Anecdote:

The Master's Hand

Wishing to encourage her young son’s progress on the piano, a mother took the small
boy to a concert of the famous pianist, Paderewski. After they were seated, the mother
spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the
opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually
explored his way through a door marked “No Admittance.”

When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned
to her seat and discovered that her son was missing. Suddenly, the curtains parted and
the spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway piano on stage.

In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard. Innocently, he then began
to play "Chopsticks". The crowd reacted with anger, some shouts were heard, "Take
the boy away!", "Who is bringing a little boy to a concert?!".

When Paderewski heard the uproar backstage, he grabbed his coat and rushed to the
stage. Realizing what was going on, he went to the piano, Reaching around the little
boy from behind, the master began to improvise a countermelody to “chopsticks.” As the
two of them played together, Paderewski kept whispering in the boy's ear, “Keep going.
Don't quit, son... don't stop... don't stop.”

Together, the old master and the little boy transformed an embarrassing situation into a
wonderfully creative experience. The audience was mesmerized.

The Cookie Thief

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She
hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as
could be... grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid
a scene.
So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her
stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I
would blacken his eye.”
With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he
would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in
half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought… Oooh, brother.
This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!
She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was
called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the
thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost
complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of
cookies, in front of her eyes.
If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to
apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

Journal:

July 14th
In Class on Monday we spoke of Intersectionality; forms of intersecting
systems of oppression and discrimination. Things such as Age, disability,
race, gender, and class are all examples of reasons to justify mistreatment of
people with different backgrounds and even gender stratification. The focus of
the day was based on the inequalities of gender.An examples that was given
to us were the glass ceiling which represents how women are able to make it
so far until they reach the invisible ceiling or barrier to which they can overturn
the male in charge. Where no matter the qualifications and achievements still
cannot move them past the ranks above other men in charge. Although it is
not exclusive to women, most of the time it is used as an explanation for lack
of women in positions of power, well as minority groups. We saw how the
notion of gender roles are promoted by labeling colors to genders as well as
toys i.e. the Barbie dolls. We began to see a documentary called Miss
Representation . It focused mainly on what we talked about with gender
inequality and how females are depicted in the mass media and through
politics and really all across mainstream medias in the U.S. Views y women
and men who see that females are objectified if they attempt to rise into
positions of power. Leadership positions depict females aas emotional and
unstable for decision making.
July 15th
We finished watching the rest of the documentary Miss Representation. We
learned more of how the mass media of the U.S. would make it seem as
though it was wrong for women to seek power or to better themselves. Since
there was no regulation on television during the 1980's, the majr networks got
away with many sexist programming that would depict females as a damsel in
distress and helpless. There was an image being created that women's place
to dream to be was with a nice home and husband to maintain them in their
lifestyle of being the perfect mother and wife to a husband that keeps her
living with the finest appliances. Having no regulation on the media allows
stories that would not have been front line stories to be the main headlining
story for the news report. Celebrity nonsense appears to be the story to cover
leaving no actual journalistic work being done just to pander to gossip news
and cheap reporting. This allows the media to portray men to be better than
women and to treat them less equally. We then began to focus our attention
on schooling. The question was asked of why do we attend school. I said it
was because people genuinely want to learn. Social promotion is being
passed in school simply because of starting schooling at a certain age so they
are passed anyways. Merit promotion is that you are only allowed to pass into
the next grade based on what you learned and accomplished. We were taught
to believe that through the system of higher education we will earn a certain
amount of income regardless of lack there of jobs. However the country's
standards have gotten to where even having a bachelor's degree doesn't
guarantee any job security anymore.

Personal essay:

