Informal Essay on the Value of a College Education Other than Preparation for a Job Other than Preparation for

a Job, What Is the Value of a College Education? College education is one of the most important aspects in the life of a person. Not only does it allow you to prepare for and get a good job, but it also allows you to grow and develop as an individual. The years that you spend in college would go a long way in ensuring that you lead a happy and fulfilling life. Personally I think that getting a college education would help me in interacting with people from diverse backgrounds. When talking with those who grew up in a different environment and had a chance to experience things I didnt, I can get to know different outlooks on life and different aspirations that they have. Depending on what they say, I can evaluate my own views to see how they stack up against those of people and decide if I have to make any changes to the way I perceive the world around me. It will help me become a better individual in society. The other side of the coin of a college education is that I would be able to have a lot of fun with all my mates. I would be able to forge lifelong relationships with the people that are studying with me in college. Getting together for a common cause would also teach me how to behave within a group. I would learn to accept the deficiencies in people around me and I would also be able to rectify the faults that I discover in myself. Overall, a college education is not just preparation for a job, it is also useful for our everyday life.

FORMAL ESSAY Stops and interruptions I was holding a thick paperback of Borgess collection of non-fictions on a train going to Boni, reading portions of some short articles when the ride is not too bumpy as to strain my eyes that have gone more fragile as the days go by, or during every stop. There is something about these short stops and interruptions that affects how I read a piece of literature. Because I very rarely find time to stay in one place for longer than an hour, except during my classes in grad school that stretch for three hours, I consider my time spent on these train coaches my only reading time. I take no heed of the population density inside these trains, have gone oblivious to the human stench, and have learned to keep my ears shut from trivial conversations that interest me no more. To me, reading is an act of aggression, a war waged against a repressive environment that does its best to keep one from that intimate contact with the written language. I find it very ironic that while I teach reading Literature, I have always been at a lack of time to let the ideas I read simmer, reflect on their implications to my understanding, and in worst cases, read. And so, I have to set aside the limitations posed by my economics, academics, and the personal to somehow still find time to sit on a bench, or stand while one hand is holding a cold metal railing, and and the other a book, and read as if books are as illicit as a cap of E. Assuming that the unlawfulness of books gives its reader a sense of power (diabolical or divine, it does not matter). The stops and the interruptions at first functioned as wide, perilous voids I needed to cross in order to get to the opposite end that promises understanding and multi-layered meanings, but, as in all other things that began as a debility, getting used to these stops and interruptions allowed me to use them to my advantage. Each of these I spend looking at the horizon, or at close-ups of people who are, like me, packed like sardines inside a nearly dilapidated train coach. These long shots and close-ups are observations, mental accounts of humanity in various contexts that are reflected, nuanced, critiqued, pitied, adored, laughed at, pilloried, worshiped, lambasted, but generally, celebrated in Literature, allowing me to get so close to what its like being human. There is no such thing as a perfect reading experience, only experiences that give a book, that is, if it is truly great, as many intimations as the souls drinking it.

Informal Essay on a Type of Music That is Currently Very Popular and Explaination of Its Popularity Why Country Music Is So Popular These days country music is as popular as ever. People have been drawn to it ever since the 1930s when singers such as Roy Rogers, Eddy Arnold and Gene Autry started making hit records. This kind of music was popular in the 1970s with George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Eddie Rabbitt, and Tammy Wynette singing about broken hearts and cheating spouses. The 1980s and 1990s brought in a more upbeat brand of this genre. In fact, at that period of time it was almost more like rock than country; the lyrics emphasized fun. The trends started in the 1980s in country music continue to this day. Why are people so attracted to country music? I have heard a few reasons over the years. One reason is that the lyrics in country songs are about real life. They deal with the topics of lost love, true love, family, and having fun. Who wouldnt relate to these? With pressures of school, family, and work, most people are looking for a release. Country music seems to encourage us to let our hair down, forget all about our problems and have a good time even if its just for a few moments. Other people say that country music singers are more approachable than singers in other musical genres. This is true when you consider the annual Fan Fair event held in June in Nashville every year. For the price of an event ticket, fans can stand in line for hours and wait to meet their favorite country singer or band. Concerts are held all week long. Individual artists and groups hold private events for fans that are willing to pay extra money. All in all, with country singers being so personable and approachable and singing about themes we can all relate to, it is no wonder that country music is so popular.

