The first reading was enjoyable. Learning how styles of writing evolved from no spaces to inserting commas and semi colons was ... educational. How did the reading help me start my revision? To be honest I have not started my revision yet, but after reading the article I will pay more attention to punctuation errors. For example, being cautious of my commas, semi colons, and  periods. Also note to self, do not rely on spell check to fix those punctuation errors. 

After reading Rich's article I did not get so much out of how it would help me revise my essay, instead I learned lots and lots about her personal life. As well as how she incorporated her personal experiences through her writings. I enjoyed reading her poems and have a semi better idea of how to incorporate personal experiences in writings. Unfortunately, Essay 3 is not a personal experience essay. Thus there is no use for me to add personal experiences into it. 

Also, throughout her article I noticed she has loads and loads of time to write. Years go by till she writes another poem. One important aspect that I must enforce upon my self is giving myself enough time to write and revise. The whole last minute thing needs to stop, so for this portfolio assignment I will give myself enough time to think, plan, write, and edit my papers. 

My plan for revising Essay 3 is first changing my synthesis thesis statement. It needs to be stronger, less broad and the 3rd sentence needs to have a more effective reason to why the whole essay is important. Hopefully giving myself more time to jot plenty of ideas down will give me the opportunity to write a strong 1,2,3 thesis. Also, writing the research essay gave me some more practice with the synthesis thesis and hopefully my revision will be a whole lot stronger. Paying attention to grammar, structure and appeal are the top three things i am going to look out for. 

Honey Bee Haven For Free Ice Cream!

I never knew that during the winter the bees do not hibernate, instead they keep each other warm by huddling up and switching place every so often. You know this reminds me of what penguins do when it gets super cold. They all huddle up and switch positions so that every penguin can have a chance in the middle ( warmest part). Any ways just thought that was interesting. Oh and I never realized how many bees a single queen bee could give birth to! It said nearly two thousand on one day. Thats so much...

I enjoy Alice's writing style. Her beginning paragraph was so catchy, especially when she starting talking to the busy bees. Her essay was like an informative story. She makes her essay fun to read but also informs the readers about the life of the honey bees. After reading this I actually know what it means to be a busy bee.

Okay so reading her essay reminded me of this article i read in December at the Davis Enterprise. Im not quite sure who wrote it buy they said "Haagen-Dazs has announced a $125,000 donation to the UC Davis department of entomology to launch a nationwide design competition to create a half-acre Honey Bee Haven garden at UC Davis." Plus the winner gets free ice cream for one year!

So you are probably wondering why Haagen Dazs would do this? Well it turns out that the honey bees are dying :( They are dying from "colony collapse disorder", which is basically hive abandonment. As I read further into the article I found out that the honey bees are disappearing due to pesticides, parasites, stress, and climate change. Since Haagen Dazs depends on the work of honeybees for their ice cream ( practically half of their flavors) they decided to grant UCD the privilege of building a honey bee garden. So UCD created a contest for the public to submit their garden designs.

I believe around March the winner was anounced which was a team located in Sausalito. Their design is going to be used to build a half acre garden to save the honey bees ...yay!!! And I think the actual project will be starting around October. UC Davis had a website to look at all the designs submitted but they took it down unfortuantely. It would be interesting to see what the acutaly design turns out to look like in October.

I know this whole Haagen Dazs competition does not have much to do with the reading, but whenever honey bees are brought up I always think about their circumstance right now and how companies are affected by it. And too no surprise Haagan Dazs is affected greatly by the bee shortage.

Hmm.. what to write about?

Well there is always:

1. Study an Infectious Disease: Tuberculosis, Malaria, Tetanus...

Okay, so I looked up Tuberculosis on Wikipedia and it basically said that is has been around 18,000 years before present. Im guessing the problem with this is that when I begin to research the origination the facts will not be all the accurate. Or should I go with a different approach and research how the disease is formed? 

2. Oh.. Dentistry. I could study when the first forms of dentistry was being practiced. 

Although now that I think about it... Im guessing the beginning of dentistry was probably painful and awful. Im sure dentists ( if they even were called that) did not use pain killers when removing cavities or pulling out teeth. And just think of the devices they might have used to remove those cavities and pull those teeth. Ouch!!

3. And I could study the development of Birth Control. Or study how it works? Not sure which one to go with. Anyways, the bad side is that it may be too recent meaning not much history to research. Also, recently there are so many types of birth control, so I may have to just pick one specific type and then study the history on that.  On the other hand, since it is recent it will be easy to find the first birth control that was available.

