During the beginning of this academic year, we had the illusionist Craig Karges on campus. Before I went, I had looked up what to expect from the show, and was not disappointed. But beyond floating a table, he also was selling his book afterwards. And that is where the big surprise was. “Ignite Your Intuition” works like a philosophical self help book. It points to the amazing brain we all poses. He builds upon theory and cited work of a great many people, to prove logic in a sense is illogical and takes this as his leave to ask you to allow him to slip behind the lines of your mind. He asks you suspend disbelief and preconceptions. If you can, he takes you down an intriguing journey in which you find your mind. Yet I think he is up to
The novel, Watch out for Jamie Joel written by Mike Dumbleton, successfully explores a realistic view of secondary school life. Dumbleton uses a unique narrative perspective, structural manipulation, characterisation, supported by a variety of themes such as death, family conflict and pressure. Symbolism and foreshadowing heighten concern and sympathy for Craig Eliot and Jamie Joel in their every day challenges in the life of a deputy principal and a teenage girl.
Accredited journalist, Malcolm Gladwell, delves into the hidden truth behind the subconscious mind and explores the psychological process of intuitive thinking, both good and bad, in the novel Blink. Gladwell’s purpose is to exploit how the unconscious works and to expose the connection between your intuition and the real world which helps educate the reader on how to develop advanced decision making skills. He adopts an informative and passionate tone in order to establish credibility with his older audience and emphasize his dedication toward his works. Through the use of rhetorical questions and repetition, Gladwell demonstrates that a thin-slice of information can be used to deduce deeper comprehension.
I believe that out of the four essays that we have read, the essay that presents the best and most powerful argument is presented by Mike Rose "Blue Collar Brilliance" (Rose, 2015). First Rose describes how his mother who work as a waitress in a restaurant. He defines his mother's, Rose Meraglio (Rosie) ability, “Rosie took customers’ orders, pencil poised over pad, while fielding questions about the food. She walked full tilt through the room with plates stretching up her left arm and two cups of coffee somehow cradled in her right hand. She stood at a table or booth and removed a plate from this person, another for that person, then another, remembering who had the hamburger, who had the fried shrimp, almost always getting it right….she’d
On October 29th, I attended a speech in the planetarium. The speaker’s name was Crit Callebs, a Native American storyteller. Callebs grew up on the Yakama Nation Indian Reservation and still lives there today. He has been telling stories all his life due to growing up around the elders of his tribe, and listening to all of their stories. His speech was centered on traditional stories of the Eastern Band Cherokee’s. As I mentioned above, the speech was held in the planetarium, which features elevated seats, dark lighting, and a globe ceiling. All of these features contributed to the illusion of floating. However, Callebs took it to another level by projecting the night’s sky on the screen. He turned off the lights completely, so we could not see the people directly next to us, or even him. All we saw were the stars and all we heard was him talking to us. As much as this made the atmosphere more relaxing, it also made the speech have an enervated quality to it. In this paper, I will analyze and discuss the speech’s quality points, as well as the disappointing aspects.
I read the realistic fiction novel I Have a Bad Feeling About This by Jeff Strand for my book talk.
In this article the author, Howard Rheingold, describes his experience when he decided to visit the amish communities. There he discussed why they put self-imposed rules upon themselves. He realized it was not because they resented technology, the Amish love fancy barbeques and electric saws, but they saw that in the “english” world, people are being separated from their community. The amish decided they would try their hardest to avoid this separation caused by technological advances, “Look Who's Talking” by Howard Rheingold, convinces the reader to analyze the pros and cons of technology; to decide whether or not certain devices are beneficial towards people and their community.
In Dave Barry’s article “We’ve Got the Dirt on Guy Brains” and the Deborah Tannen’s “Sex, Lies, and Conversation” , the authors discussed the difference between men and women in terms of specific issues. However, their opinions of what reasons have led to certain differences diverged. This essay aimed at providing a detailed examination of both articles by comparing some of the points. First of all, I will discuss the shared point of both articles regarding the differences of men and women. Then the I will move on taking about the major different opinions the two authors held. Once these have been done, a brief examination of the the evidence in both articles.
