Ashley Vuduris Dr. Horton

English 1101 1st December 2011

English 1101 Final Portfolio Project Title

Table of Contents

Analytical Cover Letter ....................................................................................................................1

Least Successful Article Response ......................................................................................4

Most Successful Article Response .......................................................................................6

“What’s the Difference?” .....................................................................................................8

Least Successful Article Response (with markup) ............................................................10

Least Successful Article Response (final) .........................................................................12

Most Successful Article Response (with markup) .............................................................14

Most Successful Article Response (final) ..........................................................................16

Most Successful Essay (with markup) ...............................................................................18

Most Successful Essay (final) ............................................................................................25

1

December 5, 2011 Matthew R. Horton, Ph. D. Assistant Professor of English Gainesville State College Oconee Campus 313b Oconee Classroom 1201 Bishop Farms Parkway Watkinsville, GA 30677 Dear Dr. Horton,

My name is Ashley Vuduris and I am a freshman at Gainesville State College. Looking back on all of my English 1101 assignments, it is quite clear on how far I have come from the beginning to the end. This semester I have learned as much as I have ever learned in the past four years of my high school career. I learned how to organize my information better so that the paper has a nicer flow and makes more sense to the reader. I also learned that I need to be more in depth with my information and give more general example and actual quotes of what the author has actually said. Before starting English 1101 I had the worst grammar that anyone has ever seen. I know that my grammar still needs a lot of work but I have left with a stronger understanding on how my grammar now should be. I think that my general achievement over the past semester has been substantially well. I believe that you can look at my very first paper and compare it to one of my last papers and see the improvement of every category. The evidence that you can expect to find is in all of my recent works that I have turned into you. You by far have been the best English teacher I have ever had. You helped me learn how to really write papers and how the structure of a paper should be. You were very challenging to me coming from having a terrible high school English teacher, but I eventually started getting better. You have also taught me how to use other websites such as blogger which teaches you how to do different things with your writing other than using paper. I learned how to write longer paragraphs, and take information and summarize it up into one paragraph. I think when you view my portfolio you will see where my improvements have really shown and where my weak points are starting to improve as well. In my least successful article titled the “Social Animal” the main points focus on how the brain works and why we do the things that we do. The biggest problems I found myself facing was the fact that I wasn’t sure what I needed to improve on yet in the article. I realized that I skip around way too much and try and talk about a million different things and relate it all to one thing and that doesn’t work, because it makes it hard for the reader to follow. The organization throughout the article response is sloppy and lacking any real concrete evidence from the beginning article. For example, I went from talking about baby’s and the patterns that they learn to pick up from their mothers when they are read to while still in the womb, from going to what really makes the human brain happy. I could have added a lot more information actually talking more specific about the brain and how it functions. I should have added more quotes from the article and facts that help tie together the author’s point of view. Reading back over my paper again helped me to see what I needed to revise and what needed to be left out or added in. It did show me that my writing still has a lot of work to do and plenty of room for improvement. I still

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needed major work on my grammar and still on how to organize and bring together my paper so it has flow and makes the reader interested and amazed. My most successful article was response “The Failure of American Schools.” I gathered information about the article and how the author had such strong view points on what he thought needed to happen for future American success. America is now ranked very low in the rating of high school graduates and barley hanging on to college graduates. After reading this article it made me realize how much I agree with what the author is saying, and I don’t think that high school properly prepares you for college. The author is absolutely correct when he says, “accountability needs to be measured by student outcomes, meaning how we show our progression over a period of time.” I liked how I really understood and grasped the information the author was trying to portray, also I think me coming right out of high school into college is a great comparison to the topic at hand. All of my corrections were a lot of simple mistakes such as using awkward words when better ones could help the sentence make more sense. Even though this was my best essay of the year there was defiantly plenty of corrections that needed to be made and still some could be missing. I know that my writing skills still aren’t 100% but from the time I wrote my first one to the time I wrote this one I have already learned so much. My most successful article essay was “Dealing and Coping with Emotions: Only Makes Your Stronger” was my favorite paper to write because it put my on a level with the author to where I could somewhat relate to what she was going through. This article talks about a mother slowly dying while her family sits back helpless, watching her suffer and live through the pain because there was nothing that they could do. The author told the story to the readers in a way that kept me interested and connected to what she was saying. I could feel the emotion of the author through the context of the words she was using. When I went to revise my paper I had a lot of sentence structure errors and grammatical errors as well. So I revised those and changed some sentences around to make them sound better. This essay still could have used a lot of improvement. This essay could have been more improved if more background information was added making the length of the paper longer and making the paper more informative. I have come a long way from the beginning of the semester when it comes to writing papers now. I know I still have a lot of work to do but this class just helped me take that first step that I needed to be grounded with a good base of English knowledge. I have never been a perfect writer and never will be. I can accept the fact that writing is defiantly not my strongest subject and it’s going to be something that I am going to work on for the rest of my college career and even within the career I get when I graduate from college. I know there are several areas within English that I need to work on and improve. Having you as a teacher this semester and taking English 1101 has helped me setup a plan on how I want my writing to be in the future for the next English classes I am going to have to take. I know for sure grammar is something I am still going to need to work on and also the organization of my work. Not being so all over the place about everything and keeping my context accurate and straight to the point but not lacking any detail. I want to learn how to incorporate different styles of writing into my papers so that it becomes more interesting and I have more of a vaster span of different writing styles. I need to be careful where I place commas because I tend to put them in areas where I am not even sure if one belongs there. I wish I would have worked harder this semester so that my full potential could have been shown and also to help me understand what I need to work on and

