Introduction: This weeks blog post I read the short story Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway. Even though this story didn't come with much background it provided enough to infer what is happening. The story is about this man, who is American, and this girl. They are at a train station in Barcelona drinking beer. Throughout the story you can tell that their conversation is about abortion for the girl and her decision on wether to keep or not to keep the baby. I will also provide an argument to if the girl ended up keeping the baby and if she continues her relationship with the man. Also, I will provide a scene from a time when I had to make an important choice leave or stay in a situation.
This short story it is about a decision for the girl to get an abortion or not. In the end of the story I think she decided to go through with the abortion. I think she decided to go through with the abortion because she keeps asking about how the man feels about the situation and if they will be back to normal after the procedure. At that time pregnancy before marriage was frowned upon so it would make sense for that time for her to choose the man over the baby. You can also tell how they talk to each other, “oh cut it out” and “You started it”, that they are probably fairly young. Also, the man keeps telling her that abortion is natural and that it is not even a procedure so that she doesn't think it is as big as a deal as she thinks it is. The girl decides to stay with the man afterwards because he told her that after she goes through with the abortion, things will go back to how they were before. The girl kept telling him to stop talking about the situation so maybe she said that because she made the decision to go through with it and she didn't wanna keep being reminded of what she is doing when deep down she really wanted to keep both the baby and the man. I am currently in a difficult situation right now. I am unsure wether or not i want to stay with the guy i have been with for two years now. I am in this situation because I was never in a serious relationship like the one I am in now. We are both completely opposite with our views and our interests, but we believe that our opposites keep our relationship balanced. Because I was never in a situation like this, I don't know if my thoughts are normal this stage or not. My mom and dad were in the exact same situation that I am in now when they were my age. My dad never went to college and right away started working, just like the guy I am with now, and my mom was starting her freshman year of college just like me. They broke up for two years and ended up getting back together later on and getting married. I am so unsure wether it is the right thing for me to do or not and if I trust the fact that if things are meant to be they will be.
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9/21/2017 1 Comment Life Choice: To Tell the Truth?Introduction: In this blog post I listened to the Podcast What you Don't Know by Lulu Wang. This podcast was about Lulu and the time her and her family found out her grandmother had stage 4 cancer and did not have long to live. Lulu’s family made a decision not to tell her grandmother about her own death. Throughout the podcast Lulu is indecisive on to keep to her culture or her grandmother’s. In this blog, I will discuss the reasons I agree with the family’s decision and a time when I had to tell a difficult truth.
Although I grew up in a different culture and country as Lulu’s family, I agree with the their decision to keep their knowledge of their grandmother’s dying from her. As I grew up, I realized that in this country it is normal for a family to be aware of a death or an upcoming death, however; in China, where the grandmother grew up, it is normal for death to be somewhat hidden. The grandmother had kept the same secret from her own husband about his own death so it would be unlikely that she would be upset that they did not tell her. Also, in China they believe that happiness is the best cure for illness so why would they tell her something completely depressing. If the grandmother found out she was dying she most likely would have started to mourn her own death. Instead, what the family actually did was put on a happy event for her so she would be happy. Even if the family did tell her and tried to keep her happy, the thought of her death would be lurking in her mind. This past weekend I had a difficult truth. My parents went away this past weekend and I was left in charge of my little sister. Part of my responsibility was to make sure she was home by her curfew, which was 10:30 PM. I let her go out to her school football game and expected her to text me if she needed any ride and to let me know where she was going. As the time past 10:30 I started to worry because she was not answering any of my calls and seemed as if she was nowhere to be found. I had to decided wether to call my parents who were 400 miles away and inform them about the situation, or keep my sisters trust and to continue looking for her. At around 11:30 I decided I should call them even though I knew my sister would be in a lot of trouble and possibly loosing her trust along with it. It impacted both of us in the long run because she got in tremendous amount of trouble and it also impacted me because she lost her trust in me as sister. 9/14/2017 4 Comments Life Choice: The Powers That Be? • Print out, read, and annotate My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou).
• Write a 50-word introduction that provides the focus of the blog post (two-sentence summary of the story and transition to questions) and a link to the reading. • Write a 200-word argument that responds to this question: Did you agree with Margaret's choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups? • Write a 200-word narrative that illustrates a response to this question: When have you made an important choice to either resist or not resist oppression, challenge the status quo, or refuse to obey an authority figure? In this weeks blog, I read the short story My Name is Margaret by Maya Angelou. The story is about a young slave named Margaret and the events that led to Mrs. Cullinan, her slave keeper, shortening her name to Mary. Margaret saw this as disrespectful and chose to break the china valued by Mrs. Cullinan in revenge. Also, I provided a time when I chose to resist or not resist oppression and if I agree with Margaret’s choice to break the dish and glass cups. I agree with Margaret’s choice to break the casserole dish and two cups because her breaking the valued china was a metaphorical way of saying that she valued her name and her life and Mrs. Cullinan broke what Margaret valued. Margaret was a slave and she barley had any say in how things in her life happened, her name was probably one of the only thing of hers that she could call her own and Mrs. Cullinan and her friend disrespected that by changing it to Mary. Margaret breaking Mrs. Cullinan’s casserole dish and glass cups was a mild way of putting her in Margaret’s shoes. The fact that Margaret knew that breaking the casserole dish and glass cups could come with severe consequences, she still decided it was necessary. By going through this act it shows how much Margaret was really offended. When I think back to high school, going against the status quo was a unusual and difficult thing to do. There were many things that were considered “status quo” — especially drinking and drug use. For example, my two closest friends and I would always meet up before the Friday night football games. Ever since we started high school they started the routine of drinking or getting high before the games. I would get asked to join in but I could never get fully comfortable with the risk of running into a family member or a friends parent while I was drunk or high at the games. They would sometimes get mad at me for denying their offer as a way of judging them and their choices but drinking and smoking was not something I wanted to do. As high school went on, I watched many of my closest friends give in to the status quo. I challenged the status quo by doing my own thing and staying away from the situations that involved drugs and alcohol. Going along with the crowd seemed like the easy way to handle many situations, but I chose not to, even when it meant being judged and sometimes ridiculed by my friends. This also meant losing some of my closest friends because they did not understand and support my decisions. Hopefully, these decisions will have a positive effect on my life, just as Margaret hoped her action would have a positive effect on her life. 9/5/2017 0 Comments Writing Process Quote Collage
In this post I will give three quotes from each of the readings The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova), Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott), and Zen in the Art of Writing (Ray Bradbury). Along with the quotes I will give three quotes about my writing process.
