Table of Contents

Dear Reader Letter

Introduction to A Recipe for a Happy Home

A Recipe for a Happy Home

Introduction to You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat

Introduction to Touching the Void

Touching the Void

Introduction to A Life Changing Disease

A Life Changing Disease

Dear Reader Letter

Dear Reader,

My best advice to anyone wanting to get back into college is to take one quarter at a time and to make homework top priority. Making the decision to commit to school and cut back the work hours was an exciting, yet a scary decision because it did cut back on my spending. Serioulsy it is the end of the quarter and I have severe roots due from lack of cash to get my hair done, but I guess it is a great feeling knowing that I sucessfully completed yet another prerequisite putting me closer and closer to entering that nursing program. It's all about sacrifices right?

I have finished up my fifth quarter at EVCC and I am considering taking the summer off, since sun in Washington is a rarity and should be taken full advantage of. English 98 was definitely a step up from English 97 because I had a hard time coming up with topic proposals that fit the major writing assignment criteria. However, it also made me feel more confident about succeeding in English 101. Learning to take the "you" out of my writing was something new I learned because I didn't even realize that I incorporated the word "you" into my writing and learning how to replace the word to make my writing more general seemed to make my paper's stronger.

This quarter has been an enjoyable one. since I got to continue on with my same teacher, who I enjoy as well as my good friend Emily, whom I met in English 97. My writing seemed to vary this quarter from paper's about diets to personal matters to work related topics where as last quarter I wrote about things I enjoyed like snowboarding and ATV riding. I think I like writing about hobbies better just because I am not a serious person, so I prefer to write to entertain. I think seeing my e-portfolio this quarter and comparing it with my chosen pieces from last quarter you will see my wide range of writng, which helped me improve as a writer.

Enough about English class and a little about me and where I am going in my life. I currently hold a Medical Assistant certificate and spent a few years at various clinics, but I am not using it right now. I work at an early learning center where I have worked for about three years now. When I worked full time I worked as a two year old teacher and now I just float around and give breaks. Both positions I have enjoyed the children as long as I can leave them at work and come home to my babies, my two golden retrievers Corduroy and Cami. I also live with my boyfriend Nick and our best friend Rob in the awesome city of Marysville. As I mentioned before my hobbies are snowboarding, ATV riding and of course shopping.

Career goals for me are becoming a registered nurse as far as what medical field I want to work in seem to change all the time. I am interested in working with children, labor and delivery or maybe even assisting in surgeries. There are a ton of opportunities out there for a nurse and that is why I decided to move up from being a medical assistant. I felt too limited as a medical assistant and to low on the chain as far as responsibilities and pay.

I hope that when reading my chosen writing pieces you can get a clear picture of what I am about. My writing tends to reflect on whatever is going on in my life during that quarter. I hope that in the fall I have new and exciting writing topics. Meanwhile enjoy the ones from this past quarter. Thank you for taking the time to learn a little about me and reading through my writing samples.

Introduction to A Recipe for a Happy Home

This first piece I chose was our third major writing assignment. It is titled A Recipe for a Happy Home and was written May 2007. I chose this piece because I feel it was the hardest of the three major writing assignments to write, since it involved research. I also felt it went through the entire writing process with lots of editing and revisions. I picked this piece because it was an argumentive paper and I chose to argue a subject matter that I am very knowledgeable about. My argument was that Positive discipline is more effective on a child's behavior than spanking. "Positive discipline is a form of discipline that does not include any form of physical punishment and it involves letting a child know what they are doing right and not what they are doing wrong." That is a quote from my paper that describes what positive discipline is.

A Recipe for a Happy Home

A recipe for a happy home comes with a few simple ingredients like lots of love and care, but what about the main ingredients? Communication and positive discipline because lacking these ingredients results in frustration and anger. What happens to a
happy home, when it contains toddlers, who are constantly testing everyone’s patients? That happy home turns into chaos and often results in physical punishment such as spanking. That’s when positive discipline helps to keep the happiness going. Positive
discipline is a form of discipline that does not include any form of physical punishment, it involves letting a child know what they are doing right and not what they are doing wrong. Spanking is often the result of parents, who lack in early childhood educational skills and need to explore other means of discipline.

