Jackson Potter was a video game addict.  His college dorm room was consumed by his gaming console, which occasionally doubled as a computer.  The tower took up half of his desk, and the monitor stole the other half.  Since his parents were no longer monitoring how much time he spent playing video games, he was allowed to play almost non-stop.  His passion was World of Warcraft, and he had friends all of the U.S. that he had met through the game.  Unfortunately, he spent so much time on his computer that he had almost no friends at Purdue.  He had fallen victim to an addiction that at least 1 million people suffer from world-wide: World of Warcraft. It is a sub-culture that is known the world over, and over 10 million people subscribed to in 2008 holding the title as “Most Profitable Video Game of all Time”.  The World of Warcraft is growing rapidly, and it is causing a moral dilemma for some: how much is too much?  China’s news organization reported that a young gamer played for 7 days straight, and died from exhaustion.  World of Warcraft is harmful to the individual’s that play because it takes priority over face-to-face socializing, it causes gamers to choose the video game as opposed to real-life, and it can have profound health effects.

Should I stay or should I go now? (The Clash, year?)

I should stay. More importantly, I should stay because:

1) I am a hard working student.

2) This class will help me fufill my goal to become a Mechanical Engineer.

3) Doing well in school is important to me because I am a role model.

Obviously I have never cheated on any of my assignments, and I haven’t missed any classes yet(to my knowledge). I have turned in all of my assignments, and I am averaging an A. But is that enough? No. I should be allowed to stay because I can contribute greatly to the class through comments and discussion. I have already taken some college-level English courses, and I was instrumental for the flow of the discussion in those classes. For some reason, I think of some pretty strange ideas during discussions, and it leads others to new ideas for the entire group. Mine aren’t always brilliant points (most of the time they’re not), but it does help others to think about an issue more than the three points that they were required to write down before discussion. Also, because some of my ideas are so ridiculous, it provides for comic relief. Which is a little embarrassing, but it is also very helpful for keeping the discussion moving because it helps people relax.

Another reason I should not fail ENGL 106 is because it will destroy my aspirations and goals. I am trying to get into the Mechanical Engineering program, and I have to maintain a 2.7. Even more importantly, ENGL 106 is a required freshmen Engineering course, so without it I will not be able to move into the Mechanical Engineering program. My goal is to become a Mechanical Engineer and work with electric vehicles, planes, or robots. Ideally I would like to work for Tesla motors, but I would love working at Lockheed Martin or Boeing as well. If I don’t pass ENGL 106, then I will not be able to get my degree, and I won’t be able to work at any of those places.

Finally, I must pass ENGL 106 because I am a role model. I was a captain in two sports at my High school, and I keep in touch with many of the students that are still in High school. I have shown them that hard work can get you places (the 9th best Engineering school in the country), and that school is very important for your success. I always tried to help other teammates with their school work, and I showed them that a low grade is better than failing, so they should never give up. If I wasn’t allowed to finish ENGL 106, then I would have no basis for what I told those students. I would be asking them to “do as I say, not as I do,” and that is isn’t fair to anybody.

I have shown that it is imperative that I stay in this class, because I am a good student, I have goals that are based on my passing of this class, and there are high-schoolers that look up to me and they know how well I do in classes.

And as the Clash song goes:

Darling you gotta let me know
Should I stay or should I go?
If you say that you are mine
Ill be here til the end of time
So you got to let know
Should I stay or should I go?

Always tease tease tease
Siempre – coqetiando y enganyando
Youre happy when Im on my knees
Me arrodilla y estas feliz
One day is fine, next is black
Un dias bien el otro negro
So if you want me off your back
Al rededar en tu espalda
Well come on and let me know
Me tienes que desir
Should I stay or should I go?
Me debo ir o que darme

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know

This indecisions bugging me
Esta undecision me molesta
If you dont want me, set me free
Si no me quieres, librame
Exactly whom Im supposed to be
Diga me que tengo ser
Dont you know which clothes even fit me?
saves que robas me querda?
Come on and let me know
Me tienes que desir
Should I cool it or should I blow?
me debo ir o quedarme?

