Blog #8-Braaksma

In Andrew Braaksma’s essay Some Lessons from the Assembly Line he illustrates his experiences as a part-time assembly worker between college semesters. He learns that he should be more grateful when it comes to having the privileges of attending college. Braaksma took his education for granted, until he was faced with lay-offs at the factory. He seen the effects it had on the older co-workers, and was given great advice from his co-worker to study hard and keep reading. He then realized how lucky he was to an education. As a college student, I can relate to Braaksma’s lesson because I learned the same lesson when I volunteered to help my school run a food booth and do food-prep for the ZinFest.

            I had never worked in a kitchen before I volunteered to help my school with food-prep for the Zin Wine Festival in Lodi, California, where are school had a booth to sale food. We were serving lamb tacos with spicy salsa, fresh green cabbage, and fresh lime wedges; I had never tried lamb before. It was the morning or the festival and I was so excited to show my teachers my work ethics and my passions for the industry. We finally pulled in to the festival, there were miles of food and wine vendors lined up down a windy path with the lake surrounding the park, and it was a beautiful sunny day. I spent the whole day working in the booth, drinking wine with my teachers, getting to know the other volunteer students, and learning what the culinary industry has in store for me. It wasn’t until I experienced this great opportunity, that I realized how lucky I ‘am to be receiving a great education. It changed my entire perspective on my goals and aspirations; I knew now that I was in the right place.

Blog #7(Hughes)

Hughes experiences the pressure of his family and fellow church members to be saved by God. But his faith is challenged when he doesn’t feel the presence of God, and ends up lying about his acceptance of faith in order to please everyone else. I can relate to Hughes’ essay “Salvation” because I too have felt pressure from my family; and learned later on in life that only I have the power to determine the outcome of my life. It was June 7, 2008 a perfect breezy summer morning when I felt the same kind of pressure from my family to do the “right thing.” My day had finally come it was my High School graduation. Over 300 white and black cap and gowns covered the freshly cut football fields of Vacaville High School. The sounds of excitement, nervousness, and the anticipations of the students surrounded me as I looked out into the stands to see if I could spot my parents. Proud parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and out of state family members filled the stands with hundreds of smiles on their faces, and tears in their eyes. As I was sitting in my chair, sun blazing right on my face, listening to all the student speakers’ talk about their goals for the future, I couldn’t help but to think about mine. “What was going to happen next in my life?” I thought to myself as I walked off stage gripping my diploma, I knew the right thing to do was to go to college. But there was one setback, I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life or even if college was right for me. I gazed at my parents, and saw the joy on their faces as I was the only person to graduate from high school in my family and already I could sense the pressure to do well in college.

Finally, I started to calm down during the ride home, until I realized that a big extravagate party was waiting for me at home; where I would be surrounded by family members I hadn’t seen in years. My deepest darkest fears had come to life when I walked in my house covered in pictures of me, with green and purple Mardi Gras themed décor. The first thing that comes out of my Aunt Debbie’s mouth was, “Congratulations Tiffany! What colleges did you get accepted to?” For the first time in my nineteen years of life I was absolutely speechless. So, I did what most young adults dealing with pressure would do, I lied. I swallowed my pride and said, “I’m going to Solano Community College to get my general education out of the way. Then I’m going to transfer to a University.” I felt horrific for deceiving her, and disappointed at myself for lying. The last thing I wanted to do was disappoint my family, they were already so proud of me for getting this far, I couldn’t bare to break their spirit like I had done to myself. The next several hours proved to be one of the most intense, stressful, and overwhelming days of my life, with overflowing lies, and built up pressure from my family.

Blog # 6- Charles Fisher

I personally understand Charles Fisher’s perspective in his article Cell Phones and Social Graces because I have also experienced the inconsideration and rudeness of others while using their cell phones in social settings. Fisher believes that the abuse of cell phones have caused people to seclude themselves from human interaction and from having common curtsey towards others. It was just recently that I was a victim of cell phone rudeness when I was at a local family owned restaurant. A young latin woman wearing an unsuitable red low-cut tank top with lace, a pair of super tight low-rise jeans and black flip-flops was sluggishly standing at the cash register taking orders; like most teenagers involved in their phones she kept sneaking her phone out of her pocket to text message. The young inexperienced worker was not paying any attention to what I was ordering just because she was too occupied by texting; this is most likely the reason she got my order incorrect and I had to send it back to the kitchen. To make the situation inferior she had a dreadful attitude towards me, like I was asking for too much. All I asked for was no pickles and to add extra cheese to my bacon cheese burger. In comparison to Fisher, I too would like to eat in peace. The rudeness and inconsideration of the worker did not put me in a peaceful setting at all and I couldn’t enjoy my meal. In fact, the situation made me very angry; she probably didn’t even realize what she was doing because she was so wrapped up in her phone conversation. As a result of my occurrence, I believe that people that chose to use their phones at unacceptable times lose their ability to have common curtsies towards others; thus, creating an opportunity for people to not interact with one another.