My Style

My style is brief and to the point. I don't use many big words in my writing because that is not who I am. I do not go around talking sophisticated so I do not write like I do. I like to get to the point as quickly as I can the easiest way I can. Sometimes I think my writing is not as good as it should be. I use the word "you" a lot when I am comparing things and I need to work on not doing that so much. Also sometimes I say the same things more than once. I can't think of things to say so I just repeat myself without knowing it. That is another quality I need to work on. I try to write so that everyone can understand me. Sometimes when I am reading other peoples writing I don't know what some of the words mean which means I have to take time to look them up. I just like to use words that I know and most people will know so people do not get confused when they read my writings. I should expand my vocabulary more but I have not developed into that well of a writer yet. Hopefully doing all this writing will help me in the long run.

Stirophome and Abercrombie and Fitch

Stirophome is like ABercrombie and Fitch in that they are both loud and annoying. the Abercrombie and Fitch store has such loud music and you can't even think. Most of the time the music isn't even any good. Stirophome has the most annoying loud noise when you touch it or rub it toghether. I cannot stand that noise. Also they are both things that we don't need to survive. I can live without Abercrombie and Fitch and I try to stay away from Strirophome so i guess I can live without that as well.

Food and Basketball

Food is not like basketball because food is prepared and then it is gone but basketball never stops. You never stop working hard when you play basketball. Food is also not like basketball in the fact that you don't have to excert a lot of energy into eating it but with basketball you have to put forth much energy. Once the food is prepared it gets eaten and it's no longer there, but for basketball you prepare for each game and after the game you don't stop preparing because there's always another game. Basketball is relentless and food is just there until it's eaten. Food is something that we need to survive, basketball on the other hand is not a necessity. Even though basketball is a huge part of a lot of people's lives, if it wasn't there these people would still live. If food wasn't here then noone would be living.

sweat pants and Fitness Tuesdays

Sweat pants are like fitness Tuesdays because after fitness Tuesdays I would never dream of putting on jeans. I'm too tired to wear regular clothes so I just put on sweat pants. Sweat pants are like fitness Tuesdays because you never know which sewatpants you are going to wear until you wear them, and you never know which fitness drill you're going to run until you run it. You don't plan on the outift you wear with sweatpants you just throw something on and it doesn't matter what it looks like. We don't plan on the fitness tests we are going to run we just go and run them. Sweatpants are the clothes you wear when you are tired and fitness Tuesdays definitely make you tired. They make you more than tired actually they make you feel like you want to die. After running all I want to do is go home and put some sweat pants on and go to bed.

Likes and Dislikes

List A

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Soccer
4. Food
5. Basketball
6. Country Music
7. Roller Coasters
8. Fall
9. Christmas Time
10. Movies
11. Sweat Pants
12. Shoes

List B

1. War/Violence
2. Heavy Metal Music
3. Littering
4. Red Pens
5. Stirophome
6. Mustartd
7. Abercrombie and Fitch
8. Fittness Tuesdays
9. Planes
10. Spiders
11. Heights
12. Pickles

What Chaged Me

The moment I realized that I love soccer and I love what I do was when I tore my ACL. I had to sit out for 6 months from something that I love doing. I did not realize how much I loved it until I could not do it anymore. It sucked sitting out and watching my team play especially when they weren't doing so good. I wanted to go in and help them so much but all I could do was watch. Tearing my ACL really helped my attitude toward things as well. It made me thankful for what I have and it made me more of a team player. I realized that sometimes you take for granit what you have. Some people do not realize that others have it worse off then them. Before this happened to me I did not know if I really wanted to continue playing soccer in college. I thought I was getting sick of it and maybe I was not feeling the same way towards it as I use to when I was younger. Then this happened and everything changed. I hated sitting out. I hated not being able to do anything. I realized that soccer is my passion and it is what I love doing. After tearing my ACL twice and coming back both times I realized that it was definitely worth it. Even though it sucked having to go through all that I am thankful that I grew from the experience. This also helped me realize what I wanted to do with my life. Since I had to go to Physical therapy so much I realized that that was what I wanted to do when I grew up. I always knew I wanted to do something sports related or athletic related but I really like helping people through their problems and helping people get better. After going through this twice and watching what they did each time I was really interested in learning. I would go to therapy excited every day because I wanted to see what they would have me do this time. I could see how each thing they made me do helped me get better and made me stronger. I realized that if you listen to what they say and do what they say then you will get the results you want and you will get them faster. Most people it takes 6 months or more to come back to playing, it only took me 4 and a half months until I started to play. I was proud of getting back so fast and proud of myself for working that hard. My work rate grew from this. This experience really changed me as a person and it also helped me realize what I wanted to do with my life. I am thankful that I got such positiveness out of this experience.

