter Mikayla looks extremely happy to be with her great grandparents.  She is

snuggled in closely with Buzzy which shows how much she cares about him.  She

doesn’t spend a lot of time with them and she is very shy a lot of the time so it’s nice to

see her showing her affection with them.  My grandma didn’t realize how loving Nathan

was until this day.   You can see in this picture how he is squeezing his Nonie. He kept

hugging her all day.  I see him hanging all over her while looking at this picture because

that is what he did all day long.  Dustin and Andrew seem to be close to their great

grandparents as well.  They seem to be happy to be close to them in this picture.   Tyler

doesn’t know them as well and the picture shows that.  He isn’t bonded with them as the

other kids are. Tyler just moved in with us about a year and a half ago so he doesn’t have

the great grandparent/great grandchild bond.  The picture shows how is isn’t as

comfortable as his brothers and sister are.  This picture will hold a lifetime of memoreies

for me and my kids.  This picture makes me want to go visit them.  We don’t see them a

lot and we live right down the road. I probably will go visit them tomorrow and give

them a copy of this picture.  I can’t wait to see my grandparents face when I give them a

blown up copy of this picture.  I also love this picture because I know my Nonie and

Buzzy are going to love it too.  They get so excited when we go to visit and especially

excited when I bring them pictures of them and the kids. A lot of people don’t ever get to

meet their great grandparents.  And, a lot of great-grandparents don’t ever get to meet

their great-grandchildren so this is especially sacred.

When looking at this picture it makes me sad at the same point.  This picture

shows how old my Nonie and Buzzy really are.  It reminds me of when we had to get his

food for him because he couldn’t get up out of that chair the entire day.  Everyone had to

go sit  next to Buzzy to take the picture because his back was hurting so bad.  It makes

me feel like since my grandparents are so old that this will be the last birthday party.  I

know that looking at the picture it could be the last picture I have of my grandparents and

my children.

There are so many precious memories I feel and see from looking at this picture. 

There are many things I can see in this picture that other people may not.  This is partially

why it is so important to me.  Also, just look at this picture and you can feel the love

between great-grandparents and great-grandchildren; even if you don’t know the story.  I

feel very lucky and thankful to have my grandparents here today.  Many people my age

don’t have their grandparents around anymore.   I will forever hold on to this picture in

my mind and in my heart.  I make sure I get pictures with my kids and my grandparents

every time we see them but, this picture has been the best picture by far.

Summary for Chapter 1

Writing is a process of figuring out what you think, not an already developed thought.  Writers who are experienced will work on three writing stages: planning, drafting, and revising.  When you are done with those three important stages you may have to go back to all the stages and develop more ideas.
If you are going to write a draft, the best thing to do is to think about your subject while listening to music or driving to work.  While you are coming up with ideas, jot them down.  Also, be thinking about how to catch your audiences attention while doing so.
I am going to start jotting down ideas in sections such as: planning, drafting and revising.  Right now, I am just doing the planning section.  Also, the drafting and revising stages are very important to become a better writer.  I believe this will help me develop better writing strategies which in turn will help my over all writing skills.

Superman and Me

A "smart Indian" is dangerous because they are feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians.  They are expected to be submissive.  Indian children were expected to fail in the non-Indian world.  The children would stay quiet in the class room; with their head down.  The children that failed were ceremonially accepted by other Indians and pitied on by non-Indians.  This really sad because these children were forced to not learn.  If they did, they would be reprimaned for it.  It was not the norm to want to learn to read.  Children want to be accepted by others so they just followed the tradition.
A smart Indian would be considered dangerous to everyone because they would be fighting with classmates on a daily basis and  they would stand up to The non-Indian teachers.  This was not good because they were expected to be stupid and submissive. This was their way of life.  Nobody disobeyed the traditions.  Children are innocent and all they really want is to be excepted by their peers. So, most children didn't challenge that tradition.
The little boy refused to fail.  He was smart.  He was arrogant.  He was lucky.  He read books every minute of everyday where he had free time. He wanted to be smart.  As he says "I am trying to save my life". He is amazing!  This little boy was determined to make something of himself, which he did. He knew that reading is the foundation of all education.  He also grew up to help all other children.  He knows the true meaning of reading is our foundation to our future and  we are all very fortunate to have not grown up on the Indian children reservation.  After reading this, it makes me feel very fortunate for my life:-) 

Rules For Writers chapter 46

The main ideas  I found in this chapter are read actively, jotting down questions and thoughts in the margrins.  Using a pencil instead of a highlighter that way you can underline key points and circle them.  If you need to go back you can go back and erase.  The other main point is after reading, rereading and annotating a text, try and outline it.  Draw a sketch and as you are drawing, pay attention to the texts central idea (thesis) and it's topic sentences.  The thesis is usually in the first or second paragraph.

I am definitely going to try using a pencil instead of a highlighter.  I started trying this while I was reading this chapter.  It actually worked out very well for me.  I was able to erase if needed and circle key points if needed.  I also love the sketching idea because this is the best way for me to learn.  I am a visual learner so sketching works great for me:-)  I started drawing pictures in my book to help me visualize during this chapter.  I really enjoyed this excercise. 

It's funny because I usually don't like writing but I have really been enjoying these excercises.

Freewrite Questions Assignment

A freewrite to me is just a writing that you start jotting down what you are thinking about and not stopping.  You have no rules such as grammar or punctuation or anything for that matter. You just type and don't stop typing.  That is your only requirement.  It's a pretty easy thing to do.
Freewrite is meant to fascilitate stronger skills.  It's a very easy task and I really enjoy it.  If you do it on a regular basis, most of your writing will become much better through rewriting.  The good stuff you write will become better than any other method you use.
I found it very suprising that just writing jibberish really does help your writing skills.  I find it fascinating because I'm not a good writer, but my mind goes very fast so it should really help me get stuff down fast. So, in turn will help my writing skills:-)

Introduction Dialogue

Hi,

My name is Dina Dodd.  I am 40 years old.  I grew up in Novato, California.  I earned my Associates Degree at Heald Business College in 1998.  I have been a stay at home mom of 5 children for the past 10 years and ready to start a new career as an Licensed Vocational Nurse. 
English is very challenging for me.  I am not a good writer and I don't like writing.  I am hoping that as the class progresses, I will become a better writer; enojoying it more.  I am a visual learner, so I draw a lot to help me understand questions or problems.  I like to get assignments done way ahead of time so I don't have to worry about doing them later. 
I am very excited about taking this class because it means I am one step closer to applying into the nursing program.  Also, I hope my like for writing increases as the class progresses.  I have a lot of interaction with kids and not adults, so I may have a lot to say:-)  I am looking forward to working with all of you.

Dina Dodd