Essayist and novelist, Brent Staples, in his essay "Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space" describes the accusatory altering effects of racial profiling and stereotyping occurring within the cities of Chicago. Staples purpose is to express to the reader the shift of the atmosphere when a black man enters a room. He creates an accusatory tone to show that he's an innocent man incriminated of committing crimes due to his ethnicity. Staples states “the ability to alter public space in ugly ways” he builds credibility by allowing readers to speculate on racial profiling through his personal experiences and appealing his readers with both logic and emotion to support his viewpoint.
“I am just going to Joliet Junior College”, said about half of my classmates my senior year of high school. People everywhere make community college out to be something that is looked down upon and for people who were not as bright. In his essay “Blue Collar Brilliance”, Mike rose explains the reputation community colleges have acquired over the last few decades depicts two year schools as a place for people who could not make it into “real colleges”, also known as four year colleges (276). Although four year universities have reputations for quality education and excellent programs, students can get the same quality, if not better education at a two year college at a better convenience.
We’ve looked at work from many different views in this class. From the bottom in Mike Roses book, Mind at Work which looks at the, on the jobsite skills and intelligence needed in the work force. Along with the way our society and education play a role in that. And then there was the middle working class view by journalist and author Barbara Ehreinch and her book Nickel and Dimed, which saw a middle class person look at the low wage lifestyle of Americans, and her failed attempt to live off wages. It ended up very one sided and controversial since it was a wealthier person trying to look in on a subject they could never understand. But one thing that I never really felt or saw either one really look at is the connection between work and life balance they only looked at the different aspects of work and those factors. But I feel there was a factor left out and it is life, family, personal aspects.
What really defines a dreamer? Is it the children who have unrealistic dreams of playing in the big leagues or is it someone who has a plan and will go out of his or her way to achieve it? Both of these options can be true. Dreamers are special in this world because they have hope for something they believe in. Nothing is more fascinating than seeing an individual who never gave up and worked extremely hard to reach their goal. Having read only three sections so far, I have explored the individual’s purpose and passion for the work they pursue. The “Dreamers” section has made me analyze what I have and want with my future career. Overall, the elements of the book defining dreamers explains the meaning of a risk taker, the hard work and dedication involved, and the passion it takes to reach your goals.
“At times Odessa had the feel of lingering sadness that many isolated places have, a sense of the world orbiting around it at dizzying speed while it stood stuck in time...300 miles from the rest of the world” (33). Odessans don’t mind the isolation because they have high school football to wrap their lives around. In 1988, H.G. Bissinger moved to Odessa,Texas and had the up close and personal opportunity to study a small southern town and see how high school football affected the lives of its residents. In the same fashion, writer Lewis Lapham studied how sports affect people from all over the nation and came to the conclusion that sports must “preserve an illusion of perfect innocence.” Lapham’s views can clearly be linked to the
This book is an eye opener, making you look at things in a different way changing your views and perspective of things we thought were impossible or that they had no relationship at all. He incentives you to formulate the correct questions by questioning everything that you feel curious about. Just remember what a genius once said, "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."- Albert Einstein. Just remember how the book says
The movie, The Ultimate Gift, is a moving example of how one man, who while in search for the “ultimate gift,” actually learned and gained many more precious gifts along the way. Jason Stevens was a man on a mission to get to the big pay-off at the end of his quest but thanks to his wise grandfather Jason gained much more than just money. Throughout his journey in the movie Jason was taught and given the gift of hard work, the gift of love, the gift of friendship, etc. After learning and receiving these gifts, it was only then that Jason would receive and truly be able to appreciate the ultimate gift that his grandfather had waiting for him. Jason struggled to complete the tasks, but with the completion of each task, he then was motivated to move on to the next task. This motivation to achieve certain “gifts” and then move on to the next one is explained in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow believed that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and then when the need is actualized then they will move on to the next one. The stages in Maslow’s Hierarchy are psychological, safety, social, esteem, and self- actualization. In The Ultimate Gift, Jason, in order to receive his grand prize, goes through stages within his missions that are very much like the steps in Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs.
Society has changed and evolved throughout time. Perhaps one of the most significant changed in contemporary American society is the treatment towards African Americans. “The Help” a feature film directed by Tate Taylor is based on the non-fictional novel “The Help” written by author Kathryn Sockett. The feature film explores the life of African American maids of Jackson Mississippi, in the early 1960’s. The 1960’s displayed all African Americans to being left out of the “American dream” through neglect and racism. African Americans faced prejudice and discrimination in almost every aspect of their life, from jobs to housing and even their education. They were denied the right to sit at the same lunch counter or use the same public rest