Close Reading

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2003/09/brooks.htm

Here is the link to the Article I read. It is called People Like Us by David Brooks.

If you were asked the question, "Do you consider America diverse?" I guarantee most would have answered yes. Many have heard that America is considered "The Melting Pot", but are you sure that is fact? Brooks does an amazing job of showing how culturally universe America is. Brooks write with great persuasion and uses details, diction and syntax effectively to prove his point.

When the main purpose of an article is to persuade someone that what they have believe most of their lives is wrong, the author is going to need to pretty strong evidence. However, for this evidence to be affective, it must be relatable. Brooks accomplishes this by specifically naming states and cities that many of the readers might live in. For example, Boulder, Colorado, Burnsville, Minnesota, and Bensalem, Pennslyvania. Brooks also doesn't use vague estimations, he uses specific percentages and dollar amounts. Did you know that faculties reflected by the general population 32 percent are democratic? That seems pretty normal, but later in the paragraph we learn that elite schools are highly undiverse and 90 percent are registered Democrats. surprising right?

Brook's word choice is this article is amazing, and excuse my pun, very diverse. He describes a group of people as "similar" but then can later describe them as "homogeneous". His word choice adds sophistication to his writing and makes the reader feel more secure with Brook's knowledge. His writing relates to all ages because he also corporates more modernistic language like "uncool" and "mainstream". With out this diction the article would lose its flow and flair.

The setup of this article really optimizes Brook's use of syntax, but it also incorporates imagery.  Never does he repeat a point that has already been mentioned. He is able to illustrate his point by having each paragraph focus on a certain area or type of people. This way with each fact he adds, the reader is able to build to the mental picture they are forming. Also, the paragraphs seem to alternate length, first with a longer paragraph then followed by a shorter paragraph. The shorter paragraph is almost to emphasize the ideals Brooks states in the paragraph form. His writing style appeals to many readers this way; short and concise or detail oriented.

This is a great piece to read; its interesting and possibly adds a little perspective. So now i beg to question, actually how diverse is the town you are living in? The place you go to school? Your friend group? This article really makes you question is diversity becoming extinct?

~Dana Page

Response to Course Material

Now for an exciting update in the life of AP English! We have just finished up our first read of Ceremony, which we were warned was very challenging. Overall, sorry to say, i disliked the book. It was a more challenging read than most, but not something i would pick up on my own. Although i must say the author's writing style seemed sophisticated and elaborate, but was not enough to win me over. The book did succeed at confusing me at some points, but hopefully i got the jist of it. I am looking forward to hearing how much i did not understand. The last week before break we were finishing up a quick lesson on the eras. I found all of the groups power points surprisingly entertaining. Whether that was due to the use of presi or the falsity of my preconceived knowledge of the eras i will never know. Well that's all for now. Hopefully, you can hold off on your suspense for the update on the life of AP lit. Cya!

~Dana

Open Prompt

2010, Form B. “You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you.” —Sonsyrea Tate

Sonsyrea Tate’s statement suggests that “home” may be conceived of as a dwelling, a place, or a state of mind. It may have positive or negative associations, but in either case, it may have a considerable influence on an individual. Choose a novel or play in which a central character leaves home yet finds that home remains significant. Write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the importance of “home” to this character and the reasons for its continuing influence. Explain how the character’s idea of home illuminates the larger meaning of the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

It has always been said that "Home is where the heart is". No matter how far you physically travel, the quote tells us that there will always be a special place for you at home. A home is defined as a place where the people you love and care about congregate. This quote provides hope that, your home will always mean something special to you, and the same of it for you. Both Willy and Biff exemplify the true meaning of this quote in the play "Death of A Salesman" by Aurthur Miller.

Biff returns home after drolling on and on with his life of doing nothing to quite literally find himself. Before returning home, Biff wandered around aimlessly from job to job, not enjoying a minute of it. His return to home added some well needed clarity to his mind. His home and the people in it, gave Biff the push to try and pursue his "Dreams", when really that what was he needed to realize that is not what he wanted. Biff was able to find out the true meaning of success and happiness thanks to his home. With out this the book would lose one of the most valuable dimensions of the the plot. Not only did Biff benefit from his return home, but so did his entire family. The value of bringing back Biffs heart and spirit to the home, caused quite a reality shock to the family. This placed many people back on thier right track.

Biff was not the only one to leave the home and family, just to return. Like many say "Like father, like son."  Biff's father Willy also had to come back home to truly find himself. Willy is a traveling salesman and was rarely home. The trips quite literally caused Willy to lose his mind, almost death. The return home, with all his loving family there caused Willy several emotional roller coasters. After many ups and downs, both returning family members were at peace. So even though Willy did pass away, it was almost and ending of satisfaction that wouldn't have occurred with out their return home.

The value of home majorly adds the to themes and plot of this book. With out the significance of home, the characters would have never been able to find success, satisfaction or happiness.

