REHUGO

=REHUGO #1 = = = **Citation:** Robbins, Alexandra. //The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids.// New York: Hyperion, 2006. Print

**Category:** Reading/Literature

**Précis:** Alexandra Robbins, an investigative journalist, author of the book //The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids//, implies that people are prone to overachieving in the competitive natures of the human race. Robbins follows one year of high school students' lives, interviews with multiple headmasters of prestigious schools, and conducts her hown research of causes of overachieving to unserstand the overachieving culture. Her purpose is to show the positive and negative effects that overachieving has on students and people in genreal in order to illustrate the competitive environment that exists today. Robbins targets all people affiliated with schools, educational institutions, and parents to show them the overachieving culture and how competitive it is.

**Personal Commentary:** As a high school student reading this book, it made me feel like I wasn’t doing enough. These kids are stacked with so much activity, and I have extra-cirricular activities too, but it's not nearly as much as the students in the book have. I get stressed from school work and feel like I am always competing with my peers. Even though I wouldn’t consider myself as an “overachiever”, I understand what the students were going through.

=REHUGO #2 =

**Citation:** Johnson, Steven. //Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter//. New York: Riverhead, 2006. Print.

**Category:** Reading/Literature

**Précis:** Steven Johnson, bestselling author of //Everything Bad Is Good For You//, argues that today’s popular culture is making American smarter. Johnson begins the book by explaining the Sleeper Curve, and how it is portrayed through the complexity of video games, television shows, the Internet, and movies, describing how this complexity raises our exploratory skills to better understand the media’s objectives. His purpose is to not only make the reader realize that his assertions are true, but to also prove his hypothesis is correct by the Flynn Effect and the resulting increase in IQ scores over the past decades in order to change readers’ viewpoints of today’s popular culture. Johnson targets the society of television watchers, video game players, Internet users, and movie watchers to show them how popular culture really makes society more intelligent.

**Personal Commentary:** I think Johnson has very good evidence to support his theory. And if you consider what he has to say, it makes sense. I liked how he formatted the book, breaking it up into sub-parts. He connected them all very well.

=REHUGO #3 = = = **Citation:** Golding, William, "Thinking as a Hobby." //The Norton Reader, Shorter Eleventh Edition.// Ed. Linda H. Peterson and John C. Brereton. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2004. 124-130.

**Category:** Reading/Literature

**Précis:** <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16px;">William Golding, a British novelist, author of his essay //Thinking as a Hobby//, claims that there are three levels of thinking in which you have to go through the first two stages to become a grade one thinker. Golding uses his personal anecdotes beginning when he was a child, starting as a grade on thinker evolving into a grade two thinker when he is a teenager and finally becoming a grade one thinker when he is an adult. His purpose is not only to describe to his readers how thinking works and which grade they are at, but to brag about his life and how he became a grade on thinker in order to promote grade one thinking. Golding targets people who are not grade one thinkers to show them that being a grade one thinker us the best achievement you can have.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**Personal Commentary:** Golding is a very intelligent man. His stories were written perfectly for his essay, and it pieced together wonderfully. He was very boastful, but it was some what humorous to see him like that.

=<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">REHUGO #4 =

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**Category:** Reading/Literature

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**Précis:** <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Recently elected President George Washington and slave Phillis Wheatley had exchanged communications in the forms of poems and letters beginning with Wheatley’s poem, “To His Excellency, General Washington”, to imply that all citizens should be treated equally. Wheatley proposes that she is equal to General Washington even though she was a slave. Wheatley wrote the poem on behalf of all African Americans in order to prove their equality to Washington. Wheatley and Washington’s genuine responses exemplify equality for African Americans to the colonists.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**Personal Commentary:** Wheatley was very brave to send her poem to Washington. Washington was also very kind about it, but was very surprised he got it. He wasn't exactly sure what to do with it and sent a letter to Colonel Joseph Reed explaining the poem to see what he should do. His letter back to Wheatley was again very nice, but it seemed as if he did it because he had to.

=<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">REHUGO #5 = = = <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**Citation:**Rushin, Steve. "Give the Kids a Break." //Sports Illustrated// 2006. Web.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**Category:** Reading/Literature

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**Précis:** <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Steve Rushin, sports journalist, author of //“Give the Kids a Break”// claims that recess is disappearing from schools around the country. Rushin explains through statistical data why many elementary schools and middle schools are choosing to eliminate recess. The author’s purpose is to create awareness to the audience in order to reveal that kids deserve to have recess, because everyone needs a break sometimes. Rushin targets his article to the school boards of America, students, and parents to show how important recess really is.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**Personal Commentary:** Rushin has made a very good point in his article. I cannot imagine what elementary school would have been like if I did not have recess. It was a time for kids to have fun and let loose for a while and remember to have fun. Even adults need to have their own type of "recess" to remember to live their life to the fullest.

