Table of Content

Table of Contents

A little about me

”Off The Map”

Remeber The Titans

Technology vs. Traditions revised

Technology Original

What’s in a Purse

My Reflection Letter

Well this wonderful journey has come to an end, and before we all go our separate ways I would like to take the time to tell you all a little about me and share some of my reflections about the course with you. First off, my name is La Keshia Drahos and I just turned 21 in February. I am a Navy wife and have been for two years now. I have three pets, which consist of two dogs and a cat, and I love them as if they were my kids. I am also a full time student studying to become a nurse. Which is why I took this class, it is one my required class to get into the nursing program. When I signed up for this class, I was not sure what I was getting myself into I thought that I would not make it to the last day of class. I was somewhat disappointed that I could not be a classroom setting, simply because I feel that is the best way to learn. In addition, I felt like online class were just an easy way out of doing too much homework.

However, to my surprise, this class proved to be just as challenging as a regular class and I have learned a lot from this class. Some of the things that I have learned from this class are how to write under pressure, I need to improve my brain storming skills, and how to think outside of the box. Like when it comes to what a community is, I have always thought of a community as a neighborhood or small town. It was not until, we did the paper on community that I realized that a community could be so much more than that. The main thing I learned to do is being able to see things from other people of view and be able to listen without judging them. The discussion boards helped me a lot with being able to see things from other people point of view. We have gone over so much in this class from talking about tradition, community, and identity to things like analyzing movies and articles. We were asked to choose four things out of all these things we have talked about in class, put each into one of the following categories, and put them into our portfolio.

1. Choose a writing that demonstrates your critical thinking skills
2. Choose a writing that demonstrates your skills at revision and reseeing your work
3. Choose a writing that illustrates your awareness of audience and voice
4. Choose a writing that you liked—a “Writer’s Choice”

I chose the following the pieces to put in my portfolio.

1. I chose one of mine timed writings, which was about conformity. This timed writhing was on a movie called “off the map”. I chose this one because I felt it demonstrates my critical thinking the most. I was surprised at much I was able to think outside of the box with this particle writhing.

2. I chose one my paper on “why it is that pop culture erodes tradition?” which I named “Technology or old fashion traditions?” I felt really good when I wrote this paper but when I got it back I found out that I had made quite a few mistakes on it. Therefore, I feel that this paper can use a revising.

3. I chose my discussion board about remember the titans. I felt that I did a good job not being bias and not using the word you (which I tend to want to do a lot). I also felt that I did a good job of explaining the point that I was trying to get across. For those reason I felt that I did good job of being aware of the audience.

4. I chose to use my one of mine blogs named “what my purse says about me”. I chose this blog because it was my favorite assignment to do. I had fun with it and I learned a lot about what kind of image I tend to give off to other people.

Well that is the end of my reflection of this class I hope you enjoyed reading my papers and learning about me.

"Off the Map"

Conformity is the process by which an individual’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by other people. The film “off the map” challenges this in many ways throughout the movie. When I think of conformity, I think of everybody following a certain set of rules rather it be moral or lawful. The family was most defiantly a non-conformity family.

One of the ways the family challenged conformity is by living without money. Most people believe that having more money gives you a better life, but this the complete opposite for Bo and her family. They thought of living without money as having their life truly being theirs to live and not somebody else. I commend them for doing this to a point, yes, it would be nice not to have to worry about money, but there are something’s that you just need money for like doctors’ visit and stuff like that.

Even though Bo’s family lived one way she was the non-conformity in her family. She wanted to get away from the life style that her parents lived. She wanted to have a big house with sprinklers. She rebelled a lot against her family ways, for instance killing the coyote and buying the boat. Also Bo wanted a credit card so bad that she stole some else’s information, just so she can live what she called a normal life. I am not surprised by this since most kids go through this stage in their life, without the stealing somebody’s information of course. However, it did not help that her parents did not really give her any boundaries like most parents do. There are not too many parents that would allow their children to do the things that Bo’s parents let her do. This family lived by their own rules and did not care what others thought or had to say about it. Maybe that is the reason they lived so far out in the middle of nowhere so they can live as they please.

Remeber the Titans

Remember the titans is a movie about a high school football team that overcomes the hardship of prejudice. The insiders in this movie was both the white kid and both sides could also be considered the outsiders. It just depend on how you look at it. All insiders are people who are in your clique and the outsiders are the people who you believe do not belong. This movie shows how socioeconomic plays a role in our everyday life. People tend to group up with others like them and that is exactly what the kids in this movie did, they stayed in their comfort zone. The whites’ kids and black stayed within what they perceived at the time to be their rightful place. However as time with on they started to see that there was more to the world then what was in their group at the time ( group being race) and started to be more willing to accept others and form a bond with them. In the end, they were happy that they stepped out of their comfort zone.