Parents often become frustrated when their toddler is throwing a tantrum and immediately resort to spanking, yelling and time outs. This gives the parent a short time of relief and the child knows they are in trouble. Often when this form of discipline is used over and over again it becomes a game for the child. They start to learn a parent’s limit and they try and push them over the edge. Spanking at first might have been hurtful to a child, but after awhile they will begin to take threats less serious and even find
spanking funny because they have reached their goal of making their parent upset. By using positive discipline the child knows that the parent has recognized their good behavior and has explained their bad behavior in away that the child knows what was not acceptable about it. The result is neither parent nor child becomes frustrated and both are able to communicate with one another. An example would be if a parent came into the kitchen and noticed that their child is sitting quietly at the table coloring a picture, but they also notice that the child has also colored off the paper and onto the top of the table. This situation could be handled in two ways. The parent could run into the room waving
their fist in the air yelling “ How many times have I told you not to color on the table?”Automatically the parent and the child’s frustrations level goes through the roof and the child starts crying, the parent gives them a firm spanking and sends them off into their room. Now the child is sitting in their room wondering exactly what happened because all they were trying to do was to make a pretty picture for the refrigerator and the parent is stuck out in the kitchen scrubbing angrily away at the crayon on the table. A positive approach would have been the parent entering the room and saying “I like the way you are coloring so nicely, but I see that you colored onto the table and that upsets me because I have asked you not to do that before.” and then instead of sending them away, they could become a helper and remove the crayon themselves. Both walk away feeling calm and the child knows exactly what they did to upset their parent and the child’s feeling were not hurt.

Tantrums are a result of lack of attention a child gets from a parent. A child wants a parent’s attention weather it’s negative or positive and they will take drastic measures to get that. When a child is fighting with a sibling or throwing a tantrum the last thing to do would be to make threats to spank them or to deprive them of their favorite things. “If they can’t fight and if you don’t answer them, they should stop fussing in about ten minutes, for tantrums loose their appeal when no one pays attention to the
tantrumners” (Kelly, Marguerite, The Washington Post). This quote was a tip to parents on what to do when a tantrum starts and the first thing is to separate them into another room to allow time to cool down. By doing this both the parent and the child has time to cool down and will have more success in resolving the issue. That is a good way to being the positive discipline process because allowing time to cool off will make it easier to communicate with the child.

The other type of tantrum is the one in the store when the child is laying in the middle of the grocery isle kicking and screaming because they did not get that box of animal crackers they were hoping for. A parent may be inclined to spank or grab the child
and take them out to the car. Which of course the child does not get what they want and the parent did not get the grocery shopping done. Most important thing not to do is to give in and give them the crackers because they won, got what they wanted and now know what they need to do next time to get it. The positive approach would be even before leaving the house discuss with the child what they will be allowed to get and if they ask for more then that one thing than they receive nothing. At the store hand the child a list let them know they have an important job to do and allow them to place the items in the cart. The child will feel proud and will forget about throwing tantrums.

Positive discipline is an excellent way to communicate with a child, but what about the parents, who still believe that spanking is effective and necessary. “I believe if a parent includes spanking in their discipline, there’s less chance 13 and 14 year olds will get in your face” (Surgenor, Robert, police detective). That is a statement saying that spanking teaches children to respect adults time they are teenagers. However, spanking
also teaches a child that violence is ok and they may choose to use violence instead of words, when they are faced with their peers later in life. Parents should be remodels on how they want their child to act and keep in mind the saying “Monkey see monkey do.”

