Extra Credit

It was a beautiful sunny, breezy day in April. I was sitting on the green grass eating with my girlfriend. I got up to throw out my grease-stained, drab white pizza box. The garbage can outside the dorm is always filled with interesting pieces of trash. I saw the vivid purple of a Panda Express cup, the contrasting red and white of a crumpled McDonald’s bag, the bright pink and orange coffee cup from Dunkin Donuts, and colorful green and yellow Subway bag. Despite these intense colors, I saw an ostentatious beacon of lime green packaging with the word Trojan written boldly across the front. The package seemed to be hastily ripped open. The edge was jagged and bent, implying it was an epic struggle to open. Its contents were missing, leaving this neon badge of honor abandoned in a fit of passion. Even though the garbage can was full, it seemed that everything there respectfully avoided hiding the sensual act of love. As it sadly stared up at me, like a puppy separated from its owner, I began to wonder what its story was. Was it my roommate’s? Thrown away in a rush for a quickie between bites of Panda Express? Was it an experienced frat guy bringing a girl home for a one night stand? Was it a random hookup, both parties heartbroken due to a recent breakup? Were both of them newbies trying a condom out for the first time? That would explain why the package was ripped as if it was troublesome to open. Was is the product of a drunken late night horniness? Regardless of who it was, where did they do it? Did they do it in a public venue with the world to see? In a seedy bathroom, rushed and cramped? Did they do it an abandoned, dark stairwell? Did they do it in a room, throwing it outside to hide their “sin?” Did they do it in a shady back alley, not patient enough to make it to a room? Better yet, when was it disposed? Was it from the weekend? Crazy things happen on the weekend at Penn State. How could someone dispose of this prestigious merchandise so disrespectfully? A product like this deserves utmost care in disposal as it represents a sacred act of life between lovers.
Suddenly, I realized i had been drunk last night. And my wallet felt lighter...

Journal 13

Since the creation of electronic books (a.k.a. eBooks), the use of printed books have been on the decline. Is this for better or for worse? Printed books take more energy to make and are “worse” for the environment. However, old school readers will never be able to replace a printed, bound book. Books have always been a prime source of information. However, with the advent of e-publishing, books are facing the possible threat of extinction. Is this disappearance for the greater good or is the world losing a valuable cornerstone of culture?


In the debate of eBooks versus print books, I am 100% for printed books. The thought of sitting outside under the sun with a light breeze, cold Coke on the table in front of me, snacks surrounding me, and a great book in my hands sounds intensely appealing. There is not much better than doing that. Having an eBook is just not the same. You can’t flip the pages, can’t feel the book in your hands, and worst of all, can’t smell the intoxicating aroma of an old book.

It’s dusk on summer night. I’m sitting with my feet in my pool. I have an ice cold Coke and a bag of Tostitos next to me. The heat of the day has subsided and the light breeze plays over my face, cooling me. As comfortable as I can be, I reach behind me and grab my brand new book. It is a beautiful, leather-bound book with paper painted gold. It’s a classic: Dante’s Inferno. Cracking it open to the first page I see a gorgeously drawn depiction of Hell. The new book smell mixes with the smell of Tostitos and the warm summer night. Flipping through the pages, feeling the spine crack ever so slightly with each page-flip, I realize this is truly perfection. Who wouldn’t love a summer night like this? With an eBook this is not possible. You can’t have a well-designed, exquisite classic, can’t flip the pages of the book, and worst of all can’t smell the enchanting aroma of new books.

Journal 12

Books have always been the prime source of information but now that eBooks were developed, books have begun to become obsolete. Is this disappearance for the greater good or is the world losing a valuable asset?

Journal 11

Leaving for work, you get onto the highway, which you have noticed is much safer than in the past. There are fewer accidents and less road rage as well as less speeding. Getting closer to work, you pull off the highway and into the parking lot of your new job.
After being out of a job for two years, you were finally able to find a job and you have been enjoying it. Your coworkers are very compatible and you are able to work efficiently. On the way to pick up your first paycheck, you say hello to Sean O’Malley. Reaching the desk, LaQuisha Johnson hands you your paycheck and you are surprised by how much money it is. The amount of money taken out of the paycheck for taxes has drastically dropped. Is this too good to be true? Is this a utopian society? Nope. This is a possibility that is very attainable.
The current American financial crisis can be directly related to the influx of illegal immigrants. The past plans to solve the current crisis have failed so a more drastic solution must be proposed. Deportation of all illegal immigrants is the only solution to the financial crisis.


