A Volunteer Experience to Remember

This is why I love being a caregiver!

What is volunteering? Volunteering, to me, is doing something nice for someone without asking for anything in return. It’s almost like the gift of a smile or two. It’s something amazing that only by doing it will we know what it feels like. At the end of a volunteer day, nothing can take off that feeling of accomplishment.

I’ve been thinking about volunteering for a long time now. Except for I’ve always been too busy with school and work. That and I just never really called anybody to see if they needed my help. When I was prompted with an outside project in this class that gave me the option to do the volunteer work I had always wanted to do, I was very tempted to do it from the very beginning. After I missed all the due dates for all of the other outside projects because of my schedule, I decided to pull through and actually go and volunteer. I work at Las Fuentes Resort Village-Assisted Living as a certified caregiver already, so I figure that would be the easiest place to do it since I know the residents and I know what their needs are. Plus, I put in my resignation and I was really motivated to do something nice for the residents that are unable to help themselves before I leave.

I was there at nine in the morning on my day off. On Monday, I had promised a couple that lives there that I would do their nails. As soon as I got to the facility, I automatically went to the couple’s room first. As I was doing both of their nails, we had a very nice conversation about their son and other random things that when I’m on shift, we never really have time to talk about. We enjoyed having that conversation. When I finished clipping his nails, he was very happy that he didn’t have to deal with those long and uncomfortable nails anymore. The poor guy’s nails probably hadn’t been clipped in weeks. As for the wife, I finished with her nails and she was glowing! She couldn’t really see what they looked like because she can’t see very well but she could tell they were shiny. I told her she was beautiful and that her nails were going to be seen from space because of how shiny they were. She couldn’t take that big smile off her face.

I went to a little elderly lady’s room to do her nails as well. She is very sweet and very cute. Her nails are very fragile and they break very easily. She picked out a pink color for her nails. She is very quiet and doesn’t talk often unless she needs something, but by doing her nails we had the bonding time we never had. By the time I was finished, she was very happy with her nails and how nice they looked. She mentioned she didn’t even remember the last time she had her nails done so I knew I had made a difference. She even tried to pay me, but I told her that I did them out of the goodness of my heart and to not be surprised if I went back to do them again. I don’t remember her smiling at me so much since I’ve been working there.

Las Fuentes has a beautiful pond with real water lilies and huge orange, white, and mixed goldfish. I decided that would be the perfect place to take some residents that never get out of their room. I figured I would take each of them on a long walk around the facility. Then I would take them outside and end up at the pond before I took them back to their room. Every resident that I took to the pond was absolutely thrilled about the beauty of it. They all thanked me very much for taking time to take them outside because nobody ever does. All of their faces were glowing with joy and I could definitely tell that going out, even for an hour, really made their whole day. I know I made a difference and I really love the feeling. I would love to not have to work to be able to give them the time they need and deserve.

One of the most memorable things I did while volunteering was to take care of a dying resident. She is very ill and bed bound at this point. She is one of the residents that never complained while she was still healthier than she is now. She is very little and sweet and had the cutest scratchy voice. It was impossible to not like her. She has stopped eating and has been drinking very minimally. While I was taking care of her, I managed to get 20 ounces of water with thick-it down her. She’s always loved her cold water. Although, we did have an incident while I was there. One of the times I went to check on her I realized that her oxygen concentrator wasn’t working and she wasn’t getting oxygen. She was breathing very hard. If I wouldn’t have noticed, I’m sure she would have probably not made it a couple more hours. We fixed the concentrator and I continued to take care of her through the day. These are the things that make me realize I really am a good person.

The last thing I did while volunteering was reward the caregivers for their hard work by painting their nails. Sometimes we work so hard that we forget we are still women and we like to feel pretty too. They were all so happy that I took the time to do that. Our hands, because of all the hand washing, are not really that girly so a good color makes us feel better about ourselves.

Volunteering was a wonderful experience. I wish I had more time to do it. Now that I’ve done it once though, I feel more comfortable going out there is doing it again. More volunteering is definitely in my future. I will do my best to at least do it once a month. I would absolutely love to volunteer for Hospice with dying patients. I think it will be very rewarding, just like this experience. Words cannot explain how good I feel about myself.

Essay #3

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Totalitarianism

Is it possible that we could have a totalitarian government in the future? The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, in summary, is a story about a normal democratic world that turned into a totalitarian one controlled by the government in every aspect, which was named Gilead. Atwood is very creative to think of a story like this. The story opens up the conclusion that there is a possibility that Atwood’s story can become a reality in the future.