FORMAL ESSAY The commonplace and the routine When one is confronted with the commonplace and the routine, he is also faced with a blandness so trivial it discourages him from writing. Boredom dominates our existence. Only in movies does life exhibit that life-likeness; in reality life is predictable and trite. It is not to say, however, that I have altogether stopped writing these days. As a matter of fact, the opposite is true, I am writing like a deranged man meeting impossible deadlines. Grad school eats a big chunk of my time, writing term papers, proposals, and reports. But these are texts I myself find very uninteresting to read. The irony of my situations sticks as hard as greenish phlegm on the walls of my lungs in rainy seasons. While I tell my students to write whenever they find time to pencil their thoughts into any surface, I cannot find time to sit and meditate like a member of the bourgeois, de-synchronize myself from the neurotic pace of everything, think about existentialist ideas I pretend I have in latency, and have these reflected in a readable medium. I have none of these luxuries. Last night, as we are wont to do recently, we lay next to each other in a single bed, exchanging stories, laughing at each others jokes, talking about our past and our future, waiting for sleep to visit us. These sweeping moments are my welcome excuse from the commonplace and the routine. These sweeping moments we spend together, in tight embrace, are just a few of those very few things that I look forward to at the end of the day. Although I do not have the luxury of time that will allow me to linger on the intangibles or be saddled by the frivolity of some of my pursuits, I find myself unable to negotiate these few hours before midnight and have it exchanged for something else, because the holding of each others hand, hearing each others hushed breathing, looking at each others eyes, make me forget even for a sweeping moment how commonplace and routine all else are.

Informal Essay on Whether Content on the Internet Should Be Regulated Should Content on the Internet Be Regulated? Why or Why Not? As a regular web user, I find a lot of Internet content highly objectionable. Ive often wondered if we, as responsible users, could create an informal online forum and start protesting against websites displaying content that is harmful in our opinion. If we are to assume that young adults form the biggest portion of Internet users, then most will agree with me that we do need some control or monitoring over what type of content, both textual and graphic, is hosted on websites. Today the Internet is a great source of ideas and inspiration for young adults. Their minds are susceptible to the influence of what they see and read, hence, a steady diet of harmful web content can easily mislead the vast young population all over the world. In the past, a lot of regulatory bodies in different countries have tried to monitor the use of inappropriate topics, language, and graphics on the web that may be viewed by users of all age groups, including children. Unfortunately for us, the regulatory bodies do not agree on what constitutes harmful or objectionable content. What one country finds inappropriate for its viewers may very well be considered perfectly fine for viewers from another country. As in most debates, unless the conflicting parties can find the compromise, the issue of content censorship will remain unresolved. In conclusion, I can say that though some sort of regulatory control is necessary to curb the open display of objectionable content on websites, unless the countries can reach a general consensus on what is appropriate and what isnt, laws and regulations will not make any difference. If they have to be imposed, they must be consistent throughout the world.

Argumentative Essay on Punishment for Plagiarizing in Universities Punishment in Universities if a Student Is Caught Plagiarizing Essay or Paper Plagiarizing is one of the major problems that universities have with students. It is really good to my mind that this problem is widely recognized, as it allows to state that there are actions taken to defend the copyright and make sure that the students earn their grades on their own and for their own accomplishments. So, what are the ways to reveal plagiarism and how it can be punished today in the US universities? Although plagiarism is not a kind of crime, it is generally frowned upon and results in different negative consequences. Each university has its own policy according to the punishment that plagiarism presupposes in accordance with its level and the number of times the student is caught doing it. Usually, for the first-time plagiarism the punishment varies from a formal warning to rejection of assignment. In cases of severe plagiarizing, the punishment can be even expulsion from the university. So, it is clear that plagiarizing can lead to serious consequences. But how is it established that students resort to this practice? In the past, it was quite a challenge, as professors had to rely on their knowledge and experience to reveal plagiarism. Today everything is much simpler there are online systems that help not only define word-by-word plagiarizing, but also paraphrasing. Some systems even have a possibility to check copy/paste not only on the web, but among the works previously submitted to the university by students. Thus, people should think several times before copy/pasting some part of other persons work, as today it is not only easy to reveal it, but it will also result in serious consequences.

Exploratory Essay on Role of City in the Life of People In modern times it became very fashionable to treat the city as a form of human coexistence in a definitely negative way due to a variety of reasons: both the industrial plants and streets overfilled with cars produce most pollution on the Earth, people have to live in overcrowded conditions, drink water full of chemical substances, eat food of uncertain origins and so on. However, can the city really be considered to be responsible for our troubles? Yes, conditions of life in your average city are far from ideal; but is there any alternative? The Earths population is growing every year, and the only way to simply feed all these people is to create specialization: a larger amount is concentrated in cities producing material commodities, services and information, and a lesser amount lives outside cities, specializing in agricultural production. Even if all the people leave cities and start growing vegetables in order to feed themselves (in order to save the environment, presumably), there wont be enough space on the whole planet where all these low-tech agricultural productions can be placed. Besides, cities are nothing more than a natural development of human settlements. Since people always strive for effectiveness, they tend to gather together in order to cooperate effectively. The amount of parasites that attaches to such groups is the unavoidable price that has to be paid in order to achieve that level. All in all, in my opinion, cities have much more positive traits than negative ones. And mostly because the ones who are so opposed to them cannot offer even equivalent alternatives, let alone better ones.

