Leslie Carpio

Professor Ogden
English 1A
29 May 2015
Annotated Bibliography
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. "Tupac and My Non-thug Life." Reading
Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. New York: St. Martins, 2014. 42-45.
Print.
Desmond-Harris writes of her reaction to the killing of the rap icon Tupac Shakur. She
considered Shakur a close friend that she baked handmade cookies and a condolence card to his
mother. When she was notified by her mother that her favorite rap icon was killed she felt
devastated. Being biracial she had lost the one person that connected her to what it meant to be
black.
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. Working at McDonalds Reading
Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. New York: St. Martins, 2014. Print.
In the essay Working at McDonalds, Amitai Etzioni shares his beliefs about how it is
bad for teenage students working in fast food restaurants and how the experience they are taught
are useless for future jobs. Etzioni first starts, how those types of jobs conflict with school
attendance and school activities by giving these students so many hours that after a while the
students grades start to drop due to the lack of studying. He also states the experience that
teenagers obtain in fast food chains are non-beneficial or vice versa. The non-beneficial part is
learning cup sizes, how to make coffee, and the color of patties. These are useless techniques for
future jobs, but there are a couple of good techniques to learn from those types of jobs and it is
being efficiency, being quick and efficient is what employers seek and people skills, especially
when handling with unsatisfactory customer. Though working can teach teenagers the value of a
dollar it is not worth effecting your education or dropping out school and working at minimal
wage with the outcome of no room to grow, so it is best to stay in school and further your
education for a better career.
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. "Longing to Belong." Reading Critically, Writing
Well: A Reader and Guide. New York: St. Martins, 2014. 37-39. Print.
A seventeen year old girl who is biracial. Her father an Afghani and a Indian mother. She
was born and lived in England her whole life. She became confused of her identity. Questioning
herself, how Afgani am I? She was given the opportunity to visit her uncle, opening the door to
explore her fathers mythological homeland. She grew to imagine if she would merry in
Pakistan she would be closer to her roots but at the end she changes her mind.

Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. Black Men and Public Space. Reading
Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. New York: St. Martins, 2014. Print.
Staples writes a reflective essay that introduces a period in his life. He writes that when
he was twenty-two and being African American, he noticed the reactions of Caucasian people
when he was present. The looks on their face, their jumpy reactions, and the way they held their
valuable belongs when noticing a black man was in view. For instance, one night when he was
walking the streets of Chicago a young white woman noticed he was behind her. She became
overly anxious that she held to her purse and ran from him, giving the assumption he was a
mugger. Another incident that occurred was when he was rushing to his office due to a deadline
he was mistaken for a burglar. Though these events were not accurate to him, these accusations
made him irritated he thinks back to when he was young. Remembering when he lived in a small
violent town trying to prevent any conflicts with the bad guys. He then thought of ways were
people wouldnt criticize him as a criminal and feel comfortable around him. One example is
when walking the streets at night he would whistle to the melodies of Beethoven and Vivaldis.
The public would then think twice of the character he is.
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. Our Scars Tell the Stories of Our Lives.
Reading Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. New York: St. Martins, 2014.
Print.
Dana Jennings a journalist of the New York Times published a reflection of his life called
Our Scars Tell the Stories of Our Lives. He writes how every scar on his body tells a story of
how they were created. He explains his scars from childhood bruising and scrapes to his
adulthood surgeries such as when his colon was taken out or when doctors had to remove his
cancerous prostate. His essay continues to relate to people who went through similar scaring
making it interesting to readers. He expresses that he is not happy with his scars but not
embarrassed of them. He states, due to the encounters he had in the past made him what he is
today, a writer. He uses his scars as motivation giving hope to others, that we all go through
some difficulties in life that can leave scars but we can overcome them. This giving readers some
relation and closure.
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. Whose Body Is This? Reading
Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. New York: St. Martins, 2014. Print.
This essay written by Katherine Haines is a very inspiring and touching piece. I certainly
can relate to the topic. She writes that women in this society are constantly worrying about their
body shape. Why? Because of all the advertisement and hype we see on television, magazines,
billboards, and shopping stores that women should a specific size to be consider acceptable in
society. As women we are repeatedly going to the gym and watching how much calories we
intake in order to become that thin shaped women that society sees as beautiful. As a child she
Haines remembers her parents calling her into the kitchen, thinking she was in trouble but little
did she know her parents informed her she was going a diet. Being just ten years old at the time,
she felt angry, embarrassed, and guilty to know that own parents considered her fat. She also
adds that self-esteem plays a role on this topic. If women don't have the confidence to stand up

