When All Was Lost

I was fourteen, and it was my first week of freshman year. I was a nervous little freshman. I was taller than many of the seniors, making me stand out in a crowd, which was even more frightening in a way. In this strange place known as high school, I heard that anything could happen. From soccer practice, which began the week before our first day, I seemed to be alright. Yet, apprehension overcame me when stepping through those mile wide front doors, and I breathed for the first time as a high school freshman in a place that would become my secondary home, if you will. I had some of my good friends along with me, such as Daryl, Mike, and Seby, but I still felt uneasy. At soccer practice, everyone seemed at ease, yet it was after entering that building that new characters crafted out of sheer stress would unveil themselves. Petrified of leaving that building with a very dense bag, I felt relieved that we freshmen got a reprieve of a mere orientation.
The next day, some of my biggest fears began to show their faces. My first class at high school was the A period Algebra 1 class taught by Ms. Sinitski. I was horrified when I found myself pick up a pencil and open that agenda and write, “In a paragraph, tell how I used math this summer.” Down below in the basement was the stage set for my next class. After fiddling with my locker for the entirety of the four minutes granted to us in the halls between classes, I arrived to my first class, the only thing, I was locked out. I felt as if I had been letting down everyone I knew by arriving late, with the kindly Biology teacher, Ms. Osborne, taking time out of class to let my pitiful self in. I heard that those who got late to classes failed, and I was vehement with myself that I might be failing a class because of my inefficiency with my locker. Distraught, I decided never to get late to another class, and began to literally carry my locker all over the place. After that first day, I found myself with a light and intimidating load of homework, and with arms that felt like they had grown a few inches from carrying all those books.
Syllabus is a word that I found much absurdity in from the start. Never had I ever heard such an unusual word, and it is not surprising that I discovered it in high school, where everyone seemed to be geniuses. From my D period English Writing class, I had received a scant assignment of getting a parent/guardian to sign the syllabus. It seemed to be a joke when the sound waves hit my eardrums that a homework assignment would be to get a sheet of paper signed. Hoping that this was as far as high school homework went, I decided to take my time with it. My first week of high school had concluded, and it was quite an accomplishing feeling that I came out of it in one piece, without an F, without a detention, and without a fight. That weekend, it was high time that I took to the basement and squandered my time with the Nintendo 64, to put out that stress felt in those first few and harsh days. In my relaxation, I lost all sight of my one responsibility, that of the syllabus. When Monday came along and I approached my D period English Writing class, I went blank. Something was wrong, but what? I took to my seat and thrusted those books under my desk, with my arms feeling as if they were almost like elastics. Ms. Walter, my teacher for that class, kicked off the class by ordering that we pass up our signed syllabi. I felt an awkward emptiness, perhaps this was that sinking feeling I felt. I opened my folder, and took out the syllabus, with the line labeled “parent/guardian signature” blank. I reached a state of panic. My first grade in this class, and looked like I was going to blow it. Would I be trapped in the infinite vortex of that dreaded AMS session? Would I fail off the soccer team? Would my parents feed me at all if they saw this? It seemed as if all were lost.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

1. How did Sedaris take a potentially boring experience - auditing a beginner's language class - and turn it into a humorous essay? An interviewer once wrote that Sedaris's signature is "deadpan" humor. What is deadpan humor? Identify - and characterize the effectiveness of - examples of it in "Me Talk Pretty One Day."

Through skepticism, Sedaris made his essay humorous, even though it had a potentially boring topic. Sedaris leaves much room for doubt when making judgments, and then fills in those gaps with his own speculations, often times accompanied by outrageous remarks and blandly unobvious statements often times marked with sarcasm. This is tied into "deadpan" humor. "Deadpan" humor is really a bland sense of humor, of which is often times unpredictable and uncalled for. It is quite effectively used, because of the that way it comes across, it seems awkward, yet strangely it fits in. An example of this could be how Sedaris described his French teacher, as he said she had an accent. He sort of exaggerated it using random gibberish in place of her accentuated French, such as "fiuscrzsaticiwelmun"(276).

2. Describe how Sedaris reveals parts of himself throughout the story. By the end we know a fair amount about the speaker. How do we gain this knowledge?

