Swing Dancing Process Analysis

Here's my essay about our class' swing dancing lesson last Friday.

Cryonics- Quick Freezing the Dead!

The human quest for immortality, an overarching theme of early science and alchemy, remains the goal for many.  However now, instead of seeking to cheat death through magic, we have turned to medicine and science in search of new ways avoid truly dying.    Today, immortality seems closer than ever before, with the cryonics movement, or “quick-freezing” the dead before cellular death can occur.  The main idea behind cryonics is that a person’s identity (which includes their memories and personality) is stored in cells within the brain that can survive, even without continuous brain activity, for long periods of time if frozen at cold enough temperatures.   The idea is that people who of diseases incurable today, can one day be unfrozen and revived when a cure has been discovered.

The process of cryonics begins when the patient’s heart stops beating, when he or she is pronounced “legally dead.”  However, even after the heart stops, some cellular activity remains in the brain; the body must be frozen before the brain’s cells completely “die.”  According to the Cryonics Institute it would theoretically be best to begin the freezing process before the patient actually dies, to avoid the “physical damages resulting from death.”  Presently, this is illegal so cryonics practitioners have to make due with freezing the recently dead. 

The freezing begins when the dead reaches the cryonics facility.  First, the water in the patient’s body is replaced with cryoprotectant to avoid cells freezing, expanding and therefore ‘exploding.’  Next the body is placed in a vat of dry ice and cooled to temperatures below -130 C.  Finally, the patient is suspended in metal container of liquid nitrogen, at about -200 C.  They are now destined to lie a state of “suspended animation” or cryonic suspension for eternity, or until scientists discover a way to revive the frozen humans.

If the possibility of immortality is tempting, you too can be frozen upon death.  Non-profits, like the previously-mentioned Cryonics Institute or the euphemistic Alcor Life Extension Foundation, are ready to put you on the list to be flash-frozen and preserved upon death, for a small fee, upwards of $30,000.  Proponents will argue that thirty thousand dollars is a small price to pay for immortality, even though no human has been revived from cryonic suspension to date.

Believe what you will, but to me, cryonics is just the modern form of alchemy.  But today, instead of drinking potions laced with mercury or performing incantations, adherents are buying expensive memberships to cryonics organizations and planning their own freezing years in advance, hoping to one day be revived.  It’s just another manifestation of our fear of our own mortality.  Many believe that this immortality will one day become a reality, but right now, it’s only a hope.  Waiting for science to make you immortal is like waiting for the sorcerer to make a elixir of life,  it’s just another instance of people looking for a new way to avoid the inevitable and cheat death.

Compare and Contrast

Here's a link to my essay comparing and contrasting large malls and main street shops.

Road Signs Are Confusing!

It seems like everyone has been lead the wrong way by a confusing street sign or outdated directions.  Here's my essay about how baffling road signs really are.

Illiterate Society Response

Throughout his essay, "The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society", Jonathan Kozol employs a simple, concise, yet nevertheless eloquent, style of syntax.   According to Kozol, illiteracy is a form of oppression.  Illiterates face restricted political choices, often voting for superficial reasons, or not at all; they are also socially ostracized, economically impoverished and geographically immobile (usually because they can't read maps or road signs.)  Kozol's syntax echos this oppression.  Like American illiterates, his sentences are confined and fragmented.

However, Kozol does not confine himself to only simple sentences.   He closes the essay with one of his longest sentences: "The answers to these questions represent a reasonable test of out belief in the democracy to which we have been asked in public school to swear allegiance."  Although longer, the sentence is nevertheless clear.   Kozol tends to use his shortest, most straightforward, at the beginning of each paragraph.  As the reader delves deeper into the paragraph, the sentences become slightly longer, although even the longest sentences read easily because they are broken up by commas, parallel structure and semi columns.  However, generally, by the end of the paragraph, Kozol reverts to his simple syntax, to reiterate his point,

Kozol's simple sentence structure makes his essay highly accessible to the masses.  Poor readers do not have to filter through complicated sentences to find meaning in the work.  Instead, Kozol presents his ideas clearly and simply.  Although his essay is not intended for illiterates, it is meant to inform the entire literate portion of the nation of this issue.  This concise syntax enables a greater majority of US citizens to read his essay and therefore understand the problem of illiteracy.  In fact, many of Kozol's sentences, such as his claim "The human price [of illiteracy] is not so obvious at first," would be decipherable and understood (if read aloud of course) by even a non-reader.   Kozol's syntax echoes his goal (to stop the problem of illiteracy in American through educating literate citizens about it), making the intent of his essay apparent.

Narrative Imitation Essay

Here's a link to my narrative inspired by Sherman Alexie's piece, "Indian Education."

It is important to note, that although some of my memories may be a little fuzzy, all of the anecdotes told in this essay are entirely true.

A Flamingo Labor Day

Here's the sign at the Flamingo Hotel, where I was this Labor Day. I love the pink Flamingo on top!

