Papes

Papers of Undergraduate Days

More Scientific Based

• *[[Baroreceptors]]
• *[[Article_Critique_1]] - Ovarian Cancer
• *[[Health_Reports]] - P1
• *[[Tap_VS_Bottled_Water]]
• *[[USF]]
• *[[Intelligence]]
• *[[Acute Myeloid Leukemia]]
• *[[Optional Stats Project]]

Liberal Arts Based

• A Murphy Pojman Justification To Punishment 2005
• Its Not Me, Its You. But We Can Still Be Friends, Right?  2005
• After School Ambition 2005
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[[[Home]] [[Intersection]] Continuation to Essays ===Chronological Order – Earliest to Latest=== So here is all the essays that i wrote, remembered and typed in my life in all its glory, use it however you see fit. Oh, and any editing suggestions is appreciated. I cannot figure out how to tab yet let alone center anything so dont waste your time. It is just interesting to see how an individual's perception chagnes over time. Some things were naively said and thats the way life is. If would be scarry to see a child write such wise and ground breaking work at a young age. I'm human and in case you can't tell experiences have driven me away from being a compositional expert. Thats life. [[Essays]], [[Essays 3]], [[Essays 4]] —- =====Summary: Assignment To Make A Letter To Someone (10/2003 – CIv1)===== ==A Letter to Chaos== Dear ****, From the day you opened up in the Fontana pool about your problems, an undertow of emotion – confusion, bewilderment, and rage – hammered my brain senseless. Your tipping balance of substances and your nonchalant demeanor has given me an impression to the typical problems of American youth. Is there any reason why you do the drugs you do and act the way you do? Now I know adoption may have been hard on you, especially because your appearance is thousands of miles away from Italian. Being ethnically dissimilar due to your South Korean culture may have hindered your family from accepting you fully as one of their own. I can relate because in my suburbs, I am one of a few Asians in my town. The feeling of being the only spec of dust in a clean floor hits you. On one side you feel out of place and on the other side your peers know you are out of place, which makes interaction harder. From what you told me, neither your mom nor dad had a real close relationship typical to any family. Could this be the cause of why you are deeply self-conscious, due to the conditioning that you felt that you were always out of place? I could only imagine during family get-togethers being the only Asian and feeling out of place even though your upbringing is 100% Italian. It seems to me that you are trying to escape something with your stereotypical cheerleader demeanor and the flood of drugs you put in your system. Being in perpetual "highs" so that you never experience your downfalls seems like a retort to your unbelievable week but if you can recall, being under the influence and forgetting things is the reason why your week went bad. You misplaced your grandmother's antique double-stranded pearl necklace and barely flinched. Plus your "bad week" became worse when you decided it was a great idea to spend your book money on numerous substances – a mix of legal and illegal drugs that altogether gave you a partial escape but extended your agonizing week. I cannot pinpoint what you are trying to escape from but one possibility is being self-sufficient. You loved being pampered in New Jersey with everybody there when you needed them but now it is time to rise and take the challenge to adulthood. One week into being on your own, thousands of dollars departed mysteriously (or so you easily claim), truancy and torture after cutting classes collides when finally you realize – you "messed up." It is time to do things for yourself and it is time to take responsibility for yourself. But you want to quit. You want to quit school and throw away what you worked hard to achieve. A typical housewife is supposedly your ideal career path. Your achievements in swimming (being third in the state), your achievements academic-wise (about a 1200/1600 in SAT's) and your achievements in being your own person are slowly getting erased so that you can be drawn as society's housewife. You are retreating to the obsolete idea that women should be submissive and that you cannot make something of yourself. You are drowning from the riptide of irresponsibility and the lifeguards are telling to swim around the waves but you choose to swim at them, which will be the cause of your downfall. Always There When You Need Me, Van —- =====Summary: Detention In HS (10/2003 – CIv1)===== ==My Practice with the D-Team== After school, at 2:30 pm, my teammates and I prepared ourselves for the most intense hour practice of our lives. This hour tests our mental fortitude, our discipline, and our patience. We didn't have brightly colored or numbered jerseys, we didn't have pads or mouthpieces, but it was a grueling contact sport. Every time practice was held, our backs and posteriors came in contact with the cold stiff seat. Once we took our positions, it was every man for himself. Only a select few could practice the way we practiced. This intense hour was detention in rooms 101, and 103 at * High School. The two "fields" are designated for upperclassmen (room 101) and sophomore-freshman (room 103) squad. Our upperclassmen's room was a 24' by 24' room, which contained four black boards – two were up front and the