memphis vs. knoxville

When I fist came on a visit to the University of Memphis I was a little bit iffy about the environment but I really wanted to come play soccer here. I went with my gut and I chose Memphis. When I would tell people that I was going to the University of Memphis they would always tell me to be careful and tell me that they were going to give me maise to bring with me. I just shrugged it off. It made me mad that people were saying this because I know Memphis seems bad to everyone else but it's really not that bad of a city. I have grown to really like it since I have been here. It is very different from my home town of Knoxville but I have grown close to the people that I have met here. One different between here and Knoxville is that at home I could walk around at night in my neighborhood or wherever and not be scared for my life. Here I wouldn't walk around anywhere by myself at night. Also there are a lot more outdoor activities to do at home and we are closer to the mountains but here I can go see Graceland or go to the Mississippi River and walk around. People may not think highly of Memphis but I have grown to really like it here. A lot of it is the friendships I have made with my teammates and the people I have met but I also like the atmosphere too. I have to admit at first I wasn't sure how I would like it but I'm really happy with the outcome so far.

revising

I really think the revising process that we did in class helped me a lot. I have never really done this kind of thing before or atleast we did not take it very seriously in high school. Most of the time the teachers would just revise it and I would make the corrections once and then turn in the final paper. This one that we did especially with the landscape copy really helped me see what I was missing. I realized that I need to do more revising on my papers because there were a lot of things that I missed or that did not make sense within the paper. It was a hassel to have to do all those revision but in the end I really do think it helped a lot. I think it is beneficial to me because I'm not one of those people that corrects as I go. I like to type it all out and get it done and then look over it. I also like the peer revising because they are in the same situation as you are and they know how it is so it helps coming from them.

Hashish in Marseilles

This essay is pretty much about seeing things through his perspective when he is under the influence of hashish. Reading this makes me more aware of my surroundings. He talks a lot about what he is seeing and what he is feeling. Most of the time people just go through the day doing their business and not paying attention to their surroundings but this essay makes me think that I should pay attention to my surroundings more often. There are interesting things that happen all around us that we miss because we are too busy thinking about what we have to do next. We should stop and take a look at what is going on.
This makes me want to realize how I see things when I’m in different states of mind. Maybe not necessarily under the influence of drugs but maybe after I’ve done a really hard work out or after I’ve stayed up all night and did not get any sleep. Moments like these where your body is not fresh is when you can really notice differences in your surroundings. When you are fatigued you really see things differently. You may not pay attention as well and you miss a lot of things. Also you feel as though you are about to pass out if you are fatigued to a certain point. Another way to see things different is if you are hyper or if you are drunk. There are many different things that affect how you see your surroundings but a lot of people do not pay attention while they are in that state. You do not really think to stop and see how you are feeling but after reading this there might be something stuck in my brain that will make me think that I should take note of what is going on around me.

what to do now...

