How to Get a Good Grade in Any Class

          Sometimes students wonder how to get a good grade in a course. It's really a pretty simple process that you need to follow. Here are three of the most important steps for success. First, go to the first day of class with your textbook. Don't wait until later in the course to buy the book. If the book is too expensive, you can rent one or look online for a cheaper copy.  The instructor will explain many things on the first day of class that you will miss if you are not present. Second, do all the assignments and homework in the course and do your best on them. Finally, come on time to class and pay attention. Put your cell phone away. If you don't understand something or have a question, ask the instructor. If there is not time in class to ask your question, stay after class to talk to the instructor. Most instructors are happy to answer questions; that is an important part of their job.   As they say, "being there is more than half of being sucessful. In conclusion, these are three basic steps that you need to follow to get a good final grade at the end of the course. 

The Fall

          The Fall is my favorite of the four seasons. It is also called Autumn, but Fall is more common. Fall is my favorite season for many different reasons. I love Fall for three reasons. First, Fall is the time when the weather becomes cooler, after the hot summer, especially at night. I hate the hot and humid weather in the summer. With the cooler weather, the green leaves on the trees turn red, orange and yellow. Second, Fall is the time of many holidays and festivals, such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. These are fun holidays to spend with our family and friends and eat a lot of good food. Finally, I love the Fall because of football. I mean American football, not soccer. I also like soccer,  but I like American football more, probably because American football is the most popular sport  in the US. My favorite teams are the Indianapolis Colts and the San Diego Chargers. I love to watch their games, especially when they win! So, in conclusion, these are the three main reasons I love Fall. There are other reasons, but these are the top three. Which is your favorite season, and why?

Climate Change: A short essay

          Most scientists believe that Climate Change is real. Climate Change is caused by changes in the ozone layer of the earth's atmosphere caused by carbon gas emissions. There is a lot of evidence that climate change is real, and could endanger the existence of life on earth in the next 10-20 years for several reasons.

          First of all, what is the evidence? More frequent and stronger hurricanes.  The earth is gradually getting warmer. This can be measured by scientists. This is causing the polar ice caps and glaciers to melt. As a result, the sea level is rising slowly each year. The warmer temperatures and changes in rainfall (that's why some scientists call in Global Warming) are going to impact agriculture and food supplies, causing large areas of famine.

         Some politicians, like Mr. Trump, and Big Business,  believe that Climate Change is Fake News. They don't care what happens to future generations, in my opinion. They want to build bigger cars and trucks that use more and more gas to pollute the environment. More coal to power outmoded trains. We need to make changes now to slow down or stop Climate Change.

          So what can we do to save our planet?  We can use alternative sources of energy, like wind and solar power, electric power and maybe even nuclear power, to avoid releasing more carbons into the atmosphere, such as gasoline, oil, coal, and wood power. My scientists and politicians think these are solutions.

        In conclusion: Do we still have time to stop Climate Change? Maybe, but we need to act now. We can't afford to wait any longer. What do you think?  Do you think that Climate Change is real and we can change, or at least slow it down, to avoid disasters in the future? Or do you think it is just more Fake News.

The Giver: Utopia or Dystopia?

        Is The Giver movie and book by Lois Lowry about a future community a utopia or a dystopia?  Or maybe a failed utopia?  The people who live in a place called The Community have tried to create a perfect world (utopia) where there is no more choice, love, pain, suffering, sickness, war, emotions, or death.  But is this really a utopia? They still have death but they call it "release to elsewhere."   They "release" (kill) old people and unhealthy babies with an injection.  Young people take an injection every morning to control  the "stirrings" that give them natural emotions and sexual feelings. Everyone in The Community is assigned a role (job) by The Elders who control The Community.  A young man named Jonas receives the role of The Receiver of Memory. He trains with an old man called The Giver and finds out about the past, before The Community, back and back and back. Jonas decides they need to bring back all these things from the past. He escapes from The Community with a baby that is going to be "released" because it is too small and unhealthy. He ends up "saving" The Community. So maybe The Community is a failed utopia, or a dystopia, depending on your perspective. The book and movie are quite thought provoking, as we think what the world will be like in the future.

The Writing Process paragraph

       
          It is very important to follow the writing process to write a good, well organized essay.  This will ensure that your essay is as good as it can possibly be. So what is the writing process? The first step of the process is to choose a topic to write about. Next, think about that topic and "brainstorm," writing down all your thoughts about your topic. Then, develop an outline based on your brainstorming that includes an introduction, body, and conclusion. After that, follow your outline and write the first draft of your essay. The next step is to give your first draft to someone to read and give you feedback about how to improve your essay. This is called the Peer Review step. Then use the comments from your Peer Review to improve your essay and write a second draft. Then give the second draft of your essay to your instructor for his or her comments and ideas to polish your essay even more.  Finally, write a final draft of your essay, making the changes indicated by your instructor. If you follow the steps of this process, you will write an excellent essay!