Should I stay or should I go now?
yo me frio o lo sophlo?
If I go there will be trouble
Si me voi – va ver peligro
And if I stay it will be double
Si me quedo es doble
So you gotta let me know
Me tienes que decir
Should I stay or should I go?

yo me frio o lo sophlo?

I should stay.

P.S. Danny Kolenz would like to stay too.

Subject: Remaking films: Never a good idea, period.
Claim:

1) There has never been a good remake. Every time a director tries to remake a film, they try to contrast with the old film by showing how society is different today (whether consciously or subconsciously), and it ends up being their personal gripe with society instead of a tribute to a classic.

2) Actors generally try to play the characters from the original movie, when the script is calling for a different person entirely.

3) Hollywood can’t come up with any new ideas, so they use ideas over and over until the audience is tired of them. (Sometimes a movie has been remade 4 times!!)

Evidence: “Around the World in 80 days”. This is a horrible remake.

” “Around the World in 80 Days” is the realization that we live in more violent times in 2004 than we did in 1956…” (Ventre)

Clearly the aim of the film was to entertain with action, but it also made the suttle claim that the world is not a safe place!

Assumption: A sampling of remakes will stand as a good example for all remakes.

Subject: Remakes are a good thing for society.

Claim:

1) Updating classic films with more current attitudes and beliefs makes them more understandable for the public.

2) Remakes are a tribute to classic films, and they keep them alive for new generations.

3) Actors can look at how the original movie played out, and try their own twist on the characters to make the movie different and fresh, while keeping with the original themes.

Evidence: “Scarface” is a remake of a 1936 film about gangs, but to update the movie, Al Pacino plays a Cuban drug lord. It is an entirely different take on what it means to be a “gang”, but it made for a better movie because people could relate to it. (Especially if they were keeping up with the most recent episodes of Miami Vice!)

Assumptions: All remakes are intended to honor an older film by updating it so that the public can relate.

My top five favortie movies in order: Star Wars: Episode IV, The Matrix, The Shootist, Wayne’s World, and Animal House.

These movies aren’t necessarily the greatest film creations, but they each have a great amount of entertainment value.  Star Wars is a classic, but there are were 5 other movies that I didn’t choose.  Why?  Because they don’t seem to be as special as the first movie.  The actors were unaware that they were starring in a record-breaking blockbuster film.  They were just acting in a crazy little sci-fi film, and they could have fun acting taking the roles as real as they wanted.  (Luke Skywalker… not so good in any of the other movies.)  The effects were incredible, because there wasn’t the unlimited budget that is available today.  The ships in the opening scene were not computer animation, but models.  The models look far more realistic than any animation ever could, so it makes the fight scenes far more believable.   Unfortunately, scenes have been added to the movie that have computer animation, and it is extremely distracting.

Most of the films that I chose are somewhat classics, but they are all the originals (if they are in a series).  The Matrix, Star Wars, Animal House, and Wayne’s World are all movies that had unclear futures.  They ended up being major parts of our culture and many sub-cultures, but no one knew that when they were filming, which makes them special.  The one movie that was intended to be a hit and a classic was the Shootist.

The Shootist is John Wayne’s last movie.  He was losing a battle with cancer, and could hardly work some days.  (I believe that he had lung cancer).  Some of the other actors in the film were working for less than usual or nothing at all as a favor to John, or maybe just so they could act in his last movie with him.  Lauren Bacall, Jimmy Stewart, Ron Howard, and Harry Morgan were all actors that probably (almost certainly) would not have been in the film at all if it hadn’t been for John Wayne.  He had the choice of limping his way through the movie, or maybe even giving up entirely, but he decided to make it his best acting job ever.

It is a very dramatic western because of the camera angles that were different from most other John Wayne movies.  Wide-angle shots and mirrors were used extensively throughout the movie to show who was watching, who was being watched, and when the bad guy finally enters the saloon.  The final shoot-out wasn’t the usual fight on main street, and the town wasn’t deserted.  John Wayne was sitting in a bar, and luckily the mirrors showed him everything.  He played an ailing cowboy as his best performance ever, because he knew exactly what it was like to die of lung cancer (sometimes it wasn’t acting).