and except their bodies then society will continue to slaughter their "fat body" image and women
would never learn that they are fine just the way they are.
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. A Guide to Writing Reflective Essay Reading
Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. New York: St. Martins, 2014. Print.
A Guide to Writing Reflective Essay, is about learning how to write a reflective essay and
to do so one should find a subject or event desirable to write about. This section gives students
steps on how to start a Reflective essay. For example, making a chart and listing possible
occasion and general subjects. By doing this you will find that one occasion might reflect on
other occasions. Then once you've collected your ideas, you should begin shaping your reflection
by writing and highlighting your vivid description words, active verbs, and underlining the
words that describe the when it happened. The next step would be drafting an essay, here you
would put together you material. After all, you would evaluate your draft then improve it if
needed and the last step is revising the draft, edit, and proof read.
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. "Fighting Bullying with Babies." Reading
Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. New York: St. Martins, 2014. Print.
In Fighting Bullying with Babies, talks about bullying is a huge issue within the
schools and in certain cases when the harassment has escalated so bad some victims take their
own lives. Journalist David Bornstein looked into how this issue can be resolved. He found an
organization called Roots of Empathy their program involves a two to four month old baby and
the mother to visit schools from kindergarten to seventh grade. Their visit involves three 40
minute sections and within these visits it involves the school children to sit around the infant and
mother on a green blanket (green represents new life and nature). The school are then asked to
understand what the babys feelings are during the period and with this the school children start
to open up their feelings. Those who were distracted stayed focused, withdrawn became forward,
or rough became pleasant. Each group was assigned an activity that involved the baby, some
sang a song, spoke in a gentle tone to the baby, or made a wishing tree. At the end of the program
those who had participated, 88 percent of the negative behavioral had decreased over the school
year.
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. "Ounces of Prevention- The Public Case for
Taxes on Sugared Beverages." Reading Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide.
New York: St. Martins, 2014. Print.
Kelly D. Brownell a professor at Yale feels that if the government would rise taxes on
sugared beverages the better results it would have on society who are obese. The outcome of
higher taxes on sugared beverages would reduce the consumption. She states because of the large
amount of beverages such as carbonated, non-carbonated, sports, and energy drinks that contain
sugar, corn syrup, or caloric sweeteners are one of the causes of developing obesity, diabetes, and
the leading to death. She also believes that with the reduce prices on these beverages that it
would have the same result as when the tax on tobacco increased the consumption declined. As a

result to the higher tax price the revenues would be used towards programs to prevent childhood
obesity, facilities for physical activity, and healthier food in schools.
Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. "Win-Win Flexibility." Reading Critically,
Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. New York: St. Martins, 2014. Print.
In this essay by Karen Kornbluh, explains in this 21st century that 70 percent of families,
being a two parent or a single parent are working long hours to provide for their families and that
no parent is home full time. There are not enough jobs who provide flexibility or the benefits for
parents who need to take time off to either care for an ill family member or care for their
children. If time off is provided they lack the benefit to receive pay. Parents either stay to work
and earn the income they need or lose the pay for time off, but either way the parent loses.
Kornbluh offers a proposal so that both parties, families and employers can work together to
offer the flexibility parents need by giving them options as annualizing hours, compressing
hours, or by using flex-time.
Pipher, Mary. Growing Our Souls. Writing to Change the World. New York:
Riverhead, 2006. Print.
Pipher explains how powerful a writer can get just by allowing ourselves to be open mind
and not judgmental. Her first moment in life where she lands compassion for other was when she
killed a garden snake. This led her to be more passionate about animals. She felt sad that she had
taken life of an innocent creature. I believe she is trying to express that past experience can
motivated us to write contain things. For example, Pipher was innocently spray with pepper
spray, and was furious when she was not involved in the protest. After being pepper sprayed she
realize how much power the government had over people who oppose them, and decided to join
the protester. Her experience growing up in the 1950s to 1960s made her more involved in
politics because of how bad things were back then. Later at age 43, she decided to become a
writer. She wanted to write things that would help people connect with each other and to help
each other to make the world a better place. Past pain, anger or sorrow can contribute to our
writing because we experienced it, and by experiencing them we gain the motive to write to
change or help others.
Pipher, Mary. Swimming Along- The Writing Process. Writing to Change the World.
New York: Riverhead, 2006. Print.
All types of writing have one thing in common and that is structure. In chapter 8 Pipher
goes over some basic tools and advice on how to improve our skills as beginner writers. From
books, essays, or letters it all consists of a topics and what we are trying to project to our readers.
Pipher mentions that metaphors can help give our reader a good visual of our writing, but using it
incorrectly can do more harm than good to our message that we are trying to get across. Most
importantly, a good structurally paper has good evidence and flow smoothly transitioning
chronologically. A story that is not organized can be confusing, and the accordion method is one
of Pipher favorite technique to write. The accordion method allow writer to be more organize
because it allow writer to writer their ideas down first and look back later to reorganize, take out
irrelevant information and figure out what to expand.

