Dear Mom and Dad, this is the longest I've spent debating over how to write this letter. This must be the 100th draft. Because this decision means so much to me, I hope you will consider it wisely. This decision is all about my wants...wishes....and passion. Please focus on the betterment of me as you read through this. What I am about to say to the both of you will upset you very much. I'm sure you are going to protest but my mind is already made up. Please take a second and gather yourself so that you will fully understand the weight of my decision. I have chosen to drop out of college. This is the big news. The reason I have made such a decision is not because anything bad has happened. I am actaully very thankful I came to college. It has opened my eyes and taught me that I should live life for myself, to seek what I want in life. And I have decided that college is not for me. I do not want a life planned out for me. And so I am taking what funds I have and am moving to Europe to discover what I truly am. As you read this, I am on my way via plane to London. I love you both very much, and ya'll have been everything I could have asked more. This is a time when I need to be alone, but your support is much apprecitated. Love Your Son



Dear Matt,
Upon reading your letter, we are at the utmost point of dissapointment. As your parents, we are greatly afraid for your safety and well-being. However, realizing that you are now an adult, and that your life up to now as always been planned, we do see where your desire to leave comes from. Our love for you will not ever end even though our desire to see you succeed overwhelmes us and your decision does not seem much hopeful. We are your parents, we raised you and will not let you go. You have to much potential to put it to waste so please do not this. I know that you will continue to live a life in light of the Lord. We love you like you will never know and our prayers will always be with you. Please continue to write us is our only wish. Love Mom and Dad.

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

Now please try not to freak out when I tell you this. I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and I think it’s what is best for me and my future. Alright, here goes. I have decided to drop out of college. I’m getting a little bored with this whole college thing. I want to move to Hollywood. I want to be an actress, maybe a singer too while I’m at it. It’s not like singers have to have a great voice these days anyways. I know I have a small case of stage fright, but that’s why they have multiple takes for actors. And if I become a singer, I can just lip sync. So you see? I have thought about it. Now before you jump to conclusions on how this is a horrible idea and what am I thinking and how am I going to pay for myself etc., allow me to explain myself. Think back. I have always told you that I want to be famous someday. You never took me seriously, but I was. I was always serious. I was just waiting for someone to come get me and make me famous. But I am starting to realize that that is just not going to happen. I need to do it myself. People need to know the name Gigi Lopez. Or maybe I’ll go by Giselle. Why did you change my name to Gigi anyways? I’ve always wondered about that. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I have decided to drop out, pack up, and leave within a week. I hope you will support my decision. But if not, I may just have to prove you wrong. And we both know I’m good at doing that. I love you Mom and Dad, and I’ll miss you. But don’t you worry, I won’t forget about you guys when I’m famous. Promise.

Love you
Gigi

From my dad
Dear Gigi,

Gigi, are you drugs? Is this a joke? What on earth are you thinking?? You’re getting a great education at St. Edward’s, you have your parents right here in Austin to get you what you need or to let you come home when you need to… What more can you ask for? And you want to be an actress? When have you ever acted? And good God… a singer of all things! Gigi, you come home ASAP. We need to discuss this. You are not moving to Hollywood. I wont allow it.

From my mom
Dear Gigi,

I know this is a hard time, you’re still in a transition phase right now. But please try to be rational. You’re going to give your father a heart attack for God’s sake. Where did this idea come from anyway? You’ve been watching TV haven’t you? I told you not to, it’s a bunch of crap on there is what it is. Just come home and we can spend some time together. Maybe you and I can take a trip to California. Actually come to think of it, it wouldn’t be so bad to move to California. Hmm… Oh, who am I kidding. Gigi take me with you! I don’t like it here either!

