Let's Get Clean By Elizabeth Verdick

Rethinking Normal is a coming-of-age story about transcending physical appearances and redefining the parameters of “normalcy” to embody one’s true self. Katie Rain Hill memoir on her transition discussed what normal is and how she came to understand that normalcy was completely based on what each person individually makes of it.

A Taste of Power was written by Elaine Brown who grew up in a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia and sensed what it meant to be black people, female, and poor American. Elaine Brown described her experiences as a woman in the inner circle of the Central Committee. In contrast to the black men 's narratives of their experiences, Elaine Brown points up defects of the revolutionary vanguard. The Black Panther Party 's buildings of a revolution were actually self-righteous; a revolution without the liberation of Black women from patriarchy would never lead to equality for all. Brown acknowledged, like many other women in the Black Panther Party that systems of racial and classist oppression were indeed intertwined with sexism. Though this lens

In Danielle Allen’s essay, Our Declaration, she argues that all people should understand and recognize that the Declaration gives all people in the United States the undeniable freedom to self-govern. One person has the power to change the government; although this is not specifically stated, the freedom to self-govern implies every voice matters. She guides the reader to this idea by using simple and easy to follow examples to show the reader that they have the power to invoke a change the government. Allen also uses credible sources in order to give her reasoning credibility as well as using arguments that elicit an emotional connection.

In Katherine Newman’s No Shame in My Game, she examines and analyzes the working poor in the inner city. She does so in order to draw conclusions about how to help and dispute common stereotypes. A research study may be able to have more than one resolution, in this case Newman’s research design has more than one purpose. I believe her research study displays a bit of all three exploratory, descriptive and explanatory. By traveling throughout the New York City streets, and reflecting on what New York used to be. Newman is presenting her exploratory purpose to her research study by exploring her desire to know what it was like and how it is today, pondering, asking herself questions and wanting the answers. Which delves into a

Ruta Sepetys is the author for Between the Shades of Gray, a novel that captures the truth of Siberian camps and the annexation of the Balkans by Stalin. Ruta Sepetys got the idea to write this fictional story when she visited her family in Lithuania and got the chance to discover more about her heritage. She got very fascinated about her family’s struggle to keep memories of her grandparents because of the annexation of Lithuania to the USSR. This conflict urged her to find out more about the feelings and people’s memoirs during this period in World War II so, she started interviewing the survivors from the Siberian gulags and gathered information to write her novel. The book was also inspired by her father, Jonas Sepetys, who escape

The author of Whatever Life Throws at You is Julie Cross. Julie is 37 years old and lives in Central Illinois with her husband and three children. Julie has written several other books in her career. Whatever Life Throws at You is not a movie but it is on Amazon. I can't find any education or anything like that. She is a former gymnast and long time gymnastics fan, coach, and former gymnastics director at the YMCA. She has dealt with sports her whole life and knows a lot about them so she is familiar with baseball. She loves books, as she reads several a week, especially in the young adult and new adult genres.

I related the song “Confession” by Georgia Line to Ted Lavender because Ted was a scared soldier of the Vietnam war in which he did not want to be part of but was forced to due to the draft that forced him to be part of the war since he was chosen. He also didn’t want to embarrass himself by not going to war so he was deployed in Vietnam while he just wants to go home or go somewhere where there’s no war involved. “Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe in mid-April”(2) Ted carried tranquilizers and everything the soldiers carry usually hints us about their personality and so for Ted, I believe his personality is trying to be calm since tranquilizers are used to calm

Power by Linda Hogan is a novel about Omishto experiencing many conflicts in her life about knowledge and belief in her own heritage and religion. Many of us today can relate to this on various levels. As a catholic, I know many people may struggle with wanting to understand everything about the faith rather than just solely believing. We all know belief doesn’t just arise out of thin air, or wishful thinking, or fear, or hopelessness or pretending. It begins with knowing that Jesus Christ died and rose for our sins. I know I have a hard time doing that because I am a catholic I would want to have so much knowledge on these things. But with knowledge comes justification- the why behind what we believe. We believe many things are true, but

