Personal Statement

Prompt #1: Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations..

Every since the beginning of childhood, I have been surrounded by a language barrier. My parents immigrated to America approximately a year before I was born and they did not have as much knowledge of English. My parents have a strong belief that mathematics is a good subject to pursue and master so they had me learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as well as memorize the multiplication table before I stated grade school. With this foundation of math already developed, I found comfort in this subject as I struggled with other heavy-English-based subjects, which consisted of almost everything except math: language arts, reading, English, writing, history, and science. As the years passed, English became easier to comprehend as my love of reading also developed, but math was still the easiest for me because it never required me to use a dictionary whenever I come across a term I was unfamiliar with.

The first couple of years in elementary school is where I experienced this language barrier the greatest. My teachers often had this daily vocabulary thing where they would have one vocab word on the board to copy at the beginning of class in the morning along with its definition, part of speech, and an example of how it is to be used in a sentence. Even though these words were on the board every day, there was little meaning in them for me because I never understood the terms. Even though the definition and an example was provided, I was still unable to truly comprehend the word.

I suppose this is what began my interest of have mathematics become one of my future majors. The simplicity of math to me formed a comfort zone for me, unlike the complicity and challenges that continuously arise with the English language. The language of math was easy to understand and the formulas were always logical. To me, math was mostly about building on the basic and only some review was necessary at times. Math was also consistent - the formulas came from theorems so there is never a double meaning to them, unlike the meaning of words that can change depending on how the term is used. Mistakes did not happen as much in math as long as I remembered the correct formula to use in different steps of the problems.

The language barrier created hardships when working on subjects that are heavily based on English usage; however the formulas in math never changed and were easy to decipher, making math a more comfortable subject to pursue.

Prompt #2: Tell us about a quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?
    Every since the beginning of childhood, I have been surrounded by the necessity to develop independence. Th language barrier created by my parents’ immigrant status cause me to struggle to understand my school work alone since my parents were always busy with work one way or another, and were unfamiliar with the English language. However, .the true factor that pushed me into becoming independent was not this barrier but my mother’s sudden announcement of wanting got quit her job and to become a childcare provider. For the time afterwards, where she took classes in the nearby community college and went to Bananas for classes, things did not really change since she was always away just like she was for her job. Near the end of third grade, she finally got her license and some time around fourth grade, she began taking care of the first child that came to the childcare. At fist, I was okay with it but it soon became irritating. Since the childcare was open from seven am to six pm on weekdays, having to listen to cry from early in the morning before school and for hours after I care home, annoyed me. Soon, it began to seem to me as though my mother preferred the kids she took care of at the childcare more than she did me- she was always yelling or glaring at me when I walked around the house, if I created too much noise when closing a door, or zipping up my backpack.
    This is when I began to understand that my mother is not going to be close to me even if she was always at home. Her attention was always on the kids and so I began to stop trying to rely on her. She always prioritized the kids in the childcare first by saying that they were not her kids and that if they were to get hurt or something, she would get sued and have to pay a large fine, or she may even lose her license. With that, I began to stop caring about whether my mother was there or not. A new barrier formed and I began to take responsibilities in my own life. I focused on getting what I need to do done so that she can focus on her job.
    In a way, my mother’s words about other peoples’ kids being more important gave me a sense of disappointment. I had figured that if she was to stay at home more, then I would at least attain more attention and care; however, that was not the case. Instead, I found that she focused more on her newly attained job and that it changed the environment I was accustomed to. The house that was once spacious because we had little furniture became cluttered with children play materials. The house that was once peaceful became loud. The place where I once found comfort became a place I would like to stay away from as much as possible.

