Indira Fernandez: "College Pressures"

I loved this essay because it touches the main pressures that as students many of us face every day. For example stress is one of the principal problems that we are subjected to in college. Stress may come from a variety of situations that students face every day during their time in college. For example, students may get stress because they don't have enough time to complete all the tasks assigned by their teachers. Also, they worry about how to pay their classes, books, and other schools materials which are really expensive. I believe stress is a combination of different pressures that most of us face. College students also face parental pressure, peer pressure, among others.

Indira Fernandez: "Sexism in English"

I liked this reading because as the author states in the reading, linguistic sexism is a social issue in today's society. I believe that these days we find sexism in the language of marriage, and even in children's books. It is common today in public discussion, whether it is academic, political, or even legal, to take it for granted that using the word "man," to refer to all of humanity, or using the pronoun "he" with any person, male or female, in order to engage in a sexist language, a language that embodies, affirms, or reinforces discrimination against women or the patriarchal subordination of women to men.

Indira Fernandez: "The Lie Detector"

I like the idea presented by the author that lie detectors are an efficient method to detect is somebody is lying. In this essay, I had to agree and disagree with Thomas because I do not think that this equipment is a hundred percent effective. It is my opinion that lying is a psychological aspect, therefore it can be controlled by the mind. In other words people might prepare psychologically to lie so they can overcome this test successfully. In the other hand I agree with the author when he says that lying is stressful, even when we do it for protection, relief, escape, profit, or pleasure. I also agree with what he says about how we are social creatures and we depend on other people therefore we need to have trust on each other to survive. In conclusion, humans have a tendency to lie for some reason and it is really hard to trust someone but you can never know what a person is thinking or feeling inside.

Indira Fernandez: "Why We Crave Horror Movies"

I think this is so far my favorite reading, because the author gives of some of the posibles reasons about why people like horror movies. I kind of agree with his idea that in todays' society we use these movies as a relief from hostility, and negative energy. The author is letting us know that we all have some sort of dark side. In other words he is trying to say that all people are mentally ill, but some of us can hide better than others. He states that our mentally illness is what takes us to watch horror movies, because while we watch them we are releasing adrenaline, and violent energy. Also in the essay Stephen says that our insanity have got to a point that we pay to torture ourselves while we watch scary movies. He also says we like to see this movies to show that we are brave enough to sit there, be scared out of our minds, and let our instinct go free and wild.

Indira Fernandez: "My Wood"

In my personal case I believe that in order to build anything you have to start little by little. Foster in this essay is trying to let us know that owning things make you grow a sense of superiority as a person. The author also expressed that the experience of owning something, in this case a piece of land, comes with a lot of responsibilities. In conclusion Foster is trying to tell us that building an empire might change our personalities because new feelings will emerge. For example feeling of heaviness, jealousy, and the wish to protect our possessions. According to Foster all this will affect us, and will change our point of view about the world.

Indira Fernandez: "In defense of Rachel Carson"

I didn't like this article, beacuse it was a little confusing for me. The article mainly to inform us about some attacks against Rachel Carson. Here we can see that the NPR interview shoots negative attacks and comments to Carson and her personal work. People argued that she wasn't educated in Science field therefore she should not be speaking about unknown situations or terms. I believe the attacks were misguided because although Rachel Carson was not educated with the scientific composition of the pesticides, she was informing the public and our society as a whole, about the many dangers that chemical could cause to both; nature and humans beings.

Indira Fernandez: "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrast"

I found this essay really interesting, because it is about two of the greatest civil war leaders. The purpose of this essay written by Bruce Catton, is to carefully point out the differences between American Civil War generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, but at the same time he brings out unifying qualities from both generals. The author describes Grant as self-reliant man, who did not belong the privileges and learned from an early age that hard work lead to wealth. In the other hand he describes general Lee as a noble man who proudly embodied through out his life the honorable elements of chivalry. Lee was known for his idealistic concepts while Grant stood primarily for the realistic ones. He also let us know that Grant was more of a modern man, while general Lee was quite old-fashioned. When it comes to similarities, the author expresses that both men embraced democracy, they were strong representation of two conflicting currents that through them, had come into final collision. In conclusion both were incredible fighters who represented opposed elements of the American life.

