Outside Event

I went to Jill McCorkle's reading of "Surrender." For some reason things were not going very well for me that day. I was not in a good mood and it did not help anything when I arrived late to this event. I came in and I had no idea what she was talking about. She seemed as if she was a bit nervous. She spoke in a monotonous voice. The story did not keep me very interested. A part of the story was actually quite outrageous and a little over the edge. I just remember wishing I was somewhere else the whole time. I definately did not want to be there any longer than I had to be.

Outside Event

A few Sundays ago, I went to Saint Benedict at Auburndale to attend a play by the name of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrols." Coming into the autorium, I had no idea what to expect. I did not know anything about the play, what it was or what it was about. The play was about a man tricking a girl into giving him money. The man's name was Lawerence. He meets another guy by the name of Freddy who is also fond of tricking women out of their money. The two clash. They decide that only one can stay in the town. They set up a competition between themselves that the first one to trick a woman out of 50000 gets to stay. It was a great play.

outside event

I went to the Otherlands coffee shop at 6:30 one night to listen to this lady read her story. Right away, I realized that this lady had an annoying voice. I found out that it was the University of Memphis's creative writing group that always put on the event. The lady was really bad at presenting and did not keep me interested very long at all. She spent a lot of time on a lot of boring deals. I could not focus long enough to even get what the story was about. I felt uncomfortable there like I did the first time I was there. I guess I just dont like the atmosphere there.

Exam Week

Exam week has been really hectic. I cannot wait until it is all over. Right now I am up at two in the morning still studying away. I never thought that college final week would be this hard but it turns out I was wrong. It will all be worth it when Christmas break comes along this Friday. I have taken a Lab Final. Tuesday, I have to turn in my eight page paper and take a psychology exam. Wednesday, I have an anthropology exam. Thursday, I have a Freshman Seminar exam. Finally on Friday, I have my chemistry final. Kill me.

annotated bib

For years now, reproductive specialists have been helping couples become parents. Dr. Jeff Steinburg predicts that in one year specialist will be able to predict the sex of a baby 100% certainty and the eye color of a baby 80% certainty. "I think it's very important that we not bury our head in the sand and pretend these advances are not happening," Dr. Steinberg said. According to a survey, most people do not have a problem when it comes to removing genetic diseases. Coordinating physical traits scare some but not all. "Somebody has a taste for a particular child or a preference for a particular child," Dr. Caplan said. Prefered traits such as not having red hair or freckles is driven by our culture. Dr. Caplan argues that the rich will occupy these technologys because money will play a big role. He states that laws should be set that people should get couseling before making a decision for a physical trait. ( would this trait really make a difference to me?...Is it that important?) Dr. Caplan makes a good point that parents would automatcially set high expectations for their children. If the child does not succeed as the trait promised, the parent then becomes upset and worried about the invested money. (211)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/03/earlyshow/health/main4840346.shtml

School

I have really been stressing out about school lately because I am extremely worried about my grades. I have not made a B since probably 7th grade and I do not want to make one now. I know that sounds insane but those are the standards I have set for myself. Chemistry is really grinding my gears right now because I have Freilich, the worst possible teacher I could have gotten. All the other people that do not have Freilich have a way better average grade than people in Freilich's class. I am very worried I might have a C in that class. In comparison to many of my classmates, I am doing extremely well versus their 50s and 60s. A C is not good enough for me and what I want to do. If this stress continues, I will have gray hair in a year. (147)

