Our Self-Made, Dangerous Future

"The problems of the environment have become too complicated to be solved by piety and an unyielding clash of good intentions" (Wilson 946). The longer we wait to change the way we treat our environment, the closer we approach catastrophe. If we keep polluting the oceans and skies at our current rates, our planet will be permanently damaged and human extinction will become inevitable. If things are this serious, why don't we do anything about it? This is because we are approaching this environmental issue the wrong way. As Wilson said, morals and ethics can't solve global warming. Instead the problem should be approached in a more serious and active manner. The everyday citizen can make simple and cost-less lifestyle changes to help our environment. For example, one can recycle more and spend less time in the shower or they can take ten minutes out of their day to pick up litter. There are many people who are capable of doing these things and yet they don't. Instead of telling to people to treat the environment in a ethical and good-willing manner, we should be encouraging people to be active and get rid of their actions that harm the environment negatively. However, eco-friendly treatment of the environment by the everyday person isn't enough. Large corporations need to make adjustments to their actions as well. According to the FDA a bit more than half of all pollution comes from factories. These factories belong to governments or large companies and stricter regulations need to be placed on them. Some may believe that the economic consequences of these regulations are too great. Reducing production from factories and the cost of limiting pollution are not attractive from a money perspective. Although the economy might take a blow, there is no price too high for a clean environment. Once irreversible climate change takes place and humanity is at its last stand, there will be no economy. The well-being of a company is not worth the health of the Earth. Not only do we have to be active and determined to help our environment, but we must be willing to give the time and money for it. The fate of humanity is in our hands.




 

Satirizing the Education System by Nachi Deshmukh and Enes Buzgyov

When one requires help during school, often times teachers are asked to provide aid or to clarify the matter at hand. This challenge should be easily resolved because of the vast array of teachers at schools right? No, wrong. The author of “school”, Kyoko Mori, said “I was told to ‘try harder,’ but none of my teachers spent extra time with me to go over what I was doing wrong. Since I wasn’t given a real chance to improve, I decided after a while that I didn’t really care how I did” (Mori 203). The standards that are set for students in our education system can be seen as absurd. How can a teacher expect a student to be successful when they fail to provide sufficient aid? The teaching staff at schools are expected to be very helpful and are should have assisting their students be their first priority. However, many students are still under performing academically.

How could it be possible for students to graduate from a strict boarding school and still end up working at a fast food restaurant? The blame should be put on the education system, not the students. There must be a lack of attention or effort from the teachers and administrators to support the students. Teachers should begin to provide more help to their students, as it is evident that students will benefit from their guidance. Teachers should spend more time to help individuals who are falling behind in class or struggling. If teachers are just going to write “try harder” or “pay better attention” on students papers, they might as well not mark students’ papers at all. These pointless comments only bring the students down and make them feel ashamed of their performance. The education system should emphasize more student and teacher interaction because leaving a student to be independent can set them up for failure.

The Different Ways I Speak

          I speak multiple variations of my most fluent language, English. I code switch with my way of speaking English depending on who I am talking to. I speak English formally for a large portion of the day. During school, I speak English in this way when I speak to teachers and other staff at the school such as the workers in the cafeteria. I avoid using slang and I speak with proper grammar and a serious tone. I speak this way primarily to adults and people who I don't know well. I speak differently when I am talking to friends and people that I know well. In this variation of English, I use slang and I speak colloquially. My tone won't always be serious because the conversations that I have with my close peers aren't always serious. This "English" is similar to the different "English" I speak when I am playing soccer. When I am talking to my soccer teammates and coach, I usually speak colloquially because we are a close knit team and I have a close relationship with the coach and all of our players. The most prominent characteristic of the type of English that I speak with my soccer teammates is the soccer jargon we use. We use terms such as false nine, full-back, and playing direct. These terms are usually exclusive to soccer players and aren't used in normal conversation. In addition to English, I am also fluent in Bulgarian. At home I usually speak in Bulgarian with my parents so I can practice the language and remain fluent in it. I also speak in Bulgarian to my grandparents because they don't speak English. However, I do speak to my parents in English as well, especially when we are outside of home.

