Since I have started English 111 at CVCC early college  I have learned many different things about writing styles and analyzing techniques. My very first day coming to CVCC  and heading into English 111 I didn’t know what I was getting into all I thought was that it was going to be a new atmosphere and it was going to be very difficult. It was in fact the very first day that scared me. Dr. Jane Lucas, my english teacher, had walked in and sat down. She made no noise whatsoever and starred. Then finally she asked us if we knew who she was and had us analyze everything about her. Like her clothes, personality, purpose, and even up to her CVCC badge she was wearing. Doing this she taught us our very first lesson and that first lesson was my hook for the entire course.

Our homework for the course was all usually based off our inference of passages we read through narratives in our book or from online informative documents assigned to us . Our assignment was to convey a summary of what we read for that day and when we returned we went over them to see if we had comprehended the meaning behind the articles we read. These kept us busy and started every day with new content to read. Other assignments we had to complete were our own personal narratives and letters we send every month throughout the course. These assignments allowed me to practice my comprehensive skills and challenged my abilities to portray vivid detail, which is something I seem to lack in. I believe these assignments I can’t say for certain these assignments had fixed my issues, but it does make me at least try to improve or hone the skills.

Probably the most effective assignment that I was given was the personal narratives. Those surrely stressed me out and allowed me to realize the issues I have with public speaking. I can’t say that any assignment I had done in this course made me feel secure about my abilities with english literature. It is something that I had always had an issue with and seems to be the most difficult task for me to get better at. I will continue to try to fix these issues and hopefully I can deal with them soon at the end of English 112 or just before I start it. I do however look forward to progressing into a higher skill level and I look forward to starting English 112 next semester.

In Tom Junod’s article “The Falling Man,” he depicts two photographs taken by Richard Drew. The first photo was taken on an instant during 9/11 when a man jumped off one of the falling towers. The other was of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Though in Mr. Junod’s article he doesn’t express the differences between the two he just describes their origin and the effect it had on him. It is my inclination that the purpose of his article is to depict certain moments where there is good media and moments of bad media. I believe he wants encourage readers to make their own opinion about these bad types of media and prevent them from happening. Both of these topic photos depicted death, but the only difference was the context in which they were described.

“The Falling Man,” is a photo taken during 9/11 where a person jumped out of a window in one of the crumbling towers. It was taken seconds before he met his death traveling at 150 miles per hour at 9:41 a.m. In Mr. Junod’s article he describes the scene as being breathtaking and dreamy. He argues that this moment he had chosen to meet his inevitable death wasn’t a sign defeat, but the time for a new future. It is an example of freedom to choose. He didn’t have to jump off the tower. He could have just as easily stayed on the tower, but he would have died anyway just as those who didn’t escape from the tower. I guess you could say the man chose to jump off the tower because he didn’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of killing him. This picture was as he depicted as a symbol rather than a moment of terror. This would be in my definition as a form of good media. It wasn’t a violent image shown to stir up a crowd, but an image to express freedom and a new beginning.

As for the final image located on Tom Junod’s article taken on June 5, 1968. This was one of Richard Drew’s first photos that sparked news reports. Richard Drew was chosen to be one of the photographers to be a witness to Bobby Kennedy’s celebration at the Ambassador’s hotel in Los Angeles. They were celebrating his victory in California during his campaign. It was a big win and gave him several electoral college votes. It was at this hotel where Bobby Kennedy was shot several times. After the Senator had fallen the photographer Richard Drew sprung into action. Instead of checking a pulse or respecting the kennedy family he began taking several camera shots even when Mr. Kennedy’s wife Ethel pleaded him and other photographers to stop. These pictures had no other purpose than to stir up a crowd and provide americans with unnecessary imagery of a horrific act. It showed no other purpose with no gain for anyone except the photographer. It was one of Richard Drew’s most famous images and it made him famous as well. I believe that this image that Mr. Drew did was inappropriate and should have never been available. It did nothing except provide a bad message to americans.

It is my belief that Mr. Junod’s purpose of his article is to educate and influence readers to find deeper meanings and insight as to the reasoning behind images they see on ads or articles. The main purpose expressed in his article however is to educate the reader on both good and bad media and its effects on americans. It comes to show that you can’t always judge a book by its cover no matter the image or its origin. You must take the incentive to find out its purpose to grasp a full understanding of what is shown in order to get the full picture.  

