emhelmer

To Tell the Truth!

In class on Monday, we played a game called To Tell the Truth.  Now in this game, we had two people go up in the front of the class telling us that when they were little they had a burnt marshall lodged into their eye!  Now, only one of these students actually had this occur, making the other one a big liar!  This game was tons of fun.

Now the person I think was telling the truth was Garth.  I think this for three reasons.  Reason one being that Garth seemed pretty at ease with the answers he gave.  He didn’t stutter, look at his hands, nor look down.  Since neither of these boys are professional liars, I would safetly bet that Greg, who was not at ease, was in fact lying.

The second reason I came to this conclusion was due to the fact that Garth had alot of detail to his responses.  Greg, who answered every question, did so with a “vague” answer.  Garth knew specifics.  For example, Garth knew alot of details about the place in which the accident in question occured. 

But the third reason is the reason that I confidently came to this conclusion.  Someone asked Greg how old he was when this occurance happened.  He responded, “Um, I was about 12.”  I asked Greg if he had glasses at the time of this accident.  His response was no.  Someone else then proceeded to ask him how old he was when he started to wear glasses, and he said 3rd grade.  Now unless I heard wrong, or unless 12-years-old is the new 3rd grade age, I would have to conclude that Greg is a liar, making Garth the one who….Told the Truth!

Chapter 4

“I stand before you under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote.”  Susan B. Anthony said this in a speech that became to be known as “Women’s Right to Vote.”  After reading this, I let my imagination take me back to a time where I could come face to face with my fellow women in a fight for the right to be heard.  I wonder though, would I have the courage to stand with them and be arrested?  I know I would want the right to vote, but would I stay silent, or take a stand?  I hope that I would take a stand, knowing that only brave actions happen under fearful circumstances.

“Michael Shermer, the author of Why People Believe Weird Things and director of the Skeptics Society, defines a skeptic as “one who questions the validity of a particular claim by calling for evidence to prove or disprove it.”

I never thought of myself as a skeptic before, but under this definition, I actually want to be.  There is nothing wrong with making sure the statement or claim is solid before trusting in it.  I mean somethings in life, you have to have a little faith, but I tend to think that we shouldn’t believe everything we hear without searching out the truth for ourselves.

Chapter 3

“I asked Richard Nixon, “When you drive by Watergate, do you feel weird?”  This was a quote from Larry King on asking questions in interviews.  I chose to quote this for the obvious reason; it’s hilarious!  I wish I could have seen the look on President Nixon’s face when he was asked this question.  Awkward maybe?  Yeah probably.  But it was more than funny, it made me realize that not everybody “sugar coats” questions that they really want the answer to.  Now, I wish I was this brave.  But most likely,  I would have never asked him this question. 

The quote from chapter 3 that made me stop and think and think and think again though was from the story by Ursula Le Guin.  “But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.”  Ok for those readers out there who has never read “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,”  let me catch you up.  The story is about this seemingly “perfect” town where happiness is the norm.  There is no guilt, people are smiling all the time, and the town prospers.  But hidden in this town is a little child who is neglected and mistreated, and who has to stay this way in order for the town to prosper. 

After reading this story, the question kept crawling through my mind, “Is the good of the many, outway the good of the one.”  I thought I would have answered yes before I read this story, but now my mind is all in jumbles.  I can’t take it.  I can’t take that this little child does not get a chance at life.  And I know, I would be one of the ones who walk away from omelas.

Santa: friend or foe?

For my mock research project, I was thinking about exploring the whole idea of Santa Clause.  I’m about to purpose that we, as a society, should be putting a warrant out for Santa’s arrest, which I’m sure is going to land me a spot on the “naughty” list!!  Some information that I was going to use to support this is the fact that this guy once a year breaks into every single person’s house.  I mean, I don’t know about you, but that is not acceptable.  Also, the fact that we warn our kids not to take candy from strangers, and then this guy comes in offering our children tons of treats…?  Suspious!  If I do say so myself.  Also, he is not even a good role model.  We live in a day where obesity is a problem.  Maybe this is because our “hero”  is a overly obese man in a red suit.  Think about it…..  🙂

My Peer Review Experience!

