Homeless

What does the word home mean to you? Does it involve material things, privacy, family, a sense of permanence? In your journal, explore your ideas about this word.

• The word home means many different things to me.
• First and foremost, it includes the physical and material things: the actual building itself, the stairs, the rooms, the floor, the shelves, my possessions, my family's possessions, etc. For this case, home can be defined as a safe shelter that provides me the environment for everyday living, such as a bed, a kitchen, and a bathroom, and allows me a place to store and access my personal belongings. An example for this definition is the apartment in Hsinchu, Taiwan that I currently live in. Just like I described above, my apartment includes rooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms, a living room, a dining area, and a working area (for me to write my homework).
• Secondly, home is where my family is. The feeling when I am with my family can be describe as a sense of belonging when I am with my family and other kinship. Of course, this includes my distant family or family living abroad as well. For example, I feel at home when I am in my apartment with my family, when I go to my grandparents' house a basketball court away, when I go to my uncle's apartment one floor below mine, my other uncle's apartment one floor above mine, or my aunt's apartment three floors above mine, or when I am in Tainan with my grandparents from my mother's side, along with my cousins.
• The last definition of home is more personal. For me, home doesn't have to be a permanent place or involve a sense of permanence. This personal definition of home for me is a place where I feel comfortable being in for a long time, a place where I refer to when I say I need to "go back", and a place where I have a strong sense of privacy and can do whatever I want without having to worry about other people. This definition includes quite a lot of different circumstances, but each of these circumstances fall under this personal definition for home for me. One recent example is when I went to Singapore. The hotel room that I stayed in feels very much like home. It is comfortable, I have the privacy that I need (even though I have roommates), and I refer to this hotel room when I tell other people "let's go back home".

First Love

What do you remember about your first love? What was special about the person you were attracted to? How did you act around him or her? Was your interest reciprocated? In your journal, write about the experience.

• My first crush (not love, since it was not as serious) is one of the memories that I am able to recall more clearly compared to other memories from my elementary times, though it has become blurry and vague after such a long time. I do not remember what age I was. I guess I was about twelve or thirteen, somewhere along those lines. I do not remember what he looked like. But I do remember that he was one of the guys that I considered good looking then. And I do remember that he was a lot older than me, probably about three to four years old (though this may not be considered old by some people, at that time, it was for me). This person that I had a crush on was popular. During those times, I was a very unsociable and pretty isolated person. Therefore, I did not have any interaction with him, except for when we were on the school bus. Even then, we didn't talk much; it was only greetings. I guess the only reason I was attracted to him was because of his appearance, since I didn't know his personality that well, or maybe even at all. When I look back at it, my crush was more of a silly infatuation of a silly girl, who was naive and still romanticized. I can say this because I remember that the only time I every think about him, is when I see him; he wasn't someone who was so important to me, and even if I see him and am around him, I never react much. My heart would only jump a little, then return to its normal rhythm. The crush faded away with time, and we have never been anything more than strangers.

My Face

How do you think other people see you? Consider not just your outward appearance but also your personality. In your journal, create two lists of adjectives: one for how you think other people would describe you and one for how you describe yourself.

• Most people usually don't comment on my appearance, because I do not have many obvious or striking features. The most notable feature that people comment on the most is how my nose is big, compared to the other people in my family. Many people also compare me to my classmate Vivien because the two of us have similar characteristics, especially our hairstyle, glasses, and our love for novel reading.
• Other people see me as a nerd, as a smart person, as the one who knows everything (and the one who is always reading weird novels). And many of them assume that I love studying. Even though I do love reading, their assumption that I love studying is absolutely wrong. Reading and studying are two very different activities. Their goals differ, their purposes differ, the effort placed into the activities differs, and the enjoyment of the activity differs.
• Here is a list for how I believe other people would see myself:
• Smart (because I'm good at memorization and therefore know many things)
• Nerdy (just because I have good grades)
• Hard working (because I take assignments pretty seriously)
• Here is a list for how I see myself:
• Hard working
• Lazy (this contradicts with hardworking, but it is true because it occurs during different time periods)
• Passionate (for novel reading)
• Persistent (or stubborn, depending on how people see me)
• Athletic (though I haven't been playing basketball, I still see myself as athletic because I do dance and do some exercise from time to time)
• Prefers both time alone and time with friends (I need privacy as well as companionship)

Note Taking

Please read the Cornell Note Taking Document.

Answer the following questions in paragraph form:

• Why take notes at all?
• What is the best way to make taking notes work? Why is it effective?
• Do I take notes in this way?
• How have I, as a student in AP English Language and Composition, have been taking notes up until now?
• Is what I've been doing effective?
• Is there anything I would do differently?

