Annotation Essay Picture and Possible Questions

Tent Cities -Homelessness in America

Possible Questions:

• What are the effects of the recession/economic fallout on homelessness in America?
• What are the unemployment statistics in America?
• What if any food pantries/free lunch programs are available, and what is their affect?
• What is the avaiablility of homeless shelters in America and what are some facts/information on tent cities?
• What can be said of the statement that we have lost the middle class in America?
• What is the cost of living in America? Compare this to average wage in America.
• What laws if any have been put in place to help homeless children stay in school (school choice programs etc.)?
• What is the effect of homelessness on people's health and the heathcare system?

Text Wrestling Essay Summary

The Robotic Nation essay by Marshall Brain is about the slow replacement of human beings in the workplace. Brain talks about how slowly bank tellers and cashiers are being traded in for machines like ATMs, self-checkout lines, and automated gas pumps. He uses Moore's law, which says that CPU usage doubles every eighteen to twenty-four months, to draw a reference to how he belives the advancement of robotics will go. He says that the in the future we will have created robots, computers and other machines with greater intelligence than a human being. He continues in saying that we will have machines with actual thought processes and that soon these things will be operating with the abilities of millions of human beings all in one single compact unit. Part of the reason why robots are appealing is that they will save companies a lot of money because instead of paying say five workers for seven hours of work each they simply buy one robot to do the same job at a one time fee. He predicts that in the near future unemployment will skyrocket as robots replace more and more jobs. Brain says as a result of the integration of robots in the work force the unemploymet rate will succeed 50%, this is twice what the unemplyment rate was during the great depression, the greatest time of difficulty America has faced to date. This increase of unemplyment will lead to massive dependency on government support such as welfare. There will be more need for assistance with everyday simple living expenses as jobs disappear. Today it is difficult enough to survive on the low paying jobs at department stores, fast food etc. and with robot technology soon these jobs will be gone, what will these people do then. These are not just numbers and there will be consequences to this. In conclusion Brian seems to be saying that robots are a bad idea and will forever alter the way people live in a negative way.

Annotation Essay Links

Data Base-Straining the Safety Net *Great Stats. and Charts

Data Base-Domestic Poverty *Gap b/w Classes increase-chart

Data Base-State Budget Crisis *Budget shortfalls graph and shelter stats

CNN Tent Cities Article *Tent cities history and controversy-allow or ban

Ethnography Final Draft

The Average Kindergarten Girl

Emma is rather small for five years old, barely out of 4T size clothes. She has straight strawberry blond hair and blue eyes. Her hair is styled with layers and bangs and is shoulder blade length. Emma is a skinny Minnie, with the most adorable little smile. She is the stereotypical girly-girl and loves to look pretty. She loves to shop and buy anything from clothes to little purses, to makeup, hair stuff and toys. She also loves animals, in particular dogs and wants desperately to have one of her own.

Emma lives in Fall River in a blue single family house. Her house is in a neighborhood with a mix of both single and some multi-family homes. It has a fenced in back yard and she loves to play back there. Also, she is lucky enough to have her own room, currently being an only child. This is a better situation than some other children her age who grow up with no access to outdoor spaces or their own private space to go and relax. She lives here with her mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and cousin Justin. Soon she will be living with one more person, she will no longer be an only child as her mom is expecting a little girl in a few months.

Emma asks me "What is your last name," and so I told her. Then she asks what auntie Erica and uncle Austin's last names are (my brother and sister). "Hey, that's the same as my daddy," she says. What she came up with next I was not expecting. She says "Hey the baby's name is going to be Lajoie too, its daddy's but the baby is stealing it" Emma made another interesting comment about her unborn baby sister. She is happy and looks forward to having a new baby sister and not being an only child anymore. She looks forward to being a big sister so much that she tells her mom "Mommy, when is this baby coming out?" Not for a while is the answer and to this Emma says "Ughhh, mommy the baby is taking too long..., she needs to hurry up." I was a little taken back by these cute, quirky comments.

Emma is a typical stubborn five year old in the sense that she does not like rules very much. She does not like bedtimes in particular, because she likes to stay up and watch TV, play with toys and color. As a result she often puts up a stink when it comes close to eight o'clock. The only way to really combat her stubbornness is to cause her to tire out by playing, or reading a book. Also, if you can bring her on a car ride close to bedtime she is likely to fall asleep, she is a car baby.

