sign she’d earned a certain amount of fame in her circle
The writer could have used the word "popularity" here but it wouldn't have had the same feeling as the word "fame." There is a sense of fame on social media. Popular makes one thing of being well known in a small group, while fame takes that notoriety more mainstream.
amassed
"Amassed" is a powerful word. You can gain small numbers of followers. A large number, like pizza's 90,000, is a huge enough number that one would consider to have amassed.
They were the kind of images you might find under the “summery” Tumblr tag: poolside drinks, sunsets, sundresses, palm trees, tiny succulents
These images all make one think of festive summers and relaxing vacations. These words all work together to help create that sort of mood. Just one of these thing on its own wouldn't have created such a powerful image.
milestone
This word is a more powerful choice than just saying it was a celebrated or hoped for event. To say it was a "milestone" really shows just how monumental it was. It also shows that it isn't something that happens everyday
secured
The word, "secured," makes it sound like the was something that had been hoped for and never thought to be had. It makes it seem like it was a long time coming
When Rocky was 13, a social worker came by the house to check in on his family. There was no food in the pantry, so Rocky and his younger brothers and his sister were sent to a shelter called Mary Graham House. The humiliation of that moment would sting, even decades later
Humiliation is a powerful motivator. We have all been embarrassed and can all think about how it made us feel. Seeing a real tough guy like Rocky be embarrassed helps us relate to him. We can see that he has had forces outside his control shaping his actions and his thoughts.
This was the house where his parents’ marriage ended. Rocky’s father, Ronly Rontal, was a small-time hustler who drove a truck and often gathered with his friends to drink whiskey and play guitar on weekends. When he drank, he’d get violent.
There is something about a rough childhood that will elicit sympathy from almost anyone. Childhood is a time when we are dependent upon others to show us the way. To know that someone had a rough start, helps us understand that Rocky had a desire to get away and be and do better.
What he had instead were struggle, fear, and violence. It’s the world he was steeped in, the language he learned. He was willing, even eager, to tell his story, no matter how painful. “It’s a small price for me to pay in comparison to what I’m accountable for,” he said. He set down one condition: “You don’t glorify none of this. You don’t butter nothing up.”
These details of Rocky give us a softer side to him. We are given some understanding of what has shaped him. It is a reminder that we aren't always what we appear to be on the outside; that we all have multiple sides to our personality.
Rocky, by contrast, was all darkness. He’s in his early 50s, wiry, compact, and reserved. He wore all black, as if in mourning — baggy black slacks, a black guayabera over a black undershirt. Now he clenched his jaw and balled his fists until the tendons pressed against the skin of his forearms. He took a deep breath, and his chest expanded; across it, in elegant cursive, a tattoo read Querida Mamá. Dear Mother.
These descriptions of Rocky almost make the reader fear him. Comparing the bight sunny day with the darkness of Rocky's appearance really helps the reader see just how striking his looks were
I watched him stiffen, like someone preparing for the sharp poke of a needle. He rubbed a palm over his close-cropped black hair. It was a long moment before he spoke. “I didn’t have one,” he said finally.
This characterization of Rocky makes him seem almost vulnerable in how his body stiffens. It is a stark contrast from the physical description they give of his hair cut, which makes him sound like a tough guy
But reprogramming people is hard, he says, and educators could find it easier to work with children's adaptations rather than fighting them.
Kids with a bad upbringing will never really trust people and will tend to be more combative and sometimes it might be easier to accept that rather than change them.
"The effects of stressors depend on many factors,"
When you have a lot of stress when young, then when your older stress will continue to affect your life because you've let it control you for so long.
Growing up in an environment that's constantly in flux, she says, may make people "more aware of and responsive to changes in the environment."
Growing up in a bad environment makes you have a natural sense of when something bad is going to happen which makes you have like a spidey sense depending on the situation.
The fast strategist's "reward horizon" is shorter, and their future less assured; they will take a smaller immediate reward instead of a larger payoff later.