Sedaris is revealing much of himself throughout this essay. He is rather discreet in a way, and disguises it using humor. Throughout the essay, he is expressing faults and blemishes of sorts. For example, his random use of gibberish when quoting his teacher may reflect on his misunderstandings of what his teacher was telling him, and that possibly he had a limited knowledge of French and that is what the language sounded like to him. Also, he says he appeared old when he makes the statement that his classmates were all "young, attractive, and well dressed..."(274). The reason as to why we are able to learn so much from this writing style is simple. Often times, what he is joking about is relevant to the matter at hand, and that the way he portrays it with each joke shows how he views such issues personally.

Carelessness

What do you think of when you heard the word, “unflattering?” Perhaps it is a certain object, perhaps a certain action, or even another person. In everyone’s lives, there are unflattering moments. It might be rare, or such moments may take place everyday. As an average person, I have had my share of unflattering moments. One such moment took place a couple of years ago.

In elementary and middle schools, all students are required to take standardized tests. Such tests are designed to test students to see how much they have been learning over the years. Often times, there are no grades given, just a chart showing the percentage of test takers who’s scores you exceeded. I and my studious self often times would be in the top 90-99%, yet in third grade, this was most especially not true of my math skills. I had scored reasonably well on all of the other sections of the test, falling within the 90-99% range. Yet, in math, I only scored higher than 27% of the test takers. Considering that the year past math was my highest subject, this was shocking. It was something that I, as well as everyone else, was most certainly not used to.

In the following days, everyone was sharing and comparing their scores on the differing sections, which was forbidden. Even still, everyone did it, mostly to see how they compare to the brighter individuals. When I was asked my scores on my standardized tests, I willingly shared them. Yet, in third grade, I tried to ignore it when anyone asked me how I scored in math. This led many people to think that I had done horribly, and were even more eager to find out the truth. As time went on, I got so plagued by the question of my math score, that I finally gave it away. Everyone was speechless. It was far from expected that I would only score better than 27% of all test takers in the nation, especially when I was one of the best mathematicians in my class. I have no idea how that happened. I felt like I had a strong performance overall, but something must have been wrong. I felt badly, since I was now being exploited by my fellow classmates, and when my parents found out, I felt that my presence was exploiting them. It was a terrible feeling, hopefully to never be experienced again.

In such events, there is always something to be learned. I felt badly at the time and saw everyone’s presence as condemning; yet, I came out of it realizing that I must work harder in order to avoid such spoofs. There is also a possible explanation as to why my score was so low as well. A few years later, another friend of mine who was known as one of the best English scholars, scored only better than 15% of all test takers in the spelling section. His spelling was of a high caliber, so it was quite confusing how that could have happened. The only explanation would be stray marks in the test booklet. Often times, there would be regions in the test booklets where it said no to make any marks. Perhaps accidental marks on one of those pages lead the system to get confused somehow, and made some serious grading errors. It is unfortunate that some brilliant students have fallen victim to the blunders of today’s technology, especially when such students did great work, but were put down by poor marks due to grading errors. It did not feel good to have scored so poorly, and that is why I consider it to be one of the most unflattering moments in my life.

Shooting an Elephant

1.) Revealed in the essay, Shooting an Elephant, are two differing themes. These two themes seem to be opposites as well, as one theme expresses interest and the other expresses disinterest in the military work of George Orwell. From the beginning, the reader can see that Orwell disliked his military service, when he makes such claims that, "I was hated by large numbers of people,"(Orwell 221) or "...imperialism was an evil thing"(Orwell 221). Shortly after making such claims, Orwell continues on by saying that "One day something happened which in a roundabout way was enlightening"(Orwell 222). From there, he goes on to say that when he was about to shoot the elephant, "I did not know that in shooting an elephant one would shoot to cut an imaginary bar running from ear-hole to ear-hole"(Orwell 225). In that, Orwell is stating that the Burmese people around him, of whom hated him, took a sudden interest in him, since he was possibly preparing their next meal.
Those themes are very different, but are intertwined quite effectively. Orwell is not much for military service, as one can see based on how he starts this essay. Yet, Orwell feels obliged to tell of his best memory from the war. Though it is portrayed in a positive light, the negative view lingers. He described the shooting of an elephant to be the one time that the people took interest in him, but following that, he described that the elephant was stripped to the bones of its meat after it was killed. While the people gave him a break that one time, it was only because Orwell was about to prepare their next meal. If elephants were poisonous, chances are that the people would have been indifferent to the spectacle. That is how the two themes of interest and disinterest are integrated in the essay, Shooting an Elephant.

