Entering the Conversation

"Write an essay explaining whether you believe that efforts to eliminate sexism, racism, and violence in language are effective, or whether such efforts simply mask these issues."

Trying to remove sexism, racism, and violence in language is not effective. You are more prone to turn a blind-eye to the issue by coining childish euphemisms in an attempt to remove it from the English language.

Take violence for example. There are varying levels of violence and each level has a word associated with it. A small bruise to a dismembered arm. Imagine trying to describe war wounds without using any violence in your description. It's improbable, it's fiction, it cannot happen. If you were to remove violence from the English language, a paper cut would suddenly be just as violent as a leg lost to a bomb.

Imagine describing the severity of these two injuries without using any violence in how you speak...


Much like Kakutani points out about those who want "political correctness", they "seem to think that simple suppression of a word or concept will magically make the problem disappear." Take rape for example. There isn't a substitution for how to describe rape, because you can't. It is as violent as any word can get, and trying to remove it from our language will not make it disappear. Rape will still happen whether these "gung-ho advocates of politically correct language"(Kakutani,765) believe it or not.



See violence expresses emotions in our language. These varying levels express how deeply we feel about a certain topic, Whether it be extremely polite or full of swear words, we understand one another based upon how violent our tone is. It follows the rule that Pinker made for every sentences' purpose, to "convey a message and continue to negotiate that relationship."(Pinker 746) By employing varying levels of violence into our speech, we give off a tone that establishes certain relationships. A phrase you might say to your bestfriend might change drastically when spoken to an adult. However, if you were to take violence completely out of the phrase it might lose its meaning entirely. Take the phrase "Blown out of the water" (North York Womens Teachers' Association,766) The original phrase is meant to describe an overwhelming win for one team, and an ultimate loss for the other. It contains violent language such as "blown" to exaggerate on this description. If you were to change the word "blown" into something less violent, the phrase would lose its impact and wouldn't be the same.

Name calling fits Pinker's claim too. "A device to make us form a judgement without examining the evidence upon which it should be based." (Institute for Propaganda Analysis) When you call someone a certain name, you correlate a set of emotions to them. If someone was described as arrogant, you don't need to personally know them to know who they are. Violent descriptions follow this correlation. If you know that your friend described someone as creepy or abusive, you are automatically inclined to stay away from them. It sends off an alert that you shouldn't interact with them. If all violent language was removed, how would we know how dangerous someone could potentially be?

It is impossible to remove violence from our language because our language revolves around violence. We associate every situation to a set of words that develop a certain level of threat in our minds. Overtime the importance of violence has accumulated in our language and has found itself has a building block to our speech.

A run through freedom and safety

The american essayist, H.L. Mencken once wrote, "The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe." and I completely agree with this statement. It's much like nobody wants to run but they want to be fit and active. Look at society today, all these wars and riots. But are the people really fighting to be free? What are they trying to be free from? Most militant groups aren't run under a dictator, and there are only a few countries in the world left that are. All these people are trying to find a way to feel safe, whether that be through bombings or through protests. The men and women of our world no longer need to fight for freedom, but they need to fight for the safety of protecting their basic human rights. They need to fight for the ability to express themselves WITHOUT being targeted. It is no longer about declaring sovereignty as a nation, no it is now about finding safety in the sovereignty. A most recent example would be the LGBT community. They are not protesting to be free, but to be as safe from hate as the rest of us are. They are people too. They don't shouldn't need to fight for any kind of freedom, because freedom is a basic human right. However, safety is a challenge to find and they are slowly charging forward to find safety in our community.  As long as man feels safe, he will be blinded into thinking he is free. We can not distinct the feeling of freedom and safety, because they are intertwined. They come hand in hand. When someone feels free they feel safe, and vice versa.

Running Education

Seventh Grade

          I packed up my bags and left everything behind. I told myself I didn't miss anyone. No. I missed everyone, missed them all. My new life sat there, in front of me, a life that would come to be filled with darkness. 

          But it felt right at the time. The sadness, the loneliness, all those chances for me to find a new passion. It was life, it was growing up, it seemed right.