Totalitarianism is not spoken about often, but it is an important concept to understand, “A totalitarian government seeks to control not only all economic and political matters but the attitudes, values, and beliefs of its population, erasing the distinction between state and society” (Columbia Encyclopedia 1). America is a democracy and it’s difficult to think about how countries that have a totalitarian government function. In Atwood’s book, Offred shows that she lives in a totalitarian society when she says, “The night is mine, my own time, to do with as I will, as long as I am quiet. As long as I don’t move. As long as I lie still” (Atwood 37). She speaks as if she belongs to Gilead and as if she is trapped in a place where she can’t ever do as she wishes, but as she is told. She has no real freedom. A totalitarian government usually has a dictator who makes up all the rules that he thinks will make a more perfect society. In contrast, a democracy is ruled by the people and for the people, rather than by a single dictator. Although, it is possible to say that a democracy and a totalitarian government are similar because they both have leaders. A democracy has a president that helps the country make better choices and is part of the government, but a totalitarian government has a single leader that makes all the choices. In past history, we have also had totalitarian governments, “For example, the chaos that followed in the wake of World War I allowed or encouraged the establishment of totalitarian regimes in Russia, Italy, and Germany, while the sophistication of modern weapons and communications enabled them to extend and consolidate their power” (Columbia Encyclopedia 1).

There is a significant amount of history about totalitarian countries and “In popular discourse, the word ‘totalitarianism’ became a commonplace by the end of the thirties” (Alpers 60). Maybe it was a more popular word then than it is now, but it still plays a significant role in our history. Perhaps the word might bring back negative memories from our past. Maybe it brings back memories from when we were children and our teachers would make us watch historic videos of the times when Hitler was alive and in power. Those are without a doubt, negative recollections and “Despite some attempts to use the word neutrally or even positively, ‘totalitarian’ quickly accumulated entirely negative connotations in the United States” (Alpers 76). We shouldn’t blame anybody but bad dictators for the negativity we feel when we hear about a totalitarian government. In reality, the word wouldn’t be so bad if instead of Hitler, there would have been a better dictator that showed the U.S. that totalitarianism isn’t all that bad if the right person was in charge. Gilead also appears to be a horrible place, “My name isn’t Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden” (Atwood 84). Not being allowed to use a person’s real name is cruel and is, undoubtedly, a sign that there is no freedom. We as Americans must admit that there is a possibility that we might live in a totalitarian place one day too. It is possible that if we do end up with a totalitarian government it won’t be as bad as Gilead though.

Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale illustrates that there can be a totalitarian government in the future. From the text, we find out that the characters from the book keep referring to “the times before Gilead” and they continue with how things were before Gilead was established. Offred, in particular, describes a society much like ours before Gilead existed. It seems like they had a democracy that slowly turned into a totalitarian government. Offred was married and had her little family, which included Luke and her daughter. When Gilead was established, her daughter was kidnapped and Luke…well we don’t ever find out what happened to him. Offred is now the Commander’s property and her only purpose now is to reproduce, “The Commander, as if reluctantly, begins to read…Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. Then comes the moldy Rachel and Leah stuff we had drummed into us at the Center” (Atwood 88). Gilead was not always Gilead and people actually had a normal life and worked like normal people. We have a normal democratic society right now too, but some even claim that with O’Bama in office we are already becoming a totalitarian country.

An article by Rick Barber on the Washington Post states very good reasoning for why people think the United States is already becoming a totalitarian country. Rick Barber is running for office and wrote “Unhinged on the Left by Fear” as a response to an article posted by Ruth Marcus making false accusations about him because of a campaign ad titled “Slavery.” In his article he states, “Totalitarianism doesn’t come all at once” (Barber 2) and he is very right about that statement. The same thing happened in The Handmaid’s Tale. They had a democratic government that slowly took women’s right away. They began to tear families apart and use the women for reproductive purposes only. They even refused to let women read at all so that Gilead could stay in power. In our world, “Over the past 18 months, the federal government has sought to seize or has seized control of the health-care industry, the financial industry, the mortgage industry, the automobile industry, student loans, broadband Internet and the energy sector through cap-and-trade legislation. With never a crisis going to waste, each new seizure is rationalized by some new emergency” (Barber 1). People never stop and think about this, but Barber could be right and we could have a possible totalitarian country on our hands.