other two were on the left-hand side –, two squeaky radiators below the eight windows on the right side, four plants that were dispersed on top of the squeaky radiators, eight windows on the right-hand side and a mystery number of chairs. The sophomore-freshman room was a transverse copy of the "upper field". Pretend that room 101 was a page, and then flip it. All the rooms of the school were based on page flip copies with the usual mystery number of chairs. The number of chairs often changed due to the weird fact that there were not enough chairs. Teachers dealt their chairs as if they were street pharmacists, and the chairs were their drugs. Even though hundreds of students paid eight thousand a year to attend this school (roughly eight hundred students), and also the twelve million dollars of donations, there wasn't enough of everything in this ridiculous school. The detention rooms itself reminded me of a psychological institution or a nut house where all the light colors blended together and made the room seem like it was all white. Partly because the odor of the room can easily tear anybody's eyes up and since most people were half asleep by the time they took their seat. Its odor isn't the cliché mildew or moldy smell but a smell of raunchy body odor, which is quite a pleasant extra as if being in detention wasn't enough. The ear-piercing shrill sounds that the infernal radiator made at times became increasingly vexing after a few consecutive days of the same constant sharp sounds. And when it was a packed day of practice, the mystery number of seats abetted the mini-game of musical chairs that failed to amuse the frustrated crowd. Even the eight windows annoyed my peers and I when they saw their friends taunting them with their freedom while we sat sup straight (if we could find a seat), listened to the unbearable squeaking, smelled the underclassmen's cue to buy some deodorant, and focused our eyes forward on the blank blackboard hoping that before we knew it, it was 3:30 pm. But before it was 3:30 pm, we had to sit up straight, we couldn't talk, we couldn't sleep, and we had to look straight. It was already bad enough we had to comply with these conditions but some people made it worse. Once in a while, we got a rookie in practice that thought he was a D-Team "All-Star". These kind of people didn't help ease the hour because they wanted to display their skills and it always ended the same way – practice was extended. These "All-Stars" would do a variety of things such as throwing chalk, talking back to the coach (teacher), drawing on the table, and making noise. Since they were new, the things they did easily coaxed the teacher to make an example out of him by extending detention, complements to the "All-Star". Not only could they extend detention but the teachers serving detention could add as many more hours as they please. The two main coaches of D-Team were Mr. Dalton and Mr. Baldassere. Mr. Dalton was middle-aged, about 6'1", he had a receding hairline, and a distinct face. His face looked like a young pit bull which helped describe how he ran the D-Team practices. This young pit bull was laid back until we caused problems. But of the two coaches, he was the "good coach" while Mr. Baldassere was the "bad coach". Similar to when two officers act the "good cop bad cop" routine, these two had a system of making detention as grueling as football practice. Mr. Dalton made my peers feel comfortable in detention and Mr. Baldassere caught them off-guard. Now his other half was a 5'9" ball of paranoid New York fury. Mr. Michael Baldassere was my problem, he was always my problem, and loved being my problem. This coach definitely had a complex of some sorts since he was 5'9" but he walked around as if he was 6'7". From the moment he transferred into my school as the new Dean of Students I knew we would have problems. Whenever I was around him, I felt like I was a suspect waiting for him to find something to get me in trouble with. I swear if he could, this joke of a Dean would've given me detention for 9-11. Everyday me and him (notice that I put myself over him regardless of grammar) put on a show when we were in detention. Without even embellishing, I swear, the scene of the Breakfast Club was reenacted the school day before Christmas break. Being the fact that it was close to the Lord's birthday, I felt in a festive mood and the candy given in class made me feel like I was in 3rd Grade with nap times. Then he comes through the doorway and the first thing he spots was my candy. Mr. Baldassere focused in on me and me alone. My peers were blatantly snaking on their "pre-Jesus" treats and he didn't care. So I received detention for having candy (keep in mind the teachers had given this to us earlier on and allowed us to eat them) but that was just one of many. Within the time an average high school sprinter could finish their 100 yard dash, the dust settled and I had about 14 detentions, close to about one per second. Apparently, he didn't allow me to talk since it was detention and each word I said cost me another hour. Ever since that day, me and him had duels in detention and I could tell he enjoyed every minute. Me and him always played various taunting mental games to keep us entertained, one example was that I pretended to sleep. When I could feel his eyes twinkle at the sight of my guard down, I enjoyed seeing his reaction when I fooled him. With