For the Children

Q#75: Community service can be a valuable part of the college experience. If you were to devote one year of service to a volunteer project, what would it be, and what would you hope to accomplish? (Goucher)

A volunteer project that I have always wanted to do or be a part of was building schools for children in third world countries, like in Kenya or something. Ever since I was a young lass I loved to build things and work with my hands. So today, I’m not surprised to find that careers I’m interested in have to do with, shocker, my hands and building. Not only would I be doing this wonderful thing for others, I would be having a blast myself. I love the outdoors and “roughing it” and there, of course, would be locals around and children, who would just make it absolutely fantastic. I love little kids. Like during my eleventh grade activity week we went on a hike for 9 days and one day we stopped just outside of this village. Mr. Kutty, our chaperone, let us go into the village as we had ample amount of time before dinner. So, we split into smaller groups and into the village we went. I had an absolute blast with these little kids everywhere! Even though there was this language barrier, we could still play and laugh and have a wonderful time. I taught them the Macarena, how to make funny faces, chased them around the village, played hand games, scared them and so on and so on. Unfortunately I had to leave, but then they came to our actually campsite begging me to come play again! I had the biggest smile and off I went. I’ve never been so happy and seen such joy in my life. Making them smile made me smile. But seeing these poor, dirty kids and the conditions they lived in made my passion for wanting to help third world children grow ten times stronger. For people to have nothing and have to work so hard just to get by every, single day and still be able to have that kind of joy is not only mind blowing but inspiring. Out of this volunteering, there’s nothing in particular I’m looking to accomplish; just to give these children something to smile about. J

Week Three Article

http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2011/11/18/pizza-school.html

Posted: November 18^th, 2011                   Viewed: November 20^th, 2011

Article Summary:

So, this article basically has to do with the child nutrition law bill in the U.S. that requires schools to improve on the nutritional quality of the lunches served; not only are they to be delicious, but nutritious too. In this specific article, it mostly talks about how the U.S. Agriculture Department (USAD) originally wanted to require a half cup of tomato paste for a pizza slice to qualify as a vegetable but this past Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives decided to back off to a less strict policy saying that a slice of pizza qualifies as a vegetable as long as it contains two tablespoons of tomato paste. "Pizza should be served with a vegetable, not count as one," is a popular view of consumer advocacy groups. The article also speaks of the limits on french fries that were proposed by the USAD, hoping to increase the variety of fruits and vegetables and limiting the starchy ones.

Word 1: blunder
a) Earlier this week, the U.S. Center for Science in the Public Interest said the legislation would be a bigger "blunder" than when U.S. President Ronald Reagan's administration tried and failed to credit ketchup as a vegetable in the school lunch program.
b) Blunder: A usually serious mistake typically caused by ignorance or confusion. (www.thefreedictionary.com)

c) Brigadoon would have been a big blunder if it wasn’t for the tedious efforts and commitment of everyone involved.

Word 2: lobbied
a) The trade association lobbied Congress on behalf of frozen pizza sellers, such as ConAgra Foods Inc and Schwan Food Co and french fry maker McCain Foods Ltd.

b) Lobby: To try to influence the thinking of legislators or other public officials for or against a specific cause (www.thefreedictionary.com)

c) The students lobbied to get their rightfully deserved stamps in Mr. Plonka’s English class, as it was not their fault they couldn’t get out of the gym from morning’s assembly and ended up being late.  

Word 3: advocacy
a) "Pizza should be served with a vegetable, not count as one," the consumer advocacy groups said on its website.

b) Advocacy: The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy; active support (www.thefreedictionary.com)

c) Mr. Plonka didn’t listen to his students’ advocacy about the stamps which ruptured their chances of earning a 25/25 on that week’s warm-up quiz.   

Response:

The reason I believe this article is one that relates to me is that this rule of healthier food in the cafeteria has just been enacted at my school back home in Mississauga, Ontario. Every since my freshmen year at Meadowvale Secondary School, the one thing you could count on was a warm, giant, calorie-packed cookie on the menu. It was cheap, delicious, and on nearly everybody’s lunch tray as they left the cafeteria. They were so unhealthy that you could even feel the grease through the saran wrap! It sounds nasty but we, including me, all loved it. This year, the cookie is still somehow how included on the menu which boggles my mind. It is way too unhealthy to even be considered to stay on an “all healthy” lunch menu. It’s just like how pizza is considered a vegetable because it contains two teaspoons of tomato paste; ridiculous.

