EECU should have a photo card design!

All banks should a program to customize your own debit/credit card. I recently became a member of Educational Employees Credit Union and there is no way to personalize my very own debit card and I'm pretty sad. EECU should be able to photo card their cards SOON!

First Year Completed

OMG, my first year of college is OVEEEEEEERRRRR!!! =D It's an awesome feeling! I didn't think I'd make it through. But I am so proud to say that I made it. I hope next semester gets better. I still miss high school, but I will have to deal with it. Isn't life without a laptop so miserable? Lol. My laptop kind of died...and it's been like almost two months now. It's terrible. I have to use either my sister or my brother's. And man...sometimes when they're both on, I have to use that old and slow desktop we still have. Lol. It used to be worse, but whatever. I am just so excited about vacation and feeling GREAT right now. WHOOOOO!!!

HTML Blog

What would you do without music? I do not know about you, but music is LIFE for me. It's a NEED. Without music, there would be no fun. And the world would be quiet and fun parties and no slow dancing on the dance floor under a disco ball. I used to listen to music all the time and it would not be a distraction to complete my homework. But now... I cannot even focus or get my work done when I have music playing in the background. I get sidetracked and start singing along with the music. I feel like I have not listened to music in a long time. Have you tried some kind of Asian "ice cream" called Mochi? I want some right now. They are really good.

Okay... Some Letters to the Editor are more like informing and telling the reader to appreciate what is given or what done for the society and whatnot. The writer probably chooses to write this kind of Letter to the Editor in showing his gratitude for what has been done to better parkways. Some letters are informing readers to beware of what's happening in the world and end with an "action" clincher. The writer suggests ways that the reader can take action in order to lessen the wrongdoings in our society. These letters state what they want, what they think the changes should be, and their opinions on certain things that should be taken care of. Writers who choose to write about things they want to see change in the future care about the effects it can have on them and other people. The points in these letters are pretty clear and straightforward. They tend to use more of their personal experiences than outside sources.

Chapter 7 in FIAW focuses on the body of an essay. It discusses about the ways in which you are to summarize, quote, and paraphrase. Maybe in some ways, this chapter teaches the proper way to do these things. It talks about how to summarize and quote and then how to analyze. Every chapter in this thin book is very helpful to better your writing.

♫Gloriana's (Kissed You) Goodnight... ♪

Friday's Blog Work

So... I almost forgot to do this blog. I kind of freaked out when I realized I haven't done it. As you can tell...I realized at a very bad time. Lol. Anyways. I could do it tomorrow, but I would rather do it now. Tomorrow's FRIDAY! Already!!! So...I think that my sources are tying up together pretty well this time. I found a few sources that are talking about the same thing. Which points to what my argument could be. I don't know how to put my thesis is words yet, but I know I want to put how the English language is affecting native languages...possibly in a bad way, kind of. Native languages use different letter characters and tones to communicate with each other. These codes leave people who are not a part of this discourse community out. Rhetorical analysis...I am really going to have to show how my sources support my argument and how they are used to show what I am proving. Clear argument...I want you, as the reader, to understand that the English language may be the standard language in almost all over the world, but other native languages that are or were once important are disappearing and vanishing because of that one standard language. And I believe that native languages should be kept and not forgotten. Without native languages, cultures are becoming lost and younger generations will not know where they really came from. And I believe that is not a very good thing. I believe that everyone, even the younger ones in the future should know their elders' background an what kind of culture they come from. In order to maintain cultures and morals and values, families should take this seriously and make sure their younger children know what's important to them. It's important that we know how to communicate with our elders. They are the ones who look after us and whatnot.

Discourse Community Blog

The discourse community that I am most interested in right now is the language discourse. My native language is Hmong. I communicate with my parents through the Hmong language. Well, my siblings too but we sometimes speak in English. Everyone in my family knows how to speak in Hmong because the only way we can really communicate with my mom is through the Hmong language. She does not really understand English. A lot of Hmong teenagers these days cannot speak in Hmong fluently. I am not exactly sure what it is that they cannot speak their native language. And not to be mean, but their English is not that proper either. Maybe it is the English language that affects their ability to speak fluently in Hmong? I do not know. Language is very important to us. If we did not have a common language in our lives, we would not understand what one is saying. In order to comprehend and cooperate with each other, we would need a common language to know what is going on and such. The fact that we live in America and the language we use every day with our peers and colleagues is English, can possibly be a factor that affects our native language.

