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Contents 1 Contexts that Make Me 2 "A Whole New World" 2.1 Feedback 3 Making a Difference 3.1 Practice makes "better" 3.2 This I Believe 4 Procrastination

[edit] Contexts that Make Me

I recommend that my writer uses "The contexts that Make Me" format. I chose this mostly because people never had a chance to tell people what made me who i am today, and with wiki that will be the perfect opportunity. It's also a good chance for people to look back in time and see why i am the way that i am today and which people or what events influenced me the most. Blendi 16:20, 20 September 2007 (EDT)

[edit] "A Whole New World"

A brand new country, a bizarre language, and an unusual culture and lifestyle; young Blendi entered a whole new realm. As a twelve year old boy, his family made an immense leap and moved from Albania to the United States of America. Everything about the new country was strange yet remarkable to Blendi’s growing mind. Blendi came into the country not knowing a word of English. It was tough for him to learn a brand new and complicated language. The first three months in America were the hardest to deal with. Just from hearing and listening to people speak English, Blendi began to understand the context of our familiar language, but he could not figure out how to answer back. Blendi experienced difficulty in this learning experience because he knew what he wanted to say, but he was only capable in responding in his own familiar language, Albanian. After about a year in America, Blendi was able to adjust and grab hold of the challenges associated with learning this new language and his transition to the U.S. Soon enough, he fluently spoke a full, second language; I am amazed at how quickly Blendi learned a completely foreign language and adapted to a whole new surrounding! Fortunately, Blendi and his sister Lorena were young when they moved into the new country, therefore the change wasn’t too hard on their social life and they adapted fairly quickly, as opposed to Blendi’s parents who had a tough time adjusting to the unusual and unfamiliar surroundings.

Given that Blendi’s parents had a lack of knowledge for the English language, Mr. and Mrs. Ceci struggled to find a job. After moving to America, Mr. and Mrs. Ceci settled for low paying jobs which aroused hardship; it was a struggle for the Ceci family to become accustomed to the foreign culture and settle for minimum wage jobs because it was nowhere near the lifestyle the Ceci’s lived in Albania. With the Ceci’s struggling to maintain a healthy, fulfilled lifestyle, Blendi got a job at CVS as a photo-lab technician, as he always tried to lend a helping hand to his family financially and emotionally, whenever it was needed.

Arriving in the U.S., the Ceci family settled in Worcester, Massachusetts. Not only did the move to the U.S. force Blendi to experience financial challenges and face challenges to learn a new language, the move made Blendi see a mass of differences between Albanian and American cultures. In Albania, there was no drinking age and smoking was allowed; because there were no restrictions on the two substances, hardly anybody ever abused them. Blendi noticed that in the U.S., a substantial amount of people illegally abuse alcohol and smoking. Comparing the substance abuse in Albania and America, Blendi believes that if the U.S. law didn’t prohibit the two substances, the abuse would be greatly reduced, similar to that of his home country, Albania. Another dissimilarity Blendi noticed of the American culture was the difference in the foods made and consumed. American food was new, exciting, and delicious at first, but there was nothing like his Mother’s unique Albanian recipes! Blendi also noticed a great distinction in the style of music Americans and Albanians listened to. The people of Albania listen to mostly folk songs whereas in the U.S., Blendi noticed a vast mixture of different styles and sounds which certainly caught his attention. The dissimilarity in American and Albanian tunes expanded Blendi’s musical tastes to a varied range of unique sounds and attracted Blendi to the musical aspect of the American culture. Blendi also noticed a difference in popular religious views in the U.S. In Albania, interreligious marriage is very common and in some parts of the country, it is the rule. In America, following or practicing a certain religion is not necessary, nor obligatory. Blendi realized a similarity within both countries in that neither are religious extremists; both countries take pride in widespread accord of religious practices. In America, Blendi had to become accustomed to one more major difference; in Albania, the most commonly watched and played sport is football and in the U.S., the sport Albanians know as “football”, Americans know as “soccer!” Although “football” is not as widespread in America, it has always been Blendi’s all-time favorite sport. All of these dissimilarities between the two cultures forced Blendi to tackle many obstacles in the adapting process, in addition to the normal challenges a teen faces while growing up. However, Blendi was determined to mature and turn the experience around and explore the mysteries of the big “free” country.