The Search for Equality

As mentioned in the title, equality is what connects "Saudis in Bikinis" to "The Tyranny of the Majority". Both articles display situations where there are two extremes, one or the other, and both articles show a search for a balance between the extremes.

Guinier's article is about searching for the equality between two extremes such as trying to reach a consensus without excluding a group's opinion. For example she mentions a dilemma that occured at a highschool between two races. The highschool was taking a poll on song choices for the prom, but the poll was unfair due to the majority of the population being white. If the african american students preferred different music to be played, well it would not happen. Thus there became two seperate proms instead. This is an example of two extremes ( two different proms) not being able to find equality ( a fair polling system so there could be one prom). She then mentions the concept of taking turns, so both parties will not be excluded, whether it be at a prom or the democratic voting system.

Kristof also shows two extremes that are finding it hard to reach some sort of equality. When he visited Saudi Arabia he learned that women are required to wear a black cloak like outfit, abayas, while in the public. He mentions that women who even showed a little patch of hair in the public were frowned upon. This is a situation where there are two extremes displaying no equality when it comes to choice of clothing. Either these women obey the rules by being fully covered or be frowned upon by not being fully covered. To find equality in this circumstance would be very difficult since how a person dresses is apart of culture. There is also no equality when is comes to women's rights. Certain buildings do not allow women to enter but men can. Clearly there is no equality between men and women, because women sometimes can not even go into the same building that a man can. 

Just roughly, "The Tyranny of the Majority" is mainly about Guinier's views on how to approach reaching a consensus without disregarding anyone's views. She explains that it can be as simple as "taking turns", therefore there being no winner or looser(creating unfairness). She applies her view towards government tendencies and clearly states that the democratic promise has not been met and believes it should be based upon the idea of "taking turns and disaggregating the majority.." 

How does Gruinier's article relate to "the Case for Torture"? 

I saw a similar concept between both articles which was, what is considered to be fair? Guinier pointed out that majority voting is unfair and the idea of taking turns is fair. Proving that majority voting causes desegregation,  she mentions Brown Rice high school and how majority voting caused two separate proms because the african american students were outnumbered when voting for choice in music. 

In Levin's article he explains how torture can be considered fair (though it is considered unfair throughout the public). He gives many scenarios, such as possible terrorists attacks, and reasons on how torturing is a method that can save lives.  Levin puts things in perspective; torture one person to save millions or not torture and put millions of innocent lives at risk. By doing this I believe he is wanting to at least change views on what fairness should be. Sure it is not humane to torture, but it is fair to torture if it saves many lives. 

Also, both articles insist on the reader to think about the future based on scenarios. Levin states that in many years from now there could be a terrorist attack threatening thousands of lives and we as readers should really think about torturing being one of the best options to save those thousands of lives. Now, Guinier also leaves the reader to wonder about the future of our government and the fairness of it. She is wanting the reader to consider other possible ways "voting and representational systems" can affect(positive/negative) the idea of Madisonian Majority. Meaning how can we include everyone's opinion into a concise vote?

Completely Random

Once upon a time there was a young girl that always wore a pink wig and pink dress (she loves pink!) who always asked, "What does it take to bake a yummy cake?" ; thus she started to write a recipe and listed the following ingredients:pink flour, homemade pink frosting, and pink sprinkles.

Analysis of "A Moral Choice"

It seems like Gordon's article is for everyone to understand, there is no particular part of the public she is writing to. Her article was published in the Atlantic Monthly( described as "America's oldest and most prestigious magazines of literature, culture, and politics"), which is another clue that it was meant for everyone to read. She also uses the word "we" a lot, which also indicates that she is referring to the general public. Towards the end of her article she makes it clear that she is pro abortion and talks about the benefits of the pro side and argues against the con, rather than being unbiased on both sides of the argument. So, im guessing this article is leaning more towards people who are not against abortion or are for people who do not believe in abortion, but she is trying to change their view.

• Part 1: The Ontology of the Fetus
  
• She raises the question on what a woman's moral choices are towards having an abortion.
  
• Choice depends on the "acting woman" view of ontology. Meaning at what point does the mother view the fetus as exsisting or as a being.
  