          At the same moment, my "best friend" got high for the first time. He sat back with the older kids, exploring a land we promised to never go into. His head spun, his eyes hurt, and he seemed so far away. 

          But it felt right at the time. The girls, the popularity, the chance for him to move on. It was decisions, it was growing up, he thought it was right.

This is the same year running saved me- temporarily. I found a mental escape from the horrid reality that is this world. Sometimes the worst pain can bring you the best of medicines.

Eighth Grade

         At Baker middle school, I returned to my old life. I moved back to my close hometown. I heard the kids talking about me. They didn't recognize me anymore. It's how I met my best friend. He would end up drowning four months later. I would go into a deep depression where I locked myself up, away from society. "Just be happy or don't hangout with us" I was told. Apparently, friends aren't really your friends when times become hard. I sat back and dove into my darkness. 

        Back in my old friend group, drugs and girls were becoming more and more popular. Grades started dropping, and parents were told more lies. The childishness wasn't seen. 

        But they continued to sneak around and spread rumors. 

There is more than one way to drown in darkness.

Ninth Grade

         I asked a girl to homecoming, she said yes only to throw my flowers away and reject me two days later. I learned that pain can come in many forms. I went to the dance, and almost got kicked out for crowd surfing. I finally found myself. Or so I thought. Little did I know, my life would come to change very quick. 

        This same year, I was bullied for being small. "Fight back little midget, thinking you are tough you can't even look above my balls" a kid told me. I went home and punched the walls until my knuckles bruised and I fell asleep from anger. 

Pain can be physical and mental, but pain is pain and it will hurt.

Tenth Grade

        I earned my varsity letter for track this year. I excelled at something I liked for once in my life. No outside influences, no parents telling me what to do. Freedom of self-expression. I finally found myself for who I really am. I am a runner. Running saved me from my depression. Running created a path for me to find new family who understood me. But I overworked myself and lost my ability to run for a long period. A period of time where I again, fell into sadness. 

Don't take what you have for granted, as cliche as it is. You may not realize it but, what may save you can hurt you even worse by being taken away.

*Based off of Sherman Alexie's "Indian Education"

**sorry for being so sad, my life is actually quite great now though! 

A run through the Presidential race

Ah yes. The joke that is sadly America's 2016 presidential race. For those of you that don't understand this political cartoon, it's showing how ignorant Trump is in the way he facilitates his campaign. He is blind-literally look at the picture, his eyes aren't even open- to the violence he is creating. He had to shut down one of his rallies due to too high a risk of riots. Seriously...that's just...how did this happen. When did the presidential race turn into a race for thieves trying to win the good people of America over by appealing to their violent behavior?! Yes..let's just turn our own people towards each other to show the rest of the world how strong we are as a Nation. Genius. Anyways back to the cartoon above. Obviously it's mocking Donald Trump. The crowd is most definitely fighting each other, probably over another fallacious argument. And another thing, why are all the Trump supporters White males who are balding? Maybe it's saying that Trump doesn't have a support base that represents all of America, only those that aren't affected by the racism circulating his campaign. Lord help our country. ALSO, why is Trump only talking to his followers? His body position makes it seem as if his back is turned to Sanders' supporters, as if Trump only pays attention to what he wants! Sound like a great presidential candidate to me. I'm actually so sad looking at the direction our country is headed. But hey, the run for presidency isn't over yet!!

A run through restraint

"The unexamined quest for knowledge is hemmed with peril" states Chet Raymo. The amount of truth that single line holds is unbelievable and as always I will somehow connect it with running.

Blood doping. A way of increasing the number of red blood cells (the ones that carry oxygen) that flow through one's bloodstream. Recently-as in the last 20 years-it has become a huge problem for the Olympics. So bad that the World Anti-Doping Agency was created. Yes that is a real thing, look it up. Basically, runners wanted to be able to run faster for longer distances, and if you didn't know, oxygen is critical to being able to run. Who would've guessed?!

Anyways, these runners asked themselves. "Hey why don't I just sleep at really high altitudes or altitude chambers for prolonged periods of time so my body is forced to make more oxygen even though I could potentially kill myself ha ha ha?" NO!!! This is horrible for the body for many reasons, mostly for the fact that some bodies cannot handle the sudden change in oxygen resulting in a damaged immune system.