After being out of a job for two years, you were finally able to find a job and have been enjoying it. Leaving for work, you get onto the highway, which you notice is much safer than in the past. There are fewer accidents and less road rage, as well as less speeding. Getting closer to work, you pull off the highway and into the parking lot of your new job. You walk into the building and say hi to your coworkers, who work well as a group. Reaching the desk, LaQuisha Johnson hands you your paycheck and you are surprised by how much money it is. The amount of money taken out of the paycheck for taxes has drastically dropped. Is this too good to be true? Is this a utopian society? Nope. This is a possibility that is very attainable for all Americans willing to fight for a change.

The current American financial crisis can be directly related to the influx of illegal immigrants. The past plans to solve the current crisis have failed so a more drastic solution must be proposed. Deportation of all illegal immigrants is the only solution to the financial crisis.

Journal 10

Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is an entertaining, satirical piece that pokes fun at the government’s attempts at solving the Irish famine. He uses satire to make people realize that the previous plans were ridiculous. Not only did he poke fun at the government’s plans, he subtly hinted at how poorly the less fortunate were viewed. His proposal was to have parents fatten their children up for the first year of their lives and then to eat (or sell) them. Eating them, he said, would eliminate the famine and selling them would prevent any future occurrences. This proposal is very effective for a few reasons. He does not outright mock the plans, but rather shows a plan that he believes is better (which happens to be eating children). He also makes his proposal sound somewhat logical through his reasons. On top of that, he even makes an appeal to finances through his idea of selling the children. This piece was entertaining as well as highly effective.

Journal Nine

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/causes/economics.html
Obesity has become a prevalent problem in the United States. Many thousands of people have become obese and have had serious health problems involving being overweight. This article is about the cost of obesity through healthcare and, more specifically, Medicare and Medicaid. This strain on the federal and state budgets has a serious impact on the currently declining financial situation of America.

http://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2008/09/24/they_gave_your_mortgage_to_a_less_qualified_minority/page/2
Racism has been an American issue since the dawn of time. Some people believe that racism (or at least different races) have caused the current financial crisis. Critics claim that banks were forced to dole out mortgages to minorities who could not afford to pay their mortgages if the housing market slowed. When the housing market slowed, low and behold, the minorities defaulted on their mortgages.

http://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/Newsletters/GINL9303/poverty.htm
Overpopulation is a problem for all countries of the world. Every country is running out of places to put people and as a (possible) result of overpopulation is poverty. Bringing down the overpopulation could be a way to help the financial crisis of America.

Journal Eight

There are many different types of shoes for different occasions. That same theory applies to track. There are sprint spikes, middle distance spikes, long distance spikes, long jump spikes, triple jump spikes, high jump spikes, pole vault spikes, and throwing shoes. the design of each shoe is very different depending on what is needed for each event. Sprint spikes and throwing shoes are probably the most different. Sprint spikes have a very pointed (or tapered to be technical) toe. When laying flat on the ground, the toe of every sprint spike will be about an inch or two above the ground. This is to force the runner to run more on their toes, which makes them run faster. Sprint spikes are also made to be the lightest as possible; very little material is used. Some sprint spikes even have zippers covering the laces to be more aerodynamic. The most important aspect of sprint spikes is the ‘spikes” part. They contain metal spikes that are either removable or permanent (but more often they are removable as they wear down and thus can be replaced). these metal spikes are used to better grip the track while running. The metal spikes are also very crucial to starting the race. Sprinters use what is called blocks to push off of when the gun goes off and the metal spikes give runners more power and grip in the start. Meanwhile, throwing shoes are very different. They have a smooth bottom, often made of plastic. The smoothness allows for throwers to spin quickly in the circle, gaining more momentum and having more energy and force behind the throw. The toe has a very slight taper, more for comfort than functionality (as the taper has no functional benefit). Some throwing shoes also have the zip-up cover for the aerodynamic benefit as well. On the whole, sprint spikes and throwing shoes, though both shoes used for track, have excessively different designs due to what they are used for.

