"A Waitress at Duval" Writing 1

At first glance the waitress seems jocundly pleased. Her hand positioning in combination with her apron gave me the impression that she was hard working. Yet her youthful disposition and the cracking of her smile made me feel that she was happy, and had somewhat of a sass about her. I made up an assumption that she works hard but this is the only life she really knows, so she manages to find pleasure in it? After examining Billy Collins' poem I have a very similar opinion of the waitress. Although I feel this is the waitress portrayed towards the later half of Collins' poem, or perhaps in the middle. She has more of a distinguishable personality than "every waitress | who has ever served [him]" but she is not in the ballroom quite yet. Maybe this is the  moment where she will strip her work attire and become part of his perception as a human being rather than a server. After all, I think Renoir's painting is supposed to humanize the waitress and give her a personality because as part of the working class she has certainly been overlooked on more than one occasion.

Response: "Chick-Fil-A Debuts New Homophobic Sandwich"

In July The Onion featured an article satirizing the news pertaining to Chick-Fil-A CEO's investments in anti-gay agendas. I found this article to be pretty damn funny. As I mentioned in my response paper, I vividly remember when this happened (not just because it was only a few months ago), because it had a large impact on my community. In West Hollywood, a very gay friendly neighborhood, Chick-Fil-A was loved until this story broke and then was severely boycotted.
For my symbol I chose a simple cross to represent the Christian agenda represented in the article.  Although I am a strong believer in respecting all religious and overall personal choices of people, I still find it hard to maintain such respect for any group that wishes to discriminate. I went to Catholic school for 7 years (which isn't exactly the same thing, but pretty damn close). Before I attended Catholic school, I was very much a Catholic girl. I was a strong believer because I did not overanalyze the stories or traditions but rather focused on messages preached by Christianity. But in school I was often faced with people, even teachers, who were so preoccupied in keeping the country the same that they lost their way. Of course, not all Christians or Catholics feel the same way, as no group as complicated as a religion can be bound completely and utterly all of the same ideas. Also I must admit in the rage of remembering school, I am getting a bit off topic. Really, I just do not understand the roles Christian agenda's often play in gay rights. It seems quite barbaric to try to set back discrimination when clearly the nation is ready to move forward. I believe the CEO's actions were plain silly. It has become a norm to accept all different types of people and let go of discrimination. Publicly discriminating against one group of people seems almost as sociably unacceptable and going to work with no clothes on. Thus, I truly appreciated the humor used in The Onion article.

"The Americano Dream"

I really enjoyed the structure of this essay. It seemed to be an organized form of stream of consciousness. The author starts at one place and just keeps going and although the tangents he chooses to go on can seem momentarily random they eventually connect with the main ideas of moving and settling anxieties. The structure of this essay was also chronological, which kept it easy to understand. There was not any jumping from past to present, but rather it remained one line. Finally, I liked the structure of the paragraphs themselves. They were quick and started out with bolded headliners. This fast pace style kept my attention well yet was able to express a lot. I believe that the details chosen and their order made it a rounded story and thus more enjoyable to read.