Argumentative Essay on Should American Citizens Be Required to Vote Should American Citizens Be Required to Vote? My view on the topic is that American citizens should not be forced to vote by law. My argument is based on the estimation that the USA case tends to follow the Cartel Party model of party-typology. In other words, it is clear that elections in the USA have been transformed into a well-played theatrical show which has as its main aim the manipulation of the voters. By observing elections in the USA we see that neither the Social Cleavages, nor Party Identification, or Rational Voter models can illustrate the way that parties and voters operate. In contrast, what we are observing is the move to a self-renewal of identities on behalf of the voters which has to do with the detraditionalization of liberal societies, following the mass consumerism and technological revolution that emerged after the 60s. Parties in essence represent the state and not the people, their aim is to govern and not to achieve serious transformations that reflect specific social claims (Cartel Party), and mass media along with the specialists in communication are used to manipulate and control an apathetic audience. Additionally, in the USA we have lobbying as a legitimate action that calls people to form interest groups in order to influence the decision-making process rather than count on their individual vote. In other words, in an era where all liberal societies are characterized by a generally apathetic electorate, and parties that have lost their representative character, such legislation will not make any difference. The will to attract people into voting does not go with the notion of a good or a sophisticated citizen. In contrast, it seems like a desperate attempt of the ruling elites to legitimize their actions based on the neoliberal principles that have been fiercely criticized following the recent economic crisis, or as an opportunistic tactic which is based on the use of the new media (e.g. Facebook, twitter) in the continuous efforts to manipulate voters (e.g. The last election of Obama as the President of the USA came after the use of new media technology with which Obama attracted people that had not previously intended to vote for him).

Exploratory Essay on Whether the World Will Become More Peaceful in the Next 10 Years Do You Think the World Will Become More Peaceful in the Next Ten Years? Our world today is struggling with major economic crisis, natural disasters, violence in our schools, government corruptness, and the war on drugs. If our country, let alone our world, is to survive and make even the slightest of peace, in the future we have major changes that must take place. For hundreds of years, our forefathers and our current leaders have fought for peace, fairness, and justice. Our United Nations has worked diligently toward uniting countries around the world in peace and harmony only to have others who continue to want disruption and war, even within their own country. Today we have seen hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world pulling together, not only in the social environment, but in the spiritual one as well. Our world has many factors that hold us together and when one is off balance, the others usually follow suit. Peace comes from within and when we are struggling with all the hardships weighing against so many people, we become weak and our self-esteem falls by the wayside, giving us less hope for peace and a world where everyone has a chance to improve their way of living. Our future looks bright if we make it that way. If we think positively, encourage others to think in the same way, and put forth great effort, then yes, our world could be a more peaceful place within the next ten years. On the other hand, if we choose to sit and do nothing, we are allowing others to make our choices for us and, subsequently, we are allowing our hopes of peace to go out the window. We must each stand up and say in a loud voice that we are fighting for worldwide peace and wont give up no matter what. Because if we dont, then who will?

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Argumentative Essay Against Legalization of Marijuana Marijuana Should be Legalized and Allowed to Be Sold in Coffee Shops I am against legalization of marijuana even though the governments of some other Western countries embark on decriminalization of marijuana. Since 1975, marijuana is legalized for sale and use in the Netherlands, since 2010 in Switzerland. In Italy, Spain, Ireland, some regions of Germany and Australia there are no criminal penalties for storage and use of marijuana. However, I am a convinced opponent of even discussing any alternatives to the strict prohibition of marijuana for the following reasons: Firstly, marijuana kills brain cells. Long-term use of marijuana causes persistent damages of brain structure and functions, memory loss, cognitive impairment, personality disorders and decrease in efficiency. Secondly, marijuana can induce dependence. People, who use marijuana for a long time, experience withdrawal symptoms and often require specialized treatment for marijuana addiction. Thirdly, if someone can be punished only for listening to loud music at home late at night, while the owner of coffee shops can legally sell marijuana, than how can we speak of justice? Therefore, for the reasons listed above, I am against the legalization of marijuana. Im on the side of organizations such as DEA, CASA and California Association of Clerks, which support the current policy and warn Americans that the decriminalization of marijuana will increase the level of consumption and that marijuana is a drug that causes harm to ones health and can lead to many serious consequences. I firmly believe that we should never forget the fact that marijuana is prohibited, because it is dangerous and unhealthy.

