The LAST and FINAL blog :(

I got excited with my typing and figured why not kill tow birds with one stone and just do both blogs today.
The time has come. All good things must come to an end.
And for this weeks blog, our last and final one, we are saying our good byes and talking about the class one last time.
Aw man I cant believe that class is already over, the semester is coming to a close and it feels like we just got started. I know as much as i was dreading this class at the beginning I am sad to see it go. this semester has really pushed me to do things i have never done before, with english and all the writing. This english class is probably the one class i have done the best in, ever. well english wise at least. I am very excited that school is over but at the same time this class has taught me a lot. I learned so much from and about everybody in this class from your blogs and papers and even group work. i am very glad that i met everyone in here, well sort of. its more of an online buddie-ship. but still it was fun. I know that i am going to miss reading and writing blogs. i will miss all the homework and essay, not really but its nice to pretend sometimes.
I remember the first day, or week of class and i was so worried that i was never going to be able to handle all the work and the schedule and just everything about this class was scary, in a way. but i decided to stick it out and eventually i found out that i could do anything and that this class was going to push me. i was ok with this and i am very glad that i stuck it out because i learned a lot more than i ever thought i could learn. about myself, my writing, my english class abilities, everything actually. I did not know i could do any of this stuff that we did this semester. and i will admit that there were many times i wanted to wuit but never did ecause i figured it would pay off in the end and it did. so i just wanted to thank you professor gross for giving all of the assignments that you did because they really helped.
and as for the classmates i have left in here, good luck with everything and i will miss having to read everybody's blogs and essays or anything in general. Peace, Love and the best of wishes!
-Valerie-

Reflection

for this weeeks blog we were asked to write about or reflect on what we have learned about our topic, the one from our research paper. and to tell you the truth i learned a ton of new things that i had no idea went on before i decided to write about women's rights in iran. i did not know that women did not have all their rights under the Shah. I sis learn that the Sharia Law was the law in Iran prior to 1979. This law, according to the research i did was the basis of family, marriage and women's rights in Iran. This law permitted men to have four permanent wives and as many temporary wives as they wanted. I really ahd no idea that it was to that extend and that the women didnt even have custody of thier kids. The custody of children was in the hands of the father and after his death, in the hands of the male relatives on the father's side. So if the couple were divorced, even after the death of the father, the mother would not get custody. I mean come on, how can people live like this. women are not made to be seperated from their children. i know if i was seperated from my child I do not think I would be able to live. I mean I was the one that went through all the pain and everything and I would not even be able to keep my child if the father would die. THAT IS LAME! And another thing I learned was that the woman had to have written permission from her husband to travel. I mean what are women over there animals, no I think the animals have more rights than women do. Since inside the country, one does not need to show an ID to travel, this permission was required for traveling outside the country. Citizenship was only through paternity. An Iranian man’s child from any woman would become an Iranian citizen automatically. An Iranian woman’s child from a non-Iranian would not be eligible for citizenship. So pretty much the women is just there to give the man children. these children do not in any way, shape or form get anything from their mother. Their dad gives them their citzenship, well he determines it, and the dad gets custody. the wife has to ask her husband if she is allowed to go places and cant go if he says no. I do not know about you guys but I know that I most definately could not deal with having to live by these rules.And these are just a couple things that i learned while writing this research paper.

research paper BOOOOO :)

When I think of this paper one thing comes to mind, and it goes a lil something likt this:

Dear research paper, I hate your stinking guts! You make me vomit. You are the skum between my toes!
Love Valerie!

PS. thank you alfalfa and the little rascals for such great words. you are truely wise beyond your years.

