He was given a list of topics and like most students in high school he procrastinated until the night before the assignment was due. He regarded the list of topics one last time and alighted on the topic titled "The Art of Eating Spaghetti". (Baker, 1982) Memories started flooding to him as he commenced writing about the occasion when he and his family gathered around the table and was eating spaghetti at his Uncle Alan's house. He had finally found a topic he was delighted to write about and I believe the main point he was trying to make while writing this text was that as a writer you must write about a topic that you can enjoy. I had a sense of mirth as I was reading this essay; I even chuckled a few times to myself such as when Baker integrated a humorous part into the essay by stating, “The idea of prim Mr. Fleagle plucking his nipple from boneless gums was too much for the class”.
I was anxious to eat this special meal because it was the first time I would try the pozole. The aroma coming out of the pot where the pozole was cooking was tingling through my nostrils as I breathed in, and also making my mouth extra watery. When I asked my mom what pozole was, all she said was that it was like menudo. My heart sunk when I heard this. Menudo was the food I hated most.
My eleventh grade year was also a disaster because of the struggle of passing my biology state test and I was really distracted and just wanted to go back to the alternative school but my mom and the principle would not send me back. My senior year I transferred to Christ Missionary and Industrial high school (college) the year flew by but I really enjoyed myself there. Now I am still here at CM&I , I supposed to be a summer graduate if everything goes as planned. Once I finish high school I plan on signing up for the air
Baker is given an assignment by Mr. Fleagle his eleventh grade English teacher, whom baker says, “To me he looked to be sixty or seventy and prim to a fault.” (p66/3/6-7) Inspired by the memories of a night the whole family was seated at the supper table eating spaghetti. Baker began to write “The Art of Eating Spaghetti,” in which Mr. Fleagle had given Baker an “A” providing the idea of becoming a writer. Baker uses a combination of the Figurative language to engage his audience with the use of a simile and alliteration in the second paragraph, “I hated the assignments to turn out “compositions,” and went at them like heavy labor, turning out leaden, lackluster paragraphs that were agonies for teachers to read and for me to write.” (P66/2/7-9) Here Baker uses a simile to compare the burden of writing a composition to heavy labor and paragraphs that were a pain to read, while keeping the reader engage with the use of alliteration. Notice in lines 8-9, “……and went at them like heavy labor, turning out leaden, lackluster paragraphs…” (p66/2/8-9) adding the repetitious consonant sound of the
Gene Aiello EN 101-23 February 7, 2013 The Art of Eating Spaghetti After reading “The Art of Eating Spaghetti,” by Russell Baker who writes about his experience with English courses and how most of the assignments seemed like very boring and laborious tasks. Relating to Baker was very easy, for I too found English and its assignments very brutal, especially in high school. The dry, boring teachers the out dated reads, and the assignments associated to those readings. All of those turned me off to writing, but I like Baker had a hidden knack and a passion to express myself in written form. When I read the title to this reading I made an assumption that the whole story would be on “The Art of Eating Spaghetti”.
When I first learned how to read in English, it was a pain in the butt. My first language is Spanish so it was very difficult to start all over again with a new language. When I first got to this country I had to adapt pretty quickly to keep with my new classmates. I had no problems in any subject but English. Kids would make fun of me but I never gave up because in a situation like that, that’s the worst thing you could do because if you don’t keep trying you will never learn, everyone learns from their mistakes.
Blinder’s essay was thought out and written properly on one point I think was off. Blinder referred to the “No Child Left Behind” as an institution set up to help student get ahead, when that very program nulls the thinking of students. Alan Blinder will need college students to work “on developing a creative workforce that will keep America incubating”(Blinder 12) but within the No Child Left Behind Act students are forced to learn at the same pace as the slowest student in the room, which does nothing for the new innovator of tomorrow who will become bored with school after having to slow there pace of learning. If Alan would have used this act as a part of his reform in the educational system it would have supported his claims of the system that we already have is hurting of future and not insuring that our younger generations will be able to compete in this
Literacy Autobiography Playing sports, socializing with friends, and working – All reasons why I am an alliterate reader and writer. I never realized the importance of paying attention in school to learn to read and write properly when I was younger. Although I graduated from high school and have a diploma, the lack of initiative and motivation in school has led me to be an alliterate reader and writer today. While in high school, playing sports was more important then learning how to read and write properly. Socializing with friends and going out to have fun was another reason why I did not learn how to write proficiently.
My roommate Ramon and I stumble into class exhausted from the trip. As I fold my desk down, so not to see the hardened chewing gum witch stains the underside, my Professor, tells us for our final paper, we have the creative license to write about anything, as long as it relates to the over all theme of the class. Seemed easy enough. Right then and there I decided I would discuses the idea that “the body is the text, the text is the body” for the simple reason that it would be a tool I could use for the rest of my life. If I could just prove some how that I understand the plot, the overall theme of our class.
This evening I would like to talk you about procrastination. However, I put off writing this speech for so long that I did not get around to actually determining what to tell you about procrastination. Okay...I am just kidding. I only procrastinated until Saturday, and that was only because I wanted to put off grading some essays written by my Senior Composition class. As you may already know, procrastination is one of the easiest ways to not finish your work.