2.) Orwell reveals a handful of unflattering aspects of himself. He does this uniformly, by first explaining how he felt about the situation, and secondly explaining what was legal or should have been done. At one time, Orwell says that, "But I did not want to shoot the elephant... Alive, the elephant is worth as least a hundred pounds; dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly"(Orwell 225). Later on, Orwell states that, "Besides, legally I had done the right thing, for a mad elephant has to be killed, like a mad dog, if its owner fails to control it"(Orwell 227). That is generally how Orwell revealed blunders in his character throughout this essay.

The Ten Steps Towards Popularity

1. Make yourself presentable. This includes the way one dresses, one's tone of voice, manners, and so on. Tuck in your shirt when needed, do not leave home with cowlicks in your hair, and keep it clean. You want others to see to it that you are a capable person, who has it all under control.
2. Be rational with others. Treat others with fairness and respect them for their choices. Do not force anyone to accept your views if they are unwilling.
3. Judge no one. Do not make false assumptions about anyone, especially if you do not know who they are. This is the easiest way to make oneself enemies.
4. Respect yourself. Take care of yourself and make good decisions. You want to be a role model, and to teach to others how to respect each other, you must be able to respect yourself first.
5. Do not impose yourself on others. Do not force others to accept you or use your fans to your advantage.
6. Be proactive. Take an active part of your surroundings. One who is popular does not leave an area without leaving some remnant of themselves there.
7. Settle rivalries without a spectacle. This is the ultimate test to see how much you have got it under control. Do not let others take you down, and do not make a show of it when you show any rivals who is in charge. Make your points to them, and leave without a scuffle if possible.
8. Do not ignore the fans. No one likes being ignored at all, so show them some love. Ignoring the fans is the best way to lose them, as they will see that you think you are too important for them.
9. Think twice. Make sapient choices for yourself. Do not let yourself get forced into any sort of traps, and know what is best for yourself and others before acting.
10. Fear nothing. No one likes a coward who can not fend for themselves and others.

When You Thought You Were Done

Homework- n. - schoolwork assigned to be done outside the classroom. Have you ever received such work? Did it seem of any value at all? Throughout the years, teachers have been assigning extra work to their students to be done at home. Such “homework” as it was called, has received much negative attention despite its intentions of being an educational supplement. Amongst the callous feelings towards homework, it has remained as a modern convention in contemporary education. The reason as to why homework has not become obsolete due to the harsh opinions towards it is simply rooted in the prospect that homework is actually useful to those who complete it. Homework can be beneficial when completed since it applies students to their work and may even boost their grades when completed.
Homework may be advantageous in how it requires students to put their knowledge to work. When a student does their homework, they often times see that it requires them to apply the knowledge they have acquired in the classroom. If a student can do their homework with proficiency, that directly reflects on how well they have been learning the material. Homework is also to be done at home, which is typically a contemplative, relatively low-stress environment. At home, a student may spend as much time as they wish on their work, so that they may get it right. Also, if help is needed, students may receive help from family, friends, the internet, and other sources to augment their learning. Building off of that, homework may even introduce students to new skills, of which may appear later on in their studies.
When completed, homework has the ability to boost the grades of students. Often times, homework is also graded based on effort rather than exactness, which makes homework an easy source of credit. Many accounts have also shown that students who do not perform well on tests and quizzes have the ability to receive passing grades in their classes through strong efforts on their homework. There is nothing better than passing a class easily simply by doing undemanding, low-stress work at home. On further note, homework may introduce students to new material, which may appear on tests and quizzes. Only if a student did their homework might they know what to do if such material came up on a test. Upon closer examination, there is much more to homework than meets the eye.
Although homework is intended to be positive in principle, there are many opposing opinions towards homework that one must be aware of. First of all, many students claim that homework takes away from free time which may be spent with family or be spent learning other life skills not taught in school. This may actually be true for some, typically those who take higher level courses. The best way to go about this is to do work as it is assigned, and to not save it for the last minute. It is not a good idea to put extra pressure on oneself. It is easier if a student does whatever work they can, and then constructively spends any extra time they have left. Homework is also said to be boring. It is understandable that students may not wish to be learning all the time; yet, there are some things in life that must be done whether or not it is appreciated, and homework is one of such things. It is important that students also maintain a positive attitude towards their studies so that they may achieve more. Those who fail to complete their homework because of a negative attitude will realize later on that their attitude should have been different when their mediocre grades get them mediocre jobs. The final of such fallacious claims states that homework as a whole is useless. That most certainly is not true. Homework allows students to recall the information that they have learned and apply it in situations outside of school, and as already mentioned, homework has the ability to make or break one’s grades. There is no use in wishing to do well, and not accepting easy points along the way, such as those obtained through homework.
Overall, homework is a positive entity. It demands that students apply what they have learned to a variety of situations and may also generously bolster one’s grades upon completion. In spite of negative opinions towards homework, there is much to gain in the process. As one can see, there was a good reason for homework to remain rather than become archaic due to popular opinion. Though people typically wish to involve themselves in lucrative endeavors outside of school, it is important to realize that even the simple act of doing one’s homework could make future endeavors far more significant providing that effort is put into it. Conclusively, that is what homework is, and how it is juxtaposed to prevalent opinion.