Thanksgiving

Many teenagers despise Thanksgiving because that means they have to be around family all day. I guess the older you get the more tend people realize that Thanksgiving should be a time of peace and rejoice. For instance, I love Thanksgiving because I get to see all of my family at one time. Its always nice to see people you have not seen in a while. Plus, there is a never ending pit of food every house you go to. Some people really miss the point of Thanksgiving because no one really realizes what it means. Instead of enjoying the peaceful holiday, many people are chaoic because they are rushing from house to house and waiting for Black Friday so they can go shopping all day. (126)

annotated bib

In the United States, there are no binding rules that restrict a private clinic from offering a menu of traits or from implanting them into a woman with a collection of embryos. A few weeks after Nadya Suleman, a single, unemployed California mother that was living on food stamps, gave birth to octuplets through in-vitro fertilization. She demonstrated that routine uses of reproductive technologies are not always unethical and unsafe. After the 33- year old Suleman was implanted by her physician with six embryos, two of which split into twins, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine suggested that no more than two embryos can be transferred to anyone over the age of 35 because of risk complications.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=regulate-designer-babies

Outside Event

I went to see Jonathon May and Emily Thrash read there absurd poets and stories. I got there right as Emily was finishing up on her reading. There were a lot of people there and I was unable to hear what she was saying. During intermission, I moved up front so that I could hear clearly even though I would later find out I did not want to hear any of these stories. Jonathon May read about his girlfriend then all of the sudden started talking about a guy and him getting it on in the dressing room. The poem he read was disgusting and perverted. Somehow, the crowd of weirdos enjoyed it. He began to tell a story about his friend Michael and how they would engage is sexual activities as he described it "sucking him off." I began to extremely uncomfortable and awkward. I wanted to get up and sprint out of there but I was scared to get up. After reading his stories, the crowd began to clap and yell "good job." I do not know how in the world anyone could actually think it was slightly good.

The iPhone

Okay, so I have/had an iPhone. Today, I was at the gym exercising and in between sets I was texting my girlfriend. While I was texting, my phone just shut off out of no where. The battery was fully charged and I have never even dropped the phone before. I figured that if I put it on the charger it would turn on. Wrong. The stupid phone still will not turn on. I'm so pissed off at Apple right now. It was a brand new phone that I waited two years to get. I had the best, up to date 3GS. You are pitiful Apple. Before you focus on "apps" make your phone be able to last.
(117)

school

Lately, I have been really stressing about the whole majoring in Biology. Biology is known to many as a very hard major in which I completely agree. Next semester and almost every semester for now on is going to hectic and difficult. Thoughts entered my head saying "you cannot do it." Yes I can. Every major is difficult just about. One think I've learned is that you only get out whatever you put in. Biology is a long and bumpy road but I will survive and I will proceed into dental school. Self-motivation is all I need. So here I come. (101)

Friday

Last Friday, I decided to have a party at my house. The party was going great there were about thirty-five people and everyone was having a good time. As the night went on my friend and I were on an eleven game win streak in the game of water pong. Two guys decided they wanted to bet $40 on the game. The match was a blow out and my team won the money. Upset about losing money, one of the guys starting saying many inappropriate things and pushed me. I pushed him back and he fell on the ground and I told him to get out of my house. When everything was over, I walked away to enjoy my company. Before I knew it, the guy blindsided me in the face. Extremely upset and raging with anger I went outside to take care of business. The guy came at me again this time I ducked and hit him square in the face. He fell to the ground and I got on top of him. I hit him probably five times before I was taken off. The whole thing was stupid. Please do not judge me for this blog. I was brought up not to let anyone pick on me.(209)

annotated bib

Some people may not know it, but paying couples having been able to select their offspring’s gender since 2001. The largest organization involved in this process is Fertility Institutes. They have a 100% success rate. Fertility Institutes selects gender along with screening for breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, and over 70 other diseases. However, Fertility Institutes plans to take there technologies to the next step and begin to select hair and eye color. There is a lot of controversy that comes with this idea. The Pope himself stated "the obsessive search for the perfect child." The Roman Catholic Church objections to all PGD processes because it invariably involves the destruction of blastocysts. (111)

http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/bio/great-designer-baby-controversy-%E2%80%9909

annotated bib

Last month, a clinic in California was shut down because they released an offer to the public to allow parents to choose their babies hair and eye color. "If nobody gets hurt and everybody has access," says Hughes, 'then genetic modification is perfectly fine, and restricting it is an assault on reproductive freedom." "It’s in the same category as abortion. If you think women have the right to control their own bodies, then they should be able to make this choice," he said. "There should be no law restricting the kind of kids people have, unless there’s gross evidence that they’re going to harm that kid, or harm society." People argued that Hughes' views were unmoral. William Kearnes, a medical genetist that came up with the techniques Fertility Institutes used for comestic purposes, was disgusted at the idea of designer babies.