Love
Mom and Dad

my thanksgiving

Before I went home for thanksgiving, I made up my mind to catch up on my sleep as much as i could. One night, we came home from dinner at 7 and weren't doing anything special, and I was feeling a little sleepy, so I decided I would go take a nap. Well, I ended up not waking up until 11 the next morning. I was quite proud of myself for going to bed so early, even though I didn't mean to. Normally, at school, I will not go to bed before two in the morning most nights. i noticed my family started acting a little suspicious around me, but i thought maybe I was imagining things. finally my sister approached me. She told me that the whole family thought I was depressed because I slept so long. I tried to convince her that I am not in fact depressed at all, then she asked me if I was hungover. I told her I wasn’t hungover either, but she still seemed a little suspicious. She said if I need to talk to her about anything, she’s here for me. I thanked her and asked her to leave me alone. Then I thought for a minute. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if my family thought I was depressed. But I realized that is a very evil thought to think, and I am a very bad person to think it. We had our thanksgiving meal which was quite scrumptious; we had lamb instead of turkey because my family doesn’t like to be conventional, I didn’t eat it but I’m sure it was yummy. I did have a lot of cheesecake, though. Mmmm cheesecake. Anyway, after dinner, we said what we are thankful for as we ate our cheesecake and pumpkin pie. yum. After that, my mom left for a few minutes and came back with a handful of tiny pieces of paper. She told my sister to take a number. My sister gave her a dirty look and told her to stop being weird. I was about to reach for her hand, but of course then my sister wanted to play. She took a number, then me, then the rest of us. The numbers corresponded with the gifts we were to receive. I was not very happy to see that my sister received an enormous makeup case, and I received a bath ball and two chocolates. Let me rephrase that. I was pissed off, it wasn’t fair she didn’t even want to play! I said so, but my dad just said “oh, Marsha Marsha Marsha!!” like he always does when I’m jealous of my sisters. I hate when he does that. But I didn’t want her stupid makeup case anyway. Ok, I got a little off-topic I see. But you see everything comes together. I am thankful that my family is a little “out there,” and that they care about me enough to think that I might be depressed. It’s touching really. And I am VERY thankful for cheesecake.

Turkey Day Fun

Thanksgiving is a time where we should think about and reflect upon the things in our life that nuture our soul. This is why I would like to tell whoever is lucky enough to read this the little adventure that my brother and I had. I hadn't seen my younger brother in quite a while and I have to admit it was rather touching to see him after three months of being away from him. He had grown a little and it seemed as though he was becoming more outgoing. I was really proud of him and I found myself being thankful for him. I realize now how important our growing up together was because I was able to teach him about everything I had gone through. For example I explained to him about preparing oatmeal and how important it is to have the right mixture of milk and oatmeal, and the amount of time in the microwave is vital. Things like this the real world never tells you and I'm glad I could be a big brother and teach him the lessons of the world.
Anyways, what I'm really trying to get at is that my brother is on his middle school soccer team. And so during the break I told him we needed to go kick the soccer ball around together at my high school practice field. It's a well-kept field and is quite accessible because we live close to it. One afternoon we decide to go up there. Since the field is only about a 3/4 mile we chose to walk up there because the weather was glorious. The sun was shining brillantly and the wind felt like opening up a fridgerator on a hot summer day. So we pack our cleats and put on our walking shoes and venture out into the wild streets. After 15 to 20 minutes of walking and carrying a ball I was ready to stretch my legs a little. So we walk up to the field and I tell my brother we have to climb over this fence that's about 6 feet tall. And my brother says,"I can't climb fences."

Week 11 Entries, due 27 November

After the Thanksgiving break, you should have plenty of stories about things that you are thankful for, or wish that you could be thankful for. For this entry, give us an example of your thankfulness, and try to make it as funny as possible. For some tips on how to do this, check out this primer (which is pronounced "PRIH-mer," not "PRAH-ee-mer" as you heard in lecture) at the Uncyclopedia. Humor is a tricky thing, but you are all clever people and I trust you'd rather have a good time trying to make us laugh, than have a routine time telling us the same tired Thanksgiving story your teachers have heard for many years now.

By the way, no one says your story has to be based in historical truth...