I do not exactly know what other cultures are like, but in the Asian culture (specifically Hmong), we kind of have some strict values and morals. We really have to respect our elders and have ways of entering houses, such as taking off out shoes. To communicate with our elders, we really have to know how to speak in Hmong. Elders often make fun of kids who do not speak in their native language. They think that it's wrong to not know your native language and your culture. We're not allowed to date someone with the same last name. That would be like dating your own sister/brother. But the strange thing is that you can date your cousin. Someone with the same last name as you might not be related to you at all, but you can't date them. But a cousin, different last name and related...allowed to date. That is strange, don't you think? Kind of weird too. A code we use before eating is washing our hands. Hands tend to be dirty and before eating, it is important that we wash them before putting food in our mouth.

 

For my research, I am looking for articles that show or discuss about how the English language is affecting native languages. The fact that the English language is being taught all over the world, teenagers are losing their native language. And that is forgetting out morals and values.

Midterm Portfolio Revision Process

So do you like your soda cold or room temperature? Cold, right? Because I know I like it cold. But here I am...drinking a Big K Cola at room temperature. I just took it out of the box. I wish it was cold, but I was thirsty so yeah.

Midterm Portfolio...the time has come again to prepare for our English midterm. For the second revision, I am trying to connect my ideas again. It seems like that is my issue with writing. I tend to have trouble with getting my ideas together and making them flow well. So once again, I will have to really focus on the RHETORICALITY part of my essay and make sure to connect them ideas. I feel like my paper does not have enough summarizing. I am considering on putting more of the summaries into my paper. "More summary" was actually one of the comments I received from one of my peers. Apparently, I did not summarize enough of my sources into my first project. I know that summarizing is an important part of the academic writing world. But the point is not to summarize what the text says. You have to have some kind of point in what you are summarizing. For example, if you summarize the text and do not point out the significance of what you just stated, there is not much of a purpose in what you summarized. Now, I used to think that quoting from the text and analyzing it were the most important factors of writing intellectually. That is what I focused on mostly my senior year in high school, but I have learned that everything you write is almost all very important. For instance, reflection. You do not only state whether you agree or disagree, you explain your side and critique the others. Kind of like evaluating your sources. So for my second revision, I plan to critique and put more of "separate thinking/thoughts" into my paper. I believe that if I put a lot of thinking into my sources and how my ideas all connect together, my midterm portfolio will begin to look pretty awesome.

Now, let's listen to another country song. =) One day, I am going to go on a road trip with my sister. Until then, I will keep the faith up. ღ Scotty McCreery's "The Trouble With Girls".

FIAW Chapter 5

I want a little puppy.

When I read these chapters, they seem like really serious stuff. But you know what? They are very good information. We read some really interesting stuff in this class. These books give deeper meanings into what academic writing is like and such. What I have learned more about in this chapter five of FIAW is how an academic writer reads to understand the "issues, situations, and questions that lead other writers to make claims" (83). Academic writers take their time to read and fully understand the point they want their readers to catch up on. They write in a way that makes their readers respond or react in different ways. They also come up with questions that will lead their readers or other writers to other ideas and make them their claims. An important factor in writing is to make sure that you state a thesis. A true thesis is "an assertion that academic writers make at the beginning of what they write and then support with evidence throughout their essay" (83). Academic writers state their main point or what they want to prove in one sentence. And following the thesis would be body paragraphs that include evidence that supports their claim. We have learned a lot about this in this class. But reading more about it in different ways bring to my mind new things, and new views of what a thesis really is. The more you read about something, the more you understand the real meaning of what it is.

This chapter suggests three ways to how to develop a working thesis. The first way is the correcting-misinterpretations model. This model is used to correct writers that write their thesis in a form that is more of a factual claim.The second is the filling-the-gap model. This model helps writers to include discussions that other writers had forgotten to confer in their writing. The third is the modifying-what-others-have-said model. This model contributes the writer's thoughts with other writers' to form a thesis. These models give such good examples of how you can develop a thesis in your own writing. This reading has given me a deeper meaning of how to develop a thesis, and good ways to form a good thesis. These models can help me develop better thesis in the future.

