Summer vs Winter in Wisconsin
Tricia Pawlowski
COM 170

Summer vs Winter in Wisconsin Do you like summer in Wisconsin or is it winter that gets you excited? Do you like frigid temperatures or is it the hot sun that gets your goat? For me, summer is where it’s at. I am patient for 272 days every year waiting for June 21st to come around (even though I start my summer as soon as the local schools let out), and when it does, let the good times roll and the festivities begin! Winter, on the other hand, is a dreadfully cold and treacherous event that I would really rather not deal with or talk about; I will talk about it though just to let everyone know how I truly feel about it. The weather itself is an absolute disgrace and the season in general is horrible (except for Christmas, snowmobiling and sledding)! For some people, winter is their favorite season, but for me, it is summer and its glorious weather that gets my vote. In the summer, the days start to get longer; the sun rises earlier and goes to bed later. There are sounds of children running around playing tag, screeching hysterically because they are about to be “it”. Neighborhood dogs are barking incessantly because of all the commotion and just because they can. The air starts to smell sweet, like that of freshly cut grass. To me, one of the best parts of summer is the sweet smell of freshly cut grass. Nothing beats walking out of your house on a warm summer afternoon, having the sun instantly blind you as you step onto the sidewalk and having that invigorating aroma hit your olfactory receptors. I say that there is nothing that compares to that thought provoking scent that is able to conjure up such wonderful memories reminiscent of your childhood. On the other hand, winter to me has no smell (other than at Christmas time, then it is all about the smell of turkey, dressings and desserts). Because I have never really been an enthusiast of snow or cold weather, I have never really gotten in to anything extracurricular that has anything to do with winter. Aside from the normal sledding, snowmobile riding, and occasional fort making/snowball fight with my son, I would prefer to spend the winter months in my nice, cozy home nestled on the couch in front of an open fire with a book in my hand. (OK, that last part was a little fictitious, I do not have a fire place and I do not “nestle”, but I do, in fact, like to read). Another one of my favorite winter pastimes is knitting/crocheting. I say that it is a winter pastime because the summer gets too hot to be knitting or having all that yarn on your lap for any extended periods of time! Because of my detest for the winter months, I do not spend much time outside from first frost (which is usually starts around Oct. 11- Oct. 20) to the last frost (Apr. 21 - Apr. 30). I do not like driving in the snow (actually I absolutely hate it more than words can describe), especially when there is a snow storm or blizzard going on. It is like people forget how to drive as soon as the first snowflake hits the ground. The whole states goes into a “state of emergency” like they have all lost their minds! If it wasn’t for Christmas, when I get to see all of my family that I do not normally get to see, and of course I get to celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and occasionally playing with my son outside in the snow, I would positively have nothing to do with winter. I am sorry, but winter is just not for me; never has been, never will be. When I was a teenager, I used to always tell all my friends that “summer is not ‘boyfriend weather’. I seriously thought that us teenage girls should break up with our then boyfriends and remain single so that we may spend countless summer night crushing on whatever helpless victim (teenage, sometimes early 20’s, male) we could find and then spend the whole next day thinking about them and non-stop talking about them. How could we be so stupid?! That is what summer represented to me growing up, being a “fast” young lady and riding in even “faster” cars. You could never have experiences like this during the winter. First, it was to dang cold to wear “hoochie mama” clothes and second, a foot of snow made it very hard to lay out in the park at night time under the stars with said “fast” boys, Also, walking in stiletto heels in the winter could and would make you break your neck. Looking back, the summer days that were almost unbearable heat and humidity wise would be spent at Brown’s Lake, the local beach and picnic grounds for just about everyone and their mothers. If you did not get there early enough, good luck finding a place to park, let alone a place to sit! If people were sponges and you counted how many people are in the water at Brown’s Lake on any give spiked temperature/humidity day, there would be no water left in the lake for the fish, and they live there! We are like Minnesota in that we have a lot of lakes, but they do not take care of the lakes around here like they do Brown’s. That is why everyone still flocks there. Still, you cannot complain because it is hot and you are cooled off by the water. Not only do they do that in the summer, but some crazies around here also swim in the winter. They like to call themselves “polar bears”. They even have a club and everything! They have people cut huge pieces of ice out of the lake after it has frozen over and they stick a 20’ ladder in there so they have something to climb out on. Then, they just jump in all willy-nilly! That is definitely NOT for me! No way, Jose! I hope that after reading this insightful comparison between the most wonderfully memorable time of my life and favorite season/time of year (summer) and the absolutely WORST season that was ever invented (winter), that you walk away with at least a smile on your face. I enjoyed reminiscing my adolescence and hope that you did as well. No contest, I believe that summer is, by far, one of the best ideas that God has ever manifested.

|Paper is assigned length (.25 points) |Points earned .25 /.25 |
|Paper is at least 800 words | |
| The Introduction (2.5 points) |Points Earned: 2.5/ 2.5 points |
|The introduction : | |
| | |
|Contains the thesis statement (which is 25 words or less). | |
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|Is a well-constructed paragraph (with topic, detail, and concluding | |
|sentence) | |
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|Introduces the reader to your compare/comparison topic | |
|The body (3.75 points) |Points earned: 3.8 /3.75 points |
| The body: | |
|Contains well- constructed paragraphs(topic, detail, and concluding | |
|sentences) | |
|There is transition between paragraphs | |
|Compares and contrasts aspects of your topic | |
|The Conclusion (2.5 points) |Points Earned: 2.3/2.5 points |
|The Conclusion: | |
|Reviews the key points in your paper | |
|Does not introduce new material | |
|Is a well-constructed paragraph (with topic, detail, and concluding | |
|sentence) | |
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| Sentence Structure/grammar/mechanics (1 point) |Points Earned: .85/1 |
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|The paper uses correct sentence structure, mechanics, spelling, and | |
|grammar. | |
|Total (10 points) |Points Earned: 9.7/10 |

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