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this subject is the praying ritual that the actors carried out during the middle of the play. I forget the grounds as to why they were praying but I just remember the whole ritual itself. There were two men that came out to the center of the stage and then 3 women in front of the men. I don't know if this had any significance. A third man came in while the others were already in the act of praying. As the men unveiled their yoga looking mat, they smoothly rolled them out onto the floor as if they had done this many times. I thought the women were going to do this at the same time as the men but it seemed as though everyone was going on their own time, and as they proceded it was evident that this was true because everyone was clearly praying at their own pace. I think that it showed how the religion doesn't stress a strict set of massly followed rules where everyone has to do something at the same time. With the way they were doing it in the play, they all sort of met at the same time but each one started at a little bit different time and kept their own pace. I also noticed how none of it was oral, everything was about certain movements. As I looked in our Islam book by Abdul Rauf he talks about how each of these movements represents a different message to God. Although these rituals are completly different than my own, I liked how the whole thing seemed relaxing like practicing yoga. The end.

names of the characters?

One thing in the play that I recognized as authentically Islamic was the devotion of the characters to their religion. there are many examples of this in that play. the example that i found especially interesting was when Ibrahim's wife (I don't remember her name) was in prison, and she found a towel to cover her head because her shawl was taken away from her. She defended her religion to Omar, and asked him to tell which direction she should pray in. Even in such difficult circumstances, she maintained her faith as a Muslim. Even though she prayed the wrong way, she was showing her devotion to God. One very dramatic and powerful scene was the scene in which the characters from all over (Syria, Austin, the woman's prison cell) pray to Allah at the same time in the same way. It represented the kinship that Muslims have as devoted followers of Islam. The only Muslim who did not show this same devotion was the character living in Austin (again, I forgot his name) who had somewhat lost the traditions he had practiced where he came from because it is not an integrated part of society to pray five times a day. This shows the oppression that many Muslims face in America.

Week 10 Entries

For this week, your blog entry will cover the subject of the play Kneeling Down at Noon and our background readings on Islam. Please identify some element of the play that you recognized as authentically Islamic, and describe how the play used that element for a dramatic purpose of some significance. For instance, if the element is a stage property (a prop), describe the significance of its use in furthering the drama. Same goes for actions, dialogue, costuming, sets, etc. You will want to consider what the drama was about (and possibly what drama is about more generally) in the course of analyzing your particular detail.

Hey Not As Late As Me

To learn is to understand. So far I understand that the severity of this blog will not be made known until the end of the year. I think the situation is quite unfortunate for us because the realization will not come until the end that these blogs do in fact hold some importance....I think. The reason I feel the need for such an argument over the weight these blogs have lies within the fact that I have no knowledge of the actual percentage that will be taken from our grade for these blogs. I do however enjoy them, a bit at least, sometimes they are a troubling inconvenience that when forgotten about make the student feel unorganized because they cannot remember to write a simple blog. However this feeling is countered with an unconcerning view that the blog does not matter much. This is all a result of the lack of information regarding the percentage of these blog's grades. It is to my pleasure to say though that I have agreed to accept this omission of grade weight from my teacher, ceding over my complete trust to the one and only Dr. Barndollar in the hope that everything will be okay. Judging the history of the lack of responsiveness from other students in the completion of these assignments, I think I will float in the same boat as them come judgement day. What I am really trying to say from all of this mayhem is well, what my whole intent for writing this blog is......well.......to be honest all I want to convey to the reader is that.............even though we all think we're the herione it's not true, we're all just an insignificant being living in a tax-and-spend America.

In order to get to his meeting, George had to pass through a parade. It was beginning to rain, and so he pulled out his umbrella. Slightly embarrassing because of its slightly enormous size as well as the fact that it was covered in pink polka dots, he hesitated to open it. But after the raindrops began to trickle down his face, George decided he most definitely did not want to let his brand new suit. Steadily, he walked on through the parade. There were clowns everywhere. He was beginning to think, ‘thank God, no one will notice my umbrella,’ until he heard an obnoxious laughter coming from one of the clowns, who was looking straight at him and pointing to his umbrella. “That’s quite a bumbershoot you have there, buddy! (laughter again)” George was enraged that a clown in harlequin pants would have the nerve to make fun of him, but he decided not to retaliate. After all, he had an important meeting to get to. He was meeting with the heads of the companies in the cartel of his wakeboarding business, and was to give an important presentation on the safety of wakeboarding equipment. He made his way through the crowds as the rain began to grow heavier, and water began to pump its way along rain gutters into the street. ‘What an odd day this is,’ he thought to himself.