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get better at. I regret not making my papers a little more complex like I know I could have, but instead I just stayed in my normal comfort zone and stuck to my average way of writing. This semester in English 1101 I have been pushed in a great direction that I needed to go in if I ever wanted to be an average writer. My grades all semester were just mediocre but towards the end started getting a little bit better because I started catching on. I think the hardest part about having any new teacher is developing your brain to learn their style of teaching. Ever teacher teaches differently and that’s something that I experienced this year coming from my high school English teacher to you. The greatest part was you always encouraged questions and helped me tremendously with my papers when we would have the workshops. With as weak as my writing started off and to where I have reached now isn’t like a dramatic difference but it’s defiantly changed from when I did my first assignment for you. A high C or even a low B is a grade I think I deserve. My writing averages up to just being okay stuff nothing amazing and I know that, but I am still learning and trying to get better and become a more skilled writer. With that being said I think my effort and great love for English and school in general could possibly earn me a nice low B to top off my Christmas. Thank you for looking over my portfolio, your class has helped me more than you know. I can’t wait to use what I learned for next year to help me progress into the good writer I can be one day. Sincerely, Ashley M. Vuduris

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Least Successful Article Response

Human Behavior: The Way Of Living

Brooks, David. “Social Animal.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, January 17, 2011. Web. 9

Sep. 2011.

In the article Social Animal the author does some studies finding out that we are not

primarily the products of our conscious thinking. The idea mainly that the author is promoting is

the difference between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Another point that the

author focuses on is the idea that “early experiences don’t determine a life, but they set

pathways, which can be changed or reinforced by later experiences.” For example, mothers that

read their children Dr. Seuss “The Cat in the Hat” while still in the womb are not as good

rhythmically after birth because they remember the patters as an infant. Millions of Americans

debate the question all the time what really makes us happy. A study was shown that the daily

activities that bring the most happiness are sex, socializing after work and having dinner with

friends. When talking about the dating life, a study by Alexander Willis was shown that we make

judgments about a person’s trustworthiness, competence, aggressiveness and likeability the first

tenth of a second. The Human brain makes us react to each situation that we are thrown into

weather we know that we are consciously doing it or not.

The author’s point of view is culturally significant because every single human being

goes through this some way or another. Each person’s brain is different but as humans we all

have the same functions, just varying on how each brain reacts. She explains the way that our

brains work in certain situations and how the opposite sex interacts with one other consciously

and unconsciously. Our mind can feed off of the interactions of other people, a single person in

particular and even the environment that surrounds us. A quote from David Brooks says, “Living

5

is an inherently emotional business” meaning that a majority of the things we do are based on

emotion. It makes us realize that we do the things that we do for a reason, because our brains are

wired to fulfill our needs and meet our expectations of happiness. The brain sits in our skull, but

our mind expands to limitless amount of ideas. The ideas that the author challenges us to

examine really is how our brain functions in general. How our human nature depicts the way we

live our life, the way that we react with others and even how we were raised effects us today.

6

Most Successful Article Response

Future American's: Being Set Up For Failure

Klein, Joel. The Failure of American Schools. June 2011. 6 Oct. 2011 .

