Road to a Perfect Essay

Hello Blogg Reader… this is the end of the amazing trip through the world of English. This Cover Letter Assignment will transport you to and exciting journey throughout everything I learn during my semester. To write a good essay you need to pack your knowledge and all the tools your teacher taught you about grammar, punctuation, spelling and writing. I am going to try to explain all topics I learn and how they can guide you in your Road to a Perfect Essay or at least a well written one. 1. What is the first thing you do when planning a trip? Of course, chose your destination. In the case of and Essay this destination will be choosing your topic. New York? Florida? Hawaii? Or England? You will need to decide between different topics for example, Children, Traveling, Environment, Health, Politics or Entertainment. 2. After you decided the place to go. You need to explore different transportation options and decided which would be the perfect fit for your trip. Are you going driving, flying or sailing? It is the same process when you write. You need to decide how you are going to get to your destination. Are you going to write an Illustration, Narration, Description, Classification, Cause or Effect, Comparison and Contrast or an Argument Paper? 3. Now, you have a destination and the way you would travel. For example, you are going to write about Traveling (Orlando, Florida; destination) in a Narrative essay (Flying, the way you will travel). 4. It is time to decide what kind of activities you want to do in your destination and why. This can be compared with the thesis statement of your essay. If you decided to go to Orlando you need to think about which parks you would visit and why. Here is when you use The Sheridan Baker Thesis Machine to write your thesis (State the topic, state a specific issue, use a because clause; polish and redefine the thesis by adding qualification and explore potential counterargument) For example, I am going to go first to Disney World because it is one of the most famous theme parks in the world; I also going to go to Epcot Center because they have different pavilions showing different cultures; I want to go to Animal Kingdom because I want to learn about preservation of endangered species and in my last day I am going to go to Universal Studios because I want to enjoy Harry Potter’s World. 5. Then, you are going to make different stops in your journey. One day in Walt Disney World will be your first stop or your first supportive paragraph. This day you are going to enjoy the attractions, eat different food and learn the whys behind the popularity of this park. You are going to feel, smell, taste and listen to different experiences. This can be compared with the examples and the quotations used in each body paragraph. You are trying to explain to the reader, in this case you, why this location was a perfect choose for your travel. Each theme park will deserve a paragraph in you journey. 6. On your way back home you are going to be thinking about all the different experiences you had now from your trip; you are going to define if this was a good trip, if you reach all your goals and if you made the right decision. This is your conclusion: the last paragraph of your essay. The writer needs to restate the thesis statement and end it with a full circle reminding the readers about the strongest points. 7. After you spend 4 days in Florida, you will be heading back home; where you would want to share with your friends and family all the fun and excitement you had on the trip. How you do that? You will show them all the pictures and videos you take on your trip. . You want to arrange your pictures in the most beautiful way. You choose the best pictures and discharge the bad ones; you also select all the details that your photo albums will have (stickers, frames, stamps, etc.) This can be compared with proofreading. When you write, this is the step where you eliminate grammatical and typo errors; correct misspellings and punctuation failures on your writing. As I learned on the reading “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lammott: All good writers write those shitty first drafts that lead them to a good second draft and a terrific third draft. On the road, you will learn from your mistakes and you would not do them again in your next trip. Tips when you travel around the English World - Always pack a “hat”: Have a lot of paper, pencil or pen, sticky notes and an eraser. This will help you to annotate all the material you need to read for your research and also for brainstorming, clustering or questioning. - Bring a travel first aid kit: have a dictionary, a grammar book, a translator if you need it. Bring any kind of aids that can help you during your research and during the writing process. - Don’t forget your camera and your camera charger: Remember you need to fill your essays with evidence and supporting details such as examples, facts, anecdotes or quotations. - Don’t pack something that you haven’t worn before: Always select topics that are familiar to you. For example, If you are writing an argumentative essay choose the side you have more information about it. If you write about something you have never ‘worn’ you can get lost and confuse your readers. - Travel with just the essentials: Stick to the point in all body paragraphs. Don’t add new information or walk out from the topic sentence. This makes the reading flow better. -Have a photocopy of all your travel papers (passport, visa, entry permits, etc.): Don’t forget to save your work on your computer; and keep saving it while your type. You don’t want to lose the information and the drafts. - Take time for naps: Don’t leave your assignments to the last minute. Assign enough time to do and finish them. This will give you the opportunity to read, read and proofread it. If you get stuck in one idea, allow yourself time to do another activity and clear your mind before you go back to write.

