assignment #1 This I Believe 2nd draft.

“This I Believe”

People all around the world have beliefs. Different, similar, and identical beliefs. They believe in God. They believe in love. They believe in other people. I believe everything happens for a reason, for a purpose. I believe in Fate.

I believe there is a reason behind this madness we call life. I believe every step in this or that direction, every stubbed toe, spilled coffee cup, and broken arm is for a reason. When I get stuck at a red light or I miss my exit on the highway, I think.

“Would I have gotten into an accident if I darted through that yellow light?” Was there a deer crossing the road on that exit? This is Fate. (A fixed decree by which the order of things is prescribed; the immutable law of the universe; inevitable necessity; the force by which all existence is determined and conditioned. [1913 Webster]) This is what I believe. I believe in Fate.

Last week I was at my girlfriend’s house. She and I were watching a movie and working on homework. To make a long story short, we got in to a little disagreement. Now normally I wouldn’t have left considering I was supposed to spend the night but that night was different. I just left. And as soon as I did I felt strange like I was doing something wrong I’d made a mistake. No sooner that I got over this feeling am I driving down Eastern Avenue do I see this SUV driving on the other side of the avenue coming up. His vehicle starts to drift toward the sidewalk, up atop the sidewalk, and into a telephone pole right in front of the fire station. I stopped and ran over to this truck that was completely totaled, air bags deployed, the whole bit. Thankfully he was only a little shaken up. I called 911 and they dispatched rescue. The police quickly arrived and maybe after 10 minutes of the guy’s horn being amplified from the impact someone from the fire station came out too.

A day later I walk into CVS Pharmacy to get myself an Arnold Palmer half & half. There is one woman in front of me; she needs something from out of some case in the back that needed to be unlocked by an associate.

“No problem” says the cashier.

They walk away and leave me standing with a .99 cent drink in my hand. Well that’s just fine with me maybe a minute later another cashier comes to the front and tells me she can take me at the register down on the other end of the transaction counter.

“No problem” I reply.

I walk over, and I hand her my drink. She scans the can: .99 cents. I hand her a five. She gives me some change and a receipt. I jumble the money a bit and drop the receipt, so I go to pick it up. What’s this? It looks like a five dollar bill. Oh no wait it’s a Fifty dollar bill. Don’t mind if I do. I pick it up nonchalantly and I walk out. Fate? Was this a little repayment for a good deed the night before? I’ll take it.

Two summers ago I used to ride my street bike with a few other guys. I was the youngest. Everyone else was 20 or older. I had just gotten my permit and it’s illegal to drive after dark. But I did, we all did. We would drive up to Providence almost every night, Thayer St. There are little restaurants and shops but most important to a 16 year old boy, college girls. So why wouldn’t we be there every night? Well it’s Saturday night sometime in July. Just a beautiful night. And the guys call me up

“Hey hey you want to come up to prov tonight?”

“No I think I’m just going to hang in tonight. I’m feeling a little sick anyways” Which I was.

“Ok be a b****,” Tim says.

Yea yea whatever I will just talk to you later. Around midnight I get a call. They were racing some car on the highway. Josh hit the back of Timmy’s bike at 180mph and took a little bit of spill, he’s in the ICU at RI hospital. I need to wake up his cousin and bring him to Providence. Meanwhile an ER nurse is on her way to work, She sees the accident take place from the other side of the barrier. She is already preparing for him at the hospital. When we get to the hospital they obviously won’t let us see him or tall us anything. So we sit and wait. And wait. And then Timmy sees someone, some girl he knows from God knows where. And he talks her into getting us each a few minutes to see him while he is in the ICU. We do. Two at a time we go and talk to him. He’s covered in blankets because he is in shock and feels cold. The blankets are covered in blood. There was blood everywhere. There was blood running down the stainless steel of the bed cot he lay on down to the floor. A nurse had to come in with a mop and wipe it up. And he lay and shiver and the nurse would stand and mop. With ever second that I stay and tell him everything will be okay I am just thinking to myself. What if? What if I would have come out tonight? Would I be in the hospital bed now? I don’t know. And it simply leaves me with nothing left to believe but Fate, that everything happens for a reason.

You could say all of this is simply coincidence. You could say its all luck, good or bad. I believe it is not coincidence. I believe it is not luck. I believe there is a force by which all existence is determined and conditioned. I believe everything happens and does not happen for a reason I believe in fate.

Assignment #1 "This I Believe"

