An Achieve For Myself

Growing up I always considered myself regular. Nothing special, just another ordinary person. I thought that I was leading a plain life, and nothing interesting has ever happened to me. I went to school, ate two meals a day, got anxious for tests, slept a lot. Just regular things every high school student does. Having hope for a exciting future is what I clung to, it supported me and gave me hope to continue on. What I couldn’t see is that my existence wasn’t actually as cheerful nor normal like the other kids my age.

The amount of sleep I got started to expand around the summer when I was only 15. I could sleep for over 15 hours, more if I pushed myself. I didn’t wanna be awake, I didn’t want to see other people. When my 2nd year of high school started I had to acting like I was fine. I could put on a smile like a champ. I didn’t want to attract attention, I was still considered normal. Standing out wasn’t my thing, I was very plain dressed and wanted to scurry through my high school years unnoticed. Inside a growing hatred for myself had grown cancerous. I hated everything about myself, top to bottom. I lost interest in friendships and things I once cared deeply for. I was so good at pretending that nobody noticed. Not even my own mother.

By the age of 16 I started to see a therapist. I started a cycle of cutting and self loathing I couldn’t break alone. Medication after medication came my way, one session a week soon grew to two then three. My anxiety levels matched my depression perfectly, both left me feeling unable to function. At a few points they spiked so badly that I started seeing things, hearing things. These caused me to have panic attacks, I would just curl up and want to die. The attacks caused me to miss two days of school every week, sometimes three. Being around others made me feel worse. It just escalated the breakdowns, even the simplest conversations. I consistently fought with my mother, she didn't understand my problems. She knew I wasn’t missing school because I was psychically sick, but she didn’t understand just how mentally I was. Her reign of abuse then began. I would have bruises from her punches, she gave them every week if I skipped more then one day. I distanced myself from her, a distance I’ve never wanted to close, even now.

My downward spiral was quickly leading me to attempting to the irreversible. I jumped down the 30 stairs attached to our porch at the beginning of my junior year. This gave me a fractured hip and a few large scrapes. After I failed my attempt I grew quiet, no more family outbursts or swearing matches. I gave up with acting out. I gave up trying all together. I went to school, got my grades up slightly, and even brought down my anxiety levels. Summer rolled around, I felt better, so much so that I stopped therapy. Then came Senior year, my list of classes was so simple, all art besides two sciences. I had it down packed, my grades were so high I got Dean's List.

Growing up I always considered myself regular. Nothing special, just another ordinary person. I thought that I was leading a plain life, and nothing interesting has ever happened to me. I went to school, ate two meals a day, got anxious for tests, slept a lot. Just regular things every high school student does. Having hope for a exciting future is what I clung to, it supported me and gave me hope to continue on. What I couldn’t see is that my existence wasn’t actually as cheerful nor normal like the other kids my age.

The amount of sleep I got started to expand around the summer when I was only 15. I could sleep for over 15 hours, more if I pushed myself. I didn’t wanna be awake, I didn’t want to see other people. When my 2nd year of high school started I had to acting like I was fine. I could put on a smile like a champ. I didn’t want to attract attention, I was still considered normal. Standing out wasn’t my thing, I was very plain dressed and wanted to scurry through my high school years unnoticed. Inside a growing hatred for myself had grown cancerous. I hated everything about myself, top to bottom. I lost interest in friendships and things I once cared deeply for. I was so good at pretending that nobody noticed. Not even my own mother.

By the age of 16 I started to see a therapist. I started a cycle of cutting and self loathing I couldn’t break alone. Medication after medication came my way, one session a week soon grew to two then three. I missed two days of school every week, sometimes three. I consistently fought with my mother, she didn’t believe I had problems. She knew I wasn’t missing school because I was psychically sick, but she didn’t understand just how mentally I was. Her reign of abuse then began. I would have bruises from her punches, she gave them every week if I skipped more then one day. Looking back I realize she had always, since I was very small, been mentally abusive with her words. I distanced myself from her, a distance I’ve never wanted to close, even now.

(This reminds me of Soapstone which I never liked, whoops) Text  - It’s delivered in a textbook and perhaps in Men’s health magazines. You would encounter this if taking a English class, if your wondering about your health and what fast food does for it, or if your musing through a Men’s Health magazine.

Reader - Someone who is worried about their children's health, someone who is into fitness, a fan of the author, someone working for Mc Donald's.