My Dad, My Hero

The cry of a little baby girl sounded in the delivery room on May 26, 1974, and the eyes of my parents burst into tears. Seventeen years before, when my father was a teenager, he read the book The Leningrad Doctor and he fell in love with the name of the leading character: Salia Yanina. He was a very special man, one of the few who wished a daughter instead of a son. Although I don’t remember the day I met him, my mother told me that, under the spell of his voice, I turned my face to that special man. His voice was a well-known melody for me because he spent those nine months talking to the bump, and telling me how much he loved me. That day, I met Hector Rivera, the man who became my role model and my best friend for the 10 years I had him in my life. My father was the best teacher and role model; although he passed away in my early childhood, his example has influenced me in so many ways. I read somewhere that girls base their relationship with their future husbands on the way their father treated their mother. As I grew, I witnessed the love my father had for my mother, his “monster” as he called her, teasingly. I grew up watching how much he respected, supported and admired her. I saw him prepared dinner for mom, because she came home tired after work. Also, I heard him talk with others about my mother telling them whata strong and brave woman she was. I never saw him raise his voice to her; when they had an argument, he was so patient and preferred to go out for a walk before he mistreated or offended her. From him, I learned that a real man respects and appreciates the women in his life. He was always so patient with my mother, grandmother and me, even when we plotted to make him mad. He always hugged and kissed us, and any argument was over. My father’s behavior showed me that a male can be sweet, kind and loyal, but at the same time strong, manly and tough. In the same manner, he showed me what to expect from a man and how I need to empower myself to choose the best partner in life. Indeed, he was the first man who bought me flowers, and the first one who took me out on a date. I cherish those Mondays when we used to go to our favorite restaurant “Frankfurt Mixtas,” just the two of us during our unique and special time. We loved this restaurant because of the environment, a really quiet place with this special table close to the window where you could see the garden. The food was also very good; we loved those special “mixtas” (tortilla with sausage, avocado, cabbage and their “secret” sauce) and we had our personal waiter who always greeted me with “ Welcome little princess. Nice to see you again. Your table is waiting for you.” I think my mother was jealous, in a way, but she understood the special connection that only a father and a daughter can have. During those Mondays, the sweetest sound of the day was the bell at the end of the school day because that meant that daddy was coming soon to pick me up and take me to eat our “mixtas,” My husband is in some ways very similar to my father. When I met Andres, my husband, the first thing that caught my attention was his neat presence: his shoes were perfectly polished, his hair perfectly combed, and he smelled as if he had just jumped out of the shower. This reminded me of the phrase that my father always said: “The first impression is the most important. You need to be always neat and prepared to impress”. After this first glance, as we continued the relationship, I noticed the charming way Andres treated my mother, his mother, my grandmother and of course myself. He always treated us with respect and showed us the importance and the place that we had in his life. Another similarity I noticed was that my husband wanted to be a pilot, and he couldn’t because of his vision problems, exactly like Hector. Also, like my father, my husband is so patient and kind