Letter of Concern

January 19, 2010

Ikil Yunao
729 Chemical Warfare Rd.
Death Row, British Colombia
D1E N0W

Mr. Kleats
Central High School, 123 Main Street
Sportstown, British Colombia
Canada, V2A 1W3

Dear Mr. Kleats:

Recently, after attending several of my son's Soccer practices of which you are currently coaching, I have some possible recommendations I would like you to consider. I believe that it is my duty as a parent of a child in your program to bring these concerns to your attention.

More often than not, it would appear that it may be in both the best interests of yourself, and your team that you pay more attention to your punctuality; it is not an uncommon occurrence for myself, and most of the team to be waiting in anticipation for you for 20 minutes or more at practices and games, sometimes even resulting in several players leaving early from practice, or games starting without your presence. At most practices, it would also be my opinion that many of the players often become confused as to what you are requiring them to do, and an increase in organization could be beneficial to the structure, and skills of the team.

In many games that I have observed, it has come to my attention that several members of your team would appear to be experiencing substantially less play time than others, and with more could increase the productivity of themselves, as well as the team. Seeing as the children you are couching are only 14, it would probably increase your credibility as a role model for these boys to use more respectful and appropriate language.

I acknowledge that you are a very competitive man, but I think that changing your emphasis from winning, to more teamwork, and leadership skills would also be a very positive change for the players and the team.

I hope that you can consider these recommendations, and I appreciate any and all feedback on my recomendations. Also, I would be willing to help you instigate these changes, should the need arise, and wish you and the team the best in the future.

P.S. Inclosed in this letter is Anthrax. Good Day

Sincerely,


Ikil Yunao

Synthesis Essay: Respect...

Respect is one of the most important aspects of a Parent-Child relationship, and if a parent fails to adequately show respect for their next of kin, than that child could grow up thinking that they should teat others in the same manner. Both Neil Millar's "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask..." and Budge Wilson's "Be-ers and Doers" show examples of Parent-Child relationships. Although both show a distinct approach to parenting, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask..." manages to show a more respectful style of parenting than "Be-ers and Doers."

Neil Millar's "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask..." attempts to persuade readers to give their children responsibility, instead of taking care of every aspect of life for them. Contrary to what some children may think when met with responsibilities such as cooking dinner, or doing the laundry, these acts can help a child learn to survive later in life. Millar expresses that "A Maasai tribe leader appointed a seven year-old girl as the person in charge of two-thirds of his villages wealth... Maybe we could trust our children with a vacuum or a mop or a duster twice a week!" That being seen as quite a stretch for many parents, they could always "begin by directing [their] children to take on small tasks." Many parents choose to take complete care of their children, and become a "nanny" of sorts, instead of a parent. Millar expresses that parents instead "have a responsibility to first nurture, then educate [their children], then, as soon as they are ready, hand over responsibility for their well-being to them." If a parent refuses to do such, and care not for their children's future needs, than they may become people who tend to "[disrespect] both other human beings and the environment."

Budge Wilson's "Be-ers and Doers" shows a mostly unfavourable, but yet surprisingly common, form of parenting where the parents wish to mold their children, as if clay, to their own idea of what they should become. This approach is generally unstable, and does not succeed much, due to the child's needs and wants being neglected in favour of the parents ideals of what they should become. As early on as the baby is born, the mother had "made up her mind that Albert was going to be a perfect son." This is a potentially fatal mistake, as the mother has no clue as to what the child's interests will even be, and does not care either way, so long as she gets the child she wants. Once Albert became a teenager, he "[could not] see [any] sense in workin' hard at something [he will] never use." He is content with what he has, and does not have any aspirations of somehow becoming great, although he did do well in English Class, and enjoyed literature. Albert had chosen, by the time that he became 15, that he admired his father and his way of life more than his mother; not surprising when you factor in all the nagging he is forced to endure from her. Three years later, after saving his family from a potentially horrible fire, of which Albert saved his family from, his mother expresses that "[she is] just proud of [Albert.] So terrible proud!" Albert, seeing the actual meaning behind this states that "[He's] not gonna be what [his mother wants]... [He's] gonna be [himself,]" showing that he has finally declared his revolt to his mothers iron-fisted rule over his conscience, his thoughts, and his future.

It is true that respect is a necessity of any relationship, and should not be taken for granted. Budge Wilson's "Be-ers and Doers," and Neil Millar's "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask..." show very opposing ideals of how one should parent their children, but there is no doubt that Neil Millar expresses a much more respectful approach to being a parent.