I love cute little things. <3

I have good news! Tomorrow...I only have ONE class! =D And that is Music class. No English on Fridays, like usual, and my other two classes are cancelled. So tomorrow is going to go by fast. Have a good night! zZzZZZzzzzZzzzzZzZZzzz...

FIAW Chapter 4 Blog

Chapter 4 of FIAW is like an addition to our lecture in English class on Wednesday. It teaches the reader how to detect the main purpose of a paper, whether it be reading a paper or writing one. The questions bullet-ed on the first page of this chapter help the reader or writer to ask themselves what the purpose or claim of the paper is. In order to find a point in a piece of writing, it is important that you ask yourself questions such as: "what are the situations motivating these people to write?"; "who will be interested in reading what I have to say?"; and "what kinds of evidence might persuade my readers?". And of course there are more questions that pertain to the point here, but I find those ones easier to understand what to look for in the writing. I find questions like the ones I have just mentioned very helpful when you are reading an article or writing a paper. When writing a paper, you often find yourself developing ideas and actually write words when you ask yourself, "so what?", "what's the point?", "what do I want my readers to understand here?". These are questions that can help you get to the point of your paper.

Just something cute I wanted to show you. =)

In order to answer these questions, you must identify and issue, understand the situation, and formulate a question. You can identify an issue in many different ways. One way is to draw on your personal experience. In our previous years of writing, we were taught to not use personal pronouns and you in our papers. But the fact is that "our personal experiences influence how we read, what we pay attention to, and what inference we draw" (67). We can see what the author sees if we have similar experiences. It is easier to relate to the paper if you fully understand the situation and such. And because we can actually reflect on what we read, we tend to pay more attention to what is interesting to us. Another way to identify an issue is to resist binary thinking. You should "try to tease out complexities that may not be immediately apparent" (68). Try and get rid of the information that does not seem to be an issue or a difficulty. Another way is to build on and extend the ideas of others. By doing this, you will find your ideas building up as you learn about the ideas of others'. It will give you a connection to other readings and ideas that will help you do a fine job in your writing. It is important to understand the main purpose and claim of something you read or write. The purpose of the paper gives your reader an idea of what it is you are trying to point out and why it matters. A paper would not mean much if there is no meaning or purpose to it.

Nickel and Dimed Evaluation Chapter Blog

In this last chapter of Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich discusses about her experience in working as a low-wage employee. In her experience, she discovers that it is not as easy as she thought it would be working in the low-wage society. She also discovers this part of her that she is a person of average ability: she is capable of learning how to do the job and also capable of screwing up. During her experience, she notes that just learning how to do the job is not exactly the main goal. Your personality and how you do your job have a big effect on yourself as a worker. Ehrenreich learns that these people do their job for a living. And through Ehrenreich's investigation working as a low-wage paid employee, she mostly focused on how to survive more than how she performed the job. In my opinion, I think it is better to focus on how to survive rather than how you do your job, especially when you have a family and have to take care of them. If it was me, I would have done the same, even if it's just an investigation. But the thing is, in order to survive, how you perform your job is a really big factor to keeping your job. If you screw up somehow and upset your customers, you might even get fired. That, then, would be a little problematic because you would have to find another job to support yourself and your family. And it isn't that easy looking for a job.

Ehrenreich goes on to tell about how it is often suggested that the government provides when the market system fails. But to me, this hardly seems like it. I honestly do not think that the government takes enough care of the people in America, especially the lower class people. Considering that the lower class struggles to get by, they should be able to receive more help from the government and not be looked upon so lowly. I am starting to doubt our government about how well it takes care of its citizens. Everyone seems to be struggling at some point. But some people do suffer more. Ehrenreich talks about low-wages and notes what she sees. She finds that often times, low-wage workers depend on others for transportation if they do not own a car. And when they do not have the ride to get to their work place, they sometimes leave the job for a closer one. Low-wage employees are also not well informed about their options. When they lose the job, they don't really know what happens to them then or how they can get a change of job. This isn't fair, because everyone should have the opportunity to know and understand what they are dealing with when signing a contract to work for the company. Ehrenreich's research on low-wage jobs shows her what low-wage workers go through and even found some abilities of what she is capable of doing. Low-wage employees have to work hard in order to survive.