with elders. He had a very special bond with my grandmother. It was delightful to see them talking, and how they shared the love for the same soccer team “los rojos.” She loved him as a real grandson, and he loved her as a real grandma. My mom always said that if my father were here he would approve of my relationship with Andres because he had many of the values my father had. Likewise, my father’s passion for serving others set the way I interrelated with people. He taught me to be kind, helpful and respectful. “You need to put yourself in their shoes,” he used to say. Consequently, he was always surrounded by people, and he had a lot of friends. He taught me by example. He opened a small business (a coin laundry) in our garage. One of his first customers was a senior male. He helped him load the machines and fold his clothes. When they finished, my father loaded his car with the baskets, took the gentlemen back to his home, and he never charged him for the washing. When I asked him why, he answered: “He is veteran and a widower, and lives on a very tight budget. I know, since the beginning, that he doesn’t have money to pay me back. But, I would love it if somebody would help my father in the same way I helped him.” My father was also respectful with everybody, regardless of who they were, their status, religion, race or social level. One day, we went to a children’s concert, and in the parking lot I saw a group of suspicious men. As they approached us, my father put me behind him to protect me. When the men were close one of them said to my father: “My lieutenant, nice to see you,” and he told the other guys: “This man was the only one who treated me well when I was a cadet in the army, and we need to respect him.” When the concert finished, and we went back to our car, we noticed that all the cars had broken windows, all but ours. I will never forget his words: “That is why you need to be nice to everybody because you never know when you will cross your path with them.” This experience really impacted me and I learned the lesson very well. My father’s phrase became the motto of my life and I try to treat each person I meet in the same way I would love to be treated. For example, the newspaper where I used to work in Guatemala was located in a house which didn’t have parking spaces, everybody needed to park on the streets. This was an everyday nightmare, but not for me because I always had a parking spot reserved by Juan, the guardian of the house next door. One day, a coworker asked Juan why he reserved the spot for me, and he answered “She is the only one who actually talks with me and seems interested in my life and family.” I try to always practice the lesson that my father taught me to respect other and to care about them. Although my dad left me too soon, the love, the lessons, and the values he saw in his little “Munnis” (as he called me) have remained, and are the foundation of the woman that I am now. The day he was murdered, I was 10 years old, but I remember that day as if it was yesterday. He went to his car and two males tried to rob him. My father, being the military man he was, fought back and was shot. He lived three more days after the shooting and his last words to my mother were: “Monster, forgive them, they don’t know Jesus and I don’t want you to live with resentment and bitterness. I am going home with the Lord.” Even in his last moments he showed the kind of man he was. His best lesson was to enjoy, cherish and treasure my family every day, regardless of the situation I am going through because I don’t know if today could be the last day I will see my loved ones. I never had the chance to tell him how much he impacted my life or how many wonderful memories I had with him. However, I am at peace with my conscience because I always told him how much I loved him, and that he was my hero and best friend

