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.