          I speak in different Englishes depending if I am speaking to an adult, close friends, or my teammates on my soccer team. I also speak a completely different language at home. All of these different ways of speaking create different personae for me. When I am talking to my friends I am less serious and speak in a more joking manner. I also use teenage slang, which makes my speech informal. Around adults, I have a more serious persona; I use proper grammar and a genuine tone. Having both of these personae give me power because I am able to change the way I interact with people just through the way that I use language. I can be taken seriously when talking if I speak formally, and I can be taken less seriously when I speak colloquially. Speaking to my soccer teammates also creates a different persona for me. I don't speak formally and I use soccer jargon. This persona empowers me because it makes me feel like a good soccer player and it makes me enjoy the sport more. Having the ability to speak with my teammates who are close friends of mine makes the sport more enjoyable. Also, using a variety of soccer jargon makes me feel like I am educated about the tactics and ways of playing soccer. My way of using language makes me feel empowered through the different personae that it creates. 

   

Metacognitive Reflection

Over the course of the first semester, I have improved significantly as a writer. I am now much more confident with my writing skills than I was at the beginning of the year. In order to grow as a writer, I made sure to improve my revising skills on my essays. I had friends and family members check over my essays so I can fix mistakes. An area that I have improved in is my ability to write a a strong thesis statement. My thesis statements answer the prompt completely and are arguable which sets me up for a strong essay. An area that I need further improvement in is my analysis. I struggle with tying my evidence back to my thesis and I plan to improve this by asking for help from my classmates and teacher. An assignment that I am particularly proud of is my Gatsby test short response. I earned an AP score of 5 on this response, which is the highest grade that I have gotten on a writing assignment. In this short response, I was able to construct a strong thesis and I supported it with a variety of evidence. Also, unlike some of my other writing assignments, I was able to provide a decent analysis to prove my argument. In order to perfect my writing skills, I think it would be beneficial for Ms. Nagi to instruct us more on how to improve our analysis. We could go over well-written essays as a class so we can see what a strong analysis looks like. Overall, I am hoping to improve even more as a writer so I can be prepared to be successful on the AP exam. 

I Want a Goalie (Parody of I Want a Wife by Judy Brady)

Just as Judy Brady "[belongs] to the classification of people known as wives" (Brady 1) I belong to the classification of soccer players known as goalies. For every eleven soccer players, one of them is a goalie, so we are a minority in the soccer world. I just joined a new soccer team because they were in desperate need of a goalie. Now that I think about it, I too would like a goalie. I would like to be a striker who can relax in the middle of the field when the goalie is being bombarded with attacks from the opponent. I want a goalie who can stand in front the goal for me and block soccer balls that come at him at 90 miles per hour. I want a goalie who dives left and right to make saves while scratching and bruising his arms, elbows, and shoulders. I want a goalie who doesn't complain about the physical pain that he is experiencing, but he must listen to me when I complain about being tripped by the opponent. I want a goalie who can psychologically deal with the responsibility for conducting the soccer game. I want a goalie who can deal with the pressure of having to order the defense so we can break down the opponent's attack. At the same time, I don't want a goalie who is too commanding and will hurt my feelings.  My goalie must take the blame when we concede a goal even though I let an opponent run by me. I want a goalie who is okay with being scolded by our coach. I want a goalie who is booed by the fans when we are losing, and is completely forgotten about when we are winning. I want a goalie who is overworked when we are playing against a good team. I want a goalie who stands and watches the game while we are playing against a bad team. My God, who wouldn't want a goalie?

