A Trip to Barnes & Noble

I stand outside of the store, the air is cold and crisp. I raise my arm and look at my stop watch. 30:00 is blinking on the screen. I ready my finger on the start button. I press go and run into the Barnes & Noble, I have 29 minutes and 55 seconds to find an independent reading book. I immediately speed walk past the New Releases stand at the front. I whiz by the World History collections, the Biography books, and the Almanacs, my eyes glued to a section in the back left of the store - Fiction. I look at my watch, 27 minutes and 48 seconds to go. Luckily, I was prepared. Yesterday I asked Mr. Yost for a suggestion on which F. Scott Fitzgerald novel to read. He told me to read none of them, and to choose The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. My eyes went to work, scanning the shelves for the letters "HEM." Found it! I pulled a copy of The Sun Also Rises out of the shelf. This one had a tear in the cover so I exchanged it with one in better condition. I look at the watch, 25 minutes remaining. I sprint full speed back to the front of the store and get in line at the register, anxiously tapping my foot waiting for the woman in front of me to spend about two minutes deciding which type chocolate truffle to purchase for her grandson. Finally it was my turn and the transaction was taken care of. I run out the door, almost knocking a young girl to the ground. I take one final look at the watch... I made it in time.

college

http://nplusonemag.com/bad-education

                This article was about college education in the United States. Prices of college education have been rising, student debt has been increasing, but the amount of opportunity for jobs of college graduates has been declining. It then goes on to explain some agencies that helped grow the bubble of college education loans.

It is interesting how it is taboo to challenge the notion that a college education is important, even though it causing so many monetary problems in the country. Some have wondered why the cost of education has increased so quickly. One could say that the quality of education has gone up as extreme as the price, but this is not the case. The simple answer is that no matter what colleges charge, people will still pay for the degree because it is such an integral part of our society. I read in an article several weeks ago that a college received more applications one year after raising their tuition. By the laws of supply and demand, the higher the price, the less demand there should be. In economics, we learned about a type of good called a Veblen good. Veblen goods behave the opposite of normal goods, in that as the price rises, there is more demand for the good because it gives the impression that the good is more valuable. It seems as if college education is not exactly a Veblen good, but sometimes it can act that way.  

                My peers and I will be going off to college next year so this article applies to us. College education is supposed to be a gateway to a better life - one of financial stability. With total student debt surpassing one trillion dollars within the past few years, it makes me wonder if a college education is always the right thing. I think that many kids my age look at fellow students who choose to go to community college or not to go to college at all, and think down on them as if they aren’t smart. Maybe they are the smart ones, for they know for a fact that in four years, they won’t owe tens of thousands of dollars to some bank.

Adam Knox

http://rilf.godengo.com/November-2011/Our-worst-fears-have-come-true/

This article, written by Tom Knox, is about Tom’s brother Adam who died while serving in the army in Iraq. Adam was in the army as a person who would work with Iraqi citizens and leaders to try and maintain good relations between them and the US soldiers. He was shot by a sniper in Baghdad. The sadness that was in the article acts as a representation for the sadness felt by thousands of American families over the years who have heard the bad news. One of the main ideas in the article was about how to deal with the death of a loved one. The author struggled with wondering whether he should always think about his brother and feel sad, or sometimes try to forget and move on. The only person close to me who has ever died was my grandmother a few years ago. I also struggled with this for the time after her death. It is hard to always think about a deceased love one because it brings feelings of sadness but there is also that feeling of guilt in trying to forget. Towards the end of the article, the author begins to write about how he is going to move on. His brother died over five years ago and having Adam out of his life has become the new norm. I think humans have the natural ability to be able to cope with death and adapt to new situations. Like the narrator, I have gotten used to my grandma being out of my life, and driving down to Atlanta twice a year is now something that me and my family do not do. Last week, the Iraq war came to its official close. I wonder how the families of soldiers who were killed in the line of duty feel knowing that the war was not very successful. Do they feel as if their children, brothers, spouses, and parents died in vain? I think that this is a curious subject that will come to light in the coming years.