Pipher, Mary Bray. Writing to Change the World. New York: Riverhead, 2006. Print.
In Chapter 1, Pipher consider that writing is the most important gift given to human
being. Be able to write well and to make others feel your concern through writing is like giving
the reader the ability to feel your story or to feel what it like to be in another person shoe. She
stresses out through the chapter that writing doesnt have to be perfect and that it can be in any
kind of format or form. She mention a film by Morgan Spurlock change McDonalds menu by
making them add a healthier menu option. Pipher states, any form of writing can change the
world (p.27). Her point is for people to be creative with whatever way they want to get their
message out to other of the importance of what you trying to say. It can be a movie, essay, speech
or poem.
Pipher, Mary. Know Thyself. Writing to Change the World. New York: Riverhead, 2006.
Print.
In Knowing Thyself, Pipher writes how she developed her writing skills when she
looked to books for nurturing comfort when her parents were away. She became what she called
herself an archetypal bluestocking nerd, consistently reading and looking up words she did not
understand and memorizing them. Having little responsibility she claimed she had all the time in
the world to enrich her brain with readings. Because of this she became aware of how things
were in different places, how life is made up of choices, and that people behaved appropriately or
inappropriately no matter what the outcomes were. She expresses that her childhood is what
guided her in becoming the writer she is now. She advises that writers to start a timeline
beginning from their birth and now, so they can find their inspiration.
Pipher, Mary. Dive In - Getting Started. Writing to Change the World. New York:
Riverhead, 2006. Print.
In chapter six, Phiper talks about how writing is like jumping into a pool without testing
how cold the water is first. By allowing yourself to test the water first, we might chicken out
because of how cold it is. She suggest to dive in instead of being scared, and she use this as an
example for writing. She suggest to all people who wants to write to not doubt themselves that
they are not good writer, but to just ignore the negative thought that runs through our mind and
just start writing whatever comes to mind. Getting ready to write, while staring at a blank write
paper can be scary, but Pipher expresses that once people get in the habit of jointing down ideas
instead of being afraid what to write or what comes next can improve our confidants. Writing can
also be used to help relieve stress and sorrow. For example, after 9/11 she and her writing group
express their sorrow through writing to one another. She also use writing to help her with anxiety
and meditate to help her tap in deeper with her thought and emotion to help become a better
writer.

Pipher, Mary. "Cooling Down - Revising" Writing to Change the World. New York:
Riverhead, 2006. Print.

Mary Pipher is a writer who learns how to become better at what she does through
peoples feedback. In chapter 10 she keeps an open mind to everyones criticism as a way to
learn how her writing effect people by watching their action or listening to their advice. By doing
this she sets herself up in other people point of view and she tries to understand both sides of the
story when she is writing a story to convince the unconvinced. She believes there are always two
sides to a story when it comes to writing, and the best way to write for the unconvinced is to pick
a common interest. By finding a common interest Pipher can bring the reader into a mutual
agreement with her writing. Later she encourage writer not to take criticism so negatively, but to
turn it into a positive aspect toward improving her writing. She likes showing her work to her
friends and family before presenting them to see their reaction and listen to their opinion. She is
also really patient with her work because she believes writing a draft takes time to become better.
It can never be perfect because she finds herself going back forth revising her work over time
and she wants all beginner writers to understand that nothing is imperfect. Furthermore, she also
point out to be a successful writer you just need to try your best and that no matter how much
people revise your draft it cannot pleases every reader.
Pipher, Mary. "Cooling Down - Revising" Writing to Change the World. New York:
Riverhead, 2006. Print.
In chapter 9, Pipher gives her insight on how to write a point of view story where readers
are able to feel the experience you are describing. To write a point of view we must know what is
bad and wrong, and in the book she uses the term "morality", which is the key for writing a good
point of view story. Without morality every human being would not have feelings toward one
another and without feelings or empathy it can be hard for writers to express their point view.
She then talks about three type of point of view writing methods and each one has its own
property of how writers can use this to help them write in different perspective point of view.
These three methods are insiders, outsiders, and connected critics. Each one of these methods
have it advantages and disadvantages. She later express using "I" compare to "We" shows a more
powerful way of addressing urgency toward readers that we all must act now together as a whole.
But she says it all depend on what type of writing we are doing and that "we" can be a tricky
word to use. In her case for her work she values connection, so she implies the we to build a
connection with the reader. She then concludes as writer the more we expose ourselves to other
people point of view the more we can keep the readers attention on the cause. In other word, by
giving the readers multiply views of the situation it eliminates prejudice and giving the readers a
feeling of honesty toward your work.