...destiny, fate, and what's written in the stars.” ― Anaïs Nin “I remember it like it was yesterday, the sun is shining brightly, the sand beneath my toes, the fresh, salty smell of the ocean as the waves crashed in. “Sofia! I have a huge surprise for you that I think you’ll like.” “What is it Matt?” “You’re coming with me to help me do a photoshoot tomorrow to a little girl’s 7th birthday party. I told my boss I could use an extra hand, so he gave me another boarding ticket. We’ll be gone for three days only. Are you still going?” “Hmm, let me check my schedule first...” I joked. “Look’s like I’m available tomorrow!” “Sofia!! Walk faster before the ship boards without us!” “Geez. I’m coming, I’m coming!” That is when everything changed. I woke up in the middle of nowhere stranded on an island with nothing, but my clothes. I tried to recall what happened last; nothing. I couldn’t remember what happened after I jumped out of the ship, I didn’t know where I was or if I...
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...be a good boy and get up. You have plenty of chores to do!” Alois said with a strangely cheery voice and a firm grab of Edmund’s shoulder. Edmund froze for a split second, then he fell limp, no longer tossing and turning. “Edmund dear!” Klara screamed running over to him. Alois looked around and held his hands at his shoulders. All of the children ran towards their mother, trying to see what had happened to their brother. With a brisk movement, Klara placed two fingers on Edmund’s neck. Her hands fell to her sides, her mouth agape. “What is all the fuss about!” Alois shouted at Klara. She sat, still and quiet. A single tear fell from her eye, then two, then three. A loud sob came from her small composure and a scream escaped her mouth. “My son is dead!” She Stormed at him. “This is all your fault. If you wouldn’t have made him go to school the day after that other little boy got the measles, this would not have happened.” She yelped with tears in her eyes. “Don’t blame the death of our son on me, woman!” He hollered back with a slap to her face. She caressed her cheek and gave him an evil...
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...Imagine a path on a steep slope, filled with twists and turns and numerous roadblocks; my journey learning how to write well was similar to this path. Because writing is my Achilles heel, it was difficult for me to endure the challenges I faced along the way and reach my destination. Despite struggling with writing throughout my life, I have learned some essential skills that have helped to alleviate some of this difficulty. Through the adversities I experienced within the classroom, I was able to improve my writing style. Hopefully, these skills will allow me to present my argument eloquently and will continue to develop in Writing 39C. During my freshman year, my English teacher provided the class with an outline that has become the foundation...
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...Standing in the way back with my head down and eyes closed, I am the only one not crying. The sobs from everyone around me flooded my ears. I raise my head to a painful sight, I wish I hadn't seen, a casket. Inside of it lays a body, a cold lifeless body. A person that once felt emotions and laughed and cried. It was Zach's body. He's gone before our real relationship could even start. "Mom, I'm going upstairs to play my game." I yelled over my shoulder while running up my staircase. I then leap onto my bed and grab my controller to turn on the console. I place my headset over my head and begin speaking into the mic near my mouth. About Five minutes in, I notice a new gamer has joined our camp. While playing the game me and him start to speak. I got to know his name and where he lived, but not the direct...
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...Writing an essay is not as much about the end product as it is the journey to get there. You may possess the most expansive vocabulary, but the one variable that shows through your writing is time. Time is the one factor that shows improvement, effort, and persistence. Without time, the journey would not exist. Step one in the journey is throwing ideas on to paper. Throwing refers to the chaos of that first step. In my case, the throwing of ideas was evident in the lack of cohesion and argument. This action of throwing is only able to happen if the topic is of meaning to the writer. The topic I chose, the benefits of immersion programs to help learn a language, is something I am very passionate about. I've been lucky enough to experience it...
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...I was sitting in my room behind my computer and was looking and the blank screen on my laptop and was thinking to myself what story I should tell about my literacy? I’m not really sure if I can come up with anything! But then I start to think about the time when I was just a little kid, and I couldn’t read or write. I was very interested in reading since I was a child growing up in Iran. I remember that I was grabbing my mom or my dad magazine’s and look through all the pictures and wondering what is it saying? Then I would go to my dad and asking him to tell me what all these word surrounding these pictures means? So my dad was putting his glasses on while he was smiling at me and looked at the page that I was pointing at, then he start to read it to me loud and clear; at that point I was very jealous of my dad, that how can he read so well and I couldn’t ? and he would tell me that:”Don’t worry once you go to school they will teach you and you can read anything you want as good as me or even better”. My father explained to me that he felt books were very important and that I had been exposed to books from the beginning. I was read to by many family members such as aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. He also stressed that I was a very verbal child at a young age and had been around mostly adults for the first few years. My vocabulary started at about five months and by two years had clear structured sentences. As I was learning how to speak, I was also introduced to...