Avoiding Gender Stereotypes in Advertising

In the history of humanity, females have been stereotyped as housewives, submissives, and objects. In recent years the use of sexy female images to sell products directed at male audiences have been the focus of analyses and have created big controversies. The major concern over objectification is the role and image of women that are being portrayed to young people. Julie M. Stankiewicz, a member of the Department of Psychology of Wesleyan University, in her article “Women as Sex Objects and Victims in Print Advertisements,” constantly opposes women being used as objects because this objectification can lead to violence against women. When advertising shows that the use of women as sexual objects is normal, it is implying that rape, sexual assaults and verbal abuse is normal as well. Commercials where the center of attention is a sexy and almost naked woman instead of the product itself, are reinforcing the idea that woman are just objects that can be used and rejected as the man pleases. Advertising targeting men viewers should be less offensive for women and focus more on other aspects that are relevant for the male audience, such as camaraderie, friendship, adventure or family. The “Live Your Fantasy” campaign from Red Tape Male Shoes is visually attractive and colorful, but the big problem is that all the ads for this campaign are objectifying women and the less important object in the ads are actually the shoes. In one of the print ads, for example, four attractive young women are posing in very sexy postures, waiting to be bought inside a vending machine, while a male is looking at them as if he was choosing a “cold soda.” The ad is eye-catching and centers the focus on the young females. The ads on the machine say “served chilled” and also state that the machine is “open 24 hours.” The slogan of the ad says “Live Your Fantasy” in the upper right corner, right next to the merchandise (the young women). The ad is intended to be for shoes, but the shoes the male is wearing are less important than the women. This ad is problematic because it is implying that females are for sale, and that you can buy them as if they were items in a vending machine. This campaign also implies that women are disposable, and that their only propose in life is to help the male to “live his fantasy,” as the slogan states. Additionally, another ad from the same campaign shows in the foreground a middle aged male dressed in business casual clothes and shoes; he is sitting in a conference room drinking from a cup. Nothing unusual, but in the center of the ad over the conference table three young females are pole dancing in very sexual clothes and provocative poses. Stankiewicz states that ads like this help to create a climate in which certain attitudes and values flourish “such as the attitude that women are valuable only as objects of men’s desires, that real men are always sexually aggressive, that violence is erotic, and that women who are the victims of sexual assault ‘asked for it’” (1). Although the use of sexual imagery is not new, it seems to have increased in recent years. Christian Dianoux and Zdenek Linhart, in their study “The Effectiveness of Female Nudity in Advertising in Three European Countries” explain that “graphic sexual images seem more extreme, more pervasive and more perverse than before. Consumers, however, appear increasingly tolerant of this form of advertisement.” Nowadays, males and females are more aware of the use of sexual imagery in advertising, but the problem is that they are looking at this as the “normal” rule, or the normal way to be. The youth is being exposed to sexual messages any time and every day, regardless of their age, this would lead to a women-hate culture when people would see gender related violence as “normal” and acceptable. On the opposite side, other brands such as Tommy Hilfiger or Diesel base their campaigns on the brotherhood and the “bromance” that exists in all male relationships. The ad from Tommy Hilfiger shows four males on a camping day. The four guys are in the foreground wearing comfortable and fashionable clothes. They are sitting and interacting in a relaxing environment with mountains and a river in the background. This advertisement does not need to show a semi-naked woman to attract attention. It is appealing to the spirit of adventure, the true friendship and the partnership that exists in male relationships. Similarly, a Diesel ad is also appealing to the camaraderie between men by showing two males carrying a giant hammer, implying that men help each other to advance and reach their goals. The two young males are dressed in modern attractive and casual Diesel clothes. The slogan that accompanies the ad reads, “Portraits for Successful Living.” More ads should follow their lead to make advertising more focused on positive images instead of on the reinforcement of sexual imagery. Likewise, the Nivea Lotion campaign “Gentle Men,” shows another feature of the male personality. The ad portrays the idea that a male can be gentle, kind and protective. The ad shows a father in a protective attitude towards his son. The father is standing behind the child who has his head reclined on the father’s chest. The boy is smiling in the foreground showing that he is a happy boy and he feels safe being protected by his dad. The advertisers are trying to sale the idea that a father needs to be protective and that men can take the leadership about their family safety. Ultimately, some advertisers have begun to concentrate their advertising in these other views of masculinity. Tom Nakayama, Professor of Communication at Arizona State University in his article “Image of Man in Advertising,” states that nowadays advertisers are trying to show males portraying images of men who are gentle, caring and sensitive; “Such images offer alternative social roles for men unwilling or unable to restrict themselves to the role of the strong loner or female eater. Instead, they affirm the idea that men, experience a broad range of feelings and emotions,” making them more “human” with feelings and the capacity of love and be loved. (1) As shown above, all the previous ads reached their goal: sell their products; but without appealing to sexual images and without portraying a female as the object of male’s desires. They are reaching their target, male audience, utilizing other aspects appealing to men. More advertisers should do this because they would not also reach the male audience but also the female because women would not feel attacked by their publicity, leading to an increase of their sales and their brand presence in the market. Advertisers need to reevaluate the way they are using the images in their commercials. TV, magazines, billboards, and internet pages are full of sexual images portraying both males and females just as simple sexual objects; with the only purpose being to sell the products. Society needs to understand the impact that advertising has on men, women, and above all children in order to avoid overexposing them to images that reinforce the gender stereotypes. Advertising targeting men should be based more on the positive aspects of being a male than just on the sexual attraction for women.

