Follow Your Bliss

The concept behind this essay was good, but the author didn't come across as a very good writer to me. Maybe it was just me, I don't know. It says in the essay something about him being a teacher, so my guess is he probably isn't a writing teacher or at least I hope not!
I do like what he was saying though. I think more people need to do this. Too often people just settle for what they think they are supposed to do rather than doing what they are passionate about because they think it isn't a "good" career choice or is unrealistic. I think that may be the root of a lot of unhappiness and possibly even depression. Like someone said (I forget who it was) "Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life!" You shouldn't hate your job...if you do, maybe it's not the right job for you!

What Really Ails America

This was another good essay. I really appreciated what Bennett was saying, especially since it was coming from an actualy citizen of the US and not a foreigner. It is much easier for someone from the outside looking in to notice these things, but Bennett has been able to see them and still keep a sense of pride for his nation.

Coming from another country I definately have noticed the things Bennett was talking about, but it is obviously not just a personal opinion. He showed facts to back up his argument. He compared the top problems teachers talked about in the 1940's with the top problems teachers talked about in the 1990's and probably today. The more recent problems are much more harmful to our society than chewing a piece of bubble gum.

For some reason it is easier to do the wrong thing than the right thing. I liked that Bennett acknowledged this fact. But I also like how he encouraged us to stop being lazy and stand up and do the harder thing, do the right thing.

The Rival Conceptions of God

I thought this was a very interesting essay. Lewis did a good job of explaining Christianity in a way I had never really thought about it. His use of metaphors and similes. It really helped me to understand what he was saying. Had he not used some of these metaphors I may not have been able to follow this essay. For example when he was trying to describe Pantheism I had no idea what he was talking about or why it was a bad thing until he threw in the metaphors about the human body and the painter painting a picture. This was a very deep essay, but made very understandable by Lewis.

The essay "Sex, Lies, and Advertising," wasn't very interesting to me. It was very long and somewhat redundant. I had a very hard time reading it, I found myself putting my book down often to do something else. She had a good attention grabbing title, but wasn't able to keep my attention.

Why we Crave Horror Movies

Stephen King's essay "Why we Crave Horror Movies" was very interesting to me. He presented a very thought provoking topic. It was almost frightening, but I suppose that's what Stephen King does best! I really liked his use of anologies; comparing emotions to a body and how they need to be exercised. These analogies helped me to understand exactly what he was meaning and visualize it. I liked the end where he talked about it being a good thing to watch such horror movies...it allows you to get your demented fantasies out thus "keeping the gators fed." As disturbing as this essay may have been, he did a good job at keeping the reader interested...at least me anyway!

How to tame a wild tongue

Gloria talks about how her language is under-fire here in American culture, and sometimes even in spanish cultures. She notes that Chicanas are led to believe that they speak poor Spanish - and identifies this as Linguistic Terrorism. Have any of you ever felt that way about something so personal to you in regards to how you communicate? Maybe you have had a friend who uses sign language, and recognized that others thought he/she was inferior for not being able to speak proper english?

I had a German friend who tried to speak english, but was unable to formulate well articulated sentences. He was very capable of communicating how he felt, but did not sound all that smart - even though he was brilliant! I think many of my english aquiantences dissmissed some of his thoughts in conversation or would avoid talking to him about personal things because he did not speak well enough english. I think this might be closely related to Gloria's thoughts in reference to "Linguistic terrorism."

Malcom X's essay "Coming to an Awareness of Language," surprised me. I was not aware that he learned to write this way. He proves Maurius's point that reading is the best thing to do when you want to write. Maybe I should start doing more of this!