Grammar Post #5

To or too.. This is something that Mike and I were just arguing about so I decided I'd research what the answer is.

Too is an adverb, and two different meanings give it two different distinct placements.
Too meaning excessively, to an excessive degree...
You worry too much.
Isn’t it just too obvious?
In these cases, the adverb too precedes an adjective.
Too meaning also, in addition.
Mike is coming too!

To is a particle. The infinitive in English consists of two parts: the particle to and the verb. Here are four infinitives:
to giggle to chuckle to snigger to laugh
If you see to before a verb, as above, it’s acting as part of the infinitive. Too never does that.
Gretchen snickered when Hannah said she wanted to order fish and chips.
To climb Mount Everest takes guts.
To used as a particle and too used to modify a following adjective can look deceptively similar:
Edna went to work.
Charles arrived too late. http://www.educationbug.org/a/to-vs--too.html

And yes I am right again :) Sorry Mike..

I'm Black, You're White, Who's Innocent?

In this piece by Shelby Steele she talks of the racism that goes on in our society. I didn't agree with this essay from almost the beginning. I think that there has been a lot of progression from back when there was more problems with this. Everyone has their own oppinion and can think for themselves but to me we are all people. Color should not be a deciding factor on who get's the job, or who commited the crime, etc. Maybe someday this problem will disolve but for now I guess we'll just have to live with ignorance.

Rough Draft for John Q

Heidi Schmutz
English 2010 M & W
06/29/2009

John Q and Heart Transplants
Each year thousands of adults in the United States would be saved if they were able to get a donated heart transplant. More than 2,200 heart transplants were performed last year in the United States alone. When the heart no longer can adequately work and a person is at risk of dying, a heart transplant may be indicated. It involves removing a diseased heart and replacing it with a healty human heart. Cardiac transplantation is recognized to be a proven procedure in appropriately selected patients (Heart). John Q is a movie that shows the problem many Americans have with getting proper health care. The producers of the movie show America’s health care problems by showing a boy who needs a heart transplant, and a father that will do anything to help his son get the help his son needs.
John Q is a movie based off of the trouble a man goes through to get health care for his son when he doesn’t have any insurance. Denzel Washington plays John Q. Archibald in the movie. Mr. Archibald is a factory worker that is having financial hardship because of the his cut back hours. The family is struggling when their son becomes terminally ill with heart failure. While the Archibalds have health insurance they are informed by the hospital administrator Rebbeca Payne, played by Anne Heche, that their health insurance doesn’t cover such an expensive procedure. As John Q. tries to raise the money himself he soon finds that there is no hope so he has to take his soon out of the hospital to die. John Q. snapped and decided that if he couldn’t raise the money the right way that he would force the doctors to operate on his son. He held the hospital hostige until somebody was able to give a heart transplant and the doctors operated (Williams). John Q Archibald is a desperate parent in the movie that knows he will only be able to get his son help by forcing the hospital to operate on him. This shows what many Americans face today.
In addition because of the great need for heart transplants, and the fact that it is a dangerous procedure, many people get screened out. The only patients that are able to have a heart transplants are the ones that have tried everything else and are sick enough to get one, but healthy enough to take the procedure. Since the heart transplant is the last result many doctors will try to do everything before issuing the need for a heart transplant. Although this screens out many people the patients that do receive the heart transplant do not have a very good life expectancy after 10-20 years (What). This shows that even though many people may need a heart transplant many doctors are not willing to do the procedure, and therefore the patient may die because of that small fact.
Some may say that John Q is an over exaggeration of what might happen if a desperate parent needs to get help for his son, and that there are many flaws to thinking that he can take hostage a hospital, but one has to think that if they were in John Q shoes what would be going through their minds at the time. The movie although dramatized depicts the problems that many Americans face not only with heart transplants but with many other health care issues. In some way people have to believe that there is a better way. When you watch a young child die because his parents don’t have enough health insurance to cover the cost of a surgery, one must think that the most valueable thing in that situation should be the child’s life, not the money needed to do the surgery.
"Heart Transplants: Statistics." American Heart Association. American Heart Association. 29 Jun 2009 .
Williams, Karl. "John Q Summary." Starplus.com. 27 Jun 2009 .
"What is a Heart Transplant?." Heart and Vascular Diseases. Sep 2009. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 29 Jun 2009 .