I am done blogging for the time being. I am now going to check out a TV show called Once Upon A Time (my friend recommended me to watch it because I'm going to "love it") and then work on more homework and more readings for my other classes. Adios! ;)

They Say I Say Chapter 10 "In Other Words" The Art of Metacommentary

I had something similar to this for lunch today. The picture here is obviously prettier. But have you had this before? This is tomato eggs or something. I am not sure if that is what it is called, but it is eggs with tomatoes. It's actually good. I kind of really like it. I had rice with it. Anyway, have you ever watched a TV show where it just got started getting REALLY exciting, and then they just happened to cut or cancel the show because there are not many viewers? That happens to me ALL the time. I was watching Ugly Betty and the guy's love for Betty was barely starting (I can tell) and then...BOOM! The show ended. Betty just had her braces off too, she was starting to look really good. OMGOSH!!! It's happened to me a couple of times and I am thinking, "Gosh, I have such bad luck." I get so caught up in the show too, and then it's over.

Anyhow...I would like to say that this They Say I Say book helps me learn a lot. I can and DID learn a lot in how to improve my writing from reading a few chapters in this book and a couple of "stories". This chapter deals with metacommentary and how you can use it in your writing to give your readers a better understanding of what you want to prove. When I first read this word (I didn't even know it existed), I had no idea what it meant. But the word "commentary" was in there. And I know that word. Metacommentary is said to be "a sort of second text that stands alongside your main text and explains what it means" (124). It tells the reader how and/or how not to read something. Metacommentary, in other words to me, is kind of like not picking sides or being unbiased. The text may state one claim, but you as the writer, isn't exactly going against nor taking sides with that claim. There are many ways that your readers can mistaken your point, but if you use metacommentary, it will help improve your paper and give your readers a better perspective of the purpose you are trying to point across. Metacommentary can also help you develop ideas when you are writing. It can help you add more length into your pages and possibly more depth. Now, I was reading the templates given in this chapter and read what metacommentary is and it sounds like another RHETORICALITY. I am starting to doubt I know just exactly what rhetoricality is. They are probably different, but I think I want to think metacommentary as another form of rhetoricality.

About my research for this first project we are writing, I'm still searching for my other sources. I think I want to use a couple from Rereading America. That book has a lot of interesting stuff. I think I am more sure of what I want to talk about now. INEQUALITY in the work force. And how Caucasians have a better chance of getting a job than other races.

I am going to leave my blog with a country music video: "I Love You This Big" by Scotty McCreery. Enjoy!!! =D

Nickel and Dimed Journal Response #3

Ehrenreich moves to Minneapolis, Minnesota and has a very hard time finding a place to stay in. It turns out that only a few places were vacant. And some places seem unsafe to stay in. There is a place in which Ehrenreich feels unsafe and cannot really sleep because she is worried about her belongings and what could possibly happen. She wants to try other jobs other than housekeeping and cleaning. So Ehrenreich gets a job at Wal-Mart and works in the women's department with clothes. She also had a job at a house-ware store where she was paid $10 an hour, but overtime. But she also worked full-time at Wal-Mart and it kind of conflicted with her time at Wal-Mart. So Ehrenreich decides to get out of that house-ware store and just work at Wal-Mart.

I find that in most stores or jobs, Caucasians tend to get jobs easier than other races. This shows inequality in the work force, and how it is unfair for Caucasians to easily get jobs when other people are also in need of money. I always find at least a white a person or worker in a store. I honestly think that it is easier for Caucasians to find a job and whatnot. And it could possibly be true that in some places, they hire only one person of each race and then they stop hiring. Can this be true? Wouldn’t that be kind of unfair for the rest of the people who are also seeking jobs and have just about the same abilities? Inequality and injustice play a big role in our lives. For example, more Caucasian counselors are hired and kept in high school. Wal-Mart and Target has more white workers than other races. This proves that in the work force, inequality rules. But to me, it is just unfair and other people should not be treated that way, because everyone has needs and have families to take care of. They should be fair and give everyone the same opportunities.

In America, the poor people do not get much help from the government. It is as if the government does not even care about the lower class. I feel that money goes more to the wealthy when it should be the other way around. I think the poor should be helped more, because the wealthy can pretty much take care of themselves with the money that they already have. To conclude, America may be a great place to live in, but not everyone is treated equally like how they should be treated. In ways, America should change and give everyone the same amount of opportunity.