Wed-NES-day !

Q#123: How do you feel about Wednesdays? (U of Chicago)

Wednesday, it’s a simple, reoccurring day in the weekly cycle. How do I personally feel about it? That it, along with many others such as ‘know’, is a ridiculous word in the English language. Think back to when you were in kindergarten and your teacher would make you recite the numbers one through ten, the alphabet, and the colours and so on. “Great job my little dumplings,” her annoyingly sweet voice would ring out. When it came to the days of the week, however, that was an entirely different story. The class would being, “Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” and in would jump the teacher, “No, no, no class. Remember, it’s WENDSS-day not Wed-NES-day.” Why in the world would you even make a word spelled differently than it actually sounds? It would be much simpler if it was just ‘Wendsday’ and all this confusion would be easily avoided. If there is indeed a logical explanation, someone please inform me. As for the actually day Wednesday, it’s, well, just a Wednesday. There’s neither a reason to like it nor dislike it. It doesn’t contain the excitement of the end of a school week like a Friday or the dreaded beginning of a school week like a Monday. It’s just there, smack dab in the middle of the week, safely protected by Tuesday and Thursday. Like the rest of the days of the week, it comes and goes, yet it somehow gets lost in the mix. There is no specific characteristic held by this day and, therefore, a Wednesday is just a Wednesday. The only thing that comes to mind about Wednesday is its ridiculous spelling. Hey, maybe that’s the logical explanation I’ve been looking for! The reason Wednesday is spelled the way it is, is to give Wednesday it’s very own specific characteristic.

 

Week Two Article

http://www.mississauga.com/what's%20on/article/1244004--public-art-pops-up
Posted: November 14^th, 2011                                     Viewed: November 15^th, 2011

Article Summary:
This article is basically about the growing amount of public art popping up in Mississauga, Ontario. Recently, two new pieces have been added to its collection and a third one will be this summer. One piece is the Familia by Stephen Cruise. It consists of nine sculptures made from limestone and granite. According to Cruise, the sculptures are of a shell, tree, fish, fox, rail, boat, tank, lion and hive, the latter being the central piece representing collective activity as well as the St. Lawrence Starch Company. The second piece is Crossing Pedestrians by Peter Gibson. According to Gibson, the painted figures moving across the pavement show the municipality's commitment to transforming the downtown into a pedestrian-friendly area by creating art that's better experienced while walking instead of driving. "Public art contributes to the distinct identity and unique character of the city and its various destinations," said Susan Burt, the City's director of culture division.

Word 1: latter
a) According to the artist, the sculptures are of a shell, tree, fish, fox, rail, boat, tank, lion and hive, the latter being the central piece representing collective activity as well as the St. Lawrence Starch Company, which had a mill on the site.
b) Latter: referring to the second of two things or persons mentioned or the last one or ones of several (www.thefreedictionary.com)
c) I prefer Woodstock’s oranges to their apples because the latter are always bruised.

Word 2: perusal
a) At the intersection of City Centre Dr.a nd Duke of York Blvd., Crossing Pedestrians is available for public perusal.
b) Peruse: to read or examine, typically with great care (www.thefreedictionary.com)
c) Mr. Plonka encouraged his students to peruse One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, however, most just ended up skimming it (not referring to English 11-4 because they are the bomb and perused for days).

Word 3: roundabout
a) The roundabout at Duke of York Blvd. and Square One Dr. will have a piece installed at its centre next summer.
b) Roundabout: a road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island (www.thefreedictionary.com)
c) In the bazaar there are many roundabouts.    

Response:
This article relates to me as we are doing this exact kind of artwork in my sculpture class at the moment; more like Cruise’s piece than Gibson’s, but still the same idea. We are working on environmental art and our assignment is to create a sculpture, using various materials found predominately in nature, and put it in a certain public area in order to portray a specific message. Mine is a pakman head attached to a stick body that is coloured in like the earth, instead of all yellow, and it is eating circles that, instead of just being random colours, are filled with non-renewable resources. So the message is that we, the people of earth, are eating up all the non-renewable resources. Both Cruise and Gibson’s works, too, are placed in a public area with the intention of giving a specific message to the public.

