Reflection

Many things have happened this year, memories have been made, people have clashed, bonds have been broken and you can cut the anticipation of summer with a knife. Junior year has had to have been the most stressful year in high school I have ever endured, not to mention all the stress my ex-girlfriend had added to my shoulders.

 In the beginning of the year I was really happy to come back to my old town see my old friends and reminisce in memories of when we were all younger, but as a few weeks went by I realized that wasn't going to get those memories back because no matter how long you're gone things do not remain the same. People move on people find new friends and develop new relationships or friendships and begin to forget the past. I myself had fallen into that category, forgetting all my old friends because I was too tied up with a possessive girlfriend who later made my life miserable.

 Half way through the school year I had realized that this was not how I planned to spend my life and I began researching into the study of life; philosophy. I had been inspired by Mr.Kotak, the curriculum was amazing. I learned about myths, religion and how they all correlate, and I soon realized that no matter how old all humans share one thing in common, they don't know their purpose in life so I began to sit alone for hours and think and think until I would get ideas on purpose and existence. The reasons myths are created are to tell a story of why we are here on Earth, and these stories explain to us our existence. These myths may not be true or accurate but they gave people a reason to live, the reason myths are started is to quench our curiosity of existence and death.

 So as I had started to further my knowledge in philosophy and mythology I had realized that there is no true religion, I no longer had to fear a judgment for my actions because religion is just a manmade myth. As I began to realize the truth it had made me feel free on the outside and inside, I no longer had to the things I didn't want to do, that meant no more communion and no more confession for me! My girlfriend at the time hated my idea, but it didn't bother me because I cannot remember one idea of mine that she agreed with, so I began living a more care free life while maintaining good grades and a girlfriend, but I still felt oppressed in a way of self-expression, I wouldn't be able to hang with my friends or family on the weekends without having to face the wrath of a women.

 Eventually it all added up and towards the end of the year I was single, but it didn't matter to me because I know I am truly happy with my interest in the study of mythology and philosophy along with the short amount of time I've been given to spend with my friends.

When Greed Gives Way to Giving Questions

1. The author believes that the purpose of the "windfall" is to let the readers think about how most would not be very giving or generous with their money like Mr.Thompson was, the author believes the point of t he story is to show the reader that there aren't many generous people in this world.

2. I agree with the authors statement regarding how generosity is a rare quality in most lately, I believe this is true because throughout the dawn of time History has shown us that people even do generous things for people for something in return like a reward. There aren't many generous people that do things to satisfy others.

3. I do but unfortunately if people weren't greedy or selfish nothing would ever get done properly because money is a huge motivation for people to get things done the right way, I do agree that suffering is caused by the motivation of greed and selfishness.

4. That wealth isn't measured by earning or by material possesions you can buy but about having enough or being full, the things we need to survive and the things we would like to have are complete opposites being full in the are of having what you need should be considered as being wealthy.

Self Correction of The Value of Originality Essay

I scored a four out of six on my writing about the question of originality, I was only given twenty five minutes to write a two page essay. I didn't finish and it was very challenging for me to stay attentive to my essay. If I could go back I would most likely try to get more in depth with my answer to that question of "Can people ever be truly Original?" I felt that there weren't many errors with my grammar and I was pretty organized in outlining my thoughts and bringing them to life on the paper. If I could go back and change anything it would be the amount of time I was given.

First Quarter Reflection

The most interesting work I've read this quarter would have to be many of the articles based on peoples opinions or data on the effects of media use today, it was pretty interesting because I never really recognized the concept of the authors opinion until a few days later when I was sudden;y spacing out and losing track of time on my new smartphone. I have also learned so much about writing paragraphs, it's more than just writing it's brain storming, outlining, formatting, etc... I have caught on very quickly and feel I have caught up with class expectation if not exceeding it, I do my work when I'm told, hand everything in on time, think and write efficiently and I participate very well in class. Coming into this class it felt as if my weaknesses in writing were major but after being in this class for the amount of time I have I feel that my weaknesses are slowly starting to be noticed and masked. My strengths involve writing about opinionated subjects or persuasive subjects, my weaknesses in writing include organization and punctiation. I would like to study from more of a reporters or journalists perspective. The overall nature of this course is to improve ones general knowledge and improve on writing skills and qualities.

Criticizism Through Activism

There has been a major subject that has come to America’s attention, there are many issues in this world and many charities and Activists are often met with criticism. It’s hard to understand why people don’t trust a charity or activist when they’re trying to do good, right? Well unfortunately this world is filled with selfish people that get involved with certain events or issues for personal gains and it’s hard to tell who the good guy is or even who the bad guy is.

For example, recently a video was posted to YouTube titled “Kony2012”, the video talks about a man who had an army of children and explained how he’s ruined family and committed crimes against humanity. The issue with the video is that the events they’re talking about took place more than 7 years ago and has gone away in that span of time, the video is all propaganda brought to you by a film documenter and his charity makes an excess of 4 million dollars a year and doesn’t report what they do with their excess. There are many other people who do similar things, like Bernie Madoff. Bernie said he would take your money and invest it and expand your money by a certain percent, in 2008 he was caught for money laundering and scamming his clients out of 50 billion dollars! It just goes to show that it’s tough to put your trust in a business or corporation. Even past presidents have done very shady things such as Nixon and the Watergate, it’s sad but in todays society It’s hard to trust anyone so be careful about what you see or read.