Another aspect that raises the question is spanking ok as long as it’s done in a calm matter and not overdone? “Wellington, New Zealand- Parliament passed a measure that tightens New Zealand’s existing laws against child abuse but still lets parents spank or otherwise discipline their child using ‘inconsequential’ methods” (Liley, Ray, Seattle times). Many people think that it is the parents right to spank as long as it’s just a spanking, but isn’t also the parent’s right to do what best for their child. Spanking a child has never taught a child to do anything, so how could it be best for a child. It only makes them feel less valued and loved and does not show any real benefit. Where is the fine line between calm and spanking out of anger? If they are saying it is ok as long as it’s “inconsequential” Who determines where the fine line is drawn? Some may say it is only appropriate if the child is spanked with a parent’s hand and some say a wooden spoon may not be considered abuse. Any form of hitting with any object or a hand is abuse and it is not ones right even a parent to strike a another human being out of anger. There are just too many other options out there to be educated on like positive discipline to ever have to result in violence, unless people want children to grow up to be abusive adults.

When achieving positive discipline always remember that for every negative deserves at least three positives. Never tell a child what they are doing wrong only what they are doing right. Physical punishment only results in the child getting hurt and left feeling confused and the parent left only momentarily satisfied and extremely frustrated.Positive discipline results in a calm and happy home and the child learns from their mistakes and they tend not to repeat them. When a child receives lots of positive attention from a parent, they will tend to give the same back to the parent.

Bibliography : Kelly, Margurite “ Dealing with Tantrums: Diversion, Timeouts (The Washington Post) 28 July 2006. Pg. C.5, proquest.

Surgenor, Detective Robert “Spanking Children Good for Discipline” (NewsNets) 25 July 2000.

Liley, Ray “Wellington New Zealand” (Seattle Times) 17 May 2007. Pg. A.2 proquest.umi.com

Intoduction to You Are What You Eat

The Second piece of writing I chose was from our first major writing assignment. It is titled You Are What You Eat and it was written April 2007. I chose this piece because I compared and contrasted two different approaches to dieting. The South Beach and Weight Watcher's Plan, which are two diets that interest me. I think this paper is strong because the ideas are presented clearly, the paper flows and demonstrates strong sentence structure. An example of this would be "South Beach is made up from three phases that each contain the appropriate type of food for that particular phase."

You Are What You Eat

The biggest challenge of starting a diet is choosing which diet to try. There are two important questions that need to be asked before researching a diet. What will work best for a particular body type? And is this person willing to cut certain foods out of their life? Diets are advertised through all types of media. The South Beach Diet has stood out from all the low carb craze. It’s a diet that promotes a healthy alternative to cutting carbs by allowing a person to limit bad carbs while still eating good carbs. Another diet that has been popular for years is The Weight Watchers Plan. The diet allows a person to eat any food they want, but keeping with a point system to help minimize daily calorie intake. The South Beach Diet and Weight Watchers both promote healthy, long term weight loss while offering different approaches to eating.

The South Beach Diet was introduced by a cardiologist that designed the diet specifically for overweight patients with heart problems. The diet ended up becoming a popular weight loss diet for everyone. South Beach is made up of three phases that each contain the appropriate type of food for that particular phase. Phase one is two weeks of eating less than twenty carbohydrates a day. It includes all lean meats, low fat cheeses, eggs and unlimited green vegetables. Phase two starts to introduce some of the good carbs, like whole grain bread, and fruits that are low in sugar. Phase three is the maintenance phase of the process. Entering this phase means that a desired weight goal has been achieved. Phase three consists of making healthy food choices while keeping the low carb aspect in mind. Foods that are high in sugar and starch are to remain limited in this new life style. Foods like potatoes and pastas are to be consumed rarely and in small quantities. The diet’s healthy aspect is that it provides three daily meals plans and several snack ideas. It also gives the option of returning to phase one again if weight starts to come back, but by introducing carbs slowly back in to the diet a healthy weight is easily maintainable.

The Weight Watchers Plan is another approach to dieting. The ever popularpoint system allows any food to be consumed as long as it is in a normal daily calorie intake. Weight Watchers point system is based off of body weight and how much bodyweight needs to be loosed. A certain amount of points to be consumed in a day is given out to the individual a long with a book that contains how many points are in what foods. For example the points could be 900 points a day and they want to eat an apple and the books says it’s worth 25 points, then they need to subtract that 25 points from their 900.The trick is to plan the points out for the day, so that is not early afternoon and they’re out of points and nothing to eat. The plan also offers a support group that gives the option of going to weekly weigh ins and meetings. This can be helpful to chart weight loss progress and to chat with others that may have similar weight issues. The diets health approach is that it does not cut out any food and even allows deserts. It sticks to a small
to normal proportion range and involves all nutritional groups.