Self-Esteem

Have you ever heard of self-esteem? What do you think it entails? Is it positive or negative, overall? In the argumentative essay The Trouble with Self-Esteem, by Lauren Slater, a negative view on self-esteem is portrayed. Slater begins by asking a few questions and getting into the definition of self-esteem. The provided definition is that self-esteem is mostly just a love for oneself. As it seems, there is nothing wrong with that. If a person hates themselves, they would probably have a fairly miserable existence. Slater makes all sorts of other claims, probably the most important of which concern how high self-esteem may be a culprit of personal problems and how it is not proven that low self-esteem can be harmful to a person.
Slater claims that high self-esteem may be a culprit of personal and social problems. Today’s culture sees self-esteem as the core of one’s being. It is what makes each person different, and it can give one a sense of security. Slater brings such charges against it though, of which include an analysis of a murderer and a statement on how pride may be dangerous. At one point, Slater describes that in an interrogation with a murderer, it was found that they had really high self-esteem. They seemed very sure that their actions were true and just, and that it was for everyone else’s personal gain. Also, it is said that pride is something that all people of high self-esteem have in abundance, and poses a large threat to everyone around them. Egotistical people tend to have little tolerance for negative opinions about themselves even if honest, and will lash out at those who do such. While this may in essence seem true, Slater seems to have a tendency to over-exaggerate. In the example of the murderer, their views have been conveyed as overwhelmingly positive because they did not want others to see the truth that on the inside, they knew that they were wrong in their actions. Also, there was no real connection made between high self-esteem and the heinous act of murder, since there was no real love for the murderer’s self present. If they loved themselves, they would not have chosen to be in their situation. Also, pride may be negative only if carried too far. Everyone has a sense of pride in them, it just depends on if they choose to flaunt it more than others. With a little self-control, anyone could express pride without hurting anyone else, since they would be more cautious of those around them.
Slater also describes that low self-esteem is not proven to be dangerous. In a sense, that is true. Yet, it is not a good way for a person to mold their character. Slater claims that those of low self-esteem have no real disadvantages against those of high self-esteem. It is also stated that they may be more likely to succeed, since those of low self-regard will often times work harder to get past their misgivings. As logical as that may seem, there are faults in such a statement, however. Low self-esteem is concerned with little respect for oneself. Yet, would not a person with little self respect be more inclined to make poor decisions for them? People prefer to feel positively about themselves, and if all a person acknowledges about themselves are negative aspects, they would probably tend to second-guess themselves, and may make poor personal decisions. When they wish to feel well about themselves, such people may resort to drugs and alcohol to create a false glimmer of self-assurance for themselves.
Self-esteem is what gives a person a sense of self-worth. If a person feels well about themselves, they are less likely to abuse themselves or others, providing that they contain their feelings of pride and remain open to interpretation by others. Self-esteem is what molds character, if a person can associate well with themselves and others, they could be better off since others will be supportive of their own personal choices. Those with low self-esteem seem to fade away from the bigger picture of society, and in today’s society, a looming presence may be advantageous. If people can see you and all the good that you do, others will be more likely to remember your example, follow it, and even suggest your tactics to others. Slater made logical statements on the disadvantages of high self-esteem, but they were lacking in backup. She was usually stating mere theories, with no solid evidence provided. Conclusively, that is why a person may need to depend of high self-esteem to survive in today’s society.