Journal Five

The profile of Frank Sinatra by Gay Talese was intriguing. Everyone knows the name and everyone has probably heard at least a song or two by him. Drunk people sing along to his song “New York, New York” after Yankees’ baseball games. People make love listening to his music. He is one of those singers who transcends time and will always be a classic. This profile takes such a large public figure head and shows the real man behind the music. It appeals to the readers because who doesn’t like reading about celebrities? Talese never really got the chance to sit down and do a true interview with Sinatra but he utilized people close to him and observations to write a thrilling piece that captivates audiences of all ages. Talese uses ethos and pathos beautifully in the personal views of people surrounding Sinatra. His friends told stories of Sinatra’s love and affection for his family that truly transformed the public celebrity into a real, relatable human being.

The interview with Gay Talese is interesting. He talks of doing profiles and makes it seem like a full time job merely gathering material. He says he takes about a year or two for him to feel comfortable writing a profile of someone. To write a profile (according to Talese) you need (sincere) curiosity and patience. You also need to have a point. He says he wanted to write about people not in the news and discover them. He wanted to use real people, real names, and real facts to make nonfiction writing important and well known. He was proud of his ability to “write literature in a daily newspaper.” The interview was fascinating and I would love to read more profiles by him.

Journal Four

This piece was very interesting. It showed how students act on weekends and the crazy antics they get into. It was funny to listen to what drunk people do, including trying to climb into a cop car or streaking. It also showed very intriguing outside opinions (neighborhood residents) as well as insider opinions (police officers, excerpts from Graham Spanier’s speeches) that did a great job of emphasizing the intensity of some drunken escapades. The piece even did a great job of talking about a student Joe Dado who died due to alcohol. What touched me a lot with this story is one of my floor-mates knew him. He once told me the story about him and hearing it on this piece was a shock. It was very effective to use a real-life story to emphasize the point of excessive drinking. But this kind of behavior is not specific to just Penn State; it happens at probably 95% of colleges in America.

However, what really bothered me was the assumption that all students are like this. Now, I do agree that a lot of students drink to excess. Some of my teammates are like that; I’ve been out with them a few times and drank to excess those few times. I’ll admit to that. But on most other weekends, my friends and I will catch the free movie at the HUB, watch movies in the dorm, play video games, and do homework. Not every student goes out every night of every weekend and gets completely annihilated and pee in public, get into fights, or punch cop cars. In fact, a majority of students don’t do that. Most of them are in their dorms doing various, non-alcohol related things.

That one statistic also dwarfs the ones that really matter; those regarding the great education. Penn State is a highly prestigious intellectual school. In fact, according to an article published in The Wall Street Journal, Penn State in the number one place recruiters look to fill job positions. Our business school (Smeal College of Business) is in the top 10 largest business schools in the country, the US World and News Report ranked our College of Engineering 17^th in the nation and our College of Education 22^nd. This piece is talking about life on the number one party school’s campus but they failed to mention anything about our campus that is true fact: we are Penn State. We get a phenomenal education. And Graham Spanier said it very well: it’s an online survey done by students. We will win it. We will win almost any student-based survey because of our numbers and school spirit. It is not a completely accurate survey. But the surveys and reports about our education are fact. THAT is life on the campus of the #1 party school in the country for 2009.

Now on a more objective note, the piece was very relevant to the audience because it was easy to listen to and the pathos, logos, and ethos were very noticeable and common. The piece talked about the amount of excessive drinking that Penn State students partake in as well as the dangers it poses. The piece does a decent job of using facts and details to emphasize the point as well as interviewing people. The interviews of local residents, police officers, drunk and sober students, and President Graham Spanier help to show the struggle of Penn State faculty to combat drinking excessively. Overall, the piece is well done and very effective, if not a tad ignorant of other aspects of life at Penn State.