South Beach and Weight Watchers are easy to stick to when dining out. Now a days many restaurants offer low carb options and foods that are already labeled with the weight watchers points to make ordering a breeze. They both contain healthy food options and stay away from crash dieting . Both plans are designed as a life style changeand not just a temporary weight loss diet. Each diet contains its own line of products to help maintain the diet. Such as South Beach as bars, cereal, and low carb snacks and Weight Watchers has frozen meals and desserts. Both diets are tried by millions of peopleand are backed my several weight loss success stories.

The two diet plans differ in many ways and do not necessarily work for everyone. What maybe an effective eating plan for someone may not work for another, so they need to be sure to choose the plan that works best for their life. South Beach may not be appropriate because limiting carbs can be hard to stick to and give the body low energy levels. Weight Watchers you have to pay for the cost of the point’s book and constantly look up the food you want to eat, which can be time consuming.

The people that tend to lean more towards the point counting system are people who like to visually keep track of what they are eating as well as people who can use the group support system. South Beach tends to attract people who enjoy just being able to look at a list of certain food that they can eat and stick to . They are also people who can benefit on others ways from cutting out sugar like borderline diabetics.

I personally like the low carb diets. Limiting bad sugar intake works best for my body. However, to be successful with any diet plan choosen, weather it be one of these or something else of their choice. Sticking to a diet plan, while constantly eating the
right foods and working out regularly can lead to weight loss goals and a healthier life style.

Introduction to Touching the Void

My third piece of writing I have chose was based on a novel we read in class called Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. We were given a topic from the book and had to write a compare contrast essay on the topic. The title of my essay was Physical versus Psychological and was written May 2007. I chose this piece because I felt it demonstrated my ability to write analytically. An example of that would be "I think that with physical hardship it's temporary pain, but relief is hopeful, but as for psychological I think that anyone who was faced with a decision like Simon would take years to cope with the psychological pain."

Touching the Void

What's harder to overcome physical or psychological hardships? Physical hardships can be healed, but psychological hardships could last a life time. As for Simon and Joe both struggling down the mountain to safety took two completely different experiences.

Joe has his struggle after falling not only with his hurt leg, but also knowing the fact that Simon could possibly leave him to die."It wasn't just broken, it was ruptured, twisted, crushed, and I could see the kink in the joint and knew what had happened"(Simpson p.72 and P.73). Joe knowing how bad his leg hurt he knew that he had to find some way to cope with the pain, so Simon would not leave him.

Simon had a very difficult decision to make about weather to cut the rope and free Joe or try and save him. When he finally made the decision and cut the rope he knew in his mind he would always feel quilt.

Both their journeys down the mountain were more than troublesome. Joe had to improvise with only one leg. He felt extreme pain and exhaustion the whole time. Simon dealt with the thoughts of returning and people questioning his decision on cutting the rope. He also felt guilt for leaving Joe and often wondered if he were alive.

Even when both returning to camp Joe still realized that Simon had risked his life to try and get him down; Simon still questions himself. "Thanks Simon," I said. "You did right"(Simpson p.189). Joe's kind words to Simon helped him feel better, but could not take away the guilt he had.

Years later Joe's leg had healed and he was able to overcome his physical hardship. As for Simon he would feel psychological hardship for the rest of his life. I think that with physical hardship it's temporary pain, but relief is hopeful, but as for psychological I think that anyone who was faced with a decision like Simon would take years to cope with the psychological pain.

