No Place Like Home By Marni Gillard

Although ethos and logos are important modes as well, this text is most effective due to White’s continuous use of pathos. His thesis statement suggests the urge to return to his childhood memories, “…this feeling got so strong I bought myself a couple of bass hooks and a spinner and returned to the lake where we used to go, for a week’s fishing and to re-visit old haunts” (“Once” para. 1).The audience is also evoked with anticipation to what will happen later. A good example of this is “I took along my son, who had never had any fresh water up his nose and who had seen lily pads only from train windows” (“Once” para. 2). The audience is left asking how the trip with his son will compare to his own memories. White goes on to describe in intricate detail his memory of the lake, cabins, and scenery. He uses visual imagery to allow the audience to place themselves in the setting he has described. “White wants to emphasize the permanence of some things, or at least the memory of some things, despite the continual change that happens in the world”

Billie Jo Kelby is not a boy. She’s a girl; a wiry, thin, redheaded girl that looks more like her father than her mother. She lives on the Great Plains in 1935, during the great drought known as the Dust Bowl. She lives with her pregnant mother and her father, and life seems good, or as good as it will get in her dusty world.

Throughout the course of the book, A Long Way Home, Saroo Brierley, the author, encounters a series of traumatic experiences that lead to bittersweet moments. Unlike a normal child’s infancy, Saroo was physically and mentally consuming. Through his experience, we are able to get a glimpse of the many struggles and hardships young children live in India daily. His petrifying experiences of living on the streets, Liluah, and Nava Jeevan finally lead to his safe haven of being taken by the Brierley’s.

Everyone has had an embarrassing moment in their life at one point or another; slipping on ice in public or forgetting a coworkers name at the company picnic. Making a fool of yourself is bound to happen, especially in a setting outside of what you are accustomed to. Some people do not like reliving these moments while others have a gift for turning their embarrassment into a great story. Kellie Schmitt’s essay “The Old Man Isn’t There Anymore” is a perfect example of laughing at oneself. Throughout a cluster of Chinese do’s and do not’s, Schmitt tells the reader of one specific event and its comical conclusion. The essay is fun to read and relate to. Laughing with the author is made easy while she gracefully shares her missteps while she and her husband adapt to living in China. Learning new customs for an inevitable occasion most Americans probably are not privy too makes the essay most interesting.

Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson gave me incredible insight into the world of Aboriginal people. While you often hear stereotypes about these people, it is often difficult to really understand what their lives are truly like. I believe that because the aboriginal communities have had such a large impact on the history of Canada, especially in the northern communities, we should receive more information and education in our schools about their history. Many textbooks do include brief stories about residential schools, but they do not allow us to see what the impact of those schools has had on their communities as a whole, and how it effects many generations. Adding stories like Monkey Beach into high school curriculum would allow a broader understanding

The current presidential election has wrought a quagmire of unthinkable actions by politicians in plain sight of the American public’s eye. With specific regard to the GOP, the former playbook of politics, consistent with unwavering party loyalty, has certainly been pushed out of print; especially by current speaker of the house, Paul Ryan. This essay will detail the estranged relationship between Paul Ryan and his party base, as rendered by New York Times correspondent Robert Draper, scrutinize the article’s inherent biases, and ultimately contextualize the situation in terms of Kelly’s leadership patterns.

The discovery of gold nuggets in Sacramento Valley in 1848 sparked the California Gold Rush of 1849. Which is one of most significant events to shape American history during the first half of the 19th century. News spread of the discovery thousands of gold miners traveled over sea or overland to San Francisco and surrounding areas by the end of 1849. The non-native population of California territory was over 100,000, compared with the pre-1848 figure of less than 1,000. Two billion dollars worth of precious metal was extracted from the area during the Gold Rush peak in 1852.

There are an infinite amount of unique responses to the question “What is the meaning of life?”. However, the majority of people will agree that the true meaning of life is to find happiness and what is really important to one’s self. In Jon Krakauer’s, Into The Wild, Chris McCandless conveys this idealism through his life’s journey as he bravely defies all limitations. Chris McCandless isolates himself from society in his Alaskan Odyssey as a way to defy accepted expectations and to begin discovering the meanings of life without any corrupted influences.