Delhi Collage Fair Q&A

Questions:
1. How important are personal essays and teacher recommendations in the admissions process? What do you look for in a personal essay?
2. How can I improve my chances if my GPA and/or SAT scores are not perfect?
3. What services or financial aid does you school offer international students?
4. What do you personally love best about the university?

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN MICHAGIN
1. She wasn’t too sure if it was even in the application to fill out personal essays but recommendations are very important.
2. They’ll also look to your extracurricular activities and recommendations.
3. International students can compete with everyone else for academic and sports scholarships but you have to be “the best of the best” so yeah. Also, anyone with a 3.0 GPA receives an automatic scholarship.
4. She personally loves the people. There are such great student-teacher relations that she’s even still friends with some of her old professors today. Great, lifelong friends are made there and the environment is beautiful.  

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

1. Personal essays & teacher recommendations aren’t required in admissions process.

2. They look at teacher recommendations, your extra curricular activities, leadership positions, work experience, and so on.

3. Ohio State offers scholarships based on merit to international students. However, these are highly competitive and based on academic merit, leadership accomplishments, special talents and/or financial need.

4. The representative said that he personally loved the college so much because of the amazing relationships found in between both you and your classmates and your professors.

WOLDORF COLLEGE
1. Personal essays are not too important in the admissions process and recommendations will help as a last resort. They’re do more interviewing at Woldorf.
2. They’ll look at your extracurricular activities; specifically theatre stuff as that is their big thing.  
3. They offer up to $6000 in international scholarships.
4. Loves the sense of community and how they really care about you. For example this football player they allowed in had a GPA of 2.0 and they got it up to a 3.2 by the end of his first year. “That can’t happen unless the teachers truly care.”

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH PACIFIC, FIJI

1. Personal essays and teacher recommendations are not looked for here.

2. They’ll look at the extracurricular activities and leadership roles you have partaken in. As for SAT scores, they are not required and 2.5 is the minimum GPA.

3. Students with a GPA greater then 2.5 are enrolled for financial aid automatically.

4. He loved that all the students were really engaged in learning about both the school’s culture and their surroundings. In fact there were about 200 students who learned the traditional dance of Fiji.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY

1. Personal essays are important and are highly considered in the admissions process, but not so much with teacher recommendations. They look for personal essays that reflect you as a person by writing about your experiences and how they’ve helped shape you into who you are today.

2. With a low GPA, your chances of getting accepted are quite low as they really focus on high GPAs (the average is around a 3.88). However they will glance at the leadership roles you have taken on and then your extracurricular activities.

3. Berkeley’s a quite expensive school, and for this reason they do offer many scholarships based on academics and/or financial need. Applicants are considered based on their financial needs and GPA.

4. She loved the fact they that hey have a very, highly distinguished faculty (22 members of their faculty have won the Nobel Prize.)

College Essay Question

Q#39: Tell us about the most embarrassing moment of your life. (Santa Clara University)

The most embarrassing moment in my life also happens to be one of my funniest, fondest memories. So I was on a date with my boyfriend and we go to this restaurant, typical. The night is going fine and about halfway through our dinner or so I decide to go "powder my nose." On the way to the bathroom I manage to trip and knock out a waiter with a full platter of dirty dishes, causing the whole restaurant to turn and stare. Laughing and helping him up, I shook that off. I make it to the washroom and it’s like Shrek’s swamp in there; so gross! Anyways, I go, do my thing and when I go to open the stall door I find that it’s stuck! I’m trapped! I start just leaning back with all my might trying to pull it open. After awhile of looking at it, pulling it and contemplating climbing over the side, I decide I’m just going to have to suck it up and crawl under the door. The floor was slimy and slippery, but definitely not because it was just freshly mopped. As I get halfway under, I accidentally bump the door and notice that it moves with ease. All of a sudden I come to me senses and realize that the door wasn’t stuck at all… it just needed to be pushed open, not pulled! Oh man, I get up and my hair is all uggggh and there's this nasty layer of filth all along the front of my light pink dress and then, I start worrying that he thinks I’m having trouble with my bowels or something! It has been awhile after all. When I returned to the table he looks at my dress and is just like “Rough time?” I just cocked my eyebrow, shook my head with a smirk and said, “You have no idea.”

