"Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau and "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau and "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. are both powerful, effective essays that adeptly convey their messages. However, I not only loved reading MLK’s essay much more, I find his way of presenting his argument much more effective as opposed to Thoreau. Both authors call the reader to help join in on marking an end to slavery—take immediate action. The message in both texts is the same in that they both call people to use their conscience to see the evils of slavery. For me, Thoreau was too wordy. Moreover, it was complicated—I had to read most sentences twice to understand what he was saying.
MLK’s form of writing is by far one of the best ones I’ve read. He has a unique way of reaching out to the reader. Throughout the letter, he is calm, friendly, and peaceful. He addresses his audience as “friends, brothers” many times. I found this very effective because it made me feel directly attached to him, pulled me right into his ideas. His writing flows and he makes his argument in an extremely orderly, logical way. Response and attribution are evident throughout the entire letter, making his argument credible. Anything that may raise an eyebrow or create any confusion on the reader’s behalf, he acknowledges immediately and provides clarification. For example, he starts the letter off by talking directly to the reader, “I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.”
He further goes on to analyze each of his point, citing any questions the reader may have. This is demonstrated in, “You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action.” I found this technique extremely effective for I felt that King was answering really any opposing argument and clearing up any confusion. It is truly marvelous.
Another literary device widely employed by King is the usage of allusion. He alludes to many great leaders, intellects, such as Socrates. He does this adeptly, smoothly putting their beliefs to support his argument. This is seen in his citation of the history of nonviolent action, “To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.”
In the incredibly long paragraph where King is citing the myriad ways blacks faced prejudice, he achieves tremendous sympathy, understanding from the reader. He puts in his own personal experience of his daughter and how the harsh truth bit her so badly. I found that one paragraph so poignant, and crucial to his argument as it tells of people’s stories.
While I enjoyed both texts, MLK’s was by far more effective and is now one of my favorite readings of all time.

Blog 12:: What is knowledge?

Fiddling with a pencil, I stroke my hair consistently and stared at the words of the Torah. Engaged and captivated by Noah’s persistent and humble character, I read the holy verses attentively as the spiritual journey of the slender, reflective Siddhartha from Herman Hesse’s novel danced in my mind. Only a week after I had completed the philosophical novel in my junior year, I found myself continually questioning the concept of learning, teachers, books, and doctrines in everything I read and performed.
Endowed with intellectuality, wisdom, and a handsome physique, the protagonist Siddhartha goes on a spiritual quest to find himself. Siddhartha discerns early in the novel at his acquaintance with the highly esteemed Buddha that the key to gaining true wisdom lies not in the words of the Samanas or holy books, but experience to search for himself. The theme of learning in Hesse’s novel challenged the concept of learning that I had believed since I was a child. I had always thought learning was limited to simply memorizing, nothing more than that.
Siddhartha’s simple quest to find himself through learning struck me. Socrates once said, “Know thyself.” Yet, I had never realized that even after studying several holy books and reading all sorts of books, magazines and newspapers, I had, like Siddhartha, never found myself. I kept asking myself, “What is the meaning of the holy books, history and text books if they are not applied in real experience to finding ourselves? Shouldn’t learning be more than just grades?”

Upon finishing the novel, I was left with utter confusion as the message that Hesse conveyed shed new light upon my understanding of the world. Yet, at the same time, I was swimming in a pool of tranquility as I now understood the meaning of learning and knowledge. I learned since then to take in knowledge, learn from it, and apply it to my own life and self.

Letter as an Argument Blog

I found Nate and Kristen's letter effective and powerful. It's straightforward and achieves in conveying their message of love and commitment to the parents.

Their audience is obviously the parents of the child they are adopting. They do a great job addressing them. They establish a friendly, understanding tone that illustrates that they are taking the parents situation into concideration as well. They state that they very well understand how they must be feeling. They continually strive to ensure that they plan and hope to build a connection with the parents, to embark on this new "journey" together.