I agree with this assessment. People that have good childhoods will try to base their adulthood in the same way and look for long term goals versus people that grow up in bad situations are more reckless because they don't know what will happen.
The skills needed to navigate her turbulent childhood appear to serve her well as an adult.
Even though her childhood was bad, she learned something in the process, being able to read people, which she puts to use in her everyday work and private life.
But that doesn't mean people can't recover from bad childhood experiences. "For some, therapy or medication may help," Belsky says.
I think this means that if you overcome something hard--if you can push past your sensitivity, step out of your comfort zone and make friends, you can learn to break the habit. You can grow stronger.
some people are more sensitive to environmental factors than others.
How people grow up affects how they interact. Depending on one's experience in early life, you can grow up with these feelings. It may be harder to overcome these feelings than it would for someone who had attentive parents. There is still a chance you can overcome the feelings, however.
Those extra-sensitive babies were more likely to report feeling anxious socializing and attending parties as teenagers.
I can see how this is possible. If at a young age you think your parents don't like you, in your little tiny mind you will start to grow up feeling this way. This may affect your friendships.
"It seems like, at least in these early years, the parents' role is to communicate with the child and let them know, 'I'm here for you when you're upset, when you need me. And when you don't need me, I'm your cheerleader,' " says Lee Raby,
If you're a parent and don't interact that much with your children, they could develop feelings like "they don't like me." Giving them attention could help them out later in life.
ost of us don't remember our first two or three years of life — but our earliest experiences may stick with us for years and continue to influence us well into adulthood.
I believe this. The oldest memory I have is from when I was around four.
event.
We do chores at camp everyday, and I do think it teaches some independence. I could tell a story about how I used to sweep my brother's cabin early in the morning. I'm not sure why I did it, but they probably "honor cabin" because of me.
Everyone must do something that requires practice, necessitates feedback telling you how you can get better, and requires trying again and again. Everyone has to finish what they start. And everyone gets to pick the hard thing themselves.
The nice part about this is that it has a similarity to camp. You get to pick what trips you go out one, but they all have their own difficulties. If you pick a hard trip and are able to succeed, you learn from it and know that you can do more. While the skills in camp are different from what you would do in real life (water-skiing etc.) you retain the mindset that you can master something difficult and learn from it. For example, a difficult work assignment could appear just another challenge to overcome.
A "fixed mindset" assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens that we can't change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence — an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A "growth mindset," on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. At the core is a distinction in the way you assume your will affects your ability, and it has a powerful effect on kids. If kids are told that they aced a test because of their innate intelligence, that creates a "fixed" mindset. If they succeeded because of effort, that teaches a "growth" mindset.
A "fixed" mindset means that you believe you are born with abilities. A "growth" mindset means that you grow from your mistakes and get better.
If your parents don't let you make decisions,
This idea of freedom relates to my essay. If kids go off to camp, the parents aren't there, and the kids can start making their own decisions about what is right and what is wrong.
The conclusion is: If you were spanked often as a child, you'll most likely resort to misbehaving even more, but you'll learn how to do it without getting caught.
I think this is actually 100% true.
working memory
I always took it as that the kids in moderately lower income families had to work harder to get what they want, while the rich kids don't know how to work for what they already have.
Teens who try to act older than their age to gain popularity and engage in "adolescent pseudomature behavior"
If you act cooler, you might gain a little popularity when you're young. All that will happen though when you get older, is that popularity that you used to have will no longer be there.
If you copied everything your parents did as a child, even if it didn't make sense, it's likely you developed a willingness to assume that actions have some "unknown" purpose.
Does this mean that your outcome is already set in stone? In the context in my essay, I'm not talking about copying what parents to as much as I am other people . . .
and 25 more minutes on housework.
This doesn't apply to me. My mom worked outside the house, but I don't remember spending 25 more minutes on chores . . .