Nine Inch Nails’ Trant Reznor thought about the possibility of having a totalitarian society in the future as well. He “…masterminded one of the most extensive prerelease digital marketing campaigns ever seen for his band’s new ‘Year Zero’ album. It involved an intricate storyline about a future world dominated by a totalitarian government, censorship and morality police-themes duplicated in the album and an ‘alternative reality game’ that forced fans to piece together the story via a scavenger hunt of clues online and in the real world” (Bruno 1). It’s unclear why he thought of a game about totalitarianism in the future, but it’s not a bad idea to let people know that totalitarianism is not an out of the question subject. Americans have probably forgotten about the word because it’s not used often, but this band definitely made an impact on people and got their message across because, “In the first 10 weeks, the campaign generated more than 2.5 million Web site visits, 2 million phone calls, 50,000 emails, close to 100,000 video streams and more than 1,650 pieces of fan submitted artwork” (Bruno 1). The game Reznor came up with is very similar to the life lived by Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale. Both the game and the story are based on totalitarianism, but the game gets people more involved than the book. A simple thing, such as a game, can open the eyes of many of the idea that a totalitarian government can occur if we let it.

Atwood’s story is solely based off of totalitarian government that hopefully doesn’t turn into our reality. A government that made, “This act of copulation, fertilization perhaps, which should have been no more to me than a bee is to a flower, had become for me indecorous, an embarrassing breach of propriety, which it hadn’t been before” (Atwood 161). The government made it obligatory for women to conceive, rather than a joyful event conceived by love. The only reason why any woman would be happy to be pregnant in Gilead was because that’s what they were supposed to do and doing it was a joyous time for the adoptive parents of the child, not for the biological mother of the child. It’s also almost harsh how, “It’s mothers, not fathers, who give away daughters these days and help with the arrangement of the marriages” (Atwood 219). Although this is one kind of totalitarian government demonstrated in the story, not all are the same. They all have differences depending on the dictator. The type of totalitarianism in the book is a very depressing one.

Atwood’s book is impressive and illustrious. It really does make people think of the possibilities of future governments for our country. Our reality is that there could be a totalitarian government in the United States some day if we, as Americans, allow it to happen. We really never know what the future holds for us. Anything is possible as long as we live.

Works Cited

Alpers, Benjamin. Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture. The University of North
Carolina Press, 2003. 1-417. Web. 23 Jul. 2010.
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. 1986. New York: Anchor Books, 1998. Print.
Barber, Rick. “Unhinged on the Left by Fear.” Washington Post. Washington Post, 10 Jul. 2010.
Web. 23 Jul. 2010.
Bruno, Anthony. "The Teachings of Trent." Billboard. 26 May 2007: General Interest
Module, ProQuest. Web. 23 Jul. 2010.
"totalitarianism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com.
23 Jul. 2010

Source Evaluation

Bruno, Anthony. "The Teachings Of Trent. " Billboard 26 May 2007: General Interest
Module, ProQuest. Web. 23 Jul. 2010.

-This source explains the success that Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor had promoting a game with a storyline about the domination of a totalitarian government in a future world. The band did a really good job by promoting the game because it got the fans involved in trying to “piece the story together.” The story of this band sounds like The Handmaid’s Tale. I will use this source to compare it to the story and explain that totalitarianism is still a reality and it still exists. I will explain how it is obvious that The Handmaid’s Tale is based off of a totalitarian society and how it is similar to the story that Reznor had been promoting.


"Ten Steps to Totalitarianism"


"totalitarianism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com.
23 Jul. 2010

-This online source explains that totalitarianism is pretty much a mix of the government with society. In a totalitarian society, the government is involved in the economic and political matters, as well as the beliefs, attitudes and values of the society. The reasoning behind this is to create a “perfect society.” I plan on using this information as part of my essay to explain that Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is pretty much based off of totalitarianism. I will provide examples from the text to back up my argument as well as examples from this source to compare/contrast.

Murder in Iraq

HERE IS A SHORT AND SWEET VIDEO...BUT IT ALMOST BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES...

How many people have died as a result of the Iraq war? The war was only supposed to last a couple of years, but it’s now been a little over seven years since our former president, George Bush, sent troops to fight for our freedom. We have had more mortality than what we had expected. Many soldiers and Iraqi civilians have lost their lives in this battle, “…drawn from global media accounts, estimated civilian deaths between 59,287 and 65,121, as of yesterday” (DeYoung 1) and that’s without including the deaths of our brave U.S. troops. More human beings are still losing their lives today as a result of suicide bombings and such and Americans are still hoping it will all be worth it in the end.