I walked into peer review day having no idea what to expect.   All I knew is that I had my paper completed and submitted and that my classmates were going to be reading it.  But I soon found out that this day was going to be so much more than that.  For instance, I learned alot about LSC.  I learned that credits don’t transfer as nice as everyone wants to think.  I learned that the learning center is amazing and very worth the visit.  I also learned that academic probation sucks, and I never want to be on it.  I also learned more about myself as a peer reviewer.  At first, when I was looking at a draft I was thinking, “I have no clue what I’m doing…”  And I immediately felt terrible that I didn’t have more to offer to my classmates.  But, as I went on, more and more ideas started to flow in my head.  I don’t know how much help I was, but I sure hope I had something to offer.  I struggled on the “problem” section of reviewing.  I didn’t know how to word what I was trying to say, nor did I know if my what I thought was a “problem” really was.  I hated putting something down and having it be totally off on my part!  I also learned about myself as a writer.  The comments from my peers were so helpful and helped me see that proofreading myself just doesn’t cut it.  I need that “fresh” set of eyes.

Also I saw some of my style of writing in my peers’ writing, and that excited me.  I like seeing a bunch of “kids” who, if they have nothing else in common, have writing.  It’s like writing unites us!

Oh boy!

Upon reading Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, the part where he discusses his conquest to conquer virtue, I just stopped and sat there in silence for a long while.  I am one of those people who try to be the best they can be, but after reading his ideas I began to wonder if I’m trying hard enough.  The virtue that he stated that I think is my best is the justice one.  And he states, “Justice: Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your duty.”  I think this one is my best because I don’t like hurting people.  I am, of course, talking both physically and emotionally.  In fact, when looking at it from the opposite perspective, I love making people feel good.  So if I can give you a compliment, I’m not going to withhold it from you.   And I’m not going to cause you injury.

The one on his list that I feel like I’m a total failure is the industry one.  “Industry: Lose no time- Be always employed in something useful. And cut off all unnecessary actions.”  Well I don’t know about you readers but as for me, there are alot of activities I do for the fun of it.  I mean I like reading a good book!  Is that book going to benefit me later?  Probably not.  Sometimes, I like watching TV too, and some of my shows have no real value.  I just like watching them.

I don’t know if the way he kept track of his progress was all that, what’s the word, truthful.  I mean, I think he probably tried his best to be honest, but I think one will find the true answers to how we act by asking those around us.  I do think there is some value though.  I think it’s good to keep ourselves accountable to our decisions.  So him keeping track like he did was keeping him accountable to himself every day.

Reactions on Reflections of a New U.S. Citizen

“We live in a country where most people know more about the Simpsons than the Constitution and at a time when some regard dissent as the nemesis, rather than the essence, of democracy.”  That is a quote from Reflections of a New U.S. Citizen, which I chose as my article because it really got me thinking.  The writer just became a U.S. citizen and is so excited.  She s00n finds out, however that her definition of a citizen is different than the definition of the people who are actually approving her citizenship.  Her point is that our attitude about our “citizenship” in our country is very different than the attitude that our founding fathers had when they were building America.  We, as Americans, take liberty and the right to dissent for granted.  I think she’s right.  Thinking even on my own knowledge of our government and how things work, I know I come up shorter than I ought to.  I am one of those people, I sadly admit, that do know more about the Simpsons than I do the constitution.  The piece could very well change someone’s mind about their attitude toward being a citizen.  After reading it, I want to know more about my country and have a passion like the author’s.  This piece might make people annoyed as well, although I don’t see anger as a big reaction to it.  I really loved reading Reflections of a New U.S. Citizen, and I do recommend everyone read it.  It is a great piece to cause people to think.