What to do now…


This tragedy that happened on campus recently is horrible. I do not know why people do these kinds of things. The scariest thing is that it happened so close. It could have been anyone. It really hits close to me because he was an athlete and since I am an athlete it makes me think about my team and how it would be if something like this happened to one of my teammates. I honestly do not know what I would do if one day just one of my teammates was gone and not here anymore. We are family and losing one of us puts a big hole in all of us. It is the same for all athletes.
It is scary that these things happen all around us. People get shot everyday in this city but it does not make the news. If they put all the stories on the news there would be nothing else but shootings on TV. It is sad that I say this because that is not how it should be. We should not have to worry about walking around on our own campus alone and something happening to us. This city is full of crime and hate and it is horrible. We should not have to live our lives scared and think about how our kids are going to grow up in this city and we will have to worry about them playing outside or going to school. We have to do something about it because we are the generation that will help improve this city. The thing is that not just one person can make a different. Everyone has to put forth an effort in making this city better for us and for generations to come. When you see something wrong it is sometimes hard to stand up and help. You want to help but you are scared to get involved. You do not want these things as your problems but the thing is that eventually it could be your problem. If things do not get fixed the bad things will keep happening and spread even more throughout the city not just in the poor areas. The question is, what can we do to help? Honestly we say that we tighten security to try and protect everyone but if someone has the intent to hurt then they will most likely do it and there is not anything we can do. The best thing to do to help prevent crime in the city is to help improve the poverty level. Most of the fighting around this city and pretty much everywhere is about money. If people have jobs and earn money then maybe there would not be so much violence. To help this we should have people out there encouraging others to go out and get jobs. I know there are people that do this now but there are not enough and they do not encourage enough. It is one thing to say you will do this but it is another to actually do it.
It is hard for me to come to Memphis and live my life the same as how I did back in my hometown, Knoxville, TN. Yeah Knoxville is a pretty big city but it is nowhere near the size of Memphis and its crime is nowhere near as high. There is crime in Knoxville but I felt safe walking through my neighborhood by myself at night. It is totally different here. I would not walk anywhere here by myself at night. The only thing I can think of that stands out why Knoxville is not as violent as Memphis is the poverty. I’m not saying that there is not any poverty in Knoxville but, to me, it seems as though there is not as much. So my thoughts on helping this city move away from being the number one crime city in the country is going out there and helping the poor find jobs instead of channeling there anger and free time on violence. Now we just have to take initiative and go out there and do it.

Textual analysis for "The Forth of July"

In the essay “The Fourth of July” Audre Lorde shares a story about a young black girl, herself, who struggles to find the answers to why her parents did not explain why things are the way they are or why they do not stand up for themselves. In the story the young girl and her family, which consists of her older sister and her parents, are taking a trip to Washington D.C. They are taking this trip because her sister, Phyllis, did not get a chance to go when her class went in 8th grade because she is black and they would not let her stay in the hotel. Her father told her that they would take a family trip later on so she would not be upset. This trip was not just a normal family vacation it was an eye opening experience for her. Lorde expresses racism and the different issues that pop up through different instances in the story and different experiences she faces. Lorde also expresses the silence theme a lot in her story.
Throughout the story you can see that Lorde uses words like “white” and “bright” which represents white people. Everything around them is white and they are colored. The “silence” issue is also apparent throughout the story. She talks about how the girls’ parents keep things from her and never explain why, like when they had to ride the night train she thought it was just because it was cheaper but the real reason was because it was easier to deal with because of their race. I think they did not tell her things because they wanted her to grow up on her own and learn through experience which she did. Also she says “whatever my mother did not like and could not change, she ignored. Perhaps it would go away, deprived of her attention” (Lorde 567). This is talking about ignoring the situation and the parents just want to blend in with the rest of the crowd. They do not want it to be any different because they are black so they just ignore whenever something goes wrong. This corresponds with different situations where people do not speak up when they should and they just end up blending in with the crowd and sometimes blending in with the wrong crowd. If you do not voice your opinion sometimes people have the wrong impression of you and just figure you are on the opposing side.
In the story she says “The first time I went to Washington D.C., was on the edge of the summer when I was supposed to stop being a child” (Lorde 567). There comes a time when every kid stops being a child and learns what the real world is about. Her graduation from 8th grade was supposed to be her ending point of childhood. That is why her parents took her on this trip so she could see what things are really like out in the world. She didn’t understand why her parents did not stand up for themselves like for instance at the ice cream shop when they were told they could not eat inside they just got up and left and did not fight for it. She did not understand why they just left and did not say anything. I think they were trying to teach her that sometimes you just have to do what everyone wants you to do so you do not cause more trouble for yourself. This is a hard concept for a little girl to understand. She says “I was squinting because I was in that silent agony that characterized all of my childhood summers, from the time school let out in June to the end of July, brought about my dilated and vulnerable eyes exposed to the summer brightness” (Lorde 569). What she is talking about here is the brightness, or the whiteness, of what she saw that summer and her eyes being dilated and her squinting took away the whites of her eyes only showing the dark part. That represents her growing up and becoming more a part of her own culture and not just blending in with the crowd. Now she knows who she is and she is trying to cope with that and adjust.
Audre Lorde does a good job of expressing herself through symbols as in the brightness of the sunlight and everything around them and also through the racism and silence themes. She has a deeper meaning than what is on the surface of her story. You have to really look deep inside the story to get everything out of it that she put in. Although you may have a different perspective on what you think Lorde means by all these different symbols she shares, you can get out of it whatever you want.

