Post 18 - Christmas Too Early?

My seven year old asked me the other day, "Why is there Christmas stuff out when it isn't Thanksgiving yet?" I asked him what he thought about that and he responded with, "We should eat turkey first." To him This was how it should be. His yearly calendar is discussed from one holiday and family member's birthday to the next. Seeing Christmas decorations out before Thanksgiving is not natural from his perspective. I agree with this thought. What do you think?

Post 17 - Sick kids

My children have been home from school sick this week.  They are absolutely driving me crazy with their bickering....it's like the summer all over again.  It's crazy that no matter how sick they are feeling they can still muster the energy to fight with each other.  With that said, my poor babies are all home sick and I'm completely worn out from taking care of them.  Hopefully they will pull out of this so they are feeling better for the holidays.

Post 16 - The Difference a Day Can Make

My fourth child turned seven yesterday and he has decided that he is now a very grown-up "big boy."  With just the knowledge that he is officially another year older, he has made a personal choice to comport himself with more decorum and maturity.  I'm simply amazed that his knowing that he is now seven, and not just six like the younger kids in his class at school, has made such an impact on his attitude and observance of his own behavior.  This is another lesson that one of my children has taught me.  Waking up with the knowledge of one new fact about yourself can provide a person with all of the impetus that is necessary to make big personal decisions and changes.  I did this when I recently got divorced and immediately enrolled in college courses here at South University, and my son has affirmed this fact.  Oh, the difference that just one important day can make to an individual!!

Post 15 - Writing Doc 2

After doing more research on my chosen Doc 2 argument, I decided to change my topic and thesis statement.  I have a paper due for American History 2, so I'm writing my paper for that class.  I've been struggling for a topic that really interests me and I also had the same struggle for my first paper that I had to write for the same class.  I don't really like having so much freedom for my document topic.  It seems like having more areas to choose a topic from would be easier, but I don't find it to be so.  I definitely prefer being given a definitive topic, or a list of topics to choose from helps me to focus on the assignment better.  We were given a written essay as part of our midterm exam that we got to choose from a list of possible essay topics, and that helped me to get my thoughts around the paper.  I chose from the list, webbed the pertinent and relevant facts, and pulled it all together when I sat for the midterm.

Post 14 - Internet Dangers

My daughter came to me this evening and told me that an Internet predator contacted her on her social media accounts.  She's completely upset and frightened.  Unfortunately, in her fear she deleted all of her accounts and with the accounts all of the messages that he sent.  I understand why she did this, but I really wish she had kept them so that I could have taken her phone to the police.  This sicko sent her an explicit picture of another little girl and threatened to send it to her dad and uncle telling them that he would say that it was a picture of her unless she agreed to saying that he owned her.  I'm literally sick to my stomach thinking about it.  Does anybody know if this information can be phished back out of her phone so he can be tracked down?  This is why I feel the need to protect her so much...it's a scary world and technology has added more danger.  You don't only have to worry about abuse by a friend or neighbor, but now you have to try to keep up with the danger of the Internet.

Post 13 - Letting Go

My daughter went to her first boy/girl middle school dance on Friday night so I'm facing the reality of having to learn to let go in my role as a parent.  It's much more difficult than I thought it would be!  Being a daughter myself, I always said that I would never treat my boy and girl children different.  As a teenager, I hated the double standard that my parents implemented in our house and I didn't want my future daughter/s to live with the same double standard when I was the parent.  I see now that it is a hard position to take.  I can empathize with my parents feeling that I should be protected from the harshness of the world while they assumed that my brothers weren't in need of the same protection.  We raise our boys to be tougher and they're naturally less emotional (or at least they seem able to deal with negative emotions easier than girls).  I know the hurt that becoming a woman can invite and I want to guard my daughter from the type of emotional pain that can come from being a female in our society.  Society itself has a double standard and my job as a parent is to teach my children to function within this society.  That fact of life causes parents to incorporate this same double standard in our homes, if just to teach our daughters that it exists.  I'm fighting the urge I have to hold on a little tighter to my daughter than I have my teenage son, but it's a challenge that goes against my instincts as a mother.  Letting go is hard to do....