The first day of kindergarten for Emma was definitely an interesting one. On this day her parents had to literally get her dressed and ready for school while she played dead. She just layed there limp, as they got her dressed and ready for school. She didn't want to start school yet, she didn't want summer to be over. They eventually got her to school but when they got there my brother had to carry her in the school. When he went to put her down, the little actress she is, she slumped on the floor refusing to give up her act. Eventually she was coaxed back to life but not before drama queen Emma had completed her valiant effort. Now, Emma had gone to preschool but had never had a full day of school before. This transition to a full day of kindergarten was a big one for Emma. There are no more naps in school and the day is twice as long so for the first month or so poor Emma was often exhausted by the end of her day. She is now much more adjusted to this change and enjoys going to school, so there is no more playing dead in the mornings.

Emma goes to an Greene Elementary school in Fall River. She is in kindergarten and loves it. She is a great student and always does her work and tries her best. However, she often gets into trouble in school by her teacher. This is because Miss. Emma is a social butterfly, and as soon as she finishes her work she is talking to everyone around her. Emma has no problem making friends as she is very friendly and kind to everyone. Her teacher has made it a point to let her parents know that she actually has stuck up for kids in her class who were being made fun of. She is an incredible little person with a big heart, she just has a big chatter box to go with it.

Emma is so social that according to her she already has boyfriends. "You have a boyfriend already?" I ask her. "Yeah," she says, " I have three boyfriends actually.." I laugh and ask her if Daddy knows that she has boyfriends. "Nooo," she replies, "Mommy knows though, but not Daddy, not yet." What do your boyfriends look like I ask her. "Well...the first one has blond hair and I think green eyes..yeah I think, and then the other one has brown hair and I think black eyes...and..then Kyle has brown hair too." "Ohh," I said, "they sound cute, but why do you have three boyfriends?" "Because they are cool and I like them."

Kids age 5-6 (kindergarten and first grade) are in a stage where they are trying to be independent wanting to do everything themselves. Also they like to have things their way most of the time. For example, one day when my niece Emma was over she wanted me to paint her nails. Emma wanted every single color nail polish I had and wanted her nails painted her way. She let me know if I was not following the pattern right saying "no not yellow I wanted pink next ughhhh see follow the colors like this...in a row." Also, she loves to do my nails and wants them to be the same exact as hers, "ohh look we match".

Also, on this day while I was painting her nails Emma overheard a conversation between my mom and her mom (my sister in law). Her mom was saying something about her girlfriend and so Emma suddenly looks up at me and rolls her eyes. To my surprise she then says in an annoyed tone "ughhh...she doesn't mean it like that..she means like her friend who's a girl ughhh..mommm," I smile and laugh a little to myself. I then tell her "I know, I understand don't worry. "Yeah," she says and laughs "she doesn't mean like her girlfriend hahaha." Her idea of relationships and the fact that she thought that this was something she had to correct and make clear I thought was very interesting.

Emma is also very interested in makeup and puts layers upon layers of all the lip gloss she can find and if she gets ahold of blush or anything else watch out. I left her in my room alone for a minute and she went through my makeup. She thought that a cover up stick was lipstick so she came out of my room and into the living room with white lips. "Look" she said proudly. I responded "ohh baby girl what did you put on your lips?" "Your lipstick"she replied, "I don't have white lipstick," I said confused. I then went into my room and realized that she had used the cover up, "No baby I said that's not lipstick that's cover up." Emma then got very embarrassed and put her head down, so I reassured her and said that it was OK, no big deal, and cleaned off her face. This shows the innocence in kids her age.

One night while I was babysitting Emma my dad asked me if I could take out the dog so I asked Emma if she wanted to come outside with me. My dad told Emma that because she was helping with the dog that if Bo peed she would get fifty cents and that if he pooped she would get a dollar. So when we went outside Emma took it all very seriously. She kept on trying to clear up what pops had said "if he poops I get more money then if he pees?" She kept checking on the dog to see if he went and insisted on staying out longer to see if he had to go anymore. We even played red light green light to help pass the time. It was pretty comical, and when we got back inside she carefully reported back what the dog had done.

