“Immigration: Newcomers by Numbers” by Anna Quindlen talks about how some cities like Hazleton are working toward getting rid of all newcomers. The author tells us that many are overlooking the fact that immigrant workers make up about fifteen percent of the workforce. Says that business leaders say that without them the agriculture, construction, meatpacking, and other industries would fall. These workers take the jobs others are unwilling to do, take lower pay, and pay taxes on top of all of that. I agree strongly with the author in saying that we can not overlook all the things that will be lost if we get rid of all our “illegal” citizens.

“Of Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether it is Better to Be Loved or Feared” by Niccolo Machiavelli is about exactly what the title says. It talks about when being a ruler is it better to be loved or feared. The author tells us that it is better to be feared because if you are only loved whenever things go bad for your people they will instantly turn on you, having no fear of punishment. If you are feared you can keep control and order through fear of punishment.

“My Faith in Nonviolence” by Mohandas K. Gandhi, talks about how Gandhi is pro-nonviolence in the act of overthrowing the British rule in India. He says that the message of non-violence has spread faster than any other in a very short time. I do not think I would have handled things the same way Gandhi did. If my country was being overthrown I feel the only way to get it back is through force.

Frank Austin
“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr., is a speech that Mr. King made in front of the Lincoln Monument, talking about how now is the time to get rid of all discrimination against African-Americans, and make things equal for all man. He uses a lot of metaphors and similes in this speech to make his points. The similes and metaphors make his points very strong and vivid to the reader, or anybody who heard this speech live. I remember reading this when I was younger and not fully understanding it because of all the big words. Now when I read it, it was much more meaningful to me, and I could really feel where he was coming from. I can feel how strong this speech must have been, being there, watching as he was speaking. Obviously, every generation has something big that they will always remember for the rest of their lives. And for the generation that experienced this speech, Martin Luther King Jr.’s strong words and vivid detail helped make this event even more memorable.

“The Language of Comics” by Scott McCloud, I think what the author is trying to say, is that the more simple a picture or “cartoon” appears, the more that everyone can relate to it. I liked the pictures that he used. The pictures made it interesting to read and it was pretty funny. He talked about how people are self-centered. And how people see themselves in other things around them, always thinking of themselves. These things can be anything from blobs with what looks like an eye on it, to the power outlet in your wall. I feel like this idea is true as well. I liked the way the author made his points.

“Music as a Safe Haven” Thesis- “It was something that made me feel good and helped me escape to a place where life was how I always dreamed it should be.” (p525)

The author talks about how much she loves music, and how it puts her in a place of comfort. I myself love music in that same way. I think it is always good to have something like that in your life. If you have something that can always make you feel good, then that is all you need. You can find ways to relieve your stress in music or in any type of art or hobby.

“Art for Art’s Sake” Thesis- “Man lives, and ought to live, in a complex world, full of conflicting claims, and if we simplified them down into the aesthetic he would be sterilised” (p548/549)

Just now as I wrote the thesis I still do not know if fully understand what the author was trying to say. I think he is trying to say that man (people) will always live with complications in life, and if we look at these complications in an aesthetic viewpoint, (to me meaning artistic??) these complications will be taken care of.

What’s Wrong with Cinderella?, by Peggy Orenstein is about how everything pushes girls to grow up thinking pink and pretty. I agree with the author in saying that girls should learn to find the beauty inside of themselves, instead of all the stereotypical views of pretty. I like how she made her point by showing how everybody else imagines something as beautiful, rather than how we should see things. I know if I every had a daughter I would raise her the same way.

Facebook Grows Up, by Steven Levy is about how the internet site “facebook”, made primarily for college students, is widely used by people everywhere. The author tells us that “more than half of its 35 million active users are not college students”. He talks about how the facebook users can start a mass movement involving many people with the same interests and motivations, communicating through facebook. I think that this thought is crazy to think about because it is true. It really made me realize how easy we can all be tied into one thing.

Harry Potter and Divorce among the Muggles, by Constance Matthiessen is about how when two people divorce, the children of those people, can carry things with them all the way into adulthood. The author talks about parents who stay together for the kids, and how they are unhappily together. But, I think what the author is really trying to say is that things like this happen. If you were to stay together eventually the kids will grow old enough to see that there is tension in the house, that the parents are not happy. I agree with the author in saying that this is not the way you want your kids being raised. Living in a house where you feel discomfort among family members.

Pumped, Pierced, Painted and Pagan, by Joe Woodard is about how more females are going through plastic surgery to increase breast size every year. He compares our ladies in America getting surgeries to the body changing traditions of those living in Africa. He talks about how girls feel they need to look, in order to be what is known as “beautiful”. I think it is a good point to address. People should not be stuck on the “pin-up” example of a women, but now days our thoughts of beauty are close to unrealistic.

A Fearful Press, by Lisa Finnegan talks about how the media can control peoples emotions toward a subject. She uses 9/11 as an example. The author says that after the news was watched following the 9/11 attack people began getting scared and angry. This reaction is an obvious one. The more they know about it, the more they have to think and stress about. I agree with the author in saying that the media can sometimes mislead us, but I feel like media is very important. Without the media we would be completely out of the loop with everything going on in the world.

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser I feel is really all about how fast food has become more and more apart of our everyday lives. Numbers show we become more fast food dependent every year. Fast food restaurants are popping up faster than ever, all across the world. Places like this are convenient and welcoming. I myself love fast food, and I know I eat way more than I should, of that juicy, fat, tasty fast food.

