Jeremy’s AP Blog

I chose the “Number One” speech by Vince Lombardi. Out of every speech by any coach I have ever heard not one is as inspirational to me as this one is. Vince Lombardi is worth the respect that he is given due to his accomplishments. He has the second highest winning percentage in NFL history and he was the coach to win the first Super Bowl. Throughout this speech winning is the reoccurring theme, he says, “winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing.” I share the same goal as him in the fact that I want to win at all times in anything I do. He also doesn’t just speak about football he also talks about real life situation when he says, “Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization, an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win-to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don’t think it is. He not only told his players to win he demanded it. He talks about how the most competitive events bring out the most competitive people and I agree with him. He also says that he believes that all games played should be won “fairly, and squarely, by the rules - but to win. The most respected coach in NFL history has one of the greatest speeches and it is no wonder that his teams were successful judging by the power of this great speech.

How I Think

            The way I think is complex as is everyone else’s. In general I would say that my thinking is spur of the moment, because I do not always think of the consequences of my actions, effecting my life but not always in a good way.

            For instance when it comes to doing my homework, sometimes I do not do my homework the night that it is supposed to be done but often do the assigned work the day that it is being turned in. Most of the time I simply think out the good and bad consequences of what will happen if I do not do my homework and think about what will benefit me the greatest. On the opposite side of the spectrum I often think of what will be more fun at the moment. Such as when I have the choice to either do homework or hang out with my friends although I often I  choose to do both hang out with my friends and do my homework, I do not have as much fun with my friends as I could and I do not do as well as I could on my homework. Right now in my life I believe that having fun with family and friends is just as if not more important than school. Although I know my future lies within my performance in high school this part of my life is a once in a lifetime experience. I do not know all of the right choices to make and nor does any high schooler, all of us are just trying to apply what we have learned through childhood into our everyday life.

            The worst thing about how I think is my procrastination. When a project is assigned I often do not begin it until the last minute, showing my previously stated method of rather doing the fun thing than the right thing. I have always done projects at the last minute because in my mind one day is enough time to finish a project. When in a situation with pressure I think that I excel. Many people seem to get tense and choke up, but I have taught myself to stay calm try to perform as well as I would if I were not under pressure. I believe procrastinating always leads to some kind of pressure especially in school. When a project is due the next day I seem to try so hard. What if I could perform the way I do when I am under pressure in a pressure-free situation? Do I like this pressure? Does it help using procrastination as a tool to perform better or faster? I do not know if I necessarily like the pressure, but I can say that I do not mind it that much because if I did my work habits would have changed long ago.

            When given a difficult situation I think that I deal with it the best way. I give every important or sad situation some type of humor because I believe laughing is the best medicine. If you are laughing you cannot be having an absolutely terrible time. The reason that I do this is because when I dwell on how bad a certain situation is it seems to saturate with sadness, by giving everything a humoristic twist it makes hard times easier to deal with. When I was younger my dad had cancer and this is how he dealt with his situation, he always has a smile on his face saying “I’m fine,” or just saying jokes and now he is fine.

            I believe that how I think is the correct way to think because if I did not I would obviously change my method. Placing school first may get you to where you want to get in life but if you ever look back at what you could have or should have done and regret it, is it just as bad? How can you determine the best way of thinking unless you know the best way to live? And although procrastination may not be the most effective way to deal with things in my life it seems to work for me because I think that I perform well under some kind of pressure. I also think that a little bit of hilarity can change a bad day to a good day with a simple joke. Living my life with the “spur of the moment mentality” may seem immature but if it to seems to work for me then I will stay with it.

1. I disagree with what prose is saying in fact I think the opposite. I think that the dislike of reading is born and natured in English Class.

2. I agree with what she is saying when she talks about fitting the curriculum to each individual rather than to a group of students.

1.Prose is talking about events in her own life and relating it to the lives of the readers, using ethos.

2. Prose uses these negative words to set the tone of the essay. Although these are strong words that may risk putting off the readers I do not believe her word choice would change the outcome.

3. She makes the assumption that reading in class is not fun and says, “given the dreariness with which literature is taught in many American classrooms, it seems miraculous that any sentient teenager would view reading as a source of pleasure.”

6. I agree with what prose is saying, that if the new age of writers are learning how to write by unsuccessful writers it is similar to having new doctors being taught by bad doctors.

7. These questions are used to help make this subject easier to understand.

8. I think that having current high schoolers would strengthen her stand because having people who are living in this moment right now are going to have the clearest opinion.

9. The reason that video is so valuable to America is because of how fast it can be published and how easily it can be accessed. There is no reason for a teenager to read about an event if there is a video that they can watch.

I don’t necessarily agree or disagree with what Jacoby is saying. I do think that Americans are spending too much time and money on video entertainment rather than extending their knowledge by reading a book. I think that the reason this is occurring is because reading is not always as enjoyable as watching a movie of television. And to what she said about Americans being proud of their lack of intelligence, I completely disagree. Today in America, job opportunities are taken by the more qualified, most likely more intelligent person. Although there may be some people who are proud of their lack of intelligence it is  unfair to label an entire country as proud of being dumb.

1. The effect of the saying is showing that he grew up in poor family never knowing if they would have the next meal.
2. The stereotype that the narrator talks about Indian men is that they are not educated and they do not care about learning and in the story his father is an avid reader and tons of books.
3. When he said a fence he was referring to the paragraphs saying that these paragraphs are contained by an essay as a dog would be contained by a fence.
4. When he describes “an Indian boy” he is talking in third person.
5. He is trying to emphasize on how many books he read.
6. The two sections are separated in the essay because he wants to give the reader some background information and then get his point across. This suits Alexie’s overall purpose well because he is trying to excite Indian boys about reading

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