La Keshia Drahos
Harrington/Huntington
English 101 OL
04 March 2009
Technology or old fashion traditions?

Technology is beginning to rob children of many possible wonderful childhood memories and family bonding moments that take place through family traditions. Many parents rely on technology to teach their children things like colors or numbers and even animals. Just look at all the so called “smart toys” for kids. Parents will buy a toy in a heartbeat if it says it will teach their kids to read or learn their colors. Whatever happened to taking an hour or two out of the day to teach a child their colors and numbers? This tradition not only gives a child a head start on some of the things needed to succeed in early education but it also provides perfect family bonding time.

I remember when I was young and how my mom used to teach me my ABC’s and how to spell. She brought a bunch of magnets for the refrigerator. She used to arrange the letters into a word and help me spell it out first by letters. Then she would have me sound it out like three times in a row. She would then wait for about five to ten minutes and ask me what the word was and how it was spelled. When I got the word right, I got a cookie and the sense of accomplishment. I loved the time I got to spend with my mommy learning my ABC’s. I looked forward to it every day, and I loved showing her the words I knew when we went out to the store etc... My mom was teaching things I needed to know while building a strong bond between us.

Sadly enough many kids from this generation will not even be able to imagine their parents doing such a thing with them, these are just some of the memories that young kids now days will more than likely never experience because parents are letting technology raise their children. The sad part is that these are the kind of memories that they would cherish for a lifetime and nine time out of ten pass down to their children. As I cherished the memory of learning my ABC”s with my mother, I plan to pass the same memory down to my children. What is worse is the fact that the parents are letting this happen by not making the kids spend quality time as a family.

For a family who has multiple children of various ages these unfair to all the kids. Because the younger kids do not get to have the memories of the time they spent with their family doing certain traditions like learning to cook, sew, or learning their ABC’s, because they wrapped in a world of technology. As for the older kids of the family, they do not have that connection with the younger kids as far as family traditions. There is a passage in the article “Thoroughly Modern Dining” that I really liked, mainly because it shows the importance of family bonding for families. Pillsbury stated in this passage “my older brother continually tells me that we grew up with different parents in the same house. His memories of those times vary widely from mine. It is not important whose memory might be more accurate, or whether either is accurate for that matter. The point is that every single day we did share time together that built a bond between us which lasted a lifetime of living on opposite sides of the nation and leading quite different lives.” (Pillsbury) Even though this article is talking about families going out to eat more instead of cooking at home its’ stills show us the importance of family traditions.

Technology is taking over our lives more and more every day. Between the computers, iPods, mp3 players, video games, and the television most of us no longer spend much time bonding with our families. It seems like kids would rather sit in their rooms than participate in a family night or family trip to the park. However, I do not think that technology is all the blame for traditions dying off slowly but surely. Parents seem to be ok with their kids spending more time in their rooms on the computer or listening to their iPod then them spending time with them. They use technology as a quick fix to get the kids out of their hair. For an example, many mothers tend to pop in a video when their child starts to cry or get too active for their liking. Technology is a great help but just like anything else too much can be a harmful thing and we need a good balance of technology and old fashion ways. Parents need to remember what it was like to have family traditions and bonding time.

Technology Original

La Keshia Drahos good MLA header
Harrington/Huntington
English 101 OL
04 March 2009
Technology or old fashion traditions? Titles are not in bold or underlined in MLA, and the first and last word are capitalized, as well as any words over 3 letters.

Technology is beginning to rob children of many possible wonderful childhood memories and family bonding moments that take place through family traditions. Technology is taking over our lives more and more every day. Between the computers, iPods, mp3 players, video games, and the television most of us no longer spend much time bonding? with our families. It seems like kids wouldrather sit in their rooms thanparticipate in a family night or family trip to the park. Remember the memories of going on a road trip or going fishing every Saturday with the men of the family; or the women of the family teaching the young girls how to cook, sew and clean (while mother passed down her little secrets on how to make the house smell perfect or the secret to make her famous apple pie). We don’t usually end a paragraph with something in parentheses. Make your thesis statement here. What are you going to prove about pop-culture and how it pushes or changes traditions?