~Dana

Close Reading #3

Poorest Poor

http://news.yahoo.com/poorest-poor-us-hits-record-1-15-people-040233161.html

When you look at the people we interact with everyday its hard to believe that many are suffering from poverty. Poverty discriminates against no one and shows no mercy. Now with poverty and a new high, you never know who it could affect next: your neighbor, your best friend, even you. This article written by Hope Yen and Laura Wides-Munoz shows us the extreme realities of poverty through affective detials, language, and Imagery.

Details- Did you know that "1 in every 15 people" are affected by poverty?  This shocking fact adds detail to the article that really tugs at the heart strings. This allows people to visualize that in our normal high school classes of 30, two people are being affected and struggling. Not only does the article talk about the common racial and class groups that are affected by poverty, they go into detail talking about specific families and people. This seemingly small detail makes the article come alive and feel very real to its readers.

Language- The vioce of this article is serious and somber. This helps relay the devastation taking place in our very own towns and cities.  The article almost presents a tone of despair rather than hope that the situation will imporve. For example, "extreme-poverty neighborhoods emerge in more places" and
"the plummeting housing market wiped out home values and dried up construction jobs." I believe the authors used this language in order to finally relay that this is a serious problem and wont be resolved on its own.

Imagery- The imagery is strong in this article, draw on the reader's sentiment. With emotionally evoking words like "crash" and "cry" "crisis" and "powerless." With out this thought provoking imagery the article would lose much of  its effectiveness .

~Dana

Open Prompt

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

The definition of perfection is based on each unique individuals perception of the term. So it can be very hard to achieve something that no one is certain what it actually is. This issue cause many conflicts between parents and son in "The American Dream" as they are trying to achieve their definition of perfect.

Perfect can often times be described by social standards and is often something that a person does not have but yearns to acquire.  Mommy and Daddy, the parental characters in TAD, are constantly trying to achieve perfection through their American dream. The standard of the American dream is married with children, well off, and well liked. Although what they don't realize is that perfection does not always guarantee happiness. So when they achieve their goal of having a child, everything seems well, but they are not satisfied. Just like any other baby, he cried and needed love and care, which Mommy and Daddy did not consider perfection. Their unhappiness and lack of satisfaction from the get go is the source of many of the future conflicts.

These conflicts led to Mommy and Daddy trying to solve them in the most drastic of ways; harm. Not only did Mommy and Daddy mentally harm the child, but the physically harmed him as well. They harmed him so much, that he ended up dying. His death, showed us that these conflicts that came from imperfection, cause Mommy and Daddy to ruin their own dream. Reader can evidently see that the parental characters values were scewed so much to achieve this dream they ended up cause the most extreme of conflicts. With out these conflicts, Mommy and Daddy's characters wouldn't be as well understand. The readers wouldnt be allowed as much insight to the shallowness of the new values of Americans. This conflict allows us to see the major themes in the book, like satisfaction and superficiality. 

Although usually unpleasant to read about, conflict can be the most important factor to develop a story. With out it, the work would have no meaning. 

~Dana

Close Reading

To Much Sitting Raises Odds for Cancer

http://gma.yahoo.com/too-much-sitting-raises-odds-cancer-study-162607756.html

We have always been told that exercise is key to maintain good health, but did we ever consider the time we spend sitting down to be unhealthy? It is a relatively abstract thought, especially to many high school students  who spend most of the 8 or 9 hours a day of school sitting. This article written by Steven Reinberg shows this scary possibility by the effective uses of details, diction and syntax.

Details- This article has many details which help support the well educated voice. For an medical and shocking article to be believable, it must contain an ample amount of statistics and factual evidence. For example how does exercise reduce the risk of cancer? Many have learned that inflammation is variable that affects cancer, but the article goes into detail to put evidence behind the claim. The article uses modern experimenting to explain. "In her most recent work, Friedenreich and her colleagues have found an association between exercise and the reduction of markers of inflammation, such as one called C-reactive protein, which might explain how exercise reduces the risk of breast cancer." With out these specific details of the processes of cancer and the experimental work that scientists are conducting, the article would lose a lot of its credibility.

Diction- Word choice is a huge part of what makes an article excellent. Again with an educational article, an air of knowledge must be presented. Reinberg used sophisticated vocabulary at a level where both common readers and the highly educated could easily understand. For example, "Epidemiologist" "sedentary" "Inflammation" and "Mechanisms." These specific word choices help the reader better understand the greater risks being presented.

Syntax- Reinburg is constantly varying sentence structure and length within this article.Many sentances are short and consice and to get a piont across, "Office workers may spend 75 percent of their time sitting." The lack of filler in this sentence makes it a bolder statement, and very shocking. Other sentences are elongated to elaborate on a point.

So remember next time you sit down in front of your computer to do your blog homework, maybe you should reconsider. It could be hazardous to your health.

~Dana

Response to course material #3

We have most recently completed a lot of annotating of The American Dream, not only as a group but alone as well. At first i thought it was quite challenging but soon i realized it was pretty easy and helped me understand the material a lot more. Our class discussions have been quite interesting, they brought up many points that i never noticed or considered. Hopefully future annotating will continue to get easier!

~Dana