Farm Girl

1. She is telling us that she is different but in the end it was okay because she got a lot more out of it then her peers. People might see it differently if they worked on the farm with her comparatively to people who do not work on the farm.

2. I think the audience is her parents. The quote “Though I hated it growing up, working on the farm has taught me many lessons about life, and it has shaped me into the individual I am today” sends her parents a message saying thank you. Even though she might have hated it when she was younger, she wants to tell her parents that in the end she is more thankful for what they taught her.

3. She shows her credibility such as when she says “In school people come up to me and ask how I manage my time so well, without getting stressed out.” She is not the only one who realizes how the farm work has helped her develop as a person.

4. Her responsibility to the audience is to show how hard work really pays off. Her responsibility to her family is showing how the hard work helped her shape herself as an individual. She fulfilled those responsibilities but her time management skills.

5. People can relate to this story from all different backgrounds because of the common ground of work. Many people struggle to keep the balance of having jobs, social lives, clubs, sports, and chores. The balancing struggle and acquiring time management is how people can relate to the Midwestern farm girl.

6. Yes I can relate to her because I was always involved in many activities in high school that I had to balance out. When she started talking about everything she got involved with at school that is when it reminded me of everything I was a part of such as student council, soccer, swimming, Humanities club, Stand club, Youth group, Anchor club, and my social life. Having all of these activities plus school work to attend to, being organized was the only way to enjoy them.

7. I think it not only shows that being different is okay but it shows that if you do have the time us it wisely because some people do not have the opportunities that you have.

8. I really like the first paragraph when she starts off with the alarm and goes into how heavy her eyes are. It really shows how her mornings were on the farm.

9. She only uses the dialogue when needed so it is not just going back and forth all the time. When she goes out to the barn she tells about everyone’s different jobs and how they must work together. One person cannot get all the work done on the farm by themselves.

10. They show that they learned a lesson that they realized over a period of time about their life when they were younger. The lesson that they learned is very relatable even if you have not been in the same situation.

Purpose of Sanders

I think the purpose was to inform that we should focus on what we can do now for the world to strive for sustaiablility. The first example is when the son told his father what was bothering him. He told his father that he had no hope. I think that is what the people in our world think about the environment. That we wont be able to change it all so why do anything about it. I think the story is telling us to live and do what we can do today. Have hope that we can conquer anything.

Answer to Question to for Sanders

the exposition - The third and fourth paragraph when it talks about the rocky mountains and how they are father and son.
inciting incident - The first conflict about sleeping on the snow
rising action - In the car with the tension
climax - When son finally tells him what is wrong. How the father is always a "debbie downer"
falling action -In the car on the way back and some of when they are talking at camp
resolution - When the son asks how the fathers leg is
denouement within the story - When the father did not answer back with when he had to lug him when he was little because he did not want to remind him of that in his youth and because he was now hopeful.

One page Resonse to Question 1

Planet Earth has been ever changing since its birth. The amount of resources it has produced for human kind has always been available for us to use. Without the resources humans would not be able to live as we do today. The Earth has evolved from markings on the cave walls to typing on the computer. Just as we have evolved in being more educated about how the Earth works.

Back in history, when people became aware of all the resources that one could use, people used them greedily. Even when people realized how brutally they were treating the Earth such as pollution from the cars, not considering the architecture of buildings, and recycling, it was never put on the top priority list. However, as the Earth gets closer to running out of resources or the natural disasters become more superior, it makes the people of the world think twice of what is happening to the world. The father in the story illustrates this by feeling that the world is dark because it is going downhill.

I think at first we were not fully aware of what we were doing to our environment. As the years went on though, I feel like we tried to do what we could for the world in what we knew then. Today, I think we know a lot more than we actually do. There are so many eco friendly products that the world produces. However, all of these products tend to be too expensive for everyone to own such as a Hybrid. I would think that the government or media would be pushing the Hybrid car for all families to own because it would be a great investment for our planet. Nevertheless, we still buy the nicest BMW or even a Ferrari to look like we are rich. When I look around and see all the non eco friendly products, it infuriates me but I feel like I do not know how to fix it alone. I feel like the world has gone too far to turn back and make all the changes to help us become more sustainable. I think that it would be helpful if the government and media would help people become more aware of how to help the planet. Then maybe the world could make a difference together.

Journal #2

You start Preparing the snowball. You look over at your two besst friends as they prpare theres as well. The roads are icy and the snow is still falling asit gets darker. This car is going slow. A perfect target. Slowly slowlt coming down the road. You throw the snowball but you miss. Right after you, your friends throw their  snow balls. One misses but the other hits the back of the car. The car stops and a man gets out. Who is this man? He yells out come and confess. He was furious. He starts walking to where you are hidden. You run to the only place you know you have security: your house. You hide in the closed in back porch bathroom with your friends. Safe. You hear a knock at the door. Your mom answers after a minute.You dont know what to do. Come out? Admit to the crime? Then your dad comes out. You listen. The man is a police officer. You have to go. You come out from behind the closed door sobbing. You tell the officer you were having a snowball fight and one accidently hit the car. The officer does not believe you. You cry and say you are sorry and were scared. Your mother holds you and gives you support. Your mother tells the officer that she will take care of the situation. After pounding you with more questions he finally leaves and goes back to his car. You do not go back in the snow at night anymore that year. You feel like you have done the worst thing of your life.