http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/designerdebate/

intro to paper

Erik Bowman is my oldest brother, 22 years old, and attends the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Ever since he was in high school, he was extremely interested in science. I was only in middle school at this time and had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. My brother was fascinated by science and this caused me to be curious as to what he was so interested in. Erik's two favorite subjects were chemistry and biology. He had his mind set on becoming a doctor. In high school, he joined HOSA and ended up winning the national championship in medicine. His success only made me push myself harder. My freshman year in high school, I found out that the love for science runs in the family. I took Biology I Honors my freshman year and passed with flying colors. Not only did the subject interest me, I was good at it too. However, I never really developed tolerance for chemistry because I only liked it when I got the answer right.

Towards the end of my junior year, I forced myself to construct a plan for myself so that I could figure out what I wanted to do in life. I began researching many different occupations to see what major was required in college. I looked at the usual lawyer, teacher, and doctor requirements but nothing seemed to click. One day, my friends and I were talking about how I only think a girl is cute if she has nice teeth. It was my first impression. It was not until my friends Zach said "man you should be a dentist, your way too concerned with your teeth and everyone else." He made a good point. I was always the kid that had to bring his tooth brush if I was spending the night somewhere. I could not stand for my teeth to feel or look nasty. I did some research on the requirements for professional field of dentistry. Amazingly, biology and chemistry were the two most commonly accepted majors into dental school.

When I was registering for classes, my advisor persuaded me to join the Biological Origins learning community. The idea sounded good at the time so I went for it. The learning community brought me into Mrs. Sumner-Winter's English 1010. In class, we were constructed to choose from three topics: human tissue as property, DNA databases, and designer babies. I found out that biology was not only about the larger organism we see everyday. Biology has three main "columns": cell biology, genetics, and evolution. Out of the three, I was more interested in genetics and how it worked so I picked designer babies. I also picked designer babies because it seemed interesting how far people would go to get what they wanted. Scientists were willing to pick apart genes and stick the desired genes in. I found it hard to believe that we could even do that. I became interested in the process although I thought it would ultimately eliminate originality.

Works in Progress Reflection

Alex Bowman

Professor Sumner-Winter

English 1010

November 4, 2009



Works in Progress Symposium Reflection


Earlier today, I attended the “Works in Progress Symposium” for both English and my freshman seminar class. At first, I thought that the event was going to be extremely boring but it turned out to be a very interesting experience. Okay I lied, it was not interesting but it did bring forth some good ideas and information. I went to two presentations. The first presentation was by Jessica Volyes and it dealt with the term, prosody. The second presentation was about dialogue and comprehension by John C. Myers. Both Jessica and John are senior psychology majors that plan to move on to graduate school. Ironically, both of their presentations had to do with English.
In the first presentation, Jessica defined prosody as the lexical rhythm of conversation. She stated the prosody helps to keep away from monotonous voice and expresses emotional cues. I thought this was interesting because it made me think about how I would read my paper out loud. No one wants to read something that is monotone. I also have trouble with getting to the point. I always tend to drag on and on, eventually, leading up to the point. Throughout that process, I lose the readers interest. Prosody helps to get to the point and trigger memory during discourse. Even though prosody has to do more with speeches, it can also help me with writing because it requires me to think of my paper as a conversation.
The second presentation was a harder to follow than the first. John C. Myers He was interested in discourse processing, especially reading. John's research involved: reader characteristics, expectations, and goals. He conducted an experiment that had two categories: news and literary. The news readers read at a faster rate and better recalled casual relationships. The literary readers read slower and better recalled surface and text basic information. This suggested that the literary readers were looking deeper into the reading for more detailed information. Dialogue (speech) is easier to understand. John's study stated that expository text is more difficult to comprehend. I could relate to John’s research because dialogue is much easier to understand than monologue and expository text. I completely agreed with the results from his experiment on news and literary topics. When I read the news, I skim to obtain the basic information. However, I do not really know how this presentation would help me with my paper