The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers: “I like the slowness of writing by hand. Then i type it up and scrawl all over that and keep on retyping it, each time making corrections both by hand and directly on the typewriter, until i don't see how to make it any better.” -Kurt Vonnegut (Maria Popova) “You write until you come to a place where you still have you juice and know what will happen next and you stop and try to live through until the next day when you hit it again.”- Kurt Vonnegut (Maria Popova) “I work in the morning at the manual typewriter. I do about four hours and then go running. This helps me shake off one word and enter another”-Kurt Vonnegut (Maria Popova) Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life: “Writing is about filling up, filling up when you are empty, letting images and ideas and smells run down like water-just as writing is also about dealing with emptiness.” -(Anne Lamott) “I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts.” -(Anne Lamott) “… there may be someone out there in the world-maybe a spouse, maybe a close friend-who will read your finished drafts and give you an honest critique, let you know what does and doesn't work, give you some suggestions on things you might take out or things on which you need to elaborate, ways in which to make you piece stronger” -(Anne Lamott) Zen in the Art of Writing: “In quickness is truth. The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are.” -(Ray Bradbury) “…I began to make lists of titles, to put down long lines of nouns. These lists were the provocations, finally, that caused my better stuff to surface.” -(Ray Bradbury) “You stumble into it, mostly. You don't know what you’re doing, and suddenly, its done. You don't set out to reform a certain kind of writing. It evolves out of your own life and night scares.” -(Ray Bradbury) My Writing Process: “Take time away from writing to let your mind wander to other things” “Write first draft in writing and edit it you go along” “reread the prompt a couple times to make sure it flows nicely” 9/5/2017 2 Comments The Proust Questionnaire
Introduction
In this post, I answered questions from the famous The Proust Questionnaire. I hope after reading my answers, readers will get a sense of my personality and my views on the world. __1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? Having lots of dogs and no kids __2.__What is your greatest fear? Never will I ever allow myself to have kids. Never. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I can be a really bad procrastinator. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? some people can be very judgmental and not understanding. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? I admire my mom because she was always so flexible with my sisters and I, also being able to stay sane while owning/running a business, and being a full time first grade teacher. __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? I love to go places so it would have to be traveling. __7.__What is your current state of mind? my current state of mind would be optimistic. __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Creativity because creativity is more of a talent and not born with the talent. __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I usually tend to lie when I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing. __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? People tell me I look miserable often so i would like to change that about my appearance because 99% of the time I'm not miserable. __11.__Which living person do you most despise? Im not a fan of trump, so he would be someone I despise. __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? Sense of humor and hardworking. __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? Nonjudgmental, because there are a decent amount of people (mostly girls) i know that are very judgmental. __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Yeah, thats fine.” __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? My dog Pj because he's so cute. __16.__When and where were you happiest? Most the time when I'm around dogs or any type of animal. __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? I would like the talent of singing because my sister can sing and I wont sound bad when I sing alone with songs in the car __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? That I am easy to persuade, its gotten me in some trouble a couple of times. __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? Passing my drivers test, I'm probably one of Americas worst drivers. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? If I was to die and come back as a person or thing I would want to come back as a sloth because they take long ass naps. __21.__Where would you most like to live? I would like to live in California or Florida because there is no winter at those places. __22.__What is your most treasured possession? A doll my grandfather gave me as a baby. __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? my lowest depth of misery would be loosing someone I love. __24.__What is your favorite occupation? My favorite occupation would be anything in the art field. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? A characteristic i am most marked as is honest. __26.__What do you most value in your friends? what i most value in my friends is loyalty. __27.__Who are your favorite writers? My favorite writer would have to be __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? Katniss Everdeen because she's a badass. __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? Abraham Lincoln because I'm honest. __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? My dad because he never went to college and he was able to own and run his own business. __31.__What are your favorite names? Mia and Riley are the two names that i have liked for a while now. __32.__What is it that you most dislike? I hate the noise of kids crying or screaming. __33.__What is your greatest regret? Buying tickets to made in America. __34.__How would you like to die? i would like to die in my sleep. __35.__What is your motto? It is what it is |
Kacie Montanothis blog will be used to talk about the course and my views. Archives
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