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...My Self Assessment and Journey through this Semester Through my self assessment I will discuss my journey this semester in college writing and the skills I have learned and the skills that still need some improvements; from confidence to five page essays and what’s important to me and my future of learning. First of all, one of the most important accomplishments to me that I have obtained this semester, is confidence. However, I understand this may not be a skill learned from class, but it’s the skills I have learned in class that gave me the ability to feel more confident in my learning. As a high school drop out at the age of 14 years old and my couple attempts of college, I lacked confidence. Without confidence I was unable to retain anything due to constantly second guessing myself and never taking the leap into learning. Nonetheless, from the moment I started this semester I feared failure, but when I took my first quiz on comma splices and received a grade of 85 my confidence grew stronger, although, I still could use some improvement with comma splices and other punctuation....
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...throughout their narrative. It is imagination that sanctions the reader of these literary forms to be able to mentally visualize what the author would like the reader to visually perceive by use of symbolism or descriptive wording. In the poem “The Road Not Taken” or short stories “A Worn Path” or “Used To Live Here Once” – There is a prevalent theme. No matter what solitary journey we find ourselves on, ‘we’ determine how the journey ends. The solitary journey that each of these literary pieces share is presented differently in each inditing. Robert Frost designed “The Road Not Taken” with specific designs in the narrative that revealed for me as the reader that there was a forthcoming journey. Frost also utilized the word “I” many times, which sanctioned me to imagine him alone. Comparative to this example let us compare “A Worn Path” where Welty utilized the word “she” throughout the writing piece. The linguistic choice inspired my imagination to visualize a woman walking alone. This visualization was reinforced in other places of the writing when the character spoke to animals to get out of her way: “Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, and beetles”. When Welty posed this conversation in the story, it gave me a sense of solitude. The submission that the woman also was walking a uphill path provided the symbolic comparison to a ‘hard life’. Walking uphill for any length of time is exhausting for anyone and when you add the notion of being elderly, it brings pity to this woman...
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...story and poem, no matter how structurally different are two literary pieces where a rich story is embedded. Readers are drawn towards these scripts by means of rhythm (poem), characterization, or a fictional setting in their respective narratives. However, the mere script would not make it entertaining enough. It would depend on the imagination of the readers as they are reading the literary script. Every reader has their own way of visualizing the descriptions and symbolism used by the author. In the poem “The Road Not Taken” or short story “A Worn Path.” – There is a prevalent theme. No matter what solitary journey we find ourselves on, ‘we’ determine how the journey ends. “Do not follow where the path may lead... Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."-Robert Frost Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head. Regardless of the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his poem, "The Road Not Taken", has left its readers with many different...
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...Compare and Contrasting Literary Works ENG125 June, 9, 2014 Instructor Sandra Heilman Compare and Contrasting Literary Works Foundations of literature are important because it consists of the structural makeup of a poem or short story. This foundation includes the content, style, and form of each piece that offers insight to a deeper and personal understanding for the reader. Poetry by Pablo Neruda and You, Reader by Billy Collins are not the exceptions to the rule. These two poems share a common bond; a thread that takes the reader on a journey of discovery, through their creativity and creative process. An author has the ability to use their imagination in a way like no other; to share thoughts and feelings about real or imagined experiences. It is through the use of wording these thoughts and feelings come to life, allowing the reader a glimpse inside the mind and heart of the author. This is where the bridge between the author and audience connect. In most cases, reading material is selected because of a first page or introduction that speaks to the reader. This content is what hooks the reader into a world that is interesting or oddly familiar, causing them to want to know more. When literature, whether it is a story, poem, quote, or even a movie script can speak to us on a deep level, it is a well written piece. It carries the ability to...