1, 2, 3

           Three is a powerful---and you might even say--magical number. Three is considered to have special properties in different cultures around the world. In China, three is considered to be a lucky number. Fairy tales from around the world are often based on the number three, such as "The Three Little Pigs" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." The Three Kings traveled thousands of miles to visit baby Jesus. These are only three of many examples of  the number three. We don't really know why three is such a pervasive number. I'll talk about three areas of our lives that are tripartite in nature: the natural world,  culture, and the make-up of our bodies.  And I'll give three examples of each area.

          First of all, the natural world is full of threes. Atoms, the basic building blocks of life, consist of protons, neutrons and electrons. Now they've discovers Quarks in atoms. I don't know how many Quarks there are, what they do, or where they are in the atom, but it is a cool word--Quark!   Einstein's theory of relativity has three parts:  E=mc2, Energy equals Mass times the Speed of Light squared. Don't ask me to explain what this means because I have no idea. I didn't understand it in high school Physics class, and I still don't have a clue. We live in a three dimensional world.  This I can understand.  I can understand why we would not want to live in one dimension or two, but why three, and not four, five or six. All living things have three stages: birth, life and death.  Birth is preceded by three trimesters of pregnancy.

          Second, let's take a look at culture.  Cultures around the world often use the number three. Triangles have three sides. Geometry in high school was one of my favorite classes, partly because of triangles, which have angles that can be calculated with theorums. Pyramids are made up of triangles and are strong constructions that can withstand more force than square or rectangular structures. The ancient Egyptians believed that their pyramids had mystical powers. That's probably why they buried their dead inside pyramids.  Some people today believe in Pyramidology: the special powers of pyramids, as a way to preserve food, sharpen razor blades, improve health, and many other things. Christians believe in the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A lot of pop culture is divided into threes. Remember that Jackson Brother's song, "Easy as 1-2-3, as simple as ABC, ABC, 123, baby you and me..."  How about all the TV programs and bands we have watched and listened to over the years? The Three Stooges, Three's Company, My Three Sons, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Three Dog Night. Remember them?  We have many words in English that divide things into three parts: trio, triad, triplet, tripartite, triathlon, trifecta, trilogy, triumvirate, the trinity are examples.

          Third, and finally, our bodies are made up of three major parts: head, torso, and limbs. The torso has a chest, abdomen and back. Each of our limbs can be divided into three parts and three joints. Our arms have an upper arm, forearm and hand, with shoulder, elbow and wrist joints. Our legs can be broken up into thigh, tibia, and foot, each with three joints, a hip, knee and ankle. Now, I can't explain why we don't have three toes and three eyes, but I guess you can't have everything. To end on a personal note, I have been married for 33 years, have three daughters, and three grandchildren. Isn't that interesting?

          In conclusion, the number three really does appear to be an important number in our world. We just don't know why.  Is this just a coincidence, or is it God's sense of humor?

The Gift of Time

           Someone once said, "The past is history, the future is a mystery, and the present is a gift."  The only time that we can chose what we do is the present--we can't change what happened yesterday, or be certain what will happen tomorrow. So how do we spend our time; living in the moment, or thinking about the past or the future? We can chose to spend our time in an opportunistic way or a pessimistic way.

          The present moment is the only time that we are really in control of. We can chose to be pessimists and use our time negatively. We can hate our job, but not look for a new job. Most of us have a daily routine and do pretty much the same thing every day in our comfort zone. Habit drives most of what we do. Is spending several hours every day surfing the Net, texting, and checking FaceBook a good use of our time? How about watching 4-6 hours of TV every day?  Or we can be positive, live in the moment, talk to people, change our routine, try new things, go to new places, make new friends, stop doing things that waste our time, and just enjoy each moment as much as possible. 

          We all spend some time in the present thinking about the past. Many people do this, especially older people, regretting things that they did or didn't do in their lives, or remembering happy times and memories. Sometimes, we miss out on the present by always reminiscing about the "good old days." Or we can be positive and focus on the good things about the past, happy memories, the good things that we have done and enjoyed, and the accomplishments and successes that we have had. 

          What about the future? The future is mostly unpredictable, but is at least partly under our control. We often chose to think about the future in a negative way. We spend a lot of time worrying about the future. Most of what we worry about never even happens. As Winston Churchill said, "When I look back on all of my worries, I remember the story of an old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened." Or we can be optimists and look forward to the future in a positive way, focusing on our plans, goals, hopes and dreams, always expecting the best. We can make specific plans for the future and then do everything possible in the present to make those plans a reality.

          In conclusion, how we think about time is important. We can be optimists and spend our time living in the moment, thinking about the past and future in a positive way, focusing on happy memories of the past and positive hopes, plans and goals for the future. Or we can be pessimists, not taking advantage of the fleeting moments of our lives, but instead wasting time and dwelling on bad memories and regrets about the past, while worrying about the future. How do you use your time?