Sean Huze’s The Sand Storm illustrates that these fatalities being counted as a result of the war are not only numbers, but real human beings that have been murdered. They were members of Iraqi society as well as wives, husbands, daughters, sons, fathers, and mothers that are now being missed greatly by their families in America. The men from the play, as they tell their stories, have to cope with the pain of living with what they have done and remembering what they went through at war. They are the men that realize that just a single attack can claim the lives of many, “On April 6, 2003, the Pentagon listed 61 U.S. soldiers and Marines killed or missing in action, while officers in the midst of battle estimated that ‘2,000 to 3,000’ Iraqi combatants had been killed during a single tank incursion into central Baghdad” (DeYoung 2). Although soldiers have no joy in taking the lives of others, as we observed from the speeches of them soldiers in the play, sometimes they simply have no choice but to do it, “We’re about 15 feet away from the car where his family is dead. Their bodies aren’t even recognizable. I could smell their still smoldering flesh and I just broke down” (Huze 4). Obviously soldiers do not want to kill anybody, but they are doing it so that we can have our freedom at the cost of their sanity. The traumatic massacres they have to witness and the things they see make it almost impossible for our soldiers to come back from war as sane as they were before they left to fight our war. Maybe in the future we will find out if all our troubles to prevent terrorism and risk money and reason will be worth it in the end.

We still have critics that think that this war isn’t doing much for us, but “Less than 40 percent of Iraqis think their lives were better before the war, and nearly half think the country is heading in the right direction, according to recent polls” (Prah 4). Our government must be helping Iraq in various ways, as well as removing the wrong people from their government. From Huze’s play, Doc Matthews states that the man whom his solders had just killed his family told him, “You, you Americans are a gift from Allah. You are here to deliver us from Saddam. I only wish I could have gotten my family out sooner” (Huze 5). It’s difficult to understand how a man like him actually looked at Doc Matthews in the eyes and stated that, even after his family was just killed. After Hussein was arrested and later on hung, Iraqis were relieved that we are helping them become a better society. Now “When Iraqis vote in December on a permanent government, U.S. officials hope it will take them another step closer to democracy and to providing their own security” (Prah 7) so we can finally pull our troops and go back to being a country without a war, at least for a long while. So maybe our death count is worth in a way. Soldiers are risking their sanity to make sure we are terrorist-free and to make sure Iraq can obtain a more democratic government, which will hopefully result in a better government as well. We aren’t only risking lives day by day, but spending a great amount of money just in war itself.

Americans have had to pay a great amount of money for this war, “Bush spoke on the same day that a top Pentagon official estimated that the war in Iraq had cost the United States $20 billion and that number was growing by about $2 billion a month” (Loughlin 1). The article that provided the above information is from 2003, and considering the numbers, we have spent an immense amount of money in this war by now. Even today, we keep spending more money on things like “A U.S. Army poster being distributed in Iraq offers $5 million for the capture of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi” (Prah 11). It may seem strange to offer that much money for the capture of one man, but it isn’t just one man. He’s a terrorist.

Researching the Iraq war may give a better understanding of Huze’s play because it provides the facts behind the speech of every man that told his story in the play. Facts about why they kill while trying to not look back. The facts about why they are willing to volunteer to go off to war and have such negative experiences. Research also makes it easier for the reader to understand that some incidents are not preventable, but necessary and in the end they are worth it. One day, these young soldiers will look back and think about the good they have done for America.






Works Cited

DeYoung, Karen. “Iraq War's Statistics Prove Fleeting.” Washington Post. Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2007. Web. 22 Jul. 2010.

Huze, Sean. The Sand Storm. New York, NY: Susan Schulman Literary Agency, 2004. 4-5.
Print.

Loughlin, Sean, “Bush vows bright future for Iraqis.” CNN. CNN, 16 Apr. 2003. Web.
22 Jul. 2010.

Prah, Pamela M. "War in Iraq." CQ Researcher 15.37 (2005): 881-908. CQ Researcher. Web. 22 July 2010.

Topic Proposal

TOTALITARIANISM

Atwood’s novel was exceptionally engaging. The end of the novel was fascinating because it left an open-ended question, which allows the reader to analyze the text and think of possible options of what happened to Offred. This novel was thoroughly based off of a totalitarian society in Gilead, but how does a totalitarian society function? I believe learning more about what a totalitarian society is will help me understand the text meticulously.

