TV or no TV? That is the question at hand.

Alan Anderson

4-12-11

Unplugging the TV sets in America would be a God send. As long as I can remember my parents have only owned one TV at a time. They always told me that watching TV is a luxury, that there is no rule in the universe that says kids need to watch TV. So growing up the only TV I every really watched was the Saturday cartoons. During this time I was always the kid who made the Dean’s list every  semester.  My grades where my crowning achievement, my parents were always bragging to their friends, about how I was going to be the valedictorian of my graduating class. Throughout these years of limited TV usage  I was very active, I was always outside rain or shine, as long as my school work was done. Then I hit high school, my whole world changed. I turned 16 and my grandparents bought me a TV for my bed room. My parents were very upset needless to say. They made me promise to not lose focus on school, they even put my TV on a timer and I was only allowed to watch one hour of TV a day. Then I began to sneak TV time when I was supposed to be working on homework, I’d put a towel on the floor in front of my door to muffle the sound of the TV and so the light from the picture wouldn’t shine under the door on the wood floors. Soon enough I found myself obsessed with TV. I would come home from school and go straight to my room and turn to channel 26 to watch my shows. My parents would ask me what im working on all the time , and I’d lie and say my teachers are slamming me with work to do. Then it came time for my grade card to be shown to my parents. I put it off for several weeks, then they asked and I had to give it to them. When they saw the two C’s and a D, my dad went right into my room and carried out my TV and put in the basement. He told me I’d be lucky if I see it by the time I graduate. My mom called up to the school the next day and made appointments with all my teachers, to see if there is any extra credit work I could do to get my grades back up. So I spent the next two months working my grades and final grade cards came out and I had all A’s again and since it was the end of the school year my parents put my TV back in my room. So I spent the summer in my room, with the air conditioning. I missed out on soo much that summer, I didn’t even go on my family’s annual camping trip. Also as i got ready for the school year to start, i realized that i had gained about 20 pounds in three months. I realized this the first week of school, when I didn’t have any stories to tell of what I did over summer break. By the end of the first week of classes I had put my TV in the spare room and made my parents a promise to not miss out on living a full life. So for me to be asked the Question of “how do you feel about unplugging TV’s in America”, I’d have to say go for it, yank those cords out of the wall, and protect our youths’ future.

Rhetorical Situation of Henri de Toulouse Lautr

Alan Anderson
4-7-11
Terri Barker
English 101
   
    As I look at Henri de Toulouse Lautrec’s  “The Kiss” the power of the intense red background fills my mind with the feeling of love and the emotions of making love. The passion shown in the kiss between these two lovers expresses to me that Lautrec was longing for this very same passion at the time. Therefore I feel that passion is the genre of “The Kiss”. The single tear that is rolling off the cheek of the fully clothed woman expresses to me that she is in love with her lover and she makes her happy to the point of crying. I feel that Lautrec’s purpose for this painting was to show that lovers share a connection that is unbreakable. So with that being said the stance of this piece to me is love. Lautrec was know for creating controversial works of art.  With this piece being one of his earlier pieces, he was truly testing the waters to see how far he could push the envelope. He used mostly oil paints as well as chalk pastels on some occasions as his choice of media. I feel as if Lautrec was trying to reach out to a new audience, a group of people who look at his work, and not judge it, but analyze it and look past the substance and into the true meaning of the piece. As the years have passed his works of art have only increased in popularity, and have grown to more than I’m sure Lautrec could have ever hopped for.

Why I Chose Wright State

    Well to be completely honest Wright State wasn’t my first choice, but after a month of listening to my overbearing mother nagging at me to find a school closer to home I switched last minute to Wright State. My plans were to attend Miami University in Miami Fl. Then I made the mistake of letting my mom in on my plans and boy oh boy did she have a fit when I told her it was all a done deal, and id be leaving for school in a month and a half.  So being the mama’s boy I am and the added fact my mom vowed to not pay one red cent of my tuition, I decided to takes classes only 20 miles from home. So now here I am almost finished with my first year of college and I am oh so ready to transfer somewhere father away from mommy dearest. On the other hand I have had a great time at Wright state. I’ve found that sure there are snow days, and times when its too cold to walk outside, but all in all that is home for me.  I would honestly be lost with out a white Christmas. So as this year comes to an end I have some pretty large decisions to make.
    So just a small little description about myself. I was the Editor of my high school Yearbook for three years. I’m a semi-dramatic person by nature, and I’m always willing to learn something new.

    Well that’s all for now,
        Alan<3