America desperately needs to have a better Public Education System, for us to have a

stronger more efficient economy. Basically we need to drastically improve our public schools, so

we are producing dedicated, hard working intelligent people to go out in the world and compete

for jobs. At this point in time we are not on the right track to leading American students to

success. America is now in the basement for high school graduates and is barley hanging on to

college graduates. A majority of graduated students according to the ACT national organization

“were not adequately prepared academically for first-year college courses.” If we want the

American income to increase workers are going to have to have good jobs, including the skills to

acquire those good jobs. To obtain a good job, a proper education is required. Private schools are

very skillful in the way they teach, giving students the knowledge they need to know to be

prepared. Unlike public schools where the amount of service a teacher does is more noticed than

the quality of service. Because there is a lack of private schools in America, the only solution is

to reform our public schools.

The world is an extremely competitive place, and that is what we need to inform in our

public schooling system. A little competition never hurt anybody, and that’s exactly what our

school system should be teaching. The young adults growing up in America right now is our

future, and teachers hold the key to success in building up young students to change the future.

According to Albert Shanker, accountability needs to be measured by student outcomes, meaning

how we show our progression over a period of time. Joel Klein’s point of views raise a

tremendous concern on how our future generation is going to be able to compete against the rest

7

of the world, if we are unable to academically keep up with our leading competitors. Shanker is

saying that students that are unable to maintain a level of accountability, should have major

consequences. With all of that being said, America should examine what their future leaders,

colleges, and business partners are being taught in public schooling systems. Making sure that

students are properly being trained and guided for the next big chapter in their life, which also

determines the rest of their future.

8

What’s the Difference?

For my best article response I chose, The Failure of American Schools by Joel Klein.

This article talks about how terrible the schools in America have now become. This article

response earned me a, 7 out of 10 which was the best grade I have received on an article

response. In the first paragraph i talked about how public schools drastically need to be improved

so we are producing hard-working, intelligent people to go out in the work force. I included a lot

of the statistics that the author used in his article to back up the main view points and show how

important that the issue really is. In his article he is promoting better education for Americans so

therefor we can increase the American income and have better and higher paying jobs. In the

second paragraph I focused mainly on how teachers hold the key to success in their student’s

futures. At the rate that we are right now, people are in fear that our future generations are not

going to be able to compete with the rest of the world. My article response met the necessary

criteria to get a passing grade but lacked some important information that could have helped the

authors view point a little bit more.

My least successful article response I chose Human Behavior: The Way of Living. This

article discusses the difference between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind and how

your body reacts differently to different situations. They way that we were brought up and raised

has a lot to do with out our brains function later on in life. I didn’t focus on the points of the

article as much as I should have to get the full point across to the reader. I jumped around a little

bit too much not really talking about one specific thing in general but more of several vague

viewpoints. In the second paragraph I talked about how the author’s viewpoints are culturally

significant and how our brains function the way it does because our brains are wired to fulfill our

needs and meet our expectations of happiness. My second article response still met the criteria as

9

well but was lacking some highly needed organization throughout the paragraph, and the ideas

focusing on the main points were too broad.

After setting my two article responses out and comparing them I realized that my writing

style never seemed to change. I received 3 6 out of 10’s on all my article responses except one. I

feel like I could have pushed myself harder to give each one of my papers that extra something

that will make them stand out and let my teacher know that I tried my best and gave a lot of my

time and effort into every paper that I write. Even though my article response that received the

highest grade was good, it still lacked some of the necessary things I needed to receive 10 out of

10. The main reason I did not get as good of a grade as I could of was because the repetitiveness

throughout the paper. In my least successful article response I lacked major organization skills

and was jumping around to too many different topics were it was difficult to understand what

point I was trying to get across.

10

Formatted: Right

Least Successful Article Response

Human Behavior: The Way oOf Living

Brooks, David. “Social Animal.” Animal.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker. The New Yorker,

January 17, 2011. Web. 9 Sep. 2011.

In the article Social Animal The the author David Brooks does a few some studies to

finding out that we are not primarily the products of our conscious thinking. The main idea that

the author idea mainly that the author is promoting is the difference between the conscious mind

and the unconscious mind. Another point that the author focuses on is the idea that “early

experiences don’t determine a life, but they set pathways, which can be changed or reinforced by

later experiences.” For example, mothers that read their children Dr. Seuss “The Cat in the Hat”

while still in the womb are not as as good rhythmically inclined after birth, because they

remember the patterns as an infant. Millions of Americans everyday find themselves asking the

question, what truly makes them happyMillions of Americans debate the question all the time

what really makes us happy?. A study was shown that the daily activities that bring the most

happiness are sex, socializing after work, and having dinner with friends. When talking about the

dating life, a study by Alexander Willis was shown that we make judgments about a person’s

trustworthiness, competence, aggressiveness, and likeability the first tenth of a second. The

hHuman brain causesmakes us to react to each situation that we are thrown into whethereather

we know that we are consciously that we are doing it or not.