I remember when I was young and sonic came out on saga genius. ?? I don’t know what this means. Explain what this is for the reader. I loved that game I would play it every day. However, it was not my favorite thing to do as a? past time. I loved to go outside with my friends and play games like four square, hide and seek, and make believe adventures. I also looked forward to going to Mill Creek Park with my mom or going to get ice cream just because she felt like it was a good day to do so. I was eating strawberries the other day and it reminded me of the generic homemade strawberry short cake my mom taught me to make. We used to take strawberries slice them up and then mix them with about a cup of sugar and let them sit over night. Then we would buy little round pound cake and put vanilla ice cream in them and then finally put the strawberries on top. This is a tradition that I would love to pass down to my kids some day. I can remember it like it was yesterday when she first taught me how to make them, but I cannot remember the first thing about how to play sonic. And? What connection to ? is this? How does this relate to technology? Isn’t passing down traditions like these the responsibility of a parent despite technology?


These are just some of the memories that young kids will more than likely never experience.because? The sad part is that these are the kind of memories that they would cherish for a lifetime and pass down to their children. As I cherish the memory of my moms’ strawberry short cakes. sentence fragment What is worse is the fact that the parents are letting this happen by not making the kids spend quality time as a family. For a family who has multiple children of various ages thesethis is? unfair to all the kids. meta discourse; avoid it! because the younger kids do not get to have the memories of the time they spent with their family doing certain traditions like learning to cook, sew, or fishing with their dad, and the older kids do not have that connection with the younger kids as far as family traditions. How is this generation of technology lovers supposed to pass down great family traditions and family bonding moments if they won’t come out of their rooms and leave their precious technology alone and their parents keep encouraging the behavior by not saying anything? I don’t know. . .can you answer this for the reader?

There is a passage in the article “Thoroughly Modern Dining”, because it shows the importance of family bonding for children and their families. Pillsbury stated in this passage “my older brother continually tells me that we grew up with different parents in the same house. His memories of those times vary widely from mine. It is not important whose memory might be more accurate, or whether either is accurate for that matter. The point is that every single day we did share time together that built a bond between us which lasted a lifetime of living on opposite sides of the nation and leading quite different lives.” Citation? Even though this article is talking about families going out to eat more instead of cooking at home its’ stills show us the importance of family traditions. But it doesn’t relate to technology, does it?


However, I do not think that technology is all the blame for traditions dying off slowly but surely. Here’s your anti-thesisParents seem to be ok with their kids spending more time in their rooms on the computer or listening to their iPod then them spending time with them. Why? How do you know this? Technology is also making parents lazy. They use technology as a quick fix to get the kids out of their hair. For example, many mothers tend to pop in a video when their child starts to cry or get too active for their liking. Many parents also rely on technology to teach their children things like colors or numbers and even animals. Just look at the so called “smart toys” for kids. Parents will by a toy in a heartbeat if it says it will teach their kids to read or learn their colors. Whatever happened to taking an hour or two out of the day to teach a child their colors and numbers? This tradition that not only gives a child a head start on some of the things needed to succeed in early education but it also provides perfect family bonding time. This would have been a great thesis and focus for your paper! many kids from this generation will not even be able to imagine their parents doing such a thing with them. technology is a great help but just like anything else too much can be a harmful thing and we need a good balance of technology and old fashion ways. Parents need to remember what it was like to have family traditions and family bonding time. By doing so they, are giving their children the same great experiences that they had and now cherish. Isn’t that what parenting is about, giving a child the best childhood possible filled with good memories and protecting and teaching them at the same time?

What My Purse Says About Me

The things that are typically in my purse are my wallet, gum, lotion, and hand sanitizer. So I asked some of my friends, if they did not know me and they found my purse what would think I was like. Some of the results were surprising. First off, they said that they would think that I am high class because my purse was coach. They also said that since it is so small they figure that I don’t carry much. They then said that I probably was anal about germs because of the hand sanitizer on the strap of my purse. I could not believe they got so much from just from the outside of my purse. However, that was not the end of it they still had the inside of my purse to do. When they say the lotion and lip-gloss, they then said again that I was high class and said that I was a girly girl. The gum being my purse brought them to saw that I was very much into my highgene. How they got that I don’t know. They knew I was a military dependent because of my military ID. Having military ID right where it is the first thing you see prompted them to think that I very loyal to my husband. My ID also gave an ideal how I look since my picture in on it and tells all my details like height, weight, and eye color. Then they went to say that I was change freak because I had change in my wallet. After they were done putting life pieces together, I realized how much you could tell about a person from just looking at their wallet or purse. However many things can be miss understood like people thinking I like change it is exactly the opposite, I hate change so I keep some on me so I can give correct cash. However, for the most everything that they said was true. There is not much that you would miss about me, if you found my wallet or purse and that did surprise me.