I guess the thing that I liked most about all of these movies was that the actors were trying extremely hard to make these movies go, and they weren’t sure at the time whether they would be major hits or not.  Luckily, these movies became classics.

Summary:

Roger Sipher believes that failing school systems can be saved by making them optional instead of mandatory.  He says that mandatory attendance does not help students that don’t want to go to school, and often the rules aren’t enforced because school districts don’t have enough money.  He states that abolishing mandatory attendance laws would save school districts 15%, and the level of education would increase.  He believes that students would learn early that if students want to continue their education, they will have to work at learning because teachers will no longer pass students that should not be passed.

Paraphrase:

Roger Sipher introduces his argument by suggesting that students that do not want to learn will not benefit from mandatory attendence.  He also claims that such students are ruining the educational opportunities for students that do want to learn.

Quotation:

Roger Sipher stated that “William Landes and Lewis Solomon, economists, found little evidence that mandatory-attendance laws increased the number of children in school”, which suggests that repealing such laws would not affect attendance, but would save schools money.

My grandparents used to live in the suburbs about 20 minutes away from our house. I still remember riding in the back of my dad’s ‘92 Camry LE (sweetest car ever), and mentally checking off all of the checkpoints to their house: freeway, bridge, Fleet Farm, Corn/Pumpkin stand, old gas station, new gas station, driving range (almost there!), and finally the sign out front that reads “Moe’s Meadows”. They owned a small “hobby” farm that was about 7 and 1/2 acres. Driving up to their house, you could stare at the enormous front yard for about 5 minutes before you got to gate at the beginning of their long, elegant driveway. (The gate was some trees over the beginning of a gravel road, but it was my favorite part when I was young.) Driving up to their house was always fun because there was so much stuff to see and do.

“On your right, see 40 pine trees that my grandpa is growing to sell.”

(I don’t know about that business plan, since they never grew taller than me in 10 years.)

“On your left, is the white fence between the 4 HUGE pine trees (at least 50 feet tall each), and the small fire pit is used almost constantly. Even in the middle of winter. Back to the right, a few hundred yards past the baby pine trees is the raspberry patch and goat pen.”

(That’s right, my grandparents used to have a goat, instead of a dog.)

Their house was older than most in the city (maybe even 3rd oldest), and grandma always wanted it to be listed with the historical society. I didn’t really care how the hosuse old it was, but I did like the basement and- cellar. Their basement had an extra little-room that they used for storage, but I used it as the sweetest hide-out ever! The door was mostly hidden, and it was so small that I could only fit through it when I was in elementary school. What my grandparents thought of as old storage, I thought was hidden treasure. I always found something new to play with down there: a rocking horse, a typewriter, a projector, and I once found a cart from a hospital. There was so much stuff crammed into that tiny room, that it was hard to move around. It was even harder to see because there was only the one 60-watt bulb hanging in the middle of the room. The basement was also where my grandma did most of her craft stuff. My grandpa is really good at making things out of wood, and my grandma is good at painting whatever he makes, so they could make some beautiful stuff. Most of the time they just made dolls and decorations that they could give to people as presents, so there were always about 20 dolls yet-to-be-painted.  My grandma always told me that they were waiting for me the next time I came to visit.

A 13-year-old living on the streets can do whatever he wants.  He can do drugs, steal, have sex, decide when to go to bed, sleep where he wants.  He has the best lifestyle imaginable for a 13-year-old.  Then again, what if his mighty kingdom isn’t as special as he tries to tell people.  A psychologist might say that the lack  of consistency is traumatic for a young person.  Who is right?  Well, that is a matter of opinion that is determined by who is telling the story and how.   A paper written by a psychologist might have supporting evidence that is meant to persuade the audience that the boy is not safe on his own, but it would not give an accurate portrayal of what the boy’s life is like.  Likewise, an interview with the boy on the street might give the audience an idea of what his life is like from day to day, but it would not give any idea at what the boy’s emotions are like.  The difference is that the control is lost when the audience is able to see the boy’s life.  When the audience can see boy the either through film or pictures, they are able to draw their own conclusions about his life.  When the boy’s life is described in a formal paper or story, the supporting evidence usually gives the audience no reason to suspect that the story is anything but the truth.  It may be an exaggerated truth because the author wants to prove a point, but the audience is not able to make a decision based on all of the facts.  A story can be written either for or against the boy’s lifestyle, but it is usually written with some sort of bias.  A picture of film can be used to shape the audiences viewpoint, but it doesn’t always change the audence’s viewpoint as it was originally intended.  The bottom line is that visual media gives the audience a better chance to shape their own viewpoints, but a written media significantly reduces that possibility.

