Halloween

Once upon a time..
It was Halloween and all the children in the neighborhood were extremely excited. There some dressed as a witch, zombie, and vampires. There was also a little boy dressed up as the ghost, Casper. All the costumes were interesting and fun to look at as the children walked by. As the dark night began to set it, the neighborhood became quiet as the children ran back to their houses. I got up from my chair and walked into my house. As I closed the door, I heard a loud bang on the wall of my house. I walked outside to see what it was and I stepped into something slimy. I looked down to see that someone had thrown a pumpkin and qourd at my house. I was very suspicious, and wondered if it was the evil kid thatg lived next door. He always caused problems in the neighborhood. In that moment, I remembered that I had an apple pie in the kitchen. I quickly ran in to get, ran back outside and threw it at the boy's house. Now he knows not to ever mess with me again.

Exercise 2 Continued

Although some people believe these authors are taking aware their right to creative and personal writing, Graff and Birkenstein insist that they are merely trying to assist in the ways people structure their writing, rather than writing for them. In sum, then, their view is that their book will only benefit studennts and their writing techniques.
I agreewith Graff and Birkenstein. In my view, the types of templates that the authors recommend are very straight forward and can have any view point fit with them. For instance, in the example, "she argues that...., and I agree because,"can go with any view supporting or not supporting. In addition, you could use many other templates as well. Some might object , of course, on the grounds that the templates will only make their writing sound more robotic, than opinionated. Yet I would argue that the level of enthusiasm in the writing is soley based on the writer itself, rather than the templates. Overall then, I believe the templates that Graff and Birkenstein created, provide support and structure to opinionated writing-an important point to make given the fact that there are many opposing opinions surfacing in today's world.

Exercise 2

In the Introduction to "They Say/ I Say" : The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein provide templates designed to assist students in organized their persuasive thinking. Specifically, Graff and Birkenstein argue that the types of writing templates they offer truly improve the emotion and meaning in what people write and argue about. As the authors themselves put it, it is an "effective way of academic writing." Although some people believe

Exercise 1

There are many adolescents and parents that encourage high school students not to have a job while in school. They see high school as a job, and that is what they should be spending their time doing rather than making money. However, high school is very demanding and requires a lot of time and effort. On the contrary, many high school students enjoy having jobs. They enjoy having that extra money in the bank and being able to provide for themselves. For the truth is that having a job while in high school is a great learning opportunity. The student learns how to be responsible and balance their schedule with school and work. Sometimes these adolescents also participate in extra curriculars as well. In this essay, then, demostrates how having a job while in high school will only benefit the student, as it is preparing them for the future.

I Believe..

I believe in laughter..
I totally agree with what this woman wrote. I have certainly had my fair share of embarrassing moments and I am only 18 years old! The best way to get over something like that, is to laugh it off. I feel as long as you laugh, you will let people know that it does not bother you and they are bound to start laughing with you. Laughter is one of the keys to life, I think, and  I will never stop laughing.

I didn't wash my car last month..
After reading this passage, I see where this man is coming from. The rocking chair test is simple yet, very important. Everyone likes to have a clean house or car, but in reality, that won't matter when you're 80 years old and looking back on your life. Of course you should keep things some what tidy, but obsessing over the little things is not neccassary. The rocking chair test reminds you of what is important in life and what matters. Having a clean car every month is not something that matters.

Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude..
I have always felt bad for delivery people. No matter young or old, I always feel bad for them. Why do I feel bad for them? Because they spend their time driving around to other peopls' houses, bringing them their food. Pizza delivery people also get to deal with the attitudes of all the customers. After working at JoAnn Fabrics, I appreciate cashiers, waiters and pizza delivery people so much more. They have to do what no one else wants to.

I Have a Stalker

It never once crossed my mind that such a thing would happen to me. I am a normal human being, with a normal boring life. I spend hours at my crammed office space, arguing with my fellow employees about reality television, things that do not matter in life. I finish my longs, dreary days with a long run to let go of all the negative energy I may have.
On one of these very needed runs, I was running through the path surrounded by numerous trees. It was clear that autumn had made its make on this area. The leaves on the trees were a rusty, orange color and the smell of fall setting in was almost theraputic. While making my way through the woods, I was thanking God for this beautiful day when all of the sudden, I came upon a stray cat.The cat was almost an exact replica of Garfield, with the exception of its size. I had never once come across a cat that looked like this.
 Let me get this clear, I am not a big fan of animals, let alone cats. It looked very helpless, almost pathetic. I slowed to a stop, and starred at the little thing. To my surprise, it starred right back at me. I looked to the left, and it did the same. I looked to the right, and it followed as well. I soon became tired of this cat and began to run again.
As I turned the corner to get on my street, I saw an orange object appear. I knew it wasn't flowers becuase I do not have the time to plant any. I thought,"maybe it is the neighbor's mums." However, as I got closer i realized, with much dismay, that it was the Garfield cat. I was astonished. This animal had followed me home! I could the wave of anxiety encompass me, and I began to sweat. "Why would this thing follow me", I thought. I quickly ran to my front door, stormed into the house, and slammed the door behind me. I then peered out the window, only to see that the cat was still sitting there. It was almost as if the animal was stalking me.
I woke the next morning to the sound of nothing. It was definitly, quite eerie. I slowly walked down the windy stairs to the first floor. I noticed that the stairs were covered in dust bunnies. I made a mental note to make sure that the bunnies get taken care of. As I walked past the front door, I looked out to see if the cat was still there. I then screamed at the top of my lungs as I found three, dead birds in front of the cat. "The cat had killed them!", I thought. I ran to my kitchen, picked up a spoon (which was the only thing I could find) and ran out into the morning sun. I ran at the cat, telling it to leave and go away. As I continued to make a scene, some of my neighbors came outside once they had heard me screaming. "What are you yelling at?", they said. "This cat is stalking me!", I exclaimed. But as I turned around, the cat was gone. It was no where to be scene. My neighbors, I was sure of it, thought I was a lunatic. However, I still see the cat from time to time, stalking my existence.

Stairs

Every Monday, the cross country team travels to Highbanks. Highbanks is a park filled with paths to walk through the tree covered, woods. Although Highbanks is typically a very peaceful place to be, I dread going there every week. While the team is at Highbank, we run six miles through the hilly course. Some people run eight or four miles, depending on their training. I am one of the people that has to run six miles. The first time we ran at this park was also the first time I would run six miles without stopping. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. As we started running, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. There were very large hills, and plenty of them, but I knew this would only help me later on in the season. However, as we turned the corner to face the BFH, big freaking hill, I could feel my body preparing itself to double over. It was as if the hill was never ending! As I finally reached the top, my legs were cement boulders. It was a workout to even move them a step forward. With all the pain and exhaustion I was experiencing, I knew I stil had to go on. I continued through the gravel path, the winding turns, and steep inclines and declines till I finally reached the stairs. This was the most enormous set of stairs I had ever seen. I began sprinting up the stairs, taking two at a time. As I reached the top, the feeling of happiness encompassed me. I had never been so relieved to be done with a workout. "That wasn't that bad", I said to my friend natalie, "I am so glad we are done though." Natalie then said, "Oh no we have another two miles to go." The stairs and I continued to meet every Monday after that.