Blog post # 4

Question #1
"The rejected waste of society."
   I think that Lazarus compared homeless people to waste because in a lot of ways that is how they are treated. Nobody really knows what to do with them, or where to put them. So they get treated like a tin can in the street kicked from place to place, but always showing up again.
   I agree with his assessment. Homeless people are bad for businesses, and a hassle to society.At first we feel bad for them but it then turns to anger. We can't sweep them under the rug, or throw them in the garbage.
 Question#2
  I think that dumb and lazy people are another group of "untouchables" in our society. Everyone now is so wrapped up in being politically correct. We are afraid to tell them that they are indeed dumb and lazy. I feel that this group of "untouchables" needs to be scorned more. I feel that society is not doing them any favors allowing them to skirt by with the least amount of effort possible.
 Question#4
   I feel that Kozol tried to make us have pity for the homeless people. He did a very good job of it at first. By the end of the essay I was feeling more anger than pity. I understand that people fall on hard times and are forced to make changes. But come on I work two jobs and go to school full time. I feel that homelessness is just laziness to the extreme.
 Question#5
I feel that the attitudes towards the poor, start off as pity then turns to anger. I think however there is a big difference between being poor and being homeless. I feel that our giving and charitable attitudes hurt the homeless more than help them. If we were less giving it would force them to try harder. All to often the homeless guy you give money to just goes and buys drugs or booze with it.

Blog #3 My "Big" Narrative Essay Will Be About...

My "big" narrative essay will be about my son, the events that led up to his birth, and how he has changed my life. I was using this as my descriptive narrative intro essay, but I got started and realized I had a lot more than 5 paragraphs to write about it. In fact I already have two and a half pages and I'm not even to the birth yet.

#2 Responding to Chapters 4&5

I found chapter 4 to be very helpful. Especially because like I said in my earlier post that I thought it would be hard to write about reading. The first heading in Chapter 4 is "Writing in Response to Reading." I found a lot of helpful information that will help me write about readings in the future.

I also thought there were some good points about quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.

In chapter 5 I liked how it said that if you try and use too many big words you may come off as "stiff, pretentious, and unnatural." It's best to just write with the words you already use and know.

#1 How I Feel About Reading and Writing

It's hard to read about reading. I also think it's hard to write about reading. There were a few things that I found interesting though. For example, every political speech that I have ever heard or read has had one or more of the Errors in Logic.