Please finish this phrase:

“Hearts, stars, and horshoes. Clovers, and blue moons, ___ __ ____ _____, __ __ __ ______!”

If you know this jingle word for word, then you probably watched cartoons as a child. If you missed that first one, here’s a chance to redeem yourself:

“Now this is a story, all about how, my life got flipped-turned upside down…..”

Remember that one? Now before we get into an argument that TV and the media have no lasting effect, I would like to point out that you just proved that there is a connection, so don’t start with me.

The claim that society is not driven by visual images in the media is a bunch of bull. There is no way that Zubaz would have been popular had it not been for the media. (Why is he talking about Zubaz?) Zubaz were originally intended for work-out shorts, but they caught on as a trend and became popular in the early 90’s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubas)

Ok, so Zubaz were a trend, what’s the point? Visual images in the media can dictate how we dress, act, look, and feel. The problem can come when images start to affect people’s health. The idea that women need to be as skinny as possible is redonkulous! The media has been projecting that image for years; popular movie star is skinny, and HOT! So, the message was “skinny=hot”. That is okay for women that naturally have small and slender bodies, but everyone has a different metabolism, which means, a different shape, AND A DIFFERENT BODY!

Now the media is starting to shift, because they have begun to target “the norm”. The average size of women in America is a 12, so the free-market has decided that that is where the money is. But don’t go applauding America’s maturity just yet, because it isn’t accepting of everyone, it’s accepting a larger portion (the majority), but not everyone. Now it’s dangerous to be skinny.

I have a friend that is a world-class track athlete. She is in fantastic shape, and works extremely hard. She is constantly in debates with people about her health, however, because she weighs slightly less than average. Her coach has approached her, her teammates have talked with her, and she was even asked to see a nutrionist. Why? Because America’s views changed overnight, and skinny is out! The nutritionist said that she was eating healthy, but she asked the important question that no one else had asked:

“What is your family history? Has everyone been slender in your family?”

“Yes, why?”

“Well then I don’t see the problem,” the nutritionist said, “you eat healthy, exercise regularly, and you are perfectly normal. Compared with all of America, you are slightly lighter, but all of America isn’t related to you.”

That’s right! You don’t have to be like everyone else to be “normal”. The media’s definition of normal is “whatever section of the population that will rake in the most money”. It’s sick, but true. The media isn’t looking at your eating habits, your exercise habits, or your family history. They want to find the largest group of people that they can advertise to. It’s why men are constantly hit with images that six-packs are sexy, because most men don’t have”rock-hard abs”. But if more American’s bought the AbSlide, or the Total Gym, or even the Ab Loung Ultra, WE STILL WOULDN’T HAVE ROCK-HARD ABS! Logically that doesn’t make sense, they want people to be healthier with their exercise machines, right? Not even close. The media could not give a rat’s ass if the machines work, they just have to look like they work, so people buy them. It has nothing to do with health, but it’s a good defense. “We’re trying to make America healthier!” With abs?…. That’s how America will get healthier? Sit-ups?!

The main point is that no matter what the message is supposed to be, the underlying message is always the same: “BUY MORE STUFF!”  You’re fat? Buy diet pills! You’re too thin? Eat at KFC! You can’t get a date? Viagra! Total Gym! BOTOX! Boob job! Anything you can do (make sure it costs money) will do!  What a load of crap…

We can all take a stand against the media, and it’s just like Sir Mix-a-lot said:

“Shake that healthy butt!  Baby got back!”

Over winter break, my family and I went on vacation to beautiful Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It was an awesome vacation, and we went to the beach every day. It was a perfect trip in my mind, but a perfect trip has to have a few “adventures”. My favorite “adventure” was the day that I learned to surf. It was a classic Griswald-type outing.

