Face to Face Response

 

    I listened to Muhammad's story on the topic of 9/11. Muhammad is Muslim, and it seems a lot of the Muslim community was interviewed about their stories on this website. Muhammad was saying that after 9/11 happened his boss had been talking about how his supposed “cousins” blew up the world trade center. Whenever he actually went into work his boss took him to the back to “check him for bombs” and his boss kept laughing like it was a funny joke.

Something like that happening isn’t funny at all. It was a very serious situation for the United States and it wasn’t something to joke about. The fact that someone is the same race as the people who did blow up the world trade center does not mean they are related, or that Muhammad feels the same way that the terrorists did. I agree with Muhammad; I would feel very offended and mad about my boss saying those types of things. Personally I would probably quit.

I also listened to Anjum Mir’s story on 9/11. She focused on how scared she was about the whole situation, and she was scared for the Muslim population in America. She felt sad for the people that were involved in 9/11, and she was scared that she would be in a building that would be bombed. Her last sentence in her story really stood out to me, “And there was this impending sort of doom for what’s going to happen to the Muslim community.”

If I was a Muslim female after 9/11 I would probably feel the same way as Anjum. I would be scared that people would view me in a really negative light and that there would possibly be restrictions for Muslim people after the whole 9/11 situation (I don’t know if there were restrictions, but there would still be a lot of judgment from other people who aren’t Muslim). I think for that period of time, a lot of people didn’t feel safe anywhere they went. Maybe people still have this problem today, but I feel like that the United States has gotten a little smarter with the second amendment rights, and a lot more people carry a weapon with them than before 9/11 occurred. Does this mean that we are safer? Probably not, this could even be worse to have an idiot own a gun who doesn’t know how to use it in the right situation, but hopefully we have people that can protect us that use smart decisions with owning and concealing a gun.

       

I didn’t have time to watch the movie, but I can see a pattern in all of the things we have read and watched today. The test was based on how we feel about different races, and it was quite interesting. I think we lean more towards our own race, but I don’t have a problem or feel uncomfortable around different races per say.  I only watched 9/11 videos because it was easier to relate to than Pearl Harbor. The 9/11 videos only told stories of all of these Muslim men and women, and how they felt about the impact that 9/11 had on their lives afterwards. This is another racial topic as well. And lastly, Ms. Reeves summarized the video in class. The video is suppose to be about how a school teacher separated her students by eye color and put them in different parts of her classroom after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. Surprise surprise! Another racial situation although this one focuses on segregation.  

 

Reading Response #4: Plagiarism Article

Reading Response #4: Plagiarism

    The New York Times article addressed how most college students (40%) turn in their papers without giving credit to their sources, or some students flat out copy and paste their whole paper. The article discussed numerous cases where students plagiarized their papers and don’t seem to think it’s a big deal. Some professors and educators studying plagiarism cases blame the internet, and how it’s too easy to copy and paste. The articles discusses people who support plagiarism (Helene Hegemann) and people who despise it (Sarah Wilensky).  

          I’m honestly kind of on the fence about how I feel about plagiarism, because I see both sides of the situation. I see that high school students do go into college with no idea on how to write a paper (hints why I’m personally taking this class), and the best solution is to look at other people’s ideas.  Sarah Wilensky stated in the article, "The main reason it occurs, she said, is because students leave high school unprepared for the intellectual rigors of college writing." I did say look not copy. I do feel like completely copying and pasting a whole paper that is someone else’s is wrong, it’s pure laziness actually. That is time that someone else took to write that paper, and the fact that someone copied that whole thing and didn’t give them any credit whatsoever is ridiculous. I understand putting a couple sentences of someone else’s paper or from a website, but you should always give credit to your sources. I feel like technology is affecting our willingness to write papers on our own, but I’m my own person and I have my own ideas. Plagiarism isn’t something that I would personally do, but people who don’t take a class like Writing and Composition in High School I could see it being acceptable.

 

  This picture demonstrates that teachers can tell when you’ve plagiarized a paper, and you should receive credit for something that isn’t your own work.

Reading Response #3: The Maze Runner

To give you a quick inside from last time, a lot of strange things had been occurring in the Glade that had never happened before. A girl appears (who is the last person to be delivered to the Glade) and one of the runners (Ben) is kicked out of the Glade for attacking Thomas.

Now what’s happening is one of the other leaders (Alby) of the Glade is promoted as a tentative runner to check out the Maze with Milho who is the other runner. It gets later and later, and Newt (leader of the Glade) starts to get worried because they should’ve gotten back to the Glade by that time. The boys start to hold their breath because they all know what happens when it gets late…the doors of the maze close. It’s a rule that no one goes after another Glader if they get stuck in the maze, because you’d be good as dead since the Grievers (reminder: the Grievers are the big bug/spider machines that can “prick” you and you become very sick and insane) come out at night.

“Thomas knew he had no choice. He moved. Forward. He squeezed past the connecting rods at the last second and stepped into the maze.” –The Maze Runner page 112

       

My quote explains what happens next. Basically what happened was at the last two minutes before the doors shut for the night, Milho and Alby were on the other side of the doors. Alby got attacked by a Griever and was injured, and Milho couldn’t get both of them out of the maze in time. Thomas and all the other boys were just watching this happen. Although it was a rule not to go on the other side of the maze, Thomas had to. He always wanted to be a runner anyway. But in this case, he may never be a runner if he can’t survive the night.

The picture shows Milho's face when Thomas runs into the maze before the doors shut for the night. 

Reading Response 2: The Maze Runner

Reading Response 2: The Maze Runner

A lot of interesting things seem to be occurring in “the glade”. Thomas is adjusting to the unique lifestyles the boys have become accustom to. He has decided he wants to be a runner which is a position newbies never get at first when they arrive to the glade. A runner is a person who leaves early in the morning when the maze opens and they run the maze trying to find a new route or anything they can record their findings in the map room. The runners must be back in time before the maze shuts or they’ll be left for the grievers. The grievers are basically what everyone fears, they are these big spiders made out of machinery.

“It was too dark to make out clearly, but odd lights flashed from an unknown source, revealing blurs of silver spikes and glistening flesh. Wicked instrument-tipped appendages protruded from its body like arms: a saw blade, a set of shears, long rods whose purpose  could only be guessed.” -Page 39 

The next day three impactful things happen. The first is Milano (one of the runners) runs back way before the gates close to report that a griever was found dead. Second, is that Ben (one of the other runners who got stung by a griever) attacks Thomas and everyone decides to kick him out of the glade. This involves everyone to push him into the doors of the maze whenever they close at night, this leaves the person who was booted to fend for themselves, but most likely you’ll die trying to survive. Lastly, the box that delivers newbies up to the glade came up. Apprantly this never happens because it only comes up once a month with a new boy. Everyone was shocked when the box came up because Thomas was delivered the day before. But what was in the box was a surprise to everybody. It was a girl, and she seemed to be unconscious. In her hand was a written note that said: “She’s the last one ever.”

http://billdesowitz.com/method-makes-the-griever-for-the-maze-runner/