My Graphic

In my book for class, there are two graphics shown.  One is about this girl who is shopping.  She picks up all these clothes and says to the cashier as she’s checking out, “This isn’t for me-it’s for the economy.”  Although that made me laugh, the graphic that got me thinking was the other one.   On this graphic there are huge bold letters that say the following:  YOU ARE TOO STUPID.  Embedded in these words are food items such as donuts, pizza, cookies, ect.  Pretty much all of my favorite foods that are terrible for me!  Now the point of this graphic is to say that government should not put higher taxes or “fat taxes” on food that they don’t want us to eat.  It’s saying that we, as Americans, have the right to choose what we want to ingest.  I actually like this point.  I am aware that eating too much of these foods can clog my arteries and kill me early, but it should still be my choice to eat them.  Smoking is terrible for the lungs, everyone knows it, but it’s still a choice whether or not we wish to smoke or not.  The audience of this particular graphic are common people.  People who are not “government bureaucrats” as this graphic labels them.  Pretty much anyone who is not high up in the government “food chain.”  I don’t know if this particular graphic will change anyone’s mind.  It might, however, make them want to do what they can to fight the taxes.  There is a website right on the graphic that perhaps, after reading this, they will visit the site and see what they can do.  I don’t think this graphic will make the intended audience angry but it might make the government officials that are in favor of these taxes and lawsuits kind of angry.  I think it’s a great graphic to get people thinking.  It got me thinking and not just about food.  No, it got me thinking about much more than that.  For example, what if the government starts taking away other choices.  Or, simply starts making their idea of “bad choices” so expensive that no one can choose them.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s sweet how they are trying to take care of us, but it’s a fine line between democracy and the other guy that no one likes to talk about.  Someone starts making small choices for us, it won’t be long until the big ones follow.

A question on the Naturalization Application

As I was reading the naturalization application for a class in school, I stumbled upon a question that surprised me.   The application asks under question 22 if the applicant has ever failed to support your dependents or to pay alimony.  Now, I am unaware as to why this comes as a complete shock to me.  It makes sense to me why our government would ask the future inhabitants this, however, if someone were to come up to me and ask me to think up questions to ask on the naturalization application, I would have never thought of this one.  What catches my attention about this particular question is because I have some friends who have failed to support their dependents.  These friends of mine are American, and do not have to worry about failing the application.  I’m also thinking that my friends are not the only one who has failed this question on the application.  I guess it just surprised me to read a question on the application to becoming an American when we aren’t “picture perfect” in that department ourselves.  In the real world, if the application would hold everybody to this standard, I suppose they would stop the programs to help those who are finacially dependent on government and make it a mandatory thing that one must find a way to support his or her dependents at all costs.  I’m hoping that is not going to be the case though, ever.  Then again, I also understand that if the government has to pay for more and more families, the national debt will continue to “sky rocket” out of here.  It makes sense to have a question on the application like this, to get a heads up on the person’s background regarding his or her finances.

My foreign land!

Have you ever been in a crowded room and felt completely alone?  I have.  But the one that sticks out to me the most was my very first day working at a mcdonalds.  I walked in there thinking I was all ready to go.  I had my new mcdonalds shirt on and my hat all fastened and a “I’m going to rock this job out” smile on my face.  I started getting trained, but the only thing my trainer did with me was taking the money from costumers in the drive thru, which is about as “self-explanatory” as it gets.  Then, she left and I was expected to work all the jobs!  I was barely trained and had no idea what I was doing while my coworkers were looking at me like I was trying to ruin their lives.  That wasn’t even the biggest reason why I felt like I was in a completely “foreign land.”  No, the main reason is because I would ask one of my coworkers a question and get the answer back in spanish, which I knew very little of.  I remember getting curious looks from coworkers when I accidently dropped food out of the drive thru window, annoyed looks from costumers when I messed up their order completely, and “you’re an idiot” look from my superiors when I was holding everyone up trying to figure out the new coffee machines.  It was a terrible feeling!  I don’t know what it is about not feeling accepted but it hurts.  I wanted to go home and never step foot into that horrid place again.  But then, there was this one guy who worked there that everyone loved.  And after mistake after mistake made by me, he started laughing and said to me, “Emily, you’re hilarious!” 

After that day, people were so nice to me.  It’s crazy how gaining the favor of one person can change your whole experience.  I don’t work at mcdonalds anymore but I don’t look back on the memory with hate or sadness, but with laughter and joy!  What started out as a complete disaster in a “foreign land” turned into a great working experience and a fun time!