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I have a button machine.
Sep. 27th, 2005 07:31 pmOr rather, access to one. I'm supposed to make buttons for the Youth Political Summit with it (coming up on Friday October 7th, 9:30-4:00 in the Penn Valley Campus Center, come if you can), but if anyone wants to commission a button, I can make you one for a dollar. (Fifty cents goes to Stephanie for reimbursement for the machine, fifty to A4BG, I'm doing it out of the kindness of my heart.)
My English teacher is really getting on my nerves. We're supposed to come up with topics for our research papers that have had, are having or will have an impact on American culture. I asked if I could do either video games or AIDS, and she said those are boring topics and I need to come up with something more interesting, or at least a facet of one of those topics that people don't already know. Um, I thought the point of a research paper was to present things that are already known? Also, she screwed up my democracy essay. For example, I wrote this:
One of the main obstacles to functional democracy in our general attitude is the American way of independence. 'Every man for himself' seems to be the motto of our self-centered, self-driven culture. This is advantageous in many ways- motivated people have more leeway to focus their efforts toward success; we are less bogged down by the expectations of our families and society; we have more choices about our personal lives- but it is also an impediment to the necessary group mentality of a democracy. To vote for the good of the nation requires a certain measure of selflessness and compassion toward others that most Americans do not possess to an adequate degree to be salubrious voters. We are, to be frank, selfish- a highly undesirable trait in democratic citizens.
She underlined "our general attitude" with a note saying it was vague, claimed that "salubrious" is too complicated a word for the style I'm supposedly going for, changed "most Americans do not possess" to "many Americans do not seem to possess," and replaced everything that said "we" or "our" with "them" and "their." Apparently academic writing needs to always stay in third person. Never mind the fact that I was including myself because I think it makes a stronger essay. Never mind that her way, it seems like I'm being incredibly judgemental. No, academic writing has to be in third person. *fumes* I got a B-. I, QUEEN of writing essays as teachers want them to be written, got a B-. And as far as I can tell, it was the best grade in the class. Julia is not happy about this.
Random change of subject: QC mentioned veganism today. Oh, and I did all but ten problems of next week's algebra homework, and I'm almost done revising an essay that isn't due till next Tuesday. Boo yeah, baby, I rock.
Something interesting happened today on the bus. I ran into James, this guy that was in my Family Violence and Sexual Abuse class last fall. Stephanie had said something about him being an anarchist, and I was curious, so I asked him about it. He explained the basic principles and his own personal views, and I'm a little surprised at how much sense it makes. I'm going to do more research on it, and the Great Plains Anarchist Network will be tabling at the YPS, so I can check them out too.
My English teacher is really getting on my nerves. We're supposed to come up with topics for our research papers that have had, are having or will have an impact on American culture. I asked if I could do either video games or AIDS, and she said those are boring topics and I need to come up with something more interesting, or at least a facet of one of those topics that people don't already know. Um, I thought the point of a research paper was to present things that are already known? Also, she screwed up my democracy essay. For example, I wrote this:
One of the main obstacles to functional democracy in our general attitude is the American way of independence. 'Every man for himself' seems to be the motto of our self-centered, self-driven culture. This is advantageous in many ways- motivated people have more leeway to focus their efforts toward success; we are less bogged down by the expectations of our families and society; we have more choices about our personal lives- but it is also an impediment to the necessary group mentality of a democracy. To vote for the good of the nation requires a certain measure of selflessness and compassion toward others that most Americans do not possess to an adequate degree to be salubrious voters. We are, to be frank, selfish- a highly undesirable trait in democratic citizens.
She underlined "our general attitude" with a note saying it was vague, claimed that "salubrious" is too complicated a word for the style I'm supposedly going for, changed "most Americans do not possess" to "many Americans do not seem to possess," and replaced everything that said "we" or "our" with "them" and "their." Apparently academic writing needs to always stay in third person. Never mind the fact that I was including myself because I think it makes a stronger essay. Never mind that her way, it seems like I'm being incredibly judgemental. No, academic writing has to be in third person. *fumes* I got a B-. I, QUEEN of writing essays as teachers want them to be written, got a B-. And as far as I can tell, it was the best grade in the class. Julia is not happy about this.
Random change of subject: QC mentioned veganism today. Oh, and I did all but ten problems of next week's algebra homework, and I'm almost done revising an essay that isn't due till next Tuesday. Boo yeah, baby, I rock.
Something interesting happened today on the bus. I ran into James, this guy that was in my Family Violence and Sexual Abuse class last fall. Stephanie had said something about him being an anarchist, and I was curious, so I asked him about it. He explained the basic principles and his own personal views, and I'm a little surprised at how much sense it makes. I'm going to do more research on it, and the Great Plains Anarchist Network will be tabling at the YPS, so I can check them out too.