=<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿ ﻿<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿REHUGO #6 = = =
 * <span style="font-family: georgia,serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Citation: **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Dretzin, Rachel, and John Maggio. "PBS Frontline: 'Growing Up Online'" The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. [].

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 * <span style="font-family: georgia,serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Category: **<span style="font-family: georgia,serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Documentary Film


 * <span style="font-family: georgia,serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Pr <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">écis: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Rachel Dretzin and John Maggio, documentary producers of "Growing Up Online", claims that the world of technology can negatively impact the lives of teenagers and children. The producers used film footage of teenagers creating a new "life" online, anecdotes of families and their children's problems with using the computer and internet so often, and expert testimony of a professional teaching students how to act online to prove their argument. Their purpose was not only to create a video for people to see and understand the effects of the online world, but also to create an awareness of the issue in order to show the negative effects that the online world has on teenagers. The intended audience of the documentary were parents of teenagers who spend almost all of their time online and how they can help stop the negative effects of the internet on their children.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Personal Commentray: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">This documentray really opened my eyes to the huge impact that the internet has on teenagers. I knew that it really effected teenagers, but some of the examples they used, i had no idea about. It was also a learning experience for me to understand every negative that the internet has on the world.

=<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">﻿REHUGO #7 = = =


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿Citation: **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//The Tillman Story//. Dir. Amir Bar-Lev. Perf. Pat Tillman, Josh Brolin, Mary Tillman. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2007. DVD.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Category: **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Documentray Film


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Pr <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">écis: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Amir Bar-Lev, documentary producer of "The Tillman Story," argues that the militray and government should not keep secrets from families and the world. Bar-Lev uses the family's personal anecdotes of Pat and his fellow soldiers, the three thousand materials of the discription of Pat's death, and the P4 memo that described the real events of Pat's death to develop to prove his argument. Bar-Lev's purpose is to expose the government of the lies that they have told the world in order to create an awareness of how the government can seem like something we can trust, but in reality it hides secrets like everyone does. The intedned audience is anoyone who has family or friends in the military and is to make them aware of the situation they could be in.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Personal Commentary: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">This documentary really got my attention from the start. I can't believe that the militray and government would do something as extreme as they did, and were able to get away with it. It now is a little hard for me to trust the government and militray with letting its nation know everything that they should. I understand that they need to keep some events private, but completely lying to a family and nation is morally wrong.

=<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">﻿REHUGO #8 =


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Catergory: **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Written Document


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Pr <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">écis: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Thomas Jefferson, and intellectual colonist, wrote the Declaration of Independence, claims that the colonies have been treated unfairly by the British government. He develops his purpose by listing out every single wrongdoing that the king posed on the colonies, such as: taxes and controlling the colonies' trade. Jefferson's purpose was to declare war with Britian and state that the colonies wanted to be independent from Britian. His intended audience was the British king and Parliament, so his word choice is very proper and well thought out.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Personal Commentary: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">The Declaration of Independence is a very well thought out piece of writing. It is very straight forward in what the colonies want and expect to get. It calls out the British government for everything wrong it has donee, and stands up for what the colonies believe in. It is a very strong and sturdy pice of writing.

=<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">REHUGO #9 =


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Catergory: **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Public Speech


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Pr <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">écis: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Patrick Henry, a revolutionist, speaker of his //Speech to the Virginia Convention//, suggests that the colonies have no other decision rather than to declare war on Britian. Henry develops his purpose by explaining all of the peaceful petitions the colonies have sent to Britian and how the British have retaliated back negatively. His purpose is to convinve the Virginia Convention that war with Britian is the only solution left in order to be free from the British government. Henry's audience is a group of very proper delegates and he creates a relationship with them by showing the delegates how they need a revolution and they all agree with him.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Personal Commentary: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Henry's speech is very persuasive. His tone is very strong and you can hear it through his word choice. He knows what he believes in and will not back down from his opinion. If I were at the convention I would have easily been persuaded to go to war with Britian.

=**<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">REHUGO #10 **=


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Category: **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Panphlet


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Pr <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">écis: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Thomas Paine, a believer in independence, wrote the pamphlet //Common Sense//, asserts that the British government treated the colonies unfairly, and the British government itself is not a strong government. Paine develops his purpose by explaining first simple situations to help people understand how the government works, second by explaining how complex the British government is and how it is hard to keep powers equal, and lastly by stating that the constitution should be for the people, not the king. His purpose was to let the colonists know, in very simple terms so they could understand what was going on, that the colonists should be free of Britian's unjust government in order to turn the colonists in favor of the revolution. His intended audience is the illiterate colonists, so his word choice is very simplistic so the colonists can understand what is being said.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Personal Commentary: **<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Thomas Paine's pamphlet was very convincing for the colonists. I do not think it was very convincing, but I have only read part of it. I do think his explanations are very well thought out and make perfect sense. His word choice was good for the colonists.