Eragon Final Book Review

     Eragon, the first of three books in the same yet-to-be-completed series by Christopher Paolini, is a fictional novel following the adventure of Eragon and Saphira in a world of mythical creatures - dragons, elves, dwarves, etc - and magic. His journey begins when a polished blue stone suddenly crashes in front of him, disrupting his hunt in The Spine, an expansion of feared mountains surrounding his village and extending up and down the west coast of the land. However, Eragon soon discovers that the object he had assumed to be a valuable stone was actually a dragon egg when a blue baby dragon, later named Saphira, hatches from it. A series of events follow and circumstances - the existence of Saphira and the death of his uncle, Garrow - force Eragon the necessity to leave his hometown. Over the course of the novel, which tells the story of his travel to find the place where he belongs, Eragon displays many characteristics that make him uniquely himself.
     Eragon has a strong sense of responsibility. Even before he begins his adventure, he dutifully hunts in the Spine, an expansion of mountains surrounding his village feared by many, for food so that his family can survive through the winter, "The deer had led him deep into the Spine, a range of untamed mountains that extend up and down the land of Alagaesia. Strange tales and men often came from those mountains, usually boding ill. Despite that, Eragon did not fear the Spine - he was the only human near Carvahall who dared track game into its craggy recesses. [...] If he did not fell the doe, he would be forced to return home empty-handed. His family needed the meat for the rapidly approaching winter and could not afford to buy it in Carvahall," (6-7). Although Eragon's family's inability to obtain meat from Carvahall plays a part in the necessity for Eragon to hunt in the Spine for meat, it does not cloud the fact that he is willing to hunt in those mountains even though many others would avoid them due to fear. Eragon's courage stems from his family's reliance on him to hunt so that food can be provided to last throughout the winter. The tales that others tell about the Spine mountains does not suppress his sense of duty. Instead, it only causes him to gain stubbornness.
     Another trait Eragon has is that he is stubborn. When something has great importance to him, his stubbornness would show when he refuses to listen to others. Because the crash-landing of the stone caused the game Eragon was hunting to run away, it forced Eragon to go to the village's butcher shop in hopes of trading the stone for meat that his family needs. However, once Eragon replies that the stone was found in the Spine when the butcher questioned its origin, the butcher refuses to trade meat to Eragon, causing Eragon to refuse to leave. Luckily, Houst, the town's blacksmith stepped in and bought Eragon the meat and offered Eragon the opportunity to work off the debt by working at the blacksmith when he had free time, "'Good thing I came - the two of you were almost at blows. Unfortunately, I doubt he'll serve you meat or any of your family the next time you go in there, even if you do have coins...As for payment, Albriech plans to leave for Feinster next spring. He wants to become a master smith, and I'm going to need an assistant. You can come and work off the debt on your spare days,'" (15). Eragon's stubbornness mostly derived from the obvious fact that his family would starve if they are unable to attain the necessary meat. They would not be able to survive through the winter so he defiantly stay in the butcher shop even though he knew that his actions would only cause the butcher to hate him and his family even more even though they have not done anything harmful towards the butcher and his family. However, this stubbornness only contributes to his rashness.
     On top of being stubborn, Eragon is also rash. During his journey for "revenge," he comes across a bottle with a symbol that is the same as that of his enemy's. Knowing that his enemies are inhumane beings, he is inconsiderate of those who cares about him. His curiosity leads him into trying to identifying the content immediately rather: "Lying on the ground was a metal flask with a leather strap just long enough to hang off someone's shoulder. A silver insignia Eragon recognized as the Ra'zac's symbol was wrought on it. Excited, he picked up the flask and unscrewed its cap. A cloying smell filled the air - the same one he had noticed when he found Garrow in the wreckage of their house. He tilted the flask, and a drop of clear, shiny liquid fell on his finger. Instantly Eragon's finger burned as of it was on fire...After a moment the pain subsided to a dull throbbing. A patch of skin had been eaten away," (166). Without being conscious about possible outcomes, he simply smells the content of the bottle before pouring a drop onto his finger. Even though he had enough common sense to test the liquid first rather than drinking or using the belongings of his enemies, his rashness still caused him to do something that would not have been the best choice. In this case, he had prioritized his desires to find the use of the content by testing it out right then and there rather than returning back to camp so that he could at least have asked his companion whether or not he knew about the liquid.
     Over the course of his adventure in Eragon, Eragon displays many characteristics that distinctively represented himself. His stubbornness, rashness, and sense of responsibility are qualities that both help and harm him depending on the situation. However, these qualities are what makes him himself. Characteristics are qualities that differ between people, forming individuals' identities.

Peer Review Comments

Comments I left for my tablemates'...
For Jasmine:
Overall, your draft is pretty well written and there are only some things you might want to make changes to. In your introduction, you might want to declutter. There are unnecessary phrases that makes it somewhat hard to understand. Your first body paragraph is really well-written but you can add more CM to the second CD by describings its connection to the way people in the past use to speak. A small grammer mistake you have is that it is suppose to be "neither a friend nor a lover" not "nor a friend nor a lover."

