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.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
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.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
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.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
"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.
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.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
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.
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.
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