As Blendi immerged into a teenager in the U.S., he adopted many favorites of his new American culture. For instance, his favorite movies are “Bronx Tale” and “American History X” and he enjoys listening to various styles of music apart from what he knew in Albania. During high school in Worcester, Massachusetts, Blendi acquired fairly good grades, which is impressive because of the tough challenges and chaos Blendi had to face. When Blendi wasn’t working at CVS helping his family survive in America, Blendi’s spent his spare time playing soccer, of course! Growing up, he played mainly in recreation leagues, and still to this day, playing soccer is Blendi’s favorite hobby. Unlike some American teenagers, Blendi does not really enjoy playing video games. Without a doubt, Blendi is an outdoors kind of guy! As an eighteen year old, Blendi now attends the University of Massachusetts Amherst alongside his older sister, Lorena. Blendi certainly loves his family but is more friend-oriented, especially if kicking around a ball outside or a small game of soccer with friends is involved.

Living in the U.S. for six years, Blendi has become thoroughly accustomed to American ways. He sometimes misses his home in Albania, but Blendi is happy and enjoys himself here in his new American surroundings. Blendi did not have to give up his Albanian culture completely, and most of the time, he still speaks Albanian at home with his family. Moving to the U.S.A., Blendi had an immense adjustment; I can’t even imagine how much courage, bravery, and effort Blendi and his family had to put forth to adjust and survive. Although new challenges are generally exciting, modifying what you were brought up with; your lifestyle, language, and culture; must be one of the greatest challenges one could possibly face. I marvel at Blendi’s strength as he dealt with this overtaking challenge along with the common challenges of a normal teenager. Growing up with all of the new and exciting and even difficult experiences really helped develop who Blendi Ceci is as an individual; strong-willed, smart, bold, diverse, unique, caring, and FUN!!

Tlnelson

[edit] Feedback

Feedback

[edit] Making a Difference

To: American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.

Spinning the globe to the United States I find out that Aids/HIV used to be a terrifying death sentence, but now it's under control. Many people consider Aids/HIV in Africa a cause of global terrorism a time bomb and an unanswered moral challenge. “The Invisible People” Behrman lays out a harsh and frightening overview. He makes a warning that AIDS - "the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time" is also a national security threat to the USA. The AIDS epidemic is a time bomb because it can destabilize continents and destroy countries. (Behrman) These are all shocking words. AIDS is treatable, yet remains a death sentence for more thirty-seven million adults and more than 2 million children. To add to the despair, the numbers are expected to rise(Avert).

How can this be? The answer is two words: money and geography. If you live in the USA and the developed world, it's highly unlikely you'll die from the disease. If you live in Africa or India, you are doomed. This frightening paradox is what is wiping of the face of the earth many innocent souls. Because the suffering from Aids/HIV is so far away, so removed from our everyday lives, we try to ignore it and not think about what is going on. It is too hard to do anything about, so why not just ignore it? In the Book

Many people in western countries worry more about their own material well being to have everything be perfect then actually taking a second to think that eight thousand people are dying daily in Africa. It was shocking to us when a thousand people died in the 9/11 attack. Isn’t it the same way? In this case AIDS is what’s terrorizing half of the world. More and more people are dying yet we pay no attention to it. Right now the world is worrying about a future biological warfare with Iraq and other Asian countries when they already have a present “biological warfare” right in front of them, Aids. According to one of Africa’s Medical Research Council, 1,700 people are being infected daily, adding to the 4.3 million who already carry the virus. Poverty is directly related to the Aids pandemic around the world and not much has been done to sustain it and kill off the disease once and for all. (Irwin) The world is in the midst of the worst pandemic it has ever seen, and still governments and people are not doing enough to stop the spread of this insidious disease. “The good intentions of governments in most of the developing countries fail to deliver anything more than short-term and fractured responses in the worst-affected countries, and the number of people living with HIV soars.” (Avert)Why does this happen? Is it because we do not like to think about it? Maybe there is just too much indifference. Well, we cannot afford to stand by and let the disease take over. Too many lives have been lost... many more lives will be lost throughout the world in the next few years.