In love with a Machine

What would you do if your only company is your computer; and if your computer has an Operation System (OP) that seems to care more about you than the humans around you? Would you fall in love with your OP’s sexy voice (Samantha)? This is the history behind the movie “Her”. The director Spike Jonze leads Joaquin Phoenix (Theodore) through a love relationship with the only “person” who interacts with him on daily basis. Theodore just finished a long relationship with his wife and they are about to sign the divorce papers. One day, he got this update for his OP and he chose a female voice for it (Scarlett Johansson). At the beginning, she helps him on his job as a love-letter writer; but as the time goes she started to interact with him even in his bed. Her voice is the first one he hears in the morning and the last one at night. He also got an earpiece to talk with her every minute of the day. In one scene, while he is at the beach, he is talking with the computer through the earpiece totally isolated to the rest of the world. One day, they have “phone” sex; after that Samantha decided to go far on her wish hiring a real woman to have intimacy with Theodore. Even thought this movie is in the near future, I think this human-machine love relationship is closer than we thought. You can see everywhere youth and adults focused on a little screen in front of them. iPods, iPads, celphone, computers are taking over our interaction with real people. It is funny, but upsetting, to see families eating at a restaurant without talking to each other because all of them are with their eyes focused on their cell phone screen. Sometimes they are also texting each other, because it is easier for them to talk through a machine than to have a real conversation. We need to learn from this movie, if we don’t want a society of isolated people, we need to stop now. We need to get out, interact, talk, spend time with our love ones, make new friends or we are going to end having a love relationship and sex with a machine.

Is Social Media Messing with your Brain?

How much time you spend on social media? And how much time you spend talking with others face-to face? Do you think social media is changing the way we interact and we fell about ourselves? David Disalvo investigates these issues in his article “Are Social Networks Messing with Your Head? The author explains that social media is changing the way people think about the internet, and also the way how we are, how we feel about ourselves and about others. Most people use the web pages and the internet to escape from their real lives, to get away from their loneliness but then ended with different problems such as self-esteem issues, narcissism and addictions; leading them to more depression and anxiety. People who are afraid of face-to face contact have encounter in social media the way to overcome their fears; a new way of meet people and make new friends. The biggest issue with this new tendency is that people is loosing the ability to talk to each other; to make friends talking with strangers and to solve their problems in person. The tendency between teenagers is to use the technology and the social media for everything. For them is easier to text, post or tweet their problems, their desires, their goals, their activities and their wishes than to sit down and have a nice chat with their peers. The social media is also transforming into an addiction or as Disalvo called it an “unhealthy attachment”; people are spending so many hours in Facebook, Twiter or Linkeding and many are getting in trouble because of this addiction. A Nielson Online reports that 70 millions Facebook users spend 233 millions hours on the site in April 2009. Most of these hours were spend during work-time costing to the companies 1.5 percent of total office productivity. I am guilty of checking my Facebook profile more than I should do it. I have spent plenty of hours scrolling up and down the screen. I have noticed that people use it for everything; from expressing their feelings and moods to the food and the clothing they are wearing. I think if you learn to balance your online interaction with your real life interaction, you can have the best of both worlds.

