Tuesday, December 8, 2009

links

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/

http://www.ancestry.com/

http://www.pbase.com/

http://www.nclr.org/

http://www.lulac.org/

My Brief Stay in the Life and Time of Gasparo

In my reflection of my time in the life of an adjunct professor, I can’t help but wonder when Professor Paul Gasparo will start handing out 10-gauge shotguns so that we may end it all ourselves. I feel that a revolver would be just too easy of an escape, and only a shot gun would be equal to the pain that we have suffered. The buck shot casing should have a pellet for every word that been spilled on paper or blog, so 3500 should do.

Now as to the question as to whether or not I would recommend this class to any of the people I have as loved ones, people in my inner circle, colleagues, acquaintances, people I pass in the corridors in the admissions building with the blank stares as they search for classes, or just anybody in general, well that would depend. I would have to set rules first. First we need to figure out who our audience is and separate them into two categories. The first category would be people who we would recommend this class to. The second category would be people we would not recommend this class to. Let’s start with the first group. The people that I would recommend this class to would be people who are well adjusted and don’t mind being yelled at because you just asked a question. The other type of person I would recommend this class to is someone who asks questions and has no regard as to what the outcome may be. The other type of person would be an alpha male or female. I would lastly recommend this class to someone who is a brainiac and is great in the English language because he or she just needs to be brought down a peg or two. Now, for the people I would not recommend this class to is the following: people who aren’t great in English, someone who is working 50 to 60 hours a week, someone who is married with children, someone who has a full class load, anyone with a GPA below 3.5, someone who is allergic to peanuts or any food in general, or anyone who likes to ask questions. I want to clarify that someone who likes to ask questions is different than someone that asks questions and doesn’t care of the outcome. Simply the first one finds it enjoyable and the latter doesn’t care.

If you do decide to join Professor Gasparo for the first time or even a second time despite all the warnings, you’ll have the pleasure of being scathed and belittled in the form of the Outline that’s handed to you at the beginning of class, or as I like to call it “The Syllabus from Hell.” There will be times that you enjoy this class (medicated) and he’ll be very pliable and you’ll actually learn. Then there’ll be times where you will wish you were at home struck with a bout of the bubonic plague (not medicated) instead of in class trying to get all the material so that you don’t dare ask a question and possibly have your head chopped clear off with a New Yorker’s words. Don’t get me wrong it’s not going to be all the time. Some of the assignments are going to be fun. Then he’ll do something that’s mentally challenged like require five hyperlinks on this blog entry.

In closing, you can only blame yourself when at the end of your English 111 or English 112 class you are disoriented, tired, and mad like I am today. This is my warning to you, the future pupil of Professor Paul Gasparo.

Jennings, S. "Mood Chart." Photo. www.seasonalmooddisorder365.com. 25 Feb. 2009. 08 Dec. 2009. <http://www.seasonalmooddisorder365.com/labels/mood%20charts%20bipolar%20disorder.html>

Final Diagnostic Essay Draft: The Time Traveler Returns from the Past


It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s the Time Traveler. With my superpower I will have the ability to alter the course of my history and that of mankind for the better. I believe that most people at some point in their life wish that they could go back or forward in time. They may want to change a horrible experience, or they may wish to see what the future holds for them. Whatever the case may be we could all benefit from time travel.

Last time we visited July 8, 2002. This is the day before my son was injured at the hands of our former babysitter. He is now able to do all the things he wasn't able to do before. He is riding his bike with all of the neighborhood kids. Rocco is now eight years old and has many prospects for life. I am now able to teach him how to bat a ball and how to play catch. Though this is an exciting time in our life we are still going to be starting from scratch. Over time things will smooth out and we will come out stronger than ever.
The second day I visited was May 5, 1997. This is the day I arrived at my duty station in Gaeta, Italy. The reason I chose to revisit my first duty station is because no one wants to repeat boot camp. I am back from my service tour and I was able to amass what in my mind is a small fortune and able to receive the education I needed. I knew what had to be accomplished with the ability to forgo all the little missteps along the way. I was able to keep from going to captain's mast, twice and I was to avoid the beatings I got from the Italian Carabinieri Military Police in their small improvised jail cells. After dealing with some of my missteps I would then journeyed to places in history where we could have used someone to talk us out of some situations that would then create a ripple in our existence. In my pursuit of trying to make a better history for us I travelled through time to vastly different places. Some places were in prehistoric time when monstrous animals and dinosaurs roamed the earth. Some places were in a very distant future where I had to wear special protective gear in order to keep the atmosphere's gases from melting my skin which, was caused from the stripping of the various layers in the Ozone.

One of these places I went to was in 1441 to stop Goncalves from accidentally creating slavery. My time in the 15th Century was fascinating. It was as if all my history books had come to life. There were open air markets that only had a few staples of food. The vegetables were not of a great quality or size and most of them were beginning to rot. The fish permeated the air with a foul odor. The people were dressed in what to me looked like funny costumes. The colors they wore weren’t very vivid, and the people of higher means had a funny looking neck brace looking thing. I was finally able to speak with Goncalves and show him in photos from present time what his one act of giving the Royals the right to the people in his charter would do. I purposely showed him photos that were black and white because I knew he wouldn’t understand why a photograph would be in color. And we now live in a time that never knew slavery.

As a time traveler I will always have my own interests at heart, but I also believe that that shouldn’t keep me from allowing mankind to benefit from my power. That’s all from the Time Traveler for now. On next weeks episode we travel into the future to see where we could have stopped the catalyst to the erosion of our Ozone. Please tune in.
"Goncalves Family Crest." Photo. www.tradebit.com 16 Nov. 2008. 08 Dec. 2008

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Diagnostic Essay Time Traveler

Sergio Sanchez
English 111-49
Diagnostic Essay



It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s the Time Traveler. With my superpower I will have the ability to alter the course of my history and that of mankind for the better. I believe that most people at some point in their life wish that they could go back or forward in time. They may want to change a horrible experience, or they may wish to see what the future holds for them. Whatever the case may be we could all benefit from time travel.


One particular day I would like to revisit is July 8, 2002. This is the day before my son was injured at the hands of our former babysitter. I have always sat and stared at my son and wondered what he would be doing if he were a “normal” seven year old. I painstaking detail I can almost reconstruct his movements in my head. I can see that he is talking up a storm, playing with kids his own age, and riding his bike around the neighborhood. With this ability I would be able to give my son back his life.


The second day I would like to revisit is May 5, 1997. This is the day I arrived at my duty station in Gaeta, Italy. The reason I chose to revisit my first duty station is because no one wants to repeat boot camp. I have always wondered what my life would be like if I had done all the stuff I thought of after the fact. I would want make my second time there more enjoyable, save a lot more money, and get in less trouble.


After dealing with some of my missteps I would then journey to places in history where we could have used someone to talk us out of some situations that would then create a ripple in our existence. I would go to 1441 when Gonsalves accidently creates slavery. Then I would like to go to the Ford’s Theater and stop Booth with the assassination of President Lincoln. I would then want to go to the future to see what effect our inability to curb our appetite for raw materials has on our future.


As a time traveler I will always have my own interests at heart, but I also believe that that shouldn’t keep me from allowing mankind to benefit from my power. That’s all from the Time Traveler for now.