For this weeks blog we were required to write about the upcoming essay, well the one that is due soon. The first draft is due in a couple days and the final draft is due the week after that. We are being asked to write about how the essay is coming along. And we are asked to discuss what we have done, what needs to be done, how we can improve it and many other things. In other words we are being asked to vent about this headache of a paper. The first question I will be dealing with is how is the paper coming along? This is an interesting question in itself, I mean it is just a little hard to answer. The paper is coming along slowly but surely it is, but it is so hard. Writing essays is most definitely my weakness mainly because I do not like them. I wait for the last minute to begin, normally, and it is safe to say that I have been working on it but not very well. This weekend I will need to do a whole lot of work in order to do a good job then I will need to follow it up with another week of perfecting it before it is due next sunday. This is going to be a challenge and I am up for it. What do you need to do to complete it? The main thing I need to do to complete it is figure out where I am planning on going with my paper. I have decided to go with the women's rights issues in Iran. So I just have to decide how to put it all together. I have almost all of my paragraphs done I just need to figure out where to put them and how to connect them together. So order or organization and putting it all together. How do you plan to accomplish this? I plan on taking this weekend to concluded my first draft. Then I will be using next week to finish it up in its entirety. This will hopefully not take me too long to do. What areas of difficulty are you encountering? The biggest area I find difficult is the fact that I just do not know where to start my argument and what to or not to use. It is just so nerve racking trying to do this essay. The idea of writing this long huge essay is scary and I do not know how I will do. The biggest thing I do is worry about what I write and it not being good enough so I hold back. Or if I do not hold back I just write nonsense because I know I am going to fail anyways. How might you overcome these obstacles? I think I have a chance at overcoming the doubting by just doing the essay however it fits. And I figure that I am doing pretty well in the class so if I were to fail then I would hopefully still be okay. I mean some points are better than no points at all. At least there will be things going toward my grade no matter how few they may be.

communication styles

Individuals have various preferences for both communicating with others and interpreting the communications from others. Numerous models have been developed which describe how to recognize an individual's preferred style of communicating and what strategy to use in communicating most effectively with them. i feel that i have a unique sense of communication skills. there are four types of speaking, if you ask me. one is the EXPRESSER, they are the people that get excited during a conversation. then there is the DRIVER, this person like their own way; and has decisive & strong viewpoints. then there is the RELATER, this person likes positive attention, as well as they like to be helpful & to be regarded warmly. and finally there is the ANALYTICAL type of communicater. now this kind of person likes to seek a lot of data, ask many questions, behave methodically & systematically. based on these four ideas i would have to say i am a little bit of everything. i tend to get excited , very ofetn acutally, during a conversation. and at the same time i have my own way and ideas because i am a stubborn person. but i do like to relate to people because i like to know whats going on and see what things i can think of to help them out, if needed. then there are the passive, agressive and assertive type of poeple. i feel that i am very agressive with my language. which is the communication style in which you stand up for your rights while maintaining respect for the rights of others. i like to take chargeand have more control or te situation because i am a very goal-oriented person. i mean when you have to get something done you get it done. i most definately need Time. i like to be efficient and get things done now. not later but right now right now. but not rush into things and get caught doing the wrong or unneccessary thing. and then there are things i do not like such as: boring explanations and wasting time with too many facts. also someone that wastes my time trying to decide for me. one thing i really love is to get into a competitive situation all because i absolutely love to win.i do not like to make an error or mistakes, or even being unprepared, but spontaneity is kind of my thing. i have done a lot of my best work by being spontaneous. things like this just somehow work for me. i enjoy being Inspired. inspiring me to bigger & better accomplishments is my absolute favorite thing to have happen. but at the same time i need to be free. the freedom to do things my own way is the best thing because i do great things. i tend to be the silent genius because i have always had an issue with speaking out on my ideas, i just do things.

taboo :)