Affect vs. Effect..

I always have problems with these two words trying to decide between which to use.. Now maybe I'll always use the right one!

Affect with an a means "to influence," as in, "The arrows affected Ardvark," or "The rain affected Amy's hairdo." Affect can also mean, roughly, "to act in a way that you don't feel," as in, "She affected an air of superiority."

Effect with an e has a lot of subtle meanings as a noun, but to me the meaning "a result" seems to be at the core of all the definitions. For example, you can say, "The effect was eye-popping," or "The sound effects were amazing," or "The rain had no effect on Amy's hairdo."

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/affect-versus-effect.aspx

"Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt": Advertising and Violence

Jean Kilbourne makes a very plausible arguement about advertising and violence. I totally agree that advertisements have a big affect on the way consumers feel about the product and if they will buy it. It's crazy how most brands now use sexual images to advertise their products. It's hard to filter out all the trash and waste on TV now that even commercials are exploitive.
This reading made me upset seeing the way that advertisers portray women and how others believe it. It's sad that women now can't go into an elevator, like Kilbourne stated, without worrying who will be on there with you.

Killer Culture

This was an interesting essay by David Kupelian. I can relate to this because I recognize these behaviors in teens now and when I was growing up. We all want to dress like those around us and act like those on TV.
My favorite section of this essay was "The Way Out." I think that communication between parents and children is the best way to keep kids close and out of trouble. I know when I have kids, and they are going through rough times, I will tell them about the things I did wrong as a teen and hope they will learn from my negative example. In no way will I promote them to do wrong things but let them know that I've been through the same things and understand. Hopefully we can keep our families close and far away from trouble.

Dianna Kendall does make a very good point Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conpicuous Consumption. I've watched some of these reality TV shows and I see how this can affect the way some would think. To me I'm too cheap to pay full price for anything but I know some who think that because these people have it all they should too! Why go into debt to live this dream lifestyle that ends up being a headache anyways. Sure we all see these stars and think how great their lives are.. We don't see everything that goes on behind the scenes.
I also think that Dianna Kendall makes a good point when she states that the media focuses on the rich and not the working class or the poor. The media should definately focus on things that are more important than who's rich, who's fighting, or who's car is the best.

Money, money, money, MONEY!

Money is what makes the world go round.. It also is what ruins relationships, breaks up homes, and turns friends into enemies. This poem did not make sense at all the first time I read it.. Now that we all critiqued it together and took a closer look I understand more of what Dana Gioia was writing. Money is a poem that makes sense but you have to dig deeper to analyze it.

They're, There, or Their? Grammar #3

I couldn't think of a certain grammar post I wanted to write about so I looked up the most common grammar mistakes on google and this is what I found. 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid! http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39273376,00.html.
It's always good to refresh on these simple mistakes so we aren't making them too right?

They're is used to combine the two words they are. This is used in a sentence like this...

• They're running to go home.

The next is there. This represents a place to go or where something is (hard to explain).

• The dog ran over there to chase the bird.

Their shows ownership. I guess I'm not good at explaining this but this is how you use it.

• The family went home to their house to get out of the rain.

Serving in Florida by Barbara Ehrenreich

This story was very interesting. Serving in Florida by Barbara Ehrenreich shows what life can be like if we don't go to college and work manual labor jobs.

The story was interesting to me because my family has struggled with this my whole life. My parents never went to college, and sometimes our family really struggled for it. Both my mom and dad both worked full time jobs so we stayed home with my older siblings. I could see how tough life was for my parents but I never knew anything different, so I thought it was normal.

Now as I am about to graduate from college its kind of weird to think that I make more than most in my family. It is crazy what education does in our lives because it gives us so many opportunities, and I always encouarge girls to try college out and figure out some sort of a career just in case something happens and they need it.

I Just Wanna be Average..