My dad was goofing off with Emma one night while she was eating her ABC soup. She was saying that she didn't want to eat anymore, so after I tried coaxing her into finishing it by saying "just a few more bits" my dad told her that there are some hungry people in her mouth who she needs to feed too. We all laughed, including Emma, and she believed this idea. She ended up eating the rest of the soup, but for the rest of the night she kept saying "hey pops, look at my people," opening her mouth wide. She also kept on asking him how many people were in her mouth saying "AHHHH." She thought that this was the greatest thing and loved that everyone laughed when she did this, so she laughed too and kept opening her mouth. My dad would respond to her by pretending to be shocked and scared saying things like "ohh my god I cant believe how many people are in there, look at them all." Emma was loving it all.

Emma also has a lot of energy, as is true with most kids her age. She loves to play around with her pops and loves when he tickles her. They often run around the house, horsing around. My dad does something he calls the claw and she loves to play this game, just as me and my siblings had. He calls his hand the claw and pretends that it comes to life and tickles and chases you. Emma gets all excited running away screeching and laughing. But, then she always comes back for more, antagonizing it and trying to get it to come after her again. She played this for hours one night like a little energizer bunny. Eventually she began to rub her eyes however and reluctantly layed down to watch a movie. If her little body hadn't forced her to stop I don't think she would have, she was having too much fun. Emma slept extremely well that night.

Emma is the typical kindergarten girl. She loves to socialize, is extremely energetic, and is stubborn and independent minded. She is a big goof-ball who loves to horse around. She also likes girly things like makeup and dressing up. The average kindergarten girl is very into playing house, being independent and pretending to be older and more grown up. This definitely fits Emma to a tee. An example of this would be how she has "three boyfriends." Although she is in the stage where she wants to do more things on her own she still has an air of innocence when it comes to abstract, new, or complex ideas. For example, she does not understand that the baby can't "hurry up" and is not stealing her daddy's name. However, kids her age and younger are picking up on ideas that are beyond their years such as Emma's concept of gay relationships. This is clearly shown when Emma feels obligated to inform me that her mom "doesn't mean her girlfriend...she means like her friend who is a girl." More and more kids at younger and younger ages are being exposed to concepts that are more adult. This creates a vast contrast in the average kindergarten girl who is overcome with knowledge and still incredibly innocent in her young age. Hopefully, children still like Emma maintain a healthy balance between these two things. Otherwise we will be living in a world where children are no longer allowed to be what they are, children and instead will be overwhelmed/bombarded by things too complex for them to fully understand.

Ethnography Essay Draft

I am planning on developing these groups of observations into paragraphs and some sort of structure. Also, I am going to add to them. If you have any ideas on what you think is missing or how I could organize my essay that would be great. Thanks :)

I am outside with five kids, my brother Austin 11, Anndreana 10, Kevin 7, Victoria 6, and Kenzygntin 5. They are all playing a scavenger hunt game. The younger kids Kevin, Vicky and Kenzi are impatient when it comes to the actual set up of the game but are eager to help. They also can't wait to start the game and are extremely excited. After playing this game for a little bit a girl from across the street called over saying "hi kevin" and waving. Kevin acted like he didn't know who she was and was very taken aback. "I dont know who that is ...who is she? Im not saying hi back...she is weird," he said. Then I asked him if he knew her from school maybe and he then recognized that it was a girl Angelina from school. He asked me if I could walk him over acroos the street so I walked him, Kenzi, and Victoria over with Austin and Anndreana following suit soon after. "Hi angelina," he said as she introduced him to her grandmother, who is my neighbor, "do you want to come over and play?" She did, so she came over and played. I soon realized a change in Kevin's behavior. Ever since Angelina had come over he was being very rambunkscious, climbing trees, climbing on the porches, jumping off the stone walls and being very show offish. He began to boast about what he could do and how even if he fell "it didn't even hurt." I thought that this was very interesting because Kevin has said in the past that girls are gross and that he never wants to get married. He is very much still in the girls have cooties stage, and still enjoys running around rolling in the mud type of stuff. So for him to display this change shows that dispite this he is still interested on some level in impressing girls or atleast this one.

