Journal #4 - Food

French fries are a delicious, mouthwatering snack. When you first get them they have the most appetizing look. They have a golden brown tint with steam coming off and sometimes you can even see the tiny grains of salt that you know once you eat, will explode your taste buds. They feel rough on the outside and you know there will be a crunch when bitten into, but not so hard that it will break your teeth. On the inside is warm, mush that may not sound good to the ear but is a treat to the mouth. The smell of the fried, saltiness makes the mouth water. The first bite is always the most satisfying. There is a crunch followed by an overwhelming taste of sweetness from the salt. You know the grease is there from frying them because of what is left on your fingers, but the delicious taste of fried potatoes with salt, ketchup, mustard, and whatever other dips, makes you forget about all the grease you are eating.
The best snack to go with French fries is a vanilla milkshake. It looks like melted ice cream with a bit more thickness. It is so cold just like you are eating snow after a storm but it tastes like the most delicious creamy vanilla ice cream in the world. At first sip, your brain freezes just a little bit, like it would with a Slurpee, but combined with a hot frie will make your taste buds explode. The sensation of hot French fries and cold milkshake or ice cream makes the greatest combination in your mouth. It is like coming in after playing in the snow for a long time and sitting by the fire with a hot cup of hot chocolate. It is a comforting feeling you get and makes you crave more and more of it. This snack is one of the most appetizing because of the different textures, rough and slimy, and the different temperatures, hot and cold. It is great, try it.

Journal #3

“No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch” – Ann Hodgman
(The Norton Sampler p.77)
1. Cite three specific examples of Hodgman’s descriptive imagery that you find to be particularly effective.
• “There was a horrifying rush of cheddar taste, followed immediately by the dull tang of soybean flour—the main ingredient in Gainesburgers.”
• “I had been expecting to see the usual homogeneous scrapple inside, but each can of Cycle was packed with smooth, round, oily nuggets.”
• “There were chunks in the can, certainly—big, purplish-brown chunks. I forked on out and found that while it had no discernible chicken flavor, it wasn’t bad except for its texture—like meat loaf with ground-up chicken bones.”

2. What do you think Hodgman’s purpose was in writing this essay? What overall message/meaning do you take from the essay?
• The purpose of this essay was to see if dog food really tasted like the advertisings say they do. Hodgman wanted to see if the dog food was like people food as the advertisers say. I think the message is that looks can be deceiving. The outside containers were bright, and shiny, with colorful designs. The advisers wrote things on the containers like, “Great Meaty Tastes—without bothering the butcher. It would make anyone think that the content inside the container was good, but it was quite the opposite. You can’t always trust the exterior so you must also know the interior.

Jouranl #2

- Annie Dillard – “The Death of a Moth,” from Holy the
Firm

1. How are the moths in the essay’s opening different from the moth at the campsite? What do the different moths represent?
The moths in the beginning are already dead and empty while the moth at the campsite is not. The campsite moth has a really detailed description of the burning and is not emptiness. It shows the two different sides of life. The first ones are dead bits that have really no drive or passion while the burning one brought some light and beauty. Even though what that moth did was destructive, it was creative. If you want to achieve your goal you must be like the moth at the campsite that shows this burning, passion, and intensity.

2. What lesson does the moth provide that Dillard takes back to her students?
The lesson is to know what you want to do or find your passion and then really go for it and have that drive. Be like the moth in the campsite and go for your passion 100%.

3. How many references are there to fire in the essay? What’s the larger significance of fire in the essay?
There are many references to fire in the essay. The book title has fire in it, her focus at camp is on the moth that flies into the fire, at the end she talks about leaving candles burning at night, and the cat’s tail gets caught in the flame. The biggest reference to fire is the moth at the campsite that goes right for the fire and does not shy away. The larger significance is you must have your fire or inspiration and find that passion that drives you. You must be active and passionate and driven and do whatever it takes to do what you want.

4. Address how each of the following quotes connect to Dillard’s overall point.

a. “I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”
-Jack London
It brings to mind the two moths, the one that was empty and dried up and the other who went wholeheartedly to the fire even though it burned to death. It shows the two different ways of life. Not going for your passion and living a dull life, or live your life pursuing everything you want. Everyone should live your life to the fullest.

b. “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
-William Butler Yeats
School is the time to be inspired and learn about yourself and what your true passion is. Then you must go out, give it everything you have got, and achieve it.


c. “A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us.”
-Franz Kafka
It shows you need to go at your life with an ax. The book is the as that break up our ice. Must break down yourself and get in touch with who you are to find what you really want inside. Breaking down that ice will ignite that passion within us.

Journal # 1- Narrative

My name is Betty and my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer several weeks ago. I am the only one to take care of her because she is a single mother and moved us away from her family when I was only two. We live here in New York in an apartment together and the bills have been stacking up because of all her treatments she must have to stay alive. I never finished high school because I never did well and figured school was not for me. I regret that decision now. I am currently working at any place that will take a nineteen year old girl without a high school diploma. I work at this little diner, almost every hour of every day. I do not make too much money but it is enough to pay rent for now. My life is a mess and is not getting better. Because my mother and I have these hospital bills and must pay rent, as well as get basic necessities, we do not have money for me to go back to school so that I can get a better job and make more money for us. It is almost Christmas and the doctors say my mother is not doing well and may not make it to the New Year, so I will soon be alone in this world with hardly any money or future.
It is now June 1st 2012 and my mother passed away right before Christmas. Before she died she told me who my father was, and I finally got to meet with him. I got my G.E.D and am going to start college in the fall which my father is paying for, as well as the left over hospital bills. Even though my mother is gone now, I feel I am starting a new beginning, and I am excited. I hope to get my education, make more money than I ever got in that little diner I worked at, and make a sizable donation to the breast cancer foundation. Life is looking up.