My First Memory

My First Memory
What is it that causes us to remember some things and completely forget others? This is a question that remains unanswered. Most people have no recollection of anything that happened before the ages of three to four years old. The average age for a child’s first memory is three and a half years old. Even at this age the memories are usually vague and have no detail.
There are two memories that I can still remember to this day. These memories may not be completely precise, but I seem to remember them pretty well. My first memory is probably my fourth Christmas. I remember going to the den in my house with my mom and dad to open presents. My dad recorded me opening my presents. I was particuarly excited because when I saw my presents I realized I had gotten a four wheeler. I remember being excited because both of my cousins already had four wheelers. In addition to this I remember getting lots of toy trucks that made all kinds of sounds. The next day I remember riding my new four wheeler all around the front yard until my mom made me come in because it was too cold. This was one of the last Christmas’s that I spent with my mom and dad while they were together. Not long after this my parents split up. This is the earliest memory that I can remember any sort of details about.
My next memory occurred not long after this when my mom and dad took me to the Smokey Mountains. I remember riding through the mountains in my grandpa’s van that my parents had borrowed. The van was white and red. I can remember pulling over to the side of the road to watch a bear and her cubs. I can also remember riding a train through the mountains. This was fun for me because as a child I really liked trains and this was my first train ride. On the trip I can remember feeding ducks crackers as we stood in a parking lot. This was my first big trip and it remains in my memory to this day. Again this is one of the last memories I have of my parents being together.
I don’t know why these memories stand out to me, but they are some of the few memories that I have of my early childhood. It is weird to me that I can remember these things, but can forget things that happened the day before. These are memories that I will probably carry with me for the rest of my life.

Likes and Dislikes

List A

1. Religion
2. Friends
3. family
4. education
5. the lake
6. cancelled classes
7. weekends
8. days off
9. going riding
10. four wheelers
11. trucks

List B
1. murder
2.theft
3. lying
4. homework
5.terrorism
6. cold weather
7. working
8. gas prices
9. math

There is definetely a connection between between number eleven on list A and number eight on list B. My number eleven is trucks and my number eight is gas prices. The reason I dislike gas prices so much is because it costs a fortune to put gas in my truck. It is really expensive to drive my truck to school and work everyday.
Education and the lake are different in many ways. Education can be stressful and the lake is a place to relax. When you are trying to learn something or study something you feel like you have a lot of weight on your shoulders, but when you are at the lake you have no worries. At the lake you are just having fun with your buddies and when you are learning it is a time to be serious.
Terrorism and working are alike in a sense. Terrorists are out to destroy what Americans have worked hard for. Terrorists devote their lives to killing others and in most cases killing themselves. These terrorists have no sense of real work. They pride themselves in destroying what others have worked for. The "work" that terrorists do in their lifetime amounts to nothing.

Colbert as a Candidate

I think that if Colbert wants to run, then he should have every right to. If people want to vote for him they can, and if they don't they won't. I think it's comical that people are actually getting mad about it. To me the only reason it angers them is because he is taking votes away from other candidates. I think that by getting mad it is just encouragaging him to do what he is doing; which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
If Doritos wants to sponsor him then let them sponsor him. As long as they aren't advertising the fact that they are sponsoring him then why does it matter? I think if everyone just left it alone the whole thing would die down.
I just think it is funny that Colbert is actually going through with the whole thing and making fun of the political issues. I can see though that this might anger a lot of people. But they can't get that mad because everyone knows he's not going to win so it really isn't causing any harm.

Free Write: Halloween

My Halloween started off with Algebra. In my Algebra class I got my test back. I found out that I made a 42 on it. Needless to say I was extremely disappointed. I was relieved though that I would be getting bonus points.
After Algebra I went to Microeconomics and took a test in there. When I was through with the test I went home and took a nap. When I woke up I went to eat with my buddy and then went to work.
When I got off work I met up with a couple of my friends and we went to my girlfriend's uncle's for a Halloween bash. We left the bash and went to a haunted house, but the line was too long so we kept flickin.
This pretty much sums up my Halloween experience. Not much went on, but it wasn't a bad time.