Works In Progress 2

The second presentation was about dialogue. John C. Myers is a psychology major that participated in the works in progress symposium to help him get into graduate school. John's research was based on "What’s Different about Dialogue? A Comparative Approach." He was interested in discourse processing, especially reading. John's research involved: reader characteristics, expectations, and goals. He conducted an experiment that had two catagories: news and litrary. The news readers read at a faster rate and better recalled casual relationships. The literary readers read slower and better recalled surface and text basic information. This suggested that the literary readers were looking deeper into the reading for more detailed information. Dialogue (speech) is easier to understand. John's study stated that expository text is more difficult to comprehend. A conversion from dialogue to monologue may ulimately facilitate comprehension. Monologue will serve as a mid-point. His materials are two expository text. They were to read one sentence at a time to calculate reading times. He plans to obtain thirty participants, ten in each condition( expository, dialogue, and monologue). The effect of genre will also be consdiered. John predicted that dialogue are the easiest to comprehend and expository text are the hardest.

John did a good job with his presentaton. He stated good points and information to back it all up. I think the result of his experiment will give him the results he is looking for. He spoke very well and brought the conversation down a level so that everyone in the room could understand. I do not really know how this presentation would help me with my paper.

Works In Progress 1

Earlier today, I attended Jessica Volyes presentation on "Does Prosody Facilitate Retention in High and Low Knowledge Comprehenders?" She is a senior psychology major and her field of research is prosody. Prosody is the lexical rhythm of conversation. Prosody helps to eliminate a monotonous voice and to express emotional cues. Prosody is important because it allows the listener to identify sentence structure and plays an essential semantic role. Jessica said "when speaking do not be lengthy get straight to the point." Prosody helps with this, it helps to find the point and trigger memory during discourse. Prosody pertains to verbal memory. Pitch (prosody) is more essential in mental representation at the sentential level than at word level. It also increases recognition rates and removes deafness effects during monotonous voice. Prosody is similar to cohesion. Cohesion is the extent that the reader can relate one idea to the next as it flows. Highly cohesive texts help low knowledge individuals. Low cohesive do not have a detrimental effect on comprehension of high knowledge individuals. Jessica's hypothesis is that prosodic cues will have a negative effect on comprehension of low knowledge not high knowledge.

Jessica communicated her information very well because I was able to fully understand her presentation ,even though, prior to the speech I did not know anything about prosody. I thought it was quite ironic how her presentation was about prosody and she used prosody to clearly get her point across.

Prosody is a good method that I could use in the future when writing my paper. Prosody will help me with sentence structure and eliminate boredom for the reader. The use of prosody will help me to use emotional expressions to get my point across. Overall, it was a good experience and will hopefully help me with my paper.

Designer Babies

The Fertility Institutes was the first company to boldly offer couples the opportunity to screen their embryos not only for genetic diseases or gender, but to screen for all the physical characteristics such as: eye color, height, hair color, and skin tone. The Fertility Institutes claims that this is just the beginning and one day will be able to completely customize any offspring. Many people are flocking from all over and are willing to spend any amount of money for their "perfect child." On the other hand, some people feel as though designer babies are unethical and lack moral values. Designer babies are now in science's reach and there is no turning back. (113)