a nice grin I greeted his slow progress towards me as if I was a wounded gazelle and he was a tiger but not this time Mikey, not this time. But the stress of the constant dance of taunting and punishment got to me. Towards the end of my senior, I could not handle having to deal with the Dean and the trivial suspicions he had of me. Last term of my senior year I chose to leave * High School to get away from it all – a vacation from the practice, the rooms, the "All-Stars", everything. I spent about half of my high school career in detention. I spent about one year of my living, breathing life, in detention. And unfortunately, I spent about three hundred, seventy, and two days total in those god-forsaken nut-houses. (note) last year * High School received a total of about 12 million dollars from alumni and etc. to help fund the school —- =====Summary: First Car After Basic (2/2005 – CII)===== ==You Would Have Saab'ed If You Saw This Toyota== A car is a symbol of freedom in my eyes. Without it, the simple solution is to walk. I have walked enough for seventeen years for mixed reasons. I have walked to school in the mornings for three miles, crossing highways to get to school when my brother left without me for school. And was suspended after three days of coming in late due to walking to school. I have walked about a mile and a half to work because my parents believed that "it was close [and I] can make it in fifteen minutes." The "fifteen minutes" was more like forty five minutes. When I lost my car my senior year due to an accident – which totaled it, this further held me down to walking distance. I hated having to depend on my friends for rides to wherever because I knew that I could not return the favor of drive them around. This left me feeling like a chauffeured loser using people for rides. My first car was a blue, primer and rust 1980's Pick Up. This car was only two years younger than me. Even though it had 180,000 miles, it peeled out with the slightest touch of the gas pedal, it overheated after long drives, and it didn't have a working radio, yet I still felt free. The feeling of freedom: that an unattainable new world is finally within cars reach, even though I was driving a sorry excuse of an automobile. After returning from a six month training program it was time to upgrade my sorry excuse of an automobile into a vehicle that I can take pride in. Since my tuition is fully paid for by joining the Army National Guard, my mother agreed to assist me in "buying a car." Little did I know the "car" meant a Toyota. My mother has always had a bias for Toyotas; in fact, she drives a Toyota Sienna. So after researching cars in accordance with the budget; which was sixteen thousand dollars, I came up with a list of companies that offer cars within the price range. Mazda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Honda, and Saab were the cars on the list. Note that Toyota is not in this list but what is the first dealership we go to check out cars? If you have read the title, it is of course, a Toyota dealership. After concluding my search for prominent cars from the other dealerships we come to the last one on the list; the Saab dealership. The first words that come out my mother's mouth are that we cannot afford any of these cars but she was wrong. The car salesman comes across a black 2002 Saab 9-5 Aero with 43,000 miles, which he explains to us that this is the highest line Saab has and is only about $16,000. So once he finishes this sentence I was already sold. Things seem to be running smoothly and by tomorrow the deal would be final. I had stayed the night over a friends house and we were getting ready to go the university when I receive a call in the morning. Even though the phone number foreign to me, I answer the phone. Its the car salesman telling me that apparently the deal is cancelled even when he offers a black 2003 Saab 9-3 Arc with 28,000 miles for the same price. After classes with my friend I prepare myself for my mother like a predator waiting for prey. Being confused, irritated but prepared I sit on the couch of my home facing the front door awaiting for the jingles of the keys signaling the prey has arrived. Ready for any possible reason she would throw at me the door swings open and I immediately start the argument. So I confront my mother about her decision and she first argues that everyone she has talked to about Saabs did not have a good experience with it and that they were unreliable. She is trying to persuade me through her resemblance argument that since her friends have heard or supposedly have had "bad experiences" with Saabs that all Saabs must in turn result in guaranteed "bad experiences" (Bean, Johnson and Ramage 270) I would accept this claim if all cars are all similar. Unfortunately there are different years, different methods of maintenance, different miles, different company techniques for building cars and different types of cars. What I mean by different types of cars are that there are some that are inclined to breakdowns, which are "lemons" and then there are normal cars which have no immediate defects that would hinder its use. So this source is purely subjective and lacking hard facts unless it came from Consumer Reports where there is a statistical fact of the premise. Next, she tries to categorize Toyotas in a different cheaper level of maintenance as opposed to the more expensive Saab (209-210). I am unsure that this is true but when more complex parts are broken and or need replacing, it's a fact that replacements costs money. My counter argument is that both cars have warranties for three to four years that would cover the cars until I have a better financial backing to take care of the expensive replacements regardless of the company. Besides, the Toyota she wants me to buy is a year older than the Saab (the 2003 Arc), which means that the Toyota has already used up one year more of the warranty than the Saab and only if there is a major defect, both cars should be fine. A point that should have had an effect is that the Saab is a better deal. When comparing the two cars in the Kelly Blue Book, the Saab should go for $26,000 (even the 9-5 Aero costs $24,600) and the Toyota should go for $15,215. Keep note that the budget is $16,000 and she has a bias towards a car that is $785 more than what we should buy it for as opposed to saving either $10,000 or $8,600 by buying a Saab. That right there have been the definitive point that wins her over and yet I am not sure why she kept on arguing for the Toyota still sticking to her sources that it is unreliable. The argument ensues for hours and finally I could not persuade her (for the life of me) and I decide to just take the Toyota because when it comes down to it, I needed a car. It would be nice to get more for your money like most ordinary people seek but apparently my mother is not an ordinary person. I also have checked the trends of depreciation by adding miles to my car in the Kelly Blue Book value and with the normal driving of 10,000 to 15,000 miles my car only lost anywhere from $575 to $900, which is a rough estimation. Even though my car already had little pin ball dents on it, I look on the bright side that in a year I can hopefully sell my car and get the car I want. It would have also helped if I had reminded her that she was not buying for her with her own money but with my money. The money that the Montgomery G.I. Bill and drill compensation would pay for the car and that this was costing her nothing but a headache. In fact I had to use her credit to finance the car since I had no credit, which would only benefit her. The only question I had is why was she not persuaded. =====Sources===== Bean, Johnson, and John D. Ramage. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric With Readings. New York: Pearson Education, 2004. Kelly Blue Book —- =====Summary: Whether Children Owe Their Parents Anything (3/2005 – CII)===== ==Don't We Owe Them Something? The Question Is Answered== Photographer, illustrator, translator, editor, author, philosopher, and feminist extraordinaire Jane English uses Asian influences in her work. Compiling one of "at least forty-two English translations" of Tao Te Ching -which describes the basis of Taoism- she fails to compile a sound premise with her work What Do Children Owe Their Parents. The first sentence of her work is the definitive example of using rhetoric that we learned in class (Ethos and Pathos), which also doubles as an enticing hook. *"What do grown children owe their parents? *I will contend that the answer is "nothing." *– Jane English 152 L Such evocative words break the popular belief that children owe parents something. That something is subjective. It differs for person-to-person, culture-to-culture, and even religion-to-religion. According to Compend of Christian Doctrines Held By Baptists: In Catechism, the answer to the family question is quoted from the bible. *"Q. (49) What do children owe their parents? *A. Filial obedience and reverence, with sympathy and care for them in old age. *Ex. xx: 12; Col. iii: 20; Prov. xxiii: 22 and xxx: 17; Deut. xvii: 16." – W. W. Everts, D. D. Even an online sermon from what I believe is a Catholic church asks The Question and the pastor sums up the with five criteria; love, honor, gratitude, subjection and a good daily conversation (Pomona). The reply to this question is almost a fact that children owe their parents something, most that think otherwise are presumed lacking morals. Jane English certainly has what appears to be a premise that is set up for failure. Lo and behold, that what appears to be inclined for failure is anything but. Her second sentence clarifies her premise by focusing one word in The Question – owe. It is not what we owe our parents but rather what we "ought to do for their parents" (English 152 L). Using the categorical/definitional argument Jane English shows that owe and ought are two different words, which infer different views and different outcomes (Bean, Johnson and Ramage 208-210). Further explaining her premise, she states that owing develops debts and contradictory what a parent-child relationship should be. Motivated by love rather than by the prospect of repayment, a parent-child relationship should be a friendship characterized by mutuality – it offers what they can give and accepts what they need since they are (English 152-153 R). Using the a Logos appealing example of when Nina agrees to take Max's mail while Max is on vacation would in turn settle two things; one is that Max has asked Nina for a favor and two, Max owes Nina an appropriate reciprocation. The preceding example defines the terms of owing and the next example defines the terms of what one 'ought to do'. If Max is on vacation and Nina mows his grass due to the goodness of her heart, this