The author’s point of view is culturally significant because every single human being

goes through this some way or another. Each person’s brain operates differently, is different but

as humans we all have the same functions it, just variesying on how each brain reacts. She

explains the way that our brains works in certain situations, and how the opposite sex interacts

Formatted: Different first page header

Comment [GSC1]: The “o” in of should be lower case instead of upper case.

Comment [GSC2]: The name of the magazine should always be in italics.

Comment [GSC3]: You are not supposed to mention the name of the article in the first paragraph.

Comment [GSC4]: Switched up the words a little bit so the content of the sentence makes more sense.

Comment [GSC5]: Rewrote the sentence so it makes more sense.

Comment [GSC6]: Fixed some capitalization and spelling errors, as well as switched around some of the words in the sentence.

Comment [GSC7]: Removed the “s” off brain so it’s talking about one brain not multiple brain’s.

11

Formatted: Right

with one other consciously and unconsciously. Our mind can feed off of the interactions of other

people, a single person in particular, and even the environment that surrounds us. A quote from

David Brooks says, “Living is an inherently emotional business” meaning that a majority of the

things we do are based on emotion. It makes us realize that we do the things that we do for a

reason,, because our brains are wired to fulfill our needs and meet our expectations of happiness.

The brain sits in our skull, but our mind expands to limitless amount of ideas. The ideas that the

author challenges us to examine really is how our brain functions in general. How our human

nature depicts the way we live our life, the way that we react with others and even how we were

raised effects us today.

Comment [GSC8]: Got rid of “that” which was unnecessarily used in the sentence.

12

Least Successful Article Response

Human Behavior: The Way of Living

Brooks, David. “Social Animal.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, January 17, 2011. Web. 9

Sep. 2011.

The author David Brooks does a few studies to find out that we are not primarily the

products of our conscious thinking. The main idea that the author is promoting is the difference

between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Another point that the author focuses on

is the idea that “early experiences don’t determine a life, but they set pathways, which can be

changed or reinforced by later experiences.” For example, mothers that read their children Dr.

Seuss “The Cat in the Hat” while still in the womb are not as rhythmically inclined after birth,

because they remember the patterns as an infant. Millions of Americans everyday find

themselves asking the question, what truly makes them happy? A study was shown that the daily

activities that bring the most happiness are sex, socializing after work, and having dinner with

friends. When talking about the dating life, a study by Alexander Willis was shown that we make

judgments about a person’s trustworthiness, competence, aggressiveness, and likeability the first

tenth of a second. The human brain causes us to react to each situation that we are thrown into

whether we know consciously that we are doing it or not.

The author’s point of view is culturally significant because every single human being

goes through this some way or another. Each person’s brain operates differently, but as humans

we all have the same functions it just varies on how each brain reacts. She explains the way our

brain works in certain situations, and how the opposite sex interacts with one other consciously

and unconsciously. Our mind can feed off of the interactions of other people, a single person in

particular, and even the environment that surrounds us. A quote from David Brooks says,

13

“Living is an inherently emotional business” meaning a majority of the things we do are based

on emotion. It makes us realize that we do the things we do for a reason, because our brains are

wired to fulfill our needs and meet our expectations of happiness. The brain sits in our skull, but

our mind expands to limitless amount of ideas. The ideas that the author challenges us to

examine really is how our brain functions in general. How our human nature depicts the way we

live our life, the way that we react with others and even how we were raised effects us today.

14

Formatted: Right

Most Successful Article Response

Future American's: Being Set Up For Failure

Klein, Joel. The Failure of American Schools. June 2011. 6 Oct. 2011.

America desperately needs to have a better Public Education System for us to have a

stronger more efficient economy. Basically we need to dramaticallystically improve our public

schools, so we are producing dedicated, hard working, intelligent people to go out in the world

and compete for jobs. At this point in time our education systems are not we are not on the right

track to leading American students to success. America is now ranked one of the lowest now in

the basement for the amount of high school graduates and is barley hanging on to having the

highest rate of college graduates. A majority of graduated students according to the ACT

national organization “were not adequately prepared academically for first-year college courses.”

