I applied for college last night after finishing up these two essays…I’m going to Texas State! Hopefully, at least xD, I’ll be attending Texas State University in San Marcos next fall to study Studio Art and earn a teacher’s degree. My whole life I wanted to be an English teacher, but this past year or two of writing essay after essay non-stop kind of beat the love out of me. :\ But I love art just as much, so it’s all good. This was the essay about myself that I wrote for my application.

Expression is everything. A person is who he is because he expresses himself to be that way. Without expression, thoughts would remain with their owners, ideas would never leave their creators’ minds, inventions would cease to be created, and art would not exist. Language would serve no purpose and would, therefore, become extinct. Without expression, people would be forced into isolation, unable to retrieve or accept information, feelings, or ideas from another person.

I view expression as an important necessity to life, yet am unable to easily express myself around others. Not a social person, I tend to remain passive. Pulling a jacket around myself, I find shelter, warm and safe, and retreat within myself. My voice remains a respectful hush. I am an introverted person, humble, soft-spoken, and shy, and become uncomfortable when speaking to others or trying to convey myself. Although I am a determined and hard-working person who always meets her deadlines, keeps up with her schedule, and takes pride in all that she does, I find it difficult to speak up and express myself.

An Air Force kid all my life, I have grown used to moving frequently and saying goodbye to my friends, school, and home. Because my mother has been a member of the United States Air Force my entire life, I am familiar with military procedures and constantly live as if there is uncertainty in my future. I am comfortable giving goodbyes to loved ones, wondering when I’ll ever see someone again, and shedding tears at an airport. Each year I must meet new friends only to leave the next year and while my sense of adventure brings optimism to each move, my sensitive side dwells on the loss of friends. Relationships of mine have broken and ended because of my situation, friends unable and unwilling to keep in contact. My grades do not correctly transfer when I move, affecting my class rank, classes I have taken are not accepted in different states, friends are left behind, items are lost, and I can never truly plan for the future because I never know what’s going to happen next. I learn to live on my toes and expect the unexpected. Because of the Air Force, I have seen a variety of places, and faced different climates growing comfortable right up against the Canadian border and the Mexican. Problems and burdens bear down on me, and affect my life, molding me into who I am today.

Emotional and reserved by nature, I tend to dwell on life events and let emotions and feelings overwhelm me. With so many responsibilities to worry about, deadlines to meet, assignments to complete, goals to achieve, and instabilities to deal with, a need for expression comes about. Unable to express myself with my voice, I take advantage of the fine arts.

Practicing the C flute for seven years, I have participated in six different band programs, currently an active member of the William Howard Taft Raider Band. Amazed by the beauty of the instrument, I had always dreamed of playing the flute as a young girl, and finally signed up for band in my sixth grade year, taking a summer band course afterwards. Through the metal of my instrument, I am able to create harmonious music that draws in listeners and captivates audiences and can release stress and emotions, reflecting sadness, joy, and mystery through the notes that flow from my breath. Never leaving this passion behind when I relocate, I have appeared in one band program after the other until arriving at William Howard Taft High School. Forced to move my junior year of high school because of my mother’s occupation, I was introduced to a new and foreign band program after arriving. I had never seen a band that partook in marching band competitions and had never learned how to march on a football field. Because of my circumstances, I was automatically placed without an audition and was taught to run the band’s electrical equipment. Shortly afterwards I became the band’s most useful Sound Crew member and offered to participate in any way, finding myself working on Sound Crew through the fall marching season, playing in the spring and winter concerts, volunteering to work the Sound Crew for Winter Drumline, and marching in the spring fiesta parade. After a year of observing the band march in competition, I was finally awarded a spot on the field and learned how to march my senior year, taking part in my first and last marching band show. Through choreographed footwork, complicated fingerings, and technical wiring, I was able to find expression through music.

Although unable to portray ideas through speech easily, I find ease through the written word. Always aspiring to become a creative writer, I began writing stories before I entered elementary school and have won writing contests over the years. I have taken pride in all of my essays and have enjoyed all of my English classes thankful for the improvement I have gained from each one. The most helpful contribution was from my Magic Pens writing club, however. My freshman year of high school, I was intrigued to find an advertisement for a writing club called Magic Pens on the school wall and immediately attended the first meeting and signed up. Given a password-protected Internet blog by the school, I was free to write whatever I pleased. Voted Vice-President of the club because I was a new student and wasn’t well known, I soon began recording every meeting, typing up meeting overviews, creating tutorials, and helping other members edit and design their blogs. Each day I devoted time to writing and completed many short stories. When stress weighed me down, I was able to release through writing and obtain an abundance of helpful and encouraging comments. When writing to an unknown target, barriers come down allowing the mind to flow seamlessly. I was soon known as the most avid reader and writer and the most active member of the club and became the President the following year, although I had been the only officer participating my freshman year. The club developed and improved allowing all of the members to come together and publish a book at the end of the school year. Available for purchase on-line, “Type a Little Faster Volume 2: 2006-2007” began appearing on bookshelves, even finding a home at my school’s libraries. Magic Pens even gained publicity by airing on the news station. By participating in Magic Pens, I was able to vent, create, imagine, and write, reaching my fellow members, my friends and family, my neighbors, and even those around the nation. Sadly the Air Force drew me away from my successful writing club, taking me to a different school, but eager to write, I joined the UIL Ready Writing team and began competing and winning in even more writing competitions. No matter where I go, I will always find a way to express myself through written words.
Although a widely misunderstood form of expression, art became another outlet allowing me to speak to the world. Taking as many art classes as my schedule allowed and joining two different art clubs, voted the Head President of one, I developed my artistic talents and learned how to display my own thoughts in my artwork. After moving to a different high school, I was challenged to draw a self-portrait that showed who I was and delivered a message. Successfully distorting my features to show isolation, unease, and insecurity, Insecure Memories won perfect scores and ribbons and advanced to the state level. Through the Battle of the Flowers Cover Contest, I was able to illustrate my Texan pride and won second place out of six hundred and sixty five entries, expressing my love for the state through the state bird, the state flower, and the recognizable icon, The Tower of Americas. In another art contest, my picture, Take the Right Shot, showing a red fox framed in a Polaroid, won a ribbon and was chosen to decorate the Austin Capitol Building and tour the state for a year, delivering my message for animal rights and conservation to many viewers. It is with my artistic talent that I have found my passion and my voice. From the tips of my Prismacolors, my paintbrushes, my pencils, and my pastels come messages from my heart, hidden in colors and lines. Through my art, heads turn, feet pause, and all eyes are on me granting me the chance to show myself, say my part, and reach out to the world.

