Tuesdays With Morrie

For my Ap Composition book I chose to read Tuesdays With Morrie. I was excited to finally read this book after having seen the movie in middle school. I knew this book would open up many new emotions with me; however, I was taken back by how touching this book turned out to be.

Tuesdays With Morrie shares the story of a college sociology professor named Morrie Schwartz who developed a deep friendship with student Mitch Albom. During Albom’s years at Brandeis University, he and Schwartz had a unique bond with each other. After Albom graduated college, he lost touch with his old college professor buddy. His dreams of becoming a pianist were soon refilled by his job as a newspaper columnist. Sixteen years after lasting seeing his old professor friend, Albom stumbled upon a Nightline interview with Schwartz. He quickly learned of Schwartz’s battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). Albom gave his old friend a call, and sure enough Schwartz still remembered his former student.

Albom felt unsure about seeing Schwartz for the first time since college graduation. He quickly found how easily it was to pick up right where he and Schwartz had left off. Albom’s visits become weekly (Tuesdays) due to a newspaper strike that lands him unemployed for a period of time. One of the reasons I enjoyed reading this book was the life lessons packed on every page. Since Schwartz was a sociology professor, his views on issues differ from those of us who have never stopped to actually think about life. Albom has gotten caught up in his job and has forgotten what it means to live. He spends his days knee deep in writing and interviews, so his life has gotten away from him. Schwartz is able to reel him back down to earth with some of the topics Albom has requested to talk about. Death, aging, love, and forgiveness only start to cover the topics he chose to discuss with Schwartz during his last few weeks.

Schwartz continually went back to one piece of advice he gave Albom on the day Albom asked him about how one can be prepared for death. He said that, “The truth is…once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” He spend the next few weeks teaching Albom what it means to live your last few moments of life. Schwartz has accepted that his death is fast approaching. He tells Albom that he must know how to die before he will know how to live. What he means by that is you have to be aware that one day you will lose everyone and everything that is close to you. He hopes that this will prompt the urge to value and appreciate those things that we have for only a limited time. This was my favorite piece of advice out of this book. It is one thing for somebody to tell you to appreciate life, but it is another to read a book about a man dying, who has accepted the fact that he won’t be there in a few months, and having him show you just how precious life can be.

Overall I enjoyed reading every word of this book down to the last tearful goodbye. As hard as it is to think about dying, I think people could benefit from reading this book. Schwartz puts a different spin on everyday ideas and turns them into words you will never forget. I believe I could read this book again and still learn new lessons in life. Tuesdays With Morrie not only tells the tale of a man dying, it also shares the story of a man finding a new life. 

A Vindiction of the Rights of Women

When I first realized we would be reading about women’s rights I was excited; however, this essay did not live up to the standards I set for it. I do admit Mary Wollstonecraft made some very good points: points that would go unnoticed in our modern world. Maybe back in the 1700’s when this essay was written people could have appreciated its beauty from Wollstonecraft’s style of writing. Her essays are overflowing with rich vocabulary. It was almost too much at times. I had to stop and look up words, which made me frustrated. On top of the style of writing that required me to read some passages more than twice, the intricate wording was a lot for me to handle.

            This piece is being read by youthful women who are educating themselves by reading a piece about a woman who thinks females should not just be pretty and have a fondness for dress, but that they should educate themselves for a better position in life and for self-worth. I can really relate to the message that Wollstonecraft is trying to send because I try to strive to educate myself and be independent. In today’s world, women are being pushed to get a good education and put themselves out there in the work force. When this piece of writing was written 400 years ago things were the other way around. Women were pushed to not speak their mind and just do what they have been taught to do. “Men, indeed, appear to me to act in a very unphilosophical manner when they try to secure the good conduct of women by attempting to keep them always in a state of childhood.” I interpret that line to mean two things. One point being that they like women to stay young and not grow up to explore different possibilities. The other point being that men like to rule, and they want women to have minimal power.

            Other prominent voices in this essay included the ones of Rousseau and Dr. Gregory. From what I gathered from this essay, they share similar views on topic of women and power. They both believe men should rule and women should be inferior. It is hard to wrap my mind around people having that opinion because of the way we are taught to think now.

            Another strong message I picked up from this essay was that boys were required to learn, while girls used to do it as a secondary. “In the present state of society, a little learning is required to support the character of a gentleman; and boys are obliged to submit to a few years of discipline. But in the education of women, the cultivation of the understanding is always subordinate to the acquirement of some corporeal accomplishment…” Those sentences state that boys have no way around learning, and learning for girls always comes after other things.

            I would be very offended reading this back when it was written. I have always been taught that I need to set my goals high and strive to reach them. It would be very different for me to not be able to learn. Even though I did not enjoy Wollstonecraft’s style of writing, I found this essay eye opening. It showed me that I should not take learning for granted, and that I should appreciate that I have the opportunity to learn. 

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

 From the perspective of Nicholas Carr, Google has contributed to the change in reading styles we have seen in young adults.  Carr quoted that even though, “the web has been a godsend to me as a writer,” he feels as if, “someone or something as been tinkering with my brain.” This article really opened my eyes to how much young people rely on the Internet, and how this is changing the way we read.

I did not have as many difficulties reading this essay as the others we have read. I think one of the reasons it was less difficult was because I was interested in the topic we were reading about. When you get an article that doesn’t interest you the slightest bit, it is much easier to get distracted. It is funny that that thought came to my mind because that is what this article is all about: how the Internet, or Net, is “chipping away at the capacity for concentration and contemplation.” I was fascinated to read that some writers, like Scott Karp, confess that he has “stopped reading books altogether.” I guess it is hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that our minds are changing the way we read articles and books. The essay explains how people are not taking their time when they read anymore. They tend to skim it and scan over the article as a whole rather than focusing on the details that lie within. As hard as it is to admit, I have to say I think I have fallen victim to this. Not that this is an excuse for it, but teenagers seem to be getting busier and busier. It is sometimes easier to just get the big picture of the article and not focus so much on the little details. Websites have contributed to this change in reading style as well. Most websites have links you can click on that take us to another site and then another site. Five clicks later and the next thing you know you are looking up new cell phones instead of reading about Shakespeare.

Another reason I found this article easier to read was the lack of challenging words. When I came upon a word I did not know, it was usually easy for me to use context clues to figure out what it meant. There were two lines that really caught my attention in this article. The first line is talking about how we don’t explore articles as deep as we once did. “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” For me, those two lines really sum up this article nicely. The other fact that really surprised me, but now that I think about it is very true, is that newspapers and magazines are shortening their article to keep readers attention. They are now competing with the Internet for people’s attention.