"This study shows that helping children develop social and emotional skills is one of the most important things we can do to prepare them for a healthy future," Kristin Schubert, program director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the research, said in a release.
This could work as a quote for my essay. Teaching children to be sociable can help it easier for them to make friends, date, and develop work relationships.
However, it doesn't predict insecure romantic relationships.
What does this implying?
"When kids witness a fight and see the parents resolving it, they're actually happier than they were before they saw it," he says. "It reassures kids that parents can work things through."
Conflict-resolution relates to my experiences at camp and my interview. Once you are a senior, you are taking week-long trips, and you only have the six or seven guys with you to talk with. If you have a conflict, it could have consequences. But this is also where you start to see the leadership develop in some of these guys.
rule-breaking and defiance of parental authority predicted higher adult income.
Really? People who break the rules are more willing to have success? This surprised me, because I thought it was talking about troublemakers.
People who knew her remember her as generous with her time and, when she could be, generous with money. She could make friends quickly and inspire deep devotion. She did not have a job, but instead served as a full-time caretaker for Gypsy Rose, her teenage daughter.
This information comes from a combination of research and interview. It is always good to remember that an interview is research.
“'Sweet' is the word I’d use,” a former friend of Dee Dee’s told me not too long ago. Once you met them, people said, they were impossible to forget.
This information came directly from an interview. It is a really good technique to use this at the beginning to get a good image of how others saw Dee Dee and Gypsy.
ciated w
This is definitely a red flag because this is not true at all.
here DHMO is used, but which for one reason or another, are not normally made part o
So far there have not been any reliable sources on this specific topic to support its claims.
ce of gun violence seems to be rising at an alarming rate. A recent stunning revelation is th
This makes no sense. What does gun violence have to with this made up source.
Take advantage of your education and learn something. Be a critical thinker. Don't be a dupe.
Don't take the easy way out and be lazy. Engage with the text and get as much from it as you can. Try to understand the material and apply it to your argument.
Most of all, if you believe and duplicate what you read and hear others say, then you might be a dupe.
You should always give credit to the person who put in the work to provide the information. You need to work with the information and try your best to put it in your own words.
Critical thinkers can determine false or unverifiable claims, and can tell you why.
Critical thinking helps you not only process information, but also evaluate it.
GIFs.
lol . . . this is very uncomfortable to read at a public place
forgiveness, compassion, mercy, consideration, those words he’d learned in prison, those words which suddenly seemed meaningless again. He couldn’t stand it.
The anger inside of Rocky is building. Everything he is trying to do to keep it down isn't working. Most likely, my thought is that if he still has any gang or prison connections, he may call a hit out on this guy while he is in prison.
He wept and said he was sorry. He said he was young. All he could do was accept responsibility, accountability, and that’s what he did.
Prison definitely changed Rocky's life and now he is finally getting to make peace to the one person who he probably has hurt the most in his young crime life. I think he is definitely proving to Chuy's mother that he is truly sad and regretful for what he did all those years back.
On the other side of the courtroom, Chuy’s mother was doing the same. It was the first time Rocky realized the magnitude of what he’d done.
It was his mom's reaction that made him realize what he had done was wrong.
“She taught me to lie, and I don’t wanna lie
This line makes me think that it was more self defense than murder because her mom taught her to lie and she didn't know any better. After so many years, who knows if she would have been able to recover, having gone that far with this lie and hence her actions.
Gypsy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Ever though Gypsy plead guilty, I still think If it wasn't for the text message on planning to kill her mother. I say she was in self defense for killing her mother.
I think Dee Dee's problem was she started a web of lies, and there was no escaping after,” R
I agree she dug herself so far into a hole and ran with the lie making it a con.
She had spent time in neonatal intensive care. She had leukemia as a toddler.
We are already relating to Gypsy on an emotional level. We feel sorry for her. This is a really good way to get get reader's to keep reading.
“'Sweet' is the word I’d use,” a former friend of Dee Dee’s told me not too long ago.
