Kyle Smith

Mrs.parkinson

English 3

5 April 2016

Dumpster Diving Q1

Lars Eighner tells us a lot about being homeless in his article "On Dumpster Diving". In this article he talks about his story and it made me realize a thing or two regarding the stigma of homelessness. For starters, I accepted this stereotype that all homeless people were just high school dropouts and were just from urban areas where they didn’t get many opportunity. Upon reading this article, I figured out that this stereotype is false. Eighner was a 3 year college student at the University of Texas where he later dropped out, later taking a job at a state mental hospital. Sometime after taking the job, he was laid off. Upon reading this it made me think that I was not thinking about the big picture that people of all ages, education levels and, races can get cut by their business. Another stereotype that I picked up on as being false was that people that are homeless weren’t that smart. But after reading this article, I figured that was also invalid. I learned that many of these dumpster divers had their trade down to a science. Just from doing a little digging they could find out where and when they could find food or other supplies and if they would impact their health. It was truly fascenating to find this information out.

Kyle Smith                                                                                                                           Smith 1

Mrs. Parkinson

English 3

14 march 2016

How can we help those with disabilities learn better?

     In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, one of the most predominant elements is lennie. Through reading you can infer lennie is a rather large but appears to have some sort of mental handicap. So the question is how can we as society help these people out who are just a little bit behind mentally compared to us? I think the solution gets portrayed in the story. My stance on the matter is that people with mental disabilities should have teachers or people coaching them through how to do things. We see in the book George acts as that type of life coach towards Lennie in a book that has a strong message of isolation. Kind of like in the scene with George getting them the job on the ranch, “George Milton.” “And what is yours?” George said “His name is Lennie Small” The boss pointed a playful finger at Lennie, “he ain't much of a talker is he?” “No he ain't, but he sure a heck of a good worker.”(“Steinbeck”). So my solution is people with mental disorders get paired with with a willing helper to help guide them through and

Kyle Smith
English 3
Mrs. Parkinson
7 March 2016

I think that we as an advanced society can still learn a lot from the Harlem renaissance as a result of some of the poetry that came with it. In the poem "Tableau" by Countee Collins, it does a great job of showing and not telling to depict the scene of a 1920`s event that made everyone around it stop what they're doing to watch it. in the poem, it talks about a black and a white boy walking together down the street. "Indignant that these two should dare in unison walk." During this time period, something so open and so bold that defied the social and traditional norms could have been severely punished back then. i think the reason for the title is because a tableau is a historical event acted out on a stage without sound, and whether the boys in the street even knew that what they were doing is something that will end up symbolizing a major area of american history.