The purpose of Nate and Kristen writing the letter is to convince the parents of their intentions and help the parents see that they are committed to being responsible parents. They strive to achieve this purpose throughout the essay. They emphasize the fact that adoption is what they want--that the are prepared. They explain their whole situation--how they had been thinking about raising a family in general, but are ready to take on the situation that they are confronted with. This also presents their level of maturity--that they didn't give on the idea of raising a family. They also cite Kristen's desire to adapt.

Their occasion for writing the letter is to convince the parents to permit them to adapt their child. This, as aforementioned, is adeptly presented through the personal commitment they explain in the letter.

Reform at JMU: communication

Walking inside a class, you have two choices: you can either walk in with a straight face, not smile at those you make eye contact with, take a seat and not greet your neighbor. If this routine continues every class period, and you never make the effort to get to know the person sitting next to you, you may have missed out on knowing someone who may have even become your best friend.
Does this sound familiar? Upon coming to JMU, one of the greatest things I missed was the fact that in high school, you’re bound to get to know everyone or almost everyone in class. The class has a certain mood, made up of the different personalities of the individuals who make up the class. Although JMU is definitely has one of the friendliest environments I’ve experienced, there is still a lack of communication, a disconnect between people.
A psychology professor here at JMU presented during the last Make Your Mark on Madison meeting that when he asked several of his classes at the end of one semester if they knew even the name of their neighbor, only a few raised their hand. And from my observations, I find that true in pretty much all of my classes. We students just walk in and out of class without actually making some real connection, some communication with others.
This is something that greatly needs reform. Sure, we’re all busy in our lives, have our own issues, but shouldn’t we all make an effort to get to know others around us? Time flies. Before we know it, these four years will have flown by. Maybe at the end of it all, we may just regret not knowing enough people. And you never know how much you can learn by engaging in one conversation with someone. By not even attempting to get to others, it’s almost as if we disregard their existence. This may sound far-fetched, but it’s true. When you continually just crumple around in your own little world and never make conversation with the very person right next to you, what else could this act be called, but utter disregard?
Sure, sometimes you may not receive a friendly response. That may just put you down altogether. But you never know until you try.
So come out of your comfort zone. Talk to someone who’ve never said a word to before—see what you can learn.

Blog 8-Random-SMILE!!

What makes you smile? Is it a word, a certain song, an activity, a special some one? I believe that smiling is one of the greatest abilities of mankind. “A day without smiling isn’t worth living.” This topic may sound so random, so absurd, but to me, it’s tremendously important to me. Smiling and laughing are the highlight of my day. No matter how gloomy, depressing, unproductive my day may be, I must have at least 30 minutes of just laughter.
So you may be wondering, what do I do to make myself smile? First of all, every morning when I get up, I try REALLY hard to have an upbeat, positive attitude. I wake wanting to get up, get my day started, and face what the day will offer. So one of the best ways of possessing such an attitude is simply looking at yourself in the mirror and smiling. I know, sounds weird. People may think you’re weird for smiling at your reflection, but hey, you can smile at them if they comment, which thus might just make their day.
One of the most beautiful images ingrained in my mind are images of babies smiling. I love it. It really does make my day. Why? Because babies are so genuine in their smile, they give off a brightness that illuminates when they smile. It’s enough to make my day.
The greatest thing is that just one smile from a total stranger can just make some one’s day. Doesn’t it feel good when you randomly walk by some one and you’re feeling so happy inside that it shows from the glow on your face? To me, it’s one of the most encouraging things that may seem so insignificant, but actually matter so much.
And the thing is, no one can ever get enough of smiles. I know for myself, I get discouraged when just one person doesn’t smile back at me when I may randomly smile when some one passes me. But it really shouldn’t be like that. The previous Monday, at Make Your Mark on Madison, we discussed the important of smiling. And it was amazing how many people actually love smiling at random people while walking. I do believe that smiling is truly one of the greatest charities ever.
Sooo, SMILE!