Even though I may not be a social person and may be unable to openly discuss my thoughts, ideas, or beliefs, I have found other mediums to express myself. I have thrust myself into the world in different forms enabling others to hear my interpretations, read my thoughts, and view my personal messages. Multi-talented, I find ways to deal with the problems and stress the military, school, and life bestow upon me. Through fine art I vent, I escape, and I relinquish my heart and soul, my passion and mind, and invite others to discover who I truly am.

I applied for college last night after finishing up these two essays…I’m going to Texas State! Hopefully, at least xD, I’ll be attending Texas State University in San Marcos next fall to study Studio Art and earn a teacher’s degree. My whole life I wanted to be an English teacher, but this past year or two of writing essay after essay non-stop kind of beat the love out of me. :\ But I love art just as much, so it’s all good. This was the essay about an issue I feel strongly about that I wrote for my application.

With the gentle rocking motion of the school bus persuading me from side to side, I began to visualize my schedule in my mind. Staring into the cloudless blue sky lit by the late afternoon sun, I planned to complete my homework the moment I got home, finish my remaining chores, and continue to work on my college applications. The slight clanking of the two flute cases clutched in my arms reminded me to leave some time to practice my instrument. After thanking the bus driver for the ride as I always did, I stepped out and began to walk home thinking that I had a busy night ahead of me and I needed to manage my time well. Continuing along the sidewalk and around the corner, I began to receive the beauty of the day. There was a clear sky above allowing the trees to gently sway in full color and inviting the birds to share their vocal talents. Gentle, warm whiffs of air brushed past my face and played with my long hair a bit as I continued my trek.

All of a sudden, a boisterous noise interrupted the calming sounds and echoed through the neighborhood. There was a crashing bang that caused me to jump and glance behind me. I spotted nothing unusual at first, finding teenagers walking home further down the street, neighbors of mine that had been sitting on the same bus just moments earlier, but then I spotted one of my classmates holding a metal baseball bat over his shoulder. A scowl crossed my face before I turned around once more and continued walking. Just then another deafening bang echoed past me. This time I turned and watched as a girl passed the metal object to a different teenager allowing him to take two more swings at a large, wooden sign that rested near the entrance of the housing division we all called home. What were they thinking?! Frantic thoughts rushed through my mind as I tried to make sense of what I had just witnessed. Laughs and giggles passed through the swarm of teenagers, as they took final, satisfied glances at the new dents and hole formed in the sign before resuming their walks home. As I, too, returned to my routine, I could not banish confused thoughts from my mind. How could they destroy something in their own neighborhood? Why would they rather vandalize their community than contribute to it? I could not comprehend the unusual behavior and could not understand why they had chosen to act in such a destructive and pointless matter. Where was their pride?

It is common for people to focus time and energy on issues in the world. Some try to clean the litter from the Earth while others strive to prevent vandalism from destroying their communities. Organizations are founded to combat against illness and disease and programs are created to help students achieve their goals and meet expectations. I, however, devote my attention to the root of these concerns, the seed that nourishes these tangled weeds. The world lacks the quality that drives our actions and gives our lives meaning. The world lacks an important trait that leads to improvement and success. The world lacks pride.

Actions need support and reason, and pride delivers these, a burning fiery passion that powers the hearts of many. Pride drives people to stand up for what they believe in, continue working hard, and better themselves to honor the previously established. It is this love that continues to feed human development and builds upon legacy and tradition. Without pride in one’s history, heritage, and homeland, one is left alone. There is no past to guide him, no companions to help him, and no home to cradle him. He is left to thrive in solitude and live his life with nothing.

Especially in the youth of the nation, pride must be installed. Children, teenagers, adults, and seniors can all benefit. No matter how insignificant it may seem and no matter how small the pride may begin to flicker, may it be self-confidence, school spirit, family honor, company loyalty, or nationalism, good will follow.

If the nation came together as a whole, each citizen displaying citizenship and pride in his country, America would rise as a role model and a shining symbol of hope and achievement. Other countries would envy our creation and strive to become as successful, in turn, improving the world. World hunger, disease, war, and conservation would be granted greater attention and problems would diminish. Few conflicts would exist if each person shared the goal of creating a successful and unified planet.