I absolutely love holidays, so, on occasion, I’ll be blogging a few of my random musings and thoughts about various holidays and celebrations. I don’t only love holidays because of the time off from school (although I’m definitely not complaining about that), I also just love all the festivities.  I even enjoy the minor holidays.  Traditionally the first Monday in September, Labor Day was last weekend.  The holiday has its roots in the Labor Movement of the late 19th century, with the first Labor Day celebrated in 1882.  Although it’s intended to commemorate laborer’s contributions to the nation, Labor Day has also come to represent the end of summer, a chance for people to enjoy a final long weekend of warm weather.   

Now, Labor Day weekend and I have developed a love-hate relationship.  I love barbecues, warm weather and the day off but for me, Labor Day symbolizes the true end of summer.  For years, I would always start school the Tuesday after Labor Day.  That Monday would be my last day of my treasured summer.  Especially in the years before summer reading and assignments, it was my last day of freedom.  The last lazy summer day to swim in the pool, go to a barbecue or just relax with family and friends, savoring each of those precious final moments.

My long weekends are different now.  This year, Labor Day came three weeks into school.  The day off is now more of a treat, but consequently my Labor Days have become polluted by new responsibilities, namely homework I procrastinated on, college applications and volleyball practice.  However, once everything has been taken care of, I can take a few moments to just relax, even if that relaxation is contaminated by new stress and worries.

My Labor Day weekend this year hit a bit of a somber note.  After a funeral (I won’t go into that part), my family and I spent two nights at the Flamingo Hotel, in Santa Rosa, not Las Vegas.  The Flamingo was a fun, slightly funky, hotel that’s been around since the 1950s.  My absolute favorite part of the hotel was the giant, fluorescent sign with a neon pink flamingo on top.  You could see the sign for what seemed like miles.  I remembered driving by the hotel when I was young, always wanting to stay there, and finally I got the chance!  The entire hotel was set on a circular pattern, with a large pool in the center.  My mother kept saying it reminded her of something out of Mad Men, even though I’ve only ever seen a commercial for the show, I couldn’t help but agree.  However, my actual Labor Day was filled with volleyball practice and homework I had left to the last minute.  Although I was able to finish everything in time to visit family friends for dinner, it was a far cry from my former carefree Labor Days, but that’s life, as you grow up, more responsibilities come your way, but more freedoms and opportunities come with those responsibilities.  And that's okay, you just have to accept the change.

“Greasy Lake” Response

In T.C. Boyle’s short story, “Greasy Lake,” tells of three teenage boys who try to be “bad” yet end up in a dangerous and traumatic situation.  From the first paragraph, Boyle makes it clear that the narrator, Digby and Jeff are not really “bad” but young boys, just trying on a new persona.  They want to be “dangerous characters” but don't really know what being a dangerous character entails.   They've tried snorted “what someone claimed was cocaine” and raced around in their parent’s station wagons.  Although they tried, none of the boys were truly “bad” in any sense of the word.  Despite his ear piercing, Digby is a student at Cornell, still supported by his father, and although Jeff is contemplating dropping out, he also appears to be a college student.  These Ivy League, suburban boys are a far cry from a real shifty character, their “bad boy” personas can be read as false and inauthentic.

Nevertheless, the three friends stay out late into the night, driving around, eating fast food and drinking fruity liquor.  Very late at night they decide to go up to one of their favorite haunts, Greasy Lake, and then the trouble begins as the situation gets out of hand.  After misidentifying their friend’s car, they are forced into an altercation with a true “bad greasy character.”  The narrator claims he “was terrified,” showing he is not really the tough, dangerous character he claims to be.  In the fight that follows, the man is knocked unconscious and then, overcome with lust, the boys attempt to rape his girlfriend.  However, another car soon approaches and the frightened boys bolt.  As the narrator lays in the mud while the angry boyfriend and other men trash his car, harass and throw rocks at him, he reflects on his situation, even contemplating suicide for fear of repercussions from his parents for wrecking their Bel Air and decides the only person in the world worse off than he, is the dead man they found there.

However, this is also a story of reform.   As the boys are leaving, they see two girls searching the dead man’s motorcycle, clearly looking for someone.  They yell for “Al” but the narrator, Jeff and Digby know no one will answer.  One of the girls, when she goes over their car to ask if they’d seen Al, invites them “party” with her and her friend.  However, traumatized by their experiences and possibly seeing the error of their ways, the Digby answers “No thanks, some other time.”  It seems as though Digby, and possibly the other boys, have realized that although they may try, they are far from the “bad” boys or “dangerous characters” they fancy themselves to be.  The incident at Greasy Lake seems to be the catalyst for friends to reform their ways and stop playing the phony “bad boy” character.

 

Lake Arrowhead Description

Here is the link to my descriptive essay about Lake Arrowhead, loosely inspired by Joan Didion's essay, "The Santa Anna."

Also, here's a picture I took this summer of the lake I described.