Journal Three

Lamott talks a lot about writing a shitty first draft in order to get a good finished product. She believes that a shitty first draft is the best way to find the “perfect line” for the opener, or the perfect way to end the story, or anything at all. She believes that someone in this shitty first draft is at least one gold nugget of excellence that will make the “waste of time” all worth it in the end. She believes there is no writer who can just sit down and write a perfect essay/paper/editorial/book. It’s a process that requires time and effort. As for me, as I am not a professional writer, I will definitely need first, second, third, and sometimes even four drafts to get a good paper worthy of an audience. I do believe that somewhere hidden in every essay is the perfect line that will spark the paper and lead it toward greatness, it is just a matter of finding it among the mess of the drafts.

I enjoyed when Lamott talked about how no writer can just sit down and write a bestseller. Not that I believed that was how they did it, I didn’t exactly realize it took that much frustration and time (as well as anxiety). I thought professional writers had an easier time that the “average” person when writing but that may not be the case.

When writing my first draft, I will take into account much of what Lamott said. Before, I took first drafts as an annoying waste of time. Now, after reading a chapter from Lamott’s book, I learned that the first draft is very crucial to a good paper. Even great writers have “shitty first drafts.” In fact, they use their shitty first drafts as a stepping stone to what will become their final draft. Lamott’s book taught me not to feel frustrated when my first draft is utterly atrocious. I plan on making the best of my first draft and trying to write it well but I will not get angry or upset when it turns out badly. I just want to be able to find that one piece of writing that will inspire my writing into making the paper good. For me, rough drafts are about both the product and the process. The first draft gets all the jitters and cobwebs out as well as helps to reach the final draft. As a non-professional writer, I do not write every day. I need a first draft to get used to writing again. Using transitions, attracting the reader, describing the situation, all require constant attention. Without the constant attention, those skills become faulty. I need the first draft of a paper to strengthen those skills again (aka to practice the process). As for the product, writing a good first draft (which is rare) almost ensures that the final draft will be excellent. Even if a terrible first draft is what you get, it is no reflection of how your final draft will turn out. Using Lamott’s ideas and suggestions, my first draft will (good or bad) help me write a good paper.

Journal Three

Lamott talks a lot about writing a shitty first draft in order to get a good finished product. She believes that a shitty first draft is the best way to find the “perfect line” for the opener, or the perfect way to end the story, or anything at all. She believes that someone in this shitty first draft is at least one gold nugget of excellence that will make the “waste of time” all worth it in the end. She believes there is no writer who can just sit down and write a perfect essay/paper/editorial/book. It’s a process that requires time and effort. As for me, as I am not a professional writer, I will definitely need first, second, third, and sometimes even four drafts to get a good paper worthy of an audience. I do believe that somewhere hidden in every essay is the perfect line that will spark the paper and lead it toward greatness, it is just a matter of finding it among the mess of the drafts.

I enjoyed when Lamott talked about how no writer can just sit down and write a bestseller. Not that I believed that was how they did it, I didn’t exactly realize it took that much frustration and time (as well as anxiety). I thought professional writers had an easier time that the “average” person when writing but that may not be the case.

When writing my first draft, I will take into account much of what Lamott said. Before, I took first drafts as an annoying waste of time. Now, after reading a chapter from Lamott’s book, I learned that the first draft is very crucial to a good paper. Even great writers have “shitty first drafts.” In fact, they use their shitty first drafts as a stepping stone to what will become their final draft. Lamott’s book taught me not to feel frustrated when my first draft is utterly atrocious. I plan on making the best of my first draft and trying to write it well but I will not get angry or upset when it turns out badly. I just want to be able to find that one piece of writing that will inspire my writing into making the paper good. For me, rough drafts are about both the product and the process. The first draft gets all the jitters and cobwebs out as well as helps to reach the final draft. As a non-professional writer, I do not write every day. I need a first draft to get used to writing again. Using transitions, attracting the reader, describing the situation, all require constant attention. Without the constant attention, those skills become faulty. I need the first draft of a paper to strengthen those skills again (aka to practice the process). As for the product, writing a good first draft (which is rare) almost ensures that the final draft will be excellent. Even if a terrible first draft is what you get, it is no reflection of how your final draft will turn out. Using Lamott’s ideas and suggestions, my first draft will (good or bad) help me write a good paper.