• Every woman has a different view of Ontology, but common sense plays a key role in deciding

• Part 2: An Equivocal Good
• Overall abortion ends up being a moral issue due to the media. 
• Whether it be from movies, television, or photography, media affects our perception on abortion.
• Reaches to male audience by describing theologian Daniel Maguire's experience visiting an abortion clinic.
• In paragraph 3 she steps away from the topic of abortion and she basically gives her view on how parents should not plan their un born baby's life out according to their dreams and hopes.
• She believes the decision of abortion should be based on a person's situation and how they live or grew up that may affect the unborn child. 
• Abortion is not a decision of "life style over life"

Part 3: The Fear of Sexual Autonomy

• Compares different abortion regulations between countries
• explains how people against abortion view mothers who undergo abortion
• Author is surprised that men are writing their views ( bad views) on autonomy but may have no actual experience, which makes them, i guess, hypocrites

Part4 : Real Choices

• Makes it clear that she is on the pro choice side of abortion.
•  Tells reader about the "trauma" a mother may have if she is forced to give birth against her will
• Explains why it is important to have the right to abortion due to health concerns. Gordon also explains the effects that could happen if abortion was not allowed. Basically illegal abortions would be taking place, thus women would be risking their lives( health safety) to abort. 
• At the last paragraph she makes a clear about how we (the public) should make our decisions of abortion on and what our decisions should not be based on.

McKibben needs a different title

After reading McKibbens article it seemed that the title of his article did not match what he ending up writing about. He starts off by telling the reader why he choose to undergo a vasectomy and the many statistics that also led him to the procedure. He explains that about 60 percent of births are unintended and that 6 out of 10 women have abortions due to contraceptive failure. Then he goes on about the how much the population increased and still is increasing. After then discussing these issues he finally tells the reader why he and his wife decided to stick with one child because he also found out that children without brothers/sisters achieve the same as children with brothers/sisters. This I agree goes along with the title, but just when i thought it was going to stay that way, he goes and starts discussing different authors and their view of how children impact parents lives. Whether it be parents could no longer be selfish(time for romance, travel...)or how mothers start to loose their sexuality/ identity or even the complete opposite that having more children "makes people better human beings" (John Ryan).


Another aspect of this article i found interesting was that McKibben brings up religion and not only mentions it but also contradicts it.To be more specific he mentions a quote from the 1st commandment in Genesis "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth" and then goes on to explain that "we can check this commandment off the list" Again... this does not relate to his title.


It seems that McKibben has chosen to take a personal approach on this article by discussing why he choose to have only one child. Also, I feel like he is trying to persuade others to have less children as well. Especially when he quotes Genesis and goes on to explain that we should check it off our list and go on to the other commandments such as "feeding the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the oppressed...) (p.384)

Okay another thing, I noticed a difference in his use of writing from the beginning to the end of his article. In the beginning he uses "I" to mainly explain his reasons for only having one child, but towards the end he uses "we" and "our" as if he is the voice for everyone. An example would be on p.386, he is explaining that "we have done such a poor job of planning for our numbers..". I really feel he should not use "we" but instead use maybe specific examples instead of just blaming everyone for the growing population.

All in all, i enjoyed reading his article. It's just that when i first read the title I expected to read mainly about single-child families, probably due to the fact that I am a single child myself.

Obligated to Smile : /

Why do we smile? We smile because if we don't then others assume something is wrong such as unhappiness. This happend so so so much at my previous job as a courtesy clerk. Yes, it is in our job duty to smile, but i noticed that my manager would comment on my "normal face" and never on my fellow male co worker's. I would walk by a checkstand and this particular aggravating checker would say "kayla! remember to smile" Oh how that got on my nerves so much. I dont have to smile all the time... To me a smile should be genuine and meaningful, its just fake otherwise.

But... smiling (even a fake smile) does make a person feel more welcomed. For instance when Cunningham mentioned in her article that women doctors smile more often than male doctors and due this smiling women doctors are more liked by thier patients. This is true, smiling only does become a problem when it is not needed. Such as when Cunningham mentioned that while her friend was in class and not smiling, the teacher talked to her afterwards asking why she was not smiling. Um... unless the subject is that interesting to me, I tend to not smile in class. There is no need for it. It was very rude for her friend's teacher to call her friend out on the smile, rather than just not wanting to smile it also could have been a personal matter that should not be disscussed. An instance like this one, is when expecting a smile is tedious.

