The Secretary Chant, By Marge Piercy

Calvin and Hobbes embodied the voice of the Lonely Child is an article written by Libby Hill. In this article, Hill digs deep into the famous comic strips of the 80’s and 90’s, and uses her now adult mind to examine the deeper meanings of the comics and how they shaped her childhood. Hill’s main focus is on the theme of loneliness, and how Calvin is able to find ways to cope with the loneliness that often plagues children in the modern world. As a child, she related to Calvin, because Calvin’s character, despite being complex in nature, was portrayed in such a way so that children could relate to him. As the article progresses, she begins to draw comparisons to reading the strips as a child and then rereading them as an adult, and she explains

Have you ever had to face a really hard decision or a major life changing experience? Melba Pattillo Beals, Jackie Robinson, and Feng Ru all faced hard decisions and life changing experiences. They had to make really tough decisions and it impacted their whole country. Their life changing experiences are written in Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, I Never Had It Made by Jackie Robinson, and “The Father of Chinese Aviation” by Rebecca Maskel. All of them faced hard decisions that impacted many others and they had huge life changing experiences as a result.

Throughout their lifetimes, individuals encounter a variety of challenges that test their resilience. Sometimes it targets a person’s personality, beliefs, race or culture. It can follow an individual throughout their life or stay in it for a period of time. However, with a strong personality and a determined goal, these obstacles can be conquered. An example of an obstacle that can be a battle in everyday life is prejudice, mostly against the different types of race. Racism is the false conviction that one race is more unrivaled than the other which isolated the world to what it is today. It is a part of human nature, and unfortunately, many people don’t know their limits when it comes to it. Some other individuals, however, have internal conflicts with themselves which, in some situations, limits them from the world.

The use of technology has catalyzed society into an era that is increasingly interconnected yet impersonal at the same time. Despite technology’s endless list of assets, many fail to acknowledge its shortcomings when mentioning what is lost as a result of using it. Although in “Great to Watch” by Maggie Nelson, she is not afraid to share her skepticism of technology, as well as the role it plays in desensitizing individuals on a day-to-day basis. The internet is an invaluable resource to many because it is a public domain for sharing ideas, opinions, and knowledge that any and everyone can have access to. In a sense, it does not restrict what someone may see or do, and this can either be a good thing or a bad thing. The booming use of new media

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 the New York Times Bestselling book, “hamlet’s Blackberry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age, The author William Powers discusses the good and bad aspects of technology. In Chapter 9, Inventing Your Life, Powers discusses ways to wean yourself off the dependency we all have on technology. One of the ideas for improving digital life that seemed like t would work was “no-email Fridays.” No-email Fridays seemed so interesting because it is so simple and such a great concept. This was working so well that many businesses took on the idea.

As hard work goes, attitude is also extremely important to have when trying to achieve something. If someone’s demeanor is off, they don’t believe they can achieve something greater than them, which in turn leads to failure. However, Jeannette wasn’t one of those people who didn’t believe in themselves, she tried to do everything that she could with a positive outlook regarding her life. Even when she didn’t concur with her parents, she didn’t give up her optimism when she moved to Welch, “Seeing as how Welch was our new home, Brian and I figured we’d make the best of it,” (Part 3 Chapter 7). While Jeannette tried to make everything special for the family by including teamwork, “If we all work together, we can get it done in a day or or two,”

Dorothy Allison’s essay, Panacea, recalls the fond childhood memories about her favorite dish, gravy. Allison uses vivid imagery to cook up a warm feeling about family meals to those who may be a poor family or a young mother. Appeal to the senses shows this warm feeling, along with a peaceful diction.