1.
Through the ages of 8-15 I was an avid reader of pleasure books. The majority of the
books were mysteries such as Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. Books about animals were
avoided because they usually had a very sentimental theme, and I was very emotional
when it came to animal suffering.
When I was approximately 10 years old I read a book titled Misty & Chatlenaque. This book
was about a young horse that was stranded on an island. It had been on a horse-trading
ship when the ship wrecked on the rocks. Misty went through several adventures where
wild dogs tried to kill her, horse traders tried to capture her (and beat her in the process),
and the sea tried to swallow her.
A little girl who lived on the Island found Misty and tried to protect her from the wild dogs
and horse traders. The story was told from the horse's point view, and the agony and terror
Misty went through passed on to me. I felt as if it were me who was being chased and beat.
A girl at the age of ten is influenced by the things she sees and reads. Years after reading
the book I had the notion that horse ranches were terrible to horses. I also felt that horses
were very human in the sense that they could think, feel, understand, and have emotions.
Whenever I passed by a horse who was behind a fence I had to stop and feed it, talk to it,
pet it, and feel sorry for it. Every horse had that "Misty" look in its eyes, and I felt it was
"crying out to me".
After reading Misty and Chatlenaque, horses became more than just an animal to me. They
became something I could relate to and sympathize with. I myself was a lonely child who
felt neglected (even though I wasn't) and "penned". While reading the book I felt the horse
and I were one. Years later I felt like horses and I had something in common and could
relate to each other.
Now, I know horses do not understand what I say to them, but I still stop and talk to them as
if they were human. I feel that if I had not read that book eleven years ago I wouldn't feel as
attached to horses as I do now. To this day, I refuse to read another horse book or watch a
horse movie that looks like it might be "emotional" or "sentimental".
Misty & Chatlenaque is still a very prominent book in my mind, and details of it are
remembered frequently. It has had the profound effect of altering my view of horses and
will probably remain in my memory for life. The book also had the effect of making me not
want to read those kinds of books again. Their emotional impact was too great on me so I
only read mysteries and school books. To this day I have my reservations about reading an
emotional book, especially if it pertains to animals.

2.

I was strongly affected by a book I read called Never Cry Wolf. The book discribes a
remote animal behavor study, located in a mountainous region of northern Canada. The
purpose of the study was to observe the animal behavior of wolfs in there natural
environment. The study was conducted by a wildlife biologist, working for the Canadian
goverment.
Up until the time I read the book, I had the impression that wolfs where among the meanest
creatures on the planet. I may have received this impression from childhood fairy tales that
were told to me. After reading the book severl times, my impression of wolfs had
changed. I no longer viewed wolfs as mean creatues, but instead viewed them as primarly
passive creatures. Their intent was not to harm, but to survive.
Animal behavior became a primary interest of mine after reading the book, Never Cry
Wolf. Although, I am not a wildlife major, I have assisted in a wildlife study on wolfs. I
would have never gained this experience if I had not read Never Cry wolf. The knowledge I
gained from the book has opened my eyes to nature.
Diaries:
Search for:

23rd May 2017

It feels good today. Most of the activities done and the weather was
good. I had enough sleep last night so woke up ready for all activities in the
college. I was in the library quite early to finish up the many assignments
given yesterday. The classes have been interesting with tutors covering much
of the syllabus work and at the same time allowing us the time to relax. I
caught up with old friends during the lunch hour and planned for a date over
the weekend. We have known another for quite some time since our time in
high school. They were always helpful in tough moments. The afternoon was
interesting too, spending time in music class. I am making a nice progress in
knowing to play the guitar. The day ends with catching up with my parents at
home who have been on vacation for a week now.

22nd May 2017

The day is so tiresome. Being a Monday, the tutors have many

expectations from us. They pick up from previous classes and all the
homework done over the weekend. By the time of class, I had not finished the
psychology essay so I had to request for more time from the lecturer. Thank
God he accepted my plea. Now I have the next 24 hours to finish this
challenging essay. Besides, I went bicycle riding. It is always good to exercise
often but today I did too much and I can feel the aching muscles. With more
work from my tutor, I feel like someone should just offer a hand of assistance.
But I will manage.

21st May 2017

It is a blessed day. I feel like my spiritual life is in good progress. The

preacher gave a powerful summon that I feel touched spiritually. She talked
perfectly about the life of Jesus and how it applies to our daily lives. It was
interesting to have more converts joining the congregation with new
enthusiasm. More interesting was the time in the Highlight restaurant. I loved
the menu and the nice chocolate with friends after the church service. Save
for small challenges of losing money after coming out of the restaurant, the
day has been good. Hopefully I wake up with the same energy ready for
classes.

20th May 2017

Being a Saturday and lots of free time, I spent the most time in the
movies. Just before the movies, I worked partly on my assignments which I
hope to finish before the next class. The movies were all great and I never
wished time to move. It was more interesting in the company of my brother
who is always funny. Time with him can never pass without laughter. We also
went swimming with the hot weather. Time in the pool was so short because it
was closed earlier than usual due to maintenance. I hope next time we shall
have all the time. The evening has been quite dull with bad news covered of
incidents in the Middle East. Innocent children have been affected directly by
terrorism. I only hope these incidents will one day be eradicated by nations
working together.

19th May 2017

The day started well with tutors attending the morning classes and
setting the afternoon for assignments. I caught up with old friends and we
spent a wonderful time in the Music concert. The concert had been advertised
since the last fortnights. We, therefore, expected a lot which was surely
available during the concert. The various bands gave their best and it was
surely a nice way to end the tough week.

Autobiography