One day Kenzi got hurt because she fell down the porch steps and scrapping her back and she started to cry. I then picked her up and checked her back and comforted her asking her if she wanted to go inside and see grandma so we could put something on the scrape and clean it. She said yes so I brought her in. When I came back out I was approached by Andreanna (her sister) who told me that as soon as I had brought Kenzi in Victoria had said "Oh she is such a big baby" and that Angelina said in return "yeah i know what a big baby..like ugh." This reinforces an idea that kids this age are very possessive, and are group oriented despite their youth. Victoria was upset because of the attention I was giving Kenzi at the time and Angelina was just trying to fit in and went along with it. They were both being pretty creul considering how young they are.

Kids age 5-6 (kindergarten and first grade) are in a stage where they are trying to be independent wanting to do everything themselves. Also they like to have things their way most of the time. For example, one day when my neice Emma was over she wanted me to paint her nails. Emma wanted every single color nailpolish I had and wanted her nails painted her way. She let me know if I was not following the pattern right saying "no not yellow I wanted pink next ughhhh see follow the colors like this...in a row." Also, she loves to do my nails and wants them to be the same exact as hers, "ohh look we match".

Also, on this day while I was painting her nails Emma overheard a conversation between my mom and her mom (my sister in law). Her mom was saying something about her girlfriend and so Emma suddenly looks up at me and rolls her eyes. To my surprise she then says in an annoyed tone "ughhh...she doesnt mean it like that..she means like her friend whos a girl ughhh..mommm," I smile and laugh a little to myself. I then tell her "I know, I understand don't worry. "Yeah," she says and laughs "she doesnt mean like her girlfriend hahaha." Her idea of relationships and the fact that she thought that this was something she had to correct and make clear I thought was very interesting.

Emma is also very interested in makeup and puts layers upon layers of all the lipgloss she can find and if she gets ahold of blush or anything else watch out. I left her in my room alone for a minute and she went through my makeup. She thought that a cover up stick was lipstick so she came out of my room and into the living room with white lips. "Look" she said proudly. I responded "ohh baby girl what did you put on your lips?" "Your lipstick"she replied, "I don't have white lipstick," I said confused. I then went into my room and realized that she had used the cover up, "No baby I said thats not lipstick thats cover up." Emma then got very embarrassed and put her head down, so I reassured her and said that it was ok, no big deal, and cleaned off her face. This shows the innocence in kids her age.

One night while I was babysitting Emma my dad asked me if I could take out the dog so I asked Emma if she wanted to come outside with me. My dad told Emma that because she was helping with the dog that if Bo peed she would get fifty cents and that if he pooped she would get a dollar. So when we went outside Emma took it all very seriously. She kept on trying to clear up what pops had said "if he poops I get more money then if he pees?" She kept checking on the dog to see if he went and insisted on staying out longer to see if he had to go anymore. We even played red light green light to help pass the time. It was pretty comical, and when we got back inside she carefully reported back what the dog had done.

My dad was goofing off with Emma one night while she was eating her ABC soup. She was saying that she didn't want to eat anymore, so after I tried coaxing her into finishing it by saying "just a few more bits" my dad told her that there are some hungry people in her mouth who she needs to feed too. We all laughed, including Emma, and she believed this idea. She ended up eating the rest of the soup, but for the rest of the night she kept saying "hey pops, look at my people," opening her mouth wide. She also kept on asking him how many people were in her mouth saying "AHHHH." She thought that this was the greatest thing and loved that everyone laughed when she did this, so she laughed too and kept opening her mouth. My dad would respond to her by pretending to be shocked and scared saying things like "ohh my god I cant believe how many people are in there, look at them all." Emma was loving it all.

Emma asks me "What is your last name," and so I told her. Then she asks what aunty erica and uncle austin's last names are (my brother and sister). "Heyy, thats the same as my daddy," she says. What she came up with next I was not expecting. She says "Heyy the baby's name is going to be Lajoie too, its daddy's but the baby is stealing it" Emma made another interesting comment about her unborn baby sister. She is happy and looks forward to having a new baby sister and not being an only child anymore. She looks forward to being a big sister so much that she tells her mom "Mommy, when is this baby coming out?" Not for a while is the answer and to this Emma says "Ughhh, mommy the baby is taking too long..., she needs to hurry up." I was a little taken back by these cute, quirky comments and I think that they give great insight into how five and six year olds view the world and various concepts.