It was interesting to read about the history of a smile in different cultures. Smiling is something that i overlook, because I just do it and dont think about why I am doing it. In some cultures women are required to wear a veil to hide thier smile versus our culture, if we do not smile than it usually raises concern.

Thank God for the Atom Bomb?

Although I would like to say that i have a validated reason to why the atom bombs should not have been dropped, but unfortunatley i do not. To be honest I wish i knew more about the war than what i just learned in highschool history. This is a very very very important part of our American past and to not know the details is unfortunate for me. My general opinion would be that the bombs should not have been dropped becasue i just dont believe murdering innocent poeple is the way to stop something especially a war, but as i said before there is just so much more to it than "its not fair to kill innocent people". So about the reading, it was great for the author to include different opinions rather than just his own. People such as historian Michael Sherry who he said believed that we should have waited longer before dropping the bombs to create "second thoughts and restraints". But I wonder, How much delay is Sherry talking about here? Does he have a specific time to how long to think before making the decision? I guess since it was just a quote in the article, that he states into further detail about his views on what to do. Also, it was great that he included people who were enlisted as well. E B Sledge talked about how awful it was that Japanese soilders, women, civilians, and children!! fought the americans with what weapons they had ( rifles to bamboo spears). It is really heartbreaking that children were brought into the war and were killing other people. Not to go way off subject but it reminds me of this documentary I watched about the genocide in some parts of Africa. Men are kidnapping small children as little as 5 and brainwashing them to kill other people. They taught these children how to handle guns and the best way to kill a person.

"Killing Time in Iraq"

Even when Buzzell's conditions are obviouosly serious, he still manages to not only write a journal but is able to find ways to ease the tension. Like when Buzzell chose to write about getting bit by ants (the pain, how he reacted, what others thought) instead of describing what he was about to do, before getting bit by ants. He could of easily made his journal entry serious if he explained why he had his night vision goggles while in gun posistion on the hill. There was another journal entry he wrote that explains what car bombs are like in Iraq and it starts out, well just shoking that car bombs could be that explosive, but at the end of his entry he ends it with a lyric from a rap song in the eighties. Am I the only one that finds it odd to be talking about car bombs and their destructive abilities( mushroom clouds seen from miles away, building windows shattered from blocks and blocks away!) and then abruptly end it with a lyric from the eighties? Also, the titles of his journal entries are very... interesting. I really do not know what to make of it, should i find it humurous? When i read it i kinda chuckled, but it seems so wrong to chuckle at a title that has the word Car Bomb and escpecially if know the journal entries are related to a pressing time. "Car Bomb" "Another Damn Car Bomb" "And Another Damn Car Bomb". It seems like he is trying to not make is journal entries so serious on purpose. One of the reasons for keeping a journal is to re read it some time in the future and his journal entries are easier to read( not as depressing compared to the Diary of Anne Frank). So maybe it is for this purpose that when he (if he) re reads his journal it wont as traumatic (sad) opposed to him writing about the gory details on say car bombs.


Even though Buzzell's entries are not what i expected when i read the title "Killing Time in Iraq", I liked his style of writing. Even when situations are pretty bad, not every journal entry has to be gloomy/ somber. He found ways to make is journal more relaxed and focused on the better part of his days (i dont want to say "the better part", but i have no other words). He did not have to include the time he met an Iraqi who was so nice to give him two large bags of ice, or the time he met an Iraqi contracter who wanted a "certain" magazine. I do acknowledge him for being able to find even a little bit of posotive, when circumstances have become so routine that he sadly knows what triggered a car bomb.

Death of Abraham Lincoln

I enjoyed Whitman's style of writing because he was able to write Abe's death in first person through personal experience. Reading this in first person, for me, is more dramatic and almost made it real and in the moment. Whitman is able to recreate the whole incident by using emotions, quotes and expressions from the audience, Mrs. Lincoln and the soilders. His style of writing makes the it seem as if Lincoln's death was happening right here right now. Such as when he describe Mrs. Lincoln as having "ashy cheeks and lips" at the moment she pointed to the figure who killed her husband. Or when he describes the audience in " confusion and terror-women faint- quite feeble persons fall, and are trampl'd on- may cries of agony are heard..." and the soilders are "inflam'd with fury, literally charging the audience with fix'd bayonets, muskest, and pistols shouting..." He is just able to include everyone even if the scene was brief and make the readers feel as if they were there( captivation) from all the consfusion, drama and fright. Being able to recreate this day even though it happend a while ago is a great way to keep it commemorated.