However, blood doping through altitude isn't the only way to improve your times. Many athletes have been banned from the 2016 Olympics because of drug-based doping. The full list of banned drugs can be found here. It's a very very long list.

A high-altitude simulating chamber

So you might be asking yourself "Well what does this have to with the super dark quote from the first sentence???"  HERE IS HOW: These runners want to test themselves and push themselves past their true limits, and they are resorting to science and knowledge to do so. They are intentionally harming their bodies and it is proving to be ineffective because what is a victory won through cheating? It isn't anything. It holds no value. What ever happened to true training? Throwing on a pair of old running shoes and just...running. No drugs, no painkillers, no high altitude training, nothing. Just some good ol' running yanno? Instead of wasting all this time searching for a way to improve yourself through drugs, why not put in the effort to accomplish it naturally?

Running through a puzzle paragraph

You wake up. Brush your teeth. Take a shower (maybe?, depends on how long you were up last night stu-DYING). You drive to school hoping not to crash or have someone shoot you through the passenger side of your car. You get to school. You sit in a desk for 6 hours; your only break being a smelly cafeteria that probably has as many germs as the bathrooms. You...wait hold on you're probably wondering what the heck I mean by "shoot you through the passenger side of your car", right? Wellllll let me explain!

The casino scene was in this anime which I also recommend 

The best place to start would be where I found this specific way of dying. No it wasn't on "1,000 Ways To Die". It was in a piece I read called, "Videotape" by Don DeLillo. I absolutely loved it. It was horrifying and exciting and just so so real. So real. One might say...surreal.ha ha ha jokes. The story reminded me of something I watched in my childhood. It was about a man who waltzed into a casino, and sat down at the bar. Suddenly, by pure coincidence, two masked men stormed into the bar and began to fire on the civilians. The man ended up dead, which is sad yes, but somehow the pieces just...clicked.  Anyways returning to the present, you might be wondering how in the world these two seemingly random things go together. It's the fact that in these stories, both men were killed by pure coincidence and you could be too. Some might say "Well no because if I live in a box I can't be attacked", while others might say "That's just stupid I won't be killed the chances of that happening are too slim." However you may wish to think, just remember you are no Lone Ranger. You are just like any other human. Take Jeanette Walls for instance. (For those of you that don't know she wrote "The Glass Castle", which is a beautiful memoir; I recommend it.) Her life was just a series of slim chances occurring one after another after another. Basically whatever shouldn't have happened did. And again, we are all in this together so what happe

The wonderful Jeannette Walls

ned to Jeanette Walls could happen to you too!!!!!! Don't go profiling others in an attempt to give yourself a false sense of security, because you are going to make matters that much worse when something unexpected happens.

And that ladies and gentlemen is how a puzzle paragraph is made. A lot of random thoughts plopped together with a central theme holding it all in one piece.

On the Want of Running

Actually and really, I cannot live in this world without running. To be deprived of it, is to proceed through life with little excitement or fun. It is to live secluded from society, or to be angry if you come into it; it is not to be invited to the hockey game, or asked to prom, or helped with an essay; it is not to have your text replied to or left on delivered, to have your clothes laughed at and ridiculed, your car judged, and finally to lose the mentality and motivation to talk back; it is to be seen as an outsider, and left third-wheeling by friends; it is to be a weirdo in a room full of cool kids, a Hawk in Colt territory; to give up being happy, free, and not stressed, to always need compliments and help, or work a 9-5 job, to be a garbage man; or to go up to the girl you like and ask her out, or fight back against the bully; with all your dreams, frustrations, and hard-work, and a high chance of failing, or, if you do win, after destroying yourself for decades, and putting yourself through multiple mental breakdowns, to be attacked with jealousy, lies, and trash-talking; to be full of life and joy as a child, of anger and want in death; to be annoyed by the traffic because you can't fly your helicopter; to be left without a wife, or too busy to be there for her; to find a place to slowly corrode in and leave the world without anyone asking what happened. The "friends" will maybe run a marathon in the location of your death and form a charity to support your family and all you accomplished in your life. 

