After the readers have read the first two pages of the essay, they are convinced that the essay “Time and distance overcome” is just about the invention and history about, “todays’ best friend of humans”, the telephone – and not about the “war” between the black and white in America – in the whole in general. The themes of the essay are racism, cruelty, fear of the unknown and fear of changes. The second part of the essay has a whole other atmosphere than the first part – the second part is negative and filled with death and murderer. The suddenly change of focus is something that
The two pages long history reading leaves the reader convinced that this is an essay about the invention itself and nothing more. Specific years, inventors and their sayings are mentioned. The story of the telephone is quit truthful, but the essence of the essay is so much more than just a review of the main invention of 1800. The theme and real focus of the text is racism, cruelty, fear of the un-known and the fear of change. The second part of the
“Time and Distance Overcome” is a story about telephone poles and it is written by Eula Biss in 2008. The style of the text is objective but subjective towards the end. The story is divided into three sections. At first she explains how the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 and how it was supposed to connect people from far away. At the time some people were against the invention and started sawing the telephone poles down.
A recent article states that about 77% of students have admitted to being the victim of a bully. The American Justice Department bullying statistics show that one out of every four kids will be bullied at some time by their adolescence (Bullying Statistics, 2013). One of the most unfortunate parts of these school bullying statistics is that in about 85% of bullying cases, no intervention or effort is made by a teacher or faculty member of the school to stop the bullying from taking place (Bullying Statistics, 2013). The consequences of bullying are numerous. Children are facing physical and emotional damage.
There are different types of bullying of which bullying statistics reveal almost half of all students have experienced. 35% of kids have been threatened online and six out of ten teenagers say they witness bullying in school every day. 75% of school shooting incidents have been linked to bullying and harassment. Verbal bullying is the most common type of bullying, with about 77 percent of all students being verbally bullied in some way including mental bullying or verbal abuse. These types of bullying can also include spreading rumors, yelling obscenities or other derogatory terms based on an individual's race, gender, sexual orientation and religion.
In the non-fiction essay “Time and Distance Overcome” by the American non-fiction writer Eula Biss from 2008 we meet the deadly honesty and realness about the history of America, with the telephone poles as a “focus point”. Biss is mostly giving us small facts and happenings from her researches but she also gives us every now and then a little taste of her own opinions. She talks about the “famous” but at the time disliked telephone pole, and in her research the discovering of a darker and hidden history of the telephone emerges. Throughout the essay we are given new information for each new paragraph while the paragraphs have a connection. The essay starts off with Biss writing about the history behind the telephone.
Studies show that one out of four children are bullied (Words Can Kill). Bullying can occur at any location and at any age. Birchwood Middle School Assistant Principal says, “Every school has a bullying problem.” (Words Can Kill). Unlike the past, where the perceived notion of bullying was restricted to the playground, people realize that bullying can occur almost anywhere. It can take place at work, home, school or online.
Now, even our schools use e-mail to alert students of any news that they might need. When one thinks about what they do during a typical day, technology is present in most daily functions. From the coffee maker to an alarm clock to the computer at a desk, all of them are technology that has advanced to make things easier. The question is where technology should stop. For any who have lost their cell phone, they realize how dependant many are on something that is so small.
Suicide2 Suicide amongst teens is a worldwide problem. Teens are committing suicide younger and younger. Studies show that the majority of teens that commit suicide are 14 years of age. Furthermore, males commit most of these teenage suicides. (Beautrais, Annette 2001) Also in 2003 the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed that 16.9% of teenagers in high school had seriously considered committing suicide and 8.5% attempted suicide in the past year.
Some of them are encouraged by friends and ridiculously thinking they won’t get caught. Such misunderstandings are acting as a catalyst of cyberbullying and even worsen it. As for criticism, people always criticize others, motivated by self- centering and unpleasantly pressed destructive emotions. People have an overly high sense of self protecting and seek for conformity. Nowadays, people mainly uphold negative thinking and seldom appreciate others.