Last Thursday

Last Thursday, we watched a movie about the origins of humans. The movie gave vivid explanations concluding that all humans can be traced back to one area in Africa. Scientists attended the most diverse festivals in Queens, New York. The team took swabs of countless humans of different races. Their genetic differences all traced back to "scientific Eve." The first human was known as "scientific Eve." The movie stated that the human population started out small in Africa and throughout time migrated north toward Asia and Europe. In the movie, they presented a map that showed where humans dispersed as they left Africa. (103)

This weekend

For all of you that do not already know, I am a Tennessee football fan. A few friends and I are going to Knoxville to watch Tennessee play Memphis. I am kind of in a pickle. Who do I root for? I plan on wearing orange because they have always been my team and I am going to UT Knoxville next year. I am not a hypocrite for wearing orange as many of you might say. I will be going for Tennessee but at the same time I will not be talking trash about Memphis. As much as I would like to say it would be a good game, it most likely will not because Memphis is not playing well at all this season.(124)

Techniques of Possible Designer Babies

Genetic screening is already in use for selecting the offspring’s sex and checking for certain genetic diseases. A week ago, British scientists developed a “genetic MoT” test using a new more efficient process called karyomapping. This method provides a genetic screening of the disease carrying genes. If legalized, the test would be conducted on a two-day old IVF embryo. Karyomapping could spark the ability of doctors ruling out higher risk gene combinations for diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. However, the process could very well come with a cost of $3000. In the future, it may also be possible to “cure” genetic diseases by replacing faulty sections of DNA and inserting healthy DNA in a process called gene line therapy. Gene line therapy is currently performed on animal embryos because it is illegal for humans. (134)

Growing Up

Last week, I moved out of my house and moved into the midtown area. I have wanted to live on my own for a very long time and it finally happened. I live with my best friend Nick Caccamisi. We moved right by Rhodes College. However, renting my own house comes with massive amounts of responsibly. Instead of having the luxury of my parents cleaning up and washing my clothes, I have to do everything on my own. I don't have a problem with it though because I would have to do it sooner or later. So far it has been a good experience and I hope it only gets better. (111 words)

Double Jeopardy

I don't know if any of you have seen the movie Double Jeopardy but the plot behind it is phenomenal. Ashley Gudd is wrongly convicted of killing her husband. She is framed because that way a life insurance policy of two million dollars for her husband was given to their young son. As the movie proceeds, the viewer finds out that the husband is not dead. In fact, the husband staged his own death and ran off with his wife's best friend and their son. When she finds out, she decides to admit to killing her husband and hope for an early release due to good behavior. When she got out, she searched for her husband and planned to kill him because she could not be tried for the same crime twice. Ashley's parole officer finally realizes what she is doing and helps her find him. They found him and a shoot out occurred with only one casualty. Ashley ended up killing her husband by self-defense. Ironic. (167 words)

Designer Babies

Today, the only traits that be identified are a number of serious genetic diseases. Until a few years ago, parents who have access to genetic testing techniques are able to accurately determine their offspring's sex. It is predicted that in a decade or two, parents will be able to determine physical characteristics such as how tall their child will be, eye color, hair color, and body type. One day, they may be able to control a child's IQ and personality type. If genetic therapy lives up to its promise, parents will be able to rule out undesired traits and replace them with desired traits. A list of options might one day be presented in a lab for the parents to pick and choose how there child will look and act.

www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html Time Magazine

Real-life

Nick Caccamisi and I are moving into a house by Rhodes College very soon. It is going to be a huge step for both of us because it's the first time we have lived on our own. The only concern I have about the new house is we do not have internet and we do not know if we are going to get it. This is going to make doing homework difficult because I will have to go to the library or find a starbucks in order to complete my assignments. However, the experience of living on my own will benefit me in the long run.

Anthropology

October 21, 2009 is the mid-term exam for Anthropology 1100. Some of the students in my class decided to form a study group before the exam. Many of the students have complained about the way Professor Hicks teaches. She reads directly from powerpoints everyday and puts everyone to sleep. The exam is going to be extremely tough because no one knows anything she is presenting. We are all going to try to do our best but I am very worried because I do not feel like I have a good understanding on the things she has gone over. I plan to study what I can with this group and hopefully it will benefit me.