By telling the reader a little about their personality, the reader is already engaged in the story and has begun to relate. Everyone knows someone who is "sweet."
The Motivation – your leader needs a compelling reason to pull off this job
The payout is usually the motive, so you have enough money to live your life the way you want. People who are willing to risk this, though are often desperate, they take it as that's the only option for them to live. And if they lose they aren't losing anything.
Keep the reader guessing and put the team through hell.
This is important because you don't want to make your story, oh they got away, You want to make it, oh they're about to be caught. It can't be a cake walk. It needs to be impressive.
The Leader – you’ve got to have a strong protagonist, who is there to lead the team and convince them that they need to do this job. They need to be charismatic and the most memorable are suave and charming too.
Yes, you do need a strong leader. The first thing that came to me was Kelly's heroes. A German officer who had a couple bars of gold. The idea was that 30-50 yards behind enemy lines are boxes of gold that the German's took. He gets a small crew of tanks and convinces his men to steal the gold.
Officials suspected that the extravagant purchases stemmed from the fact that all involved got far more money than they anticipated and literally didn’t know how to spend – or get rid of – it,
They had so much money they didn't know what to do with it, making their involvement obvious, because they were essentially saying, look at me I have money by spending it on cars and homes. The cops were probably looking closely at expense reports and high spending to see if their salaries matched up.
ccording to local author David Aaron Moore, the plan went like this: Ghantt would go to work as normal, leave at the same time as the last employee and return to the vault, where he would load carts with bags of money before putting them into a van. From there, he’d meet Campbell, Chambers and Grant, a friend of Chambers, in a parking lot, from where they would head to an industrial warehouse and load all but $50,000 into a rental van. Ghantt would pocket the $50,000 and head to Mexico with Campbell, where he’d stay until it was safe to come back.
This was a good plan, you pretty much get the guy who works there to be the last one to leave, unlock the safe, load some bags and bring it to an unmarked van. The problem was there were three cameras and he only grabbed two of three camera footage, so it was pretty easy from there and all they had to do then was figure out who else was a part of the crew.
The men had used pieces of wood and iron bars to support the tunnel, which was big enough for a grown adult to stand up in.
They made the tunnel pretty big for a secret tunnel. To break into a bank by making the tunnel big enough for a full size adult to stand up in would take a long time to do, especially since it's 1,600 feet long. By the sound of it they didn't hold back on making sure the tunnel was safe, but using wood and iron bars.
The ‘biggest bank heist in the world’ was foiled after police arrested a gang who spent four months building a mass 1,600ft tunnel underneath a bank so they could get to the vaults.
This heist crew dug a 1,600 foot tunnel which is a third of a mile. That is one heck of a distance to dig under a road, just to get into a bank. It probably took them a long time to do.
Investigator Fabio Pinheiro Lopes said the gang spent $1.27 million to build the tunnel from a rented home nearby, which was stocked with food and tools when it was discovered.
The gang had to spend a lot money to break into the bank, had they succeeded they would have made that money back back by a lot, but it is amazing how much they had to spend to get the tunnel made.
I don’t read newspapers anymore unless they appear in front of me.
I feel that other ways of informing the news like newspapers are important because not everyone has TVs or radios and they would need other means to inform themselves. There is still value in forms that aren't as technologically advanced.
I can do that and not feel guilty about it, rather than feel like I have to follow the thing that people say is virtuous?
Its up to the person whether they want to watch the news and what type of news they want to be informed about. We shouldn't judge others on what they are wanting to be informed about. As long as the people in charge of the news gets the information out there, then they have at least put the information out there, what you want to do with that information is up to the person.
news is so important
In today's society news is important because it helps inform those who have no other way of knowing. Even if its a happy story, to voting, to learning about a natural disaster on the way.
why do we really follow the news?
I do feel that there is entertainment in the news, depending on what they are talking about and the situation. We need both the entertainment side as well as the boring facts because they have to get the information out somehow and do it in such a way that people want to see the news in order to be informed.