Free Write: My response to Hashish in Marsailles

Hashish
Hashish in Marsailles had a weird effect on me. After reading the essay I was a bit confused. The fact that it was translated really threw me off. Some of the text was hard for me to grasp. The essay did a lot of contrasting. It compared things and showed you how opposites were related.
Throughout the whole essay the writer was observing things while experimenting with hash. He called his observations an experiment and reported on his experience. The writer spent most of his time walking through the city and describing to us what he saw. He described to us men’s faces in which he took a particular interest in. He compared the beauty of some of the men to the ugliness of others. This was one of the comparisons that he made early on in the story. It sort of stunned me that he would take such an interest in the appearance of these men’s faces.
The story also contrasted his experiences inside the hotel and the time he spent on the streets. Inside the hotel room he seemed to be lonely. He was awaiting the company of a friend. When his friend did not show up he felt it necessary to move to the streets where other people were. One other contrast that was made was between real and imaginary. I wondered if all of his accounts were accurate considering the circumstances. I questioned if he remembered everything just like it had happened. Some of the things he noticed and observed would not seem important if he were in a normal state of mind.
This story seemed to have no theme and was more like a documentary. The whole time I was waiting for something bad to happen or a problem to occur. The story makes you wonder what the author’s reason for writing this was. This is not something that I would normally read on my own, but if this is the kind of writing you like then this would be a good choice for you.

Green Bottles

The green bottles in the story act as an escape route for the father. They are evidence that his father is not in a normal state of mind. The bottles pop up under the workbench and between hay bales. They can also be seen bulging out from under his jacket. Sanders holds these bottles responsible for stealing his father. He hates the bottles and the names on them. He has thoughts of breaking the bottles and burning the store that they come from. The bottles are only an object, but what is inside turns their father into an animal. The green bottles are constant reminders of what the father has become.

The Rake

Brandon Pashby
English 1010
10/10/07
The Rake
My first response to the essay was Wow! This was some kind of childhood. Who could have lived under these circumstances? I can only imagine what kind of effect this upbringing will have on these children.
This essay had a sort of depressing effect on me. After all it is a story of kids being abused and mistreated. This was just a taste of what these children have to live through everyday. It is bad enough to have to grow up with out the presence of your father, but to be abused by your stepfather is a whole other story. Although the essay is depressing, it also angers me. It is very disturbing that someone would treat a child the way these children were treated. I would hope that anyone that acts in this manner will be prosecuted and serve the maximum sentence.
The scene where the boy throws the rake at his sister is critical to the story. It brings an end to the story and explains everything that has been talked about. When the boy’s sister says something that offends him he picks up the rake and throws it at her. The rake strikes her in the face and puts a bad gash on her lip. She immediately starts crying and runs inside. Neither of the kids will tell their mom what happened so they are forced to sit down at the table and eat. Once again they are back at the table eating in silence. This pulls all of the aspects of the story together. This also gives us the title of the story. The rake is used to represent the cleaning up of things, but it is also perceived as violent and harsh.

Murder at Memphis

Murder at Memphis

The events that took place this weekend took me by surprise. This is something that I would have never guessed. The idea of a murderer on our campus is unreal. I first learned of the murder around 7:10 a.m. Monday morning. I was leaving my house when my phone rang. It was one of my friends from school telling me that we didn’t have school. He said a football player was murdered the night before. I couldn’t believe it. About that time, my mom called me and told me the same thing.

My first question was why. Why would someone shoot a football player on campus? I wondered if the murderer was someone that goes to school with me or even someone that has class with me. I feel that it is sad that we have to worry about murderers at a place that is thought of as safe. School is somewhere that you can go for help and it is a place to learn. Now it has become a crime scene. This makes me wonder if there is anywhere left that people can go and be safe.

The thing that most people don’t realize is that this effects all of us. This event has made many students feel uncomfortable at school. I’ve talked to a few people that are even moving out of the dorms. This just makes me question the safety of our school.

To keep this from being forgotten everyone has to talk about what happened. People should also visit the scene of the wreck and keep flowers around the tree. This is something that I definitely won’t forget. I will continue to talk about the incident and hope that everyone else will too.

