Field Observation: Worried about the Weather

Date: Sunday, 3/1, Home in Marietta, Ga, 2:30 pm.
My wife is the kind of person that will worry about anything there is to be worried about. She is a very kind person and watches the news everyday. For anyone that has lived in the south, especially in the state of Georgia, they know that the weather is something to be admired and there is no telling when you might have to break out a sweater even if you wore a tee-shirt the day before. It started to snow on Sunday and had been raining a couple of hours before the snow started. Usually, the rain will always prevent the snow from sticking or accumulating on the ground. Sunday, the snow started to stick and was coming down at an amazing rate for a couple of hours. I noticed that my wife had started to pace the floor and was watching the news while the snow was falling to the ground. I knew what she was thinking about and it would be only a matter of minutes before she would make some remark about the roads overnight and missing work the next day. Sure enough, she started with the worrying remarks and soon had called her boss to confirm how to handle the next morning. I asked myself why does she have to worry about that know when the morning is 16 hours away. There are so many things that she could think about or do especially when we hardly ever see any snow anyway. I told her that she should just enjoy the snow while it is here and deal with Monday morning on Monday. Do you think she listened to me? Even with the snow, it was a good day for me as I watched the pacing of the floor.

Field Observation: Woman Fights Crowd with Wheelchair

Date: Saturday, 2/28, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Ga., 2:30 pm.
I visited the High Museum of Art to see the exhibition, " The Terracotta Army from the Quin Dynasty " and the 2000 year old clay army that was discovered in China in 1974. You can imagine, Saturday is a very busy day for the museum, especially around mid-day when most people like to visit the museum. As I entered the exhibit, I couldn't help but notice an elderly woman that looked to be in her early sixties pushing another woman (probably her mother) in a wheelchair. The first thing that went through my mind was sorrow for the woman that had to do all the work for the woman in the wheelchair. Then I wondered why would this woman would bring her mother into the museum on a busy Saturday when she could come during the week and enjoy more of the exhibit when there is less of a crowd. This would also be helpful for her to get around because she would have more room to maneuver the wheelchair. If I were pushing the wheelchair, I would miss most of the exhibition from having to be attentive to everyone else in my way. Seeing the exhibition for me that day was tiring enough from all the walking that I had to do. I can only imagine what the lady doing all the work felt like at the end of her day. While I was watching her make her rounds, I could see other people giving her looks that made me wonder if they were thinking the same thing as I was. I don't have anything against a handicapped person and know that they need the care, but I also believe that there is a correct time and place for these activities where all parties involved can make the most of a visit to a museum. I hope that the woman in the chair enjoyed her day at the museum.

Continuation: Field Observaiton: Sunday Breakfast at IHOP
Date: Sunday, 3/1, IHOP Restaraunt, Marietta, Ga. 9:30 am
I don't usually eat breakfast at an IHOP restaurant but decided to try it on Sunday morning. When I go out to eat at a restaurant, I go there for the food although there is some time delay with ordering and food being delivered to your table. As I sat there in the restaurant waiting for my food, I noticed that all the seating arrangements were made where everyone in the restaurant were real close to each other, similar to eating at home. Well maybe not that close but I could here any conversation that was being made within 20 yards of my table. The only other reason I could not here any farther than that, was because the people within the 20 yard radius was drowning out the conversations from the other restaraunteers. The amazing thing about all the small talk is that most of these people were talking about their personal lives and I think they assumed that noone was listening to them. I would occasionally tune into some of the conversations just to here what they had to say and then tune into someone else. One mother was talking to her daughter about getting married and since I did not want to here about another marriage, I listened to a couple discuss their vacationing plans. I then begain to wonder if any of the other people were listening to the other crowd as if watching your kids at the playground. With all said and done, I finished my breakfast and left the restaraunt full of neighborly knowledge and food thinking about what conversation I could add with my next visit.