We need to take action and maybe sacrifice some of our luxuries to help these people. For us this might be a morality issue for a lot of others it’s survival. We are wasting money on extra televisions, stylish clothes, expensive dinners, sophisticated stereo systems, overseas holidays, a second car etc. All this extra money can be saved and used as the solution to helping AIDS infected countries. This extra money could provide medication and education. Loewenson has developed a strategy for helping with AIDS. To successfully respond to AIDS we need to focus on three areas: HIV prevention, Treatment and care, and addressing the impact on Human Development.(Loewenson) Finding out who has HIV is an important step to prevention. If we could prevent it then we need to take care and treat the HIV infected. Finally addressing it will make individuals and communities less susceptible to risk. These points all have to be treated as one to produce significant results.

The question on everyone’s mind however is how can we put this plan into action and get the necessary funding. The International Aids economic network is a UN agency that is working to make this a reality. They receive funding from institutions and are a leading resource for economists and policy makers involved in the fight against AIDS. “They provide tools and analysis on the economics of HIV prevention and treatment in developing countries, for compassionate, cost-effective responses to the global epidemic.”(Forsythe)

The International Aids Economic network provide us with a way to handle money. If we want to help we can make donations to them. This money than could be delivered to the Non Governmental Organizations that are responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis like the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, Care International etc.

NGOs can also work with the government either directly or indirectly to get the necessary funds they need. The Asia Development bank (ADB), for example, works directly with the government of its developing member countries to support the activities of NGOs. Recently ADB approved grants to 13 NGOs to prevent HIV/AIDS. The grants were provided through ADB's Cooperation Fund for Fighting HIV/AIDS in Asia and Pacific, financed by the Government of Sweden.(ADB) ADB works to support activities of NGOs in Asia and the Pacific. If we had more ADB’s around the world we could see some change around us. It is clear that the NGOs alone will not be enough to handle the HIV/AIDS crisis appropriately. People need to be more involved and governments should help the NGOs by providing funding. Big corporations should also chip in and form partnerships with NGOs. The crisis needs to be confronted globally and the rich countries need to help the poor countries. We need to understand that AIDS does not discriminate...It affects young and old, men and women, black and white. We need to set the differences aside and help each other because we are all humans.

The weak countries will continue to cry out for the world's assistance. Certainly, the tragic need is heartbreaking and huge. Three out of every hundred households in South Africa is headed by an orphaned child, taking care of other, even younger children. Almost a million children have lost their mothers to AIDS, and the numbers are rising. Zimbabwe, South Africa's northerly neighbor, is undergoing an ecological crisis because all the forests are being cut down to make coffins for AIDS victims. (Campbell) Since AIDS is terrorizing half of the world why doesn’t the world take it more seriously and fight the war against AIDS since millions are dying? Should we pay extra taxes to help Africa? Is it right for us to spend our own money on Aids? Does the USA have a moral obligation to assist since we are wealthy, powerful and able? Until we find answers to these questions a lot of people will continue to suffer and eventually die. We do have the power to do something but whether we do or not is up to us.

Thank you for taking my advice into consideration.

Works Cited

Behrman , Greg. The Invisible People: How the U.S. Has Slept Through the Global AIDS A division of Simon & Schuster , INC. 2004 <http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-People-

Irwin, Alexander, and Joyce Millen. “Global AIDS: Myths and Facts, Tools for Fighting the AIDS Pandemic.“Canada2003

Loewenson, R. “Exploring equity and inclusion in the responses to AIDS” Pg. 3-4. http://silk.library.umass.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc t=true&db=aph&AN=24280509&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Forsythe , Steven. "The new IAEN." IAEN. 5 Nov 2007 <http://www.iaen.org/>.

ADB “Funding and support resources for NGOs” 5 Nov 2007 < http://www.adb.org/NGOs/funding.asp>

Campbell, Catherine. “Letting Them Die: Why HIV/Aids Prevention Programmes Fail.” Great Britain, 2003.