Steve Jobs

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/11/14/111114fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all


This article was written by Malcolm Gladwell and is about Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs had a bad side to him. He was a perfectionist  and he always gave other people a hard time when he did not get his way. I think that many times people in positions of power, like Steve Jobs, have very demanding and sometimes rude personalities. The article talked about how Steve Jobs was more of a tweaker of past inventions than the innovator and visionary we have all come to think of him as. One of the ideas of the article was how many times people aren’t given credit for their accomplishments. Steve Jobs took a lot of the credit for ideas and designs done by his staff. In our lives, we can try to look behind an invention or an accomplishment of one person and try to see all of the people who deserve credit for it. One example is a new world record in a team sport like basketball or football. One player may get the record, but they certainly could not have done it without an entire team’s support. Gladwell also gives the reader examples of other people who remade previous inventions and had a huge affect on the world. The example Gladwell used was British inventors in the Industrial Revolution who improved the spinning wheel. There are plenty of other objects today that would not be the same if it weren’t for “tweakers,” such as the telephone, automobiles, and shoes. Often it is the first invention that does not change the world,  but a remake of it that made it better. I think that is how Jobs became so successful is because he built computers and mp3 players from improving on other already-made inventions. After reading the article, I have a new perspective on the creator of Apple. He was not perfect and certainly was not as remarkable as I previously thought. 

Long Jump

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/08/02/the-30-foot-jump/


The majority of the article was about the track and field superstar Carl Lewis and the long jump. Carl Lewis has the most Olympic gold medals in the long jump ever, and he even won four in a row, something never done before. It was really amazing what he did because it is really hard to win all of those gold medals. The author talks about the science of long jumping, such as how every step has a purpose and it takes tons of focus and concentration to jump far without taking off over the line. In real life, someone could use that to know that it is important to be very focused and determined to become good at long jumping. The article noted how Lewis was very conceited and often times obnoxious. Despite his amazing success in track and field, he was never awarded with sportsman of the year because of his off-the-track conduct. He liked people to know that he was better than them. After his retirement from track and field, Lewis ran for senator. One can infer from these things that Lewis enjoyed feeling important and in a position of power. Carl Lewis reminded me of Michael Jackson, who was greatly criticized during his life, but after he died he was remembered for his good things. Carl Lewis was greatly criticized during his track and field days, which is why he was never given sportsman of the year. Years after he retired, however, he was recognized at sportsman of the century for his unprecedented athletic greatness.

One of the main parts of the article was the mystery of the 30 foot jump. At the National Sports Festival in Indianapolis in 1982, Lewis jumped a whopping 30 feet, crushing any previous record and that would still be the record to this day, had it counted. The ref called a foul but Lewis knew in his heart that he did not foul – he could feel it. Long jumpers tend to know when they foul or not, and Lewis felt that he had not fouled. Back then, there were no instant replay cameras, whatever the ref said was the final decision. I think it is very interested how sports have changed because of instant replay. Today, Lewis' jump would have been determined a foul or not by numerous cameras zoomed in on the jumping line and the jump would be played over and over again in slow motion. I think in the future, there will be little to no more sports mysteries like that of Carl Lewis’ 30 foot jump because of instant replay.

Book Review/Recommendation

All Quiet on the Western Front was not just a regular book about war. Sure there were the thrilling battle scenes with gory details, but this book was deeper. You see how Paul, the main character was affected by war – how it transformed him from a youthful schoolboy into a seasoned war veteran, who witnessed death more than he could have ever imagined. There is both an outward struggle on the battlefield, and inward struggle of the soldier, who finds himself lost in the world after war is the only thing that he ever knew as an adult.

            Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. While it was quite sad at times, (or most of the time), All Quiet on the Western Front eloquently displayed an entire generation of young men, whose lives were taken from them. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the book was how it questioned war in general. Why do millions of men have to risk their lives for the wants of just a few leaders? What did those men of a different nationality do to me personally that I should throw a hand grenade at them and blow them to pieces? These were the struggles of the soldiers of World War 1 and author Erich Remarque displays them brilliantly.

            I would recommend this book to every human being that can read it and understand it. The struggle and comradeship of the millions of young men who fought in the First World War makes you think about war in a new light; you will find yourself questioning if war is really necessary and whether it is appropriate that millions of common people risk their lives for the wants of their rulers.

Two Sides to Every Story

     There are multiple sides to every story, and this principle applies to World War 1 just as it applies to smaller-scale conflicts. Both sides believe that they are right and the other is wrong and they have been convinced of this by propaganda. Paul says how in Germany, the French are made out to be evil while in France, the Germans are made out to be evil. It is this lack of understanding of the men you are fighting that leads you to take their lives. Paul seems to come to the realization that his enemies are real people with real families, friends, and aspirations while he is the in shell-hole with the French-man he had just stabbed. Before that moment, he had not come that close to his enemy. Before, they were just an idea, a lurking evil that wanted him to die, and therefore Paul had to kill them before they killed him. As Paul spent several days with the French man, Paul put a face to his enemy, and he saw that these were fellow human beings. He learned his name, and saw pictures of his family. This was a real person that he had just killed, and this person was fed the same lies and that had made millions of men from all different countries believe that it was right to kill other men, just because they wore a different uniform and spoke a different language.