Prime Directive

First of all those pictures are very disturbing and I can't believe people would do such a thing. I like how he is against what happened and he lets it be known in this article. I like how he talks about simple things like halloween and the parties but he's really trying to get a deeper point across. This article is all over the place but it has to be to explain what all is happening. He realizes by the end of the night he realizes that some of the things he did were wrong like taking that picture made him look like he supported what happened in Abu Ghraib and from this article you can tell that he didn't support what happened. This article goes very deep and you have to pay attention to everything and look into everything to understand the real meaning behind what he is talking about like the freferences to the war and the traveling from party to party like the soldiers travel from place to place fighting for our country. Also the sepparation of him from his wife like the sepparation of the soldiers from their families.

asssesment paper

For our project we each played an important role we each made copies of our work for each person in it so that we all might be able to gather the information and put it on a paper. We then all met up with each other several times before Thursday and on Thursday. We met once in the tiger den and discussed and gathered all the possible choices for a common theme. We then called and emailed each other many times when we were not meeting in order to discuss the information. Then we met together with all the information we had and opinions we had and met together to form it and build the paper. We then wrote it and proof read it as a group together. Then on Thursday we meet back with each other and typed the paper.

Theme Paper part 3

Vacation is a very important event for family and friends. Spending time with them is one of the best ways to enjoy a vacation It is unbelievable on how many different types of vacations there are such as going to amusement parks, going to the beach, leaving the country, and many others. However it doesn’t matter unless you have your family and friends their.
Ta-Nesha, loves enjoying the company of her family and friends on her family reunion vacation. Her and her family took a trip to Six Flags in St. Louis. While they were there they stayed in cramped hotel rooms, since they had so many of them. To Ta-Nesha and her family it didn’t matter because they enjoyed going swimming and enjoying the amusement park with each other. They got to ride many of the rides with each other such as Mr. Freeze, the boss, and superman. These types of trips are a family “must” routine for Ta-Nesha that is quite enjoyable.
Ducky on the other hand went to Key West with her soccer team and their parents, for a soccer competition. A trip like this for a soccer competition is very common and routine for Ducky and the rest of her family and friends. The parents are all good friends and get together quite often to go to the bars with each other. These trips consist of a lot of girls that attend so the space is pretty cramped in the rooms but they still love it because they get to spend quality time together. On this particular soccer competition it happens to fall around New Years, so for this the fathers decided to get together with each other and lit off fireworks. Which made this trip in it self very memorable with them jumping all over the place to avoid the fireworks. Going snorkeling for the first time ever also made this trip very memorable for Ducky, her family, and her friends even though it didn’t quite go as well as they planned and hopped for it with all the jelly fish and seasickness around. Of course it could have been worse if her family and friends weren’t there to make it better.
Lisa on the other hand loves traveling all around the world with her family and feels it would be nothing without them there. On this particular vacation to France they were definitely what made it great and interesting. Her family and friends do these types of vacations as an annual routine, but going to France was definitely not like the others. Going to the museums and chapels are a major thing for Lisa and her family because they enjoy art quite a bit and enjoy discussing it with each other. They also got to go to the Eiffel Tower. The trip was quite enjoyable and interesting especially when the fight almost broke out between Lisa’s mom and the car rental lady for treating her and her brother bad.
So as you can see family and friends are what makes a trip worth it. Vacation is something that is fun and enjoyable. If you have your family and friends there then that is what makes the trip all worth it. If you can’t have fun with them then who can you? So on your next vacations remember who you are taking and who you will have fun with.