My sister had gone surfing before with her friends, because she lives in California, but I had never come close. I am not an olympic champ at swimming, so I was pretty nervous about learning to surf. My sister assured me that I would have an awesome time, and I knew how to wakeboard, so it should be pretty easy to learn how to surf.

We found the surf shop near us and talked to the person at the front desk about lessons:

“Oh, sure. Go out to the beach, and they will take care of you!” said the woman in charge.

“We don’t have to pay here, or ride a shuttle, or anything?” my mom asked pretty skeptically.

“No, go to the beach. They will take care of everything. Here’s the map. Follow route 1 to the beach!” (Red flag: nothing is as easy as “follow route 1″)

“So we just follow this road all the way there?”

“Yeah! It will take about 2 hours. Go have fun, and then come back and buy a shirt!”

“Ok, thank you,” said my mom.

We weren’t ten minutes away from the shop before we realized that it might take longer than 10 minutes. The speed limit is clearly posted as 40 or 60 km/h, but no seems to pay any attention to the signs, because even 80 km/h is too slow. So we figured that the cashier was talking about how it takes when she is driving.

So we are following Route 1, and we get to the city of Cabo San Lucas. The signs are a little confusing, because they are all the same, so we had to guess a little bit as to which direction we needed to go.

“Cabo Pacifica! Just follow those signs, that should get us to the beach. I think it’s the Pacific side of Cabo.” My mom was the navigator for the day, so she was riding shotgun spotting the signs.

We followed the signs for “Cabo Pacifica” all the way through town and out the other side. Unfortunately, this side of town was looking a little sketchy and the road narrowed the farther that we drove. Finally, we reached a cul-de-sac. We were not even close to any beach, so we figured that we missed a turn. Driving back, we saw a sign that points to “Cabo Pacifica”, so we followed it up the hill. (Red flag: Up the hill?)

After a few minutes we reached the gate for the Cabo Pacifica resort. Apparently, the street signs were also signs for hotels, resorts, and restaurants. We asked the guard at the gate how to get to the beach, and if we were close. He was pretty nice, because he obviously knew that we were way off. He told us to head back the city, and turn right at a liquor store, left at Don Miguel, and keep going for an hour. Sounds great! We thanked him and headed back out on our adventure.

We got back to the city and flew right past Don Miguel, and into the oncoming traffic of a one-way.

“Holy crap! They should put up signs for one-ways!” my dad said a little frustrated. (He has a detached retina, and the surgery didn’t fix it properly, so he couldn’t see well out of one eye. It was making him nervous trying to drive with one good eye.)

So we looped around the one-ways four times before we got lost again. We stopped at a “Mini-Super” (like a mini super-market, get it?) and asked for directions. Well, first we asked for someone that could speak a little english, so that we could go use both English and Spanish to talk to them. I think that it was the store manager that helped us. My mom talked to him while we sat in the car.

My mom minored in Spanish, so she was doing pretty well talking to this guy. They were having a pretty in depth conversation, and I was only able to translate a few things: 6 blocks, left, 2 blocks, right. Then some other guy walks up to my dad’s window and taps on it so my dad will roll it down.

“1 block. Straight to route 1.” Then he walked away. My dad said thanks at the same time that my mom was saying thank you and getting back in the car. They turn to each other and start talking about which way to go, but decide that one block is better than 6. Of course, it takes 3 one-ways to get 1 block over, but we made.

We finally found route 1 for our adventure to continue for another hour! There’s more to the story, but maybe some other time.

I though that in college I would be able sleep late every day of the week, but I had three 7:30’s first semester! It was horrible! CGT 163 at 7:30 in the morning is HORRIBLE!!! I thought that I could miss a few classes, but if you miss more than three Monday morning lectures you fail the class. 7:30’s should be against the law.

Also, I didn’t realize how far away from my family I really was, because it’s only a ten hour drive. (Not as close as one might think.)
Towards the end of my first semester I had missed two Monday lectures for CGT, and I had a bad stomach ache before lecture. I decided to go to class and tough it out. I was in a lot of pain the entire lecture, so I climbed into the back row and laid down on the floor. It was only a 50 minute lecture, but it seemed like forever!!