Stem Cell Research Offers Hope for Cancer Vaccinations

Dr. Zihai Li of the University of Connecticut Stem Cell Institute stated that stem cells and cancer cells shared many biological and molecular features. Stem cells can be used to "trick" the human immune system into thinking that the stem cells are indeed cancer cells. Therefore, the stem cells dramatically reduce the growth of tumors. However, the procedure has not left the laboratory mice yet. The mice vaccinated showed a decline in the tumor growth while the non-vaccinated mice did not.

I think that this procedure could change the world. If stem cells were able to "trick" the immune system and reduce cancers deadly affects, many lives could be saved. Who knows, stem cells may be used as a vaccination for other diseases other than cancer. The stem cell research is an important study in today's scientific world and definitely should be pursued.

Tehran Times: Stem Cell Research Offers Hope, October 7, 2009.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=205608

Designer Babies

After looking at all of the choices for the evaluation essay, I decided to write my essay on designer babies. This article really appealed to me because it really shows how ridiculous humans can be sometimes. Humans will go to whatever extent they have to get what they want at that given time. Picking what you child with look like and what gender he/she will be? Where is the originality in that? This process will tend to cause much controversy because many people prefer tall over short which will then create a system of bias for short people. Also being a new discovery/process, the procedure will be relatively expensive. Once again, only the wealthy people will have the luxury of the procedure until the hype dies off.
(127 words)

College and Everything That Comes With It

College is really starting to become hectic. Fall break is approaching and with that comes mid-terms. Today, I took my chemistry exam and I feel as though I did well. However, I had to study at least an hour a day, everyday, for about a week and a half in order to do halfway decent. It almost seems as though there is not enough time in a day to get what I need to get accomplished. Everyday there is some type of homework to be done. There is definately a big change in quanity and difficulty from high school to college. Hopefully as I get better at managing my time, I will be less stressed.

Football

College football is a very big deal in the United States. There are die hard fans for every individual team. Many people would argue that the southeastern conference puts together the best teams out of any other conference. The love for a specific team sometimes starts from birth. Favorite teams are inherited and can become an important tradition to attend games. Many fans are willing to drive all the way across the country to be a part of the roaring crowds. I’m very intrigued as to why football is a very popular game in the United States but no where else in the world.

Observation of Friends Lost to Frats and Soroities

The weekend is a two day period that pushes many students through the school week. This past weekend, I decided to check out the fraternity atmosphere because one of my close friends recently joined. I went to an ATO gathering and the guys were nice. The main thing I noticed was how my friend was acting around the ATO guys. I feel as though I almost lost a friend to a fraternity house. Constantly, something is going on at the house and as a member if your not there you are neglected by the other members. All through high school, my close friends and I would always hang out until one of them joined ATO. College is going to be identical to high school because many people are going to change and go there separate ways.

136 words

Outside Event

On Thursday, Robert Root came to speak and read parts of his book at Mitchell Hall at seven o'clock. Robert was an older guy that was interested in authors that not very many people liked. Also, he was fascinated by coincidences He read a small excerpt from his book about his journey up Long's Peak. Robert vividly described the scenery and the struggles of the climb. Not only did he provide physical details, he described his own thoughts bringing the listener to the mountain. He was persistent to reach the top and the fact that fifty-five deaths had occurred on the very route he was taking did not stop him.

110 words

Coach’s Personalities

Many coach’s have distinct personalities. I had the typical high school coach that yelled and screamed at the top of his lungs every time something bad happened. It is very rare to find a calm and patient successful coach. Mostly all coaches are extremely high tempered but they have to be in order to get their point across. The coaches have to develop a player’s mentality of mind over matter. Coaches also focus on mental toughness. For example, if a player cannot handle a coach yelling at them, how could they handle being run over by a 300 pound linebacker? However, coaches have different methods of teaching. Some will be willing to commit to some one on one time while others make the player find it within themselves. The life of a coach can have a big effect on how they act outside of the game. Some still have that same temper and it affects their every day lives.