People all around the world have beliefs. Different, similar, identical, beliefs. They believe in God. They believe in love. They believe in other people. I believe everything happens for a reason, for a purpose. I believe in Fate.
I believe there is a reason behind this madness we call life. I believe every step this direction, every stubbed toe or broken arm is for a reason. When I’m running late. When I get stuck at a red light or I miss my exit on the highway, I think .. Would I have gotten into an accident if I darted through that yellow light? Was there a deer crossing the road on that exit? This is fate. (A fixed decree by which the order of things is prescribed; the immutable law of the universe; inevitable necessity; the force by which all existence is determined and conditioned. [1913 Webster]) This is what I believe. I believe in fate.
Last week I was at my girlfriends house. She and I were watching a movie and working on some homework. Long story short we got into a little disagreement. Now normally I wouldn’t have left considering I was supposed to spend the night but that night was different. I just left. And as soon as I did I felt strange like I was doing something wrong, id had made a mistake. No sooner that I got over this feeling am I driving down eastern avenue do I see this SUV driving on the other side of the avenue coming up. He vehicle starts to drift toward the sidewalk up atop the sidewalk and into a telephone pole right in front of the fire station. I stopped and ran over to this truck that was completely totaled air bags deployed the whole bit. Thankfully he was only a little shaken up. I called 911 and the dispatched rescue. The police quickly arrived and maybe 10 minutes of the guy’s horn being amplified from the impact someone from the fire station came out too.
A day later I walk into cvs pharmacy to get myself an Arnold Palmer half & half. There is one women in front of me, she needs something from out of some case in the back that needed to be unlocked by an associate. The cashier says “no problem” and they both walk away and leave me standing with my .99 cent drink in my hand. Well that’s just fine with me maybe a minute later another cashier comes to the front and tells me she can take me at the register down on the other end of the transaction counter. “No problem” I reply. I walk over, and I hand her my drink. She scans the can, .99 cents. I hand her a five. She gives me some change and a receipt. I jumble the money a bit and drop the receipt, so I go to pick it up. What’s this?
It looks like a five dollar bill. Oh no wait it’s a Fifty dollar bill. Don’t mind if I do. I pick it up nonchalantly and I walk out. Fate? A little repayment for a good deed the night before? I’ll take it.
Two summers ago I used to ride my street bike with a few other guys. I was the youngest. Everyone else was 20 or older. I had just gotten my permit and its illegal to drive after dark. But I did, we all did. We would drive up to providence almost every night , Thayer st. theirs little restaurants and shops but most important to a 16 year old boy, college girls. So why wouldn’t we be up there every night. Well its Saturday night sometime in July. Just a beautiful night. And the guys call me up, hey hey you want to come up to prov tonight. No I think I’m just going to hang in tonight I‘m feeling a little sick anyways. Which I was. Ok ok be a b**** , yea yea I’ll talk to you later. Around midnight I get a call. They were racing some car on the highway Josh hit the back of Timmy’s bike at 180mph and took a little bit of a spill, he’s in the ICU at RI hospital I need to wake up his cousin and bring him to providence. Meanwhile and ER nurse is on her way to work she sees the accident take place from the other side of the jersey barrier she is already preparing for him at the hospital. When we get to the hospital they obviously wont let us see him or tell us anything. So we sit and wait. And wait. And then Timmy sees someone, some girl he knows from god knows where. And he talks her into getting us each a few minutes to see him while he is in the ICU. We do. Two at a time we go and talk to him. He’s covered in blankets because he thinks he is cold from the shock. The blankets are covered in blood. There was blood everywhere. There was blood running down the stainless steel of the cot he lay on to the floor. A nurse had to come in with a mop and wipe it up. And he lay and shiver and the nurse would stand and mop. With every second that I stay and tell him everything will be ok I am just thinking to myself. What if? What if I would have came out tonight? Would I be in a hospital bed now? I don’t know. And it simply leaves me with nothing left to believe but fate. That everything happens for a reason.
You could say all of this is simply coincidence. You could say its all luck, good or bad. I believe it is not coincidence. I believe it is not luck. I believe there is a force by which all existence is determined and conditioned. I believe everything happens and does not happen for a reason. I believe in fate.

Joshua Bonanca
English 11 Dr.Tinberg Post Write: This I believe


How do you feel about the paper so far? Please explain and offer evidence from the work.

I feel that this piece is a fairly solid first draft that gives me a good foundation to work with and improve.
This piece has three real events that follow up my belief in telling how my belief wasn’t necessarily formed but held together and basically reassured every so often.


What remains to be done? Please be precise.

I’m sure much of the grammar and punctuation needs to be changed. I tried to really work together a solid starting point so I can take in criticism and build on this piece rather then build destroy and rebuild. It may or may not have to be shortened. I use a small text size so I am not sure.


What questions do you have for readers about the piece?

Do you believe in fate?
How do you feel about the paper so far ?
What are you criticisms?
Good points and bad points of this piece?

Men battling their weight

Cohen’s argument suggests, “six pack abs and tony triceps plastered across magazine covers and ads,” is the reason why there’s a growing number of the male population contending with anorexia, binge-and-purge eating, and obsessive workouts.” Meaning more and more males are striving or struggling in rivalry or battle with manorexia a term used for males suffering from anorexia nervosa- an eating disorder in which the effected is driven to lose or maintain an abnormally low weight for there age and height. Binge-and-purge eating- when a person will binge eat or eat excessive amount or food and then vomit all the food back out repeating this process each time they eat. And obsessively working out or working out too much.

Although I do not agree with Cohen I do not disagree completely. I believe that the media and its affiliates do influence men and the image they attempt to create for themselves. However I think women are the grander or main influence in a man’s self image. Men have the habit to try and impress beautiful women. Men love women. And for the most part men love sex. And women don’t want to have sex with overweight out of shape men. At least that’s what men choose to believe. So they look around, they observe what they think women want. In movies, magazines, reality television, and talk shows. The outcome of this in depth observation is women want this tall, dark, Brad Pitt style man in Calvin Klein boxer briefs. Then comes the gym membership followed by the diet plan.

From a more personal perspective I can not say I know any men who suffer from an eating disorder thankful. One example I can shed light on is what a friend of mine would call a “typical;” a typical Fall River guy and its because of the women they desire that these typical Fall River guys become very much identical. A typical is always dressed like he has somewhere really important to go. Always has his hair pampered. A typical offend spends more time in the bathroom to get dressed and ready than a girl would. There wardrobe consists of Ed Hardy, Nike Air Jordan, Artful Dodger, and LRG knockoffs. They all have their ears pierced with a beautiful set of cubic zirconeions. You can walk into a Providence club on a Friday night and lay eyes on the entire Ed Hardy clothing line for that season. These young men do this to attempt to attract women they believe are attracted to such foolishness. If they could allow themselves to look so ridiculous amongst the tens of 100’s that look just like them, it is not hard to believe that other men would develop true diseases over obsession of self images.