  The act of taking notes helps us, the student and learner, by providing for us an opportunity to review the information we learned and to further organize, analyze, understand, and interpret the information. When we go back and review the notes that we have taken, we once again implant the information into our minds, creating a strong impression and a more long-lasting memory that will follow us. The best way to make taking notes work is to create a system that is best for you or a system that you are most comfortable with. The system must allow you to understand what you are writing and why you are writing it in a specific way or place. For example, in the Cornell system for note taking, different areas are separated for different review purposes: the note taking area, the key word or idea column, and the summary area. This system is effective because it forces the note taker to review the lecture in more depth and makes sure that the note taking understands the material in a general sense.
  I do not use the Cornell system to take notes. Instead, when I take notes, I create a first draft that is usually constructed of bullet points and is very simple and concise in wording. Many of the sentences in this first draft are just ideas, and usually includes a lot of abbreviations. Then, I would recreate the notes, usually an electronic document, into a more organized fashion that can be understood by all people. After this, I would then print out the document so that I can review it again, and maybe take any last minute notes that spring up. However, this is a little bit different from the way I take notes for AP English Language and Composition. Before I start writing or typing down the notes, I would read through the material first and highlight the important and main ideas. Then I would type it and organize so that it is in a clearer fashion. This is effective for me because the notes that I take for AP English are usually different types of rhetoric technique that can be separated into different levels, and organizing them the way I do makes them more readable and understandable. I believe that my way of note taking has served me well enough, and I don't believe that I would change much. One of the things that I might include may be the key word or idea column in the Cornell System of note taking.

3rd Debate: My Impressions

  The third presidential debate between President Obama and Governor Romney was not as impressive compared to the previous two. Both presidential candidates did a pretty good job debating and following the rules, and the debate's going was smooth and did not have that many problems, unlike the last two: the more talked about topics of the first debate was President Obama's behavior, while the ore talked about topics of the second debate was the moderator, Candy Crowley's, role. To sum it up, the third presidential debate did not include any controversial actions, behaviors, and topics.
  The third debate's power to influence the voters in the United States of America is shadowed and overpowered by its precedents. People will most likely focus on the first debate if they wanted to attack President Obama, and others who support Obama would refer back to the second debate.
  To be more on the negative side, the debate could be said as boring.

Obama Romney 2nd Debate: The Role of the Moderator

  Candy Crowley, the moderator of the second presidential debate moderator, has given rise to controversial talks. Even before the debate, both Obama and Romney's campaign have been concerned that Candy will go beyond her role and ask harder questions. She had stated her intention to assert herself in the debate and prod candidates when necessary. And I believe that she did go beyond her role. During the conversation about terrorism, Romney questioned whether the President called the killing of the US ambassador in Benghazi an "act of terror". However, Candy, in an act of protecting President Obama, said that the president did say it was a terrorist attack. Also, Candy asserted some of her personal opinions during the debate. In the end, Candy was actually wrong because the president didn't clearly state that the killing of the US ambassador was an act of terror until much later.
  Also, I believe that Candy's moderating had a flaw because even she continued to say that she wouldn't have enough time for all of the audiences to ask their questions. This means that her time management isn't good enough, even though Romney didn't follow the rules for the debate.

Groups I Identify With

  I am a person who actively responds to both group identification and solidarity. Peers and and social groups are considered important and prominent parts of my life, while I enjoy solidarity because it allows me to think and do enjoy the peace and quiet that is not brought to me by my peers and groups (most of the time).
  The groups I belong to include the Asian society, Taiwanese group, a resident of Hsinchu, my family, my classmates from school, Model United Nations, the girl's basketball team, and my dance crew, from a broader level to a specific one. These groups are those that I identify myself as. I identify myself with the largest groups, the Asian society and the Taiwanese groups, because of my family heritage and my genes: I am born in Asia, in Taiwan, and I have the features of an Asian. On the next level, I identify with my family and classmates because we share the same blood and ancestors, as well as school, respectively. Finally, on the most specific level, I identify with the Model United Nations group, the girl's basketball team, and my dance crew because I have the same hobbies and interests as the ones in these groups.

Inaugural vs. Stump

  Present day stump speeches are radically different from those in the past. The early stump speeches were actually made on tree stumps, and they are not the polite and formal speeches today that we can hear at the Democratic or Republican National Conventions; instead, these speeches are ones where there is humor, boasting, and insulting. The present day speeches still includes a little bit insulting, though they are now mostly implicit and implied. Stump speeches are now made to address the supporters of a party on a large scale, and they usually outline possible future ideas and platforms that the presidential candidate takes on. The appeals used in stump speeches try to persuade its audience to vote for the speaker as president. This is a little bit different from the appeals used in inaugural speeches. Inaugural speeches generally convey a sense of hope and create a promise for accomplishment and achievement. The newly made president usually addresses current issues that the nation faces and tries to give the citizen's hope. The most obvious different between the two types of speeches is the goal of the speaker. In a stump speech, the speaker is trying to persuade the audience to vote for him (as the presidential candidate). In an inaugural speech, the speaker is trying to persuade the audience that he will do a good job as the president and to create a sense of trust and hope.

Election Day

  If I were an of-age American who is allowed to vote, I would vote for Barack Obama instead of for Mitt Romney in the coming presidential election. Even though Mitt Romney, in his speech at the Republican National Convention, stated that he would do a job way better than Barack Obama did by helping the economy, by solving other issues such as marriage and employment, and by helping the people instead of other matters no relevant to the people and their families, we do not know if it is true or not, or if it is possible or not. We do not know if Romney will really help the economy; he may instead worsen the economy; it's all just speculation. From my point of view, though Obama's performance may be unsatisfactory for many people, I believe that he has already done all he could, and that his presidency is becoming more stable, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes stability is the first step towards improvement.
  This decision of voting for Barack Obama may also be influenced by my own beliefs, which are more democratic than republican. I'm not really into politics, but I believe that I am more inclined towards the democratic beliefs.