For this weeks blog we were given three different prompts and since I could only find two of them in the book I went with the one on page 424. For this prompt we had to discuss different reasons why we think taboo language should be UNcensored. First I decided that I was going to discuss what taboo language is. And taboo language can be described as a universal language that should not be used, especially not in polite company when an act is considered taboo, the words describing it often are, too close correlation between how taboo the concept and how taboo the word are used not to mention that taboos are culture-specific, even if two countries share the same language. And then there is non taboo language. And like non taboo language, arbitrary sound symbol pairings language is only dirty or clean when a community decides it is hearing a foreign curse word does not have much effect on you. You have to be brought up knowing a word is dirty for it to pack that punch taboo-ness of words can change over time. but there are benefits, or what can be seen as possible benefits, with linguistic taboos because they change with the development of society. and because linguistic taboos exists in almost every aspect of people’s life and is a universal social phenomenon it can help change things a lot quicker. There are also different kinds of linguistic taboos, like vocaulary and actual use of certain words, pronunciation with how these words are said and even grammatical taboo this has to do with saying the correct words in the proper order. Just by the way we speak and sound it says a lot about the person because the better the speak the more educated they sound. Like other parts of language, the origin of linguistic taboo is deeply rooted in the primitive social and cultural background and its change is greatly influenced by the development of human society in order to satisfy human beings’ needs for smooth communications. With the advancement of science and technology, many puzzles about the universe are solved, and with the increase of material wealth, human demands for spiritual civilization are also becoming higher. Evidently, linguistic taboos are a reflection of these social development and the value concepts and beliefs of the culture in which they are born. So without the uncensorship of taboo language we would never be where we are today. and if we want to continue to develop we need to allow these different taboos. taboos help us to notice our flaws and our mistakes so that we upgrade how we are. we take the bad out in kind of like a filter type thing. also there are different classifications of taboo language. there are taboo language referring to religion, gender, profanity, sex, drugs and many more. Back in the past there were not any real restrictions because people were not as fragile back then as they are today. but nonetheless taboo language should be uncensored so we can continue to develop much further than we are now.

Practice Makes Perfect :)

For this weeks blog we were required to analyze our writing and how far it has come since we started this class about 11 weeks ago. This blog actually took me a long time to think about how to write it and what to write about exactly. I finally just decided to just talk about the different ways I have improved. Oh yeah I think I have improved and I can actually say that I do not hate English anymore. I know starting this class I hated it because it was my worse subject, it has always been a challenge, because it has never really grabbed or kept my interest. I have always liked math and sciences over English. Looking back at the different samples of my writing from before this semester and even at the beginning of this semester it has definitely improved. It has gotten a whole lot better in many different ways.
The first way that my writing has improved is the grammar. i had a horrible sense of grammar before this semester started. It is still not perfect but it has changed a lot. I noticed this because of this blog assignment. I even went back and took some time to read some of the stuff i had written prior to this class. And you know what I noticed; I noticed that I was an even worse writer than I am now. I mean I am not a great or even a good writer but I have improved a whole lot. I think it may have something to do with just actually taking the time to write, proof read and actually think about what is going to be said. So just by taking the time to read the things I write before turning them in I have gotten better with the order of words and things.
Another thing that has improved with my writing is how long it takes me to actually write things. Before when I had a writing assignment it took me forever and a year to do it. I procrastinated so much because I do not like to write. And I never knew where to begin, so it took me four times as long as it does now. Now, and I think it is because I write so often, I can write a whole blog in around an hour and a paper in a shorter amount of time then before. As much as I dreaded this class from my first semester at AVC, which is why I waited so long to take my English classes, it really is not as bad as I thought it would be. I mean it is challenging but I was expecting to die. So now that I look back and realize that I have gotten a lot better than when I started this semester I know that it really is a true statement that can apply to everything, practice really does make perfect. Or pretty close to it at least.