DUBNER: When the teacher asks you to do this current events reading, what is the point? Do you ever discuss that? What does the teacher say you’re trying to accomplish by reading a current-event article and relating it to the history? MAIA: It’s important to read current events because we’re in this little bubble at our school. It’s important to see outside of the bubble so we can improve what’s not in our school and what’s not as protected.
I agree that it's important to keep track of current events because it's important to know what is going on in the world because usually it affects everyone. As an adult you have a better understanding of this but as a kid you should also become aware of this.
American soldiers because he favored Philip Morris cigarettes.
Andy asked questions in a proper sequence that led to a great interview. He asked Philip about how he adjusted to the U.S. at the proper time in the interview which allowed Philip to expand on his difficulties.
In 2014, we heard a conversation between Paul Braun, a sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard, and
Andy asked great follow up questions like "how did you feel" which allowed Philip to expand on his story and add more details.
Mary went on to found From Death To Life, a support group for mothers who have lost their children to violence, and to speak publicly about her loss in local churches.
The two were not afraid to give example and add in more information of their story. This allowed them to expand on their story and share more about their lives.
When Mary Johnson’s teenage son was killed, she never thought she’d end up living next door to his murderer. We heard about that journey in an interview from 2011 between Mary and Oshea Israel, the man who murdered her son.
Mary used the interview skill of asking a short simple question of "how did we meet." This short and simple question allowed for the two to unravel their stories and share the miraculous way of how they met.
Not all conspiracy theories are harmful.
I don't think these theories but some people might take them as such and it can lead to other things with bad consequences.
These findings suggest that in addition to the idiosyncratic factors that figure into people's reasoning about each unique conspiracy theory,
Most people believe in these theories because they take stories that start out as factual and then change into something else because of rumors. The mind really does propel one to think of things that they wouldn't have otherwise thought of, especially if they feel supported by others in their cause.
But they're also of interest to psychologists for what they reveal about the human mind.
It seems that even if you are educated, every once in a while a conspiracy theory comes along that makes you think could it be true or not. But in general I feel it's just another way to gain attention.
Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's intelligence project, calls Jones a gateway drug for white supremacy,
If people are going to be listening to crazy things then they should do the research so they can make informed opinions because otherwise it won't get us anywhere if people keep blaming others.
is radio show is carried on more than 160 stations, and he has more than 1.8 million subscribers on YouTube.
There are lot of people listening to Jones. I would hope he would state facts on politicians instead of making up stories about them.
Soon after, Mary brought him to StoryCorps to talk about their friendship.
She is a tough woman to be able to forgive him.
A dozen years later, Mary went to the penitentiary to visit the man who murdered her son.
I don't think I could ever forgive him for killing my child.
At StoryCorps, Kellie recalled the joy of spending time with Savannah alongside the parents of other newborn babies in the hospital’s nursery, as well as the shame she felt at being shackled and wearing an orange Department of Corrections jumpsuit. Kellie was returned to jail while Savannah remain
I can sympathize with her when she was in the hospital, with all the other parents judging her. Seeing that I didn't know her, who am I to judge.
Soon after, they were reunited and spent Kellie’s final weeks in custody together at the Rose M. Singer Center—a women’s jail on Rikers Island also kn
It could have been worse for her baby. The baby could have been sent to foster care.
Being the highest-ranking Naval officer held prisoner of war, he became a leader among the other POWs establishing a code of conduct to help keep them from being used by the North Vietnamese for propaganda purposes. Adm. Stockdale, who was forced to wear leg irons for
Even though he was a P.O.W. he made sure that the North Vietnamese could not use him for propaganda.
ccording to his Medal of Honor citation, he once used glass from a broken window to slit his own wrist in order to “convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate.”
