“Fly Paper (An Arsenic Story Told in Four Acts)”

I really liked reading “Fly Paper (An Arsenic Story Told in Four Acts)” because it was very clear and her voice is pretty easy to follow. Before reading this article I had never really ever heard of “fly paper” or what it technically means. I find it pretty interesting and appealing that back in that time period people used it for more than just pest control, it is scary to me to think that it could be so easy to use. Deborah Blum talks about some books with deaths related to arsenic poisoning. She also talks about Dashiell Hammett’s classic book “Fly Paper”. Deborah paraphrases what exactly happens in “Fly Paper’ and she makes you want to know all the details of the book and actually want to read it from start to finish. I really never would have thought or know about arsenic as such a poison to kill people with it hadn’t been for this article. In general the article “Fly Paper (An Arsenic Story Told in Four Acts)” was a very enjoyable and an easy read.

Political spats on Facebook spill into real life

“Political spats on Facebook spill into real life” proves that most of our so called friends on Facebook, are just people that we have pretty much nothing in common. When one of our “friends” posts something besides a pointless status it can show who they truly are and what they really believe in but most of their friends are immediately turned off. For me personally I never mind friends posting about their candidate that they favor, but only if it isn’t rude or insulting. During the time when people were trying to cause chaos about Obama’s race, that isn’t something, anyone should post no matter how much you dislike the president. In the article “One in six social network users say they've changed their views about a political issue after discussing it or reading posts about it on a social networking site,” according to a Pew Research Center survey fielded in January and February.

This is why I will block anything that down right insulting and also gruesome pictures of any subject. We need to learn to set boundaries and take a proactive role because Facebook is supposed to be fun, and no one enjoys getting into arguments with people over the stupidest things.

"The Things They Carried"

"The word war itself has a kind of glazing abstraction to it that conjures up bombs and bullets and so on, whereas my goal is to try to, so much as I can, capture the heart and the stomach and the back of the throat of readers who can lie in bed at night and participate in a story." - Author Tim O'Brien

The quote holds true in this book “The Things They Carried,” because he talks about the experience on a group of soldiers in the Vietnam War. Reading this story will put you right along the lines of the soldiers. It is one of the rare works of recent literature that has helped define Vietnam and the experience of war.

In this News Hour interview, he talks about goals in writing the book and how it relates to his experience fighting in the Vietnam War, and what the younger generation should know about war. Tim O'Brien had to set out to write about for people that were over 25, he wasn't aiming at high school or the college audience. “The Things They Carried” is meant to go above what war is really about and more into the physical objects you carry with you and the memories you brought with it. 

"In the heat wave, the case against air conditioning."

Cox rants about the over use of air conditioning in his story, and how it will most likely bring around the fate of civilization in general. He goes on to describe the authentic utopia that Americans could create if we would just disregard this horrible device, the air conditioner, and a return to a time that was a lot simpler before its invention. He makes a picture for the reader a vision of the work place that should decrease the use air conditioning. Cox says that “In a world without air conditioning, a warmer, more flexible, more relaxed workplace helps make summer a time to slow down again.” If he thinks this is true then Cox should definitely prove it. The thing is he can’t, Cox has not authoritative or believable evidence that proves his claim. There are some politically driven group of people that have classified carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. This means that they have made the assumption that people pollute our planet by the simple act of exhaling. If the United States is to be forced to give up the use of air conditioning maybe Cox could hold back from exhaling as a salute of good faith. 

A Fable for Tomorrow

Rachel Carson’s “A Fable for Tomorrow” is a fictional story of destruction; she makes a point that some of these factual effects of pesticide use society. This is an accumulation of problems that have taken place in real locations as a result of pesticide use; this story is trying to aim the author’s support and view that pesticides are dangerous for human life, animal life, and the ecosystem.

A Fable for Tomorrow contrasts the wreckage of a town with their spirited beginnings, using three dominant methods of persuasion to try to convince the reader that pesticide use is damaging to all weather you’re human or animal. Ordinary people destroy our environment by polluting the air we breathe, trashing the ground that we walk on and the plants and animals we use as vital food source. Besides the vital parts of what we use of the environment that humans must need, there is the beauty part of the environment. From every flower that blooms to the leaves changing colors. Carson made an amazing point. Everyone helps participate in the disasters that taken place but we need to stop contributing more to the problem and take what we have now and enjoy it. 

Memories

One More to the Lake by E.B. White is a piece on the dynamic power of memory and the chill of mortality. Recapitulating a camping visiting on a lake with his son, White thinks back of how so many of the details he now experiences with his son are some of the same he experienced with his father a generation ago. Throughout his story, he routinely mentions how he cannot distinguish the memory from the current experience. Further on in the story, White introduces that in a way, both summertime, lake cabins, and family get-togethers describes “Americans at play” and this portrays the peaceful, good, and joyful in our lives. But, by the essay’s conclusion, when he brings his readers back to the present, White remembers the time when he indeed marched on, and he just like his father will soon die and White will just become another memory. One thing that this story has told me is memories are different for everyone and the hold something dear to our hearts. They remind us of who we are and where we came from. The senses, whether it could be taste, touch, sight, hearing, or smell, can physically bring us back to a certain memory.

The Price We Pay

This is an amazing story that shows true bravery about his personal experience on that tragic day. The Price We Pay is a mournful story, but also comes with a good message. Our country is not afraid; I don’t know why people could ever think of doing such tragic things to so many, but everyone knows that there are people out there that are not always there and sick in the head, and when it comes to our country we never backed down once, it will only make us stronger. I couldn’t imagine how scared Adam would be thinking this would be another normal day at work and then everything just flashed before his eyes. He is one brave man to stay calm throughout the whole situation, trying to be so optimistic in that time of chaos shows a lot of strength. The reading gave me the imagination as if I was right by his side experiencing what he was experiencing with all the details of what was happening. It was harrowing that someone had to go through a day no one will ever forget but he is a hero in my book. He didn’t have to save people and put his life up for risk, it is awe-inspiring that so many have survived because of him.