Week One

http://www.helium.com/items/335552-conforming-to-society-the-cookie-cutter-theory

Posted: May 15, 2007   Viewed: October 17, 2011

Article Summary:

This article is basically about how society is slowing trying to make us conform and that, unfortunately, the cookie cutter theory is still alive and thriving in today’s society. If you take a cookie cutter and punch it into the dough, then again, and again, all the cookies end up being the exact same. So the cookie cutter theory refers to the idea that everyone and everything are becoming identical due to society. Piper uses many examples throughout the article to prove her point, such as newer housing development and how all of the houses look alike. She then goes on to tell us how it is society’s belief that, if pushed hard enough, what's considered to be the weak link will either conform or die, and the desired society of perfection can continue. In the end, Piper recommends that we “choose to live be our own rules and be successful.”

Vocabulary

Word 1: unattainable
a) However, in the society we live, it is a highly unattainable dream for those who wish for it.
b) Unattainable: impossible to achieve (http://www.ldoceonline.com/) It's an unattainable dream of Mr.Plonka's to have every, single student post two blogs a week for the year, even during winter break.

Word 2: emerge

a) We are supposed to allow them to run the house as soon as they emerge from the womb.

b) Emerge: 1. come forth into view or notice, as from concealment or obscurity 2. to rise or come forth from or as if from water or other liquid 3. to come up or arise, as a question or difficulty 4.to come into existence; develop 5. to rise, as from an inferior or unfortunate state or condition (http://dictionary.reference.com/)

c) The monkey emerged from the forest with the sole purpose of showing off its big, red buttocks.

Word 3: brainwash

a) After spending at least 20 years on brainwashing and education, you are considered to be knowledgeable enough to leave the nest.

b) Brainwash: intensive, forcible indoctrination, aimed at destroying a person's basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with an alternative set of fixed beliefs (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/)

c) Woodstock doesn’t have to brainwash its students; they’re perfect already.

Response:

The article relates strongly to the idea of the combine that is present in Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In the article, it talks about society and how it is trying to conform all of us into being the same people, like cookie cutters do to the dough. This is the main idea in the novel, the “combine”, and how everyone is being made to fit perfectly into this perfect society. If one doesn’t fit they are sent to a “factory for the combine” and fixed. Both the article and the novel even use the same example, saying that, when you look at the new housing development, all the houses look exactly the same or very similar. The book and the article also both end by saying or suggesting that you should stop living by what everyone else is doing and choose to live by your own rules. Chief Broom shows this by leaving the ward in the end and running away.

Please Read this Article, Thank you

Article: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/09/148295675/please-read-this-story-thank-you

Central Argument: The use of courteous language has slowly and gradually been vanishing.

            This article is cleverly entitled Please Read this Article, Thank you and is written by Linton Weeks. He writes about courteous language and behavior, a once common and norm in society, seems to be slowly and gradually vanishing.  Personally, I don’t agree with this statement. I think that people still are courteous; it is just generations and time that have modified the original common phrase, like thank you and your welcome, into new ones. It doesn’t mean good manners have been completely erased; it just means they are differently presented nowadays. Sure, it wouldn’t hurt if we could return to the old ways as they do seem to be more respectful and, sure, some people good use a little attitude adjusting, but the important thing is acknowledging the appreciation expressed. There is only a problem if the people are not just modifying the old words and replacing them with others, but the common respect for one disappears too. Who really cares what you say as long as the other person gets the message that you appreciate what they have done? Courtesy is still around and can be seen in the modernized words that have replaced the originals and in the common examples that occur every day.

            Firstly, it is very true that language overtime changes. Take the original greeting, for example, of “How do you do?” It became "Hello, how are you?" which in turn morphed into "Hello, how are things?" Or "How's it going?" As Cindy Senning, director of an institute dedicated to promoting etiquette and civility, says, "The principles of respect, consideration and honesty are universal and timeless," but, "manners change over time and from culture to culture." It doesn’t matter that “you’re welcome” has turned into “no problem,” or that “thank you” has become “got it.” The point is that people get one another and together can acknowledge that it means thank you or you’re welcome. You can’t justify that common courtesy is disappearing by saying that “no problem” isn’t good enough. Courtesy can be defined as the showing of politeness in one's attitude and behavior toward another or others. By saying “no problem” you are still following the definition of courtesy thus showing that just because the norms and manners and mores have changed, it doesn’t mean the respect and courtesy get lost in it all. 