He earned a lot of medals in the time he served. Even being one of many earned the medal of honor.
e then talked in greater detail about his beloved wife, Annie, who passed away in 2012 (seen above in a 1949 wedding photo), his work as a supervisor at the John Deere factory, the loss of his eldest son Chuck who suffered with Lou Gehrig’s disease, as well as his thoughts on life and advice for others as they age.
I think Kara learned some new things about her grandpa that she didn't know. Like how he felt about losing his son and wife.
You gotta kinda like each other…if something happened just say ‘I’m sorry’ and get it over with and make up,” because “when you get married, it’s kind of like the two of you are one. You think the same.” And on life in general, advisin
When he talks about marriage don't spend your time fighting make up say sorry. You have a short life with her. Make it a happy one.
2. Put the action of the sentence in the verb. Don't bury it in a noun or blur it acrossthe entire sentence. Watch out especially for nominalizations (verbs that have been made intonouns by the addition of -tion)
Again the use and placement of the action verbs also help with keeping the writing less wordy and more to the point.
How to Write Clear, Concise, and Direct Sentences1.Unless you have a reason not to, use the active voice.At the heart of every good sentence is a strong, precise verb; the converse is true a
Using the active voice does help in writing because it keeps your writing current and interesting.
Summarize, rephrase, or restate earlier concept
Restating concepts are always important to make sure that your reader is still with you and gets the point you are trying to make.
a transition word:Writers can also use transition words such as first . . . , second . . ., third . . . or therefore or however to cue to the reader about the logical relationship between an upcoming sentence and the preceding
When I see words like first, second, and third at the beginning or in a paragraph, this lets me know that the information is going to go into more detail. But when I see the word "however" in the beginning of a paragraph I know a new piece of information is going to be introduced.
You may want to start working on your next paper early so that you have plenty of time for revising.
I feel that this point is important to always make sure that you start writing way beforehand so you have time to go back and revise and make the paper work for you!
What are some other steps I should consider in later stages of the revision process?
This section I feel looks like great advise for revising a book and not just a short story but I can see going beyond just the little proofreading and editing and wanting your short story to be more.
raft, be honest with yourself, and don’t be lazy. Ask yourself what you really think about the paper.
I like this point about actually being honest with yourself when you are revising because you should be proud of your words.
But I thought revision was just fixing the commas and spelling. Nope. That’s called proofreading. It’s an important step before turning your paper in, but if your ideas are predictable, your thesis is weak, and your organization is a mess, then proofreading will just be putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. When you finish revising, that’s the time to proofread. For more information on the subject, see our handout on proofreading.
I didn't realize that just fixing a few words or making minor corrections wasn't really considered revising. Now that I know I think it's important to not just proofread but to revise your work thoroughly so that you're not just "putting a band-aid on things" but rather actually redefining your work.
contains some of the most memorable lines of poetry –
I would not agree that these are some of the most memorable lines of poetry. I am more interested in poetry about military. However, I understand how this author feels this way because she really respects Burns.
I wouldn’t have known that otherwise, and now every time I see it I call it a ‘cranreuch cauld’. He gave me words I didn’t have.”
I would not know what this means as well. It is interesting when we learn new words and actually remember them and use them in other contexts of our lives.
His apology becomes a reflection on a life of struggle with little reward at the end.
I liked how Burns was able to take something simple like apologizing to a mouse into a reflection with deeper meaning. It gives me ideas of how to make connections with my own writing.
X-Men: The Animated Series Celebrating the series with behind-the-scenes content never seen before!
I have seen the Animated series before and they were fun to watch.
Havok and Wolverine – Meltdown #3
I never read the X-Men comics before but this issue looks pretty good and if I ever see it in a store I will read it.
Raw Almond Butter Snickers Ice Cream
Man that is making me really hungry right now! :p
Wow it sounds really easy to start filming in the UK. But I don't know if the same can be said in the U.S.
Go under a waterfall and swing off a rope-
That sounds like a fun bucket list thing to do. I think I'm going to add that to my bucket list too! :)
i really like how you add videos your blog. they are really funny! :)