Teju Cole’s phenomenally written original novel majorly takes place in New York City. Cole character was easy to relate to because of his Nigerian American decent being that I am a Ghanaian American. Cole is a Nigerian American. He was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria and came to the United States in 1992 at the age of seventeen. Cole is also well educated and is a graduate student at Columbia University. I found it insightful how in the novel Cole met several various types of people, including other immigrants. He met and shared stories with a Haitian shoe shiner, at work in Penn Station; a Liberian, imprisoned for over two years in a dentition center in Queens; and a Moroccan student working at an Internet café. I enjoyed the fact that the narrator was well stocked minded. He touched on the topics of art, music, and interesting books. He had a very eclectic set of interest.

The fundamental characteristic of magical realism is its duality, which enables the reader to experience both the character’s past and the present. In the novel, Monkey Beach, Eden Robinson uses this literary device to address the the trauma and mistreatment of the Haisla community in Canada by unveiling the intimate memories of the protagonist, Lisamarie, and the resulting consequences of this oppression. Monkey Beach illustrates how abuse in the past leads to another form of self-medication in the future - a neverending, vicious cycle for the members of the Haisla community. Many characters in Monkey Beach are scarred from childhood sexual abuse and family neglect, and resort to drug and alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism. These

The term place attachment can be described as a location or place where an individual has a memory that brings backs their positive feelings. Looking back, I believe that my place attachment would be the basketball court. The reason would be because it always reminds me of the good things and friends I made throughout the various seasons.

It feels like a location of my very own , not many people would not call it their favorite place but it has been mine all through high school and still till this day. The location became my best friend we saw each other everyday, and it always knew what was going on in my life. It was far from perfect but I never cared because it was something I always had and it never changed. It is still my favorite place because it holds memories of friends and milestones as well as problems and secrets. I almost spent more time there than I did at home or any where else for that matter. I never felt so welcomed anywhere like there was no one to judge me or anyone I was with. Where I came from there is not much to do or many places to even go,but this place was near and no one could tell me not to spend all of my time there. The feeling of freedom and of the closes thing I had to adventure at the time was one of the best feelings I could ever had. Since this is where I spent most of my time I made mistakes and great choices there. This place is where I learned who I value, what I value ,what my morals are and overall who I wanted to be. My favorite place is my favorite place because it was always there for me, it was accessible, and it taught me life lessons. My favorite place makes me feel relaxed,calm, and most importantly free.

What does one call a place where they feel safe? A place where one is surrounded by loved ones? A place where one can forget the worries of the world for even a brief moment. A place where no matter what happens, they will always have a place to return to. They have the deepest of connections with those that live there; connections that they know will never be severed no matter what happens. That is home. Home can be defined as where a person lives or has a permanent residence, but it is more than that when pondering on the emotional connection it has with the heart. A common phrase that is constantly used is “there is no place like home”. It is not because a person misses their previous residence, but due to the many qualities it possesses that could possibly never be found anywhere else. Home is not simply a place where one lives, but a place where love, contentment, and tranquility are abound.

In life, there are things and places that shape who we are. Those objects that we hold near and dear to our hearts is what makes these things significant to ones life. For me, it is a certain place that I hold near and dear. This place not only was always a safe haven for me, but also a spot to where I could just be free and relax from all obstacles life has thrown. The place I am talking about is my Grandmother 's house. As a child, my cousins and I would visit her and my grandfather. Coinciding with their home and personalities, their yard alone, was so full of life. Of course family were not the only people who were allowed to visit their home. Anyone who had problems at home, nowhere to go, or just wanted to be somewhere where there is peace and quiet were always and still are welcome. The reason to why my Grandparent 's home is so influential to me is because just like other things in my life, it shaped and molded me into the person that I am. Along with giving me insight to what my family is truly all about. One example would be that my grandparents still follow traditions of our ancestors, like preserving fruits and vegetables for example peaches, pears, and apples, and growing vibrant vegetable gardens. Another would be the wild life and vivid open space my grandparents had. Also, the stories, pictures, and history of our ancestors that were told and showed to us as children. These things, in general, are what is significant about my Grandparent 's home to me.

I loved my room. I went to it when I was in need, when happy, and, it was a tragedy leaving that place in the house of dread for a long time, or worse, ever. I went back to the car, tears in my eyes, and we drove off, off, and away.