Consider the runner

Most people know what a runner is. I talk about it all the time. However, runners are much more in-depth than you may think. Sure, from a quick glance we are that half-naked, sweaty lunatic making their way down the road. But a runner isn't just the person that runs marathons in their free time, no..a runner is, technically, anyone who has both feet off the ground at the same time and a bend in their knees.

My Bib wall
(part of it)

A majority of runners share three common traits. Our shoes are the first. Those hideous, mismatched-colored trainers that have enough to rubber in the sole to fix a flat tire. There are thousands of trainers on the market, but everyone sticks with the three main brands: Saucony, Asics, and-more commonly found in Michigan-Brooks. The big three. Ask any runner what kind of shoes they have tried on and I guarantee one of those three names will show up. Number two of the three common tr
aits is calloused, torn apart, stench-ridden feet. Oh lord our feet are horrid. The constant pounding on concrete and wading through mud really takes a toll on our most prized possession(s). Don't believe me? Ask a runner to see their feet, you might just pass out. And finally, the third common trait of the runner is a wall filled with their race numbers. If you ever get a chance, ask a runner to see their wall of race bibs. It's quite fascinating, because each bib holds a memory. 

Anyways what I am trying to get at is that although runners by themselves seem like aliens, there are millions of us scouring the planet for a chance to run. Runners have been around from the beginning of forever. Cool story time!!! The term Marathon originated around 480 BC. A man by the name of Pheidippides ran from a city in Greece named Marathon to Athens in hopes of delivering a message. He died shortly after he reached Athens. The End. 

So here is a question that many people have asked me, and a question I ask myself everyday: Does a human willingly choose to surrender himself to extreme amounts of pain by running...for fun? Is it really willingly or is it a bandwagon? How much pain is there in running? IS IT EVEN FUN?! (I think it's pretty fun, but I also am called insane on a day-to-day basis)

I adapted this post from a piece called "Consider the Lobster" by David Foster Wallace. Although, I changed his style of writing to one that suits myself.

A run through being a "marked" teenager

At some point in our high-school lives', all of us have experienced a moment where we became "marked". Whether it was because of what we were wearing, or what we said, or how we acted;somebody made the conscious decision to mark us because of it. 

Until this week, I didn't really realize what marking was. I mean, I knew I was judgmental...but what highschooler isn't. After reading Tannen's piece, "There Is No Unmarked Woman", I had sudden realization: what I considered judging was really just marking. I would label people based on clothing, hairstyle, shoe choice, really anything. See the thing with judging and marking is that usually judging is linked to a negative connotation, when judging someone you usually are being negative about them. Marking is simply defined as "scrutinizing"(Tannen,389) someone, whether it is positive or negative.

"He isn't like the other Indians, he doesn't smell bad and he isn't gross!" is a perfect example of how I was marked. Yes...that really did happen. I was deemed worthy of being a cool kid because I didn't follow my apparent cultural norm. Apparently all Indians smell bad, all of them. Every. Single. One. (This isn't actually true, I can guarantee that only 3% of the Indian population at Troy High smells "funky") I was marked as being different, based on a physical trait, just like the women in Tannen's piece. Tannen "considered the clothes each women had worn"(Tannen,389) while those who marked me considered the way I smelled. Seriously, how did they get close enough to smell me, I don't like anyone enough to let them get that close what the heck. 

Anyways, being marked or marking someone doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. Even handing out compliments can be considered marking someone. Sadly, most of the time it is meant in a condescending way but that's highschool. Much like I was marked as cool for not smelling, I was marked as insane for choosing to run for fun. However, being marked as insane for that reason seemed pretty exciting to me. I, for one, don't mind being labeled as crazy because I've met those who are just as crazy as me through running. A perfect example of how being marked isn't always a bad thing. So while judging is fun and makes you feel good about yourself, try marking someone in a positive way for once. You could actually end up finding those who relate to you.

A run with my dad (through my dad sounds...weird)

This week I had the opportunity to discuss familial stereotypes in class. Listening to what my friends had to say about their families really helped shine a light on my relationship with my dad. Until that class period, it was a very confusing relationship. Maybe some background information would help.