Children and Social Media

My ten year old niece told me about her Facebook page and how proud she was about all the 200 hundred friends she had. I thought how a child can known 200 people. When I asked her about it, her answer was “I don’t personally know all of them but they are still my friends”. Nowadays, children have access to social media in a very early age, regardless of the sex, the country or the social status they belong to. I have wondered how having 200 friends can benefit my niece or how having a Facebook profile can benefit any child? My English teacher share with us the article “Children: Social Networking sites, A Debate in the House of Lords;” where the England Baroness Susan Greenfield expose the problems that being expose to social media can bring to children. This has been a controversial debate going around the world; although, every day millions of young kids open their Facebook accounts. The site policies specify that to open an account the user needs to be at least 13 years old, but that policy didn’t stop my niece when she opened her profile at age 9. In that imaginary world you can say and express anything you want to post and your friends have access to all your personal information. Several articles have exposed the hazards of publishing everything on the social media where everybody have access to. Thousands of minors around the world are contacted everyday by estrangers through their media profiles. Most parents are aware of the risk to be contact by unknown people, but not many are aware of the physical risk their kids are facing. Greenfield expresses the constant exposure to social media can lead the children to alienation, isolation and behavioral disorders. That’s why I think that parents should be more involved on their children usage of social media; knowing their passwords, establishing the maximum amount of friends they can have and limiting the time they spend on-line. One of my dearest friends’ daughter, who is also my friend on facebook, posted one day that she was to depress and wanted to end her life. She is just 13 years old. When I told my friend about this post; she said that she hasn’t checked her daughter account on so many days; and that she doesn’t understand why the girl wasn’t posting those kind of things. At the end, the reason was that the teenager was so depressed because her best friends haven’t like her last posts on her profiles, and she was trying to get their attention, (and of course my friend’s attention too.)

Spring Break Assignment

Spring Break was finally here and so my homework assignment. I needed to keep track by hours and minutes how many time I spend with technology. The incredible result was that during these seven days I expend 31 hours and 7 minutes connected. I think my husband is right when he says that I am addicted to Facebook. That blue square with the white F on my phone had the majority of my attention during this week with 13 hours and 15 minutes. For me, it is hard to stay away from it. I need to know, what are my friends doing and where they are; with 935 friends, imagine how long I spend scrolling down. Living far away from the majority of my friends, 700 of them live in Guatemala; Facebook gives me the way to continue being part of their lives even from thousand of miles away. I spend a lot of time on it, even thought I can just check it during my breaks while I’m working. Instagram is another time-consumer. My annotations show that I spend 3 hours and 10 minutes on it. With five new babies in the family and four from my coworkers, my Instagram is full of cute and gorgeous pictures of little ones. I also have a lot of professional photographers as friends which added plenty of more images to watch and like. Another thing I noticed was that I love to web surfed looking for news. As a former journalist I need to be updated with everything that is happening in the world. My searches range between politics, entertainment and society. I spend 3 hours and 48 minutes looking around on the web. I need to admit that I really took a vacation from my school assignments, and I didn’t check anything on Moodle, LBCC Email or Online homework. Although, I didn’t spend a lot of time per day on my E-mail when you added the whole week it was 3 hours and 9 minutes. The funniest part is that I didn’t even have any personal messages from friends or family it was most commercial E-mails (such as my bank or my Disney Movies accounts). I need to admit I’m addicted to Disney Movies (as a Disneyland Cast Member I think it is kind of normal) and I’m always checking my account to see the new releases and the latest sales. Talking about Disney Movies, I was 1 hour and 45 minutes online shopping with the final result of the addition of Cars 2 and Mary Poppins to my collection. I am not to much a video player but if playing games on my phone counts as video games, I spend 2 hours 35 minutes on them. After my friend Rosemary introduced me with “My Vegas Slots” and some of the saga games, I have the urgent need of keep gambling to win more coins and points. This week I spend 2 hours and 35 minutes, rolling the slots. After all this 31 hours and 7 minutes spent on Technology, I can tell that most of it is a waste of time. I should be happier spending this time with my husband, friends and close family than playing or buying things. I think technology is good and useful, if you learn to control it and don’t let it to control you. It amaze me how the new generations are getting more and more isolated; with their eyes focus more on the screen and less in the eyes of the people surrounding them.