jokes ha ha ha hahaha

For this weeks blog, week 10, I decided to write about "one of life's little frustrations." This little frustration has to do with jokes. I know a lot of the time when there are jokes going on I tend to not understasnd them. Inside jokes, long jokes, story involved jokes, punch lines or anything conplicated is confusing or can be confusing for me. And the worse part is when you have to ask for an explanationbecause by that time it is pointless and the joke is dead. It is never any fun when the joke is done and everybody else is laughing while you have a confused look on your face. The worse thing, well the thing I hate, is when you laugh just because everyone else is laughing.
Have you ever had a moment like that? I know I sre have, I actually have a lot of them. It is not like I am slow or anything I just tend to not pay attention. I don't do it on purpose it just happens. I have the tendency to blank on or during the important parts of jokes and stories. Even if they explain it to me again I still will not understand.
These are some examples of things or jokes that took some time for me to understand:
*this is a taco and burrito conversation, nachos. As not yours. Jokes that involve food just don't make any sense to me. I just don't find it funny to include food into jokes. Oh man and then there are "knock, knock" jokes. These are never entertaining in my book. There is an interesting knock, knock joke that annoys me every single time, actually there are two. The first one is: one person says 'knock knock'. The second person says 'who's there'. The first person responds with 'banana'. The second person says 'banana who'. And the first person says 'banana'. Once again the second person responds 'banana who'. And this cycle continues on for a few more reps. And then finally the first person says 'orange' and the second person responds 'orange who'. The joke finally ends with the great line of 'orange you glad I didn't say banana'. Once again with this joke we see the use of food in an annoying and repetative way. The second joke is another rediculous knock, knock joke. It starts with 'knock, knock' and the person responds with a 'who's there?' And then there is a long pause and you ask who's there again but still no answer. Whenever I hear this joke it bugs me soo much because I reslly want to know who's there. And every time I hear it it bugs me soo much that I literally say fine then don't tell me who's there geeze. And then walk away. another kind of joke that are very interesting are the ones that are used to see if people really think things are funny or if they just laugh to laugh. One like: there are two ducks in a bath tub. And one duck turns and looks at the other duck and asks who brought the bread? Ha ha. I don't get it but I know I have used it on occassion and people really laugh at it. I don't know why but they do.
There are many, many jokes I do not understand but if I continued I would be writing forever. And I don't really have that kind of time or paper. :) I feel that a joke should be a funny, simple and straight to the point kind of thing. I mean jokes are made to be funny and laughed at like almost instantly not made to be thought about and processed before laughing. Seriously people if you take more than a minute or two to tell the joke don't bother. And if you need to explain it, just don't, ot if it doesn't make sense don't bother either.

hate speech = not needed

Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. There is never any need for hate but it tends to rear its ugly head very often. And this hate comes in many different forms. There is hate in the form of speech, like language and the use of profanity or just being mean in general. I most definitely do not agree with anything that will cause harm or hurt feelings of a group or person. And I especially do not like hate, I am a nothing but love, love, love kind of person. Love for everyone and everything big and small. If my college or any college, like AVC, were to have or allow a hate group leader to speak to I know I would be very against it. I know I would not attend the speech or meeting, whatever the reason the person that is speaking is there. I also know that I would share my opinion as to why I am against it. I would work very hard to prevent it from happening. Under the First Amendment we are given the freedom to speak our minds. The freedom of speech is a big one that not many people are accustom or fortunate enough to have a law that allows them to speak freely with repercussion or persecution. Being the person that I am and believing in what I do, I know that I am all for free speech but not for hurting people. And I also agree with people being able to do anything they want that will make them happy. As long as there is no hurting of other people's feelings. By law we are granted the freedom to speak freely and share our thoughts and beliefs with the world. I find it necessary to do whatever is needed for someone to be happy but not at the expense of others. There is no need for burting others. I find it necessary to do what I need to in order to keep the hate away from myself. People often get into trouble with some or the words they use because it offends people. Mainly because it is deemed either obscene or inappropriate due to the vulgarity of it all. So in this situation I would think that it would be unethical to have First Amendment rights protecting any situation involving hate. Speaking to any sort of group should only be done, in my opinion, with an open mind and unbias opinion form of information. They should be done in language that is mean, obscene, vulgar or anything even remotely offensive. First Amendment rights should be reserved for people and group leaders that are part of something that will help the world. Or like benefit everyone somehow. People or speakers that project or relay a positive message for all people, especially the younger generations. Because all kids need to learn to treat everyone that same. There should be no hate, mean stuff, bullies or anything like that. So in the end I would not approve of a hate group leader speaking at my school, for any reason. And I do not feel that they should be protected by the first amendment because there should be NO HATE, just tons of love. I mean there is already a lot of hate in the world already we do not need to fuel the fire much longer. NO HATE! JUST LOVE for everything no matter what.

