Free Write

Seriously, my day has been crazy and it's only noon. I got home from work last night around 1, checked up on emails & everything until 2. I woke my husband up at 6:30 because he was going to be late for work. Then he left without saying good-bye, two days in a row now. Carter got up at 7, and bless him, he sat and ate cheerios on the couch while I slept another hour. Then we got up and dressed in about half the time it normally takes because I had to drive him to his old day care in Faribault because his new lady here was going on a field trip with her daughter. It was nice to see Debbie again, though. I absolutely love her! So, then I had to go get gas, grab a bite to eat, and rush back here to get to class on time. Halfway here I realized I forgot my notebook at home and my paper is in it so I have to re-print it at school and the printer in our classroom sucks. On top of everything, I am so crazy hormonal from this pregnancy that I just feel like crying all the time and I am so crabby at my husband for every little thing. Grrrr.

Peer Editing

1. In my case, no, the peer editing was not very helpful. Actually, I take that back. It was helpful to me, but in a different way than was intended. For the purposes of class, no, because I had four other people look at my paper. Three of them made absolutely no comments or changes at all. One made two changes, one that was grammatically correct to begin with. The way it did help me was that I had been trying to decide between a nursing major and an elementary ed major. By correcting others' papers, I decided I really enjoyed doing that. Of course I am not going to base my decision entirely on that, but it was helpful.

2. The one error my group found was a typo. I put "luck" instead of "lucky."

3. Only in the sense that I should have proofread my paper before I came to class, but I was in a hurry.

4. Sometimes I think my writing has too much of a specific "style." I need to branch out more.

5. Yes, it helped me to give better feedback and to look for more specific things such as paragraph structure.

6. Groups. My one-partner switch didn't write a single thing.

7. I like this kind of set up. I think overall it works well. It also helps that we had time to discuss why we made the changes we did.

Analysis of Easter

My family celebrates Easter as part of our religion. Our family is a religious mix of some Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists. One thing we all have in common is giving up something for Lent. Lent begins 46 days before Easter, on Ash Wednesday. Our Catholic section of the family goes to church on Ash Wednesday and receives Ashes marked in the sign of the cross on their forehead. During the lenten season, each family member chooses one or two things to willingly abstain from. The most popular items each year are pop, chocolate, and ice cream. These are all things that members of my family enjoy eating or drinking and by choosing to give them up, we are in part "fasting" as our Lord did. This is a time for us to renew and become stronger in our Faith. It is a time for discipine and prayer as we prepare for Easter Sunday, the day on which our Savior rose from the dead to join our Father in Heaven. It is a time period in which we reflect on ourselves and what we can do to be better wives, husbands, parents, sisters, brothers, ...and most importantly better Christians. Our "fasting" period ends on Easter Sunday when we get together to dress up, go to church, and let the little ones hunt for Easter Eggs and open presents.

Questions 13 & 14

I think many of the things the soldiers carried then and carry now are the same for many reasons. They still need items for protection, defense, and communication. However, I think that the military should have by now found out how to manufacture those items so that they weigh much less and take up much less space in a soldier's pack. I do not know anything about the military and what specific items they are forced to carry, though I am sure there is a good reason for each and every one. The items that they choose to carry, however are the ones that are really important. They are the pictures of their family, mementos, keepsakes, letters, etc. They are what really keep the soldiers going through such tough times.

I can't speak for other students, because I don't know what they carry around. I know for myself I try to make my load as light as possible. Necessary books and class items and my wallet and cell phone are about it. I don't have an Ipod, I don't carry around makeup or fashion magazines. When I'm not in school, I'm usually lugging around a diaper bag with diapers, wipes, cookies, milk, toys, bibs, an extra change of clothes for Carter, and the list goes on and on. There is one place I don't bother to try to lighten the load, because it's not worth it in that case. On campus, though, I think students carry all sorts of stuff around for convenience, which is the big difference in students and soldiers. Soldiers carry those items not by choice, but by necessity.