Exploratory Essay on Importance of Antibiotics The discovery of antibiotics could be readily placed among the inventions that truly changed the face of the world and the way of humans existence. However, nowadays they are often considered to be something not so good, the last resort or even something that shouldnt be used at all. However, are there any foundations to this theory? People who denounce antibiotics nowadays seem to be on rather poor terms with history, for, unless they are fighters against the demographic explosion, they have no reason to have any grudge against them. For the world before the discovery of penicillin was a completely different place. To be wounded and get infection into the wound (which, taking into account the insanitary conditions of that time was all too easy) led to almost certain death. Women gave birth to much more numerous children, but more than half of them died of various diseases before reaching the age of five. To survive in the war was considerably more difficult, for even the tiniest wound could have become fatal. It was the world before the appearance of antibiotics, and all of this was reality less than a century ago, yet now almost no one remembers about it. Of course, the overuse of antibiotics develops the immunity towards them in causative organisms; but still, they save lives and continue to save them. In a lot of situations they are virtually the only option that leads to saving a life or, for example, helps avoid amputation. Thus, I think that there cannot be two opinions as to whether antibiotics useful or not. Of course they are.

Narrative Essay Typical Night before an Exam I belong to people who actually take examinations seriously, and for the entirety of my student life I suffered because of it. Not because I was so afraid of every single exam on the contrary, I never treated them as something frightening, for I knew that if you prepare for them properly, there is nothing to be afraid of. And so, I prepared properly. The problem was that my idea of properly has always been somewhat different from what was expected by the professors, and successful passing of the examination usually could have been achieved by about 10% of the effort I actually applied. The natural preparation went somehow like this. I created a plan according to which I was going to prepare; however, there always was something in addition that failed to get into the initial plan, so, I had to add it on the way. Some things were forgotten in the course of preparation, so naturally on the last day or, namely, evening before the exam I usually suddenly found out that I have about half of the whole bulk of the questions to revise, but there is only one night ahead, and the examination is at 8 oclock in the morning, and there is absolutely no way to manage to do it all in time, and Thus, I sat until 4 in the morning, trying to cram everything in my head and feeling that I cant memorize anything, and finally stopped doing it, persuading myself that I would revise a little bit on the way to the exam and knowing that I wont do it. And always getting my A in the end.

The Memories Of Dad Before He Left Descriptive Essay The Memories of Dad Before He Left Every person encounters so many people every day, but only a few of the acquaintances can influence them greatly and change their life. In the same way, only a limited number of people mean a lot for you, and often even the way they behave doesnt influence your appreciation of these people. I want to describe one of the most important personalities in my life my father. I remember him very well now, although when I was 10 he left my mother and I didnt see him since then. My mother often tells me that I look much like him the same grey eyes, expansive forehead, and the manner of smile. He was tall and handsome man who was always attractive for women, but was faithful to mom. Apart from being a good and considerate husband, he was a perfect father I remember him always smiling to me and telling different stories. It was so pleasant to fall asleep listening to them. He taught me how to be strong, how to defend my point of view and achieve my goals. I am really grateful to him for it. Of course, I was absolutely desperate when he left, but my mother explained to me that he didnt have another choice. He just understood that he wasnt happy and that he wanted to see and experience more in life. Even now I dont understand his decision, but I think that I dont know the whole truth. In any case, I am happy that this person influenced me as he did and that my mother didnt want me to hate him. In this way, he will always be present in my mind and will have a positive image.

Persuasive Essay Why Women Should Not Have An Abortion Many women in the entire world have abortions. Women believe there are many reasons to abort such as fear of having or raising a child, rape, or not having enough money. But whatever the situation, there is never an acceptable reason to get an abortion. Some important reasons why women should not abort have to do with human values, religious values, and values of conscience. The first reason why women should not have an abortion is related to basic human values. Women need to think about their unborn babies who are not responsible for this situation. These unborn babies should have the privilege to live and grow into a normal person. Women need to be more humanitarian and less egoistic with these babies. On the other hand, the baby doesn?t know how or why he is here. It is not necessary to kill a life; there are many other solutions to resolve this problem short of abortion. The second reason why women should not abort has to do with religious values. In almost all religions, a woman is not permitted to have an abortion. If they do, their religions will punish them. In some religions, for example, a woman cannot take communion after having an abortion, and before taking communion again, she must do many things as a form of penitence. In whatever religion, abortion is punished and for this reason, women should not abort. Finally, the third and most important reason why women should not abort is the related to her conscience. When a woman has an abortion, she will always think about the baby she might have had. She will always think about the future that could have happened with her baby which will always remind her that she killed it. Because she has had an abortion, she will never have a good life, and her conscience will remind her of what she had done. Because a woman who has an abortion can?t forget about what she has done, these thoughts will always be with her, and the results can be calamitous. There are many reasons why women should not have an abortion. The truth is that women need to think about the consequences that can occur before having sexual relations. I think that the effects of an abortion can be very sad for everyone involved, both for the woman who has the abortion and for the family who lives with her.