Class in America-2006 Blog

Economics in the United States is...what shall I say? COMPLICATED. There are people who makes tons of money and others who only make minimum wage. These people either fall into the category of upper class or lower class...and/or maybe middle class. In "Class in America-2006", Gregory Mantsios discusses about the four beliefs about class in America. Americans do not usually speak the terms class (upper class, middle class, lower class). They usually say rich or poor. Which, to me, sounds informal and not in a very respectful way. But to Americans, it is the common language. I have noticed that we use the terms "upper class" and "lower class" in English though. According to Mantsios's research, some people do not believe that people should be categorized as "upper class". They believe no one is different because everyone has the same rights. Mantsios stated that "in politics, in primary and secondary education, and in the mass media, formulating issues in terms of class is unacceptable, perhaps even un-American" (306). Terms of class are forbidden and should be kept foreign. What can be so wrong about using  the terms of class? Must it not be used? In my opinion, I do not think it is necessary to use the terms of class. No one should be labeled as "upper class" or "lower class". It is true that some people are wealthier than others, but money should not define who they are. Belief or myth 1 is that the country is a classless society and is provided with great care and education. Myth 2 is a middle class nation. Myth 3 is everyone gaining wealth and going towards their dreams. Every generation just keeps getting better. Myth 4 is everyone having the chance to succeed without effort and hard work. I think it is impossible to succeed without effort and hard work. Some people who work really hard cannot even quite get themselves to where they WANT to be. It is not that easy. I did not realize how many billionaires there are in America. I mean...nearly 400. I think that is a lot. They are worth more than $10 billion. My question is, HOW do you get there?

I did a little research on low-wage management and such...and I found some old resources. But I plan to research more and maybe I will find some more recent ones. But I don't think that is enough. And not a lot of good articles came up. It was kind of confusing because I am not quite sure which key word(s) to type in. Maybe I will look through Rereading America and see if there is anything in there that can relate to what I want to learn more about.

Nickel and Dimed Journal #2

That was one of my favorite country songs, "Why" by Jason Aldean. So do you want to know what I like about my weekends? I get to sleep in a little and I can take hour-breaks from homework. =D Except sometimes...I take VERY long breaks and I should not do that. Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I was kind of stress-free because there was not much homework for me. And that is always a good thing. ;) Don't you hate it when your internet goes all whack-y and everything? Maybe it does not happen to you often, but man...my internet keeps going down and it is PREEEEEETTY darn annoying.

Chapter two of Nickel and Dimed was VERY long. In this chapter, Ehrenreich (how do you pronounce her last name again?) moves to Maine. Portland makes her feel more comfortable, if you will, because most people there are white so she feels they are more like her and not very different. The fact that they speak fluent English makes it easier for Ehrenreich to understand and communicate with others. That would be a relief, because some people have thick accents and it could be really hard to understand what they are saying. Ehrenreich finds two jobs in Portland. She works as a maid for a housekeeping service on weekdays and a dietary aide in a nursing home on weekends. After working as a housekeeper for some time, she finds herself bonding with her coworkers. Ehrenreich starts working with Marge and Holly often. One day Holly gets into an accident and twists her ankle. She refuses to go see the doctor and would rather work her shifts. And because they are only working for a low-wage paid company, it is hard to leave work and not make money to pay their bills and such. Not to mention that it hardly covers for their rent. Things become a little complicated when Holly and the other women find out that Holly is pregnant. Holly would eventually have to miss days of work and she cannot afford to do that. Ehrenreich helps Holly by trying to take away her fears and coming up with a stoppage.

It must be tough trying to work everyday just to make enough to pay for a place to live in. I do not work and there are no bills for me to pay yet. And I cannot help but only wonder how stressful it must be for those who are trying to make money just to survive day by day. I feel like a bum being jobless and unemployed. But if I start working, I might start having bills to pay...and I am not sure I want to go through all that just yet.

I feel that winter is coming to an end...some afternoons are pretty warm these past couple of days. It was a pretty short winter, don't you think?