      My dad travels a lot. Like...a lot. He's usually traveling nine out of the twelve months of the year and when he isn't traveling, he's in a conference call or sleeping. Basically I don't get to see him much. Unlike Brad Manning, who had a physical relationship with his dad, I have no relationship with my dad.  My mom raised me, taking on both the role of father and mother. She taught me how to clean and do laundry but also played catch with me. Everything I know now and who I am as a person is credited towards my mother. My mom broke every stereotype she has faced. She doesn't just clean, cook, and iron. She pays the bills, helps with homework, mows the lawn, gets the oil changed, and still has dinner ready when I get home.

      In my 16 years of existing, I have seen emotion leak out of my dad maybe once. Maybe. This one time, he told me that he was proud of me. PROUD OF MEEEEE. I was shocked I really was. It just seemed so surreal for him to be actually complementing me, considering he doesn't even know what I've accomplished. This post doesn't make sense i'm just angry. Basically what I mean is that my family has no stereotypes. My dad is rarely here and my mom is the equivalent of a God. Also, I know I sound like I am complaining, but trust me I know my life isn't bad at all. I live a pretty great life and don't take much for granted.

                    At the end of the day, I am who I am because of my mom. I clean up after myself, do my laundry, clean the house, and cook because of my mom. I also fix my car, shovel, mow, and take care of others because of my mom. Thanks mom. So while I may disagree with my mom, I am pretty similar to Vowell in the sense that i'm basically a copy of my mom, much like Vowell and her dad. That's it really. No life lesson for this post, I guess you can take away that you should be happy with what you have or something I dunno. Have a nice day!

A run through reflecting

re·flect

rəˈflekt/

verb

gerund or present participle: reflecting

1. 1.

   (of a surface or body) throw back (heat, light, or sound) without absorbing it.

   "when the sun's rays hit the earth a lot of the heat is reflected back into space"

   synonyms:

   send back, throw back, cast back "the snow reflects light"
2. 2.

   think deeply or carefully about.

I had the opportunity to earn some (much needed) points this last week by reflecting over my writing assignments. The amount of growth that I saw in my essays astounded me. I went from basically re-telling the story to somehow forming an entire essay from a single word. Sounds crazy right? It just goes to show how vast the human brain truly is. 

                                    Anyways, after re-reading my essays countless times I found a general theme about what I could have improved in each essay. All I needed to do was think more and provide better analysis! Simple enough, I just put a little more stress on my lil noggin. So there I was, analyzing all my essays and quotes again, trying to find that "deeper" meaning. I went back through the title of the books and inferred like the Bedford reader suggested, ANDDDD...I found nothing. Three hours in and still nothing. Four hours in and I fixed a semi-colon issue, 1/15 errors corrected yay me. Eventually I put my laptop down and took a walk outside. -Side note, if you ever feel stressed or overwhelmed I suggest taking a walk. You'll be astounded.- After taking in some fresh air, I decided to approach my writing in a different mindset. Instead of analyzing my analysis for what was wrong, I read my pieces for enjoyment.Like the Bedford Reader suggests, "The first time you read an essay, size up the forest; later you can squint at the acorns all you like." ( Bedford Chapter 1) 

After reading my pieces a couple times, I started to notice what I didn't like. I started to realize my mistakes and slowly but surely began correcting them. In a matter of an hour, I had four almost entirely new essays sitting in front of me. All I needed was a change of mindset to reflect on my past correctly.

                                     There it is folks. My life lesson for this post. I realize that sometimes, to reflect correctly, you must change your mindset entirely. Yes..yes..it's hard I know..I know it's a lot of work trust me i'm lazy too. But if I haven't earned your trust yet through my posts, well...that's your fault because i'm freaking inspirational. No, but seriously if you want a different outlook on life, step out of your old shoes and into some new ones. It's a lot like running! If you keep using the same old pair of shoes you'll hurt yourself. Sometimes you gotta spend the extra money to buy new shoes and save yourself from pain. Just like in life, you have to spend some energy and time to make a new platform for yourself to view life on. Life,after-all, is only as beautiful as you make it!