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Narrative Essay Attitude Is Everything Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, 'Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life." "Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combinations. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live." "Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action." "What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I said. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead." Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

Expository Essay In Pursuit of Thinness Throughout history and through a cross-section of cultures, women have transformed their appearance to conform to a beauty ideal. Ancient Chinese aristocrats bound their feet as a show of femininity; American and European women in the 1800s cinched in their waists so tightly, some suffered internal damage; in some African cultures women continue to wear plates in their lower lips, continually stretching the skin to receive plates of larger size. The North American ideal of beauty has continually focussed on women's bodies: the tiny waist of the Victorian period, the boyish figure in vogue during the flapper era, and the voluptuous curves that were the measure of beauty between the 1930s and 1950s. Current standards emphasize a toned, slender look, one that exudes fitness, youth, and health. According to psychologist Eva Szekely, "Having to be attractive at this time . . . means unequivocally having to be thin. In North America today, thinness is a precondition for being perceived by others and oneself as healthy" (19). However, this relentless pursuit of thinness is not just an example of women trying to look their best, it is also a struggle for control, acceptance and success. In attempting to mould their appearance to meet the current ideal, numerous women are literally starving themselves to death. The incidence of eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, has "doubled during the last two decades" (Comerci 1294). This increase is no longer limited to women in their teens and twenties, but is increasingly diagnosed in patients in their thirties and forties. "No doubt, the current sociocultural emphasis on thinness and physical fitness as a symbol of beauty and success has contributed to this age distribution" (Comerci 1294). One of the negative psychological side effects associated with eating disorders is the patient's distortion of their own body image,body image being defined as "the picture a person has in his mind of his own body, that is, the way his body appears to him" (Murray 602). For the anorexic this distortion is exaggerated, the patient feels fat even while emaciated, however, many women who are caught up in the relentless pursuit of thinness also experience some degree of disturbed body image. The experiences and practices of women who "simply diet" are not radically different from those who are diagnosed with eating disorders. For some women, achieving the "perfect" body form becomes the most important goal in life.

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Comparison / Contrast Essay Sample Two Dads Are Better than One I've always envied people with only two parents. They never have to feel sorry for their real father because he is lonely, and they never have to feel they should care more about their stepfather because he is the one who has provided them with the necessities most of their lives. Since I have two fathers, I have known these feelings. I know what it's like trying to decide which father I should care about more so that I could tell my friends the next time they asked. It really should be a clear-cut decision. My two fathers are so different in everything that I should be able to look at these differences and decide. A major difference between the two is how responsible they are. My stepfather has always had a steady job. He enjoys going to work each day and knowing that at the end of the week he'll get a paycheck. With this paycheck he pays bills, buys groceries, and makes sure we all have clothes to wear. On the other hand, my father doesn't particularly care for steady jobs. He is a singer and has worked three or four nights a week in nightclubs most of his life. With his money, he buys things like new guitars and amplifiers. His idea of providing for us, as Mom tells me, is to send ten dollars a month, which is to be divided three ways. He only does this, however, when he's out of state. Discipline is another major difference between my two fathers. My stepfather, who can be very strict at times, believes that children should obey their parents, do what they are told when they are told to do it, and respect their elders. My father, who was never disciplined himself, has quite different views. He has always encouraged my brothers and me to rebel against rules, to ask why we had to do certain things, and to resent being made to do things we thought were stupid. (Going to bed at ten was stupid.) My mother always told us that our father only did this to cause trouble, but I'm not so sure about that. Maybe he did, but then again maybe he thought going to bet at ten was stupid, too! Education is another big issue my stepfather is concerned about. He believes, like many people, that to be able to succeed in life, one has to have a good education. He always told us that he didn't want us to turn out like he did, a truck driver who had to be away from his family for weeks at a time. He used to punish me and my brothers for making C's on our report cards. His theory is that a C is average, and his kids are not average. I wouldn't place any money on that. My father believes that an education is good to have, but one doesn't have to have it to survive. He always says, "Look at me; I made it." I don't think, however, that I would call sleeping in the back of a station wagon "making it." So here I have it. All their differences down on paper, and I can look at them objectively and decide which father to love more, but it isn't that easy. I love my father because he is just that, my natural father. I respect him; I am obligated to him, and I want to make him proud of me. Then there is my stepfather, whom I respect very much; whom I feel obligated to; whom I want to make proud of me; and, most important of all, whom I have grown to love as much as any child could possibly love a parent. I guess I'll never really know which father I love more. I don't see why I should have to love either more. I think I'll just love both of them in almost equal amounts.