“In the past six years, the annual number of breast augmentations has climbed 400%, to over 120,000 in the United States and 10,000 in Canada.” parallelism (Woodard 465)

“Saks bought Club Libby Lu in 2003 for $12 million and has since expanded it to 87 outlets; by 2005, with only scant local advertising, revenues hovered around the $46 million mark, a 53% jump from the previous year.” climax (Orenstien 361)

“Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society.” hyperbole (Schlosser 494)

Don’t Just Call Me Mr. Mom by Brian Braiker is all about how our generation’s ways of parenting are much different than those of our parents, three decades ago. Brian talks about how he was a stay at home DAD, while the mother of their daughter was out making much more of an income than the father was. He tells us that in the last decade the number of stay-at-home dads have tripled. Overall stating that fathers today put more effort towards nurturing and caring for their children than the traditional money-making father. I do see a lot more stay-at-home dads today, more than I did while I was growing up, and I am still very young. And I know that by the time I become a father their will be even more. I would be one of the many fathers that would not mind staying home taking care of the children, while the mother is out making the paper.$$$(:
“Rather, I want her to know that in me she’ll always have a place to turn to feel safe, to calibrate her values, to seek council, to receive encouragement.” (Braiker 240). Asyndeton.

Loneliness…an American Malady by Carson McCullers, I feel, is all about how we are lonely because we need to find ourselves, and want to belong to something. Carson tells us that growing up it is natural to size ourselves up to others and want to explore unknowing things. He says that it is the self-consciousness that separates us from “lower animals”. He talks about love sending the fear in us away. He says if we have love we stop stressing over the questions “Who am I”, “Why am I”, and “Where am I going”. I agree with everything that Carson says. I think that I would only feel lonely because I feel like I have nobody. Nobody to do the simplest of things like talk, laugh with, care for, or love. Also I would feel lonely if I had nothing in common with anybody, or anything to talk about with someone.

Somebody’s Baby by Barbara Kingsolver, is all about how in other places of the world the adults treat and look at children very differently. She talks mainly about the difference between people in Spain and in the United States. She says that in Spain they really like children a lot more than in the United States. Barbara also says that in the U.S, having a child is being selfish, and that you better be prepared to pay the price. This makes me think that we need to look at our children like they are the future. We should really start appreciating our children.
“But unlike many other species we are social, insightful, and capable of anticipating our future.” (Kingsolver 283) Balance trope.

A Respectable Woman by Kate Chopin, is about how Mrs. Baroda doesn’t like someone when she first meets him, and then, at the end she realizes that she is attracted to this man. I think that a lot of people have this same experience in common with this woman. But this has never happened to me so I don’t think I can relate. I feel like a respectable woman is a good thing to be, even though I have never felt this situation personally.
“Oh, she told him, laughingly, after pressing a long, tender kiss upon his lips, I have overcome everything! You will see. This time I shall be very nice to him.” (Chopin 288) Irony.

A Homemade Education, by Malcolm X, is all about Malcolm improving his reading and writing skills while in prison. Malcolm wanted to write letters to Mr. Elijah Muhammad, but his writing skills were very weak. He began studying very hard while in prison to better himself in the sense of reading and writing. He thought of the idea to get a hold of a dictionary. So he requested a dictionary, tablets, and pencils. Once he got these things he began to copy the dictionary starting with page one.
He printed everything that was on the first page. After this he then read aloud the entire page to study. In the mourning he was proud to say that he could remember what many of these words meant. He continued to do this until he finished the entire dictionary. He learned a lot of people and places and events from history. He said “the dictionary is like a miniature encyclopedia”. Because he was writing all of this down his handwriting speed as well as his vocabulary became faster and stronger.
He read many books of the black mans struggle. He read about how the white man brought upon every non-white person every variety of the sufferings of exploitation. In the very end he says that he realized writing has changed his life forever.

The Angel in the House, by Virginia Woolf, was really all about her profession in literature. She said that writing was a harmless occupation. Because of how easy it was for her, and the pay she quickly became a journalist. Later she realized she wanted to buy a car so decided to write a novel for the pay she would get from it. She said in the very end that “there is nothing so delightful in the world as telling stories”.

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler…, by Italo Calvino, is written as if he is describing the reader going to a book store and buying his new novel. It talks about how you should be comfortable before beginning to read, and how you should have the light adjusted so there is no glare or shadow on your pages. Towards the end he said that it is sometimes better to begin reading something that is not so familiar to you instead of reading something where you already know the flow or the feeling of the reading.

The reading by Stephen King On Writing is all about how he feels reading is an important part of becoming a great writer. It first tells he is a famous horror novelist, also that much of his stories are made into movies. Stephen tells us that if you want to become a good writer you must read and write a lot. He says he reads about seventy or eighty books a year. Stephen believes that each book has its own lesson or lessons to teach us.
Trying to become a good writer someone can learn in what ways not to write by reading stories that are not interesting or poorly written. You can also learn which things are good for writing, such as style, narration, and plot development. Also he says by reading we can compare our writing to other great writings to make ours better. By reading many stories we can learn the different styles of writing that are being used Stephen says that if you read all of the time you will become able to write freely and without self-consciousness. He says “the more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen”.

The second reading by Harold Brodkey, Reading, the Most Dangerous Game first talks about how he wrote fiction and commentary for The New Yorker. Harold also talks about how important reading is. He says that the writer of a book or poem is no good if he or she is not changed morally after they have written it. He feels that for his life to matter he needs to read vigorously. He says staring with newspapers then getting philosophy and novels. Harold tells us that a primary rule of language is that there should be a reason for the reader to want to continue to the second sentence. And giving a good reason is called “being interested”.
So both of these readings discuss the importance of reading when trying to become a great writer. We can learn a lot more than we think about how to write if we have more experience with readings.