Post 12 - Logical Fallacies in the Media

 I received a couple of responses to my last post about logical fallacies in politics.  I think that I was misunderstood and I would like to clear the confusion.  I wasn't trying to say that the recent elections were not a representation of democracy in action.  I thoroughly believe that the people spoke, either by casting their ballot or their lack of participation in the election.  I also don't think that the election was "rigged" or that the Republicans cheated in any way.  They obviously won the popular vote and therefore won most of their races.  I was attempting to communicate my opinion that the Republican party is better at telling the people a message and having their audience believe in that message.  I think that this is a prime example of illogical fallacies in the media.  The Democratic party tries to explain their positions on topics to the point that people stop listening, and the Republican party pushed an anti-Obama message that was repeated over and over to the point that the people heard it.  I'm being critical of the Democratic party not the Republican party!!  If anything I'm in awe of the Republican party's expert ability to take a message and have masses of people hear it and, in turn, repeat it for them.  They've built a logical fallacy machine of massive proportions and I wish that the Democratic party would play the political game using the same rules that the Republican party have defined.  I was attempting to communicate my admiration for the Republican's skill in the use of logical fallacies, not to criticize the election results.  I'm not happy with the results, but the people spoke and, as a citizen, I accept the results of the voice of the majority.

I apologize for not communicating my point well and I would appreciate your reevaluation of my last post.  I am not looking for an Internet argument about politics....I've learned that a political argument never turns out well, either in person or on the web.  Politics and religion are not casual conversation topics and I try not to hold a discussion on either with people that I do not know.

Post 11 - Logical Fallacies in Politics

This is how I felt last night!

I'm absolutely disgusted with the results of the elections held yesterday.  I stayed up all evening and proceeded to get more discouraged with every race that was called.  The Republicans won over the electorate with their uncanny ability to use repetitive rhetoric to convince the general population that they are representing them.  This is the furthest thing from the truth.  If you're not an old, rich, white man, then the Republican party is not representing your interests.

I'm also completely disgusted with the Democrat's lack of ability to express their views in a limited scope so that the average American that doesn't follow politics and keep up on current events can understand that Democrats are looking out for the regular people.  When Obama's campaign messaged "Hope" and "It's Time for a Change," the people came out in overwhelming numbers to support a candidate that they felt represented them personally.  Why did this tactic for bringing out the masses not stick within the Democratic party?  I don't know.....

Post 10 - Progressive Advertising

I was watching the GE commercial that has a little girl talking about the amazing projects her mother is working on as an engineer for GE.  I think that listening to this girl discussing how her mother is engineering several wonderful, environmentally-friendly products is completely enthralling. 



After being absorbed by this commercial for like the hundredth time, I started to think about the what this advertisement says about the value and place in society that women now hold.  It implies that women are smart, strong, and creative.  The ad also speaks of the place that women have in the workplace.  Not very long ago in our country mother's were looked down on for trying to juggle having a family at home and also a career.

This is so different from the advertising directed towards and about women just a few decades ago.  In a different time within our country's society, women were solely in charge of their home.  Advertising by companies like GE focused on selling women household appliances and they were portrayed as housewives that cooked, cleaned and did laundry.  I find it amazing that women have progressed so far in such a short period of time.  You can really see how society's viewpoint has evolved by looking at the advertising that we are inundated with on a daily basis.  If our viewpoint had not changed, then advertising agencies would not portray the image of a strong, intelligent, creative, working mother to sell it's image.

Post 9 - Peer Evaluations

I have mixed feelings about the peer evaluation process that we do in our English Composition courses.  On one hand, I enjoy getting feedback on my papers because I'm always looking for ways to improve on my coursework during my college education.  I also enjoy helping my fellow classmates with their writing and their ability to earn a good grade on their essays and papers.  I think that I provide them with good criticisms and suggestions.  The only thing that I struggle with is when I'm given papers to look over that contain poor grammar and are difficult to read and make sense of.  I read whenever I have spare time, so reading a paper that does not read easily presents more of a challenge to me that the sometimes complicated text of the nonfiction books that I enjoy reading.