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...Jessica Muth Muth 1 Eng 090 Professor Julie Voss 1 May 2012 A Journey in Education It’s said that the harder you work for something the more you appreciate it once you have it. We live in a world where people are constantly trying to find the easy way to do things. Man has developed technologies to make his life easier such as automatic cars, automatic doors, escalators, elevators, and many other inventions that take the work out of something. We all use these easy methods and some wouldn’t know how to live without them, but are they really the best thing for our society? I have found in my life that the harder I have to work at something the better I feel when I accomplish it. I have also found that doing the bare minimum to accomplish something isn’t as rewarding and leaves me feeling like a failure instead of successful. Since going back to school I have learned the value of hard work and education and the sense of accomplishment once “my all” has been applied. Learning how to ride a bike was the one of the most difficult things I’ve ever accomplished. I didn’t learn at a young age like most kids. I was what one would call a “late bloomer”. I remember how far away the ground seemed, how fast I felt I was going, and how unsteady I felt. I remember I fell many times, but I was driven by the fact that all of my friends had bikes and I was stuck on rollerblades. So, I kept trying, and trying until finally I did it. I rode a whole twenty feet and kept going...
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...Shadow of the Silk Road records Colin Thubron’s journey along the greatest land route on earth. He passes through China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey and describes the history, cultures and people along the way. The Silk Road was described as a huge network of arteries splitting and converging across the breadth of Asia. To travel it is to trace the passage not only of trade and armies but also of ideas, religions and inventions. Shadow of the Silk Road encounters Islamic countries in many forms. Overall it explains changes in China that transformed since the Cultural Revolution. Throughout this book, Thubron discovers and identifies the transformation of history that transpired. He begins to reminisce and expresses drastic cultural changes that occurred throughout his life experience and throughout his journey on the Silk Road. Thubron portrays his journey to be momentous, but yet anonymous. He states, "Sometimes a journey arises out of hope and instinct, the heady conviction, as you finger travels along the map". (p. 2) Thubron witnessed the turmoil of a society racing to catch up with the future. At the beginning of my reading, I wondered if Thubron was associating his journey to the Cultural Revolution as pathway to his purpose. "During the Cultural Revolution I was struggled badly" (p. 56) It seems as if he felt the need to face the past and think of what was needed for the future. "After the Cultural Revolution, anything is happy." (p...
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...the most important subjects in our society.The narrator is “Father” and “The Kite Runner” go through similar journeys although they are developed differently. They are misunderstood by their parent.They also developed a passion for writing.They have grown up in different places and under different situations. Firstly, they have similar journeys because they are misunderstood by their parent.For example on page 15 of “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini it states “Of course, marrying a poet was one thing, but fathering a son who preferred burying his face in poetry books to hunting… well, that wasn’t how Baba had envisioned it.” This shows how the narrator's father did not understand why the narrator was not like his father..For instance on page 1 of “Father” by Alice Walker states “I’m positive my father never understood why I wrote.”. This...
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...Our summer reading essay is supposed to show who we are as a writer and a reader, and where we need to begin our odyssey as a writer and reader. Of course, mine does not exactly do that. The summer reading essay does not represent who I am as a writer and I am mortified to have written such a catastrophe. But, one thing it does show is that I cannot rush or procrastinate because when under a time crunch my work seems to implode. I admit even when given plenty of time, my writing pieces are not perfect. My conclusions tend to be weak, I struggle at times connecting the thesis with the body paragraphs, and my vocabulary can be weak to say the least. When it comes to reading skills if something is not explicit I am most likely not able to comprehend...
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...Doctoral Journey Learner Self-Assessment Writing Preparation T F 1. My writing is always clear, consistent, and free from grammatical errors. T F 2. My professors have told me I need some extra support in the area of writing. T F 3. I always proofread my submissions and use extra support that is offered. T F 4. My skills with word processing allow me to use most features that help with writing. T F 5. I am able to use 6th edition APA manual correctly and rarely need help with citations. Research Preparation T F 1. I am comfortable with researching in online libraries. T F 2. I know and understand the difference between quantitative and qualitative research methods. T F 3. I am comfortable with using SPSS or other data formatting programs. T F 4. I have written graduate-level literature reviews. T F 5. I am comfortable assessing Web sites for their accuracy, authority, objectivity, and coverage. T F 6. I can readily identify an empirical article. Personal Preparation T F 1. I have talked to at least one other doctoral student and/or have read at least one other dissertation. T F 2. I am comfortable with learning in an online format. T F 3. I have identified the hours in my day where I will need to be active in the course room and working on my assignments. T F 4. My friends and/or family are supportive of me taking this journey. T F 5. I have a dedicated space set aside for my computer, books, and other...
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