Greasy Lake

Though this story is sort of a cliff hanger in the sense that you never find out what happened to the dead man in the pond, it was very well written with a climax leading up to the discovery of the dead man, Al, that is found in the pond by the main character.  Well written in the style of description, from the initial starting points of describing himself and his friends, Digby and Jeff, as a couple of bad dudes, to the activities of drug usage, and even down to the description of the car that they pull up on was great. It was very well written and descriptive, which helped because the story only spans the actions of about five minutes in general. The fight between the three of them and the other guy in the car, to the tire iron being used as a weapon, all starting from a practical joke gone wrong, even to the almost attempted raping of the girl with the victim of the fight.  But  the story did go on, for hours after this which was summed up in a few short paragraphs trying to draw closure to the story. It had the potential in my opinion to be so much better, even though it was good, if only the time had been taken to really develope the rest of story after the climax. In a sense i just drops off and leaves you guessing what happens in the long run. All in all it was acceptable, it had its moments, but the ending was weak, and could have been so great.

The Lawsuit

Everything is better in the end, misery loves company,  and when a family who is torn apart already is coping on a day to day basis, knowing they have the fathers nest egg hidden in the cupboard as security, this lawsuit is the catalyst for the whole setting.  As the father, an older gentleman, finds himself with a new, young, beautiful woman, the rest of the family(children and mother of these) find themselves on the recieving end of getting pushed out of being taken care of. No bank account, just money in the cupboard was all they were dependant upon. In the end one brother is in jail, and the father suffers a heart attack. The young damsel who was once thought to be taking all of the family’s money from the cupboard has grown old looking, worn down, and that is what finally takes the narrator into talking to her, and when he realizes that she has had it just as rough he finds personal peace. In a way this is the story showing as a form of therapy for the narrator. when people think tht their life is hard, unjust, and unfair the one thing that helps is the person that they put on a pedistool having it just as hard in the end. It helps form a sense of empathy, and conjures up thoughts of personal remorse and the truthfulness of life comes out that it’s not in anyones hands but we are all part of something greater. Even if life isn’t always fair everything comes out in the end pretty evenly.

“Sonny’s Blues”

After reading this story a few times, i started to get the hint of what it was all about. I feel as though this story is very dependent on the theme of what we take from life is just as important as what path we take to make it to that point. Sonny had many opportunities, and might have even botched all of them through the eyes of his brother, but what ended in creation of beautiful music that was understood as a very focal point to his brother. There was a statement that was made that one needed the music to be set free, and the other couldn’t until the music that was made was heard. The blues are even symbolic of the struggle that sonny had to go through to get to the point of acceptance. He’d felt betrayed, violated, and taken advantage of in a way by society. That in essence is the blues. After taking all the hardships of life you exoress them in a way of beauty and creativity. Not only does this show expression for Sonny, but others are allowed to divulge into the music and grasp an understanding of their own personal struggles and have a form of expression as well. The thing i am struggling with in this story though is the symbolism of the subway. The story starts in the subway with very vivid descriptions of trying reach a destination i guess with the world moving around you, through darkness, with little flickers of light casting by every so often. Then the subway isn’t mentioned again. Maybe it was just thrown in to set the tone of what was going to happen from a metaphorical standpoint. This story gets better the more you read it, and it did take a few times to start to catch the themes and symbolism, the hidden meanings and agendas, before i gained the whole picture of creation of music was in fact trying to show movement of time and activities, and the creation of other things in the story was just symbolic to the music in the end.

John Updike “A&P”

Updike showed the classic struggle of youth vs. the aging opinions  of the times as they change. He used the battle over what is acceptable to the older times as being a key point of what the newer breed of population coming up has a rebellious stance against, whether they are purposely rebelling or unconsciously rebelling by living in what they feel is a time of change and free expression.  By showing the change in a suttle way of how dress is appropriated for shopping at a grocery store, against how a young girl was dressed in a bathing suit with the shoulder straps off was a hint of how the characters lived in a time of change where some were for change, some were against, but all had their own opinion as what was right and wrong.  Chivalry, policy, rebeliousness, authority, and the struggle to find out and stand for what was right even if it affects nothing in the end were all parts of this short story.

Annotated Bibliography: Abstinence, Morality, and Other Words Public Schools Think Will Prevent Disease and Pregnancy.

Brian Doggett

Dr. Jordan Sanderson

Eng. 1123

3 Feb. 2011

Annotated Bibliography: Abstinence, Morality, and Other Words Public Schools Think Will Prevent Disease and Pregnancy.

“Abstinence-Only Education.” Issues & Controversies on File: n.pag.  Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 11 Sept. 2006. Web.  18 Jan. 2011.

This research paper focused on the positive and negative aspects of abstinence-only education as opposed to comprehensive sex education.  It also focused on legislation that was passed to support abstinence–only classes for funding, and the effects it has on the decisions public school districts are making on whether or not to be part of this program. Also stated in this paper are the critical views of both advocates and non-supporters of abstinence-only education and comprehensive sex education, citing in their own personal opinion the benefits and downfalls of these programs.

This paper was unbiased in its research, and offered thorough information on both aspects involved in the decision on whether to support abstinence-only or comprehensive sex education.  It offered validated knowledge about reformation of legislation passed to federally fund these abstinence classes in public schools, as well as the effects of teaching comprehensive sex education to the youth.  

Statistics and facts in this paper were very useful in shaping and determining a central thought of how effective both abstinence-only education and comprehensive sex education are. The information offered in the area of legislation also proved helpful.

Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “Accuracy, Efficacy And Ethics Of Abstinence-only Programs Questioned By Public Health Experts.” ScienceDaily 19 September 2008. Web. 25 January 2011.

