Depression in College Students

                 Around 2007-2008, Alissa Steiner wrote an article called “Depression in College Students.” Her thesis states that students need to be more informed about depression so that they can seek help if they need to and so that suicide can be prevented. She supports her thesis very well with actual events that happened (the deaths of Nima and Elizabeth) and with real facts. This author clearly defines depression and states all the symptoms of depression, this makes her article very informative and persuasive since she supports all her claims so well.  I believe her response to the issue of depression in college students is very well organized. The fact that it is so well organized makes it easier to understand and follow. Anyone who has no prior knowledge of depression can read her essay and learn something new (since so much information is given). Plus anyone who is looking for help can read her essay and know what to do since, she clearly tells students to go look for help in counselors.

                If I were to write an essay on this problem I would write it similar to the way Alissa Steiner wrote this essay.  I really like the fact that it is well organized since that made it so much easier to understand her, and of course I would want anyone who reads my essay to understand me as well. Plus I like how she defined the problem since I am sure everyone had their own definition of depression before reading this essay (I learned a more detailed definition of depression by reading this essay). Likewise, I would definitely make sure I explain the issue with detail to my readers before stating a solution.  I like the fact that her opinion is the final punch line to her essay so I will definitely leave my opinion for the end as well. I would not do anything differently to what Alissa Steiner did, if I wrote an essay on this subject. 

                                                                                                        

Gerald Graff

Gerald Graff makes an excellent argument in his essay Hidden Intellectualism. His thesis clearly states, “I believe that street smarts beat out book smarts in our culture not because street smarts are nonintellectual, as we generally suppose, but because they satisfy an intellectual thirst more thoroughly than school culture, which seems pale and unreal.”  This writer believes there is so much more to learn than just math and English. He believes schools do not tap into the intelligence of many children, they just assume the child is not smart if the child is not automatically a fast learner in the main subjects. Plus throughout his essay he says that to live life one needs to know a lot more than just those regular school subjects, and it is usually the kids that have this knowledge the ones to be considered “street smart” as if it were something bad. Though in reality its knowledge we all need, according to Gerald Graff.

I believe Gerald Graff makes a good argument by using his own personal experiences to prove his point. I am sure many people were able to relate to his story. Gerald Graff tells us that his love for sports made him a good reader and writer. By using this example he is pretty much telling us that any topic we love can help us along the way to be better at school.

I agree with Gerald Graff when he says that there is so much more to learn than just math and English. I also agree with the part in which he says school needs to be interesting so that the student can have something to look forward to. School should be about learning to survive in life. It should teach students to live by what is morally correct. I have loved school in the past years only because I have had awesome teachers. Once my teachers became boring, I lost my interest for school; I had nothing to look forward to in class but sleeping for a whole period. If school was a place full of entertainment it would be a place everyone would love instead of hate.

The Media

In these past years, the argument, whether mass media is beneficial to us, has been very popular. Steven Pinker, the author of Mind over Mass Media, believes these new forms of technology are keeping us smart, instead of harming us. He points out that technology has helped make great advances in science and that even people who criticize technology use it (since it so convenient). Plus he states that people should have self-control over their use of technology so it won’t intervene with their intimate/personal relationships with others.  Peggy Orenstein, the author of I Tweet, Therefore I am, claims that mass media/technology has been shaping us, making us into people we want others to think we are causing us to lose our true selves. She states that people are more concerned of what their next Tweet will be instead of living in the moment. She says we must, “sort out the line between person and persona, the public and private self.”

Steven Pinker and Peggy Orenstein use several techniques that help make their arguments stronger. Steven Pinker uses ethos when describing the positive results things such as comic books and power points have had on people.  He clearly claims that technology has made even scientific research easier. Steven Pinker also uses logos when telling people that it’s self-will that will keep them either away or attached to the social media/technology. Peggy Orenstein uses her personal experiences and tweeting urges to make her point. She uses pathos in her flashback of the time she was outside with her daughter. Her reference to sociologist Erving Goffman’s argument is her way of using ethos. Plus, logos is used when she makes the statement that we are shaping ourselves based on the media. 

