Jobs in America

  While looking through the news on AOL I came across this article and found it interesting.  It discusses the fifteen scariest jobs in the United States.  Not only did it describe the job, gave the education needed for the job, but it also gave the average salary of each job.  The salary is what made me think the most.  In this economy, not only do people sacrific their lives for our well-being (armed forces, police officer, firefighter -- some of the jobs listed) but they get paid bare minimum in order to sustain a family.  Relating this to the education we have discussed in class is that I believe this article proves regardless of if someone obtains a degree or not; there may be a very minimum amount of pay allowing them to survive on.  It is a growing issue within our economy and I find that it needs to be addressed.

Link:
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/10/28/the-15-scariest-jobs/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl9%7Csec1_lnk2%7C108787

Assignment #3 Helpful Tips

  Now I understand this may sound a bit strange, but in order to help myself understand the task at hand, I watched a variety of videos on youtube about fables.  I am a horrible creative writer, but watching some videos such as, "Are you my mother?" or "The old lady who swallowed a fly" gave me some more insight into this creative writing piece.  Not only did it bring back memories of these times, but it stimulated my imagination (which helped a lot with this piece).  Just figured I would share some of my tips with others in case anyone needed help.

Genres

  In order to help me further understand the different types of genres that exist in the literary world I found this website: http://www.booknutsreadingclub.com/genrelist.html
  It defined each specific genre in a clear and concise way.  At this instance I realized while reading assignment three, that I am going to struggle.  My one weakness in writing classes is always writing about fables, or fictional pieces.  Relating this to the recent article I read, "The Case Against College," I can explain my lack of creativity due to the public education I had.  This has led to a variety of thought about what to write my piece on, which may be trying to prove how bad I am at creative writing.  I am unsure as to where to begin or what to even think about when reviewing this assignment; which leaves me with much concern, not only for the finished result, but for my grade.

"The Case Against College"

     After reading this article I have mixed emotions.  In the beginning I began to agree with Dale Stephen (the author) because I find that students creativity is limited within the educational system that we engage in.  As I read further into the article though I began to question the validity it had.  The reason for this is because we grow up believing that home-schooled children aren't as smart as those who are taught in public schools.  I do feel that they are able to express their creativity more, but I also find within my own experience with home-schooled students that they struggle to be socially accepted.  This I believe can be tested and would be argument enough to prove that despite their greater amount of creativity, home-schooled students may struggle in job situations.  I understand there are many different arguments toward this, but I find that a larger importance on creativity is necessary in public schools to help with the advancement of our society (and to keep up with the ever competitive economy).

Bell Hook's "Essentialism and Experience"

     I am not sure I truly understand why we were instructed to read a piece of literature such as this, one thought I have is to see an example of someone else’s close reading of a piece.  To help myself further understand what this passage was discussing I looked up the term Essentialism, and defined it as a belief that things have a set characteristics that make them the way that they are and that certain groups possess the same characteristics.  This allowed me to understand the relationship that was being discussed in the passage about feminism involved with race and gender.

     To allow myself to blog about this passage I am going to analyze the extent to which the author analyzed Diana Fuss’s work, “Essentially Speaking: Feminism, Nature, and Difference.”  Although it does make it difficult that I have not read her work so I cannot testify to how in depth Bell Hooks analyzed Fuss’s work, I can analyze based on the understanding I have gained.  One example of understanding I found was when Hooks stated, “Now I am troubled by the term, ‘authority of experience’….” (page 11)  I can easily relate this to our assignment two we just finished because Hooks (like us) directly quoted the author that he was analyzing in a small amount of words and attempted to unpack the quote helping the reader to further understand what the original author may have meant.  I found by reading what Hook wrote, Fuss may have concluded in her work that a student can only fully understand a class when they learn it from a professor who has first-hand experienced the information that they are teaching.  The example Hook used was learning about African American history and their society from a black professor versus a white professor.  From this one example, I find that Hook truly analyzed Fuss’s work to the extent where a reader (like myself) who has not read Diana Fuss’s work, can understand the meaning that she intended to portray.

Writing Workshops

   Looking back on the first writing assignment that we completed, and on the assignment that we are currently finishing up; I have found the writing workshops extremely useful.  At first some of the assignments are confusing, regarding the specific ideas that the teacher is looking for in the writing, but through these workshops I have been able to understand a clear idea of this.  I feel that myself and many others benefit from analyzing someone elses piece of writing because we can gain ideas, generate thoughts and recieve input that help us to analyze our own writing in a different way.
   The assignment that we are currently finishing (assignment #2) we wrote two drafts for.  I found that this was helpful as well because I was able to revise a draft that didn't specifically address the assignment task.  I think that by creating a variety of drafs and revising helps a writer become more in touch with their writing and to further deepen their understanding.  In the end, I believe that my overall final copy of a piece now shows a deeper thought process that I did not contain before because I continually asked myself to look further into my writing.