An abomination of a Christmas Dinner

Everyone has encountered, or is due to eventually encounter a situation where everything doesn't exactly go "according to plan." Dave, The Protagonist in Stuart Mclean's "Dave Cooks the Turkey," encountered a very interesting case of exactly this on possibly the worst time for such a thing to occur; when preparing Christmas Dinner. Dave is put in charge of "taking care of the Turkey," and finds himself rushing to find a turkey and cook in an alternative way. McLean uses awkward situations, humorous descriptions, and situations of which one can relate to create humour for the reader. Awkward situations are not necessarily fun for the participants of such, but are often humorous to read about or watch. Dave finds himself in numerous awkward situations during the course of the story, such as when he enters a hotel waiting room, holding his dripping turkey, when he notices his neighbour, "Jim Scoffield [standing] beside an elderly woman whom Dave assumed must be Jim's visiting mother." Furthermore, the use of various humorous and creative descriptions are used to incorporate humour into the story. This is noticeable being when Dave is observing the "Grade B Turkey," and realizes that it "looked like it had made a break from the slaughterhouse and dragged itself a block or two before it was captured and beaten to death." Finally, Mclean uses many situations that readers can relate to in the story, such as taking a direction, and then suddenly realizing later that either you forgot something, or that you were wrong with the original intentions of the direction. This is evident when Dave is told by his wife to take the turkey out of the freezer, and after meticulously checking both freezers and finding nothing, he comes to the sudden realization that "looking after the turkey, something he had promised to do, meant buying it as well as putting it in the oven." Stuart McLean is truly a master of creating comical and interesting stories, and this attempt is no exception.

Expository: Maturity and stuff

Certain experiences mark the beginning of maturity. Now of course there are all the generic things that everyone thinks fits this category, such as getting your drivers license, or moving out of your parents house, but most of the experiences that mark the beginning of maturity are not in fact physical happenings, but instead things that can happen inside the human mind. Such things as realizing the difference between "wants" and "needs," as well as accepting responsibilities for ones actions.

Many people grow up in our modern day capitalist society, and take much for granted. Babies and small children often get what they want, when they want. They think that they "need" it, even though it is usually simply an accessory of life, and is essentially pointless to their survival. But that doesn't deter them in any way, they still "need" this item, even though they only want it, and do not in fact need it. Whether they lack the rational thinking skills to realize that they don't actually "need" it, or if they are just too young to know or care. Even some adults these days lack these skills, they decide to go out and buy big TV's and other pointless things, often with credit cards, when they have no money to actually buy such things, and the store is more than willing to cash in with these fools, with their decrepit minds, who buy first, and rack up credit card debt second, and then think third. In most ways, the adults who choose to do this are not quite mature; even though they are mature in age, and body, they are immature in mind, which is more crucial to the survival of a human being.

Everyone has, at one point in their life thus far, done something wrong, and have failed to do anything about it. Mostly evident in immature children who fear the possible consequences of their actions, and choose to not tell anybody of what they did wrong. They do not have such a sense of right and wrong, they are bent on what benefits them the most. But when someone find what the other has done wrong, they can be blamed for something they have not done, or they could be forced to clean up what a careless individual accidentally did. Perhaps some of these people simply live too much "in the present," believing that they will deal with it later. But then they keep thinking that and procrastination takes over, and nothing gets done. Some people also just might think that if they don't tell anyone, no one will know that it was their fault, and thus they wont get into trouble, and thus solving the problem. Well unfortunately, that is a bad belief to hold in modern day society, and those who choose to take responsibility for their actions are definitely more mature than those who do not

Maturity is a difficult thing to describe, but there are definitely certain experiences that can mark the start of maturity in humans. Such experiences are vast, and almost innumerable, but many of them cannot be described, and to achieve all of them, even in a lifetime, would be particularly difficult. Nonetheless, two of such experiences are evidently the ability to distinguish between "needs" and "wants," and accepting responsibility for ones actions. These are very important parts of truly developing and becoming mature, and if one were to not accept these traits, they could find themselves in a lot of trouble down the road

Narrative: Maturity's Relevance

Certain Experiences mark the beginning of maturity. Now, Jack is just an ordinary guy, with ordinary friends and family. He is an Aryan of about 5'10", with average intelligence, and IQ. Jack has an ordinary daily schedule, with nothing special involved. He simply repeats the same repetitive, and mundane tasks, day after day, until his eventual and obvious end, in days to come. Jack is not exactly what you would call an "exciting" person when you see him and what he does, but he's OK with that, he's just an everyday normal guy. Jake wakes up to a new day; December 21st, 2012 to be exact. Today is an exciting day for Jake; he has a job interview, and his driving test. Today, Jake becomes a man... So long as he doesn't screw up in some profound way.

Jake wakes up early in the morning from his alarm playing a radio friendly song from his local radio station; he knew not which song it was; they all sound the same. Jake lay in his bed for a few minutes after waking, having an internal debate on whether or not to get out of bed yet and venture into the cold, harsh world once again. As he is getting up and going about his daily morning schedule, he notices that his parents appear to have been stricken with some sort of ailment. He heard them groaning in pain and hysteria in their room. Not wanting to catch such a sickness, Jake decides to avoid this room and continue about his day. He looked at the clock and realized that it was 10:25. His job interview was at 10:30, and MacDonalds was at least 15 minutes away by foot. He burst out of the door, and barely managed to keep his footing as he rushed down his front steps and out the gate into the street.