Angst Towards Todays Peers

Recently I have noticed a steep decline in intelligence with todays youth, it is as if todays youth has no future for a better tomorrow. No one seems interested in following politics or how our country might end up in five to ten years, academic expectations have lowered and I have no faith in my generation. The only thing that teens seem to care about is a shallow and fake culture portrayed by many so called reality shows(jersey shore), not the fact that our currency has lost more than thirty percent of its value since the 1930's and I'm disgusted by it. I have interests but I must say that my interests are of a higher important than most, my goals and interests are to change the issues brought to todays society that include gay rights, abortion, limited government and many other things that I have witnessed throughout the seventeen years I have experienced.

If todays youth put as much effort into changing the social and political issues involved with America as they put into keeping their Nikes "fresh" or into social networking than people such as myself wouldn't have to worry about what this world is coming to.

Internet Surfing Observations

I have participated in a class project to assess my self by making reflections on what I search for and watch or read on the internet. I was only given 20 minutes to conduct what I normally do on the internet which is mainly watch videos on YouTube that involve pranks and stunts and read articles about Marijuana. I never recently realized how I managed my time on the internet until I recorded it and to be quite honest I must say that reflecting upon this I'm just the type of person who likes to have a good laugh, joke constantly and relax.

I've noticed that some of my interests have no redeeming social value and are stupid, but I'm not bothered by it.  Instead I would like to think of it as having a sense of humor, a soft spot for stupidity, and an interest in certain recreational activities.

Why is Marijuana Illegal?

I've been pondering through this question for many years and so many other have probably stumbled upon this question too, but why is Marijuana illegal?  According to an article by Pete Guither "many people thought that marijuana was made illegal through some kind of process involving scientific, medical, and government hearings; that it was to protect the citizens from what was determined to be a dangerous drug." As the article continues, it shows you the history of the criminalization of marijuana. There's a common misconception that Marijuana was criminalized because the paper mills would lose profit, the paper mills contributed to it but the main cause was racism and corrupt Legislatures.  Harry J. Anslinger recognized the Bureau of Narcotics and how much of a career oppurtunity it would be for him so he automatically threw the themes of racism and violence to draw attention to the public so he could build his agency, some of the ideas quoted by Harry Anslinger are a bit racist so please do not take offense, but according to Harry Anslinger “…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”, “Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”
 and also “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” These statements are very invalid and pose no strong point but that's the main reason why Marijuana was deemed illegal in the 1930's and it's still illegal today.

Behind Hardcore & Punk Music

Behind every genre of music there is a voice and an opinion, for myself that genre happens to be punk & hardcore music.  Almost every generation has its own type of music it can relate to, for myself I can relate to a lot of heavier genres like punk and hardcore. I have learned many lessons the hard way and have struggled with many things my whole life and hardcore music is my way to vent and rid myself of my aggression. I relate myself to this genre because of the musical structure and lyrical content, it's hard to listen to happy songs when I can hear a song that talks about anger, hate and how the real world actually is. The genre was meant to be more than a label, the genre is more like a brotherhood. There are so many friends and people I've met through this style of music just by going to shows and having a love for the music. Nothing can ever take away what I have gained through this genre, brotherhood and most importantly friendship.

Essential Questions

I believe the things that make writing affective, the first thing is outlining and brainstorming your thoughts, eventually figure out your topic and then you begin to collect information and organize your thoughts. The characteristics of gold-medal writing consist of many things such as focus and meaning, content and it's developement, organization, Language and style and Mechanics and conventions. Finally, when evaluating writings of all domains you must ask yourself does this answer the essential questions asked? And does it demonstrate effective writing qualities?

About Me

My name is Joe, I would rather be honest then lie, but to be honest I was looking forward to a Journalism class but I'm not into the whole idea of relying on the internet to discover my assignments and what not, but I love writing it's one of my hobbies. I will do anything it takes to get a good grade.
Some of my personal interests include art forms such as graphite art, painting and tattooing along with music. I really got into art through a small tattoo shop that did work on me when I first turned 16, the artist was just amazing at what he did and ever since I've been interested in tattooing, painting and graphite. I enjoy tattooing because it gives you a sense of freedom and capability along with the feeling of not conforming into someone else's ideal standards. I've enjoyed drawing for as long as I can remember, I always had a pencil in my hand when I was little. I like these forms of art just because it's an easy way to express the things that you have built inside yourself and your mind without being automatically judged or criticized.
I have a small variety of my work type experience, I worked for my Grandfather doing roofing, carpentry and other hands on skills along with being a cashier at a small grocery store. I started working at the age of 13 and created a strong work ethic because of the way I was raised by my Mother and Grandfather. I'd love to work as a tattoo artist or professional piercing artist at a shop and just have fun doing what I love to do and make a living out of it as well.
My hopes for this class are to strengthen my writing abilities and lean me more towards journalism. I hope to succeed in this class and work on my organizational skills in writing. I really do not know or describe what I would like to learn but I am dedicated to this class and am always open to criticism and improvement.