Second Inaugural Address

I must be quite honest, reading through the articles about Lincoln was challenging in the sense of trying to keep reading. Learning about history has never been of great interest to me, but there must be something to write about in all these readings. I noticed in Lincoln's Second Inaugural address he uses God as a way of reaching out to people. Now I am not a history buff at all, but it would make sense that he would put God in his writings because the majority of the people do believe in God. If there is at least one common belief or interest that the majority of the population have then it is easier and more effective to reach out with a common understanding. In this case God was the common understanding/ interest and since many people believe, Lincoln used this let the public understand and even relate to him a little bit more. Also using actual quotes from the bible into his address does make him seem more convincing and credible. Now I do not want to insult anyone or cause argument, but I am a christian and what I observed is that people who believe spend their time understanding his word rather than arguing it. This can relate to Lincoln's address because if he uses God's word than most people, not saying all, will have an easier time believing in Lincoln since it is related to God's actual word.

Don't Hurt the Animals!!!

Okay just to make things clear, I do eat meat. What would I do without my hamburgers, general chicken, bulgogi (korean beef), and pepperoni pizza?!. Now that that’s clear I just have one question, why is it necessary to keep the chickens and pigs in such confined spaces? Conserving land can not be an issue because there is still plenty of it ( in America at least) or is it just that it would cost way too much to have the chickens and pigs spread out a little?

It is really very sad to read what chicken operations do to the helpless animals. I was in shock that operations 1. Gave them no space to spread out 2. Cut off their beaks due to the confinement stress 3. Kill ten percent of the chickens due to their living spaces. I just could not believe that these operations put the chickens under so much stress that the chickens went basically mad and started to eat each other and kill themselves. Is it really necessary to do this at all? I’m sure if the chickens were accommodated a little more they would feel less stressed, live longer, and thus being able to lay more eggs for a longer period of time. If there was a way to single out the operations that did this, I would not buy their chicken products at all. Which is probably why this does not happen, and there is probably some law that prevents it from happening. So I really do not know what to do in terms of not supporting the chicken killers. If I somehow become a vegetarian it will not change anything, the chicken operations plant will still be going strong. The same support goes to the all the pigs suffering in the processing plants. Can a person really be so heartless to see pigs day after day biting each others tails and screaming in pain. I mean come on I just find it difficult to go fishing once in awhile because that would mean killing a fish. But to actually purposely hurt an animal that is just as smart as a dog, if not more, is just something else.

After reading Pollan's article as of right now I am going to change the way I shop for my meats. I will start looking for the meats only labeled " the American Humane Association's Free Farmed" Assuming that this label is one hundred percent true, this could be the starting point for me not to support the questionable processing plants. If everyone could boycott the processing plants that are not certified by the American Humane Association, then it could be very possible to force all plants to become certified.

Should you eat the Lobster????

When I was little, maybe around six and younger, I lived on a very small island called Guam. And guess what I did?.. I ate Lobster and lots of it! But I did not know any better, how was I supposed to know that the lobster I ate was boiled alive and died very unhappy only with a purpose of filling my hungry belly? And now that I know now, I am going to give a shout out to all the lobsters I ate -- I am so sorry all of you died in pain just so that I could eat you.

Okay, there should really be a much more humane way to cook lobster than to just boil it alive. I mean can killing a lobster before cooking it take away the freshness? I do not see how it can because red meat is still considered fresh when it has been slaughtered before being cooked. Just because the lobster may not scream in pain when being boiled, it does not mean it cant be felt. Wallace even mentioned that lobsters have complex migratory cycles because they can detect change in temperature. He explains that lobsters tend to travel deeper in the water due to less sunlight. This proves that lobsters prefer colder water because the ocean does get colder the deeper you go. That being said, how can cooks still kill the poor lobster like this?

I guess partly it comes down to culture and what morals a person was raised with. When I visited Korea a couple years ago I remember being at an open fish market and being traumatized by how the cooks prepared the eels. This evil man ( he is evil because of what he did) took an eel and started skinning it ALIVE!!! and then put in a big bowl with other skinned eels. Is this sad, disgusting, and inhumane or what? I asked our tour guide why this man would do this and the tour guide responded saying that "this is the way some cooks believe in preparing food here" So it must be custom and traditional for this man to cook eels this way. Or maybe the man just sees the fish as a fish and not as an entity that feels pain and deserves to be treated fairly.