In “Everything Bad Is Good For You,” Steven Johnson discusses why and how he believes today’s popular culture is actually making us smarter, rather than dumbing us down. Johnson has his book split into two different parts, focusing mainly on the first part of his book, he talks about the ways people consume media and how it has become more complex and challenging over the years. The title headings for each sub-chapters are - Video Games, Television, Internet, and Movies. Within each subchapter he uses a vast number of examples from each section to support his argument. The biggest part the first chapter is dedicated to video games. Johnston suggests that when video games were first released that people thought they made us dumber and wasted our mind’s skills. He uses the example about how if video games had arrived before books, we would be more hesitant towards books. We would be looking at the negative aspects of book reading and how they are isolating, under-stimulating and do not engage enough. Stating that we use books to test cognitive benefits – attention, memory, focus and following threads, Johnston goes into a detail about how video games uses all these skills and more. He uses examples from Tetris, Pac-Man, SimCity200 and even The Legend of Zelda. Continuing his argument that video games engage us more that any other media our there at the moment, he acknowledges how to reward system and the desire to explore in video games keep us engaged. No other form of

When I first began reading this book, I assumed that it would be like the 2 previous books in the series: fast-paced with good action and good characters, but more a fun read than anything else. It was going to be enjoyable in an Ocean's Eleven or Casino Royale way like its predecessors. And so going into this, my initial reaction was surprise. In the first chapter I was already delving into the past of Kat and Hale's powerful bond and the history of their relationship, something I thought would never be explained. Already, the book was surprising me with its depth of character development and hidden deeper meanings. Throughout the book the theme of the characters taking on much bigger and influential roles continued. I learned to love the characters not just as characters but real people; I learned to look at Kat's world not just as all bright, cheerful hues, but this book revealed the shadowy, dark shades of Kat's world as well: corruption, hurt, and lots of angst. But, powering through it all and saving the day was the infinite loyalty and love of her family.

In the story Going Where I’m Coming From by Naomi by Naomi Shihab Nye, The main character has a hard time adjusting to Jerusalem because of the moving from America. In the story, the setting of Jerusalem affected the conflict in many ways. Two examples are how it was difficult to learn in school for many reasons and the culture was very different from American culture.

H2O, is made up of two simple atoms, hydrogen and two oxygen, both make up an essential element for survival to all spans of life on Earth. Water, is used to help make bonds in the human body, cushions and nourishes the brain, it also helps maintain the correct body temperature, just to name a few critical importance of safe drinking water. Drinking Water Safely, written by Jill Adams, on July 15, 2016, is a current article on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan and the concerns of safe drinking water in the United States. Having water flow up to our homes at the second we need it, is a luxury, however having safe water is a necessity.

Diet and nutrition is prominent in playing a vital role in supporting health. Throughout the year, my research has lead me to gain insight as to how our diet can impact our bodies, whether it’s in a positive or negative way and how to maintain proper nutrition. Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food: A Eater’s Manifesto, informed me that we should focus on the foods we are putting in our bodies such as vitamins, fibers, saturated fats, etc. The food, as the author claims, is no greater than the sum of its nutrient parts. Pollan pokes fun at the “typical” health claims and explains how the PDA has thrown the regulatory door wide open to all types of fake foods. He suggests that we must escape from the Western diet and be informed about these health claims, as well maintain a balanced diet in order to support our bodies’ functions. In the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author pursues a healthy lifestyle focusing on self-fulfillment. The main character Liz learns throughout her journey that she must raise awareness for herself and put time and effort to be the best she can be indulging in the pleasures of food in moderation, in order to live a healthy lifestyle and function at optimal capacity. Written in the form of a personal diary, Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding chronicles a year in the main character, Bridget Jones life, where she struggles to find love while obsessively counting calories, and constantly switching from

Throughout Elizabeth Jenning’s poem ‘Reminiscence’, she explores the changing nature of love and its transformation between childhood and adulthood. She indulges in the purity of love that exists within the simplistic aspects of children's lives as she discusses the loss of naivety during the ascendence into the complexities of adulthood. Demonstrating the innocence of childhood, Jenning’s displays a sense of freedom associated with their lack of anxiety and nuances. In opposition to such, adulthood is presented to confine Jennings as she deals with the concept of feeling trapped which results in her conflicting emotions that lead to a celebratory recollection of childhood ease.

Stephen Frear’s film, My Beautiful Laundrette portrays the struggle of intersecting sexuality, ethnicity, class, race and power. Omar, son of a Pakistani immigrant, is attracted to Johnny, a white English male. Their attraction and the subsequent relationship is looked down upon, both in England and Pakistan. Omar works for his uncle who lets him take over a laundrette in London while Johnny is initially unemployed and eventually works for Omar. Together, they make the laundrette a successful business venture and a place where they can freely express their desire for each other.