"Prime Directive" Analysis Essay

Brandon Pashby
9/24/07
Analysis Essay of “Prime Directive” by David Griffith
What does it take to properly analyze an essay? To properly analyze an essay you must dig deep and read between the lines. You have to figure out what it is that the writer is really trying to tell you. I believe that Griffith wants us to see a lot of things that doesn‘t actually print. To show us these things he uses symbols and figurative language.
“Prime Directive” illustrates connections between Griffith’s experience around Halloween and the war. It is an essay that uses a vast amount of symbols to create the theme. The theme shows us that we are responsible for making sure that political issues are not forgotten or accepted. The tone of the essay is somewhat depressed and remorseful. Griffith is constantly wanting to be surrounded by people and is reminded of his wife by nearly everything he sees. He is very descriptive and makes you feel like you are there with him. Griffith paints a clear picture of what he is seeing and experiencing. The essay jumps around and seems a little confusing at first. The writer uses some figures of speech that might offend some readers. At one point he describes some of the soldiers as “hicks from the sticks”. The writer is commenting on how brutal and relentless some of the soldiers have become.
In the essay Griffith is a school teacher that is waiting to move so he can be with his wife. In the meantime he is stuck at his house trying to find anything to keep his mind off of his wife and his loneliness. To keep himself occupied he travels with his friends, to different Halloween parties dressed as Captain James T. Kirk. No matter how many parties he goes to or how many people he sees he still never seems to be content. At the last party he has violent thoughts running through his head that he says no reasonable person would have. He finally runs into one of his old friends and ends up taking a picture with the man that is dressed as Charles Graner. In the picture, Graner gets a boy to put a bag over his head and pose while Griffith and Graner give the thumbs up. The next morning he remembers what he did and is ashamed of it. The next night he passes out candy with his neighbor to make himself feel better. He says that his neighbor gets pleasure out of scaring the little kids.
Griffith uses symbols throughout the entire essay. The fact that he is a captain and keeps moving around symbolizes a captain that is in war and moves from place to place. He moves from party to party just like soldiers do in the war. He is confused about what is right and what he should really be doing. At times he is ashamed of his actions and tries to forget them. He puts the picture out of sight so he will not be reminded of it. This is the same thing that happened with Abu Ghraib. People stopped talking about it and eventually it was almost forgotten. Halloween is another important symbol used in this essay. It symbolizes death and pranks. It makes us think of the devil and parties. These are all things that are associated with war. Catholicism is used to make us think of corruption and fundamentalism. These are two of the main things that cause war and anarchy. At one point Griffith sees a homeless man and avoids speaking to him. This represents the soldiers at war that have no home and no family to talk to. Loneliness is also shown by his being away from his wife just as a soldier is.
This essay gives us a better idea of what it is like for soldiers. It makes us realize that we need to talk about political issues and not let them be forgotten. It demonstrates how things can be forgotten or even accepted if we don’t bring them up and state our opinions on them. It reminds us that we are all responsible for what is talked about and what isn’t. It is our responsibility to make others understand the importance of political affairs.
I think that Griffith did a good job of demonstrating how corrupt the government and media can be. He used characters and costumes to paint this picture for it. Before reading this essay I couldn’t even tell you who Captain James T. Kirk was. After reading Griffith’s essay I not only know that he is a main character on Star Trek , but I know how he dresses and I can recognize him as a symbol for a leader. I believe Griffith was successful in presenting the material in a way that was easy to understand and he did a good job of giving us clues to figure out what was really going on in the essay. I also learned who Charles Graner is and learned of the incidents that took place at Abu Ghraib. I strongly believe that the incidents that took place should not be forgotten and should not be taken lightly. Overall Griffith did a great job of telling two stories at once while getting his point across.

A Good War is Hard to Find

The essay I read in English is called A Good War is Hard to Find. In the story a man

describes his life and his situation with his wife. In the story it is Halloween and the main

character is moving from party to party with his friends. He is dressed as a Star Trek captain,

but seems to be depressed at each party that he goes to. This has a lot to do with him being

away from his wife.

At the beginning he comments on a homeless man and says that he doesn't want the man

to see him. The main character makes sure to speak to a wealthy couple and makes himself

stand out. After this his friend picked him up and they headed to the first party. At the party he

comments on rap and says how it humiliates women.

This essay is very symbolic. The captain symbolizes a captain in war and the moving from

party to party symbolizes the troops in war. The Catholicism symbolizes corruption in the

country. The main character is lonely and separated from his wife the same way a soldier would

be. These are all symbols that help tell the story.