Okay now that I start thinking about this, do we not do the same thing when fishing? I mean most people usually kill the fish by taking out the water, suffocating it and then cooking it. It may no be as inhumane as the whole horrible eel incident but it can definitely be compared to the lobster and how we cook it. This goes back to my original question "Is there someway to cook a lobster without the painful boiling process?" Now I am not a an expert on lobster anatomy but there must be some vein or artery or something that can be punctured to kill the lobster quickly.

"Virtual Students, Digital Classroom"

Postman conveys a good point on how society basically treats technology (computers and the television) like a god. He believes that we should not rely so much on technology, but on what our schools have to offer. People such as Dr. Ravich, who envision children and adults being able to learn what is needed through their TV, believe that technology is the best tool for learning. What confuses me here is that I have never knew a person who turned on their t.v. for the sole reason of a teaching lesson, instead they watch it to relax and have a good time. There are too many distractions the televising offers, that it would be very difficult to just watch and learn. Hugh McIntosh was another person who believes that technology is the key to studying subjects. He believes in an age where students can teleconference research scientists, create their own physics labs, and design life forms with computer simulation. Also, he believes that technology can be an effective way to replace teachers. it seems so unreal to be able to contact a research scientist just to get help on a homework question. I would think that the research scientist has more important things to do. I think the key concept that these two people are missing is motivation. What makes Dr. Ravich and McIntosh think that children and adults will want learn biology or physics by themselves? Where is the motivation to learn? If I was given the option between learning on my TV or watching it, I would probably choose to watch it. It may or may not be just me, but I would rather learn through a teacher who has a great passion for what is being taught, then by a technology that is teaching because it was told to.

It seems as if Ravich and McIntosh are trying to find an easier and more effective way for children and adults to learn without having to attend school. I believe school is the most important and effective way to learn. When attending school there is the feeling of motivation to learn unlike learning through the television. Instead of learning by one's self, school offers a great way to interact with others who share the same interests and aspirations. People are able to work in teams, answer each others questions and feel proud of accomplishing their goals. Learning through technology just seems so dry to me and I would rather learn with others than on my own.
That being said, I strongly agree with Postman that our society should rely less on technology and to "not put our hopes on it". Technology is never perfect and what would happen if a glitch or virus suddenly occurred? Our main source of learning would be defective and we would of started to realize that we should have kept the most trusting teaching method, our schools.

"On Keeping a Journal"

Didion brings up a whole new way to write in a journal. She is able to show readers that journal entries do not have to conform to the "typical" journal entry of writing about one's day, instead she is able to reach out and reveal what a journal entry could be. It is very creative how she jots down what is going on around her, such as conversations and random facts, and is able to use them to recall meaningful events.
What shocked me the most about Didion is that she was a gifted writer at the age of 5. I was very impressed to read that she was able to write such an exotic and ironic story about a woman who found herself in the Artic, almost freezing to death, then later dying in the Sahara Desert from a heat stroke, at such and early age!! When I was five I remember being so proud of a drawing I did because my mom liked it so much that she framed it and hung it in my bedroom. Although my art work(... finger paintings :)... ) was framed it does not compare to writing a story such as Didion's.
I noticed that Didion's usage of the phrase "how it felt to me" reveals a certian way of how she writes in her notebook. She uses notes such as a recipie for sauerkraut to remind her of the first time she made it and "felt safe" being with company, listening to the rain and Atlantic. Even though that particular event may not have had much excitement , it was an important memory for her and the best way for her to remember how she felt was to write the recipe down in her journal.
When Didion recommended to use a notebook to "keep in touch" with ourselves I did not fully understand what she meant. Then she pointed out that she started to loose touch with who she was when she was 17 and 23 and wishes she was able to feel what it was like again. I now realize the meaning of keeping in touch. Not only is it important to write down important occurences, but also to write how we felt when they occured. Writing down feelings brings a whole different way to remembering; not only do you remember what happend, but you also remember how you felt during the occurence. This can actually make a person feel as if the occurence was happening at the moment thus making it possible to never loose touch.
Reading this article by Didion made me to start thinking about starting up a journal. It would be wonderful to have precious memories and feelings stored in a place that I can look back to if I ever start to loose touch. Maybe instead of writing I can put pictures to remind me.