If we want the American income to increase workers are going to have to have good jobs,

including the skills to acquire those good jobs. To obtain a good job, a proper education is

required. Private schools are very skillful in the way they teach;, giving students the knowledge

they need to know that will help them become more to be prepared. Whereas Unlike public

schools focus more on the where the amount of service a teacher does, is more noticed than the

quality of service the teacher gives and. bBecause there is a lack of private schools in America,

the only solution is to reform our public schools.

The world is an extremely competitive place, and that is what we need to inform in our

public schooling system and . aA little competition never hurts anybody, and that’s exactly what

our school system should be teaching. The young adults growing up in America right now is our

future, and teachers hold the key to success in building up young students to change the future.

According to Albert Shanker, accountability needs to be measured by student outcomes, meaning

Formatted: Different first page header

Comment [GSC1]: Changed the word from drastically to dramatically because it sounded a lot better.

Comment [GSC2]: I added our education systems so the reader can know what I am talking about specifically.

Comment [GSC3]: Changed the sentence so that it would make more sense to the reader.

Comment [GSC4]: There needed to be a semi-colon instead of a comma.

Comment [GSC5]: Combined two sentences making them into one.

Comment [GSC6]: Both sentences were being repetitive so I crossed out one.

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Formatted: Right

how we show our progression over a period of time. Joel Klein’s point of views raise a

tremendous concern on how our future generation is going to be able to compete against the rest

of the world, if we are unable to academically keep up with our leading competitors. Shanker is

saying that students who are that are unable to maintain a level of accountability, should have

major consequences. With all of that being said, America should examine what their future

leaders, colleges, and business partners are being taught in public schooling systems. Making

sure that students are properly being trained, and guided for the next big chapter in their life,

which also determines the rest of their future.

Comment [GSC7]: Used the word who instead of that because it makes the sentence make more sense.

16

Most Successful Article Response

Future American's: Being Set Up For Failure

Klein, Joel. The Failure of American Schools. June 2011. 6 Oct. 2011.

America desperately needs to have a better Public Education System for us to have a

stronger more efficient economy. Basically we need to dramatically improve our public schools

so we are producing dedicated, hard working, intelligent people to go out in the world and

compete for jobs. At this point in time our education systems are not on the right track to leading

American students to success. America is now ranked one of the lowest for the amount of high

school graduates and is barley hanging on to having the highest rate of college graduates. A

majority of graduated students according to the ACT national organization “were not adequately

prepared academically for first-year college courses.” If we want the American income to

increase workers are going to have to have good jobs, including the skills to acquire those good

jobs. To obtain a good job, a proper education is required. Private schools are very skillful in the

way they teach; giving students the knowledge they need to know that will help them become

more prepared. Whereas public schools focus more on the amount of service a teacher does,

than the quality of service the teacher gives and because there is a lack of private schools in

America, the only solution is to reform our public schools.

The world is an extremely competitive place and a little competition never hurts anybody,

and that’s exactly what our school system should be teaching. The young adults growing up in

America right now is our future, and teachers hold the key to success in building up young

students to change the future. According to Albert Shanker, accountability needs to be measured

by student outcomes, meaning how we show our progression over a period of time. Joel Klein’s

point of views raise a tremendous concern on how our future generation is going to be able to

17

compete against the rest of the world if we are unable to academically keep up with our leading

competitors. Shanker is saying that students who are unable to maintain a level of accountability

should have major consequences. With all of that being said, America should examine what their

future leaders, colleges, and business partners are being taught in public schooling systems.

Making sure that students are properly being trained, and guided for the next big chapter in their

life, which also determines the rest of their future.

18

Formatted: Right

Ashley Vuduris

Professor Horton

English 1101

17 September 2011

Dealing and Coping with Emotions: Only Makes You Stronger

“Well, we’ve all got to go somehow.” No one knows when they are going to die, or how,

but the fact is that everyone does eventually die. That’s why life should be cherished and every

person should live his or her life to the fullest. Death and life are defiantly deep subjects to

wonder about, but neither should be feared. . It certainly is a deep subject to ponder about, but it

doesn’t always have to be a sorrowful subject. I was amazed at how serene Ann Hulbert’s

mother was when she knew that death was shortly coming upon her. She was actually ready to

die, instead of suffering the last remaining days she had left to live. I thought to myself, how

could anyone handle a situation that intense? Imagine if someone knew how long they had left

to live, or was told by a doctor that their life was soon going to end. Imagine if someone put a

time limit on how long they predict one selves life is going to be. The feeling was not mutual

with her family members and they did not easily accept the fact that their mother was soon going

to die. They had a difficult time accepting the fact that their mother had fallen so ill so They had

a difficult time coming to grips with reality that their mother had become so sick.

