**Try to use both an adjective and an adverb clause in your entry as well**
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
"Two Wars" Response
After watching This American Life's "Two Wars" episode, please think about whether or not you can empathize with any of the people from the documentary in any way. Whether you can or cannot, please consider a little "war" that you have fought during your life--at any stage--and tell that story. You must use all 5 phrases in your writing (for full credit), and you must write at least 10-15 sentences. Please write your initials at the bottom of your entry. Thank you!
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I think I can empathize with the woman whose husband doesn't cut the lawn the most. I feel like there are certain things that my mom does that tick me off, but I can't do anything about them. Annoyed of these little things, I find myself loving her more for those little things she does, like the wife.
ReplyDeleteI've gone through many "little wars" before, some more emotional than others, but the one I am most willing to talk about is my war with my sister. Mimi, my sister, loves messing with me when it comes to my bad habits. Her happiness fulfilled by my pain, she laughs at me when I have to have a night light in my room. I've slept with a light on at night for my whole life. I also used to have to have the door of my room opened about the size of two fingers put together at night. I called this "fingers". I used to think my sister was way cooler than me and that she could pick on me because of that, but I realized that she had her own insecurities about ghosts at night and still has them today as an adult!
MW
I can't empathize with the Iraqi because no one I know personally is in the military serving or has served in Iraq. I can sympathize with the couple who has the lawn issue, a problem that is both ruining their relationship and advancing their love. Sympathizing with the couple is possible because when my dad married his wife and started a new life, I felt left behind. Slowly a gap, created between my dad and I, widened slowly. He tried harder to include me and create a bridge between me and his new wife, but, this bridge, did not become fully built until about a year ago. Moving into her house, before they were married, was more awkward then anything, because I could tell she only wanted my dad. This issue caused a gap between my father and me, but eventually the gap caused both of us to move closer together.
ReplyDeleteCB
I think I can most empathize with the couple who had the lawn issues. My brother, a sophomore also at EHS, and I often argue over small issues, like walking our dogs. Every night my mom makes someone else in our family walk our two little dogs around the block, taking a god-awful 15 min out of our entire night. Tyler, his excuses normally weak, always tries to get out of it. Making my younger brother do it with me, Tyler often is the first one to make up reasons why he can't do it that night. It's bad for me and my brothers to dread walking our dogs, especially since we were the ones that begged for them.This battle between my brothers often leads to arguments and fits. However, I think it is an issue I can learn from. Instead of being selfish and playing xbox, I need to learn how to sacrifice some of my own time to help out my mom. And funny thing about that, as I am writing this, my mom and youngest brother are walking our two little puppies right now because Tyler and I have "too much" homework.
ReplyDeleteTG
I think I can relate most to the couple with the issue of the lawn. Like the husband, I am a very disorganized person, with an always messy room. My mother, a neat freak, constantly insists that I clean up my room and I always relented and clean it. Much like the husband mowing the lawn (even though he only did it a few times), cleaning is not my strongest attribute. So to compensate I always had a "messy corner" I guess, where all of my school books and various things were stuffed, it was messy to the outside world but, to me organized. I knew where everything was and one day my mom decided to clean it. I was furious because I had no idea where anything was and needed these things for school and she ended up forgetting where she put them. It all ended well and I eventually found all of my things, and the messy corner is no longer questioned.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to the couple with the lawn problem pretty easily. I'm kind of like the guy, a little rebellious and lazy when it comes to certain things. One great example for this would be my brother and I taking turns in the mornings taking out the trash. My brother Matt, a much smaller version of me, usually is stuck with taking it out both days. I, being the lazy person that I am, usually sleep in pretty late in the mornings. When I wake up in the morning, I can't really function as I usually do. I just get up and head for the door most days. This forces Matt to do double trash duty. I'm not proud of my laziness, forcing more work on matt because of it, but it is just the way I am. We usually end up joking about it at the end of the day, but I still feel bad for making him do more work. Maybe I'll start waking up earlier.
ReplyDeleteMR
I feel I relate to the couple with the lawn problems. I try to be organized, on time, and consistent, but my brother on the other hand, is the total opposite. He can not drive so I usually am the one taking him places and when he is not ready to go it drives me crazy! But, the few times he is ready to go on time it also bugs me! I like it when he is slow because it gives me more time to relax or get things done around the house. Another example is when my dad asks my brother to feed the dog. He literally has to be asked 5 times and then he still doesn't even do it! At this point I just feed the dog because I'm tired of my dad asking Lawton to do something that will never get done.
ReplyDeleteI empathize with the man, born in Bulgaria living in the US, who did not feel it necessary to mow his lawn. Living in the United States, the man already has to succumb to all of our customs and to our way of life. Why is succumbing to a silly "unspoken rule" such as mowing the lawn so important to the American way of life? I think the main reason why I can relate to him is that I posses the same sense of stubbornness that he does. When I want something opposite of what everyone else wants, my stubbornness relentless and persistent, keeps me pushing on for whatever it is I feel I should do. If mowing the lawn is a unspoken rule for all Americans, I most likely would let my lawn grow. Keeping in mind all the traditions I feel forced to continue, I start to understand how he must feel.
ReplyDeleteAB
I think I can most empathize with the couple that had the lawn problems. My father, the coach of my club soccer team, and I occasionally get in small arguments, which usually revolve around me quitting soccer. Like the husband, I am lazy and disobedient when it comes to things I don’t want to do. Having wanted to quit soccer for years, I barely participate in practices and dread going to games. Unlike myself, my father loves soccer. Watching me play soccer gives him so much joy. He attends all of the practices and all of the games. After every game, he talks non-stop about everyone’s performance and asks me for my opinion. I usually just agree with him to avoid from talking about something I have no interest in. Although I do not like soccer, it has taken me many places and provided me with a lot of opportunities.
ReplyDeleteMZ
I can relate to the 12 year old girl because there are times where we stick to what we believe in, but when we become directly affected by these things, we have a hard time staying true to ourselves. The girl, a home-schooled genius in the making, wanted to apologize for the United States invasion of Iraq, but now that her father is in Iraq, she thinks a little differently. She is in her own "little war," a dispute with herself where she is trying to figure out whether or not American influence in Iraq is right or wrong. There are times where for a long time I have believed in something, but once I become put in a situation where I have to think and reflect about it, what I think starts to change. My little brother, causing trouble being his favorite hobby, has always liked to fight back. I have always believed that fighting back brings us more trouble. Ricky, the whistle blown, was shoved in the back and into the ground in middle school during football practice. When I heard from him that he had to stick up for himself on the football field, I kind of put myself in his situation and it affected my thinking on the whole situation.
ReplyDeleteRL
I can emphasize most with the lawn couple. Because just like the guy, I can see how dumb it looks to conform to society, and how crazy the idea of doing what everyone else does because you have to. It should be choice to mow your lawn. Also I can emphasize with the wife's point of view. Because she wants him to mowe the lawn, yet she doesn't want his character to change. She likes how he is rebellious and interesting, I think that she wants him to mowe the lawn, yet still feel rebellious and just mowe it to make her happy. An example of a little war in my life is the fight with my mom every day on where I want to go to college. Lila, a great lady ,wants me to stay in Texas. My hands shaking, I explained that I want to go outside of Texas. She thinks that I should stay close to home. Yet I think that it is a better experience if you are far away. In the end no ones argument has enough reasons to win the war, just like the Iraq argument their is no clear right answer.
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