Week 9 Blog Entries

This week, you will need to write a short creative entry of your choosing, whose only restriction is to use five prescribed words within the entry. Your set of words will be common to only a small group in the class, each of whom will write his or her own entry; different groups will use different word sets. The groups and sets are as follows:

Sean, Nicole, Gigi, Nichole, Adam: cartel, harlequin, wakeboarding, pump, bumbershoot
Stephanie, Celeste, Matt, Brooke: severity, heroine, agreed, tax-and-spend, learn
Amy, Hannah, Kaitlin, Kyle: lode, boor, stonewall, coach, metastasis
Jewel, Elise, Christine, Will: flask, flight, makeshift, beadle, sequential

All of these sets were generated at random from the Oxford English Dictionary online (well, I disqualified a few really obscure choices that came up...). Your commentary should focus on the accuracy and smoothness with which the writers use the required elements, and as usual on any other things you wish to reflect back to the entry author.

Of course I again forget to write my blog ontime. I honestly do not know why i constantly forget to write it. This time I forgot because I took a three-hour nap after my classes ended at 2:00. Then of course, I had practice. After that I had to take a shower, during which, by my luck, the fire alarm went off for the second time this week. So, five hours after I meant to have it in, I remember the blog assignment. But since I doubt anyone cares to hear me complain any further, for the remainder of my blog, will share some of my observations.

Well, I noticed that a lot of people decided to wear their Halloween costume tonight. Apparently they like to get started early. I myself decided not to join in the Halloween festivities by dressing up tonight. Tomorrow night, on the other hand, I plan to go all out. This year, I chose the costume of a 60s go-go dancer. I know I could have put more creativity into my costume, but time ran out in my search, and besides, it looked pretty good. I noticed a lot of good costumes this year. I saw a couple that dressed up as Adam and Eve, a Betty Boop, and a big goober named Adam in a Twinkie costume. I love Halloween.

A Difficult Copula

It remains a fact that trying something informed of not doing always creates much more stress and resistance in the executing of a task and leads into situations of much awkwardness. For example, when meeting someone for the first time, previous advice before meeting the individual from a friend tells you that this person sports an extremely large ear. Just one ear for the other side of his face lies all in good proportion. So the information relayed beforehand advises you in not looking at this person’s abnormal ear because if you look oddly at it, the man becomes furious. Expressing a general desire for a good first impression, the goal of not glancing at this man's ear becomes the main focus of attention. When the action unfolds, and the man enters the room for the greeting, you develop into a fearful and uneasy state because the sole thing that your mind limits you from doing causes you a desire of doing it. The human's natural curiosity for undiscovered things fights the urge of complying and succumbs reluctantly into looking away. This answers the question of why it remains tremendously difficult because what your brain tries telling you continues as the only thing in your mind. A famous movie series of our time with a witty character named Austin Powers encounters this circumstance when he meets a man with a large mole. Although previous instruction orders him of looking away or straying from talking about the mole, Powers cannot fight the urge and makes a mockery of the mole. I believe these instances compare most significantly with the assignment at hand. As a result, this blogg so far relies heavily on much revision and thought and consequently holds first place for the hardest and trying blogg ever written in the history of my profound and exquisite blogging. Although I find it quite perplexing that the advantages in writing like this make my writing a bit more interesting. I hope my efforts reap great rewards and that there lies no mistakes in my courageous efforts. I want knowledge of anyone finding this assignment easy.

Week 8 Blog Entries

For this week, you have an open topic for the blog, with the following restrictions: 1) you must use complete sentences (including subjects and verbs), and 2) you may not use any forms of the verb "to be" ("be," "am," "is," "are," "was," "were," "been," "being," or contraction forms such as "I'm" or "you're"). Let these restrictions guide how you choose to express yourselves this week, and see what emerges. By not relying on the copula (look it up) this week, you have an opportunity to practice strengthening your language use.

Note that except for the words within quotation marks serving to illustrate the list of proscribed words, this entry does not use the copula...

