BRENT STAPLES "CUTTING AND PASTING"

In Brent Staples essay "Cutting and Pasting", (2010) he argues that students who plagiarize are likely to fall behind in the understanding and learning of their work. Staples give us comparisons of cheating behavior studies done by Professor Pritchard and his colleagues that proved plagiarism is indeed linked to failure. Staples passionately try to inform his readers of the importance of being original in order to get students to develop their minds and critical thinking. This essay is clearly directed to all students and alerts them to avoid plagiarism indefinitely.

 

I am enlightened by Staples essay. I agree with Staples that plagiarism defeats the purpose of learning. If students copy and paste all the time, what are they gaining? It is also true that plagiarism can lead to being repetitive and can infect all area of a person’s life. All students can relate to this essay as to avoid copying and pasting, but there will always be some to take advice for granted. I believe most people plagiarize because of being lazy, not thoughtful, or last minute. If more students were original, then our universities would have higher intellectual environments.

Staples keep his essay very informative about what need to be done about plagiarism. He relates plagiarism to our current society when he says, “They become like rap musicians who construct what they describe as new works by “sampling” (which is to say, cutting and pasting) beats and refrains from the works of others.”(pg. 148) His choice of words also raises an issue of judgment. He states that he bases his assumptions that students plagiarize off written in-class assignments can compare them with their other papers. Though odds point to someone in his class will cheat, he does not consider a student’s writing development or those who actually worked hard on their original work. One overall moral that is imbedded into this essay is that teachers should not judge students and students should not cheat.  

The Deer At Providencia

            In Annie Dillards essay The Deer At Providencia, (1982); she tells about her encounter with wildlife in the jungle and explores the different cultures that separate wildlife form civility. Dillard tells how she experiences the different lifestyle of the natives and how they are immune to killing or harming animals versus those who don’t see it every day, how she notices a deer tied up waiting to be prepared for dinner as they head to the table or camp site to dine. Her purpose for this essay was to show that this is how some people survive and it is apart of their culture and natural for them to see on a daily basis. The intended audience would be those who are into nature and wildlife civility.

            My perception of this is neutral because I know people have to provide the best way they know how to but on the other hand I don’t condone animal cruelty. Although I do eat meat and know that animals are sacrificed for my pleasure, I couldn’t bear to watch it suffer the way she explained in her essay. The site of that would have ruined my appetite and would have emotionally disturbed me but they have to eat to survive so I cannot judge them.  We kill animals every day for food and even clothing. This is a part of the society we live in.

            In her essay Dillard gives vivid details of the deer and its struggle to get free but yet she shows no emotions. She stated that, “I looked detached, hard, or focused, still.” The site of the trapped deer didn’t bother her; she was accustomed to the events that were going on. “I have traveled widely in Roanoke, Virginia. I have thought a great deal about carnivorousness; I eat meat. These things are not issues.” Proving that she is not disturbed of the events that took place that day.

THIRTY-EIGHT WHO SAW MURDER DIDN'T CALL THE POLICE

In Martin Gansberg’s cultural criticism essay “Thirty-eight who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” (1964), Gansberg claims that society should be more involved in taking action when witnessing violent or life-threatening encounters between other people. He elaborates on this theme by providing a real homicide scenario that occurred as a short story. Martin Gansberg’s purpose of writing this essay is to persuade readers in order to make changes in our society’s mindset on public safety. His intended audience was towards anyone in general, especially to those who may witness violent disputes between other people.

Reading this essay made me realize how distant citizens are from one another. This upset me, mainly because of the fact that many people witnessed this encounter between the victim and the assailant, yet no one took action until it was too late. The victim’s life could have been spared if one of the neighbors would have called the authorities when the victim was first being assaulted. Other than being upset, this essay was also interesting, as it expanded my mind the way most cultural criticism essays should. I loved the fact that it was in a short story form, with very vivid descriptions and details of the night of the victim’s murder. Overall, I do strongly agree with the fact that witnesses of situations where someone’s life is at stake should immediate action to spare the victim’s life.

Martin Gansberg wrote this essay mainly to persuade readers that our society should do more in protecting other citizens. He started his essay off by telling a story as a flashback of the encounter, then resuming the story. He strongly supports the fact that people should have taken immediate action when they witnessed the assailant’s attempt to killing the victim. He also supports this claim by giving feedback from authorative figures. He mentions detectives’ feedback on the situation, stating that “A phone call would have done it” (139). He also provides responses from many of the witnesses as they answer questions from detectives and police. He emphasized the fact that each one of the provided responses dealt with each of the witnesses not wanting to “get involved” with the situation (139). Gansberg did a very well job using his format of a short narrative based on a true event, then getting his thesis across from the murder case. He was very informative when providing the details and descriptions of what caused this tragic death of an innocent victim.

WILLPOWER

Poetice Justice1101

Professor: Cantice Greene

October 22, 2012

               In Dianne Tice essay, “How Can We Get Willpower Back Once It Has Been Depleted?”(2012), She argues that willpower is easier to control the more you practice it and getting plenty of rest. Tice supports her theory by stating that the more rest you receive at night the more strength you’ll have the following day. Her purpose for this essay is to help others gain willpower in order to get things that are most important in life done. The intended audience is those who lack motivation or is having a hard time pushing themselves to do better.            

                I agree with the point she is trying to get across in her narrative. We often become lazy due to lack of rest or even energy because we don’t eat properly. If we want a balanced lifestyle we have to set positive goals. The more we work towards those goals the easier it’ll become. Practice makes perfect so the more energy we put towards the things we want the more willpower we’ll inquire to get closer to that goal. We have to establish that drive to increase or willpower that will motivate us to get on the right track and make it easier in the future.