Family Addictions

Substance abuse is an epidemic in our country affecting people from all walks of life. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 17,602 people were killed by drunk drivers in 2006. It also states that 43% of Americans have been exposed to alcoholism in their families, and over 15 million Americans are dependent on alcohol. Substance abuse is commonly found among dysfunctional families. Here are three stories dealing with the effects of substance abuse in different people’s lives. When I was little my uncle and aunt came to visit my family for Thanksgiving. I had seen them before, or rather they had seen me before, but I was still pretty shy of them. Most of my extended family lives in East Tennessee so I never got to see them much. What I remember most about that visit happened that night. After we had all stuffed our faces with turkey and stuffing, my mom made me and my brother’s go take our baths, and then she put us to bed. But I couldn’t sleep, so I sneaked past my brothers’ bunk bed, and quietly went downstairs. I had to stop though, because the dining room light was on. You see the dining room was right in front of the part of the staircase you can see. So I tip-toed around the parts of the stairs that squeaked, I prided myself on being able to get down the stairs without making a noise, and peeked under the banister. My uncle and my dad were sitting at the table talking. My dad seemed really upset, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Seeing my dad like that, almost angry at my uncle but teary eyed, it really scared me. So I tip-toed back up the stairs, maybe making a few squeaks this time, and tried to wake up my older brother. Jonathan was dead asleep though, probably all that food, so I got a blanket and my pillow, and I slept on the floor in a little corner near the front of their bed. I found out later that my uncle was an alcoholic, and he smoked pot, and my mom would say he did “lots of other drugs”. I still don’t know what those “lots of other drugs” he did were. That’s why he and my dad had stayed up talking. My uncle lost a bunch of money, and my dad was “loaning” him some on the one condition that my uncle got help. That’s why he and my aunt came to Thanksgiving dinner, they needed money. He would tell my dad that he was going to meetings, but then my grandmother, who lived in the same town as my aunt and uncle, would call and ask my dad to come help, because “he was in trouble”. I’m still not really sure what that ever meant either. Sometimes it’s not just that one friend or family member, other times substance abuse runs amongst the whole family.When I was younger I was always aware that my family was dysfunctional due to arguments and domestic physical violence. However I was not aware that drugs and alcohol were involved. My mother was a hard working woman who always tried to put her kids before anyone else, her side of the family were all hard workers that showed my sister and I a vast amount of love and affection. My father on the other hand did not love us. He would always judge us and criticize everyone around him. His side of the family however was drug addicts and alcoholics, who despised my mother and her side of the family. “They” being my father’s side of the family always made us choose between them and my mother. Various cousins, aunts, and uncles are or have done time in jail for either possession of drugs, or selling drugs. My father was diagnosed as a diabetic back in ’97 and he has used his medication for money. In other words he would sell his medication to drug addicts to receive money. The sad thing was we were all aware of this situation, nobody ever said anything because my father was a psychopath. However I do have a cousin that is facing life in prison for drug related actions. I also have an uncle that is always in and out of jail for drug and alcohol related actions.I also have an aunt who was once married with a good husband and a well paying job, with two wonderful kids. She also began to experiment with drugs and she soon became addicted to them. She lost her husband and her kids, she only prostitutes for drugs. Back in 1997 she was tested positive for AIDS. And now nobody is aware of where she is the last we heard from her was about 4 years ago. And she was locked up in prison.Sometime I believe that god put us in these situations for a reason. Everybody is not born with the perfect family however when we have those tough situations we have to find a way to deal with the problems that are given to us on an everyday basis. I can honestly say that I am not embarrassed by the alcoholics and drug addicts in my family because it’s their life and it’s not me. Alcoholics don’t just affect their family; they can have devastating effects on friends as well. During the last year of my life I had to attend a funeral for a close friend of mine. He was killed in a tragic accident. This was a guy I went to high school and hung out with. He was killed by a drunk driver. The week before he died we had spent the week in Panama City for our senior trip. On the way back from Panama City the truck he was in got cut off by another vehicle. When they swerved to miss the vehicle their truck rolled and they hit a pole. My friend was asleep when the accident took place. He never regained consciousness. Three other people were injured in the accident. The drunk driver never stopped or did anything, but fled the scene. My friend’s death was sudden and unexpected. This accident is a very strong reminder of how one bad choice can affect many lives, and how precious life really is. Alcoholism is affecting everyone everyday, and the problem continues to spread. Perhaps these stories will remind you to think twice about the choices you make, and make you decide whether you will do something about the problem or ignore it.

Writing Themes

Group Themes- Brandon, Catherine, Krystal
1. family addictions
2. religion


Independent Themes
-sports
-school
-friends
-family
-interests
-jobs
-teams
-highschool
-middle school
-driving
-college
-time management
-free time
-homework
-deaths

btpashbyUofMblog

The article that I read came from a magazine called The New Yorker.The title of the article was "Nathan Englander's Novel of Political Terror". The article is located on page eighty-two and was written by Wyatt Mason. In the article he was telling us about a novel that he had read by Nathan Englander. This was the first novel that Nathan Englander had ever written. The title of the novel was The Ministry of Special Cases. The novel was set in Buenos Aires in 1976. After reading the article I felt like I had read the novel myself. The article includes quotes from the novel and has a portrait of Nathan Englander to go with the text.
The article had a positive tone throughout the entire passage. He communicated the idea of the novel very well in the article. Wyatt seemed to have enjoyed the novel from what he wrote about it in the article. He describes some of the characters as "vivid and resourceful". He also tells us that the novel deals with emotional situations. Wyatt says that there is sarcasm and irony in many parts of the novel.
The structure of the article was very well organized. It broke the novel down in to sections and went over some of the highlights of the novel. Wyatt did a good job of placing the quotes from the novel. He starts off by giving the setting and time frame of the novel. Wyatt used tons of descriptive details to describe the novel to us. Wyatt broke the article down in to eight paragraphs and placed important quotes throughtout the entire article.
Wyatt's choice of words could not have been better for describing the novel. He used tons of descriptive adjectives to describe the novel. He did a good job of constructing the article and it flew well from start to finish.
The point of the article was to give a complete review of the novel and credit Englander for a well written novel. Wyatt recommends this article to anyone that enjoys reading about history and politics.