Depression: Exploratory Writing

Phillip Greiner
English 1101: Depressive Exploratory Writing
Rebecca Giddens
February 17, 2009

Depression is a psychological term that is used to describe a physical mood or condition of a person which includes chronic or severe levels of sadness, perceived helplessness, loss of interest and other emotional or personal behaviors. Because of the affects of depression on people that have physical and emotional struggles in life, they never think about the many applications of the word and how it is used in the English language. A geologist uses the term to describe impressions made to a planets’ ground surface and economists use the word to describe increases or decreases for a country or states economy. In either sense, there are many characteristics of the word to describe related contents for each of the definitions listed above.
Psychological depression has no single cause and results from a combination of things. Whatever the cause, it is not just a state of mind but related to physical changes in the brain and connected to an imbalance of a type of chemical that carries signals to your brain and nerves. Some of the common factors involved with psychological depression include family genetics, trauma and stress, low self-esteem or personality, physical conditions and other psychological disorders. No matter the cause, this condition may include mood conditions such as: anger, fear, anxiety, despair, guilt, apathy, grief and personal sadness. This condition is often harmful to the body and can affect proper functioning of the brain which can lead to suicidal tendencies.
Geological depressions are landforms sunken or depressed below the surrounding area and are formed by various mechanics. Some types of depressions are: sediment filled depressions; blowouts which are contributed by wind erosion; impact craters caused from meteors; valleys caused from erosion and oceanic trenches which are created from the earths tectonic plates moving against one another. This type of depression is a means of describing a force or act of being depressed.
In economics, depression is a sustained, long downturn of one or more economies which is similar to what we are experiencing at this present time. Economic signs of depression are characterized by increases in unemployment, restriction of credit, shrinking of investments, bankruptcies, reduced amounts of trade and commerce and price deflation. The term is often used to describe or indicate a deeper sign or more serious recession. In U.S. history, there was a depression during the twenties that lasted for a decade and took government programs and literally, “a war” to bring the economy out of this state. The next time that you get in a sad mood, think about depression and the levels to which the term is used. The psychological state can be categorized at different levels of depression similar to different geological depressions that exist. The economical state of depression can also create different levels of suffrage for individuals and may lead to the psychological condition of depression if economical depressive-effects are felt for an extended period of time.

Poetry Blog / The Immigrants by Margaret Atwood

I found this poem online and it caught my eye. The poem describes immigrants and an explanation of their travels during the move to another world or place. As I read the poem, it reminded me of the readings of American history and what other nationalities faced when they were sometimes forced to move to another country, without any idea of what they would be facing. More times than not, they faced hardships such as poverty, sickness, abuse from others and very little means of survival. They were looked down on by the same people that had been through similar circumstances but had survived and made a home for themselves at some earlier time. These people were afraid that their livelyhood may be at risk from the new people. These immigrants would often have to travel for miles after making the journey to a new land just to find a job, shelter or food never to earn many friendships.
I gained the knowledge of travel that these people had taken and the detail and feeling in the words that describes their clothing, looks, belongings and means of travel in their destination to find a new life. I appreciate my life and the journeys' that I have had compared to what these immigrants had to burden during that time for them. It makes you wonder if immigrants are going through similar circumstances today in search for a better life. I'm sure that somewhere in the world, the same burdens are being placed on immigrants even with technology and the modernization of civilization as we know it. The descriptions also remind me of the harshness that an immigrant might face on a boat during their travel to another country. Their is a lot of meaning in the words that describe the immigration process.

Peer Review of Narration

When I started the review of another persons' narration paper, I started to think about my own and some ways or styles that I should have written with my own. After I read the narration about reviewing some one's elses work, I had to read my co-students' paper several times to analyze the style of writing she used for her narration. Her paper had a good story line but the thesis and the conclusion needed more information to link the paragraphs together. Some of the sentences needed to be joined together and there could have been some more detail about the subject and place in the narration. By doing this review, It made me think more about my own paper and the necessary revisions that I will need to perform with my own work. I started my own narration with more information than I needed to fulfill the requirements of the paper. By doing this, I realized that I needed to shorten the title and concentrate more on a single idea so that I could add detail for the senses. Only then could any reader get a more detailed or imaginative feeling for the subject that I would be writing about. I am going to do this for my narration in the next revision.

How could George Orwell shoot and elephant?

