Why I Write

I write because it is relaxing. When writing I slip into a zone where I’m completely immersed in what I’m doing and I don’t worry about anything happening around me. Everything is shut out and I escape to a world of my own making. I am the god of my own world. I decide who lives and who dies, who prevails over every challenge and who cracks under the pressure. Writing for me is almost like dreaming during the day – the outside world doesn’t matter. Unlike in the real world everything is how I want it to be and no other opinions matter.

I enjoy a world of fantasy, where the excitement never ends and writing is just an extension of the worlds I used to experience while reading as a child. Before I knew how to write I read at every opportunity , but there were always things I didn’t like – certain detail or parts of the stories that I didn’t care for, that i wanted to change, that I wasn’t happy with. I discovered a realm of freedom in writing, where those unfavorable details didn’t exist. I have a very active imagination and getting my thoughts down on paper leaves me with such a good feeling – like all the stress has left my body. Being able to control every little detail of a reality I created gave me a sense of independence and made all the helplessness disappear.

I write because it’s my safe haven.

Article Response 2

The article “What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland’s School Success” is about how Finish schools differ from American schools and why American schools should look at Finish schools for improvement. The article talks about how Finish schools and student aren’t competitive, aren’t constantly being given tests, and are government funded.

This article was good, if long and drawn out. The writer stayed on topic and had several supporting facts as to how Finish schools function better than American school. I wish there had been more sources, the article focused on the thoughts of one man – Pasi Sahlberg and that left the article with a little less variety than I would’ve liked. I also wish there would’ve been some negative points about Finish schools or the opinions of someone who disagreed with what was being said, just for a different perspective.

There were only two things that really bothered me about the article. First is that I felt like a lot of what was being said was repeated and it felt a little long. Second was the following quote:

During the afternoon that Sahlberg spent at the Dwight School, a photographer from the New York Times jockeyed for position with Dan Rather's TV crew as Sahlberg participated in a roundtable chat with students. The subsequent article in the Times about the event would focus on Finland as an "intriguing school-reform model."

I felt like this quote should have been worded differently or taken out completely and while I was reading I struggled to understand why it was there.

I would give this article a 4.

Academic Argument

I decided to write about American school systems vs Asian school systems because I’m interested in how much more efficient Asian schools and students are compared to American schools and students.

Sources: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-19/the-real-reason-americas-schools-stink

http://englishplus.com/news/news0700.htm

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20091021/ARCHIVES/310219990

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/vanschaack.356/strenghts_and_weaknesses_of_both_systems

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb93/vol50/num05/Why-Asian-Students-Still-Outdistance-Americans.aspx

Article 1 Response

The article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" is about whether the internet is changing the way we think, read, and understand text. The auther quotes a lot of different writers and scientists on the subject and likens the internet to a clock and a typewriter at one point. There are a lot of facts in the article about cognition and the absorbtion of long readings as well as how little people read now, supposedly, due the internet.

I did not like this article. First off there was nothing about google and it wasn't about becoming stupid, but about our brains changing and our way of thinking changing due to the internet so the tittle was very misleading for me. I thought the article lacked focus and organization and was hard to follow. The article consisted of dozens of quotes from random people - I wish there had been more facts and less quotes.

I was very disappointed and annoyed with this article and didn't even want to finish it. I felt like the author wanted to include too many things in his article and didn't take the time to plan out what he was going to write. It seemed to me that the author started writing, and as random things that related to the topic popped in his head he wrote about that and found a bunch of quotes to go with it.

I would give this article a 3 at most.

What's Your Inspiration?

I feel compelled to write when I read a book and one of two things (or maybe both) happens. First I feel inspired to write when something really cool happens in the book, I read and I think "That's amazing I should write something like that." Second I feel inspired to write when something really lame happenes, I read and I think "Why would you even do that?"

Usually the second thing happens in situation where there's a typical 'love scene' and they're confessing their forbbiden love for each other. Been there done that - stop it. There is nothing worse than a cliche Twilight 'love story'. It also happens when there's a life threatening situation going on and the freaking human has to do something stupid like "I'm going to go meet up with friend alone because there's some crazy axe murderer trying to kill me." Lesson learned - don't try to do things you used to do when there is someone trying to kill you. As a side note not only is this idiot a human, typically it's also a woman.

Basically I feel like writing right after reading some awesome battle/escape scene, or some awful scene where the stupidity of the characters knows no limits and it makes me want to destroy the human race

Don't Quote me On That

"Without music, life would be a mistake." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." (Mark Twain)

25 Things About Me

1. I ablsolutely do not like poetry 2. I want to become an author 3. I like cats 4. I like Pandas 5. I do not like school 6. I have a facebook, twitter, and tumbler but I never use them 7. I like to read 8. If i could opt out of sleeping I would 9. I am a pessimist 10. I do not like school 11. I like some music 12. I have a sister 13. I do not like to share my personal traits with others 14. I am an atheist 15. I am very apathetic 16. I hate sports 17. I hate the sun 18. I do not like going outside 19. I have my permit 20. My first (and only car) is a mini-van 21. I do not lke bloging so far 22. I took a type class but I still don't type properly 23. I have two cats 24. I hate birds 25. I am extremely lazy