After lecture I went to PUSH, and was checked into Urgent Care. They gave me some medication for the nausea, but not the pain… (Thanks PUSH! Nice work!) Then they started running some blood work.

The doctor was pretty nice when she came to see me, “We think that it could be a stomach virus. Where does it hurt?….. Oh really, I’ll be right back.” (It’s not good to surprise a doctor, and it’s worse when the have to go consult with someone else.) 10 minutes later she comes back:

“Ok, it could be a stomach virus or Appendicitis. Any questions?”

“Yeah, can I get something for the pain?” I asked at 12:30 in the afternoon!

“Oh, sure! A nurse will come give you a shot in a little while.” says Dr. X. (Not her real name, duh!)

After the shot the Doctor came back, “Well, the blood work showed an elevated white blood cell count, but that doesn’t tell us much, so we’re gonna take some x-rays. Do you feel up to it?” (Like I had a choice?)

40 minutes, and two wheel chair rides, later the x-rays were back. I had a swollen appendix, but they would need to take a CAT Scan.

“You’re going to be admitted to the hospital, because we can’t do CAT Scans here,” she says.

So I took the shuttle to the hospital, and I was admitted. The nurse had a good laugh because my occupation was listed as “STUD”. That’s right, my occupation is STUD. Anyways, next was time for the CAT Scan preparation. I had to drink a fluid that tasted like a metal mixed with lemonade… not cool. Then I let it sit for an hour, which is a long time since I had no cell phone and only 3-month old magazines to look at. The Cat scan took 20 minutes, but it’s a huge machine that’s pretty noisy. And once again, it was time to wait…

“Ok, the results are back, and you are going to need surgery today. I think that it will be around 5:00 or 5:30. Any questions?” asks some guy that I had never seen before. (The surgeon)

“Yeah, can I call my family?”

“Sure! There’s a phone right there, dial nine first.”

It’s a difficult conversation when you tell your mom that you’re going into surgery. (Especially when she is 10 hours away. ) She told me to call her back in 10 minutes after she thought about it. When I finally did call her back, she had gone into emergency-mom mode: “I have a flight out at 7:00, so I will get there around 9:00. When are you having surgery? Have you called any friends? Is the surgeon nice? Wait! What hospital are you at?!” My mom loves me.

Pre-op was hilarious! I don’t know much of my medical history by heart, so I scared the hell out of the Surgeon and the Anesthesiologist. It went something like this:

“Is there anything wrong with you that I should know about before you go into surgery?” asked the surgeon happily.

“Yep, something with my kidneys.”

“What exactly?” he asked. (Not so happily.)

“I don’t know.”

“History of heart problems in your family?”

“Yep. My mom, Aunt, and Grandma all had open-heart surgery.”

“For what?!” (He was getting nervous.)

“I don’t know.”

“Was it a valve operation?”

“Ooh, YEAH! That’s it.”

“Which valves? Aortal or mitral?”

“Mitral!… I think.”

“OK! Let me listen to your heart….. Ok, you have a heart murmur, but doesn’t sound too serious.” His voice was getting pretty high at this point.

“Oh, that’s right, I have ‘trivial leakage’ or something like that.”

“Anything else?!” (I don’t want to be a surgeon, they’re too stressed.)

“I don’t know.”

(Repeat all of the questions and responses for the Anesthesiologist. He was stressed too! Go figure.)

The last person that talked to me before surgery was the Anesthesiologist:

“You will wake up at 9:30 tonight or tomorrow morning,” he said with a thick Indian accent.

“Sure!” I said, “sounds good.”

“That was a question.” (Akward…)

“Oh, sorry. Tonight sounds great.”

I woke up and my mom was there, and I realized that I had gotten through the whole thing on my own. Whoa! I survived an Appendectomy. Sweet! I got to spend a few days in the hospital with some excellent pain killers. I apparently told a few nurses what my occupation was (STUD remember?), but I have no dates to show for it.

The whole hospital visit was pretty sweet, and bonus: chicks dig scars. (I have a shirt that says so anyways.)

But I still hate 7:30’s. Who’s idea was a 7:30 class, seriously?