freeeee

Freedom is an interesting issue or topic. How do you know what freedom is? How does any person even really know what freedom is? And if they do know, or at least they think they do, how are they sure they are or are not free? I always wondered what is freedom, or total freedom? And am I truly free?I have always wanted to know why here in America are the envy of others, based on the aspect of freedom. Also are we really free? We are known as the land of the free and the home of the brave. So does being brave make us free? The fact that we are given certain inalienable rights, as a citizen -natural or not-, that give us freedoms or liberties that others do not get. Is this how we describe freedom?Being a citizen of the United States makes us a special part of the a great nation. We are given things, or allowed the opportunity to get things that others do not. Being here is a luxury that many do not understand. And those that do not understand how lucky they really are tend to be unhappy. When they are unhappy they have the tendency to talk bad about where they stay because they do not know what they have. They are too blind to see how lucky they are to have certain freedoms. They complain how unfair everything is and how there are many people that would give anything to be born in a place like this. I never understand why any person would trash talk or put down the one place they are given rights that no others get a chance to have. Yes there are issues with the system but that is to be expected because its a big system there is bound to be flaws. Not everyone is perfect. So you can't expect for everything to work perfectly. When people that have freedoms take them for granted it is never a good thing. Mainly because there are many people that do not get these kinds of luxuries. There are tons of people across the world that would give anything to have a chance at the freedom and opportunities we have. I mean if you do not like what is happening here then try to change it and if that does not work then you can leave. Negativity is not wanted or needed among people. There is already problems all around us but there is no need to increase them by being negative. The one thing people do not get is that there is alternatives, either put up and shut up or try to fix it. They do not need to be here if they do not want to be. There is a choice, whether they take it or not. Questions are questions and freedoms are free, sort of, but do they go together? Should you question or disagree with freedom? If you ask me I think not. Never question freedom or talk bad about what is being handed to you on a silver platter.

Languages of Men & Women.

For this weeks blog, week 7, I decided to work on identifying the differences between the way men and women use language. In this blog I am planning on explaining what I believe the differences in not only how men and women use the language but also the tone, words, facial expressions, and everything else that goes along with having a conversation. Most women, when they speak, all have the tendency to have the same patterns of speech or similarities. In my opinion women, it happens more in mother's than just any in general, have a nuturing kind of tone that goes along with their voice. It is very common in all women, normally, to have a softer sort of tone but at the same time they have a higher pitch to their voice. The easiest way to describe it would be to say that it is more of a feminine type of voice. Another thing that is very significant with women is that they tend to speak with their heart as in they speak with the highest tintention of not offending anybody. Women do not like to be hurt with words or actions so they try not to hurt anybody else's feelings. But at the same time we tend to just speak out and not think of what we said until after we say it. Women tend to project their feelings not only through facial expressions but also through their body language. Women, in my opinion, have an easy to read sort of body language. But then again it may just be because I know what I do personally depending on how i am feeling at that moment or how i am just feeling in general. Women speak with there bodies and looks, as in facial expressions, more than their words. When they are mad they tend to give you like this evil death ray kind of look. It pretty much says that they want to kill you with their eyes. Also with this they have their arms crossed in frustration. there are just so many different techniques to understanding the woman language.
But then on the other side of language you have men. As confusing as they seem, they really are not that different from women. Well they are but not really. While women tend to blurt out the answer to anybody's question men tend to sit a allow their answer to maranade. They take their time responding to a question and in most cases they are only like a one or two word response. While women on the other hand like to drag on the answer and give every detail they want to, even if it is not necessary. Men have more of a masculine voice. And by this i mean they have a deeper and lower voice than women normally do. Of course there are some exceptions for both men and women but for a moment we will just include them into these two groups. men are more subtle with their emotions. Most of the time they would be quiet when they are upset which is the complete opposite of some women. You do not really know what is going through a man's head because unlike women they do not like to share their feelings or problems. Men and women both differ in their use of a language. Whether it is with their tone, words or just the language in general. We were made to be different so just embrace it. No matter how upsetting it is.

