Blog About Blogging

Honestly, I didn't mind blogging at all. I even managed to keep up to date on the blogs. It is good because I can give my opinion in a blog when I may not feel comfortable yet giving it in class. I love, love, love to write, but with work and classes I was unable to do much free-writing. When I did have a few minutes to write for pleasure, I encountered "Writer's Block". These blogs helped me to keep my creative juices flowing and release my Writer's Block.

My favorite blog was the blog responding to I.O.U.S.A. because it is such a current, relevant topic. It affects every citizen in America, especially those of us of the future generation on whom this fiscal crisis will rest. Therefore, it is difficult to not have an opinion on such a multi-faceted topic.

Work Stress!

Finally this semester is over! I am so relieved. Now I can pick up more hours at work. I need at least 20 to pay the bills and eat. (And I LOVE to eat.) Work in itself is insane. It's like Days of Our Deli Lives. Caren is retiring in January and we are all rejoicing 'cause she doesn't do anything worthwhile at work. One of the guys in Meat finally read her the Riot Act telling her that her coworkers (me!) have long deserved for her to retire. Kudos to Neal!

Hours are being cut again in January all thanks to our Neo-Nazi new store manager, Pati. Hate is such a strong word, but I hate her. She doesn't care one bit about any of us employees, it's all about her and how she looks when Corporate checks in. She was on vacation this past week. It was one of the most enjoyable weeks I have experienced since she came. She has the nerve to cut deli hours again?! I have 12 hours this week and that's the minimum the 880 says G.E. can give us. I always thought the Union didn't do anything for me, only protected the lazy workers. Now I can see that it does protect me...from people like Pati. Everytime I get sick of going to classes, then I go to work and thank God I have the opportunity to go to college and not work at a Giant Eagle deli for the remainder of my life.

Essay 2 Thesis

My thesis for essay 2 is: "Society tells women that their identity should be as a wife and mother."

This is something that I can draw from my own experience. Every time family comes up in topic, I mention that I just don't want children. The response is either "Why?" or "You'll change your mind." Not to say that getting married and having children isn't rewarding, but its not for everyone.

I can also support this thesis with Crooked River Burning. On several occasions Anne is confronted with society's planned identity. At one point she reflects on her neighbor and how everyone around her seems to be pregnant.

I hope this thesis is specific enough because I seem to have a problem it being too general. Any comments/suggestions are welcome.

Speech 2 Source

My print/library source that I am using for my speech on
Dorothy Parker is The Collected Poetry of Dorothy Parker. This is, as you can tell from the title, all of Dorothy Parker's poems. This book really gave me a sense of her writing style and the tone she uses. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed her poems and I shared them with my aunt and my boyfriend. I would like to use one of her short poems, or a line of a poem, for my conclusion.

This is a reliable source because it is merely a collection of copies of her poems. To check the reliability of this book I could compare the poems to other books on Dorothy Parker to see if the poetry is the same. After all, the poems are not subjective. They are what they are, just the way Parker wrote them.

Cerf, Bennett A., Robert Haas, and Donald S. Klopper. The Collected Poetry of Dorothy Parker. New York: Random House, 1959. Print.

Crooked River Burning

So far, I don't like Crooked River Burning as much as I liked Color Me Butterfly. The interesting parts are all the facts about Cleveland. It's so hard to imagine the kind of city that Cleveland once was. I find it really hard to like Anne O'Conner because she is just so spoiled. In a way, I can see that she hasn't been exposed to any other kind of life. David lives a very "normal" existence. For lack of a better word, David is boring. I give the author credit for making these two fictional teenagers just like real teenagers would be, but it might be their realness that makes them boring. I am curious as to what will happen next with David and Anne since this is supposed to be a romance, but at this point in the novel they have gone their separate ways and David is supposed to marry Irene.

I.O.U.S.A.

In the movie, I.O.U.S.A., they discussed the four types of our national deficit. The Budget deficit is the one that most people are aware of. Simply put, we are spending more money than we are earning based on our Gross Domestic Product. The second deficit is the savings deficit which means that the citizens of America are not saving like they have in the past. There is a debate on whether or not this is a personal choice or because they are unable to save due to bills and taxes. The trade deficit is caused by importing more goods than we are exporting. The fourth trade deficit is one of leadership. This movie argues that we cannot "Do Nothing", that we cannot leave this tremendous debt to future generations, and that we must cut spending to solve this problem as quickly as possible. If we don't we will only incur more debt.

At the end of the movie, while the credits were rolling, David Walker said that we are by no means the only country suffering from a fiscal crisis. However, he said that it is no excuse not to act saying, "What's the point of being the best looking horse in the glue factory?" I wholeheartedly agree that drastic action should be taken to reduce this nation debt, especially being part of the generation to whom it will fall if a solution is not created. I was really impressed that there is an organization created by the youth, Concerned Youth of America. This deficit will primarily affect us and the fact that many of the youth choose to ignore this problem sometimes makes me feel like there is no hope for America. This is the most frustrating part coupled with the fact that people call for change and yet they refuse to help enact it themselves. I know that change requires work and that it's a scary thing, it scares me. But what scares me more, are the consequences of doing nothing. The consequence that I believe will result from a lack of action on the part of the people: the fall of the United States of America. It may sound like doom and gloom, but it's preventative.

Integrating a Quote

Having a positive male influence is what I consider to be one of the most critical aspects of every child's life as they grow up. In Color Me Butterfly by L.Y. Marlow, Rollie could not greet his ailing father, Issac, and he says, “I ain't got nothin' I need to say to him.” (287) Rollie's statement regarding his father struck me because it is a prime example of how a father's mistreatment of his child will have long-lasting, damaging consequences.

though many years have passed since Issac leaves his family, Rollie is still unable to forgive his father for his abominable behavior toward his family and his response to seeing Issac again seems to dredge up a lot of resentment. All of the other children were able to forgive their father when they see him in a weakened state, except for Rollie. Consider though, they were never forced to eat a disease-riddled rat from the basement. I believe that in life there are some wrongs people find it just too difficult to forgive. However, I also believe that it is easier to forgive a parent's wrongs than a those of a stranger. That is one thing that I have noticed about abused children; they seem to forgive their parents the most unthinkable mistreatment. Rollie is an exception.

Bibliography
Marlow, L.Y. Color Me Butterfly. Bowie, Maryland: eL Publishing, 2007. Print.