Author - The author is David Zinczenko, the author of Men’s Health. He is a expert and has faced health problems from fast food in his past. His agenda would be to spread knowledge about how it’s not just the consumers fault but also the fast food company for not providing data on their foods.

Constraints - Limiting factors are for those who’ve never eaten fast food have never counted calories, or those who have no knowledge over fast food. The data is more then 10 years old and can be considered slightly outdated.

Exigencies - This article is fueling the side who blames Fast Food companies for making people fat and unhealthy. People need to know that calorie charts aren’t provided as easily and aren’t complete when it comes to foods.

(2) Give one specific example of each “mode of persuasion” in this piece.  When is logos used?  Pathos?  Ethos?

Logos is used when the author explains not all the food is easily calorie counted because the chart separates things up even though your given it all (The salad).

Pathos is used when the author mentions children’s health and how he was once a fat teenager.

Ethos is used because the author tells how he is the writer for Men’s Health, a well respected magazine.

(3) Write five bullet points to summarize the article.  Then, write one sentence to sum up its primary argument.  What is Zinczenko saying here?

- Diabetes medication accounts for nearly $100 billion dollars in the health care system.

-  For teens, it’s easier to come by fast food then it is health fruit.

- Calorie information charts are limited and not on view for all to see.

- Fast food companies aim to sell to children.

- Diabetes is on the raise, it went from 5% of children to 30%.

The primary argument is that fast food is geared towards children who are now showing a raise in health risks.

(2) In your own tumblr post, make a list of the “characters” you will feature in your memoir essay (don’t forget to include yourself!). Myself, My mom, my brother, the teacher, school nurse, the two hospital nurses, the doctor, etc.(?)

(3) Think about the story you will be telling for your memoir essay.  When would dialogue work well to illustrate what was going on?  Add to your tumblr post a possible conversation between your characters.  Try using dialogue tags in a few different ways. Dialog would work between my mom and the schools nurse, my brother and the school nurse, between me and both hospital nurses, and between mom and the doctor.

---Mom growled at the nurse but then turned her attention to me, “Honey, can you hear me? Are you alright?”

---My brother who was now standing in the doorway with eyes as wide as an owl spoke softly, “Have you called our mom?”

Animal Crossing or Pokémon. (Their origin, what they mean to me, how they developed, how people respond to them, etc.)

Mushrooms or Cactus (How to treat/identify/grow)

I selected the essay called "Foie Gras-Maitake Crepinette. Anyone?" At the very start the author explains just how embarrassing it is to be unable to pronounce the name of a dish. The writer took a job at a ritzy hotel working as a phone assistant. Having to deal with both nice and snobby rich people on a daily basis. At one point of the essay a man calls the author and gets upset that he isn’t being given everything he wants. The author explains to the man that his requests aren’t acceptable and just can’t be done. He then asks for the manager which tics off the author. After getting off the phone with this man, the author confides in their superior, telling them how angry they are. Amanda (their superior) explains that they will treat you differently because they have money but you can still be great as long as you keep your tongue held. After this the writer sees things differently and no longer gets angry, but rather sees the good in they people they have to wait on.

(2) What was the wider theme at play?  What was the “point” of the essay?

The point of the essay is money, while important, doesn’t make the person but it’s rather how that person holds themselves. A person can have a lot of money but still be respectable. Just because someone has money doesn’t make them a saint or even remotely good as well. Your worth isn’t controlled by the amount of cash in your pocket.

(3) What does the reader learn about the author over the course of the story?

That the author is intimated by being surrounded by fancy things because they themselves aren’t rich. Also that the author has a quick temper but is able to control their words and keep a reign on themselves.

(4) What role does dialogue play in the essay?  How is the passage with dialogue different than had it been 

The dialog in this piece shows a interaction between a enraged customer and the author of the story. This was needed to help us get a picture of just how delusional some costumers are and how much composer the author has. Without this dialog we’d also not have Amanda give the author their life lesson on composure.

(5) Copy and paste a passage from the essay you feel is particularly effective.  Why did you select this passage?  What is effective about it?

“Amanda turned in her seat and looked at me square in the eyes and spoke something so softly to me I had to strain my ears to hear it, “The rise of their voices is just noise and their words are static. They may treat you cruelly just because they have money, but your character is seen tenfold in the words you don’t speak. I’m proud of you.””

I selected this passage because this is a very important lesson for everyone to learn. A person must know when it is the right time to speak and when they should just stay quiet. It’s effective because of how beautiful the quote is as well as how Amanda congratulates the author for doing their best.

(6) Give your overall opinion of this essay.