I want to know what I'm going to do in my future. To be more specific, I wonder how the rest of my semester is going to go. If it is going like it is now, I think I'll do alright, maybe even pull out a 3.0 average, of course my goal is a 4.0 but with the way Calculus and English are going, it doesn't look like it will happen. I want to know why the B-on time loan is ending and why I have to find some other means of finacial support. I want to know if I will be able to find enough financial aid to cover my costs here at school. I wonder if I will be able to decide on which classes I want to take next year and if the classes I want/need will be availiable. If not, what will happen. I want to know if I will be able to handle the classes I receive next year. I know Rhetoric and Comp. II is required and I've heard it's tough. What sort of teachers will I have, will they be as helpful as the ones I have now. Will I be ready? My grades are the point of concern, the question at hand, the focus of my worries. I hope I'm headed down the right path and that my grades improve instead of worsen. But everyday seems to get a little bit more harder more in depth. My teachers grading is becomes more strenuous for the mistakes made in the past should be learned and fixed. My desire is to learn, but how will I do?

ah, facebook

Why won't Analisa let us get on facebook? I mean, I can understand if you know, Dr. Barndollar is teaching us something, or if we are supposed to be doing something in class. But if we are given free time to do what we want, why can't we get on facebook for just a moment to check our facebook at one of the only times in the day that we are able to? I suppose this isn't a very big problem for most of the class, but for me, it is a very serious problem. this is because Analisa sits right next to me. Even Adam, who sits on the other side of me, is able to check his facebook AND his myspace during class without any problem. It's just not fair. Then again, I guess another problem this leads me to is why is facebook so addicting? honestly, it's almost impossible to not check your facebook when you are given free time on the computer. even if you don't have any messages or comments, you still find something to do on there, someone's profile to go snooping at, some gossip to find in the feeder, etc.

Week 7 Blogs

This week, focus on a question of any kind that is occupying your attention in some way, and tell us about it. It can be personal, academic, metaphysical, practical—whatever. You don't have to answer it; you can just talk about the question, and why it's important to you, or how you came to understand it as a question, and so on. If you wish to answer it, that's of course fine. Notice what kinds of things are puzzling, troubling, interesting, or engaging your attention (consciously or otherwise) at the moment.

Just in time, they turned off the lights and quieted down. Everyone thought his surprise would be ruined because of the commotion that had erupted when it was discovered that he had arrived prematurely. But luckily, someone had turned off the lights and the room grew still. The door creaked open, and there was a pause of silence. Then all of a sudden, as if on cue, everyone yelled, “Surprise!” Everyone, that is, except for the caterers and other service people who had not been informed that it was not a birthday party. Those “happy birthdays” went almost unheard, but the guest of honor noticed them immediately, and it made him chuckle. A giant grin spread across his beaming red face as he began to greet the guests. What none of them knew was that he had already known. He had known for weeks. Things just can’t be kept secret in this company, he had thought, when he saw one of the invite letters in the trash. But they didn’t need to know, and he wasn’t going to be the one to bring their spirits down. One by one, he thanked and embraced his colleagues and friends, making his way to the front of the room. As he did so, the heat of the room began to get to him, and beads of sweat began to trickle down his neck. Finally, he reached the front table, and stepped behind the microphone. With his friends ushering him on, he began to give his speech. But as he did so, he began to feel a sharp pain in his chest.

The older kids had sought out a fishing spot thirty feet down from us. They had been there for hours. Not as long as my brother and I, but nearly. They had drunk themselves sober and were now arguing over whether or not they should begin using M-80s on whatever fish they caught. M-80s were a little expensive to be using on catfish. One of them said they should just drag their catch from the bumper of their car. The lone female, and there is always a lonely girl hanging out with older kids, said they should take their fish home, scale them and eat them. Her simple more normal method was ignored. The girl is always ignored, until around midnight or so. Sometimes they do not wait that long and finish when the bickering is at a standstill. At that time, the girl always becomes the focus.
My brother recognized that we knew of these kids. These were the Kennedy’s. Joe, Carrie and Teddy. They lived in a house where we grew up, and were widely regarded for their capacity for alcohol and pain. Their dogs ruled the neighborhood streets after dark. These were lonely animals, proud and dangerous. They were little balls of matted fur and starved, bitter anger. I had been attacked once by a tag-team made up of the collie and the terrier. The bite marks on my legs and the claw marks on my lower back drew laughter from the owners. They pointed at me from their screened-in front porch and suggested that I run faster next time……