An American Childhood -- Annie Dillard

1.       Explains how she learned how to tackle in football.

2.       Explains why Annie and boys threw snowballs in the winter.

3.       Describes the scene of where they threw snowballs at cars.

4.       Describes the boys that she was with.

5.       Describes the cars and snow.

6.       Describes Annie’s ice ball.

7.       Explains how they threw the snowballs at the Buick.

8.       Describes the snowball on the window of the car.

9.       Narrates the guy getting out of his car.

10.   Describes the man who was chasing after them.

11.   Explains who split up to get away from the man.

12.   Describes the route they took to get away from the man.

13.   Explains why she needed to know how to tackle in football.

14.   Explains that no matter where the kids ran, the guy would follow.

15.   Describes where the man caught them.

16.   Describes everyone and the setting at which they finally got caught.

17.   Describes how Annie felt after running a long ways.

18.   Explains how the man is feeling about the kids.

19.   Explains what he said to the kids.

20.   Explains how the man could only chew them out.

21.   Explains how she put up a good effort to not get caught.

In the first paragraph, Annie talks about the right way to tackle a person in football. The only way to successfully tackle someone is do it passionately and with full force. That lesson that she had learned from this football experience would help her later in life.

When the man came running after the children, Annie never thought that they were going to get caught. However, when the man started to catch up to them, they knew that they were trapped.  After the man yelled at them, Annie did not focus on what he had just told her. Instead she focused on the fact that he had never given up on finding them. She compared it with her football lesson “that you have to fling yourself at what you’re doing; you have to point yourself, forget yourself, aim, dive”. Now Annie had learned that it is not only in football that you need to do everything possible to accomplish ones goal.

Calling Home -- Jean Brandt

When the characters are introduced, it is not very detailed about who they are. It mainly is just their relationship to the main character, Jean. However, as the story goes on if I character plays a bigger role it gives more detail so the story can be understandable. Such as understanding what feeling were going on with Jean when she shoplifted. I did not know much about how her and her sisters relationship until she got to the point of getting in trouble. She said that she felt more comfortable with her sister there because she always got her out of trouble. Since it is a short essay there is no time to introduce every character and all the background. I only found more detail about them when the essay needed the information.

While Jean was in jail she had one phone call to her parents to tell then the bad news. When they talked about the situation, Jean’s mother was very upset. The key part to the conversation is when Jean’s mother told her that she was disappointed in her. After the phone call, Jean was in the jail cell thinking about the conversation and all the disappointment that she brought on to her mother.

When Jean said I put the pin in my jacket, my stomach did a little flip. I had no clue that this essay was going to turn in that direction. Also, when the man said that he was going to call the police I could not believe that they were going to take a thirteen year old to jail. During the conversation with Jean’s mother it seemed as if her mother was really upset with Jean. However, when Jean’s parents arrived they thought that the police had already given her enough punishment. By not giving her any punishment it relieved Jean from some of the shame that she was putting on herself.

Sight by Rebekah Beall

I had to read this piece more than a few times to try and understand it. It starts out with a woman who works over time who is looking into the parking lot. It seems as if she is afraid to go out to the parking lot because men hide out there. I think she was hurt when she walked out to the parking lot alone one night because she walks quickly to her car with mace. Also she seems to have a problem with driving because of how careful she is at driving. Along with being alone in the parking lot she does not like being at the house alone as well. When she takes the bat and checks all the windows and doors. 

The paragraphs with the apple and the TV I noticed that they both have the phrase “This is what you do”. I think at this point she is talking to herself trying to comfort herself. Kind of like saying “this is your routine” trying not think of what she is really afraid of.

When she starts watching the TV, she starts to talk about the animals and their movements. She calls the heron a stalker and how he kills his prey. I think she is describing as her stalker in the parking lot at her work. There is two line in this paragraph that confuses me is when she says “my mother’s favorite bird” . Then it makes me think that her stalker was someone who was close to her.

The last few paragraphs made sense to me because then I knew something really did happen to her to change her lifestyle. When she was talking about the fish that had lost their eyes because they had been in caves but then when the scientist helped the fish it sprouted eyes. I think that this compares to herself because she has shut herself off like she is in a cave and by seeing that those fish got their eyes back it gives her hope. Hope that she will one day return to her old ways such as in the last line when she says “You’ve missed the whispers and the slick warm shine of the needles underfoot.” This last sentence means that she has not been outside or her old self because of what incidence happen to her. So maybe now in the end she has the courage to go back to her old more joyful lifestyle.

Definition of Hope

I think the definition of hope starts in every human being. I believe that everyone feels the emotion of hope at some point. i kind of reminds me of the word wish. I'm "hoping" for this to happen or I'm "wishing" this would happen. However, the word hope seems more of a reality. Such as when I hoped I would get in to Appalachian. At first I got deferred and then I ended up getting in second semester. So during all that time I was hoping I would get into Appalachian just as I was hoping I would graduate from Appalachian. Sometimes I feel that hope makes people just think about the end result and not the journey to take to the destination. When you hope, you usually are thinking of an expectation that you want to accomplish. Just like me wanting to go to and graduate from Appalachian. I should not just think about I just need to do whatever I can to graduate but I should also experience everything along the way. However, it is my expectation of myself to reach this goal. After I reach this goal I will always hope for more.

Introduction

I was a little nervous about this class at first because I thought it was going to include intense writing. I have not written a reall paper in two semesters so I was definitely scared. However, after the first class I already feel more relaxed because of the set up. I feel that I will be able to get more out of this English class than my High School English teacher. I had him for three years so it will nice to finally have a change. I am very excited to see what this class will bring. :)