The High Price of Materialism by Tim Kasser

The reading by Tim Kasser was about a psychological test on the effects of materialism on people and society’s. Kasser preformed the experiment on a group of people to test who is more materialistic and what makes them materialistic. I think this was a good test but I feel they should have used a diverse group of people and test it that way. I became very interested when the test reviled that most people are mainly focused on financial problems. They came to believe that when people focus on financial success there usually unhappy and stressed. So the American dream can be defined as a stressful unhappy dream. So why would we have the dream if we are just going to be stress? I think it’s because people just want to be happy and they think by achieving this American dream they will be happy. This does not always work out in their favor. In the end, this was an easy read because I’m so fascinated with the study of psychology so I could really relate to the subject; which made me want to read it. I would like to do what Tim does for my career.

Abortion is too Complex to Feel all One Way About by Anna Quindlen

I agree with Anna Quindlin on the subject if abortion. I think it should be the person’s right if they want to abort or not. We live in America shouldn’t we have a choice if we want to keep a baby or not. There are certain circumstances that could call for an abortion for example a rape, incest, unplanned they should be able to abort it if they truly felt they need to. I can say I’m about 100% for abortion. Living in the United States we should have the right to do so. The government should not step in an block this because it is a right that every women has the option. Would the mother be happier with a child that she actually wants not a mistake child. In the end there will be less unwanted children in the world. There will be fewer kids in foster homes because the parents will be able to take care of their child. In the end I like this reading and learned a lot on the subject of abortion.

The dog ate my disk and other tales of woe by Carolyn Foster Segal

From the beginning I knew this was going to be a very interesting reading. Carolyn Foster Segal is a very smart woman and has been teaching for a very long time. This reading is about the times where is Segal got very stupid but funny excuses why students could not show up or was going to turn their work there late. Some of them where just so absurd it makes them funny, then some are just pathetic. Segal wrote this with the intension of being funny in my opinion. Most of the excuses would never be okay with your employer why do people think it will work for school. School in some ways is my job all I have to worry about is getting good grades. To me my report card is my paycheck if I am doing good means I will do well in my career. I felt Segal was sympathetic for her students but I am sure she got to a point where she could tell when the student is lying and when they are telling the truth. In the end, I liked this reading it was very funny to me to read all the excuses college kids use. 

Food Product Design by Eric Schlosser

At the beginning of this story I knew it would be about food, and Eric Schlosser knew what he was talking about. I know this because of the number of different books that are food related. This story really opened my eyes to how bad the fast food industry is. How unhealthy it is and he convinces me never to eat any more fast food. One thing I don’t understand is why they have to put meat flavoring into French fries. It makes them so much worse for you. Schlosser really made me think about what I should eat. I think I’m just going to eat vegetables and fruits that’s one thing they can’t fake. Eric described bunch different foods that all have fake ingredients like McDonalds and Dannon yogurt. They both use chemically altered ingredients. It makes me second guess going and eating at McDonalds. I never knew all these foods I love are all man made. I want to eat stuff that is naturally the flavor it is not a chemically produced flavor. In the end I learned a lot from this story I learned not to eat at McDonalds and stay away from anything that has artificial or natural flavors.

How to say nothing in 500 words By: Paul Roberts

By just reading the little intro to this reading I know that Paul Roberts is a very smart man when it comes to writing. He has written about four books all pertaining to writing techniques. So before I even read I know this is going to be about writing. I liked this reading because I could really relate to it I love the game of football. The story is about a guy who had to write a paper to his professor about having football at their school. In about 500 words he did not accomplish anything. It was 500 words of nothing. So Roberts tries to explain how you should do persuasive writing. I learned a lot in this reading that I will use in future persuasive writing. Roberts shows us some examples of how you can stop writer’s block and let the words flow. I like the subject of football so it mad this reading very entertaining for me. I leaned new things and got entertained at the same time what a good reading. In the end, I will take all Roberts points into account when I plan to write my next paper. I enjoyed this story a lot.

"Serving in Florida" from Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

This story by Barbara Ehrenreich is a story about the lives of people who work in restaurants. It’s about how hard it is to live off a 6-10 per hour wage. This life seems to be very hard they all have issues with the places they live. Barbara Ehrenreich has a PhD from Rockefeller University. She is known for being a very outspoken woman. Barbara went to work at a restaurant as an experiment to see how the life of people in poverty really was like. She found out that the managers got everything and the workers got nothing. The management had the power to make you do anything that they didn’t want to do. For example, Barbara’s manager made her vacuum the whole restaurant with a broken vacuum. Waiter’s always seem to be happy and full of joy when they take our orders but sometimes I wonder what’s really going on in their lives. What’s making them work at a restaurant why can’t they go get another job? We will never know why people do what they do. In the end, I did like this passage it showed me that I should cherish what I have now. It showed me that I don’t want to work at restaurant and make very low money. 

Size 6: The Western Women's Harem by Fatema Mernisi

Fatema  Mernisi is morocco feminist. This story is about Mernisi going to a department store and the department store lady told her that she only had size 6. She became very angry and did not understand why they only carried to size six. At the start of reading this I could tell its going to be about a women’s life. I was not very excited but after reading this it has been good. I could see why she was so worked up about how western women are so small. Most morocco women have to hide their face and the have to live in harem. A harem is a forbidden for men to go there. Women in western countries have to care more about their bodies then Muslims. American Women are sometimes the most scrutinized because of Hollywood and all the actors being so skinny. That pressures women to lose weight and look good. You could tell Fatema wrote this in a very feminist way. In the end I did like the story even though it was about boring stuff I don’t care about. It had a good story line and was very interesting to read. Women should not be criticized for what they look like. 