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Informal Essay Minding Your P'S And Q'S I hereby call this meeting of Nit-pickers Anonymous to order. Today we will deal with the apostrophe, which you might say at first glance is as small a nit as can be picked. But let me suggest to you that even though the apostrophe is a tiny little mark on the page, it's use and misuse?? make that its use and misuse ? can lead to much head-scratching and irritation. You say this problem doesn't concern you. You say you know the in's and out's, the why's and wherefore's, of apostrophic etiquette. Or should that be ins, outs, whys, wherefores? Yes I think it should, although ins looks pretty strange on the page. And if ins looks strange, what about yeses and noes or hes and shes or ps and qs? Or should that be p's and q's? Yes, it should, according to the style I'm forced to follow at The Globe and Mail. Caught your attention? I didn't think so. It's??right one, this time?? hard to interest anyone in apostrophes. They're easy, people say, or they don't matter. You'd've thought folks're smarter than that. It's thinking like this that has given us ads proclaiming "Potatoe's??49O(,/) a kilo" or signs warning "Auto's parked illegally may be tagged and towed" or rock critics plugging Guns 'n Roses. Nits these may be, but the world is lousy with them. The problem with explaining apostrophes ? apart from the fact that nobody takes them too seriously ? is that they cannot be made systematic. We say Tom's and his the same way, and by that final s we mean the same thing, possession or belonging. But one carries an apostrophe and the other doesn't. The word his is the older form, and shows us the possessive as our ancestors used to deal with it. His is the genitive, or possessive, form of the pronoun he, and nouns in English that indicated this grammatical relationship took this form. The apostrophe was originally added to show that letter e had been left out of the genitive, but by the 18th century the apostrophe was being used in almost all possessives, even those without an e. That may sound reasonably systematic, but the system is once again collapsing. That wouldn't be a bad thing if we could collapse in unison, and get rid of the apostrophe altogether and write dont instead of don't. But instead all is flux and we seem to be at sixes and sevens (six's and seven's? 6's and 7's? 6s and 7s?). Look at how we deal with periods of time. At The Globe, the decade of rampant materialism and Gorbymania was called the 1980s, but at The New York Times they say the 1980's. Since there is nothing omitted here and no suggestion of possession, I can't see why The Times carries on in this way. The reasoning of The Times' word columnist, William Safire, is that the apostrophe is used to form the plurals of numbers and letters, and so there. Mr. Safire compares p's and q's, and the phrase dressed to the nine's, but to my mind the truth is not quite so self-evident. If one rule of writing is to keep punctuation to a minimum, then I think that 1980s, a natural looking plural, is much nicer than 1980's. Accept 1980's and you start referring to The Smith's or the delegation of MP's. But what about p's and q's? The reason we don't mind them at The Globe is that individual letters are easier to see as individual letters, uncluttered by a neighbouring s. And here's where we get unsystematic. Turn those letters into capitals and suddenly they're As and Bs and MPs and VIPs, comprehensible and a little more elegant without the apostrophe. This kind of plural is made easier when you have left out the periods between letters, as is more and more the case with modern style. But still there is confusion. For every St. Andrew's, there is a St. Andrews, where long use has banished the apostrophe and made the s part of the name. St. Catharines, St. Marys, St. Davids, Canada is full of slights to punctuation. The Canadian Teachers' Federation is doing its best to keep the apostrophe alive, but what can they do against the massed forces of the Canadian Swine Breeders Association and the Teamsters union? We are turning away from the apostrophe.

Argumentative Essay The Controllers Warning! Warning! Alarms go off inside your head. You?re at the mall walking around with one of your best buds looking at CDs, when all of a sudden you look up and see this drop dead gorgeous girl, whose looking at CDs in the next aisle. You grasp the CD case you were looking at firmly, and use the reflection quickly to make sure none of your pimples are ready to burst, and that your hair is fixed right. You glance down at you pants making sure they are set right on your shoes to make them look as cool as possible. Then you make sure that your shirt is straightened up. You take a breath and look up. She gives looks at you out of the corner of your eyes and you feel a skip in you chest. She looked at you! You automatically double checked with your eyes to make sure your zipper?s zipped and that she?s not laughing at you, but she?s really smiling at you. Wow, you think, she must really think I look cool! That was only a brief glimpse into the complicated life of a teenage boy. A boy who reads magazines, wants a car, plays video games, and watches a lot of TV. Every morning he wakes up and picks out his clothes sometimes taking them off and putting on others that match better. His ultimate goal is to look as good and cool as possible, like those guys in the Gap commercials on TV, with their perfect smiles and their arm always around that really hot girl. Why have we as males become more concerned about our looks and body? It seemed that only twenty years ago it was just the girls really worrying about their make up and nails. Even though we have not come so far as to put on make up and paint out nails weird colors to match our 300 dollar outfit to go to the mall, we have become more aware of looking cool and more attracting to the opposite sex. Yet it seems as if instead of looking to better out grades and get a good job to attract females we?ve started to look more and more at our looks then what we do and who we are. What we teens don?t realize is that TV has a bigger impact on our daily life then we think it does. It?s become the government?s way of talking to us. It?s also a way of communication and entertainment. Since the 1940?s, when the television really became open to the public, the news and our favorite shows have shown us different parts of the world. It imposed new ideas and little by little, changed society. Because companies started to use the television to advertise and introduce new styles, society has started to desire to be those people on television. When I was younger and watched more TV, I would usually watch cartoons about superheroes saving the world, like Captain Planet or the Ninja Turtles. A lot of times I would try to imitate their hairstyles to make myself more like them. Now we do the same thing with the serial comedies and action shows, though now we don?t admit that we want to imitate these people as openly. Most of the men and guys on TV look good or have good bodies. They most likely wear the clothes that are in style. In the movies, these guys often get the girl or are the hero of the picture. As of late, in shows like Friends, The Read World, and Sex in the City, where the relationships are shallow and mostly based on looks, have become more and more popular. A lot of times the reasons that they dump a guy are because his penis is too small or he needs to lose fat around some areas. Shows like these only make guys more self-conscious about their looks because they think that the girls expect us to be a rippling Arnold Schwarzenegger with a perfect body. A lot of times we also think they want us to look like the guys in the Abercrombie and Fitch ads, with their hands down their crotches and an arm holding a hot girl. What they?re really saying is, ?Hey guys! Look like me even though you probably won?t be able to. If you do though, you?ll get lots of hot girls like this one.? These pictures tend to have a lot of sexual content, and this puts a lot of pressure on having ?in? clothes and being cool. Another source that has altered the male thinking is the magazine. Because girl magazines like Cosmopolitan encourages women use the power to choose and be ahead of the relationship, it also places stress on guys to look better for girls, and this stress in turn has made other magazines come into existence and feed off of the new male impulse to look better. I looked on the internet and found at allyoucanread.com their list of the top twenty men magazines. Three of them were aimed to help men look better and be fit. A majority of the others included magazines such as Maxim at number one and others that helps guys see the women on TV up close. They also contain ads that promote the idea of having muscles and being cool, which encourages a lot of guys to use steroids and lift weights. These magazines are read by a majority of the male population in America, and anything that gets published in them is sent out to a couple million males. Their opinions become the public?s opinions. Personally, I was surprised to see so many health and fitness magazines. Both magazines and the television have had a big effect on why we as males are more concerned about our looks now, then fifty years ago. They control the need to look good around the world. The real struggle is to not let these materials conflict with what we really know. When you consider it in the long run, these things do not matter: popularity, money, and what you do. Focus more on what matters, like relationships that are not based on whether your hair looks good, or if your face is clear of acne.