settles yet again two things; one is that Nina's friendly gesture is that of a voluntary sacrifice and two, Max does not have to reciprocate (but it would behoove him). These examples show what each word (owe or ought) implies and what kind of relationship each word infers (favor-debt or voluntary sacrifice-duty) (153 L). Like anything else, there are clear exceptions to set rules and Jane English's voluntary sacrifice relationship is no exception. One such rule is that is "if the sacrifices are highly out of proportion to the resources, the relationship is closer to servility than to friendship." In other words, if Max is on vacation again, Nina's friendly gesture is not a total house remodeling nor is it season tickets to Max's favorite sports team. One, it would be illegal or borderline stalking and two, what is Max supposed to do after the friendly gesture? He is put in an awkward position in which he might not be able to perform his duty to somehow match the house remodeling or the season tickets. One must also remember that once a friendship ends, the party that has scarified less owes the other nothing (153-154). Compiling the preceding definitions and exceptions, Jane English's answer to what do grown children owe their parents is actually something and not the first answer of "nothing." *"[What] children ought to do for their parents (and parents for children) depends upon (1) their respective needs, abilities, and resources and (2) the extent to which there is an ongoing friendship between them. Thus, regardless of the quantity of childhood sacrifices, an able, wealthy child has an obligation to help his needy parents more than does a needy child." *– Jane English 154 This nothing-out-of-something approach to the argument is one definite criteria of what makes a good argument. In other words, the author's solid style or presentation of an argument is a true distinction of a good argument. Another mark of a good argument is a sound premise. An author cannot make such a careless premise such as: "popping yo collar" sounds cool when rappers say it, therefore, it would be even cooler when actually done. Diction is an integral part of the argument due to the way the argument is worded. Definitions would have to be set and exceptions made depending on how the argument is worded. A first-hand example is Jane English's argument. In retrospect of reading her premise, what children "owe" their parents is nothing but what children "ought" to do for their parents is something. Had her premise been what children "should" do for their parents, there would be no article and I would be sleeping right now. Clear and concise examples supporting the argument are distinctions to a great argument. Had Jane English used complex, and long examples to support her premise, her audience would easily lose the point and can dishearten the motivation to finish reading the argument. But she used relatable examples of Max and Nina to support her premise. Lastly, to persuade the audience, the integral part of a good argument is to eliminate any opposition. To fully persuade is to leave the audience without any doubts that the premise is just and sound. There are several ways of eliminating opposition; one is by claiming and supporting that the opposition is unjust and immoral. Another way of eliminating the opposition is to address it in the argument so that the audience can be informed, which will also appealing to the Ethos rhetoric by establishing credibility and trustworthiness. Similar to Jane English's exceptions to her premise, an author can also eliminate their opposition through exceptions so that it covers any inconsistencies. Now at first glance, it seems that her premise had many inconsistencies but after understanding the distinction between owing and ought Jane English has a solid premise. Similar to William Shakespeare's King Lear what appears to be inclined for failure is anything but. In the same predicament, King Lear embodies The Question of what children ought to do for their parents. In this play, King Lear asks all his daughters how much they love him. Being the only truthful daughter, Cordelia replies: *"Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave *My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty *According to my bond; no more nor less." King Lear mistakes her words as an offense, but had it been in retrospect, one can understand that words cannot express how much she truly deeply loves her father. And to support Jane English's premise, Cordelia even after being ridiculed is driven by her deep love for her father acts upon her duty to attempt to save her father. That is what children ought to do, not owe. =====Sources===== Bean, Johnson, and John D. Ramage. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric With Readings. New York: Pearson Education, 2004. English, Jane. "What Do Grown Children Owe Parents." Ethics In Practice. Ed. Hugh LaFollette. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 1997. 152-155. Everts D.D., W.W. Compend of Christian Doctrines Held By Baptists: In Catechism. Chicago: Church and Goodman Publishers, 1866. Reformedreader.org. 02 March 2005 Pomona Church of Christ. What Children Owe Their Parents. 13 April 2003. Pomona. 02 March 2005. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Ed. by William James Craig. London: Oxford University Press, 1914. Bartleby.com. 2000. 02 March 2005. . —-