Conversion from high school to college

In high school, I was a straight A student. I will admit it, I never studied. The conversion from high school to college has been difficult. College consists primarily of studying and writing. Many people cannot make this conversion. More times than none, there is always a student sleeping in class or missing class. Some people do not realize college is the real deal. How well a student does in college will most likely determine how well he or she will do in life. Students need to create a fine line between study time and "hang out" time. I see too many fellow students that have great potential be lazy.

My Perspective

Throughout high school, I always loved science. Biology came really easy to me and I enjoyed it. When college rolled around, my career choice was compatible with my love for biology. A main topic in biology is evolution. At first, I hated this part of the subject because of the controversy between religion and evolution. Growing up, I was very involved in church and am still today. I was not born into a very religious family. For the first couple of years, I attended with my family. From eleven to seventeen, I was a regular at Hope Presbyterian by myself. I am convinced that there is a God. God did not make things perfect. Evolution could have been his back up plan for when things got out of hand. No one knows. As complex as humans are, there has to be help from a higher being.

Chemistry

I have never been very fond of chemistry. Chemistry almost drove me away from majoring in biology because I would have to take it. In high school, I took AP Chemistry and Chemistry Honors. I made good grades in both but I did not pass my AP exam due to a terrible teacher. Mr. Freilich, on the other hand, is a very good teacher so far. Unfortunately though, he is not able to cover and "teach" everything he needs/wants to in the given time we are in class. Students, like myself, need more one on one teaching. Mr. Freilich told us if we need extra help to go to the student center where there are tutors for chemistry. Honestly, I know more about chemistry than they do. I went in there with more knowledge than I came out with. The U of M needs to hire new tutors. Maybe, I caught that person on a bad day. Regardless, these tutors are being paid to help so they need to find a way to assist us students

Class conversation

Today, my professor decided to condition our forearms by writing for forty-five minutes straight. The class picked numbers and the numbers selected would engage in an extremely long conversation about the most random things. Bobby and Elliot were chosen. Immediately, Elliot seemed to be nervous and out of place. He crossed his arms and looked down indicating that he was bored/uncomfortable. Bobby started the conversation and was seventy-five percent of the conversation. After running out of topics to talk about, both of them looked around dumbfounded. Professor Sumner-Winter threw random topics at them. Right away, Elliot seemed uptight again. People all around the room began to join in putting there thoughts and opinions. After what seemed to be three days, Bobby and Elliot could converse no longer.

"Typical conversation with mom"

This video really opened my eyes to how important human senses can be and the different perspectives each one gives without the other. The first time in class, I was not able to watch and write down at the same time. When I relied on my hearing alone to tell the story, the boy did not seem to accept his mom's generosity. He was being very stubborn about trying the fish his mother was offering. Like all mothers, she was only trying to feed her son with a healthy meal. Finally, the son gave in and tried it to satisfy his mother.

When I watched it at home, I came to find that the mother was a very loving mother. She took great offense to the thought that her son would not even attempt to try the tuna she made for him. She also noticed the lack of respect her son showed by not making eye contact.

Titans vs. Steelers

Many complains have developed over the subject of the NFL's overtime method. Unlike college, the NFL's overtime basically whoever scores first wins. Clearly, this overtime is unfair to the team that doesn't win the coin toss.
The Pittsburgh Steelers wanted only one more thing since their national championship last year, to avenge their loss from the Tennessee Titans. Everyone knew this game would be a close one especially considering it was the season opener. Tennessee's defense did excellent stopping Ben Roethlisberger until he found out the short passing game was their weakness. However, both teams had there chances to win; Tennessee missed two field goals and Pittsburgh fumbled at the five yard line. Predictably, the game went into overtime. Titans are the visitors they get to call the toss. They guess wrong Pittsburgh gets the ball. The ball is taken down just far enough to get in field goal range. Pittsburgh kicks a field goal game over. How is this fair? The NFL needs to adjust their overtime to more like college. There should be at least one chance per team to score.

