Class Discussion

In class we always have a significant amount of discussion about books or excerpts that we read such as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks or The Mercury Reader. I always enjoy getting feedback from other people's points of view due to the fact that it is usually different from my own. I like to know how other people understood things as opposed to how I understood it, such as in Henrietta Lacks when the hospital took her cells without asking her and sold it for profit, sparing none for her. I thought this was incredibly unfair of them but I heard from others who felt that it was the right of the hospital to take those cells because she was on a free medical program. I found this interesting and it gave me a whole new insight to the situation. Other people's opinion on topics are important to hear because they could be completely different from your own, and in many cases could be correct as well. I was very pleased today to have the chance to discuss this book and other pieces of writing as a group because not only did it give me a better understanding of what I was reading, but of what other people thought about the reading as well.

Studying

Studying has never been an easy task for me. Throughout middle and high school, I never had too much difficulty and so studying was never something that was very high on my to-do list. I'd always put it off or procrastinate until the very last minute and then study for a couple of minutes and be done with it. Usually with this amount of studying, I would do perfectly fine on a test. Now that I'm in college, things are different. The tests are much more difficult, and I need to study for anything that I intend to do well on. When I first got here and started taking tests, I needed to make a very quick transition from being lazy with my studies to being diligent. Now I take at least an hour to study before every test, and even with that amount of studying, which is substantial for me, I still don't always do very well on tests. College is something that I am going to need to work very hard at if I have any plans to succeed. I would love for it to get easier, but in the end it is only going to benefit me in the long run with displaying good work ethic in the real world. Studying for tests is something that I am going to have to learn how to do even better as I progress through college.

Writing in English 1050

In English 1050, we have begun the process of writing our personal narratives. These are supposed to be a recollection of something in our past that relates to English and how it changed our view on the English language. It took a lot of consideration, due to the fact that I have never had much change in my views on English in my reading or writing. I have always been relatively comfortable with my abilities as a writer and reading has never been very difficult for me either, so coming up with a conflict in my English history was relatively difficult. Finally I decided to write about how my writing style had to change in order to fit the desires of my AP History teacher, Mr. Haverdink. He wanted our essays to stay on topic without rambling or saying anything that didn't completely have a point, so this was something that I had to change from my previous writing style. In the past, I would write things in order to take up space and meet the word limit for my classes. This was something that I could no longer do in AP History and I had to change it. I also chose to write about an essay that I enjoyed writing due to the fact that I was able to choose a topic that I cared and wanted to write about which was child obesity. This was something that I enjoyed writing and presenting to my class and something that was different in my history of English writing.

Soccer

Soccer is something that I've always enjoyed. I started playing as young as I could in my early elementary school years. I always had a blast. Once I graduated to middle school, soccer started getting a little bit more competitive. I wasn't the most athletic child and so I was never picked first to be out on the field. This is something that pushed me until eventually I was starting in the eighth grade. Then high school came around, and people even more athletic than I took over. It took a lot of effort until I was finally promoted to the varsity team junior year and a significant part of the Hamilton High School Soccer Team. Even though I was never the best, I loved being a part of the team and giving my very best on the field every game. I was always pleased after the game whether we won or lost, because I knew that I had given everything I had out on that field. Now that I have graduated high school, I can no longer play competitive soccer due to the fact that I do not have enough skill to join Western's soccer team. I still play when I get the chance with a few friends around campus, but the chance to play competitively is long gone. I will always remember fondly the memories on the soccer field, and I wish that I could go back. For now, however, I will just have to stick to playing for fun when I get the chance.

Reading in English 1050

There is always a large amount of reading to be done in English 1050. We read about things such as cultural differences and how people cope with these differences. It is important to understand that the things we say to people could be taken differently because of where they come from. In the excerpt "My Ill Narrative: Growing Up Black, Po, and a Girl, in the Hood" in "The Mercury Reader", the author, Elaine Richardson, comes from a less than pleasant neighborhood and doesn't understand a lot of things about what happened to her there. When she starts to get older, and boys pay attention to her more, she doesn't understand that they don't want her for her personality, and that fact starts to become apparent as you read on. Regardless of how tedious reading all of Elaine's long descriptions may be, the story she tells is a sad one and has an important lesson to learn in the end. As a male, you need to be more careful of what you say to who because it could be taken the wrong way and cause problems for them or you later on. This is only one of the many different readings and lessons that we are currently learning about in English 1050.

About Me

My name is Andrew Hulsman. I come from a small farming town called Hamilton. It's the kind of place where you know nearly everyone that you see walking down the street, which is somewhere that I was very pleased to grow up in. I played soccer and track throughout my years in Hamilton, and was fairly successful at both. Along with that, I am also an Eagle Scout, which is something that I toiled with for many years growing up with the eventual dream of achieving. That is an award that I am very proud of. I have now moved out of Hamilton and am currently living and studying at Western Michigan University and am majoring in Athletic Training with the hopes of eventually obtaining a career in such a field. Athletics have always interested me, which is why I have the great desire to follow a career in which I am placed among athletes for the rest of my life. It sounds very appealing to me. This is just a little bit of information about me and my life.