personal

As the ball falls into striking range the blockers' prepared to make their defensive stand. As the balls falls into striking range, I choose to temporarily defy gravity. Once the ball and I have reached the perfect point of synchronization, I swing. I swing with speed, precision, power. I blast the ball clean through the outstretched arms of the befuddled defense, to add another kill to my stat sheet, another pain of discouragement in the hearts of my opponents.
I have always seen myself as a basketball player until my junior year when i gave volleyball a try. I had never played past a few periods of boredom in middle school PE, but once I saw a friend playing, I noticed that it looked like fun, so I tried out. At first I figured I could just use volleyball to expand my physical abilities so I could jump higher in basketball, and to maintain my physical fitness since I had completed my physical education requirement. With those two goals in mind I went to the first of three tryouts with a heavily nonchalant attitude, primarily because I zero serious volleyball before walking into the gymnasium, and despite my strong desire to make the varsity squad, I would have had no problem with being placed on junior varsity. The morning the final cut list was posted I walked up to my new coach by the name of Jean Morgan and told her in a almost whispered voice- clearly overwhelmed with excitement - "I made var."
By "making var," I joined a brotherhood of guys with one common goal that our social, racial, and religious differences could not divert, and that was a championship. At first the idea of such a feat sounded ridiculous after we lost our first preseason match to Los Angeles Jordan (who became a rival of sorts), we were devastated but not diverted, that loss was exactly what we needed to take in account how good we really were in comparison to how good we thought we were, then we had to adjust ourselves to go from less than what we thought, to better than anyone thought we could ever be, and once we attained that level , no one could stop us.
After our loss to Jordan, when continued through a season fueled on blood, sweat, and tears, to make playoffs just to have another "heat check," but afterward we went on to win the CIF Invitational Championship, and set the scene for another delightfully challenging season, as not the unknown school, with a couple of good player, but as defending champions, and now that I am a senior player, I have to step to the net with more intensity than ever.

Fast Food Nation: Chunk 3

Fast Food Nation was a trully interesting peice, it incorporates past and present in an enticing fusion of comdey, awareness, and warning of the unfortunate unknown. it incorporates humor, in the quotes chossen by the author, and through some of the factual information, due to the level of sencelessness in the numbers.

Fast Food Nation: Chunk 2

In FFN, the author illuminates one of darker less talked about the meat packing industry. the meat packing industry has been the source of many of America's injured workers, due to razor sharp knives, defective machinery, and unexpected errors. though there were so many injuries, it took excessive time and effort to get the necessary motions put into action to acquire the laws to prohibit, monitor, and enforce punishments for noncompliance. the simple fact is that the companies would purposely do things like deter their workers from getting medical attention due to the financial cost. this is not only a violation of human rights, but terrible for business in the long run, which is something most managers probably didn't consider back then.

Questions:
1) How would you react to being withheld from medical attention despite sustaining an injury?

2) What do you think could have been then, and can be done now to prevent human injuries and casualties in the meatpacking business?

Fast Food Nation: Chunk 1

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser is a collaboration of challenge and history of fast food, thus far. Its introduction quickly hooks the reader with a extensive description of the fortress that is Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, including some of its activities, personnel, and architecture. The text then jumps strait into its challenging of food's impact on both the workers at the station, and society. In which it addresses poor working conditions, food quality, and a brief idea of its impact on society. The first chapter "The Founding Fathers", discusses how some of the most powerful fast food chains rose to their current majesty, including but not limited to McDonald's, Carl's Jr. and a brief exert on Wendy's. It also made a brief comparison between McDonald's and Disney, which the text expands on in the second chapter, "Your Trusted Friends".

Questions:
1) Do you think fast food chains such as McDonald's, should have extensive government laws to prevent them from producing and selling poor quality, chemical pact "food", or should it continue, and it be "too-bad for who ever is ignorant enough to eat it?

2) How would you describe the current state of fast food powerhouses today?

GM's Saturn, Apparently Doomed, Still Pitching Hard

GM's Saturn, Apparently Doomed, Still Pitching Hard by Joseph R. Szczesny identifies the excessive decline in the financial stability of the Saturn branch of the General Motors company. It then explores the options of those in positions enabling them to have a decent grasp on the flow of the automotive industry, yet hold varying positions, from a vice chairman to a few dealers. Finally the text wraps itself up with a logical diction/tone backed by statistics, more quotes, and another possibility on how to save the company.

Questions:

1) What do you predict to be Saturn's fate after GM releases them?

2) What would you do if you were an employee for Saturn? Include your planned course of action and a backup plan.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1887998,00.html

Million Dollar Basketball Babies

Million Dollar Basketball Babies, by Stefan Fatsis, challenges the NBA's decision to setup a rule against players coming in strait out of high school, due to the fact that those who are skilled mentally and physically have the option of playing professional basketball in Europe. It then reveals the possibilities for player who may desire to go into the professional realm strait out of high school. The text finally justifies the option of going to Europe to play professional basketball out of high school by not only defending the idea, but pointing out that multiple companies, are looking to sponsor/sign a plethora of new talent.



Questions:
1) Do you think high school players should be able to go to the European league despite the NBA laws? Why or why not?

2)Why is do you think the NBA has chosen to reject players strait out of high school despite the high level of which many play with at the moment?





http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200904/basketball-prospects

Stiff: Chunk 3 + Q's

Stiff has a proved to be a truly entertaining, and informing literary experience. It constantly presents information in a humorous manner that keeps the reader engaged while giving information that wouldn't usually have any comedic value. It also gives death a new viewpoint by showing many of the positive discoveries found from experiments conducted with cadavers. The use of sensory details aids in experiencing the text for the adventure that it is. Each chapter thoroughly exploring an new experience the dead have/might/can/will endure: such as head transplants, freezing, rotting under supervision, being shot at, being used as a crash test "dummy", and other oddly interesting things. It was also interesting to see the author contemplating where she wanted to be done with her body after her departure from this world, and the different inquiries she made, even though she later came to the conclusion that if she left before her husband it was his choice.

Questions:

1) When considering how to handle dead bodies in the book Roach constantly refers to the environment twards the end of the book, do think the environment should be considered in body disposal? If not what should be considered instead? If you consider the environment what disposal method do you think most benefits the environment?

2) After reading through the book once think about which chapter you would reread, which would it be? Why did you choose it? Are there any chaptes that you would edit in any way?