Battle Royal

The scene with the prostitute and the boxing is a metaphor for the black' man's status in America. The woman represents America, she has a flag tatoo and has the American colors, and he can't have her even if he wanted. The narrator says he wants to love her and destroy her, which means he wants to be an equal part of America, but he is angry he can't be and wants to take revenge on it. The black men don't have an equal part in society, and the white men take advantage of them.

The very old man with enormous wings.

I believe the man is not a real angel, but a metaphoric one. He doesn't seem to be holy or have any inhuman powers, besides the wings. For the people whose house he landed near he brought them good luck until he left. Using the money they made from showing him off to other people they were able to become rich and afford renovations to their house. I think the meaning of this story is that you should be kind to strangers, because they can give you good fortune.

The Cathedral Option #4

During the short story the main character is cautious of the blind man. He doesn't understand him. He tries to be kind, because the blind man is his wife's friend. As the night goes on he inquires about if the man can picture a cathedral in his head. The man tells him what he knows, but that he can't really make a mental picture. The old man asks him to draw it for him on think paper so he can feel what it looks like. As they draw the old man encourages him to keep going even though he doesn't think he can draw well. As they draw together they form a sort of bond, and he begins to get a semi-understanding on what's it like to be blind. At the end when the blind man asks him to look at it, he doesn't want to open his eyes. He's says it's really something, because he is enjoying the sensation of being blind, if only for a while. They become temporarily equals and he is happy.

Final draft I believe

I believe in multitasking. It’s an important life skill and a common practice for us of the newer generation. Our parents just don’t understand that we are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
A simple example of this is something many teens, including myself, do these days. We listen to music while doing our homework. For some reason, this makes our parents crazy. ‘They’ think that this decreases our concentration, and that we can‘t wrap our minds around more than one thing. For many of us, depending on the music, it helps us to find an inner peace or even just to stay awake. Some research has shown that listening to music can help people study more efficiently or effectively. In actual practice, I find that I can effectively do my homework, listen to music, instant message my friends, and play games all at the same time, with no decrease in efficiency. On second thought, maybe it’s better that my parents ‘don’t’ know this.
This simple multitasking evolves into more complicated versions. In our future being able to multitask could be the difference between being able to afford a steak or just steak flavored ramen noodles. Does multitasking pay off in the workplace? You bet it does. I, for one, don’t want to have to tell my boss that I can’t finish my report and prepare his presentation by the end of the day.
Multitasking could even be the difference between life and death. I picture my grandmother sitting in the control room of a submarine under attack. In the confusion I wonder whether she’d be able to look out the periscope, watch the sonar, and decide when and where to fire the last missiles? I know I’d be able to do it.
Okay, I understand that not everyone would be able to pilot a submarine, but really, what’s so hard about doing two things at once? When my mom is driving in a unfamiliar place, she turns off the radio. She says that she can’t focus on more then one thing at a time, but I don’t understand what difference the radio makes. Now keep in mind I’m not suggesting that it’s smart to have a rock band playing in the backseat of the car when learning how to drive, but I believe multitasking should be practiced by everyone.

I believe draft 2

I believe in multitasking. It’s an important life skill and a common practice for us of the newer generation. Our parents just don’t understand that we are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
A simple example of this is something many teens, including myself, do these days. We listen to music while doing our homework. For some reason, this makes our parents crazy. ‘They’ think that this decreases our concentration, and that we can‘t wrap our minds around more than one thing. For many of us, depending on the music, it helps us to find an inner peace or even just to stay awake. Some research has shown that listening to music can help people study more efficiently or effectively. In actual practice, I find that I can effectively do my homework, listen to music, instant message my friends, and play games all at the same time, with no decrease in efficiency. On second thought, maybe it’s better that my parents ‘don’t’ know this.
This simple multitasking evolves into more complicated versions. In our future being able to multitask could be the difference between being able to afford a steak or just steak flavored ramen noodles. It could even be the difference between life and death. I picture my grandmother sitting in the control room of a submarine under attack. In the confusion I wonder whether she’d be able to look out the periscope, watch the sonar, and decide when and where to fire the last missiles? I know I’d be able to do it.
Okay, I understand that not everyone would be able to pilot a submarine, but really, what’s so hard about doing two things at once? When my mom is driving in a unfamiliar place, she turns off the radio. She says that she can’t focus on more then one thing at a time, but I don’t understand what difference the radio makes. Now keep in mind I’m not suggesting that it’s smart to have a rock band playing in the backseat of the car when learning how to drive, but I believe multitasking should be practiced by everyone.

I believe....

I believe in multitasking. It’s an important life skill and a common practice for us of the newer generation. Our parents just don’t understand that we are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
A simple example of this is something many of teens, including myself, do these days. Many teens listen to music while doing our homework. Parents think that this decreases our concentration, and that we can‘t wrap our minds around more than one thing. For many of us, depending on the music, it helps us to find an inner peace or even just to stay awake. Actually some research has shown that listening to music can help people study more efficiently or effectively. In actual practice, I find that I can effectively do my homework, listen to music, instant message my friends, and play games all at the same time, with no decrease in efficiency. Maybe it’s better that my parents don’t know this.
This simple multitasking evolves into more complicated versions. In our future being able to multitask could be the difference between being able to afford a steak or just steak flavored ramen noodles. It could even be the difference between life and death. Imagine if you will, your grandmother sitting in the control room of a submarine under attack. In the confusion do you think she’d be able to look out the periscope, watch the sonar, and decide when and where to fire the last missiles? I know I’d be able to.
Okay, I understand that not everyone would be able to pilot a submarine, but I don’t understand how people can’t even do two things at once. When my mom is driving in a unfamiliar place, she turns off the radio. She says that she can’t focus on more then one thing at a time, but I don’t understand what difference the radio makes. Now keep in mind that you shouldn’t have a rock band playing In the backseat of your car when learning how to drive, but I believe multitasking should be practiced by everyone.

Same old song and dance.

"Same old song, and same old song and dance."


~Fin