Every Day By David Levithan

In Robert Cormier’s novel, We All Fall Down, is a young-adult thriller that explores the evil side of humanity through a number of corrupt characters. Cormier, to a large extent, accurately depicts manipulative and dishonest behaviour whilst also showing the evil lurking within the prominent characters of Harry Flowers, Buddy Walker and Mickey Stallings who showcase the dark side of humanity. Cormier explores this through Harry Flower’s manipulative actions that result in the suffering of others. Additionally, the constant dishonest behaviour is shown predominantly through the main protagonist of Buddy Walker, who deceives the one he loves. Cormier continues to depict the evil lurking in society through the theme of appearance

While reading all three articles about happiness one common theme arose. What is truly happiness? Many different people interpret this question differently, and all three works of writing seem to have a different view on what happiness is. The poems, “Happiness” written by Jane Kenyon, addresses the come and go nature of happiness, while the essay, “A Balanced Psychology and A Full Life,” focuses on what needs to be done to increase happiness. With this being said “Pig Happiness” by Lynne McFall best addressed the question of what happiness is .

Me talk pretty one day is an essay written by David Sedaris in 2005. It tells the story of the authors to return to school at the age of forty-one and about his experience with learning French in Paris with a very strict teacher. The theme of the essay is David Sedaris attitude towards learning a new language. Although he seems to have an attitude towards learning French he moves all the way to France with only one month of French lessons as his previous experience with the language which gives the essay some humor. The language in the essay is very informal which is supported by him talking about own experience. He uses a lot of imagery and tends to exaggerate his experiences. For example, it's everyone into the language pool, sink, or

Adults students are returning to school in record numbers to complete educational studies. These students come from different backgrounds and represent various ages, ethnicities, economics, weaknesses, and strengths. Many adult students are here for the second time after failing initially and have fears about their abilities to complete their studies. Although most students have used on-campus resources, some may need assistance from other adult students successful in completing their coursework. David Sedaris in “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” helps these students by sharing four steps used to complete the French course. The author states that the students much be willing to look at self, participate actively in studies, engage socially

David Landers articulates, “Witnesses can be essential to the success of any car accident claim. In many car accident scenarios, the only witnesses are the drivers of each vehicle. . . That is why the presence of additional witnesses, known as ‘third party’ witnesses, can become so crucial.”

In Emily Yoffe’s essay entitled “Seeking”, she explores how the World Wide Web has provoked human’s brains to constantly seek information and knowledge. Yoffe opens the essay by stating her thesis, “Sometimes it feels as if the basic drives for food, sex, and sleep have been overridden by a new need for endless nuggets of electronic information, we are so insatiably curious we gather data that could get us in trouble, or we do not need to know” (“Seeking” 572). In the beginning, of the essay she highlights the research of Psychologist James Olds, who is believed to have found the brain’s pleasure center through various studies. She then moves on to explain the findings of neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, who tries to account the reason for humans incessant need to seek information. Yoffe draws from Panksepp’s findings, “For humans, this desire to search is not just about fulfilling our physical needs, but our abstract ones as well, and in doing so we find a drug like satisfaction” (“Seeking” 573). Yoffe then explains how Psychology professor Kent Berridge tries to understand how the brain experiences pleasure. She speaks of how in Berridge’s work he has been able to distinguish how wanting is equivalent to Panksepp’s seeking system, and the liking system is believed to be linked to the brain’s reward center (Yoffe “Seeking” 574). Yoffe also explains how in Berridge’s work he has come to find that our minds are stimulated rather than satisfied, which

In the video titled “The Happy Secret To Better Work”, Shawn Achor really outlines how being happy and staying positive can really change your life. In other words Achor is referring to positive psychology. When referring to the world around us Achor really believes the majority of people focus on only the negatives and not the positives. He also talks about how that reality might not be what shapes us but in actuality it is our brain that puts a lens on how we perceive things and that may change our happiness. Achor also outlines another trait of our brain, which is that we as humans set progressing goals that never seem to be fulfilled due to human nature. He finishes his presentation by giving the audience some ways to help reverse the way we see the world and help our work and life in general.