Watchingquickly. Watching day after day their mother slowly dying before their eyes left them

heartbroken and frustrated, leaving them to only feel uneasy on them feeling not knowing

exactly how they should go about the situation, let alone how to handle it. There was nothing that

they could do, except be there for her and support any decision that she wanted to make. The

Formatted: Different first page header

Comment [GSC1]: Changed the whole sentence so that I would sound better and make more sense to the reader.

Comment [GSC2]: Rewrote the sentence because the first one did not sound right the way it was worded.

Comment [GSC3]: Combined the two sentences into one so the paper would have a better flow.

Vuduris 2

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hardest concept for the family to do was to accept what cannot be helped, which was their

mother..

To Accept What Can Not Be Helped by Ann Hulbert talks about a mother slowing dying

of cancer, and shows how hera family copes with their emotions throughout her final days. The

hard times that they faced reminded me of the same exact thing that I went through with my

father. Ever since I was little I have grown up with my father never quite being 100% healthy. To

start off, the story of my father is the most personal memory that I have with him. It brings back

haunting memories of when I was a young child seeing my father in the condition that he was in.

It is a difficult thing to deal with not knowing when another brain tumor of his could come back,

or not even knowing what to expect anytime he goes into the doctor for a check up. I went

through tremendous struggles on how I coped with everything I was faced with, and the

emotions that I was feeling at the time. Because I was Being so young it was one of the most

confusing times of my life, but . aAs I got older and faced more difficult times it helped me to

become a stronger person. I realized the actuality of what was happening to my father and it

helped me cope with the other brain tumors that he was to later find out that he had. Life will

often be difficult at times throwing many struggles in your life, but how a person handles those

difficulties can make them become stronger than ever.

My father has been put through many difficulties in his life and is one of the strongest

men I have ever known. the strongest man I know. My father was diagnosed with his first

Astrocytoma brain tumor that was 9cm in diameter in 1997. He underwent a craniectomy a

month later that would forever change not only my life but my family’s as well. They couldn’t

quite remove the entire tumor and it began to re-grow back again. In September of 1997 during a

mandatory MRI, the tumor was at 3cm in diameter, . mMy father was everything to me; so

Comment [GSC4]: Added a little more detail to the context of the sentence so the reader has a more in-depth idea of who is being talked about.

Comment [GSC5]: Combined the two sentences together.

Vuduris 3

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finding this out left me crushed. I remember when my mother and father had first told my brother

and me what was going on but because I was . Being so little all that was running through my

mind was confusion. I thought how could this be happening to my dad? The most haunting and

vivid memory that I had of my father was when he came home after his surgery his head was

wrapped in gauze bandages. He looked like a mummy with the amount of gauze that was over

his head, except there was so much blood from his surgery the gauze turned a crimson red. When

I saw the scar from his surgery for the first time it made me break down into tears because I

knew after seeing that how real everything was. My father never showed the real fear that he

had, because he never wanted to frighten our family and he wanted to stay strong so we knew

everything would be all right.

My father being ill was the most difficult challenge I had ever gone through and .

cCoping with my emotions was the hardest part. I was no longer happy about anything anymore,

and I had no idea how I was going to get through this. All I could ever think is why does this

have to happen? I couldn’t understand why my dad had to go through this. Anger built up inside

me for the longest time, then resentment towards everything that I had believed in. My mother

helped me through the feelings I was dealing with. She was there for me when I felt like I had no

one else; she stayed strong and positive when I didn’t have the strength to do that. My faith I

believe in also helped me with the coping of my father’s illness. Prayer is something that I do

everyday, it is important to me and it helped me on a daily basis get over my sadness. If it wasn’t

for my certain beliefs and my mother I don’t know how I would have gotten through everything

at such a young, fragile age. Also hearing my father say that he was going to be okay and that

there was nothing for me to worry about made me realize that if he can be strong and positive,

and he is the one going through it then I should to. Coping with the whole situation aboutwith

Comment [GSC6]: Changed the “being” to” but because I was” so I could combine the two sentences into one.

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Formatted: Right

my father has made me become such a stronger person, and going through all of this helped me

become the person I am today.

