Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a day that everyone gets together and spends time with the ones they love. They get to either have a huge meal, or just be together, dependin on the family. Sometimes though, no matter how much you may love one person, being around them for an entire day you get crabby and do not want to be around each other. Thanksgiving is a nice time to see everyone, but if your family gets crabby easily, do not stay around for too long. I guess that is really just how every Holiday is with some people, others its just nice to have a family to be with and you do not care if they are cranky, or snap at you, as long as you have each other. I am kind of on both sides with this one, it is nice to have family around, but when you have a big family it is hard to be around that many people for one period of time. I am thankful for my family though, no matter how crabby we all may get.
Thanksgiving is also a time where school and work are not required. It is nice to have a little break away from both, even if it is just for a couple of days.

#3 on 244--Goodman Brown

There are things in Goodman Brown that "say more then they seem." For instance, Goodman's wife was named Faith, and he had to leave "Faith" to go do a bad deed and was not sure if he should leave. Another thing was the old man in the woods with the shaft. The significance of that was to show that he was going to make a deal with the devil and the shaft was a snake or serpent. Goodman's name was also another thing that had deeper meaning. His name means good and sinless basically and that is what he was. He did not sin or do bad things until he went and made the deal with the Devil. The Devil showed him that people were sinning all over the place and made him think that everyone was bad. That is showing that everyone does wrong and everyone sins. The forest seemed dark and did not look like something Goodman should be getting into. This shows that his conscious was telling him to stay away because something bad was going to happen, and it did.

Goodman Brown

I think that Goodman Brown was probably my favorite out of all the stories we read. It was easy to read and had a deeper meaning to it. Although it was a deeper meaning it was not hard to get at all. It tells us that in reality people are so blind to see how most people really are and how everyone sins, they just don't show the entire world what they are doing. This is true in real life and no one really realizes what everyone is doing let alone themselves and when it is pointed out to them they think that everybody is doing worse than what is actually being done.

A Rose For Emily

When I first started reading "A Rose for Emily" I was really confused. I did not really like how they started by saying she had died after her father died and her "boyfriend" just left and then explained it. I was very shocked at the ending though. You could kind of tell what she was going to do in the middle of the story, but it wasn't for sure. I personally did not like this story, but it is a good one to get people thinking and wonder what is going on.

The Most Dangerous Game

I think that The Most Dangerous Game was a much better read than Sleepy Hollow. I remember reading The Most Dangerous Game in high school and I think that helped me like it a lot more than I did. I though that it was easy to read and the author got to the point right away, but still made it suspensful. I also like the way that it ended. I was kind of surprised, but then again it was predictable.

Katrina

When I first saw that my teacher was looking at me in a different way in class I never thought anything of it, but when it got more frequent and I found out he liked me it freaked me out. I always had like Brom and wished that he would like me, but I couldn't hurt Ichabod because he was a nice person although he was my teacher. I had felt really bad when we had scared Ichabod with the practical joke we did, but I am glad that he is no longer here to make me feel uncomfortable in my own school.

Favorite book

I don't exactly have one favorite book. Many of my favorites are by Sarah Dessen. I also like the books "Speak" and "Lovely Bones". I have kind of a wide variety of what kind of books I like to read and what interests me.

Buffy

I personally liked the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When I was younger I used to watch it on TV all the time and to this day I wish that it was still on. I think that it is kind of a cheesy show but it is still very entertaining. I like this episode because it showed that both men and women can be equal in the concept of "defending" people. It showed that a woman can fight just as well as a man can. Also, this episode basically said don't trust people you don't know. Buffy trusted the costume salesman when he had told her that he could get the dress to her for cheap and she ended up in a horrible situation.

Stress

I think that school is very stressful and I cannot wait for Christmas break. I kind of fear that I am not going to want to come back to school after Christmas break because I cannot deal with the stress, but I know I have to. I think that midterm is the second most stressful time in a college student's life. The first is Finals which I am not looking for. I am really glad that I have finished all of my midterms and I am hoping to do a really good job on my portfolio.

Gay Rights

I have decided to write my paper on Gay Rights. I chose to write about Gay Rights and how they should have equal rights as everyone else because this topic is very close to my heart. Not only is one of my brothers gay, but I also have many gay friends and I am tired of the way people talk to them or about them, also hearing the way people talk about gays when they don't even realize who it can effect.
The emotional appeal in my paper would probably be the effect of how they are treated on family and friends of many gay people. Another point could be how people are treated because of the laws on gay rights. Another emotionaly appeal could be about why other people care what is going on if it has nothing to do with them and does not effect them at all.

TOPICS!

Topic 1: Alcohol/Drug Problems
Question #1: Why do people use alcohol or drugs?
Question #2: What makes these "items" so addictive for people?
Question #3: Why do people blame their drinking/drug use on their issues in life?

Topic 2: Gay Rights
Question #1: Who does this effect in society and in life in general?
Question #2: Why does it matter to everyone else?
Question #3: What is the government going to do to "fix" the issue?