My Vacation to Key West, Florida

I’ve played soccer ever since I was 4 years old. Since the age of 10 I have played on a traveling club team. When we were younger we wouldn’t travel so far away for tournaments. We would stay within about 2 or 3 hours away from home at the most. As we grew older we started to travel more and more and go to tournaments further away. The last four years of my club career we went to a tournament down in Miami, Florida called the Orange Classic. Since the tournament started two days after Christmas and ended a couple days before New Years we decided it would be fun for all of us to go down to Key West for New Years after the tournament was over. That was the best idea anyone could have had. Not only did us kids have a blast but I think our parents had more fun than we did. Almost everyone on my team had been together since we were 12 years old so we all were best friends and our parents had become really close as well.
The first year we went down to Key West we didn’t know what to expect. There were about thirty of us and we rented out these little condos by the water way. We were so cramped in all of our houses which made it even more fun. I had to sleep on the couch in the living room of one little condo and one of my friends had to sleep on the mattress on the floor next to me. That didn’t matter to us though. We were so happy just to be down there with everyone. It was December but unlike in Tennessee it was warm. It was mostly temperatures in the range of the high 70’s to low 80’s. We were all so happy to lay out and get tan over Christmas break while all of our friends back at home were pale and freezing.
Our parents were by far the best entertainment we had down there. First of all our parents aren’t the normal parents. They can get pretty out of control and there were many times where us kids had to take care of our parents. We would all go down to Key West and walk around while our parents would go “bar hopping”. We would all meet up at the end of the night to go home and our parents would barely be able to walk down the road so we would have to drive them home. They were quite the entertainment.
For the actual New Years Eve we would just stay within our condos and shoot off fireworks. At the place we were staying there was a dock out in the water about 15 yards and some of the dads thought it would be a good idea to go out there and shoot fireworks off of it. Well it didn’t turn out to be as good of an idea as they thought it would be. Since the dock was about as big as the beds of two small pick-up trucks put together, there was not enough room for about 10 dads and all the boxes of fireworks that they bought. Waded through the water out to the dock and started shooting the fireworks off. They were so close to the sparks that they had to jump off the dock so they wouldn’t get burned. That was the most entertaining fireworks show I’ve ever seen.
One thing we did on this trip that I had never done before was go snorkeling out in the ocean. We were so excited about getting to do this but it ended up not being as fun as we thought it would be. All but two of us got so sea sick we were throwing up off the boat. It was the worst snorkeling experience I’ve ever had. There were little jellyfish all in the water so every time you would move you would get stung. It was horrible. All of us wanted to go home but they wouldn’t let us because there were divers with us and of course they weren’t getting sick so we had to wait for them to be finished before we could leave. I did learn that I definitely need to take sea sickness medicine before I go out on an adventure like that again.
Basically this trip was one big party especially for the parents but it was a blast for the kids too. It was filled with a ton of memorable moments that I’ll keep with me for the rest of my life.

Free Write: Vacations, Laurel, Lisa, Tanesha

California- friend, hollywood, sixflags, universal
Key West - soccer team, new years
Canada - friend, spring break, snowboardin
North Carolina - Beach, family vacation
Disney World - soccer friends
Kiawa Island - Friends when I was young, memories
Texas - soccer
Washington DC - Torn ACL, soccer, horrible trip
Arkansas - Torn ACL, bus ride
Gettysburg - 8th grade trip
Oklahoma - soccer regionals, raining, muddy

My article was called "What Else is New?" by Steven Shapin. In this article he talks about technology changes throughout time and how different inventions have taken the place of different things over time. It also talks about what could have been if something else was not invented. For instance if different medications were not invented to replace other medicines then would the other medicines still be in effect. Shapin talks about technology in World War II and how it contributed to the outcome. He talks about new technology coming out but people not knowing how to use it. Some technology is becoming too high-tech for even the people that invent it. Shapin's tone is relaxed throughout the article but at the same time he is focusing on the main points and trying to get his point across. The structure is pretty straight forward and focuses around one thing mainly, technology. He uses different refrences in time like the war and things happening in todays society. His word choice is good because he does not lose the reader in huge words the whole time. He does a good job of explaining himself throughout the article. He expresses himself very well and does a very good job of getting his point across. He likes to use quotes from other in the past about what they thought about the technology and where it is going in our society. This article is probably not good for younger crowd if you aren't into reading about this kind of stuff for fun. Although if you like reading about these things then it is not too hard of reading for say high school students at the youngest. I enjoyed reading this article because it kept me interested the whole time. It was very informative I agreed with what it was saying.