Everything that I was faced with led me to become the women I am today. Going through

my fathers illness led me to feel emotionally helpless at first, but then when I did get through it I

felt stronger than ever. It helped me become the person I am today by going through

thingsdifficulties that I never thought I would face. I have become a stronger person emotionally

and mentally about every situation that I am up against and don’t look at everything bad that

happens in a negative way. I had my family to back me up when I felt like there was no one else

to turn to and the moral support of my friends was so comforting, without that I would not be in

the emotional state I am in todald not be who I am today. Coping with my father’s illness also

helped by emotionally preparing me for anything else that could possibly happen, and something

did. My dad was diagnosed with his fourth brain tumor in March of 2010. This time around

being older and knowing more about the situation I could mentally handle it and know that

everything was going to be okay if I just stayed strong, and kept my faith. I felt better that I could

also be my fathers support system and show him that I wasn’t afraid so he felt more comfort, and

knew that he didn’t have to deal with his illness alone. With difficulties coming into my life it

gives me every opportunity to become even stronger and prove to myself that I can get through

the challenges life throws me.

Being faced with challenges in your life and going through hardship not only makes a

person stronger but wisesmarter as well. Everyone goes through times in their life when they feel

like they can’t get through it or feels defeated. It matters how a person handles the situation

because it can affect them for the rest of their life. Going through this situation made me realize

that if I can get through this then I can get through anything. I finally came to the reality that I

Comment [GSC7]: Used the word wiser instead of smarter.

Comment [GSC8]: Deleted this comment because it was being repeated.

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Formatted: Right

could not change what has already happened, but grow stronger from each situation and move

forward and stay positive. At a point in time everyone eventually will lose their parent,. iIt’s just

the matter of when you lose your parent, and for such a young age that I was at it would have

been an uncommon thing to only grow up with one of your parents around. Thinking about death

can help us live better lives on a day-to-day basis, because it makes people aware how beautiful

life is. Taking care of our bodies can also help prevent many health problems that we had no idea

that we even have. That’s what I came to realize, that I should not take advantage of the life I

was given or the people that are in my life, because life is to short. Live life with no regrets and

maintain a healthy life-style, because doing so can prolong ones life and bring an abundant

amount of happiness.

Vuduris 6

23

Formatted: Right

Work Cited

Hulbert, Ann. To Accept What Can Not Be Helped. Winter 2011. 17 Sep. 2011

<http://theamericanscholar.org/to-accept-what-cannot-be-helped/>.

24

Ashley Vuduris

Professor Horton

English 1101

17 September 2011

Dealing and Coping with Emotions: Only Makes You Stronger

“Well, we’ve all got to go somehow.” No one knows when they are going to die, or how,

but the fact is that everyone does eventually die. That’s why life should be cherished and every

person should live his or her life to the fullest. Death and life are defiantly deep subjects to

wonder about, but neither should be feared. . I was amazed at how serene Ann Hulbert’s mother

was when she knew that death was shortly coming upon her. She was actually ready to die,

instead of suffering the last remaining days she had left to live. I thought to myself, how could

anyone handle a situation that intense? Imagine if someone knew how long they had left to live,

or was told by a doctor that their life was soon going to end. . The feeling was not mutual with

her family members and they did not easily accept the fact that their mother was soon going to

die. They had a difficult time accepting the fact that their mother had fallen so ill so quickly.

Watching day after day their mother slowly dying before their eyes left them heartbroken and

frustrated, leaving them to only feel uneasy on how they should go about the situation, let alone

how to handle it. There was nothing that they could do, except be there for her and support any

decision that she wanted to make. The hardest concept for the family to do was to accept what

cannot be helped, which was their mother.

To Accept What Can Not Be Helped by Ann Hulbert talks about a mother slowing dying

of cancer, and shows how her family copes with their emotions throughout her final days. The

hard times that they faced reminded me of the same exact thing that I went through with my

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29

father. Ever since I was little I have grown up with my father never quite being 100% healthy. To

start off, the story of my father is the most personal memory that I have with him. It brings back

haunting memories of when I was a young child seeing my father in the condition that he was in.

It is a difficult thing to deal with not knowing when another brain tumor of his could come back,

or not even knowing what to expect anytime he goes into the doctor for a check up. I went

through tremendous struggles on how I coped with everything I was faced with, and the

emotions that I was feeling at the time. Because I was so young it was one of the most confusing

times of my life, but as I got older and faced more difficult times it helped me to become a

stronger person. I realized the actuality of what was happening to my father and it helped me

cope with the other brain tumors that he was to later find out that he had. Life will often be

difficult at times throwing many struggles in your life, but how a person handles those

difficulties can make them become stronger than ever.