For essay #3, I plan on researching totalitarian societies and their composure. I believe learning the information about how a totalitarian society functions will help me understand the text in detail. I have an idea about what totalitarianism is, but how does it function? I want to know how closely Atwood’s novel follows the general definition of a totalitarian society and I also want to know the reason for a totalitarian society. I plan on possibly researching if there is anywhere in the world that still has a totalitarian society if there is, and how that place functions altogether. Maybe researching women’s right in a totalitarian society will help comprehend the story better, if there are even women’s rights. This may help me understand the females in the story and what they had to go through.

I chose this topic because it is an educated issue that I could benefit learning from. I think we all have a general understanding about a totalitarian society from the novel, but learning it in more detail would be of great help. I know that there is plenty of information out there that I can use for this essay. I just need to find the right sources. Understand totalitarianism is going to give me an idea as to why women are being treated the way they are in Atwood’s story. Not only that, but it will help me understand why men don’t dispute Gilead’s ways. Is it that they are too afraid to fight authority or do they actually enjoy their ways of life? Pretty much, understanding totalitarianism might help understand each character’s points of view and justify for their actions in more detail.

Mid-Session Check In Blog

July 8, 2010

Mrs. Darrow,

Although this class is very fast paced for my current schedule, I have enjoyed most of the assignments. We’re already half-way through the semester and I already feel like it’s going by incredibly fast.

In this class, I have had a couple of challenges. One of the biggest challenges has been managing my time appropriately to keep up with the assignments. Juggling five classes has not been easy, but now I’m down to my last three and life is getting easier. Another big challenge has been to keep up with the reading since I have always been bad at it and I really never read or have the time to read. Surprisingly, in this class I have discovered that I’m not as bad as I thought I was at it. I feel like because of all the reading we’ve had to do my reading skills have increased and that is a huge success for me. Actually, I always thought better at writing than reading, but now I’m finding out that I’m not so great at writing essays, which is something I need to work at.

The readings in the class have affected me in many ways. I have learned to love to read, although I know it’s not going to happen often in the future because I’m always too busy. I absolutely loved the last couple of assignments about O’Brien and Huze’s stories. I have many friends that are or have been in the military and I’ve always respected them and thanked them for everything they do for us, but O’Brien and Huze opened a whole new outlook for me. I thank these brave men and women for their great efforts every day. The story that we are currently reading, The Handmaid’s Tale, gets me more rattled up than anything. I am a strong supporter of women’s rights and I believe that women should not depend on anybody for anything. We should all be independent and we should never have to deal with any abuse. Reading this story makes me somewhat sad for these women, but it also reminds me of the things that I’ll never put up with as an independent woman.

Literary analysis has been more fun to me than other types of writing I have done in college. I like to analyze stories and think and talk about them too. I like to express my opinion and provide possible answers to unanswered questions within the text. Literary analysis is certainly a more interesting kind of writing experience.
My goals for the second half of the session are to become a better essay writer and get better at managing my time. My grades are very important to me, as I mentioned before, so I also hope to get a better than average overall grade in this class. Once again, it won’t be easy but nothing is impossible.

I can’t say I can’t wait to get more work, but I can certainly say that I’m looking forward to what other readings or assignments are in store for us. Although this may sound kind of weird, I have enjoyed the assignments so far. There is a lot of interaction between students about different assignments and that is one of the things I like the most about this class. Another thing I really like is that you always have answers to questions we might have. I’m horrible when it comes to technology so I’m very glad you’re here to help. Thank you for being such a good instructor!

Sincerely,

Adriana Legue


It's almost time for us to enjoy our summer! =D

Thesis Assignment

1. A is the weak thesis statement because it makes no claim. It is too general and only tells what the story is going to be about, which can be about many different topics which might make no specific point.

2. A is the weaker thesis because it’s an obvious statement and raises no issues to be discussed in the essay. It has only one point of view and too general.

3. B is the weak statement because it doesn’t raise any specific issues. It makes a general statement and it’s not complicated enough because it has just one point of view.

4. A is the weak thesis statement because it’s too generalized. It’s obvious that Othello is about love and jealousy. It raises no questions and it’s not a hypothesis to be tested. It’s more of a truth.

5. A is the weak thesis statement because it’s too long and it offers personal conviction. Not only that, but it raises no questions. It’s more of a blunt opinion rather than a questionable statement.



---The Handmaid's Tale---

QUESTION:
-Why did the doctor offer to help Offred get pregnant if the penalty would be death?

MY THESIS STATEMENT:
-The doctor offered to get Offred pregnant because he felt a genuine need to help her before her time ran out.

IS MY THESIS STRONG?
-I believe I have a strong thesis statement because it is very arguable. It is also specific because I focused on just one event from the story. I could definitely support it with evidence from the text.