Emma also has a lot of energy, as is true with most kids her age. She loves to play around with her pops and loves when he tickles her. They often run around the house, horseing around. My dad does something he calls the claw and she loves to play this game, just as me and my siblings had. He calls his hand the claw and pretends that it comes to life and tickles and chases you. Emma gets all excited running away screeeching and laughing. But, then she always comes back for more, antagonizing it and trying to get it to come after her again. She played this for hours one night like a little energizer bunny. Eventually she began to rub her eyes however and reluctantly layed down to watch a movie. If her little body hadn't forced her to stop I don't think she would have, she was having too much fun. Emma slept extremely well that night.

Personal Essay- Rough Draft

My Pépère and I
A Story of Opportunities Lost and Lessons Learned

I am five years old and I am in my room putting my ballet and tap shoes in my dance bag. I hear the door downstairs and a familiar, kind, raspy voice beckoning me to come downstairs. “Ay where’s my Nee-Cole.” I run down the stairs to greet my Pépère. His crystal blue eyes light up when he sees me enter the room. “Ah there’s my girl!” he says as he gives me a big hug, and the sweet smell of butterscotch candies envelops me, his favorite. “Are you ready to go to ballet?” As we walk up my pathway to his car parked on the street I am fascinated by the way in which his dress shoes shone and how pretty his front facing black beret was. I secretly wished I had some like these too. It is a rainy October day so the leather seats in his emerald green Lincoln town car are cool to the touch as he helps me slide into the seat, shutting the door behind me. I watch as he opens the trunk and takes out a handful of dog biscuits and gives them to my dog Buddy over the fence, he was always spoiling him.

I am six years old and school is over for the day. My Pépère meets me out in the school yard. He takes my backpack and we walk together to his car. Today I get to hang out with him until my parents get home from work. We get into the car, and he says “what do you say we go to the pantry and help finish making up the boxes?” I agree and soon we are at the church. As we enter, my Pépère is warmly greeted by everyone who walks by. He greets them in return with “have you met my Nee-Cole?” We walk up to these long folding tables that are lined with cardboard boxes. A woman greets us and soon I am packing the boxes with can goods and non-perishable food like a professional. As a got older I would continue to help my Pépère with the food pantry through packing the boxes and delivering them. It was a way of giving back and bonding with my Pépère at the same time.

I remember these memories well but soon I would discover that my Pépère would not have this luxury. For as the years went by, he slowly became more forgetful and easily confused. Eventually he would give up his driver’s license, something that hurt him deeply. Ever since he had retired, he drove for funeral homes part-time, partly because driving in general was something he loved. When he lost his license he lost his independence as well. This would not be the end to the blows in his life however. In 2006 he was diagnosed with dementia. In addition he had to undergo two full knee-replacements and had some hearing loss. Slowly his health was deteriorating. I felt like I was losing my Pépère one piece of him at a time.

However, Peppered was a stubborn Frenchmen and his personality and humor never left him. An example of this was when one day he came with my memere over my house for dinner. When we sat down to eat I was hit with the reality that his appetite was not what it was used to be, and he no longer could have that Bud with his dinner. At first he seemed saddened when my dad offered him one anyways. “I can’t he said, doctors say not to.” “Dad, you haven’t had one in months, I can tell that you want one, besides you deserve to have one if you want it,” replied my father. My Mémère then cut my Pépère off before he was able to reply, saying “no he shouldn’t and he doesn’t want one anyway.” You could see the annoyance in my Pépère’s face. He was not amused by the protective mother-like manner in which my memere was treating him. He would get her back however. He did this when we went into the living room after dinner. My Mémère was continuing to annoy my Pépère by telling my parents all about his new difficulties. “He almost fell out of bed the other night, and he is having trouble walking,” she was saying. My Pépère the hot shit that he was, looked at me, smiled and said with a serious tone, “I’m not having any trouble walking, I don’t know what she thinks she is talking about, but it’s not me. In fact, I think that I’m going to go to the store tomorrow and buy myself a pair of roller-skates.” We all laughed, all except my Mémère who took it very seriously with a stern look on her face.

