Aria: a Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood

When I was younger my family and I didn't really have a special language as Rodriguez did. My dad's side of the family is from Guatemala so they tried teaching me Spanish as a child that way I could communicate with my grandparents however I was reluctant to learning and called them "bad words". I wish I would have learned spanish because even though i took three years of spanish in high school i don't have a great knowledge of it. I couldn't tell you how to say a lot of things but I wish i could. i can't talk to my grandparents because like me, they don't know englihs very well. therefore i have to use my dad to translate for me when i speak to them on the phone and that's disappointing. i would like to be able to have a conversation, even if it was short, once in my life but it doens't look like that's going to happen.

Thesis

Thesis: the central idea in a work of writing to which everything else in the work refers. In some way each sentence and paragraph in an effective essay serves to support the thesis and to make it clear and explicit to readers. Good while writing, often set down atheis statement or thesis sentence to help them define thier purpose. They also ofthen include this statement in their essay as a promise and a guide to readers.

Classification

When you classify you arrange subjects into more manageable groups. The subject of a classification is always a number of things to be arranged. The simplist classification is binary (two part) in which you sort things with 1) distinguishing features and 2) those without it.

Make sure the categories you choose do not overlap eachother. Make sure they are distinct and each subject only fits into one category.

"Not All Men Are Sly Foxes" by Armin A. Brott

Brott's argument claims that children are highly influenced by what teacher's and parent's read to them but I must disagree. Sure, books are going to spark children's imagination (ex: reading a book with monsters may cause a child to look under his bed every night) but so do movies and television. As far as influencing the way a child thinks and their views on life I don't believe books play as significant of a role in mind development as Brott makes them out to do. When children are read to or read books, especially young children, they aren't analyzing and going beyond the text because their minds aren't as complex as an adult's. Children mainly remember pictures or the climax of a book because that's what interests them... not the lack of a father role in fairy tales.

One of my favorite books as a child was Alice in Wonderland. What stood out for me was all of the different characters in the book and how the world she was in was described and changed throughout the story. I paid no attention to the fact that many of the characters sort of symbolize drugs (ex: the catapillar smoking the pipe and seeming nice and calm at first then explodes as would someone who is smoking crack cocaine) or that the mother was the one teaching Alice (a lack of a father I suppose). I did not even notice the lack of a father until I read this article and I don't think anyone notices until someone points it out. I think that Brott is making a silly argument just to argue. Children's books aren't always politically correct because they don't need to be, THEY'RE FAIRY TALES.

Division or Analysis

Division or analysis refers to spareting a large and complicated subject into smaller parts that are easier to understand. Depending on the subject is how easy or difficult it is to divide or analyze it. If the subject is complex it is more difficult to do a division or analysis whereas if it is simple it is easier.

Use an outline to help write a division or analysis paper. You don't want to overlook any aspect of your subject because this paper is meant to be thorough. Use a lot of evidence to support your paper. Focus on your thesis statement and outline to make your paper less confusing and boring to read.

Using and Documenting Sources

When writing a paper you want your sources to be relevant to your topic as well as reliable. To determine the source's relevance and reliabilty as yourself these questions:
-what is the purpose of the source, and who is the source's intended audience?
-is the material a primary or a secondary source?
-is the author an expert? what are his or her credentials?
-does the author's bias affect the reliablity of his or her argument?
-does the author support his or her arugment with evidence that is complete and up to date?

A primary source is a work by someone who conducted or saw events first hand. A secondary source presents and analyzes the information in primary sources and includes histories, reviews, and surveys of a field.

Make sure that the author of a source is trustworthy and uncover any bias as well.

Look for strong evidence to support the arugment a source conveys.

When using online sources you can either use the school's library web site or the internet browser, but always use the library's first. Judge a website's reliability before using.

A paraphrase or summary must express the original idea in a new way otherwise it is plagiarism. Always cite your information. Common knowledge does not need to be cited.

Size 6: The Western Women's Harem

Unfortunately, this story is not uncommon to find in the United States. In this country thin is beautiful. Typically, it doesn't even matter if a woman/man has a pretty/handsome face, if they're fat no one even pays attention to them or people say "they would be so much more attractive if they lose weight". Everyone's guilty of doing this though; I know I am. I've never once been attracted to anyone overweight (as shallow as that may sound) because it's not normal to be attracted to that type of body frame.

In the United States, in order to be attractive a girl must: be thin, usually tan, physically toned, have good hair, wear flattering clothes (not necessarily skimpy clothes although that is the case sometimes), and have a pretty face. For a male to be attractive, he must: be physically fit, take care of himself, have muscles, and a handsome face. Usually magazines, television, and celebrities influence what's attractive and what's not. For example, in the 80's men who had a lot of muscle, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, were considered to be very attractive. Today however, men who are skinny but a little muscular, such as Tobey McGuire, are what's attractive.

In both males and females, like I said before, it is unacceptable to be fat or overweight at all. This is why a lot of women and some men develop eating disorders. It seems that the past few years celebrities have set the standard very high as to what the normal weight should be. Seeing pictures of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, who are both very attractive, gaining a lot of male attention for thier bodies makes it seem that all women should look like them. It's not just normal, everyday women who think like this though, Jessica Simpson for instance lost a lot of weight (she was never fat) in order to feel more attractive. This shows that all women are influenced and well aware of what the standard norm as far as attractiveness is concerned is.