Speechless :)

Nonverbal ques are used by everybody around us. Most are done whether they are aware of it or not. There are many examples of nonverbal ques. These ques have many faces; they can be anything from a simple little gesture like a smile to something bigger like a shift with a limb or with your entire body. I have always taken notice to the different kinds of gestures that go with the different emotions and emphasis of words. Depending on the person and what they want to say with their body, eyes, facial expression, hands, stance or posture. There are even insignificant ones like something as little as a smile can represent a lot of things. It can be like a hello greeting, or used with one, a happy gesture or even a way to hide how unhappy you are. It can be used to hide your feelings either way this action shows a feeling without having to say anything at all. They are very good ways to help with talking to people. Other people use a lot of different gestures but there are a few that I know I use all the time. And they all have an emotion that goes with them, whether I do it purposely or not. Depending on the topic or issue my body alignment can and will always change. It will fit with my seriousness of the conversation. The more intense, or the more serious I need to be, the taller or more proper I stand, well I have better posture. I call it my “serious” or my “business” stance. Also I tend to “speak with my hands” as in gestures with size or different directions. I use them to show the severity or how strongly I feel about them. I also speak with my eyes or facial expressions. If I think your full of it I tend to have big eyes, or wide eyes. If I am confused I have a questionable look on my face, by questionable I mean like my eyes are squinted and even my posture reflects it. I tend to lean forward and turn one of my feet kind of outward. And to make it really easy I, most of the time, have my arms out sort of in the air with my palms up. Most people do this when they say what or something like that. Then I have a tendency to smile no matter how I am feeling. I am the kind of person that can hide behind a smile. I tend to send people the message that, no matter how bad my day was, I am happy and having a terrific time. My mom always told me to smile no matter how bad you hurt inside because you never want to show people that you can be hurt. So I am a tough kid because of that. There is on that I know I do but I am not very happy about it. I tend to play with my hair when I get nervous or anxious. I never knew why I did this but I used to think it was just cause I tend to fidget but I was wrong. But verbal ques are everywhere around us. I am very confident when I say that even you have at least one nonverbal way of speaking.

English the Language that Dominates

This week for the blog assignment I decided to try and explain the problem nonnative speakers face while they try to compete in today’s global economy, which is dominated by a single language.
There are many challenges that everybody has to deal with everyday. We are given challenges in our lives in order to better ourselves and grow. These challenges are just things that everybody must go through mainly in the form of a right of passage because everybody has them at one time or another. These challenges are mainly based on the choices you make. But there are some challenges that very few people have to deal with and have choices on. There are people that live in places unfamiliar and not really their own that need to adapt and learn to communicate with the rest of the people. When you live in a region that is dominated by one main language and you have a job, business or just need to talk with people you must know the language that they speak. And in a global economy where English is number one every body knows this in order to survive. If you do not know how to or cant speak to others, due to a language barrier, the you will have a difficult time trying to compete in our global economy. In today’s global economy since most trade is done between nations there needs to be some form of common language. If there is no common language nothing can ever really get done efficiently. Not being able to talk creates problems and problems cause no trade or bargaining to happen which equals no business or slow business which is definitely not a good thing. For those other countries that trade with people in general they all need a common language in order to be able to negotiate or discuss products that their client or clients will need. Instead of dealing with the hassle of everybody learning everybody else’s language, even though it would be pretty amazing to know every known spoken language, like all five million of them, not really but you get the picture, it is jus a pain reliever to have one known language. So the fact that English is that language makes it easier on us, not only because we are a bit lazy but also because it just makes it easier for us because we are probably one of the biggest trade nations. English should dominate the language of the world and the global economy because we are just awesome, not really but if anybody should have an advantage it should be us. We rely on trade, as I stated before, the most especially with things like oil. Knowing how hard it is to learn a second or third language I am impressed on how the rest of the world has joined this advancement. For everybody to know and be able to speak one language is great because it is closing the gaps we have between us little by little. Everyday we show how much the world revolves on everybody and how we need every group to help us out. And now that the market is an English friendly place maybe we can get more done together. Maybe.

