"Suicide Note" by Janice Mirikitani

I feel for this girl. I am a strong believer in the fact that our society puts way too much pressure on young adolescents and entirely too much emphasis on numbers. In the world we live in, you are not a human being, you are only a number, and hers wasn't high enough.

My Creed

I believe myself to be an absurdist thinker. This relates closely to existentialism. I identify very closely to this view of the universe. According to the absurdist theory, if there is a meaning to the universe, humans can never know it and it is absurd to think that we can find it. It is the belief in the truth, that this is it, and there is no life after this. Faced with this fact, some people turn to suicide, saying that life is not worth living if it has no meaning. However, this choice in itself is absurd. Why would you choose to end your life knowing that it is the only life you are going to have? The idea that there is some higher power that controls everything, such as god, is absurd and imagined by people who wish to control the masses. Religeon is a way of calming and controlling the populous, and it is absurd to think anything more of it. I am a strong believer in the idea that we should make the most of our time on planet earth, and no matter what happens, you should create meaning in your own life, despite the fact that your existence is inherently meaningless. One of my favorite quotes that i have ever heard is "live every day like it's your last". This suggests that you should do what makes you happy, and try to have as much fun as possible in your life. Try new things, see new places, go out and meet new poeople, have an adventure. Do something interesting with your life so it might not be as meaningless as it seems.

Rogerian argument

Rogerian argument is about finding something in common between you and the person you are arguing with. Through this similarity you can obtain the reader's trust and therefore convince him of your point more easily. In my letter to a student of Patrick Henry College I do not attempt to find common ground with the other student. Instead I try to establish a tone that suggests that I am just trying to help, and not, in fact, arguing with him. I do not use Rogerian argument, but i believe that it does not hurt my argument.

My Friend Dahmer

Very interesting. I was captivated from beginning to end, hurrying to change the page as fast as possible to know what happens next. I found it especially eerie that when he dropped Dahmer off that night, there was a dismembered body lying in the trunk a few yards away from his car. Or the ironic moment of "he's probably a serial killer by now" "hahaha"... 

The Yellow Wallpaper

I greatly enjoyed this story. There's nothing better than a tale of a woman who is overpowered by the men in her life and made to sit in a room all day and do nothing. Then, to everyone's apparent surprise, she goes insane. Who saw that coming!? I did... You try sitting in a room doing nothing but staring at the walls all day and having no power to control your life whatsoever because both your husband and your brother are overly controlling. Then you come to me and tell me you're not insane. 

Presidential Debate

The final debate was a good recap of the previous debates. First and foremost, my most prominent observation was that McCain was mistaken in regards to a lot of Obama's stances. Basically, in regards to health care, Obama wants to set up a huge pool of money that you can buy into and then the money will be divided among everyone based on need, whereas McCain wants to make it more dynamic and give out a 5000 dollar tax refund for health care. As far as abortion is concerned, McCain is unrealistically against abortion and wants to ban it in all forms and overturn Roe v. Wade. Obama agrees with Roe v. Wade and wants to raise awareness to reduce abortions but leave the option open saying "no one is pro abortion, it is always a painful choice." Obama wants to give a $4000 credit to all college students to aid in their payments so long as they complete some sort of community service. He also says that he wants to have more charter school to raise competition, but McCain says that money is not the answer and we need a lot of reform in the place of more money. They both want to fire bad teachers and increase competition among schools and teachers but Obama was the one who said we should raise salaries for teachers. They both want to pour money into alternative fuel sources, McCain seemed to have a more of a structured plan including wind turbines and nuclear power, but wants to do some off-shore drilling first. Once again I am completely torn because I agree wholeheartedly with about half of both campaigns and despise the rest of their plans. well, now that you know the facts, "Go vote now, it'll make you feel big and strong."

What You Pawn I Shall Redeem

At the opening of the story the main character's voice seems sort of drab. He speaks as if he wants to tell a story, but he keeps talking about himself in a way that suggests that his story is just an ordinary one. He seems so excited to talk to someone that he's happy with just that, and doesn't really need to tell the story at all. However, at the end of the story he is on top of the world! He feels like his story is the most extraordinary one he could have told. He feels as though the entire world has stopped around him to watch as he dances. Cars stop and people stop to watch. He completely ignores the fact that the cars stopped because he probably wandered onto the road and people are watching wondering what he is doing, not looking at him dance.

The Girl Next Door

I believe that he let the little girl into his apartment because he felt bad for her. He wanted to comfort her, and show her that the world is not such a terrible place. He was a little naive in his decision and his mother was absolutely correct. A twenty-six year old man should not be spending that much time together, especially not behind closed doors, and especially not on a daily basis. She could have ruined his life in exactly the way that his mother described and he was right to leave immediately, before anything happened.

A Happy Death by Alison Bechdel

This story was very intriguing as it talks a lot about existentialism. I consider myself to be an absurdist thinker, or a believer in the absurdist theory, which is closely related to existentialism and therefore when i hear the word in a story it grabs my attention. The story as a whole was one of great apathy and some sarcasm with a melancholy ending that i thouroughly enjoyed.

“The Myth of the Monkey King” by Gene Luen Yang

The myth of the monkey king was a very strange tale. I felt confused at first because there was a monkey that shot lasers that was born out of a rock for no reason. I was confused at the end when he just walked up to heaven and beat the crap out of every god in the world. Then i realized that there was an underlying meaning. I enjoyed reading this story both for the monkey related violence and the story of someone who was made to feel inadequate because he was different.

Kenko

He wrote a philosophical series of stories because he was bored. I respect that. He seems to me to be a man who likes solitude a little too much, and would get very annoying to be around after a short amount of time. Then again, it might be interesting to have a small conversation with a man i agree with on a few points. Especially the bit about uniformity being undesirable.

"Cinderella" Anne Sexton

The story of Cinderella by Anne Sexton was different from the one I heard as a child. I thought that it was amazing. I enjoyed this version a lot more than the cheesy version I knew before. My favorite line was "that's the way with amputations..." They just bleed and bleed don't they. Beautiful. I think kids nowadays would be able to handle this slightly violent version and don't need to hear any watered down copies.