My father has been put through many difficulties in his life and is one of the strongest

men I have ever known. My father was diagnosed with his first Astrocytoma brain tumor that

was 9cm in diameter in 1997. He underwent a craniectomy a month later that would forever

change not only my life but my family’s as well. They couldn’t quite remove the entire tumor

and it began to re-grow back again. In September of 1997 during a mandatory MRI, the tumor

was at 3cm in diameter, my father was everything to me; so finding this out left me crushed. I

remember when my mother and father had first told my brother and me what was going on but

because I was so little all that was running through my mind was confusion. I thought how could

this be happening to my dad? The most haunting and vivid memory that I had of my father was

when he came home after his surgery his head was wrapped in gauze bandages. He looked like a

mummy with the amount of gauze that was over his head, except there was so much blood from

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29

his surgery the gauze turned a crimson red. When I saw the scar from his surgery for the first

time it made me break down into tears because I knew after seeing that how real everything was.

My father never showed the real fear that he had, because he never wanted to frighten our family

and he wanted to stay strong so we knew everything would be all right.

My father being ill was the most difficult challenge I had ever gone through and coping

with my emotions was the hardest part. I was no longer happy about anything anymore, and I

had no idea how I was going to get through this. All I could ever think is why does this have to

happen? I couldn’t understand why my dad had to go through this. Anger built up inside me for

the longest time, then resentment towards everything that I had believed in. My mother helped

me through the feelings I was dealing with. She was there for me when I felt like I had no one

else; she stayed strong and positive when I didn’t have the strength to do that. My faith I believe

in also helped me with the coping of my father’s illness. Prayer is something that I do everyday,

it is important to me and it helped me on a daily basis get over my sadness. If it wasn’t for my

certain beliefs and my mother I don’t know how I would have gotten through everything at such

a young, fragile age. Also hearing my father say that he was going to be okay and that there was

nothing for me to worry about made me realize that if he can be strong and positive and he is the

one going through it then I should to. Coping with the whole situation about my father has made

me become such a stronger person, and going through all of this helped me become the person I

am today.

Everything that I was faced with led me to become the women I am today. Going through

my fathers illness led me to feel emotionally helpless at first, but then when I did get through it I

felt stronger than ever. It helped me become the person I am today by going through things that I

never thought I would face. I have become a stronger person emotionally and mentally about

Vuduris 4

29

every situation that I am up against and don’t look at everything bad that happens in a negative

way. I had my family to back me up when I felt like there was no one else to turn to and the

moral support of my friends was so comforting, without that I would not be in the emotional

state I am in today. Coping with my father’s illness also helped by emotionally preparing me for

anything else that could possibly happen, and something did. My dad was diagnosed with his

fourth brain tumor in March of 2010. This time around being older and knowing more about the

situation I could mentally handle it and know that everything was going to be okay if I just

stayed strong, and kept my faith. I felt better that I could also be my fathers support system and

show him that I wasn’t afraid so he felt more comfort, and knew that he didn’t have to deal with

his illness alone. With difficulties coming into my life it gives me every opportunity to become

even stronger and prove to myself that I can get through the challenges life throws me.

Being faced with challenges in your life and going through hardship not only makes a

person stronger but wiser as well. Everyone goes through times in their life when they feel like

they can’t get through it or feels defeated. It matters how a person handles the situation because

it can affect them for the rest of their life. I finally came to the reality that I could not change

what has already happened, but grow stronger from each situation and move forward and stay

positive. At a point in time everyone eventually will lose their parent, it’s just the matter of when

you lose your parent, and for such a young age that I was at it would have been an uncommon

thing to only grow up with one of your parents around. Thinking about death can help us live

better lives on a day-to-day basis, because it makes people aware how beautiful life is. Taking

care of our bodies can also help prevent many health problems that we had no idea that we even

have. That’s what I came to realize, that I should not take advantage of the life I was given or the

Vuduris 5

29

people that are in my life, because life is to short. Live life with no regrets and maintain a healthy

life-style, because doing so can prolong ones life and bring an abundant amount of happiness.

Vuduris 6

29

Work Cited

Hulbert, Ann. To Accept What Can Not Be Helped. Winter 2011. 17 Sep. 2011

<http://theamericanscholar.org/to-accept-what-cannot-be-helped/>.