Reflection

I like the process of writing groups and feel that it is very helpful in the progress of my essay.  Not only do I receive good feedback from my group which I hadn't considered before, but I also learn from giving advice to the other people.  When I give suggestions I can take those and remember them so I can apply it to my ow essay to help improve it.

Draft

Loud thuds echoed through the home as Carlo stomped up the stairs to his room, screaming as he slammed the door behind him.  I chuckled along with the rest of his family as his father,  yelled after him in his Italian accent, "Carlo, your dramatics are perfect,  you should be an actor!" The few Italian lessons I had taken allowed me to make out the just of what Carlo was yelling about.  That night we were going to the disco with his friends, arriving at midnight and returning to their town home around seven in the morning.  Being accustomed to the laws and culture in the USA, I was shocked that his parents would allow us to be dancing and drinking all night at the disco in the first place, but Carlo had a different idea. 

It was not enough for us to just to go to the disco. He had decided that he wanted to drive us there on his motorcycle, and then drive us home after our night out.  In my mind I immediately saw this as a horrible plan.  I thought it was common sense, motorcycle+drinking+disco for seven hours=bad.  His parents even took it upon themselves to set up a ride to and from the disco with his friends.  But Carlo wanted us to ride his motorcycle.  He was set on this idea, it did not matter what I or anyone else said; after he decided what he wanted, all hell broke loose when anyone tried to convince him otherwise.

I watched as his father calmly tried to explain the logic behind the planned out ride to the disco, and the lack of safety relating to his motorcycle idea.  The more his father explained, the more Carlo yelled.  Silently, I observed the scene, and thought about how much Carlo was reminding me of a young child.  His tantrum of yelling and screaming was something that I would have never seen happen in my household, so it caught me completely off guard. 

Draft

Loud thuds echoed through the home as Carlo stomped up the stairs to his room, screaming as he slammed the door behind him.  I chuckled along with the rest of his family as his father yelled after him in his Italian accent, “Carlo, you could be an actor!”.  Carlo and I were going to the disco that night.  The place was that we would arrive there at midnight, and return around seven in the morning.  His parents had arranged a ride for us, but Carlo desperately wanted to drive me their on his motorcycle.  Being an outside perspective I could clearly see the flaws in Carlo’s plans of transportation, especially since there would be drinking at the disco.  But he was blinded by his emotions, only seeing what he wanted and shutting out any outside logic or reasoning. 

Quote Blog

"The world is full of miserable places. One way of living comfortably is not to think about them or, when you do, to send money" (Kidder 16).

I feel that this quote applies to our world today.  There are all these disasters and tragedies happening around the world that we easily ignore and push out of our mind.  When the problems are not present in our own lives, it is hard for us to realize the truth about what is happening.  Since we can't see it and we don't experience these problems, we do not do as much as much as we should.  The closest thing that we have to seeing the problems are in the news and in ads on the television.  We are separated and so the situation seems surreal, and maybe we will send money to help the problem, but most of us don't do anything at all.

Non-Fiction Reading Book

  
 "Six years after the fact, Dr. Paul Edward Farmer reminded me, "We met because of a beheading, of all things." " (Kidder 13). 


I'm reading the book Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Doctor Paul Farmer, which is a biographical non-fiction by Tracy Kidder.    Paul is a physician and an anthropologist, with a goal to transform health care on a large scale level to help the poor. They were in Haiti during a time of turmoil, and while most of the 'aid' was being misused, Dr. Farmer was determined to help. This quote relates to the fact that although there were many issues going on at the time, Farmer found a way to create a positive impact on the situation.  Even though there are many gruesome, horrible events, it can bring people together to make a change for the better.  A beheading was how these two people met, and they went on make gigantic changes and advancements in health care for people in need.  I was surprised by how interesting the reading actually was, because when I think of non-fiction I think of a boring, dry spewing of facts. 

Why Freewrite

Reading this article helps me to see how helpful freewriting really is in the development of ideas.  A lot of the time I find myself stuck, not knowing how to go forward and successfully get my point across in a paper. Freewriting is crucial in developing different ideas freely without distraction from the worry about organization and correct grammar.  The writer can discover his feelings and questions on a topic that can later be used as the basis for writing pieces.  By writing freely the raw thoughts and reactions of the writer are recorded, and the thought process can be seen.  When the freewrite is analyzed and looked over we can gather critical points and substantial ideas that delve much deeper than surface thinking, this could be extremely helpful to my writing. The effectiveness of freewriting is shown through all the teachers and professors who found it to be useful and helpful to their students.  Although some critics believe that freewriting causes students to become "suckers and powerless ", most people find that it helps far beyond relieving writer's block. 

Purpose

This blog's purpose is for sharing posts for my senior composition class.