The L.A.W. :) Learning About Writing

There are many things we can all, as individuals, do in order to be better writers and write a well thought out, complete essay. Here are just a few ideas on how you can easily improve your writing.
Well the first thing you need to do is figure out that you are going to want to be or need to be a writer. Whether it is a career choice or a school assignment.
Then you should pick what kind of writer you are going to want to be. There are a few different types and styles of writing. You can be a change writer, one who hopes that their writing touches people and changes them for the better. Or even give them enough information and knowledge to be informed. There are also propaganda writers, their job involves inviting passive agreement. Or an expository which this person is great with story telling or story writing. Then there are writers that have a clear and concise talent for being able to talk to the average person, or everyday people. The fourth and final kind I found. Discussed in this chapter are different forms of writers and languages that the writers use.
After this you need to decide on a topic. Because everyone needs to know what their topic is or will be. This will obviously reflect your message and what kind of writer you want to be.
These are somethings you should do prior to working on writing the essay, book, article, or any other form of literature.
The biggest most important thing is to say what needs to be said and nothing more. After you have said all you feel is necessary and needs to be known about the topic there is no need to add more. Mainly because it takes away from your writing and sort of makes it boring.
Another thing is that you need to make sure you do not repeat yourself. You need to make sure that you do not repeat yourself because it isn't good to repeat, even though repetition leads to retention. There are somethings that should be repeated but later like when concluding it. The worse thing to do is to repeat yourself more than twice and do it with the same words or with rearranged words it all has the same meaning.
You should know the it is okay to repeat a word, a couple times. Do avoid descriptions when referring to an object instead of saying its name because you've used it before.
Order is very important. You need to do it either chronologically, a cause-effect and solution kind of thing or something along those lines. Organization is key, if your essay is not organized people can get lost. Same or similar issues, topics and descriptions should be together. It makes it easier on the reader.
You language and tone needs to be direct. No beating around the bush. You must say directly what you want to say no matter what it is. Nobody can judge you on your writing, not without jugding their own perfectly first. But at the same time you can't make youself the most important things in the world. No making yourself center of attention but it is ok to make an issue the center of attention.
Your speech, or language, and tone all need to be fitting of your possible audience or your intended readers. The language and tone are the most important things with essays. These set the level of what your essay could be. The better they are the stronger your paper is. Mainly becasue you intended audience can have their own language all their own. You can't expect a regular person to to speak as a doctor does, when they are working. The doctor's vocabulary consist of mainly health and medical terms. While a teller or bank personal speaks in their own language that goes with their groups. Every group has their own language so you would either need to simplify it to make it every reader friendly or just got with a more advanced audience.
Besides these things the basics are necessarily like grammar and spelling. You need to make sure you spell words properly and have complete sentences. Just a little common sense alone can do a lot for your paper but if you want to go above and beyond then listen to the articles written in this chapter and you will get a lot of advice. How you choose to use it is your choice.

Equality is important! ONE LOVE!

When you think of great and inspirational speeches throughout history what type or which ones come to mind first? For me there are a few some are older than others and some are of different topics and issues. There are the ones that people and history consider the greats and the most memorable. And then there are the most heartfelt and meaningful ones. But all were amazing and powerful in their own way. But when I narrow it down there are two that rise above the rest. One is Doctor Martin Luther King Junior’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the other is Ms. Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Women?” even though they were about different things, slightly but still similar they were both important in what they were fighting for. When looking Martin Luther King Junior’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Women?” they are both very inspiring for different yet similar things. One thing that both Mr. King Junior’s speech and Ms. Truth’s speech share is that they both use repetition. Which I have always heard that repetition leads to retention. They both repeated a line that they felt significant for their own reason. Both had a similar look of equality but one was for blacks to be equal with whites and the other was equality across the genders. Both were speaking to show that discrimination was not good. Women are just as capable as men; we can work the same jobs and do the same chores because we were made the same. And we should also not be bothered because of the color of our skin. It does not matter if you are white, black, brown, purple, yellow or poka-dotted you’re a person and should be treated the same as the next person because you were made the same. You were just kept out in the sin more than the other person. And nobody should be isolated because of his or her race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or anything that makes you different. Different is what makes us great and diversity helps us to adapt and advance. These speeches were very moving and very appropriate for the time they were given. I believe that if both of these speakers had heard the other one’s speech they would agree and be as impressed as we are today. Mainly because they both speak for equality, they are freedom fighters in a way. One may have fought or spoke for colored rights while the other spoke for women and how we are the same. We are strong, can fend for ourselves and do not need to be taken care of even though it is nice to have at times. So whether we are light in skin color or a bit on the darker side, a man, women, or child we are all people and should NO MATTER WHAT be considered and treated the SAME as the next person. Do not treat others badly or differently. We all need to follow the golden rule that we must treat others the way we want to be treated not to be nice but so that we in turn get the same proper treatment.