Man there are times that I have said.. "I just want to be average, I don't care if I get the best score as long as I pass!" This helped me to relate with the feelings that these kids have in I Just Wanna be Average by Mike Rose. My attitude has changed since I have been up against many tough competitors in the Nursing Program.
Mostly I would like to have a teacher come my way and help me enjoy reading books and writing again. It all started when I had to start reading lame books back in Jr. High that our teachers would assign us. People ask if I've read Harry Potter, or Twilight.. No I can't sit and read them. My brain starts to think of other things as soon as I begin to read. It would be so nice if I could find a teacher like MacFarland that would get me me to like those kind of things again.
Oh and the language.. Wow. Kind of intense.

Against School

I'm not against school but I think kids can form bad habits while in school.
One thing in Against School by John Taylor Gatto that stood out to me, and that I completely agree with , is that the easy divorce laws have led to lack of work on our relationships. I have so many friends that are either divorced or getting divorced. In some cases things are necessary to get away from and unable to fix. Most of those are too lazy to work at it which is possibly something we could learn in school. Easy way out is always the best choice.
Another thing that I agree with is that children now don't like to be alone and use the television, computers, and cell phones to avoid being alone. I remember as a child I rarely watched t.v. I was outside every second I could get. Now days imagination comes from video games played daily.
To me school shapes our lives and our futures. I'm glad that as a kid I was put in school. I know for a fact I wouldn't be who I am today without it.

Grammer Post # 2

How to use commas..
The rule that I wanted to research was this one that I found..Use a comma + a little conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so) to connect two independent clauses, as in "He hit the ball well, but he ran toward third base." http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm.
So what is an independent clause you might ask? It is a statement that you could stop before the comma and use as a sentence. Or two parts of a sentence seperated by a conjunction that can be it's own sentence. For example, "The doctor told Charlie to lose weight and exercise vigorously for forty-five minutes a day". "The doctor told Chalrie to lose weight."That is an independent clause. "Exercise vigorously for forty-five minutes a day," is not because we do not have any idea who or what is supposed to exercise vigorously? Make sense? Ha it does for me now...

Idiot Nation..

Wow.. This was an interesting essay. Michael Moore has a lot of anger built up and he let's it all out in Idiot Nation. I think he was a little harsh. A lot of the things he says all of us "Idiots" don't know, I really didn't know. I definately agree with Michael about teachers not making enough. If we have great teachers and better environments for our children to learn in I guess America wouldn't have so many idiots.

In the essay Changing American Families by Judy Root Aulette I realized how important class is to some people. While growing up I could tell that some of my friends families had more money than mine but now looking back I realize we were in the lower class. The life I lived though was great to me! I guess some need more than others to be happy. Maybe even that is just what they're used to so they don't know any better. I'm glad we're not all the same. Being different is what makes the world go round in my eyes.

How to quote a book title in an essay..

I know this is really stupid of me but I really had to look up if I should italicize, underline, or put quotation marks around the title of the essay in my last post. Searching through atleast five different answers they all said the same thing. According to each answer, you should always underline the title in your writing.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_typing_an_essay_do_you_underline_the_title_of_the_book

What I miss about the 1950's..

I didn't know much about the 50's until I read What We Really Miss About the 1950's,by Sephanie Coontz. From what I read, the thing that I would miss about the 1950's the most is that you could buy a house for 10,000 dollars! That would be nice.. On the other hand women not having any rights I'm not such a fan of. I feel that if a woman wants to work, go to school, and have a family she has every right to. I'm glad I live in this era and have the choice as a woman to do basically anything.

My Info

My name is Heidi Schmutz. I grew up in Pleasant Grove UT, and graduated from PG High School in 2006. I am in the nursing program at Dixie State, and I will graduate this next fall. I love my work and love helping people.

I am married to Michael Schmutz who is from a little farm town called Enterprise UT, I am trying to modernize him but it doesn't seem to work to well sometimes. We have been married for about a year and we love it.

I love to be with my family, and have fun. I love to work and be with my friends at school. Most of my time is taken up with work and school, but Mike and I always find some time to eat ice cream at night together:)