Critical Essay Gertrude in Hamlet In Hamlet, Gertrude is a woman who means no harm but whose poor judgment contributes greatly to the terrible events that occur. There are only two female characters in the play, and neither one ? Gertrude or Ophelia ? is assertive. But the decisions Gertrude does make eventually lead to her death and the downfall of others as well. We first realize in Act I, Scene 2 that poor judgment is her major character flaw. As the mother of a grieving son, Gertrude should have been more sensitive to Hamlet's feelings. Instead, less than two months after King Hamlet's death, Gertrude remarries Claudius, her dead husband's own brother. Gertrude should have realized how humiliated Hamlet would feel as a result, because at that time it was considered incestuous for a widow to marry her husband's brother. There is also jealousy on the part of a son, who feels that his mother should be giving him more attention during the mourning period. Gertrude is not in touch with her own son's feelings to see why he is angry. Hamlet expresses this outrage during his first soliloquy: O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! (I.ii 156-157) Gertrude is shown to be a loving mother but a parent who cannot read into her sons's behavior. When answering Hamlet, she says that it is common for all men to die, but this is not just any man who has died, she should realize; it's Hamlet's own father! Also, when Gertrude asks Hamlet: If it be, Why seems it so particular with thee? (I.ii 74-75) she means to calm him down, but the word "seems" only makes Hamlet more suspicious. She fails to realize that in his sensitive mood, the word "seems" will give Hamlet the impression that she is hiding something. At this point, Gertrude has the opportunity to ask Hamlet what he is implying and face the issue, but she is the type of woman who just wants everything to be smoothed over without thinking too deeply. Someone might wonder whether Gertrude really is concealing some knowledge about a murder, but in Act II, scene 2, there is evidence that Gertrude really hasn't taken part in the plot. Hamlet suspects her of being an accomplice with Claudius in his father's murder. It's too bad, therefore, that Hamlet doesn't hear Gertrude's private conversation with Claudius in which she gives her theory about Hamlet's anger: I doubt it is no other but the main, His father's death and our o'erhasty marriage.(II.ii 56-57) Gertrude's conscience may finally be bothering her, but only about her quick marriage, not about anything worse. If Hamlet hadn't scolded her, the thought might never have occurred to her that the marriage took place too soon. Her comments show that Gertrude probably was not an accomplice. Up until now, we might have believed Hamlet. However, Claudius and Gertrude are talking privately and still Gertrude makes no reference to any plot. Her sincere reason for hoping that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can provide clues to Hamlet's behavior is so that she can help Hamlet feel better (a strong contrast to Claudius' sinister motives). In other words, Gertrude's worst fault seems to be insensitivity towards her son. She shows no awareness of how her husband died and therefore no insight into what Hamlet suspects. The irony here is that Gertrude's motivation in watching Hamlet's behavior is genuine concern for his well-being, while Claudius' concern is with his own well-being. Another example of Gertrude's lack of awareness is inability to realize that her second marriage can be seen as adultery by those around her. Her attitude is that if she and Claudius had simply waited longer before marrying to give Hamlet more time to grieve Hamlet might have reacted better. She doesn't face Hamlet's concept that perhaps the marriage shouldn't have happened at all. Love is the answer to all problems for Gertrude. She shows this simple-minded thinking also in Act III, scene 1. She tells Ophelia about her hope that Hamlet's madness came from his love for Ophelia. If Gertrude keeps believing this, she won't have to face the marriage as the problem or feel guilty. Gertrude's romantic outlook again keeps her from seeing truth. Because of Hamlet's powerful belief in his mother's guilt, he takes his anger out on Ophelia, who Hamlet may think is just another insincere woman like his mother. Hamlet is determined to use the play to get at his mother's conscience in addition to Claudius'. But Gertrude reacts casually after watching. Gertrude does not show guilt about her relationship with Claudius but instead, she has a very practical-approach to the Player Queen: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" (III.ii 236). Gertrude is realistic enough to say that in real life, a widow would easily want to remarry, and that this is why the Player Queen is not a believable character. However, this is another example of how Gertrude can't or refuses to see how other people are affected by her. Even after Hamlet's questioning, Gertrude is not aware