Indira Fernandez: "Neat People vs Sloppy People"

I really liked this reading because the author uses everyday details in order to compare and contrast sloppy people from neat people. We could say from this essay that Britt favors sloppy people because when it comes to description she kind of have a positive, and more favorable opinion about them. The author provide us positive facts and statements about them. She is basically saying that sloppy people pay attention to almost every detail. In other words they get attached to pretty much everything they come in contact with. In the other hand neat people place themselves over everything, not caring whether they hurt other people, they would just do anything in their power to achieve their goals. She also expresses how caring and sensitive sloppy people are compared to neat people, who from her point of view are incredible wasteful, and viciously mean people.

Indira Fernandez: "How to Give Orders Like a Man"

I liked this assay because it helped me understand a little better the differences between direct and inderect communication. From my own point of view I consider direct communication to be more effective than indirect communication, because direct communication can be defined as a two way communication style that involves the use of opinions, values, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings that flow from one individual to another. This form of communication specifically and directly states an action. Therefore there is no room for doubts about who is in charge and how are things suppose to be done.

Indira Fernandez: "Why Don't We Complain?"

This has been one of my favorite readings so far, because it is about one issue that is affecting our society. In these days the lack of complains about pretty much everything is a big problem for all of us. For example, our society don't complain about how every time we want to process any emigration papers it take months to get it done. When it comes to parents, many of them do not feel good about their children losing school days so often due to non-significant holidays, but they still won't complain about it. There is also lack of complaints from emigrants when it comes to the low salaries they receive due to their emigration's status. In our case, students, we get really upset about the high prices we are expected to pay for textbooks, but we don't complain about it. The truth is I don't blame anybody, because most of the times even if we complain, we don't get to solve anything, the only solution is to get up and do it your self if your are able to.

Indira Fernandez: "Marrying Absurd"

I completely agree the author, Joan Didion. I think we both descrebe the marrying act in Las Vegas as something completely unique and most important as an absurd. the author show us that these weddings are nothing serious, nor well planned, therefore, it could be a big mistake, that might involve serious consequences for your upcoming future. Didion specifies that in this state, they dont even confirm if the people are old enough to get married, they just have to swear they have the required age to get married. I believe that getting married is a big event in any person's life, because is the first step to form a family, but more important is the begining of a solid foundation for your future generations. I think that the author's opinion is very similar to mine, because be both believe that marrying in Las Vegas is a complete absurd.

Indira Fernandez: "The Death of the Moth"

I really liked this essay because the author, Virginia Woolf, used the moth in order to incorporate symbolism in her essay. I think this was a great idea because the moth is the perfect representation of the struggle for life. I think behind this symbolization Woolf is trying to give us a strong message: Any living creature, including us humans, should fully appreciate every minute of life, because life is a blessing that can be taken away. Obviously we can't avoid death, but we sure can enjoy every second life have to offer. Remember sometimes we don't know how valuable some things are until we lose them; we should apply the same concept to life.

Indira Fernandez: "Culture and The Way to Rainy Mountain"

I dont think this was a bad essay, but I didn't like it that much, even though the autor uses specific descriptive language elements such as metaphors, similes, adjectives and others to describe us the scene and atmosphere he was writing about. He made it really easy for me in order to visualize what he was trying to communicate me through his writing. He described each event, person, and action in specific details. As we know he uses description in his way to the rainy mountains where he was going to visit his grandmother. But once he got there he realized she was dead and all he had left where beautiful memories of her life, and the strong roots of her culture.

Indira Fernandez: "A Hanging"

This story was extremly interesting to me, specially for the overall message given to us by the author. In "A Hanging", George Orwell is trying to tell us that a human live can be easily taken, but no one has the right to do it. Also, it is my belief that Orwell try to tell us that punishment and cruelty are really serious terms when they are about to be executed in a conscious, living person. During this reading we have a moment of clarity and understanding when the condemned, the Hindu prisoner, on his way to the gallows tried to avoid the puddle so that he wouldn't get wet. Such action made Orwell realize that in fact the prisoner was alive, that this man was completely conscious of his surrounding, and the events that were taking place at that moment. I believe the author is trying to tell us that people might act different when confronting death, but it does't mean they are not alive.

Indira Fernandez: "Salvation"

In my opinion this is a great reading beacause of the valuable message the author presented us in the story. I believe in "Salvation", the author, Langston Hughes, learned that you should always tell the truth and stay trhuthful to yourselve in order to achieve a peacefull life without remorse or doubts. He learned that a clean conciense will not be achieved with lies. This story comfirm my believes that in order to be happy we should stay truthful to ourselves by doing what be know is the right thing to do, even though if it means telling the truth or confronting your fears.