Library Tutorials and "The Lesson"

I am taking History 11 this semester and my professor makes us read A LOT. We read sections from two books every day, pretty much. There is like 100 pages to read every day. I just wish it was more like English where we can actually have the WEEKEND to read and all. But anyway... Enough about history class. I love country music. My favorite country singer is Keith Urban. His songs make me happy and just want to take a road trip to Tennessee. Well, here is a music video of Keith Urban and his song "Long Hot Summer."

So for the library tutorial page we had to explore through... I mainly watched videos. I watched the "7 Secrets to Success" video. I gotta say, at first I thought it was going to be more of a lecture telling the watcher how to succeed in literary terms. It turned out to be using the library as a very good source of succeeding. And I did find it good and helpful. The video showed how you can self-check out books. You can also check out laptops and such. Asking for help and know where different service points are in the library will definitely help you succeed. The "plagiarism" section gives links to videos that tell students that copying/plagiarizing is not good. And of course, we all should know that very well by now. This page actually helps. I did not know where you can make copies or how to check out books. This can be a good guide to where I can get around in the library and where everything is. I am just very happy that there is a Starbucks in the Henry Madden Library. =D

I was watching Ugly Betty on Netflix and Betty went to Queens College in New York. And then I read the "abstract" to "The Lesson" and it just reminded me of the show. The other Toni Cade Bambara trained at Queens College. I start reading this story and think, "Dang. There is a lot of profanity in this story." But this is college, so I understand. In this story, Miss Moore teaches the kids about the cost of the toys in the toy store and compares them to how much their parents make. This shows the inequality division of wealth in America. Sometimes, how much you make cannot even cover the cost of an expensive toy. It might be difficult for kids to understand all the statistics and how an expensive toy is not worth spending all that money on...but maybe they will come to understand when they grow up and become young adults. There are things that we want and things that we NEED. In my opinion, I think it is very important to put your needs before your wants. Needs are the things that we cannot live without and MUST have.

I cannot wait until I get to travel this universe. =) Brooklyn Bridge...

Nickel and Dimed Response Journal #1

In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich is a writer who went undercover as a low wage worker to find out what it is like to work as a normal person. In the introduction of the book, the term "wage slave" is being referred to someone who goes through many jobs working as an employee for under minimum wage. Or just about minimum wage. Ehrenreich mentioned about her sister working at many jobs that were low-paid. Ehrenreigh goes through a ton of work trying to find a job that will hire her. She comes to a point where she was almost afraid people will probably find out about her real identity. How is it that undercover people can do that? Are they not afraid that someone might catch them? I think it would be kind of interesting to do something undercover, but I do not think I would have the heart to become someone else.

George is a 19-year-old Czech dishwasher boy at Jerry's, and he has been in the country for about only a week. I think Ehrenreich wants to help him in ways that she possibly can. She wants to teach him English and starts teaching his the basic stuff. Jerry's does not pay George, it is the "agent" that shipped him over to the U.S. that takes care of that. He shares an apartment with the other Czech "dishers" and does not get to go to sleep until someone covers his shift. That is a pretty tough life right there. He only gets paid $5 and he does not even know much English. I can only imagine how hard it must be for George. I would feel so lost and confused if I did not know how to speak in English. But it probably isn't that bad. As long as you know the basics "no" and "yes" then I think you are okay.

During the duration that Ehrenreich worked at Hearthside, she bonded with some of her coworkers. I would say Gail was probably her best coworker at Hearthside. Gail was the one that trained her and whatnot. But leaving the job would mean leaving her coworkers. However, she did make new coworkers when she went to Jerry's. That is where she met George. Then her last housekeeping job, she worked with Ellen. Ehrenreich describes her lunch and breaks with Ellen and share what they eat. I think it is good that she can become friends with her coworkers. She would feel less lonely if they are in good terms. Having to make new coworkers right after each can be difficult. It sometimes depends on the work environment and how they treat you too, if you want to actually feel like you can work there.

Blogging Assignment Discussion

I honestly think Mr. Frank gave us numerous of options on how we like to do our blog work. I would like to say that there is not much I would like to change. I like how we can try new things and make our own blogs, go off topic for a bit, include pictures, change font colors, etc. It is a fun way to blog when we are not limited to a certain amount of "resources". Is that even the right word? My mind is not even functioning properly right now. Anyway, I just really like the fact that we can do almost whatever we want/can when blogging. And there is nothing I would like to change about that. =D