 Studies have shown that abstinence-only sex education programs are failing to produce a change in sexual teenage behavior, as well as providing falsified information about contraception and are violation of one’s human rights.  These studies also show the origins of such programs are usually religiously founded.

Research was compiled by many different sources that are very credible in their field of social rights and ethics, but presented a biased opinion of non-support for abstinence, stating statistics and showing demographics of the growing trends of teens on a large scale view of programs nationwide, researching many, but only using a selected few.

Connolly, Ceci. “Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says.” Washington Post 2 Dec 2004: A01. Web.

Ceci Connolly has shown that large amounts of youngsters that had participated in abstinence-only programs have learned about the misleading facts of sterility via abortion, genital contact could also result in pregnancy, and falsified facts about half of all gay male teens having positively tested for AIDS, through researching congressional staff analysis involving these programs.  She also stated that many of these programs use scare tactics, or shame/fear based motives to push their points onto students.

In pointing out the shame or fear based classes in the teaching of sex education it was very pro-comprehensive sex education heavy.  This research proved very helpful indeterring people from support of an abstinence-only approach, showing the misleading and falsified facts that are being taught in some federally funded sex education programs under federally funded and regulated abstinence only classes.

“How Pregnancy Effects Teens.” http://www.ygoy.com. n.pag., 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 

This research showed the lasting effects of teen pregnancy on the health of the mother involved.  These effects include, but are not limited to: Premature birth, low levels of prenatal care, nutrition deficiency, the risk of death being higher, and underdeveloped pelvis structure.

This research also looked at the socio-economic effects, stating that teens are generally poverty stricken, lack social support, affected educational status, lowered career goals obtained, and lowered marriage rates to the child’s father.

The website stated that due to early motherhood as a teen, drastic repercussions could occur. Both physical health and social standing is largely affected.  The risk of unhealthy childbirth processes are more likely, and poverty, as well social support are a mainstay for most teen mothers.

Jess H. “Abstinence Breeds Ignorance.” Cornell Daily Sun 08 Apr. 2010, Web.

Cornell  University science major, Jess H. researched the statistical findings of a New York  Times article published and titled “Quick Response to Study of Abstinence Education.” In which the article talked of a research study finding of delay in age of sexual activity coming from abstinence over comprehensive education.  After being weary of the results of these findings Jess H. researched the findings for herself, and found that this particular report was written with high overtones of support for abstinence and promoted falsified facts and self-reports as realistic data to help fill in the missing details of arguments against abstinence-only education.

Jess H. is a Cornell University science major and pro-comprehensive sex education supporter.  In her research she aimed to discredit the journal article that was printed by the New York Times, and help show the misleading teachings and reports that are helping to keep abstinence-only education as a mainstay in school curriculum.  She also states that most of these abstinence programs have Christian or religious overtones that shouldn’t be allowed in school.

In this article I found it very beneficial in creating the feel of how sexual education is more affected by outer sources than the curriculum itself.  The findings of her research also helped to discredit abstinence-only based classes and show the infringement of rights of students.

Kliff, Sarah. “The Future of Abstinence.” Newsweek. 27 Oct. 2009: 13-14. Print.

Kliff focuses her research on a small suburban conservative town in McLennan County, Texas, where abstinence-only education is the mainstay of the curriculum, yet seems to be under impressions of losing federal funding.  The Obama administration is pushing for a budget that is omits the teaching of abstinence-only classes, leaving grant recipients under question of what to do next. Even if a reinstatement of the proposed legislation passes, school districts are questioning the curriculum they will use.  Stating that abstinence-only omitted certain and valuable info on sexual topics due to curriculum being federally provided and funded, the pulling of the funding has created a backlash of conflict on what is proper to teach to the youth.

Kliff approached both sides of this debate in a very just and verified manner, viewing both sides equally. Also interviewed were people from small conservative town, religious based in population density, as well as inner-city public schools and more diverse driven school districts that have used both abstinence-only and comprehensive sex educational curriculum.

“Sex Education.”  Issues & Controversies on File: n.pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts on File News Service, 19 May 2008. Web. 

This particular journal study focused on both sides of the debate over sex education in public schools.  It proved heavy in statistical facts for both sides of the argument and covered topics of concern over teen sex, the federal responses to this, school condom programs, and what parts of which programs work.  It also stated the concerns for contraception education usage, and showed constitutional issues that were being violated by both programs and the civil suits filed in different states with different outcomes per state.

In this journal article it stated that states should be allowed to pick their own educational programs without backlash concerning it funding by the federal government, as long as they aren’t in violation of civil liberties or individual rights.  It also was a very unbiased approach to both topics, showing the pros and cons of all the topics the writings had covered.

I used the research to show the difference in curriculum between the two and help define some of the better aspects of comprehensive sex education, and show realistic research findings to show which educational standpoint is better in teaching the topic of sex to children.

Wilbert, Caroline. “Sexy TV: A Link to Teen Pregnancy.” http://www.webmd.com. WebMD Inc., 03 Nov. 2008. Web.

Caroline Wilbert argues for parents to curb what children watch on television, stating that television programming is teaching children to become more sexually active through what they see and what they are exposed to.  It also focused on statistics of rates of teen pregnancies, and the amount of television watched and which programs were being viewed as a predictor for higher rates of teen pregnancies for both males and females. The research showed that television plays a large role in the outcome of sexual reproduction in teens.

The statistical findings in this proved helpful in showing how the media effects and shapes decisions for the youth, or leads them into experimentation based on what they see on television or portrayed in the media, Though very little supported Wilbert’s credentials, the research was published and verified by Pediatrics, and were based on a study that was conducted over a three year period with teens ranging in age from 12 to 17.

For Eng. Comp. II

Who doesn’t just love technology in the classroom

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!