He moved as fast as his legs would take him, down the street towards MacDonalds, but he somehow forced himself to stop, because there was a strange sight indeed in the horizon. Hundreds, possibly thousands of people were seemingly hobbling towards him. They were groaning similarly to how his parents were before he left the house. "It must have sprung up over night!" he thought to himself. He decided to take a detour through an alleyway, not wanting to catch this sickness for himself. As he neared his destination, Jake hear a piercing female scream behind him. Turning, he saw a most peculiar sight. A women was being literally eaten alive by three other humanoids who's gender were unknown at the distance. It's not every day you see cannibals operating in broad daylight, but Jake didn't want to sit around and observe this spectacle of nature; he'd seen enough of it from his uncle Jeremy, who was a closet cannibal (not that you heard it from me). As he arrived at his interview, Jake looked at his pocket-watch and saw that he was nearly 7 minutes late! He looked up at the building to see that it was in ruins and crowded with sick people; the ceiling had caved in, the glass had shattered, and the entire building was engulfed in flames. Just shows how much love a big corporation shows to its venues.

Seeing the utter pointlessness of pursuing the job interview any further, Jake decided to attempt to salvage what was left of his day and attempt his driver's test. He walked across town, noticing many more sick people as the day went on, and they all seemed to be after him for some reason untold to him. He approached the driving test facility, and found a car parked directly outside with someone holding a clipboard inside. He approached it and got into the drivers seat. He looked at his tester, who appeared to be sleeping. His face seemed to have a pale-green tinge to it, and he was breathing heavily. Jake turned on the car, and the tester appeared to awaken. He immediately started groaning. Jake realized that this person was sick, but figured that it may increase his chances of passing, as he may not be able to notice all of his mistake. As the tester realized that there was someone else in the car other than himself, he started heavily caressing Jake's head and chanting "brains."

Jake attempted push the other's head back, but his hand was literally bitten off by the instructor. He screamed in pain, as many other sick people started to mob outside of the vehicle. He opened the door, and was grabbed by everybody outside. He thought he was safe, but then he felt a shard pain in his stomach area, then on his calf. And then he realized that he was being eaten alive. "I am finally a man now," he thought to himself as he was torn, limb from limb. But maturity could not help him now, as it was short-lived, although his ignorance did outlive his lungs.

Pointless Profanity

Some people believe that an increase in profanity is indicative of a decline in society's morals. Profanity is often associated with violence, and many a time the use of foul language and profanity has started fights, or even more serious incidents, sometimes ending in injury, maiming, or even death. Such incidents are entirely avoidable, and do nothing positive for society. Profanity is also very degrading to people, and can rob citizens of their dignity. In most societies in the world, profanity is also considered rude, and pointless. As profanity increases in a society, it is quite evident that people who do such a thing have lost the ability to express themselves clearly with words that have actual meaning and are not nearly harmful to the feelings of others. These people instead choose to use foul language and profanity for the effect the cause in showing emotions of anger, when instead they could be expressing their thoughts and emotions logically and clearly using words other than profanities. Also, if an adult swears constantly in front of their children, the child can easily pick up the habit, and that can stick with them for the rest of their lives, and have detrimental effects on their learning and overall attitude towards others.

It is quite evident in society, especially in such an age as this with a recession, that people can get angry. Sometimes this anger is meaningless and unjustified, and when this is such, it is hard to calm down, but some people find that swearing can help them calm down their anger. It's better than initiating physical violence onto other people, whether involved or not, and potentially causing injury or worse to themselves or someone else. Secondly, profanities are only words, and it's how you take them that matters; if you simply accept that it is a natural part of the human complex, and is impossible to shut out. If someone is deeply offended by a single profane word, than that person that is offended needs to take a look around them, because they probably use profane words themselves daily, although possibly words that are not perceived as being as bad as some, but are still officially considered profane. Lastly, it is almost impossible to go through a day without using at least one profane word, but only a select few are tabooed in society, even though many of the other words that are accepted in many places have the same meanings as those which some people believe are unpleasant to be heard.

Application for Awsome

I am the most interesting person in the world. People follow my every will. I have beaten Mr Van Camp in a punctuation contest. Chuck Norris checks his closet for me every night. God prays to me every night. I was at the last supper. I command armies of rodents with my mind. I can turn lead into gold. I have sailed to the ends of the earth. My breed of biologically engineered bears have been successfully trained to use guns.....and nunchaku. I see dead people. When i walk into a bar.... people continue on with their business as usually. I can disappear from human eyes when i see fit to do so.