enough of her actions to make a connection between the play and her own life: "...true to her nature, she makes no application of the Player Queen's situation to herself. She does not take personally representations of sin and weakness"(Cohen, p. 86). Gertrude's reaction to the play shows also that she is unaware of Claudius's guilt. Even though Gertrude is described as being upset after Claudius leaves excitedly, she is anxious more about how Claudius feels than about anyone's guilt. If she had questioned Hamlet about why he put on the play, she would have faced the truth, but she makes the decision to worry about Claudius more than about the situation. Finally, in Act III, scene 4, Hamlet forces Gertrude to see what he is accusing her of: murder, incest, adultery. He does reach her conscience, because she says: Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grained spots As will not leave their tinct. (III.iv.90-92) She could be admitting a mistake in a too-early marriage to Claudius but not necessarily anything worse. Hamlet really wants to put Gertrude on a moral path when he tells her: "go not to my uncle's bed./Assume a virtue, if you have it not" (III. iv.160-161). But when Gertrude says: "What shall I do?" (III. iv 182) she is not really going to change her behavior even though she could decide to listen to Hamlet or be more cautious in trusting Claudius. Her question just reflects her conflict between son and husband and her wish to please both of them at the same time ? impossible at this point. If Gertrude had shown more sympathy for Hamlet, some of his anger might have died down. At the same time, Gertrude should not be considered an unsympathetic mother. She does try to protect Hamlet from Claudius in Act IV, scene 1. When describing to Claudius Hamlet's killing of Polonius, Gertrude covers up Hamlet's indifferent attitude by saying that he cried afterwards. She knows that Hamlet did not show sorrow but as a mother, she wants to describe him in a way that will make things easier for him. Gertrude's comment could indicate that she finally realizes Claudius may not be what he seems. But if this is true, why couldn't she have seen this on her own, even before Hamlet's accusations. Again, the answer is that Gertrude does not have the insight to distinguish between sincerity and deception in people. Gertrude still can't see the truth about Claudius. He will send Hamlet away because of fear for his own life, but he tells Gertrude that he is concerned about her safety. If Gertrude's judgment was better, she would object to the idea out of fear for Hamlet's life. Throughout the play, she seems to be more concerned with being caught in the middle of the two men in her life than with the possibility she has done something immoral. Her aim in life is to keep everyone - including herself happy, even though her actions caused many of the problems in the first place. She refuses to sacrifice her own happiness for Hamlet. Her reaction at Ophelia's funeral shows again that Gertrude is a romantic thinker more than a realist. She is superficial, not showing any great grief but more regret that Hamlet and Ophelia did not get married. Gertrude still wants to believe that their love would have made everything better. This is another case of Gertrude not facing reality and escaping into romantic fantasy. Her reaction in this case is a reminder of her reaction in the play scene in Act III. At that time, during Hamlet's sarcastic conversation with Ophelia, Gertrude wants to think that he has come back to Ophelia. "The belief at the bottom of her heart was that the world is a place constructed simply that people may be happy in it in a good-humored sensual fashion" (Bradley, p. 141). It is only at the very end, when Gertrude realizes that the cup contains poison,that she faces the truth. Before this moment, the irony in this scene is that Gertrude actually offers the wine to her son to help and encourage him! But she finally has to admit to herself that Claudius is guilty of murdering old Hamlet and of trying to murder Hamlet. When she warns Hamlet not to drink the wine, she again is showing compassion for her son and her wish to protect him from danger. In other words, the play's last scene summarizes Gertrude's two sides. As a mother, she means well and does have concern for her son but her bad decisions and failure to judge people correctly are a major cause of the tragedy. If Gertrude had been a different kind of person, many of the deaths might not have happened.