            Secondly, courtesy can be seen flourishing in society all the time if you really take the time to find it. I know that you may have a bad run in once in a while, like Gregory Smith shares in the article, and that 76% of people who took this survey said that Americans are becoming more rude than civil, but courtesy has not just vanished. People, naturally, remember the bad things over the little miracles that happen every day. Say you are driving home from work and a car cuts you off; you’re more likely to remember the fact that you got cut off than that person you let you go first and then crossed the street. That contributes to the view that courtesy and manners have been diminishing, but really, people just are becoming less and less observant.

            Mt third point is that many people truly are quite well-mannered in everyday life. Take the story of Margret Lacey if you still think common courtesy has vanished. She is a regular customer at this grocery store café. When she walked in in the morning, they greeted her with a hearty “Good morning” and asked if she wanted the usual. As they made her coffee they asked her about how her morning had been and as she left they said, “Enjoy. See you tomorrow.” If that isn’t common courtesy I don’t know what is. The difference between why she thinks restaurant workers treat her so nicely, unlike George Smith, is simply because she doesn’t expect people to utter the same old same olds.

            In conclusion, words may modify and manners may change but that doesn’t mean the politeness and gratitude is no longer there in society. Imagine the stares you would get if you went into a shop and said, “How do you do?” while taking a courtesy or a bow. Just because you don’t go all out any more, like in the old days, it doesn’t mean people don’t do the same thing you’re doing by curtseying and bowing just in a more modern way.

The Rise of "Awesome"

http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/robert-lane-greene/just-awesome

Central Argument: Generations and time affect the ways in which the English language changes.

Once upon a time, words were invented as a way to communicate. Each language had its own sounds and noises that came together to mean certain things. Overtime, however, these words have been modified and come to mean slightly different things than what they originally were intended to mean; such as “awesome” and “terrible”. In Shakespeare’s classic literature you can see perfect examples of how overtime the English language has changed. Words shift together as part of a system all the time and, as time passes, one can see how evolution is not only in science but in language too.

The word “awesome” is a great example of evolution in the English language. At first, it was an awe-inspiring word but it has now become a nearly meaningless bit of verbiage referring to anything even mildly good. The first time “awesome” appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1598 when it was a description for someone feeling awe. In 1980 it was again defined in the Official Preppy Handbook as terrific, great. One can see the drastic change that went from the original meaning of “awesome” to the now current meaning overtime. The word “awesome” has now become a default descriptor for anything good; however, it originally was exclusively used for awe-inspiring things like God. This is a common thing seen throughout the English, as well as many other, languages. Like “terrible” used to have a strong connection to terror, then it referred to something shockingly bad, and today it means something just plain bad. Words are always shifting, modifying, changing, as part of unit, under cover. Nobody really notices it happening until decades, even centuries later. “Terrible” begins to mean “bad”, so “awesome” must replace “terrible”. Then “awesome” becomes “excellent”, so “awe-inspiring” has to fill the space left behind. Then teenagers hear their parents saying “awesome”, and it becomes the last thing they want to say. So new words are roped in, like “sick” meaning “great” and so on. Words do have definition but they are very malleable ones.

If one is to take a look through Shakespeare’s works, such as Romeo and Juliet or The Tempest, one can see many examples in which the English language has been simplified and changed in dramatic ways. An example would be in The Tempest when the Master is talking to Boatswain during the great storm that causes them to crash onto the island. The Master is telling Boatswain to give the other sailors a pep talk and to do it fast, before they’re shipwrecked. Then he says to Boatswain, “Bestir, bestir.” In a modern translation this would mean “Hurry, hurry.” “Bestir” today means to become active or arouse, but in the 16^th century, when it was used in The Tempest, it meant move with haste or “hurry”. Another example is in Shakespeare’s classic play Romeo and Juliet. In the beginning, when Sampson is speaking with Gregory, one can see a shift in the meaning of the word “move”. In the play, it means “anger” in a modern translation. One can see the modification that has come of the word “move”. Today it means to go in a specific direction or manner, which isn’t even close to the meaning of anger, which is what William Shakespeare intended on “move” meaning when he wrote the script.  These two examples are just a couple that show what great changes have come over the English languages in time.

In conclusion, words change their meaning like girls change their clothes. Nobody knows when the transformation will occur, but it does happen for every word. Then another word has to replace what that word originally meant and the modifying chain of words continues. Evolution not only affects people, but the English language as well.