Knowing Your Value, by Mika Brzezinski

Guy Vanderhaegh takes us back a few decades in the retelling of a court case in small town, Saskatchewan in the play, “I Had a Job I liked. Once.” Using elements of style, staging and developing characters throughout the play Vanderhaegh portrays to the audience the theme of the biases and prejudices that come with living in a small town.

We also learn about the new SAT and its essay component, which some college completely ignore. Some college and universities are eliminating their requirement for the SAT or ACT in an effort to minimize their importance and stress that surrounds them.

A powerful quote said by pre-socratic philosopher named Democritus says “Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul”. In other words, happiness does not come from materialism but instead from the things money can’t buy. In the article The Secret of Happiness the author David Myers writes directly to Americans about how he believes we need to obtain a new “American Dream” that emphasizes personal happiness instead of materialistic happiness. Myers also believes happiness resides in the soul and he says people that think money is the key to happiness are actually less content with themselves and he uses various ways to prove this point. With that being said materialistic happiness vs personal happiness is an important issue, and Myers made a strong use of Logos by showing surveys and studies, Ethos by showing credibility in his argument but he could have used more Pathos by using more emotion and enthusiasm in his argument.

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

The short story “The Love Of My Life” by T.C. Boyle's examines two couples who are imagined to be inseparable and how no love comes closer to theirs. The story follows young high school couples who are in the merge of a bright future. They are always together “wearing each other like a pair socks”. They idolized the love they share is something far from real and it is true love. While Jeremy is set to attend Brown and on the other hand China were in Binghamton things took wrong turn. Over the summer before their going to college they mistakenly conceived a baby while they are at a camping trip. The story was pleasant and everything was green and China and Jeremy went to a trip together and had sex. The couples were so keen to avoid this from

“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.

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.

Many people today arrive in the United States of America in pursuit of achieving the American Dream. What is the American Dream, and what does it mean in today 's culture? The term “American Dream” was established since the Great Depression representing Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness; the very values this great nation was founded upon. The Dream was said to be successful if a person worked hard to achieve his/her goals. Even though prior the American Dream has been terminated however, citizens have transform it in terms of personal goals since the 1930s. Author Brandon King describes the American Dream as an, “Opportunity for each according to ability and achievement”(610). The American dream has to do with the concept of achieving success; being able to perform daily tasks to provide a brighter future for a person, and his/her family. Essentially, if you are passionate enough about what you do, success is always possible even with manageable obstacles. Although, hard work is one of the factors in achieving the American Dream, self-motivation has also made an impact. The reality is every citizen has the opportunity of achievement depending on his/her choices, and access to education.

There are many different themes in the book, The After-room, by Maile Meloy, one that stands out is trust. An example of this being shown is when Jin Lo, a young woman who doesn't even trust anyone, opens up and trusts Ned Maddox to let him have some of the avian elixir, which turns someone into a bird (Meloy, 2015, pg. 392). This shows how over the course of the novel, the characters have been able to built stable relationships strong enough, that a person who wouldnߴt even trust a rock, starts to trust a person. The theme of trust is also shown with Janie and Benjamin, when Janie realizes Benjamin doesn't actually trust anyone anymore. ‟ Benjamin scowled.ߵI don’t know what you want from me,’ he said.

The author of this passage, Cass Sunstein, is a professor at Harvard Law School and was a former head of the Obama White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He first goes on to talk about choosing experience over things. He says that after a while people tend to “adapt to commodities” and essentially get use to the idea of treating you. He goes on to talk about how buying a new car or a new house is nice at first, but as time goes on it is seen as a “background fact”. This is something I feel that I can relate to, whenever I get something new, such as a new cell phone, I think it is so great, but after the new wears off I start to look for the net best cell phone to purchase. Sunstein also talks about “buying time” and how we

Professor Paul Bloom states he is against empathy. He believes it is wrongfully used in our society and should not be used in certain situations. He still thinks it is important sometimes, but should not be primarily used as a result of anger, depression or retaliation. He believes compassion is the solution to empathy. In the long run, Bloom states that empathy will fail or burnout in a person. Hannah the extremely empathic person will eventually burnout according to Bloom. The use of empathy everyday as a core moral code will eventually be overwhelming and burned out and used up. The person will change direction and use empathy less in their lifetime. This essay will explore Paul Bloms opinion of empathy in his article, “Against

Within the short fiction "What You're Ready For," by John Gould, Dr. Laird embodies the theme of living entirely in the present and it leads to his demise. He states that in life there is nothing but "the here, the now." (245) and with that one's perception of life must match. This means that a person must leave their thoughts of old and eliminate those of what may come, they can only contemplate on those of the current stream of consciousness as it enters. He goads the audience into a sense of empowerment as a means of personal growth.

I have always had a strong belief that there is always room for improvement and that you are only as good as your weakest attribute. My main focus is developing more leadershop skills because one of my goals is to continue to go up the ladder in my T-Mobile career. I have sat down and spoken to many great leaders such as John Legere to have a better understanding of what it takes to be an effeicent and effective leader, while also shadowing on a daily basis my store leadership.

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.

Giuliana Rancic , is the person I see has my epitome. The reason for Rancic being my role model due to the fact she has inspired me to obtain, the personality and passion that I have for my career . Media Communication has been a passion and a dream I want to achieve in becoming the best News anchor. This idol is more than a young woman with many successes in her life. Rancic was named anchor of E! network (E! News ).Additionally , she co-host E!'s Fashion Police, Red Carpets , Golden Globes and Academy Awards. Apart, from her successful lifestyle as a journalist ,in conjunction with I admire her fascinating personality. Aside from her Television world she just took a new book out called “Going Off Script”.However , her success doesn’t stop