I agree with Steven Pinker. Technology has been very helpful these past years. The advances that have been made in science are amazing (especially in the medical field). These advances have helped humanity in countless ways (for example new medicine has been created for diseases and even new treatments have been created to prevent diseases).  I believe instead of criticizing the mass media; we should all use it to our advantage. No one can deny that social media websites, such as Facebook, have made communication so much easier. The fact that people all around the world can communicate instantly is absolutely amazing and should be used to spread good news and ideas. I have heard the argument that mass media/social media makes relationships less personal/special. However, I agree with Steven Pinker that anyone who wants to have a more personal relationship has to just put down the phone, get off the internet and just talk in person.

Obesity

David Zincenko is staring at the new Pizza Hut opened in Downtown Manhattan, when Radley Balko passes by and recognizes him.

Radley Balko: “Mr. David Zincenko! Hi, I am Radley Balko and I recently wrote an article called What You Eat Is Your Business. However, before I wrote it, I did read several articles based on nutrition and obesity, which is what my article is based on as well, and I came across your article! Your perspective on the subject is quiet interesting.”

David Zincenko: “Don't you believe the government should do something about all this obesity? There are always more and more sick people! The government is just watching the whole nation get fat!”

Radley Balko: “I believe the government has bigger things to worry about. It needs to stop spending so much money on such things as obesity.”

David Zincenko: “Are you saying it’s a waste of money to help obese people?”

Radley Balko: “I say that instead of helping them the government is making them rely on the money given, as in they are making obese people comfortable in the situation they are in. They’ll always stay obese since they know they can count on free money to help them out.”

David Zincenko: “Well just to point out, I proposed adding calorie labels to all food in my article, to make people more aware of what they are eating. It was done on most but, it has not really helped much. What do you think should be done?”

Radley Balko: “Well first of all, the government needs to stop giving money out to obese people, that’ll give them a reason not to get obese, since they’ll know they’ll have to spend a lot of money from their own pockets, on medicine and other necessary things. But most importantly, people need to be more responsible of what they eat; the government should not have to intervene. Every person should learn to eat healthy on their own. If anything the government should reward the healthy and penalize the unhealthy!”

David Zincenko: “Do you really believe Americans can be that responsible some day?”

Radley Balko: “Yes! Eventually they’ll realize what is best for them because the sicknesses will just get worse and then Americans will snap into reality.”

            I agree with Radley Balko.  I say every American needs to be responsible of what we eat. There is no need for the government or anyone to tell us what to eat; we should know what makes us feel energized and healthy. I agree that too much money is being spent on this subject, it's money that could be used more wisely (like on education or creating more jobs). I do truly believe one day all Americans will eat healthy because we will finally understand what is truly good for us. 

Random Dialogue

Carmen walks into her room and sees a huge mess, she immediately calls her daughter.

Carmen: “Sophie!”

Sophie: “Yes?”

Carmen: “Did you make that mess?”

Sophie: “No”

Carmen: “Who did it then?”

Silence

Carmen: “Are you sure you did not do that mess?”

Silence

Carmen: “I am talking to you, Sophie!”

Sophie: “Well...”

Carmen: “Yes?”

Sophie:  “It was an accident. I was looking for my shoes and forgot to clean the mess I made. I am sorry.”

Carmen: “Well that is all you had to say, now clean this mess and get ready to go to sleep.”