Another example of my Pépère’s humor and acceptance of life and all its twists and turns came when he was hospitalized. He had been diagnosed with kidney cancer, another blow, it was 2008 and I was eighteen. I had gone to visit him in the hospital and he was given his supper. As he was not really eating much lately I tried to encourage him to eat. “Pépère you need to eat in order to get your strength back,” I said to him. Having ate his dinner and he then went for his dessert, a cup of mandarin oranges. He picked up his spoon and tried to scoop up the orange slices. He struggled however, and then looked up at me and to my surprise he smiled and laughed a little. Then he put down his spoon and picked up the oranges slices with his fingers, then looking at me again he said " God gave us fingers before he gave us spoons" laughed and then continued to eat with his fingers. I had felt awkward and a sense of sadness as I watched him struggle to use the spoon but after he made that comment I couldn't help but laugh and think of the whole situation differently. The fact that he still had his humor made me feel like his time wasn’t really running out yet.

This idea was further supported when he was sent home from the hospital. Although they could not operate and save him, the cancer had not taken him yet, he still had time. My Pépère stayed home for about three weeks before he had to be placed in a nursing home in order to receive the care that he needed. I visited him often, but the dementia and cancer had taken its toll. He mostly slept now, so even when I visited he was often tired or sleeping. The nursing home didn’t have any single rooms available so he had to share a room with two other gentlemen. He hated it and I hated seeing him in this state. He was shrunken compared to his prior self, and now looked more like a child as he lie in his bed then an adult. He looked so frail and would grind his teeth and mumble in his sleep, something he used to do when he was upset. I witnessed this on one visit when his roommates were in the room. One man was attached to an IV drip and kept making his alarm go off; the other roommate was a man who kept praying in Portuguese saying, “Oh Jesus ajuda-me, oh Jesus excepto mim, Mary que a mãe do deus seja comigo, ajuda-me Jesus a ajudar-me, oh meu deus, oh meu dues” (Oh Jesus help me, Oh Jesus save me, Mary mother of God be with me, help me Jesus, help me, oh my god, oh my god). My Pépère was fluent in both Portuguese and French so he understood what he was saying. Therefore, with the man praying loudly, the alarms constantly going off while he was trying to sleep, and him just wanting to be home in his own bed, he became very angry and upset. The last place my Pépère wanted to be when he was dying was in a nursing home and here he was by default. A few days after this visit my Pépère past away. It bothers me to this day that in his last days he was so angry and restless.

My Pépère has had a great impact on my life and the way I view life. From an early age I had a good relationship with him. We spent a lot of time together and were very close. Through him I learnt compassion, humor, kindness, humility, and the joy in charity/volunteering. He was always such a calm put together person who loved to help others, and in the end it was him who needed help. He was a sweetheart and yet a force to reckon with. As I got older my dependence on my Pépère lessened and along with it we became less close. As a result, I didn’t get to know as much about him as I wish I had. I learned how much I didn’t know about him actually through his obituary. Although I always knew that he had been in the navy, a Seaman First Class on the USS Essex and that he had served in World War II, it wasn’t until his death that I realized the impact he had in this time in American history. He was a recipient of the American Theater Medal, Atlantic Pacific Theater Medal (11 Stars), Philippine Liberation Medal (2 Stars), Good Conduct Medal, Victory Medal and Point System. He was a true American hero, and never mentioned it once. I regret not knowing this while he was alive and it makes me wonder how well I truly knew the man I called Pépère. There are a lot of questions in my mind now about him. Unfortunately, I may never know all the answers to these questions, because my time with him is up. I may never know what I missed out on exactly, what piece of knowledge I could have gained from him and his life but I do know that I did miss out. Therefore, my advice would be to take advantage of the time you have with the people you care about, and don’t take it for granted. You should ask questions, and spend your time with them because you never know when the opportunity to do so will be gone. Thus I believe the saying is true, you don’t really know what you have and can’t appreciate it until you have lost it.

Personal Essay Idea

The idea I came up with for my personal essay is my relationship with my grandfather. I came up with this idea while brainstorming on the important influences in my life that really helped to shape me as a person. I want my essay to touch on his influence in my life, what I learned from him and what I wish I had learned prior to his death. In addition my grandfather was a very animated and interesting person so it would be easy to describe him in great detail. Please feel free to let me know what you think of my idea. Thanks :)

Test Blog

Just making sure that the blog is working right. :)