RL3
1.) The opening to Jennifer Schwind-Pawlak's The Thrill of Victory...The Agony of Parents is a very fitting one. With one word she pulls the reader in. Everyone has parents, whether they are present or absent so anyone who reads her essay should be pulled in for one reason or another. I definitely was. Schwind-Pawlak could have started with soccer right off the bat. Not everyone is a fan of soccer, so some of the audience probably would have turned away. Her focus was parents not soccer. I think she did just right in the direction she went.
3.) Playful. That would be the one word I would chose that describes the tone of the essay. While there a many moments when Jennifer Schwind-Pawlak is dramatic in her explanation and precise in her description, most of her story is quite fun and humorous. How she talks about her relationship with soccer in the beginning while she contorted her "fingers into chubby pretzels while singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider" made me laugh. When she mentioned how the only thing important to her was "looking cool while running down the field chasing a spotted ball," I could not help but smile. And when Jennifer talks about how she "inched toward" her coach just "to let him know [she] was there, I chuckled knowing how many times I myself have been in that situation. Trying to get someones attention oh so subtlety. All around, this essay made me laugh or at least crack a smile.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
How I Lost My Junior Miss Pagent
RL2
2.) Throughout media the urge to be beautiful is prominent. In American culture, beauty comes from things like low weight, high income, expensive clothes, flawless skin, and luscious hair. This point is explained by Cindy Bosley in her essay, How I Lost My Junior Miss Pageant. She shows that beauty pageants are like a harvesting ground for the stereotypes that brainwash young girls from a very young age. It is a constant race to be the skinniest, the best dressed, the prettiest, and the richest. These things are imprinted into the minds of the youth by their parents, their teachers, their government leaders, and their favorite teen heart-throb. It is a societal tradition, and it affects young children more negatively than people may realize.
3.) I hate to admit it, but I have been affected by the way society views what is normal, desirable, and beautiful. I grew up a curly, red-headed, freckle-faced kid, who was always just a bit overweight. I lived in Arkansas from the ages of twelve to seventeen. In this part of the country, especially on school grounds, people looked a certain way, they dressed a certain way to be popular, and they acted a certain way. This was highlighted in things like the Physical Education program enacted by the Governor himself that forced every student to take part in a P.E. course every day for at least forty five minutes. It was shown in the yearbook annually when pairs of lucky students were voted most beautiful and best dressed. After years of being the kid who always knew the right answer but never said it out loud and being the one who watched as my friend went on dates and sat at the lunch table with the cute boy I had a crush on, I changed. During my freshman year in high school, I lost weight, bought girlie clothes, started straightening my hair, and even started to put on makeup. Today, can I say I am happier? Maybe. Yes, I get more compliments on how I look. But I am still the same girl I was on the inside before I altered how I looked on the outside. I am still the girl who guys would probably like to date, but don't, just like Cindy Bosley. That is fine, but like Bosley, I try to show my younger siblings and cousins and Godson that you do not have to be someone you do not want to be. Don't let society dictate what type of person you are. Just be yourself. I am sorry to say I did not practice my own preach.
2.) Throughout media the urge to be beautiful is prominent. In American culture, beauty comes from things like low weight, high income, expensive clothes, flawless skin, and luscious hair. This point is explained by Cindy Bosley in her essay, How I Lost My Junior Miss Pageant. She shows that beauty pageants are like a harvesting ground for the stereotypes that brainwash young girls from a very young age. It is a constant race to be the skinniest, the best dressed, the prettiest, and the richest. These things are imprinted into the minds of the youth by their parents, their teachers, their government leaders, and their favorite teen heart-throb. It is a societal tradition, and it affects young children more negatively than people may realize.
3.) I hate to admit it, but I have been affected by the way society views what is normal, desirable, and beautiful. I grew up a curly, red-headed, freckle-faced kid, who was always just a bit overweight. I lived in Arkansas from the ages of twelve to seventeen. In this part of the country, especially on school grounds, people looked a certain way, they dressed a certain way to be popular, and they acted a certain way. This was highlighted in things like the Physical Education program enacted by the Governor himself that forced every student to take part in a P.E. course every day for at least forty five minutes. It was shown in the yearbook annually when pairs of lucky students were voted most beautiful and best dressed. After years of being the kid who always knew the right answer but never said it out loud and being the one who watched as my friend went on dates and sat at the lunch table with the cute boy I had a crush on, I changed. During my freshman year in high school, I lost weight, bought girlie clothes, started straightening my hair, and even started to put on makeup. Today, can I say I am happier? Maybe. Yes, I get more compliments on how I look. But I am still the same girl I was on the inside before I altered how I looked on the outside. I am still the girl who guys would probably like to date, but don't, just like Cindy Bosley. That is fine, but like Bosley, I try to show my younger siblings and cousins and Godson that you do not have to be someone you do not want to be. Don't let society dictate what type of person you are. Just be yourself. I am sorry to say I did not practice my own preach.
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