I find the word "preserve" thought-provoking and fitting in this context due to the fact it highlights an often taken-for-granted and overlooked aspect of writing's multifunctionality. While writing, I usually focus on expressing my ideas and concentrating on my diction/syntax to best convey my ideas. However, I forget that the writing is actually preserving my thought processes and will extend past my lifetime to future generations if published. The authors of this Rockfish Gap Report did have in mind the function of their writing as a way to preserve their ideals past their era to shape University of Virginia. How do you think they would react that knowing that some of their preserved ideals by the Rockfish Gap Report were no longer followed and to what degree does writing help extend our ideas and knowledge past our own minds? -Kristin Putman

I am currently taking an anthropology course on "Language and Culture" and I find this excerpt very interesting due to the fact that in the present day, Spanish isn't highly valued in the American society as shown by Mock Spanish and the legal attempts to establish English as the official language as many monolingual English American speakers see Spanish as a threat to the American identity. In Mock Spanish, American English speakers hyperanglicanize Spanish words—such as the mispronunciation of gracias and adobe—and use semantic pejoration—such as the context usages of "pesos" and "Hasta la vista"— to convey negative connotations of Spanish speakers as lazy, dirty, politically corrupt, etc. Additionally, the use of Mock Spanish occurs in a humorous and joking environment, leading to convey Spanish as a "non-serious" language among American English speakers. I wonder when between the 19th century to the 21st century the value of the Spanish language changed and whether this has to do with American-Mexico diplomatic relations with the complex history concerning Mexican-American war all the way to the immigration issues with the shared border. -Kristin Putman