Language is FREEDOM.

Like the authors in this chapter I to have felt the power of language in a few moments actually. There was one time that an elderly lady was having issues and no one could help her. The main reason is that she only spoke Spanish and nobody around, besides me spoke Spanish. I felt so bad for her because everybody was being so rude to her and were just not willing to help her, all because they did not understand what she was saying. Instead of looking for helping they just yelled and got louder, as if that was going to immediately make her comprehend what they are saying. So since my parents always told and taught me to respect, help and appreciate my elders because they have done so much with their lives, I mean come on they survived that long, :D already. Also it is nice to lend a hand whether it is asked of you or not. I decided to go and help but when I did all I did was get yelled at by the older lady and they person that was helping her. But it was okay because after translating for the older lady and explaining it to the person helping her and from the person back to the elderly lady, pretty much just talking to both parties, the problem was resolved and everybody was happy. I mean all she wanted was to know where the nearest phone was that she could use and where she can find some change for her phone call. Helping people is a good thing, especially when you do it just to help out not to get a thank you or anything in return. Random acts of kindness improve the world one smile at a time.
My parents as well as my grandparents all came LEGALLY from Mexico. I interviewed my mom about her view on the importance of language. When I interviewed my mom she feels that language is the most important thing because it is the best and easiest means of communications. My mom stated that the most important thing she had to do when she moved here was to learn the primary language of the population. So she spent lots of time learning how to speak English because she wanted to do anything she could to be the best off she could be at fitting in and doing what she needs to do. My mom said that looking back she made a good decision because her brother, which is my uncle, never learned the language and is now in a way paying the price for it. He has a harder time working because he does not really understand what is being said. He understands a little bit so he can put two and two together but that’s it. And for my mom Spanish went from being her first and primary language to being her secondary language. She also believes that she is more American than Mexican because she has lived her mostly all of her life and has done her absolute best to succeed where people of our race are set up to fail. In a way :)

reading or thinking critically. woo hooo!

First of all let me start off by defining what critical thinking is to me based on its actual definition. By definition critical thinking is “the thought process used to evaluate information and the practice of using such conclusions to guide behavior. While the process of critical thinking is associated with accuracy, logic, depth, fairness, credibility, and intellectual clarity” (yourdictionary.com). My definition of critical thinking or how I would execute this act would be when I read or research a topic I would question what is being said as well as check how legitimate the sources are. If it is a reliable source or a firsthand account then I could possible believe it more than anything else. Stories that are written, published or told in magazines, newspapers are all open for interpretation. I was always taught to question everything so no matter what it is so that is what I have a habit of doing. When I read something I always have a tendency to, whether it is a simple little thing or an outrageous happening, question the legitamacy of the story. Questiong always makes for a more interesting thought process. Thinking about a topic more in depth makes it more believable and processing the thought in different ways helps to make it stick in my mind. When reading critically, in my opinion, one should have an open mind until theyre done so that it sticks and makes sense. Then you should go back and break it down and question the happenings. It is good to take notes while reading, either the first or second time, and mrak anything that seems somewhat interesting. If your reading critically to help with answering questions it is good to know what the questions are before hand or know what they are about so while you read you can mark information that seems like it would be consistant to or dierectly pertains to a specific question or topic of a question. When I read critically I also think critically, while I take notes and mark on the text anything that seems to have some importance or some relevance to the topic or question. There are even times when I use study notes cards with the questions written on them so when I read I can have questions on hand and highlight in the book or article what seems to be involved and write down the page number on the card in order to know and be able to refer back to it quicker than having to reread everything. I use these techniques of reading and thinking critically whenever I do homework, write essays, do research or just anything that has to do with or is for school. When it comes to other things like politics I tend to not do it as much because politics are so twisted and crroked anyways thinking or reading about it would only give me a headache. And most politicans are insane, in one way or another, or old anyways so it seems a little pointless. The media is bias because they only show one side of the news never show both sides of the stories. They like to amplify the bad side or the side they think would get more attention. Hopefully by the end of this class I can change my simple ways of thinking and view the broad side or things. There is always room for improvement and changing for the better is fun so I can only hope this will help