                I live with my older sister, Carmen, and her daughter, Sophie. I was in my room when I heard this dialogue take place. I found it interesting because dialogues between a mom and a daughter are always different from dialogues between friends. It is especially interesting when the child is about to get in trouble. It is an interesting dialogue because not much is said but with the few words spoken a clear message is delivered (that Sophie is guilty of making the mess). I believe dialogues are important in stories because they add more detail to the story. Dialogues help the reader understand the characters. For example, in this dialogue we sense that Sophie knows she did something wrong, that is why she is afraid to confess her action. Although the reader can infer, by Carmen's tone, that Carmen knows already that Sophie is guilty. I do believe if the dialogue had been more extensive and more detailed, I would have been able to have a clearer picture of exactly what Sophie did while she was looking for her shoes. This made me realize that when I use dialogues in my stories I have to put a lot of detail into them so that the reader does not stay wondering what really happened. It also made me understand that sometimes silence can say more than a thousand words. So in my writing I will keep in mind to use silence when necessary (and if it is applicable). Plus the punctuation marks at the end of each dialogue made an important contribution to the reader’s understanding of the emotions felt by the characters. I will make sure to use punctuation marks appropriately in my writing. Overall, I believe this was a good activity to fulfill, it helped remind me of the importance of dialogue.

Shooting an Elephant

Shooting an Elephant is an interesting story since it is told from a point of view that we, the readers, never usually hear from.  I have heard of imperialism many times and even read books about it, but they are usually told from the point of view of those who were overpowered. This story is told from the opposite point of view, George Orwell (who is a police officer for England at Burma) tells this story. That impressed me as a reader and kept me interested. I really wanted to see imperialism from a different perspective and I did, since George Orwell describes the way he feels and the way the people feel about him in a very detailed way.  That affected me as a reader since I got to have a glimpse of how uncomfortable life was for George Orwell during that time, he clearly states “I was hated by large numbers of people” in the very first lines of the story. Plus I understood that he had to often make difficult decisions and that he explains to the readers using this story about an elephant he had to shoot.

Shooting an Elephant is a well organized story and that makes it easier to understand. George Orwell uses figurative language often to describe the setting and convey his message about imperialism.  He even uses a simile to describe a dead person; he states “the great beast’s foot had stripped the skin from his back as neatly as one skins a rabbit.” The elephant in this story symbolizes the ruled people of Burma, who were doing nothing wrong but ended up being overpowered by a greater force. George Orwell continuously states throughout the story that he did not want to shoot the elephant since the elephant was an innocent animal who eventually is just calmly standing in one place. However, he ends up being watched by a large crowd of people (who already hated him) but were excited to watch the elephant get shot. Not having killed the elephant would have just given them another reason to laugh at him. The last sentence in this story sums this up, “I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking like a fool.”   

Imperialism is when one nation overpowers a weaker nation. George Orwell gives us an interesting glimpse of his idea about imperialism through this story.  George Orwell believes imperialism puts limits not only on the people being overpowered but also to those who have to maintain it that way.  He believes to be a “dummy” in between these two countries, England and Burma, though he is obviously the “dummy” of England. He says that “he (the white man) shall spend the rest of his life trying to impress the “natives”.” He now has a certain standard he has to live by and this standard will always limit his freedom to do what he wants. This opinion and George Orwell’s honesty is what makes this story so great.

Syria

I am usually never aware of the problems concerning foreign countries. Of course I heard about problems at Syria for many days. But I honestly did not even bother to ask what was wrong. Perhaps that is the problem of many Americans; we couldn’t care less about anything outside of our own country. The problem with Syria is its corrupt government, which finally encountered people willing to go against it. The current problem in Syria started with protests by the citizens, asking for a different government. Obviously the government was unhappy with this and reacted in terrible ways. This however, led to a civil war in Syria, a war that the government refuses to lose. The government is so determined to win that it even began to use chemical weapons. This action is what made the United States get involved. I don’t believe anyone could possibly know the correct way to react to this situation, not even President Obama. However, I do believe we should respect President Obama for at least trying to do something to help Syria. In my opinion, the U.S should not get involved. Starting problems with a foreign country can’t possibly lead to any good. The United States needs to worry about fixing its own problems first, before it tries to help anyone else. The United States needs to worry about its people first; it needs to show what good “ruling” is really like. Once President Obama can show what a good nation really looks like then he could lead by example. He could show the rest of the world there is no need for wars or violence in general. But until then he should completely focus on doing his job here at home and leave the rest of the world alone. I do realize there are people dying out there, and what we could do is pray that the problems in Syria will soon come to an end. I do hope everything in Syria works out fine.