Introduction to A Life Changing Disease

My final piece of writing is my writer's choice piece. It was my second major writing assignment titled A life changing Disease and was written May 2007. The reason why I chose to share this piece was because it was my first time writing about something really personal. I chose to define the word cancer and talked about how it related to me by describing my mom's journey with cancer. I think the hardest part was trying to organize my emotions and thoughts into an essay; however, I think that they came across clearly and made my paper have a stronger voice. An example of this would be "Hearing the word cancer now I never think about the medical definition of abnormal cells multiplying throughout the body; I think of my mother." That quote shows that feelings are Strong for my mother and what she is going though.

A life Changing Disease

What comes to mind when you hear the word cancer? For me a year ago the word cancer meant a disease that takes over certain parts of the body and I knew involved chemotherapy and other drug treatments. Now if I were asked to define cancer I would say it meant family, helping, caring, and dedication. Cancer is ever evolving and changes from time to time with it’s constant improvements in medication, prevention, and it’s research for cures. Cancer is a word that takes on an entire different meaning when a loved one is affected by the disease. It’s a word that truly doesn’t affect a person the same until they themselves are going through the process or they are involved with a loved one battling cancer.

I will never forget the day that cancer went from just being a word to becoming reality. Knowing that my mother had been experiencing a few mild symptoms and went in for a routine procedure, I anxiously waited by the phone for her call. The call I received was not what I was expecting; she had told me to find my brother and come over immediately. Pulling into the driveway, seeing all the cars of my entire family out front, my heart sank into my stomach and the tears began to flow as I looked over at my brother sitting so calmly, I realized he had no idea what we were about to find out. Walking up the endless sidewalk and ringing the doorbell it felt like eternity before my mother finally answered the door and without saying a word her tear filled eyes told the story. It was that exact moment that the word cancer changed my life and will ever affect it.

Cancer is every other week of chemotherapy, its routine visits to the doctors, it’s surgeries, it’s medications for pain, nausea, sleeping and anxiety, and it’s trying to cope with everyday life. Hearing the word cancer now I never think about the medical definition of abnormal cells multiplying throughout the body; I think of my mother.

Being in the fourth and final stage of cancer means the cancer has taken over one part of the body and has metasisized to another. For my mother and my family it meant fighting harder, staying positive and not loosing sight of the main goal of attacking
the cancer.

Cancer is a word that affects one person physically, but affects everyone around mentally. People come from all around to share their stories and give their support. Cancer brings people together within in the family and outside the family. Cancer unites complete strangers that may have the disease in common and will forever remain friends because of it. It’s a life changing event that even when it goes away, people’s lives will remain affected by it. Cancer is something that a person will always fear and try their best to prevent it, but sometimes it is unavoidable. It is a disease that comes to anyone without a purpose or a cure. It brings forth a challenge to try and fight it or to give up and let it win. Either way it is a disease that requires love, support, and encouragement to stay on top.

A year has passed and my mother is still fighting and winning the battle.She is successful because of her strong will to live, her positive attitude, and her love for her children. My mother knows that she is too young and to important to give up and for that she will pull through. We have been lucky, for everything has gone as planned and the chemotherapy has not made her sick. Fortunately for us cancer does not mean life threatening disease; it means just another bump in the road on the road of life. Cancer for my mom means not working; valuing her time with loved ones, keeping a daily routine and staying healthy. For me it means switching roles with my mother, where instead of her I have become the caregiver in the relationship. I am the one that always
worries and checks up on her. Cancer will always be reality and will always be in the back of my mind. I can’t wait for the day when we can put this experience behind us, but the word cancer will always be around.

Cancer affects people in several ways depending on aspects in their lives; whether they are young or old. Location of cancer and what stage it is in can play a huge role on the process to remission. No matter how cancer is viewed it remains a life struggle and a life mystery on where it comes from. Cancer is a word that when asked to define will take on many definitions depending on who is asked: a doctor, a patient, a teacher, a student, or a friend; it all depends on how cancer has impacted their lives.

It is truly a life changing disease that every family needs to be prepared for because it may never happen or it may be the result of that next trip to the doctor’s office. Nobody wants to think about it or talk about it, but it is important because talking
is part of the healing process. Cancer will always remain in my life, since it has changed it forever, and I will never forget about my experience with it and what it has meant to me.

testing