Nadine Gordimer’s short story “Once Upon a Time” is about a fairy tale that goes terribly wrong. The narrator is initially roused by something that sounds like an intruder. To help herself go back to sleep, she tells herself a “bedtime story.” Here, a South African family lives in a gated community away from rioters and burglars; to keep themselves safe, all of the neighbors build immense walls and genius security systems. The family’s young, curious boy is always fascinated by the security, and he eventually makes the mistake of climbing into the DRAGON’S TEETH, mangling him to death or near-death. Gordimer incorporates ignorance, fear, and suspense to make this story incredibly compelling and astounding.

“I have been in a place for six incredible years, where winning meant a crust of bread and to live another day. Since the blessed day of my liberation I have asked the question, why am I here?” (Gerda Weissmann Klein). Life has never been easy, especially for Gerda Weissmann, former victim of the cruelty and terror beyond the barbed wire fences of the camps. Always shifting from camp to camp, Gerda Weissmann was a young Jewish lady who was forced to go through a heartbreaking and horrific experience at the concentration camps. The novel, All But My Life, by Gerda Weissmann Klein, is an autobiography that narrates her life in the German labor camps. The years she spent in the hands of the cruelty of the Nazis, did not enfeeble her, instead

In the book of All But My Life: A Memoir it follows the author’s life from her early youth years to later on her life. The author Gerda Weismann Klein is the main focus on this story which is her autobiography on which details her life around that time. The book is a memoir in which it is greatly detailed on certain key events in her life. During the book she describes many of the horrors that she had to witness and as well as the obstacles she had to face in her lifetime. The author is herself and she is writing based on the details she remembers from later on her life. The memory could be considered for a consideration since the time could of change her memory during the specific time she was talking about. The book provides vivid details from the beginning of her describing the atmosphere when the Germans arrived and the tense atmosphere towards the end when she gets out of the concentration camps.

In the Next Room is a play by Sarah Ruhl. The play contains the early history of the sexual device which is a vibrator. Dr. Givings used the vibrator as a clinical treatment to give women orgasm to cure hysteria. Dr. and Mrs. Givings always have unsatisfactory sexual relationship. Mrs. Givings was not able to breast feed her baby that Dr. Givings’ patient Mrs. Daldry introduce a wet nurse Elizabeth. Elizabeth visits Mrs. Givings and wet nurse the baby. One time Leonard Living an artist visits Dr. Givings’ clinic and request Elizabeth to draw her wet nursing a baby. Elizabeth once told Mrs. Givings and Mrs. Daldry that she can orgasm during the sex with her husband. Later on, with jealousy Mrs. Givings strongly demand love from her husband and they seek a true love by having sex. They finally recovered their relationship.

In his essay, Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris uses humor and satire, to chronicle his time as a student in a French language class while living in France. Sedaris creatively expresses his external and internal struggles as a student in his later years, bringing real life examples of how he overcame his obstacles to obtain his educational goals. Through careful research and critical analysis, this essay effectively proves that despite adversity, self-doubt, and preconceived notions of what “college-age” is, acquiring a higher education is possible.

"Crackling day' is a story about a young black boy in South Africa that challenges three white youths and, in so doing, challenges the political system of the whole country. The very famous writer Peter Abrahams wrote it.

              Hope (noun): A feeling of trust; A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen

In the book Life is so Good, George Dawson and Richard Glaubman give a very rare representation of life in the early 1900s. George Dawson, a poor and illiterate black man tells life as it is through his experiences. These many life experiences are portrayed in new stories told chapter by chapter intrigue the reader of the book. This paper will review Dawson’s many stories and his perspective on life at the time, as well as the way his views and mindset compares to the philosophy of African Americans at this time.