Autobiography of Charles Darwin

1. Why does an autobiography matter?

An autobiography matters because it is a way of determining how a person thinking and acts through reading. An autobiography helps the reader jump into the mind of the writer and accompany him through events of that individuals life.

2. How is it different from a biography?

An autobiography is different than a biography because a biography is told from a separate person than the person being written about. Therefore, an autobiography is more accurate because the writer is able to introduce thoughts into the writing.

3. What is important about the distinctions?

In an autobiography, the reader is able to get more out of the writings as stated in question number two. Autobiographies give a much wider range of detail that the reader could get from a biography. Also, autobiographies are able to bring into account past events that occurred in there lives to help describes themselves and how these events shaped there characteristics. (could also have been an additional part to question two)

4. Are autobiographies worth reading? why/why not?

Autobiographies are very much so worth reading. They behove an curious reader on the topic of people. They are the best way to really get to know a person and how they think without actually know the person.

Autobiography rough draft

1. Quick anecdote about a time you were terrified.

My senior year/dream was smashed in March when I was playing baseball for my high school team. Baseball had been my life for thirteen years. I worked hard everyday to hopefully achieve scholarships. My dream was coming true, I was offered to play at the University of Arkansas. A few days before I was to sign a letter of intent, I tore my labrum in my shoulder leaving my senior year in baseball and scholarship behind. The rehab for my shoulder is eight months. To this day I am still in rehab.

2. What does this say about you?

• athletic
• crushed due to the situation
• hard worker
• determined

3. There is really no difference in the way I would like to be perceived other than what you can strip from the anecdote.

4. Anyone who has ever lost something important to them would know exactly how my experience felt. To this day, it is still hard to watch baseball. Anyone would has worked extremely hard for something and had the opportunity taken from them could relate.

Answers to the first english assignment

1. The last time I had to write something fairly difficult was a report on Karl Marx's philosophy.

2. First, I organized research and put together a system of important points. Then, I combined the points into a paper on Marx's complicated philosopy.

p.23

1. split, lose, paused, vanished, considered, rounding, trailed, picked, chased, smashed, entered, ran, sliding, glanced, choking, trained, dive, compelled, impelled, follow, running, discovering, exhilarated, dismayed, caught, stopped

2. paused, vanished, considered, rounding, fling, forget, trailed, picked, chased, smashed, entered, aim, sliding, glanced, choking, trained, dive, compelled, follow, impelled, running discovering, exhilarated, dismayed, stopped

3. ''He chased us silently, block after block. " "We ran up Lloyd Street amd wound through mazy backyards up toward the steep hilltop at Willard and Lang. "

p. 24

1. He was in city clothes, a suit and tie, street shoes, man in his twenties. The man's lower pants leg was wet, his cuffs were full of snow, and there was a pow of snow beneath then on his shoes and socks. [ skinny, redheaded, furious, determined ]

2. He seems to not care at all, kind of ruthless. [He speaks in a Pittsburgh accent] with normal righteous anger and the usual [common sense.]

3. A well dressed, redheaded man persistently chasing two kids in the snow.

1. She calls it the perfect snowball because it is made out of perfectly white snow, perfectly spherical, and squeezed perfectly translucent so no snow remained all the way through.

2. Mazy backyard: I imagined running with them under a low tree, up a bank, through a hedge, down some snowy steps, and across the grocery store's driveway.

p. 25

1. " He begun perfunctorily" " chased us passionately without giving up, so he had caught us"

2. That she hated being chewed out because it was pointless and had no point. She had been caught due to the man's determination.