Outside writing blog

The most exciting writing I do outside of this class is for my own pleasure. I have recently began this activity actually. I have started to write in a journal that’s saved in my e-mail, where I just write about my life. I was motivated to begin this ritual upon entering college as I feel it necessary to write down and reflect upon the changes in my life. I try to write in it every day, though of course, this doesn’t always happen. This writing isn’t all too different from the personal narrative writing as I’m still narrating in my journal. It’s also my personal account. It’s different in terms of formality as in my journal, I write about whatever pops in my mind, without worrying about a thesis and all the other wonderful stuff that writing a formal essay entails.
The other writing that’s quite frequent for me is writing essays for my Comparative Politics class. These essays are always argumentative. So this writing is similar to what I will be beginning for this class. It’s similar because I have to make an argument and then provide evidence to support whatever I’m trying to prove. It’s different because obviously, in Comparative Politics, I write about political topics, whereas in this class, it’s an account of my own experience.
That’s really all the outside writing I am currently doing. I’m sure as the year goes by, more classes will become more extensive with more writing!!

The Enlightening Experience

Standing amid a huge, roaring crowd, I feel my velvet, bright pink hijab, or head scarf, envelop me in its warmth. The voice of Chris Martin, from my favorite band Coldplay, is vibrating in my ears as he sings the uplifting lyrics of my most inspirational song “Viva la Vida” meaning Live your life. I scan the exuberant, heterogeneous crowd around me, and feel a sudden rush of happiness within me, a happiness born from the fact that I am in Manhattan, NY, enjoying a concert among people from all over this vast globe. I’m fascinated at how music has the power to unite people; regardless of where we come from, what beliefs or ideologies we hold, the beat of the music is the rhythm we are all intoned by. But my happiness abruptly diminishes as I hear some one behind me yell, “TERRORIST!”
Upon hearing this, I froze. My thoughts jumbled, my smile faded, I felt suffocated in my hijab. Chris Martin’s voice was now just a blur in the background. The only thought that was swimming through my mind was, “Does everyone here think I’m a terrorist?”
At that moment, I could have turned around. I could have yelled back, I could have expressed intense rancor in response to that disgusting, ignorant comment. But that would have been a complete contradiction to how I felt because I wasn’t feeling any thread of anger within me. I wasn’t angry at the comment, nor was I surprised. I was simply, confused. And hurt. Hurt at the fact that a piece of cloth on my head, which is supposed to serve as a symbol of peace and purity, may arise fear in some one else.
So, I did nothing. I didn’t turn around, nor did I say anything. In fact, it was at this very moment, amid the upbeat instrumental music from “Viva la Vida“, the blaring crowd and that person, who had in a matter of three seconds burst my comfort zone that an epiphany dawned on me.
I had so many times before read about the woman whose hijab had been snatched off her head or the woman who had rocks thrown at her somewhere in Britain. I had also discerned, a long time ago, from which these nasty stereotypes, sullying my way of life stemmed. In this post 9/11 world, I have become accustomed to reading those bloody headlines about the latest suicide attack that blow up buildings, trucks and human bodies in a matter of seconds. But before, these were all just words. Since I myself had never had felt any specific connection to those headlines, none of it held much intrinsic meaning for me. I walked around ignorantly and mindlessly living inside my own little world, unaware of the turmoil embroiling across the globe in Afghanistan or Iraq.
From that moment, I began to realize that I have a strong desire, a deep passion to help strengthen the strained relationships between the East and West. Being there in NY that day and realizing that the person’s anger was directly at me woke me up in so many ways. Now when I pick up the Washington Post and see the sanguineous picture of the little dead boy coming out of the ashes of the rubble that yet another suicide attack left behind in Iraq, I feel empowered to educate myself so I can one day help these people.
I can either do two things: Live my life as Chris Martin calls the world to do and help make change or shut the world and walk blindly and ignorantly on Earth while some ignorant fanatic across the globe blows another bomb in the name of my religion.