Avert “Number of people living with HIV” 13 Nov 2007 <http://www.avert.org/worlstatinfo.htm >

[edit] Practice makes "better"

The more i write the easier i find writing to be. Each of the papers i have written so far tend to follow this pattern. Today I went back and looked at some of the essays i had written earlier this semester. One of them was "The Wall" essay. I felt great because this time i looked at it and noticed my own mistakes, which usually never happens. I have my classmates to thank for that. The intensive peer editing that we did made me a better writer. One important piece that helped me realize what i was doing wrong was Steph's feedback on how I gave my own feedback. She showed me how important reckognizing the rhetorical situation. It is a key point in writing a successful paper, as we have seen with the hawaiians and their case.

When I wrote my introduction there was writing elements i wasn't thinking about because they were never brought to my attention until Steph's feedback came back to me. She states that "reading the piece made me feel a bit breatheless." This happened because my paper did not have enough detail and without explaining one point of it I jumped into another one. This is one of my sentences from the paper: "Although Marco Cross is not someone who just sits and analyzes people he takes what he feels is valuable{such as...?} and applies it to his everydaty life." After this sentence i jumped into another topic trying to make a different point. The absence of evidence is what gave Steph the sense of rushing. It also plays a big role in the organization of my paper. With evidence i tended to jump around a lot so i could have mopre to talk about, bnut that changed the format of the essay i chose and made it hard to identify.

Focusing is another skill that i have gained in this class so far. When we wrote our research paper, the first time i basically wrote about AIDS and our moral attachment toward it. Although it seems like that is specific enough as opposed to just writing about AIDS when Steph peer edited it, she showed me how i could focus on it more and talk about how to solve the problem rather than just presenting it. I still think that peer editing is the most important toll in writing and because of it my writing skill have improved significantly and writing isn't just something "I still suck at" no matter what.

One of the papers that showed me I was improving was the "Interacting with Text". In the feedback from this paper Steph states that my point was strong. It still showed however, that i needed to get to the point earlier instead of "waffling". She states that my point needs to be more organized as the main theme. Setting the theme is something I always ignored when writing papers because it seemed to form itself, however i learned that that is not the case. Steph showed me that there is always room for improvement. I was happy to see that my essay provided wnough evidence and hopefully removed the sense of rushing.

I feel like i made a lot of improvement since the beginning of class. I can put my ideas in a more organized manner instead of just throwing them on my paper. I have learned to give as much evidence as possible for the points I try to make, however iI am still not perfect. I learned that in writing you can never be perfect until your work is edited several times and than rewritten.

[edit] This I Believe

[edit] Procrastination

Most of our parents hate when we do this but for some of us it is not just something we do. For some of us procrastination is a lifestyle. The hardest thing for me is to start homework a day or two before they are due. I tend to wait for the last day or maybe in this case the same day the assignment is due to do it. I have tried doing it differently it just does not work. Being a procrastinator makes my life less stressful because deadlines do not bother me too much. In my high school English class we had a project due that everyone forgot about. A day before the teacher reminded me and the rest of the class that the project was due. I never felt happier to be a procrastinator. A lot of students were panicking about it, however that did not bother me. I was going to do it that day anyways, even if I knew before time.

There are a lot of people who study for days and days and then they end up with a bad grade. I recommend them to switch things up a little. Procrastinating gives me a more optimistic attitude. I do not have to worry for an assignment until it is due, so until that day I will be a very happy and optimistic dude, free of any worries. If it is a hard assignment and you start it three days before for the next three days you are going to be thinking of how hard the assignment is and how bad you are going to do on it. If you just leave it for the last day than at least you slept better the other two days before.

Procrastinating also keeps me busy. If I leave my homework for the last minute I always have something to do. Whether I like doing homework or not they do make time go by faster, and if it is a Monday night there is really nothing better to do anyways. Being a procrastinator is not a bad thing. It means you are also better at improvising. Procrastinators like me are not left with a lot of time so when I encounter a problem that took someone two days to solve I “have to” do it in 2 hours thinking twice as hard. I believe procrastinating is a skill that we somehow learn very early in our life. In my psychology class we were shown a test that students that were regular procrastinators had GPA’s similar to the students that did not procrastinate. Unbelievably they also had a higher state well being. This information made me fit right in. It is all the evidence I needed to believe that procrastination is the way to go.