An occupation is an important life choice and everyone should honor his decision and feel blessed to have the opportunity to work for a living. Employees should grant their employers, managers, and companies respect and loyalty. With a staff of dedicated, devoted, and hard-working employees filled with pride and determination, a company can succeed and add to the community, the nation, and the world. Goals are no longer centralized on trivial local disputes but are turned to matters of greater importance. With a group of proud workers, a company can succeed.

Success does not always involve money, business, and work. A functional, loving family tops the goals of many people, and can prove difficult to obtain. Families must be honorable, respectful, thankful, and gracious of each other and have pride in the tree that has been growing and flourishing for years. Each member is a fruit harvested from the same tree and possesses the ability to aid the family, contribute to it, and help the tree develop and endure. With pride delivering much-needed sunlight to this awe-inspiring tree, a family can prosper.

Every school strives to ignite school spirit in each of its students, encouraging improvement and success. A school becomes a unified environment that welcomes students and brings them together when they all share the same love, passion, and home. Pride can be channeled through a sports team, a faculty, organizations, architecture, grades, assignments, and activities such as band, choir, orchestra, dance, cheerleading, and pep squad. When a school emanates spirit, a sports team is driven to practice hard, score, and win; a teacher is inspired to help his pupils learn and reach their full potential; organizations are encouraged to develop and enhance the school; and most importantly, students are allowed to learn, discover, achieve, and succeed. Students will no longer wish to vandalize or damage school property because they view the property as their own and take pride in it. Graduation rates would increase, dropout rates would decrease, and the population would benefit as a more intelligent and more prosperous generation. With students humming the school song and wearing school colors, they encourage and support each other to improve the school and improve themselves.

One of the most difficult forms of pride to attain is self-confidence, pride in one’s self. Each person’s ultimate goal in life should be to obtain self-confidence and to take pride in his decisions and actions. Once a person is content with his self and has become as successful as he can, he can enjoy his life and know he has truly accomplished something. Pride in one’s school, family, job, and nation cannot develop until one has pride in himself, so every person should endeavor to better himself and achieve his ambitions. By setting goals, forming schedules, and completing work, life is given a new purpose. Guilt no longer dwells and regrets no longer exist, allowing happiness and the feeling of accomplishment to settle in. There is something to look forward to, something to struggle for, and something to take pride in.

Unfortunately, not everyone possesses this sense of self-confidence. Not all schools foster school spirit, not every family lives harmoniously and in respect of each other, not every corporation is able to succeed with a staff of devoted employees, and not every nation can come together as a symbol of accomplishment. Before we can resolve world crises we must first light the fire within us all and consider how we can first better ourselves. If the teenagers I had witnessed vandalizing a neighborhood sign had developed pride within their community, their school, and their selves, perhaps they would not have chosen to act in such a violent manner. Perhaps they would have chosen to contribute to their community rather than destroy it, perhaps they would have chosen to build a sign rather than demolish one. Pride is the fire that powers each action and the seed that nourishes each decision, an important quality needed to achieve goals and reach prosperity, a valued trait rarely found in people that must be established to improve our world, and an incredibly powerful force that can bring about improvement, encourage enhancement, and achieve greatness.

I applied for scholarships about a month ago, but I need to write a personal narrative to go with my applications. I believe it was supposed to be around 400 words long and was supposed to describe my educational goals, my aspiration, and my plans after high school/college.

Through a child’s untouched eyes, life is a different view. Colors are splattered all about, bright, vibrant, unique, and colorful. Lines run in every direction leading the eye from one interesting object to the next. To children, our planet is a wondrous sight, never a bore, and intricately beautiful, but as they grow, they gradually begin to lose this sensitive awareness. As my years have passed, my appreciation for the beauty of the world around me has developed and grown, not perished. I continue to view life through the eyes of a child, innocent, creative, and filled with wonder. With a vivid imagination, I have learned to take in my observations and add to them with my own creative style. Over the years I have relied on creativity to express my interpretation of life and to express myself. My skills have improved, my knowledge has expanded, and I have allowed my talent to shine. Art is a gift not only to the artist, but also to anyone who takes in the artist’s work, viewing his gift to the world.

It is with this talent that I have found my passion. A shy, quiet, and reserved girl, I am seldom heard or noticed. My ideas find no passage through my mouth, but through my hands they flow. From the tips of my colored pencils, my paintbrushes, my pastels, come messages from my heart, hidden in colors and lines. Through my art, heads turn, feet stop, and all eyes are on me. Art allows me to be myself and to show others who I truly am. Through my art I can reach out to the world.

Art is a gift that I wish to bring alive in each person. Anyone can leave a mark on the world and everyone can add a splash of color to his life. With a little instruction, a stimulating challenge, and a driving purpose, paintbrushes can create worlds and pencils can bring paper to life. With a natural instinct to help and share my knowledge, I aim to unveil student’s eyes and help them find their own personal artistic voice. I plan to become an art teacher to help the world discover the value of art. By attending art classes in college, I will be able to sharpen my artistic talents and allow my passion to grow. By improving myself, I can later help others improve themselves, and after college, I aim to share my talents to allow students to use their own abilities to better the world and add to life’s natural beauty.

On October 18, 2009, I was assigned to find a poem in our English textbook and analyze it using feminist criticism. I was then to read my analysis in front of the class as a presentation to help teach gender criticism.

“Barbie Doll,” a poem written by Marge Piercy in 1936, clearly delivers strong feminist views about the pressures and standards women are forced to live with. With a depressing tone, the poem describes a young girl’s life beginning with her birth and ending with her ironic death. The poem progresses and tells how the pressures of being a woman affect the girl’s life and influence her actions.

Opening with the girl’s uneventful and normal birth, the poem begins delivering feminist views. As a young child, the girl was “presented dolls that did pee-pee / and miniature GE stoves and irons / and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy,” culture encroaching on her life and molding her to become a socially well-accepted woman. These toys were meant to prepare her for the expectations she would later meet in life, expectations that a woman should raise children, take care of babies, feed her family, do the laundry, complete household chores, and look beautiful at the same time. This first stanza ends with the girl’s puberty years and the realization of her society’s standards of beauty as she is told of the presence of her “great big nose and fat legs.”

Growing up with tools to help prepare her for what’s to come, the girl is overcome with this new standard. Although she was healthy, intelligent, and even strong, “she went to and fro apologizing” for everyone else looked past her true talents and could only see “a fat nose on thick legs.” Her beauty and appearance became the main focus, masking her inner personality and confusing her motives and actions.
As her society presses on her, the girl is given confusing instructions. “She was advised to play coy, / exhorted to come hearty, / exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.” Advised to watch what she eats and to exercise to reduce her size and sculpt her body to become more visually appealing, “her good nature wore out” as her focus was diverted. The child began to learn that her culture was more occupied with her appearance than what she accomplished or how she acted and that to become accepted she must conform to people’s expectations.

The author begins to end the poem with an extreme solution to the girl’s predicament and describes her suicide with euphemism. Fed up with her inability to please others because of her unattractive qualities, “she cut off her nose and her legs / and offered them up.” Overwhelmed with goals, advice, and tasks to better herself for her society, the girl became obsessed with her appearance and no longer took time to truly better her actions, her nature, and herself. Even in death she cannot please until she is changed. Before being displayed in her casket, the mortician paints her face, changes her nose, and dresses her in a nightie, fit to please the public. It is only after these changes that people ask, “Doesn’t she look pretty?” taking in the standards that she has finally met, standards that they constantly pressed her with, standards that she could not meet in life. Finally, the girl is accepted, although it is not quite a happy ending. If not for the common pressure on females to present themselves to the public with attractive features, the girl may have remained herself, healthy and intelligent, and had not let the search for acceptance drive her to her unfortunate end.

Scouring the entire poem, the reader will not find a name for the girl. This motion suggests that the author feels this is a common situation that constantly presses on females, especially young girls. Social standards and expectations mold women to become Barbie dolls, fake perfection. They are raised, taught, and advised to submit to superficial values and become what others would like to see of them. Piercy shows through her poem “Barbie Doll” the destruction of women through the application of false standards and creates the ironic and dismal story of this girl to portray her feminist views.

On September 19, 2009, I was assigned to write an essay as if I was applying to college. My topic was to write about a hardship in my life.

Although I do not notice or think of it often, there is something in my life, a seemingly invisible force, which is constantly affecting and changing my life, sometimes without my knowledge or without my acceptance. This force has been at work my entire life, even before I was born, and has resulted in my existence here on Earth. An active-duty member of the United States Air Force, my mother makes my life what it is, naming the government and the Armed Forces as fathers of mine. I follow orders from the Air Force just as she does.

My parents met each other while attending the Air Force’s Basic Training program, and I was a result. Throughout my entire life, the Air Force has told me where to live and I have grown comfortable temporarily living on government land in a government-owned house. I have known nothing but the white walls that have surrounded me in every house I’ve lived in, and cannot even imagine a painted wall, now. House expansions and remodeling seem against the law to me since they have been against my laws. I have grown used to following government regulations and no longer find moving often unusual. Throughout my seventeen years of life, I have called eight different houses home and have cheered for six different school mascots. Because I move often, problems arise. My grades do not correctly transfer affecting my class rank, classes I have taken are not accepted in different states, friends are left behind, items are lost, and I can never truly plan for the future because I never know what’s going to happen next. I learn to live on my toes and expect the unexpected. Because of the Air Force, I have seen a variety of places, and faced different climates growing comfortable right up against the Canadian border and the Mexican.

Because the Air Force controls when people come and go, I am comfortable giving goodbyes to loved ones, wondering when I’ll ever see someone again, and shedding tears at an airport. Each year I must meet new friends to leave the next year and while my sense of adventure brings optimism to each move, my sensitive side dwells on the loss of friends. Relationships of mine have broken and ended because of my situation, friends unable and unwilling to keep in contact. Family life is also affected, my mother willing to be sent away to participate in a war, help in a distant region, or receive more training in a different place. Gone for two weeks, gone for four weeks, gone for eight weeks, gone for twenty-four weeks, it’s different every time. With my mother’s long working hours, leaving the house at five in the morning to return as late as eight in the evening, and deploying to Maine, Alabama, Cuba, Afghanistan, I have adjusted to life at home with my dad. My mom’s schedule is unpredictable and she can leave at any point, sometimes even excusing herself from dinner or sneaking out from the darkness of the movie theatre. While I must be ready to leave a friend, my mom must be ready to serve her duties.

They tell her not to drink the water. They restrict her from the leaving the base alone. They issue her a gun and train her how to use it. The Air Force consists of people willing to work in dangerous situations to protect their homeland. My mother is one of these people and while she may not rush into combat with bullets brushing her shoulders and grenades ringing in her ears, she does reside in dangerous areas. Working in the medical field, my mother treats those who have fought and those who have been injured. Her enemy is disease and her goal is not to protect the innocent villagers, but to save their lives. While she is away, I worry for her safety, knowing that there is a possibility that she may not return.

As I live my life, the United States Air Force makes many major decisions for me: where I will live, when I will say goodbye to my friends, when my mother will work and where she will deploy. While these may add difficulties to my life at times, I have grown used to them and have become familiar with the procedures. I continue to make new friends as I am pulled from one place and stuck in another and continue to worry for my mother as she is sent away from my family and me. I take required classes that I have missed and try to straighten my grades out between schools. I may live as if I could move soon, but I try to find “home” in each place I reside. Because of these difficulties, my perspective of life has been sculpted, leaving me to believe, “You never know what’ll happen.”

This was another essay I was to write about George Orwell’s novel, 1984 at the beginning of school, August 29, 2009.

“Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle, and the Low,” writes George Orwell in his book, 1984. From within the pages of his book, Orwell clearly demonstrates this trend by creating three distinct social classes following the upper, middle, and lower class system, the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the proletarians, respectively. By granting each class different benefits and privileges, Oceania fosters inequality among its citizens to keep the society frozen in a moment in time, a moment they see as beneficial and progressive in their eyes. With the Inner Party cautiously defending its position, the Outer Party will forever work under its control, and the proles will always retreat to the bottom of the social pyramid.

Limited to 6 million members, the Inner Party consists of less than two percent of the population of Oceania. With spacious living quarters, personal servants, pleasant food and drink, and more privacy, the Inner Party members enjoy a better quality of life than that of the Outer Party members or of the proles. While the members of the Inner Party regulate Ingsoc and run the Thought Police, the members of the Outer Party work the jobs assigned to them and live under constant monitoring. This thirteen percent of the population is considered to be the worst off of the three, although it represents the middle class, because of its restriction of personal freedoms and lack of comforts, such as those the Inner Party enjoys. Even though the proles are considered the lower class of Oceania and live in poverty while working physically tough jobs and receiving little to no education, they enjoy greater freedoms than those of Outer Party members. Free to pleasure themselves how they desire, the proles experience the comforts of family life and keep their humanity more than any of the other classes. “Proles are animals and free,” the Party states, while Winston, a rebellious member of the Outer Party declared, “Proles remained human.” 85 percent of the population is considered harmless and incapable of complex thought, regulation, or rebellion, and is therefore left to work and breed in their own ignorance. The proles are not required to show support for the Party, wear uniforms, or speak Newspeak. Generally objects of contempt, they are not bothered and are limitedly monitored to keep them in their place. By encasing the social pyramid in ice, human equality can be forever averted and nothing will change in Oceania.

Orwell explains that all throughout history, the upper class has strived to maintain its position, while the middle class tries to overthrow the upper class, and the lower class struggles to even survive and wishes to abolish all social barriers. Ingsoc, practiced in Oceania, is meant to perpetuate unfreedom and inequality so that history will be frozen and positions will be safeguarded. Social classes have been trapped in an unbreakable cycle over the course of history, and Oceania has put an end to these repetitions so that the High may forever hold its status and rebellions will no longer ruin the fragile structure. Aware of the threat of outbreaks, the Inner Party began monitoring the lower classes and infesting their minds with the allusion that all are treated equally. “The masses never revolt of their own accord, and they never revolt merely because they are oppressed. Indeed, so long as they are not permitted to have standards of comparison, they never even become aware that they are oppressed,” Orwell explained. Because discontent is not an expressed feeling, political changes do not strike the society. In this frozen state, progression is not made as resources are swallowed by the war, and those proving to be possibly dangerous are vaporized by the Thought Police. Without an opposition, the Inner Party members will forever reign.

By maintaining a functional level of inequality, Oceania fosters a stable balance among its three social classes. “If human equality is to be for ever averted – if the High, as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently – then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.” Society will forever run in this manner, and the social classes of George Orwell’s fictional world will continuously live as present, progress halted, inequality fresh, and control, a scar of the Inner Party.

This was an essay I was to write about George Orwell’s novel, 1984 at the beginning of school, August 29, 2009.

A society is easiest to regulate when people are almost programmable, unable to feel or think for themselves and are completely devoted to the state. Stripped of their humanity, the people are putty in the government’s hands and have limited personal freedoms. In George Orwell’s fictional dystopian novel, 1984, Oceania enforces regulations through language, personal relationships, work, and the media that limit the Party members’ freedoms and destroy their human spirits.

People think, speak, and communicate with words, and by controlling the words that they are able to use, Oceania is able to control and limit its member’s thoughts and conversations. By creating a new language, Newspeak, and enlisting it as the national language, Oceania began requiring its members to write and speak with the improved language. English was then considered Oldspeak, and was declared outdated and flawed. Deleting words and eliminating ideas, Oceania slowly began to compress Party members’ thoughts and control their minds with each new installment of Newspeak. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?” spoke Syme, an Outer Party member defending Oceania’s purpose for limiting language. The time in which Party members would only be able to think what the Party wants them to think since unwanted ideas cannot exist would begin an era in which Oceania would completely control its members’ minds and their overall humanity.

Family and human relationships are currently major subjects in human lives today, and continue to define us as mankind. In Oceania, families are encouraged to support the world’s population, but personal freedoms are not granted and the family is used as a vile poison from within. Children are raised by the Party to become relentless spies, eager to report any suspicious activity they witness and to obey Party regulations, learning to live by them. The bond between child and parent is broken, betrayal becoming a common act between the two. Even natural human instinct is destroyed, and sexual activity becomes inappropriate. “Chastity was as deep ingrained in [women] as Party loyalty. By careful early conditioning, by games and cold water, by the rubbish that was dinned into them at school and in the Spies and the Youth League, by lectures, parades, songs, slogans, and martial music, the natural feeling had been driven out of them,” explained Orwell. Marriage was permitted, but divorce and awakening sexual feelings were considered against Party policies. Although deepening relationships were not allowed, Party members were not expected to spend time alone. All must remain equal, everyone each other’s comrade, and must spend time as a group, so as not to allow thoughts to wander. Friends no longer exist, family becomes corrupted, and marriage becomes a duty to the Party. When one’s personal bonds are broken and become shackles left to drag him down from his ankles and wrists, his humanity is shattered along with them, leaving him with little to live with.

When nothing remains to live for, work becomes the Party members’ primary concern. Raised to complete the jobs assigned to them and pledge loyalty to the Party, members become devoted to their work. By working in solitude and obeying orders that arrive from unknown sources without questioning, members serve their time and duty to Oceania. With limited freedoms and odd requirements, Party members are expected to surrender themselves to their work and to the society.

When thoughts are controlled, relationships are destroyed, and work is the main focus, humanity can still flicker within a person’s spirit. Oceania uses the media to stamp out this final flame of hope by constantly infiltrating its members’ privacy, minds, and lives. Through telescreens, Oceania is able to deliver Party slogans and news to its members while taking in each facial expression and action they display. Constantly bombarded with propaganda and advertising, Party members lose themselves as they are slowly converted into perfect Party citizens, their minds filled with Party policies, their actions monitored and restricted, and their lives containing no secrets. Through media, Oceania is able to strip the humanity from its members and replace it with hatred, fear, and loyalty, creating an army of expressionless slaves.

Language is controlled, limiting the expression of the mind; family is turned against each other, personal relationships becoming non-existent; work becomes the one goal in a Party member’s life, his only pride and joy; and the media invades his life, stealing from him the only sliver of humanity he has left. By regulating, limiting, and exposing, Oceania succeeds in creating non-feeling, non-thinking automatons, loyal to the Party and anxious to serve their duties. With humanity stripped from their core, only a uniform remains on their skin. Party policies fill their minds, and a love for Big Brother burns in their heart.

Okay, so school just got out like three days ago for me, and summer’s ahead. I love summer.

I’ve decided that I should start using my blog again; I never really stopped, I just haven’t had the time to update it. My junior year was the most busiest school year of my life, I do believe…Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it…Anyways, summer’s here and I am really really hoping that I will have time to enjoy and relax. I doubt it, but you never know.

I just went through my entire blog and updatted every single post. There are now little lines next to introductions to posts and everything is just a touch more uniform and organized, how I like it. Going through my whole blog and reading my past…makes me miss everything so much. I miss Magic Pens, and my old blog, and I wish I had transferred over all of the comments. I missed quite a few, but I got most, so it’s okay. I also really hope that I will come to love this new blog just as much as my old and that I will get some more readers. In Magic Pens I was used to having anywhere from 5-10 readers on each post and receiving many comments and feeback. This blog barely gets 5 pageviews at all and I am left to feel so alone… :\

I plan to post some more essays I wrote over this year, make some more minor updates, and perhaps start creative writing again!

I continue to praise Minot High School, even through my English assignments…

This is an argumentative essay that was required to include documented research and not persuade the reader to a certain point, but to merely state a problem and a possible solution. I chose what I thought to be a simple topic: cell phone use in school.

A minute electrical device could save a life in the case of an emergency, create persistent distractions that causes a student’s grades to drop, interrupt classes with an array of annoying sounds, violate personal privacy, help keep track of time and events, and even act as a tool to cheat in school, and everyone has one in his pocket. A necessity in most people’s lives, the cellular phone contributes to modern society adding to the list of valuable tools available. Yet school boards disagree with each other on policies to regulate cell phone use in school; some argue that students should be trusted with the freedom to possess cell, while others state that the devices should never reside on school grounds. With so many teens possessing a cell phone, schools should create a fair policy to deal with the popular technology.

Over the years cell phones have increased in popularity and usefulness. As the machines grow smaller, the programs, applications, and features continue to grow enabling their users to accomplish just about any simple task. People can now send text messages, play video games, surf the Internet, find street directions, check their e-mail, capture video, and take pictures with their cell phones, along with the original use of making phone calls, and with each new model, new possibilities arise. People often use their cell phones to keep in touch with friends, navigate their busy schedules, and contact others in times of need or assistance. These gadgets are created with simple controls and easy-to-learn functions to allow anyone to use. Young elementary school children, high school students, parents, and even seniors carry the phones and the age range expands each year, infecting more and more in the electronic craze.

A common sight, finding students using their cell phones during school hours no longer brings about attention. Students all continue to use their phones, especially with their friends, and many no longer think much of the ignored rules. Teens feel that if everyone is using a phone during class, then the consequences aren’t too risky. From a desk amongst the rest, I can sometimes see what the teacher cannot: girls pretending to find a chap stick in their purses when actually texting in their bags, and guys texting from the cover of their hoodie pockets.

I, myself, have a cell phone which I bring to school each day. Although I normally remember to turn my phone off before leaving my house to catch the school bus, I occasionally forget to hit the power button. Set to “Vibrate” as a back-up plan, if my phone did happen to receive a call during class one day, the silent vibrations would not cause a distraction from inside my backpack. I have never needed to rely on this back-up plan, however, as I have never received a call during class hours.

While I may not text in class or make a phone call during passing periods, I still enjoy the freedom bringing my phone to school. Admittedly, I have turned my phone on during school before to show some friends a picture or to bring up a conversation that I had earlier. Checking dates and times on my phone helps me remember past events and keep track of time. If students only used their phones for good purposes, then schools wouldn’t have so much difficulty dealing with the mobile devices.

Unfortunately, most students break school policies and use cell phones when they shouldn’t. Rumors, including dangerous threats, can instantly spread throughout a school with the help of cell phones and cause wide spread panic. “Students can text-message rumors of bomb threats or school shootings—credible or not—to their parents and hundreds of classmates within seconds,” states Michaela Saunders, Omaha World-Herald staff writer, in her article “Safety Propels School to Limit Cell Phone Use; Rumors Spread by Text Hard to Stop.” This can be troublesome whether the rumors hold true or not, and can leave principals and other school officials defenseless.

When a crisis strikes, many parents wish their students to possess a mobile phone. Many parents begin to panic after seeing events of emergencies on the news and will worry when faced with no way to contact their children. When the child calls home with a cell phone and lets his parents know more about the situation, parents’ fears no longer urge them to frantically call into the school’s main office trying to contact their children. Cell phones are also faster alternatives to reaching help when an emergency arises, as pay phones may not always reside nearby and a lack of spare change can end the hope of operating the phone. Thought as godsends to students and parents after witnessing events such as the Columbine High school shootings and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the New York Trade Center and Washington, D. C., schools in some states have relinquished their bans on cell phones. “In fact, among the first phone calls to the emergency ‘911’ telephone number service for help at Columbine High School were ones from students dialing in from their cell phones,” writes Vanessa St. Gerard in The Education Digest, with her article, “Updating Policy on Latest Risks for Students with Cell Phones in the School.” Because of these simple facts, many schools, including those in Ohio, have changed their policies to no longer ban cell phones.

Still wary to allow cell phones because of the recent rise in cheating, teachers contribute to phone-restricting policies. Phones with built-in cameras have created a new family of crime that students feel obliged to commit. To cheat, students secretly take pictures of tests to show to other students who will take the exam in a later class period, and insert test answers into their cell phones, creating the opportunity to glance into their pockets for a perfect score. Recording answers with an electronic device has produced a problem for many teachers, dampening their chances of supporting cell phone freedoms for students. With phones now able to take pictures and videos, students not only turn the lens to tests; reports of inappropriate pictures of students and staff were taken in various schools across the nation. In fact, disturbing images were found on, both, student and staff’s, phones in the two high schools I have attended, Minot High School, and William Howard Taft High School. Parents and staff worry about personal privacy, especially in bathrooms and locker rooms. “Kids are now taking pictures of their math test for later classes and taking very inappropriate photos of other students and posting these pictures on the Internet before school is even dismissed,” principal of Rocky River Middle School, David Root, stated in Gerard’s article, figuring that half of his students have cell phones. With a camera in everyone’s hands, people lose their sense of security and begin to feel violated.

Distractions in class continue to give cellular phones a dishonorable reputation, and keep them at the top of each teacher’s unfavorable list. “About four of every five teens age 13 to 18 have a cell phone, according to a national survey released in September by a wireless trade association. That’s up from 40 percent in 2004,” wrote Saunders. With so many phones, teachers have learned to deal with ring tones interrupting their lectures and students must sacrifice concentration and focus. Noisy cell phones can disturb students during examinations, possibly affecting their grades. Even when set to “Vibrate,” a phone’s vibration can cause a rattling sound when set on a desk or when touching the chair, even from inside a pocket. I am amazed when students choose to use their phones during classes, especially during tests, and the constant buzzing, beeping, and ringing generates an irritating distraction.

Although thought to be nothing but nuisances in class by school staff, both students and parents feel that cell phones should remain a privileged freedom. Granted the ability to contact a parent at times such as before and after school and during lunch can help students keep tabs with their parents on activities and plans. Parents rely on cell phones to arrange ways for their children to come home, to arrange transportation, to aware each other of schedule changes, and even to arrange lunch plans. A student cannot always receive or make a call with a pay phone or through the main office, and if cell phones were not permitted on school grounds at all, too many students would be lined up to use a school phone after the final bell. Generally more convenient, reasonable, and handy, cell phones make students more responsible and organized.

School boards all across the nation are discussing the cell phone situation and modifying school policies to address the issue. Warren District 121 President John Anderson renounced the forcing of students to keep phones off and stored in lockers stating, “If it’s out of sight, it doesn’t matter if it’s in their backpack or in a locker.” Board member Michael Penich added, “More locker break-ins could occur if phones were deposited in them each day,” in the Chicago Daily Herald’s article, “Warren Clarifies Cell Phone Rules,” written by Bob Susnjara. Warren District 121’s policy related to electronic devices now states that pupils may bring cell phones to school but the devices must remain turned off during school hours or on buses. Any student who violates the policy receives a detentions or an out-of-school suspension. “We’re going to have signs put up and constant reminders of what our rules and regulations are,” District 121 Superintendent Phil Sobocinski assured. With different views, New York City Public Schools enforced bans on cell phones on school property by confiscating thousands of phones from students and Rocky River Middle School requires students to keep their cell phones in their lockers during school hours. When a rule is violated, detentions are granted, phones are confiscated, and parents are called to claim phones from the main office. Severe consequences are fashioned, intending to scare teens into leaving their phones at home.

Now, the terror of cell phones force elementary schools to create rules to regulate younger children and their new phones. Jerri Moore, principal of Copan Elementary School, in the state of Oklahoma, bans cell phones at her school during school hours. “Elementary school students will not be allowed to carry phones during the day, while riding on the bus, or during after-school activities,” writes Helen Eriksen in her article, “Katy Alters Policy / District Adopts New Rules on Cell Phones at School,” in the Houston Chronicle. School policies tend to remain more lenient to students of older age.

With so many different school policies across the country, every school has addressed the cell phone issue differently. The most reasonable policy I have seen regulates those at Minot High School located in Minot, North Dakota, and in various other middle and high schools in Nebraska. These schools allow students to possess cell phones and use the electronics at any time in the day, when not in a class. The phones are acceptable in the hallways to check the time, the cafeteria to find friends and arrange a lunch date, in the commons to contact parents, and on buses to chat with friends. Remaining turned off and kept out of sight in classrooms, phones are allowed out of class and in study halls. With this policy, parents feel safe knowing they can contact their children at school, especially in the event of an emergency, students enjoy the freedoms of bringing their phones to school, and teachers and school officials appreciate the decrease in classroom interruptions due to cell phones. With the privilege of using their phones after class, students are less motivated to secretly risk having their treasures confiscated, so a peaceful balance resides in the classroom.

Just another conflict between teenagers and adults, cell phones bring up another disagreement. Students need to accept responsibility for the devices and school officials should come to an understanding and construct reasonable and fair policies. Giving and taking eases conflicts and creates peace among people, especially if each group receives a benefit. By coming to an accord on the cell phone issue and accepting the consequences, schools will run more effectively with less classroom distractions. If students were trusted to use cell phones when policies allow, and principals gave fair time to use the gadgets, a peace would exist in schools. Perhaps then, these annoying classroom terrors would become an understood freedom for all.

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Sources:

Eriksen, Helen. “Katy Alters Policy / District Adopts New Rules on Cell Phones at School.” Houston Chronicle. 26 Jun 2008. 1. 05 Feb 2009.

Michaela Saunders. “Safety Propels Schools to Limit Cell Phone Use; Rumors Spread by Text Hard to Stop.” Omaha World Herald. 08 Oct 2008. 01A. 05 Feb 2009.

Susnjara, Bob. “Warren Clarifies Cell Phone Rules.” Chicago Daily Herald (Paddock). 12 Jun 2008. 3. 05 Feb 2009.

St Gerard, Vanessa. “Updating Policy on Latest Risks for Students with Cell Phones in the School.” Education Digest, The. 01 Dec 2006. 43. 05 Feb 2009.

My Saturdays have been occupied with Ready Writing UILs quite often now…I attended another UIL competition, this time at MacArthur High School on January 31, 2009. This was one of the bigger contests with a stricter competition, or so I was told by my teachers and instructors. I believe there were about 56 contestants at this Ready Writing competition, and I placed 6th. I admit this essay is the worst that I have written so far and I am really not pleased with it. I struggled with it more, and just know that it can be improved in so many ways. The topic I chose is listed followed by the essay I wrote.

“It is the art of mankind to polish the world, and everyone who works is scrubbing in some part.”
-Henry David Thoreau, The Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906)

As time proceeds and the future becomes the past, the world is constantly changing. Mountains rise from the flat plains they once were. Oceans split apart lands, destroying continents, but creating new ones. Trees loom and fall while flowers blossom and die. The world grows and dies in a constant cycle that continues to repeat itself time and time again. Along with the world, mankind has endured time’s challenges and has changed and grown. Humanity, however, is not trapped within a cycle doomed to repeat itself. With unique individuals each working to improve his own life, culture is created and knowledge is shared to aid the development of mankind and the world. Mankind’s development has become an art, and everyone who works applies his own stroke of color.

The world itself continues to create and destroy itself while mankind continues to progress. Our cave dwellings have become wooden shacks which grew to be known as brick buildings, then evolving to tower over the Earth’s surface as gleaming skyscrapers. Inventions are constantly being upgraded with ways of life improving and expanding. Instead of recreating beauties only to become destroyed once again, as a flower will bloom, the climax of its life, before shriveling into the ground allowing room for a new plant to exist, man continues to renew what he has created and polish the world. Buildings are given facelifts, softwares are upgraded, models are renewed, and humanity is improved. To progress and mature as a whole, the old must become the new.

Humanity will never cease to progress and will always polish and refurbish the world. An intelligent presence upon the Earth, man has developed a sense of duty and responsibility to help the world improve and to create better lives for future generations. Each person plays a part and unknowingly contributes to the world’s refinement. While cities are added to maps and are brought up across the world, they could not exist without the participation of each individual. Jobs are given to improve the lives of the individuals, but also help with the upkeep of the planet. A complex system or machine cannot operate without each gear functioning properly and completing its own simple task. Although improvement cannot be accomplished by an individual alone, it cannot come about as a whole in general.

Perhaps the most complicated art form, mankind’s maturity and progression continues to expand. Human presence on the planet may never recede because of the effort, intelligence, determination, and importance of the individuals that make it up, each working to create a more refined world and help civilization develp. Nature, alone, does not possess this knowledge and culture to progress, grow, and evolve, and so it has become the duty and art of mankind to polish the world.