         

Paranoia on the Soccer Field

Every year in England, there is a soccer game in the city of London where two long-time rival teams face off. The seats at the stadium are always full and evenly split between the fans of the two teams. However, this highly anticipated game of soccer is often very dirty, filled with dangerous fouls and trash talk between the two teams. In fact, this particular game has gotten so out of control over recent years that referees have had to put in a restriction on these players in order to keep the game safe. The restriction that these players have is very simple: any player who commits a foul will be given the harshest punishment a soccer player can receive, a red card. The fear of a red card is common in most soccer players, because if you are given one, you are ejected from the game and your team has to play with one less player. On top of that, you are suspended for a at least one more game. The fear that is associated with red cards is amplified in this rivalry game because if you suffer a red card, your team will definitely lose. The game is set to start in 5 minutes, all 11 players from both teams stand in their positions nervously. After those nerve-racking 5 minutes, the referee finally blows his whistle and the game starts. All of the players on the field are afraid to make any contact with each other so they don't commit a foul. Very early in the game players start complaining to the ref. "He pushed me!" and "He tripped me!" they would scream.The players were so afraid of committing a foul that they would falsely accuse the other team of doing it.When the referee asked the players if they had actually fouled another player, they would reply with '"the pure in heart need no' (The Crucible 3.86) referees!" As the game continued, more and more accusations were being made, so the referee made the ultimate decision to cancel the game and he called it a 0-0 tie. The players and fans left the stadium very disappointment, because fear and paranoia had cost them the joy of playing or watching a rivalry game.  

   

The Golden Cleats (Parody of The Pearl by John Steinbeck)

Dave was an amateur soccer player in suburban Michigan. He was cut from his high school soccer team, however, he had a burning passion for the sport and practiced on his own every day. When he graduated from high school, he joined an amateur soccer team in attempt to pursue his dream of becoming a professional. He had allocated all of his time and focus into soccer. This was a risky decision to make since he was by far the worst player on his team. He barely played 10 minutes a game and many of his teammates despised him. Dave's dreams were completely crushed when he suffered a broken ankle which put an end to his career. Other than soccer, Dave had no plans for his future, so he sought for a way to revive his career. Dave remembered hearing a legend about a pair of Golden Cleats that sit at the bottom of Lake Michigan. These cleats bring great fortune to whoever wears them. Dave began to search for these cleats because they could heal his injuries and allow him to play soccer again. He bought some scuba gear with the little money that he had, and dived down into Lake Michigan.

Dave explored the dark bottom of Lake Michigan, coming across various species of fish and vegetation. After only a few minutes of searching, Dave spotted a dim light in the distance. The light was gold in color and he immediately began swimming towards it. Dave reached the light and he saw the two cleats sitting at the bottom of the ocean. He took them with him and swam to the shore of Lake Michigan. He took off his scuba gear and ecstatically put the cleats on his feet. He felt the pain of his broken ankle fade away. The next day, he returned to his team with his new, telling the coach that he was ready to play again. The coach laughed at him but allowed to him to participate in training. When Dave got the ball, he easily weaved passed defenders and scored effortlessly. The skill that Dave had acquired left his teammates in disbelief. When training was over Dave boasted to his teammates that his new cleats are the reason that he has become so skilled. A group of Dave's teammates stayed after training and created a plan to sneak into Dave's house and steal the cleats. "We must steal those cleats from Dave, with them we can rebel 'against him and against all authority'(The Crucible 1.281)" they stated. That same night, Dave got a call from Michigan's professional soccer team, they wanted him to try out the next day. While Dave was sleeping, a few of his teammates broke into his house and stole his cleats. Dave woke up in the morning, eager to try out for the professional team, but he couldn't find his cleats. After searching all around his house, he put on his old cleats and went to the tryout. Now very nervous, Dave wasn't sure how he would play without his golden cleats. When the tryout started, he couldn't compete with the professional players. He was back to his old self, and just 10 minutes into the tryout, Dave was cut from the team. Dave drove home, feeling completely crushed. He realized that his teammates stole the cleats from him after he revealed to them that he had the magical golden cleats. Now Dave's dreams were completely destroyed.