Works Cited

Junod, Tom. “The Falling Man.” Esquire, Sept. 2003, http://www.esquire.com/news-

politics/a48031/the-falling-man-tom-junod, Accessed 10 Sept. 2018.

Math is the key to understanding the impossible is used to fix and prevent problems to complex problems with difficult solutions. This was my definition that I had created for my math class my sixth grade year at West Alexander Middle School. My sixth grade year in middle school I would say is the highlight of my life. It was at this time that my grades in all my subjects reached peaks that seem so impossible to reach at this time, one of these classes was math. Math was my favorite subject at school during this point in my life. Out of all the good grades that I had made it was really the only grade I took great pride in. Years prior to this moment in my life when I was in Elementary School seeing a grade card or seeing a paper graded and handed back to us wasn’t all that common. Back then I didn’t see myself really good at any subject in my classes, but when we were given progress reports and graded tests/ quizzes back to us in middle school it had opened up a sense of ambition that I didn’t experience in my elementary years. When I was little I was always given something in return for good deeds that I had accomplished and every grade card that I received gave me something in return. As a reward for my good grades my family rewarded me with games, toys, and pretty much anything that encouraged me to do better. As the year concluded and the curtain fell on my sixth grade year another curtain opened and my days of triumph and happiness ended.

Seventh grade, oh how I dreaded my seventh grade year. It wasn’t all that difficult from my previous years other than the material that was taught to us changed dramatically and that even though the amount of homework didn’t seem to change the difficulty did. It was then that I believed that my sixth grade year was just a warm-up and that the years to come were to be much more difficult. I can still remember my first day of school in my math class with Mrs. Thomas. As many first days everyone in class was very silent and attentive to listen to our teachers. This was the common way things start until they gradually become unstable, but for Mrs. Thomas’s class it was hectic and was always terrible every day. In that class there were always people doing something to set Mrs. Thomas into an uproar and that made it hard for people to listen in her class and take notes. One kid in particular pissed her off the most in her class and in my mind I blame him for the drastic drop of my grade. He as many would describe him was considered the class clown and many times he did in fact made me laugh, but as time passes he didn’t seem so funny and he became a nuisance. In one particular moment I remember that we were in the middle of vital notes and he stood up in class and made fool of himself by deciding to sit in one of the desks that we were assigned to sit in. As he sat down he just started to bounce by shooting his legs back and forth until finally the desk gave and he snapped the tabletop off the chair. Everyone burst into laughter, but the teacher however was furious. She rushed him into the office and when she returned she pointed her anger towards the class and said that since we thought it was so funny and more important than her notes she gave us she handed us the assignment and ordered us to get started without the notes. We all made a bad grade. This didn’t stop the kid however from making Mrs. Thomas’s day of teaching a living hell. Every day he made the teacher mad and every day she punished the class for influencing him by laughing. However many students still managed to maintain their B and A average that year by becoming the teachers pet and staying over after school hours to maintain their good grades. Me on the other hand could not do this with my Grandmother and Grandfather working such tight shifts coming home late every night. As my math grades plummeted and assignments pilled I couldn’t keep balance with my other classes. This began an unnecessary cycle that was my seventh grade year. When my last report card came in I was absolutely disgusted with my grades, so bad in fact I somehow managed to hide my report card from my grandparents entirely and when the EOG came I pretty much done educated guesses and surprisingly passed with I believe a little over a two.  

Math had changed my life that year. I no longer tried to be the best in my classes and instead I strived to get by and I was perfectly fine with that. I have however learned a very valuable lesson that year and that was that I should never be afraid to ask for help because if I had done so I sure as hell wouldn’t have made the grades I did and I would have tried harder to surpass my classmates. After that year had concluded and eight grade was upon me I never forgot that class and I made sure to keep myself away from classes that held the same idiot that made my grades a living hell.

 

 

There is not a whole lot of time in a day and there is usually not allot to do in my life. When I am done with lifes bussy chores I like to spend my time doing something I like to do. During this time I work out in my shed by running and lifting weights. I do this not only because I like staying fit, but also because It helps me relieve my stress and anger in a safe and controlled manner. when I come back from work and I am given a couple hours to relax I like to watch TV shows and movies on Hulu. On Hulu I watch shows like Family Guy and American Dad, and I usually do this until twelve O’clock, which is when I usually feel tired.

                   

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton