English 100 Writing Topics pg. 92-98

Chayse J. Adams
9-23-2010
English 100 Writing Topics pg. 92-98

A Time When Someone made me Feel Important

When I started wrestling for the first time ever, my dad brought me to Metro Wrestling’s, the youth wrestling group in St. Joseph Mo., first practice of the year where anyone who wanted to wrestle could come for a meeting and join in on practice if they wished to try it out. I sat through the meeting with my dad and decided wrestling sounded interesting enough to try it out for a week and see what I thought. Towards the end of practice for all the other kids who were already in the sport, when the meeting was over, the coach encouraged us to get on the mat and try it out.

We found a partner to wrestle against that was similar to our weight and age and he let us have at it. I went a few minutes with one partner and then another and one more. The coach, Rick Burns, pulled me to the side to talk for a few minutes. He asked me my name, age, approximately what I thought I weighed, and if I played any other sports. He asked what I thought about wrestling so far and if it interested me. I said that it was kind of cool and that I was a little interested to learn the sport more. He said that he noticed I was doing pretty well for someone who had never seen the sport before. He and I went to a far corner of the mat and he gave me a little instruction on the general purpose of the goal of wrestling and showed me a few things to do against an opponent.

He then put me in a group of wrestlers who started the year before and let me practice a few of the moves he had shown me. I did decently enough for him to notice that I was a quick learner and had a mentality for being aggressive when taking my shots, take downs to score points, and working my stand ups, or escapes from bottom which is another way to score points. Practice was soon over and we broke out as a team. I went back to my dad when we were, for lack of a better word, dismissed.

Coach Burns approached my dad and I to ask what I thought about practice. I responded that it was a little different but I liked it however, I didn’t quite understand the whole concept of who to score points yet, it was unlike any other sport I had ever seen before. He laughed and replied that, yes it but it’s not hard to get the hang of. He said to my dad that the first tournament was the next week but he thought I should get two weeks of practice in first, since practice was only twice a week, but that if I was interested I should consider competing in a few weeks in the novice tournament, which are tournaments for beginners that have two years or less of experience in the sport. This is so the kids who just started can wrestle with kids at a similar competition level. I agreed that I would like to give it a try and so began my wrestling career. I especially like the feeling that Coach Burns singled me out amongst the mass of new wrestlers that day, noticing that I was not a wrestler yet but I had the potential of becoming a good wrestler. I felt important that Coach Burns sensed a possible source of talent in me that day.

Chayse J. Adams
9-20-10
Homework for Sept. 22

*Prompt
Respond to your blog, subjects that you are interested in interviewing and writing about for Task Two.
• Why are you interested in these subjects?
• What makes him/her interesting and unique?
• What sort of questions would you ask and why?
• What sort of problems do you think may arise for Task Two?
• What do you anticipate? Why?
• What questions do you have for Task Two?

My Grandma Adams: Because she is older and may have a lot of interesting experiences to write about. I know she finished high school but didn’t go on to college, maybe there was a reason why she didn’t or maybe it just wasn’t necessary for her. She has been successful in raising 3 kids and always supporting her family, always having a house over their head and food in the refrigerator. In other words, no schooling other than high school diploma and still successful, I could ask why or how.

My Grandpa Renalds: Because he has gone back to school and started his own business. He is older as well and might have something interesting enough to base my paper on. I could ask why he went back to school. Why he started his business and if his college education was necessary for his businesses success.

My Grandma Renalds: Because she graduated high school, got a I don’t know what in college and became a high school chemistry teacher and is now working for Beringer Inglehiem, something to do with chemicals there but I don’t know what. She has been a successful woman. I could ask why she got a college degree. Why she became a teacher and why she quit it to work for the company she presently works for. She is going to retire next year, I could ask how her college degree may have affected the quality of the jobs he has been given the opportunity of was effected by her education.

ENG: 100- Task 1 Self Evaluation

                                                                                                                                         Chayse J. Adams

Self Evaluation

·         What is the thesis for your paper?

·         List the main points you make in your paper.

The thesis for my paper is how wrestling has inspired me to be who I am today. The main points for my thesis are: #1: how losing can be a learning experience and what there is to gain from losing and how a loss can better prepare you to win. I also explain that what works for me in wrestling also works for other aspects of life, such as taking test or study habits. #2: Winning plays an important role on continued success as well. When you win or achive a goal, note what it took to get there and what steps or procedures you followed. #3: Different quotes or phrases that have impacted me in wrestling and other parts of life. I give a few examples and explain how they have impacted me. #4: I conclude me paper explaining that wrestling has impacted me greatly and forever set the way I handle life and its loses, victories, and my thought process to achieving my goals.

·         What was the most helpful advice you received from your peer evaluation?

·         What was the most helpful information you received in class for your paper?

            The most helpful advice I received from my peer evaluation of my paper was probably letting me know that my quotes were good but I listed too many and they got a little broad for my subject. I was also told that my explanation of emotions were very good, so when I narrowed the topic of my paper, it seemed important enough to not get rid of some important details I elaborated on the most important information I received in class for my paper would have to be Ms. Chastain’s advice on getting rid of some of my quotes and keeping ones that were more relevant to my paper. Also to elaborate or explain on how the quotes I used had affected me at some point in time compared to as just listing the quote and moving on.

·         How many drafts of this paper do you think you wrote and how/when did you write them? For example, did you compose at the keyboard, did you write lots of notes to yourself, did you pre-write or outline, did you write in small chunks of time or sit down and produce an entire draft at one sitting?

            When the assignment was first given out I wrote a list of possible ideas or topics I could write about. Shortly after, within the next day or two I decide on writing about wrestling and I used the cluster technique and list all possible ideas I had on the paper. I revised, added, and narrowed my ideas while making a cleaner, more on the path I wanted to write about, new cluster draft. In a couple days I wrote my first draft. I did this first draft in one setting. I revised it myself and again with my class and Professor, Ms. Chastain, when at class two days later. About three days later I rewrote my draft with my peer reviews and advice from Ms. Chastain making it my second draft plus the two clusters I had made prior to draft one. Finally I had a close friend of mine who is majoring in writing look over it and he had just a few pointers for me and the next night I wrote my final draft which I will be turning in on Monday, September 20, 2010 tomorrow during class.

·         What would you do differently with this paper to make it more effectively, or what did you try to do that you just don’t think you got a good handle on?

·         What are you most pleased with about this paper?

            I tried to make sure the information I incorporated in my paper was all relevant to the subject but I tended to drift off every now and then, I believe I fixed this problem for the most part when revising my drafts over the last weeks but my next paper I feel I need to try harder to not let that become an issue from the start. I feel that What pleases me the most about this paper is the fact that I got to write about what I love, wrestling, and that I got to explain how it is important to me and share my experience with the class and my professor.

ENG 100-20 Questions for Refelecting and Writing # 1 (175)

Chayse J. Adams

ENG 100-20

9-9-10

“On Becoming a Chicano”

Questions for Reflecting and Writing

    My name is Chayse Adams, if you could not tell from my name I am a White/Caucasian Male. I am mostly English, where I inherit my last name, and Irish, from my mother’s side of the family hinting why my last name dose not sound Irish. My mother’s sides name is Sherrard which was altered from O’Shared to hide the identity of my family’s heritage when they moved to the United State long ago as Irish were not given so good a name. Irish were viewed as less intelligent, cheap labor that stole the jobs of hard working Americans much as Mexican immigrants are viewed by the American public today. Racial or ethnic remarks against Irish people have ceased to persist; over time people have come to realize they are no different than any of the other ethnicities. White people in general have been viewed by some as the superior race, to have more mental capacity. Obviously that is not true but as a white person you may be expected to succeed more than other races such as Blacks or Mexicans. I don’t necessarily agree with the stereotype but you still want to fulfill what is expected out of a White man.

    Just as Richard Rodriguez’s ethnical stereotypes are working against him telling him subconsciously that he is not good enough, my ethnical stereotypes are telling me that I am supposed to be smarter and more intelligent. I pays on my conscious that I and scares me that I might not be smart or as intelligent, and of failure. That I might not be as smart as a White man is supposed to be. If you are White and pay any attention to ethnical stereotypes you could fear that you are not as smart as a Black or Mexican person when they are “supposed to be inferior to you”. Obviously stereotypes are not true for any ethnical group but the fact they are out there and everyone has heard them, they fan play an effect on any individual no matter their ethnicity or race.

ENG 100-20: Questions for Reflecting and Writing #1 (145-148)

Chayse J. Adams

ENG 100-20
9-7-10

“How it Feels to Be Colored Me” By Zora Neale Hutson

Questions for Reflection and Writing

    I label myself a strong nail that will be pounded as time goes and eventually I will be given the final blow that drives me home. What has happened in my life thus far has put me where I am and what will happen as time goes will make me into the person I am to finally become. I will stay strong and stick upright, and when something happens that bends me over I will straighten myself back out and continue with my journey.

    In Zora Neale Huston’s essay she defines herself as being a colored girl amongst a sea of white. She is not ashamed of herself or her ethnicity. She goes about her business in life and attempts to interact with people, no matter their ethnicity. She is often reminded that she is the granddaughter of slaves but it fails to register depression in her. Slavery was of the past and that if she were a patient of the conflict from that past she would tell the doctor that she was making a swell recovery.

    I feel I can relate to Zora’s response not that I am a patient of a past conflict but when something is to cross my path, it will not discourage me. I will not pity myself and ask why it is that I was delt such an offal hand in life for this to happen to me, I will simply straighten myself up and move on. You cannot change what has happen or why, I will just have to work around my difficulties the best I can to try and succeed in the life I have been given.

ENG 100-20: Questions for Reflecting and Writing #1 (129-130)

Chayse Adams

ENG 100-20

9-6-10

“Rite of Passage” by Anthony Brandt (124)

Questions for Reflection and Writing, number 1 (129-130)

    I can relate to this passage in a way. My family went through a similar scenario with my Great Grandpa John who died about a year ago. After my Great Grandma Joy died he lived on his own for around eight years until he could no longer drive and do errands such as get groceries and go to the bank. It became hard to for him to get around in his own home and cook for himself.

    That’s when my grandparents decided to move him into their home. They drove him to do his errands, helped dress and feed him, and all his other necessities. He lived with them for around a year and a half to two years. Grandpa John loved baseball; he watched the Royals game every night. He went with my grandparents to all of my brother and I’s baseball games. He was very sharp and understood the game and the way it was played.

    Towards the end of his time spent at my grandparent’s home, Grandpa John started becoming forgetful. He understood baseball less and less as time passed. He forgot and mixed up names of family members and friends. I feel his comprehension of life and the world going on around him became more incoherent and overall foggy as time went on. He started walking around with his pants at his ankles and began to fall more frequently. My grandparents were at work through the day and it became too dangerous to leave him home alone at that point so they decided to move him into a nursing home.

    The nursing home was located approximately 20 minutes North from their home so it was not too far away to visit every few days, at least on the weekends. The whole rest of the family went to visit him on occasions when they found time. Great Grandpa John lived in that nursing home for around half a year until he passed away. Family and friends came from all around to attend his visitation and funeral. Grandpa John was a great man and I will always love and remember him. I am grateful for the time I got to spend with him in his final years.

Eng:100-20 Task 1, Writing Ideas list.

Chayse Adams

ENG 100-20

9-6-10

*Cosumel Colorado*My list of writing ideas for ENG 100-20: Task One

• Wrestling
• My Aunt Dianna
• My mother
• My father
• My Grandma
• Bon-air
• Cozumel
• Colorado
• Florida

    Of all of my ideas in the list above, I am pretty sure I want to write about wrestling and why or how it inspires me and encourages me. I want to write about wrestling because it means a lot to me and has helped shape me into the person I am today. Wrestling has taught me a lot about myself and life.

    The biggest problem that I will encountering during task one is probably the revision process. Revision has not been my area of expertise in my past writing experiences. I have trouble spotting the grammatical and punctuation errors. The error I am likely to see most tends to be the overuse of commas. I anticipate that this assignment will be fun and relatively easy to come up with the words to say. I love to write about wrestling and I tend to use it in any assignment that I can relate it to. I know a lot about wrestling and when you’re writing about a subject you know a lot about, it tends to be easier to write about, it makes more sense, and in most cases is more convincing that you know what you are talking about.

    At this point in time I do not have any questions concerning Task One, however, I am sure I will need some help on revising and have some questions on punctuation and grammatical errors with my piece of writing.