A Man Who Was Mean to His Dog by: Anne Lamott

I like this story by Anne Lamott even though it is about a man who hurt his dog really bad in front a whole bunch of people. I liked the way that Anne Lamott wrote, she really drew me in. the man who hurt his dog needs to go to jail, that is such an immoral thing to do to an animal. In the story, Sam’s mother learned something from what she witnessed. For a moment, she felt extremely vulnerable and she did not want her son, Sam, to see her in that state. She wanted him to see her as a strong woman and she felt terrible for not speaking up when she had the chance. She had an epiphany in the middle of all of what was going on. She realized that everyone is loved for who they are even though that may not be fair sometimes. When I see that dog getting hit, I imagined my own dog getting hit and that hurt. I would never let anyone touch an animal like that if I had control over it. That is unbelievable. That dog did nothing to deserve that. Anne Lamott is a great author and I really liked her writing style. 

The Price We Pay By Adam Mayblum

I liked this reading a lot. It brought back memories on what had happened on that terrible day. The author, Adam Mayblum did a very good job on this essay. He did use a lot of short sentences which made me read it faster. After I was done reading it I realized that the author’s main purpose was to inform the audience about a personal account of what happened on 9/11. This can be considered as a narration because it was a personal account of an event. There were a lot of fragmented sentences in this essay but I still understood what the author was trying to convey.  He was trying to convey that the hijackers did not terrorize America but rather united America. I was not expecting to be reading this from the title; the title misleads you into thinking it will be about something different in my opinion. The author did a good job in creating a mental picture of the events that took place. It really felt like I was there with him running down those stairs of tower 1. In the end, I really learned a lot from this reading. I learned that life should be treasured more. 

 

Once more to the lake by E.B. White

I did not like this reading it was too hard to understand and read. The author put way too many things in on sentence which just made it difficult comprehend what he was trying to convey. Other than that I thought it was good story line. E.B. White is an educated man I can tell by his schooling and the number of his successful books. Some of his most successful are Stuart Little, and Charlotte’s web. These books are some of the most famous children books. Some of White’s metaphors do not make sense like when he compares putting cold swim trunks on to the “chill of death”.  I can relate to going to the lake in Maine because as a kid my dad every summer would take me to the same lake in Michigan. I have some of the same memories as White does like getting up early to go fishing in the lake before everyone gets up. Some of White’s sentences are so long and have too much going on that I just get lost and after I don’t understand his point. In my opinion White was nauseatingly descriptive. Even though he was too descriptive It was a good reading.

Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott

I was very skeptical about this reading because of its name, but after reading it I’ve realized that everyone if going to have a shitty first draft. Anne Lamott says the first draft is the child’s draft, where you just let the information just pour out and not worry if it’s not coherent. She explains that even professional writers have first drafts. Anne herself has trouble writing that first draft. Almost all good writing begins with terrible first drafts. She refers to the first draft as a down draft second as the up draft and the third as the dental draft. That’s a great way of putting it I think. Anne learned from being a food columnist that you can never have a good paper without having a crappy first draft. Lamott suggests that we should ignore the voices that are in our heads and put them in a mason jar for safe keepings. After reading this I’m not as worried about writing my next paper because I’ve learned that everyone worries. So I should stop worrying and just get something down on the paper. I thought Anne was funny the way she put everything. It made this reading more interesting to me.

Propaganda Techniques in Today's Advertising, Ann McClintock

Ann Mcclintock I think is a very smart woman who knows what she is talking about. This is apparent from her school and examples she uses in her writings. Advertising has a huge impact on the people today. There is so many different ways companies can lure you into buying their products. Mcclintock outlines them very well in this reading. I like that she used a lot of examples when trying to explain the 7 different ways. It allowed me to understand more on what she was trying to say. I truthfully think that all this advertising is bad for us. I think there should be set guidelines that every company has to go by if they want to advertise. This would stop the false assumptions made from the false advertising that is found on TV. The main idea of this passage was to describe propaganda and how much it effects our daily life. Propaganda usually is associated with a totaltarian regime that’s trying to brainwash its citizens to do what they say. Propaganda is usually associated with the political arena. I think that they should stop those political ads on TV there never telling the truth and can only hurt America.  

Freewriting, Peter Elbow

In my opinion, Peter Elbow is a very intelligent man. His education and his numerous books back this up. Before reading this I thought freewriting was a waste of time, but after I’ve realized how much it can help you. After reading this I started to do a free write. It was hard at first but after the full ten minutes I realized it was easy and that I should do one every day. Freewriting is very easy to do you just sit down and write down whatever you are thinking without stopping or editing anything. This allows you to enhance the ability to get what’s in your head on paper. Freewriting allows you to have no feedback at all, meaning no one can criticize what you are writing. Practicing freewriting regularly undoes the rooted habit of editing which makes writing less blocked because words will come to you easier. In school the teachers would stress the mistakes we make which just makes it harder. I think editing is important in writing but too much of it can just make the writer nervous which can block what he is trying to say. After reading this I’m going to do freewrite every other day.

How to Mark a Book, Mortimer Adler

Adler in my opinion sounds like he knows what he is talking about. I would totally agree with him on the statement about comparing buying a beefsteak and buying a book. I think he means that we should become absorbed into our books, so we truly understand what is happening in the book. I agree with Alder when he talks about being active when you are reading. Trying to read when you are tired can be a real struggle. I would agree with him that there is no right speed for reading. Everyone has their own ways of reading and just because you’re a slow reader doesn’t mean you have a low intelligence. It just means you take your time to completely understand what you're reading. When Alder talks about the soul of a book I think he is speaking about the story that happens in the book and how you interpret it for yourself. I would agree with him about there being three types of book owners. I think I would be the third type of book owner. After reading this I have come to realize how important writing in the margins and underlining can be, and how much it can help you understand what you are reading.