Topic 3: Mental Illnesses
Question #1: How can someone help a friend or family member with a mental illness?
Question #2: What types of illnesses are there?
Question #3: Who do these illnesses effect and why?

Tuesday's Class

I think that Tuesday's class period was very interesting. The circle helped to get people talking because we could see everyone face to face. I think that some people should try to talk more because it would help them with their projects. I also think that the circle idea is always a great way of communication in every class that I have done that in.
The lesson about Semi-Colons and Colons could have gone better. I felt like there was basically only one person talking and that they had not practiced enough as a group. For future groups I think that they should get together at the library or somewhere at least once so they can practice. Hopefully the rest of the lessons go well.

Class

I think that this class is one of my favorite English classes since Freshman year of high school. I do not really like Enligsh and never really have but I have learned a lot from this class and it is a fun one. I also like the teacher and think that he teaches us really well. I think that I will enjoy the rest of the class as long as I stay on task with the class.
I think that some of the quizzes are really hard but they are not as hard as they could be. I think that they have enough information in them to teach the class if they had gotten the questions wrong.

2nd Draft

For my second draft of my literacy narrative I had to change a few words and add in more commas. I think that I should have done a better job at reading over my paper and changing the repetitive-ness. I think that for the final draft I will have to re-write much of my paper and look for grammatical errors.

For the second draft of my proposal essay I had to add a few more paragraphs and site my sources. I also had to read over my paper and make sure that there were not any major grammatical errors.

Proposal

For my proposal I am going to write about lowering the drinking age. I agree with lowering it for reasons of; if you are adult enough to have a job, go to war, or live on your own you are able to drink. Not only that but the brain development. Yes the average teenagers brain is not developed fully, but who says that EVERYONE over 21 is more developed? Although they may not have a more developed brain they are still able to drink at a bar or buy alcohol because they are over the age of 21. Also, many people say that teenagers are more likely to go out and drive after drinking. Statistics may show that more teenagers get caught, but I am sure there are way more older people drinking and driving home. How do they get their cars home from the bars when they are all trashed?

Colbert Report

I thought that the Colbert Report was really funny because he is super sarcastic. I can relate to sarcasm which made it even more funny. Like with the whole making fun of gay marriage. He was being completely sarcastic but it shows how people would act or what they would have to say to that situation. I also like the fact that he can make jokes about himself along with other people.
I think that many people would get very offended from the Colbert Report but if that's the case they shouldn't be watching it in the first place.

http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/bipolar-disorder/diagnosis.html

A major difficulty with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder is the tendency for a patient to be unable to recognize his or her own condition, particularly when in the manic state. Patients often deny their symptoms, which may be perceived as positive feelings. The doctor should take a careful and complete history of any and all episodes of depression, mania, or both.

I don't disagree with this entirely but I do disagree to a certain extent. Not all people with bipolar disorder have the tendancy to be unable to recognize their condition. They actually know that there is something wrong they just don't know exactly what. Many people with bipolar disorder may think that their symptoms are nothing serious and deny that anything is even wrong because they do not want to deal with people trying to tell them something is wrong.

Topic I chose

The topic that I have chosen to write my paper on is my mother passing. I have chose this topic because I feel that it is a good way to explain why I am the person I am today and what it has taught me. It is also a way of teaching people the idea that "You Don't Know What You Have Until it's Gone." I am hoping to open people's eyes to that statement and hope to teach them not to take life for granted.

3 Ideas for paper

After doing the timeline of my life I came up with three ideas that I could use for a paper.
The first idea being the day that my mother passed away. This topic had changed my life in more ways than anyone can think of. It had affected my entire family and was the hardest part of my life. Although this topic had changed my life more than ever, I am not sure if I am ready to write a paper on it.
The second topic that I was thinking would be a good idea was my first boyfriend. This has changed my life in many ways. He was the only person that I wanted to be around. I didn't hang out with anyone unless I was with him. It wasn't because he was controlling it was because I didn't want to be anywhere near anyone else but him, which made us drift farther apart. This topic would be a good one becuase it had changed my life a lot, but no one wants to hear a mushy love story.
My third and final topic that I came up with for the paper is Graduation. Graduation had changed me in only a couple of ways. It made me realize that I am in the real world now I can't rely on my dad all the time. It also made me realize that I can't take my friends for granted because it will be limited time that I will talk to some of them because we all will be so busy with school.
Out of all the topics that I chose I would most like to write about my mother passing to see if I would be able to, but I am not sure if that is appropriate for the first paper.

What Defines Me?

I think that what defines me as a person is my sarcastic humor. Many people think that I am a very quiet person, but as soon as they get to know me they see that they were wrong. Some people think that I am a mean person because of the sarcasm, when in reality I don't really try to make people think that it just sort of happens. Other than my sarcasm, I think that I can't really be defined because I am complicated. I throw the sarcasm out there because I get nervous and witty, but if you really know me then that's when the true sarcasm comes out. Sometimes it is a bad thing but everyone that knows me well enough knows that I am just kidding and wouldn't really be that mean.

Ashley Herrick