In "Shooting an Elephant" written in 1936, was George Orwell a coward for shooting the elephant? Is he a racist?
I believe that he was not a coward for shooting the elephant. After reading the narration, you have to picture yourself during this time in Burma. The British had forced themselves upon the indigenous people of Burma in the hunt for natural resources. Their excuse was justified by the belief that their culture was superior to the people of Burma. This act against these people created tension and a feeling of revenge or humiliation against any "European whites" especially from the older Burman priests who had nothing better to do than insult the British when they came near. George Orwell held the position of sub-divisional police officer in the town of Moulmein in lower Burma and was a witness and protector of the British imperialistic activities that had been bestowed on the Burman people. As a result, he became a continual target of harassment and humiliation from the yellow faced Burmans; which eventually turned his original feelings of pity for these people into a rage of disgust. On that day when he was called out to settle the problem with a raged elephant, he was quite sure in his mind that killing this elephant was not the right thing to do, nor did he really have the heart to kill such a praised animal in this kingdom. The Burmans used the elephant for work and the elephant was of great money value to the people of Burma. Besides, if he killed the animal, he was surely going to hear it from the owner. As it turned out, the elephant was tormenting the village only because of being "must" or "that time of the month" situation which usually wears off after a day or so. If you are woman, you can imagine what that town looked like. During the rampage, George Burman had run across a Burman worker that had been trampled by the elephant and killed. It was then decided that he had better get a larger weapon that could kill the elephant just in case he did not have any options; kill or be killed. At this time, all the town people had gathered to see what the outcome was going to turn into, especially since elephant meat could mean good eating for the Burmans. As Orwell approached the animal which was eating grass in a rice field, an enormous crowd had approached to the rear and intimidated him to the point that he had no choice but to shoot the beast or look like a fool for the activities he had stirred amongst the town. Not to shoot would make him look like a coward and the people would have humiliated him and disrespected him for the rest of his days in Moulmein.
He was not a racist. If you were spat on and humiliated by any group of people, you would have similar feelings of George Orwell. If he would have been a racist then he might have shown more aggression against these people than expressed in his narration. He was just trying to suppress the "already established" aura which was present in everyday life in Burma for the white Europeans.

Do you believe that a homemaker who has never been a wage earner should be entitled to a Social Security death benefit for her survivors?

I believe that whether a person should receive the benefits should be determined from her marriage status, whether her spouse was paying into the benefits and the term for which both persons were considered married. I believe that the benefit should also be a onetime benefit for to help with the burial or just money to help out during the death of the loved one. Even if she hadn't worked as a wage earner and was not married, a benefit would help for burial or relief at the time of death for whoever is responsible for the remains.

If she were married for better than three years and the spouse was a wage earner paying into the social security system, then she will receive benefits upon his death. For most of the people that receive these benefits, there is hardly enough money to survive. I mean you have all the household bills; gas, electric, cable, food and repairs that come around more often than needed. In some cases, the mortgage will not even be paid. After the person has buried the spouse, all these burdens will start and then there will be very little funds to pay for it all. Over a period of time, this person will have very little money so all the responsibility will fall on someone else when they pass away. The death benefit would help to resolve this issue when this sad day comes.

A Trip to Niagara Falls

I took a vacation three years ago and decided to visit the state of New York to see Niagara Falls which is located north of Buffalo and east of Canada. I have seen the falls on television and from pictures in books, but the visit there was no comparison to standing three feet from an avalanche of brute force from one of mother earths’ natural wonders of the world. I will never forget this breathtaking sight and I highly recommend this trip to anyone who is looking for great three-day weekend or vacation in the state of New York.
As I drove from Buffalo toward the city of Niagara Falls, New York, I could see the Niagara River running like a snake during the hunt for prey. The river was quite wide and seemed to be so calm just sitting there as if there was no movement at all. The suns’ reflection across the waters edge gave way to the beautiful bluish color that all this water displayed as I drove to my destination. Just before I drove into Niagara Falls, I could tell that the rivers banks seemed to get wider as I closed in on the falls and I could see a hint of watery mist that looked like flowing clouds on a windy day. I knew that I was minutes away from the final destination and could hardly wait to see the sights.
I picked some information from the park entrance and found out that there were three islands on the American side of the falls that were named “Three Sisters Islands” from the historical past of discovery of the falls and that is where I started with my visit. As I walked into the park next to the river, I could here a huge rumbling sound like that of thunder coming from this enormous body of water as it made its way to the drop-off point. The boiling of the water as it made its way to the falls reminded me of the waves generated by a wave pool. All this rushing water looked similar to the waves at the beach when the tops of the waves break into the edge. I was also amazed at the intensity of the water flow even before its death roll to the bottom of the falls. At the falls edge, I could see the most amazing colors of green and blue haze from the water leaving the top of the falls. For all the beauty that this natural wonder displayed, I could only think of how devastating such a body of water could create which I found to be true from the rocks and erosion that was displayed at the base of the falls.
After the full tour of the park and the visitation of the Canadian side, I can say that I have never been to a place where there is such a beautiful display of water from a water fall and, at the same time, witness the violent descent as millions of gallons flow downstream.