Animal friends

The Essay “Learning From Animal Friendships” by Erica Goode is an intriguing essay that reveals the unique friendships that animals can have between different species.  Language is used to influence others in this essay, literally.  This essay shows how in some situations, dogs have learned to speak other animal languages in order to communicate more effectively.  It goes on to explain how dogs are “ambassador animals” because of how they can bridge barriers with their excellent cross-species communication skills.  Language is used to influence everything in communication by these animals, as they do not register the normal cues that occur when communicating within their own species.  Even the body language is of utmost importance in inter-species communication.  The animals are able to “break the ice” by learning a new language created out of necessity to not only coexist with other species, but to flourish and make friends with other species.

Drowning in dishes

The Essay “Drowning in Dishes, But Finding a Home” by Danial Adkison, is a very thought provoking article that teaches us the power of hard work.  The essay takes you on a journey of a young high school student that gets a job at a Pizza Hut to get out of his house.  At Pizza Hut he starts out washing dishes, and after weeks of complaining, he is told that the reason he is still washing dishes is that he is always complaining.  After realizing this he stops complaining and is eventually promoted to making the pizzas.  The lesson learned was taught by the boss, Jeff.  Jeff hired mostly kids still in high school and taught them everything they know about working at Pizza Hut.  Due to this, the employees had a great culture and enjoyed each others company.  This essay brings to light the reality that many kids live, where they go to work to escape life at home.  The essay is socially constructed and conveyed on the fact that many kids find a job, but not many kids love their job.  This love of the job is driven by the ability of the manager to get the kids to buy into the belief that hard work pays off.

Class Dismissed

The Essay “Class Dismissed” by Walter Kirn showcases a unique take on the senior year of high school, by getting rid of grade twelve and making grade eleven the senior year.  The topic of removing grade twelve was brought up because of an attempt to save money by the Utah government.  This argument is made by the essay showing examples of students that are just in grade twelve because they have to be.  most students are just waiting to go work after graduation, or have already been excepted into their university courses by January, thereby making the second half of the year completely useless.  The example of grade twelve students just waiting to graduate in order to work is true no matter which way you observe the situation, some students are just going to fill unskilled labor positions to get a paycheque.  To say that the other half of students have been accepted into university is a stretch of the truth, as some students wanting to attend university do need to maintain their grades to keep their acceptance.  This essay can be understood differently depending on your experience in high school.  If you had enjoyed your senior year then you probably took some interesting courses and electives and used your last year of free education well.  But if you did not enjoy school you probably were only there because you had to be, and were counting the days until graduation.  If you fell into the latter group, you are most likely in favor of the cost saving move to get rid of grade twelve, but if you enjoyed your high school career, then you are probably amazed that anyone could suggest something so drastic.  Both sides have an argument, and that is why at the end of the essay they suggest that grade twelve could be made optional.  This essay will probably not change anyone’s option, but rather just start the conversation about getting rid of grade twelve.

Plagiarism gets you fired

The Essay “Chris Cecil, plagiarism gets you fired” by Leonard Pitts Jr. is written from a very damaged and hurt author.  The essay begins by stating that writing even a simple newspaper column involves painfully slow writing and editing until you are happy enough with the result.  It then goes on to show how a writer (Chris Cecil) has been copying another writer’s articles and hardly changing more than a few words, and passing it off as his own work.  The writer that had been plagiarized off compares stealing his articles to having his house burglarized, and the feeling of violation that comes with that.  This Essay has really shown me how attached a writer can be to his writing.  Before reading this article I never thought that plagiarizing another writer’s work would offend the writer.  However, I now realize that because writing is this person’s job, it is also their life, and stealing that can hurt.  If a writer isn’t writing their own articles, then is that person even a writer?

Allowing boys to love

The Essay "Allowing Teenage Boys to Love Their Friends" by Jan Hoffman exposes the danger of teens trying to live up to common stereotypes.  From a young age, it is expected that teenage boys be tough young men that never show pain.  In the essay, the reader is exposed to a situation where a young boy and his friend "cutting up a treasured childhood rag doll", and the boy's mom gets very angry at the two boys.  The boy who's mom yelled at him never goes to play with the other boy again, and he never makes another close friend again until he is an adult.  Even in adulthood, he hates remembering that last day with his friend.  The essay goes on to show how the lack of meaningful connections with close friends leaves a giant void in both teenage boys and young men's lives.  This Essay has really deepened one's understanding of how if boys are trying to live up to the "tough guy" stereotype, it can be very damaging for them as they have nobody to share their feelings with.  If teenage boys were not so worried about how a few people would judge them for opening up, they would be living a more complete life.