Patience is a thing that the world strives towards and envies of those who exemplify that quality so well. Individuals who are patient accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. Kari Mashos expresses his thoughts in his article, ‘Patiently working together, published in The Christian Science Monitor and shares, “I find that society is much like a family. It takes great patience and love in order to make the kind of progress that benefits everyone.” In a world where instant gratification is so common, the attribute of patience is very rare, which makes it such a gem to find within a being. I have had the rare opportunity to have a mother who is hearing impaired. I consider this a blessing as this has taught

In Bonnie Smith-Yackel’s essay “My Mother Never Worked” she passionately defends her mother after Social Security refuses to grant her death benefit check. Yackel does not realize that Social Security fairly distributes benefits to contributing Americans. Social Security was reasonable to not granting benefits to a woman who never contributed as a wage earner. It would not be fair if benefits were granted to a fraud who never paid wage taxes compared to wage earners who do. Americans who abuse Social Security benefits by committing fraud is unethical and not to mention illegal. Americans that are in desperate need for Social Security benefits require it far more than frauds. By eliminating fraud the government can properly grant social benefits to hard working Americans. Social Security benefits should be permitted to Americans that work and provide back to their country or they are disabled. Hard-working citizens that pay their duties will receive back from benefits, including employees that are qualified as disabled. Benefits should not be granted to any citizen that makes no contribution to their country such as, tax deductions from their wages. Furthermore, Social Security needs to reach out to the majority which is the poverty-stricken. By informing impecunious people and immigrants of Social Security it could save them from the poverty they suffer from. Even though, Social Security relieves some citizens from a financial burden there are still many improvements to be

Memories can last a life time, so we tend to only remember the extraordinary ones. Extraordinary like the essay “The Yellow Ribbon” by Pete Hamill, in which he talks about how a person named Vingo, was riding on a, bus recently released from jail, to this oak tree explaining to some passengers that he had told his wife to leave him if she wanted, since he went to jail or to go to this oak tree and tie a yellow ribbon around it to see if she wants him to stick around and he will go and check it out. In the end, he saw hundreds of ribbons tied on to the tree. Not only is this an amazing story, but also very unforgettable one as well, because he finds out that after four years in jail his wife has enough love for him to go to this tree and tie hundreds of ribbons just to show the type of love the women had for Vingo. I have to say that, I believe this story is truly unforgettable, but I also got a story that is very extraordinary, like the time that I got my very first car. Furthermore, I didn’t just get a car, I got the love of two truly loving parents.

The poem “Mothers and Daughters” is written by Pat Mora. Pat Mora is a contemporary award winning writer, who writes for children, youngsters and adults. She was born in El Paso, TX in the year 1942. She attains a title of a Hispanic writer; however, the most of her poems are in English. In her literary work, one can observe the different aspects of the immigrants’ lives such as language issues, family relationships, immigrants’ experiences and cultural differences (1187).

In the next six lines the speaker changes it up some, it seems like her frusturation is increasing. The speaker tells the readers to “Press my fingers and in my eyes appear credit and debit.”(11) I am not sure I understand what this part means, it seems to be comparing her to a cash register, but I don’t think I understand that if she is a secretary. The next line is composed of sounds again “Zing. Tinkle.”(15) This again could be sounds that she repeatedly hears over and over in her head. The next line the speaker says “My navel is a reject button.”(15) This can mean that in her job she constantly has to reject people, and or be rejected. This might be backed up by “From my mouth issue canceled reams.”(16) My interpretation of this sentence is that, she is repeatedly saying issue canceled. I don’t seem to have a good grasp on what these few sentences mean.

First, I have read the story "Aunt Zeze's Tears" by Carmen Dolores which I liked very much because the writer has created a very rich character in detail which calls Maria-José or simply Zézé. If I had to live in the world of the story I have read, my day would change in many ways, and in others, it might have some resemblance to the character. A very important point of this story is when Zézé was living with her sister who had five children after her father died where she has been for the last eighteen years. Here, we realized that the character did not have many prospects to live her own life. This time, she has been at her sister's house may have a lot to do with the personality of the character. Then, my personality is different from the

The poem I chose to do a close reading essay on was, “Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep” by Mary Elizabeth Frye. “Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004) is an American poet who remains known today for a single poem-a sonnet of just twelve lines-but it may be the most popular poem in the English language. “Do not stand at my grave and weep” is a consoling Holocaust poem and elegy with an interesting genesis, since it was written by a Baltimore housewife who lacked a formal education and had quite never written poetry before, and certainly none of note” (The HyperTexts). The tone of this poem is comforting and helps people find comfort with the view of death. This poem uses a lot of imagery, metaphors, and symbolism. Frye’s, “Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep,” is enlightening people how to handle a death of a loved one while using important parts of the theme such as tone, vocabulary, and overall meaning.