                Tice wrote this essay to encourage others to motive themselves for a better and maybe even healthier lifestyle.  She states, “Rested, well-slept people have more willpower than tired people.” Also eating a well balance meal gives you more energy to increase your willpower. If you are weakened or tired due to lack of sleep you will not have the energy or power to strengthen your willpower. Practice good habits so that in the future you won’t have to force yourself to do so it’ll already be installed within you.

Black Characters in Search of Reality

                In Brent Staples’s essay “Black Characters in Search of Reality” (2012), he claims that African Americans play roles in many of today’s dramatic works that are commonly stereotypical. He supports his claim by describing how African Americans are imaged in many advertisements, and provides examples of roles played by African American actors and actresses in dramatic works. Staples’s purpose of this essay is to acknowledge various roles played by African Americans in order to stress the fact that there is a continuous pattern of the roles played. Brent Staples’s audience could be African American population, as well as many African American actors and actresses.

                This text provided me insight on this played by African Americans that I never took into consideration. I could relate to the text because of the examples he provided, one being about Hattie McDaniel. Being that I read “Gone with the Wind” myself, I could relate to his statements about her being African American and winning an Oscar for playing a maid, as well as the two actresses from “The Help”. Overall, I was very pleased with this text because of the comparisons he used to identify how the African American community is perceived as today.

                Brent Staples wrote this text in order to analyze how African Americans are viewed thorough dramatic arts. Comparing their affluence on billboards to their roles in movies and plays, he states that these arts are “rooted in a narrow past view of African American life” (149). As many movies and plays contain African American maids, the Black communities are upset by the stereotypical views of their race. Although praised for their astounding roles played, Staples indicates the growing “hunger” for demonstrating decent Black lifestyles, and how it was finally shown in Lydia Diamond’s “Stick Fly” (150). This was one play that officially satisfied and entertained large Black audiences, giving them the credit that they deserved.

JAMIE HOLMES - WHY CAN'T MORE POOR PEOPLE ESCAPE POVERTY? A RADICAL NEW EXPLANATION FROM PSYCHOLOGISTS

In Jamie Holmes informative essay "Why can't more people escape poverty?" (2011) she implies that for the less fortunate, freedom is not really free and their willpower is always being controlled by finances. Holmes provides valuable explanations of why people stay in poverty by showing us researched experiments from various studies of peoples' decision making. In order to effectively conclude that one's willpower is not self-controlled, Holmes compares poverty stricken life to wealthier people. Jamie Holmes intends to draw in everyone who has ever experienced poverty.

This article was very interesting to me. I believe it to have some truth value to it. If you take a wealthy person and relieve them of all their property, financial resources, and income, and replace it with a lowly sum-subsistence level, and set them loose on the city streets, their level of stress and depression will tremendously rise. Their standards of self-control will decrease.

“Willpower is defined by the article as it was defined by the study: the capacity to make a long-term decision over a short-term decision. To put it another way, can you continue at a difficult task? The study showed that those who had resisted cookies did not keep on at a tough task for as long as those who had "resisted" radishes. The more we have to control the id, the harder it becomes. ”I am obviously not convinced by the article. I don’t agree with their definition of will power. What does it mean to make “a long term decision?” Does it mean making a decision and sticking by it? If so there may be many reasons why a “long term decision should not be implemented: conditions change and if you make a long term decision and stick to it for its own sake over changing circumstances, then that in itself could be a sign of irrationality. I also found the cookie/radishes decision unreal. Will power is part of the will, a human faculty. It is not a human organ or muscle. Will power is more like memory and imagination than it is like seeing or speaking. The poor are poor because they have no power to paraphrase Hemingway in a different context and not because of any lack of” will-power. ”If you have ever met a variety of poor folk you would know what a load of horse manure the argument is. Many poor people I know have a lot of will power but they are still poor. I also know some rich people with very little self-control.

THE WORLD OF HAPPINESS PART II

Making Happiness a Top Priority

                In Jeffrey Sach’s essay “The World of Happiness Report” (2012), he explores implications that that elaborate on the happiness throughout the general population. Sachs provides multiple subjects that have been shown to have had the largest impact on the human population, and explains how these topics should affect us with proposed changes made to policies. Jeffrey Sachs’s purpose of writing this essay was to stress how and why policies created by the government should be altered, in order to make the general population’s happiness a top priority. Jeffrey Sachs intends to draw in everyone living on our planet to this essay, no matter what their standard of living is.

                Personally, this article was a bit puzzling. Mostly to me, it was challenging to determine what the author’s intent was in writing this essay. There were terms used that I don’t come across every day, which contributed to my inability of entirely grasping the concept of this piece. Eventually, I could pick out bits and pieces of his intent to form a main idea.

                Jeffrey Sachs has highlighted many of the controversial issues we deal with as humans, and compares these issues to what a “sustainable” society should be.  He also mentioned certain components of life that should make a person happy, and explained the negative/ positive outcomes of these factors that will determine someone’s happiness. He describes many priorities to humans that should, but generally don’t, provide us with happiness such as work, values, religion, and education. Sachs mentions that the “happiness agenda” is task that will influence our communities as we go through many experiences in life (109). He uses formal terms and definitions in this article to enlighten his readers about concepts not thought of daily. Overall, the policies made that people have to encounter each day have degraded the happiness of those all around the world. Sachs stresses the fact that before making these policies a top priority, the government should focus on the values of people’s lives just by adjusting some of the policies they’ve created, for the well-being of the human race.