For Max:
Your rough draft is pretty much done, but one of the major things I think you can fix is your grammar and formatting. It might be better if you used the "quote" button/choice/whatever so that your quote is actally block quoted. Another thing is that I thing you should take out the personal stuff. Ex: do you really have to include stuff like: "One was just saying that I have surface errors; grammar, punctuation, etc. The other one however was completely criticizes my piece. They said that my piece had an irrelevant quote, and did not make much sense. Now at first I was surprised, but after looking over it, they were kind of right. Though for this blog post, I decided to challenge them and rewrite it"?

For Kyle:
Between you rough draft and your previous book posts, there isn't much of a difference so my comment is pretty much whatever I said when I commented on your post: For one, I think the first thing you should do is to identify your book. There is more than one book to the Harry Potter series so the reader may not be able to immediately grasp whichever book your review is about. Another thing is that you do not really discuss the questions you picked in depth. You answer part of the question but it does not really seem as if you answered it. Your post is practically all concrete detail - maybe have more commentary. (p.s. for some reason, I can't comment on your rough draft blog...)

Eragon Book Review Rough Draft

     Eragon, the first of three books in the same yet-to-be-completed series by Christopher Paolini, is a fictional novel following the adventure of Eragon and Saphira in a world of mythical creatures - dragons, elves, dwarves, etc - and magic. His journey begins when a polished blue stone suddenly crashes in front of him, disrupting his hunt in The Spine, an expansion of feared mountains surrounding his village and extending up and down the west coast of the land. Not long after, Eragon discovers that what he had always assumed to be a stone was actually an egg when a blue dragon, later named Saphira, hatches from it. A series of events follow and causes Eragon the necessity to leave his hometown. Over the course of the novel, Eragon displays many characteristics that makes him uniquely himself.
    Eragon has a strong sense of responsibility. Even before he begins his adventure, he dutifully hunts in the Spine, an expansion of mountains surrounding his village feared by many, for food so that his family can survive through the winter, "The deer had led him deep into the Spine, a range of untamed mountains that extend up and down the land of Alagaesia. Strange tales and men often came from those mountains, usually boding ill. Despite that, Eragon did not fear the Spine - he was the only human near Carvahall who dared track game into its craggy recesses. [...] If he did not fell the doe, he would be forced to return home empty-handed. His family needed the meat for the rapidly approaching winter and could not afford to buy it in Carvahall," (6-7). Although Eragon's family's inability to obtain meat from Carvahall plays a part in the necessity for Eragon to hunt in the Spine for meat, it does not cloud the fact that he is willing to hunt in those mountains even though many others whould avoid them due to fear. Eragon's courage stems from his family's reliance on him to hunt so that food can be provided to last throughout the winter. The tales that others tell about the Spine mountains does not suppress his sense of duty. Instead, it only causes him to gain stubborness.
     Another trait Eragon has is that he is stubborn. When something has great importance to him, his stubbornness would show when he refuses to listen to others. Because the crash-landing of the stone caused the game Eragon was hunting to run away, it forced Eragon to go to the village's butcher shop in hopes of trading the stone for meat that his family needs. However, once Eragon replies that the stone was found in the Spine when the butcher questioned its origin, the butcher refuses to trade meat to Eragon, causing Eragon to refuse to leave. Luckily, Houst, the town's blacksmith stepped in and bought Eragon the meat and offered Eragon the opportunity to work off the debt by working at the blacksmith when he had free time, "'Good thing I came - the two of you were almost at blows. Unfortunately, I doubt he'll serve you meat or any of your family the next time you go in there, even if you do have coins...As for payment, Albriech plans to leave for Feinster next spring. He wants to become a master smith, and I'm going to need an assistant. You can come and work off the debt on your spare days,'" (15). Eragon's stubbornness mostly derived from the obvious fact that his family would starve if they are unable to attain the necessary meat. They would not be able to survive through the winter so he defiantly stay in the butcher shop even though he knew that his actions would only cause the butcher to hate him and his family even more even though they have not done anything harmful towards the butcher and his family. However, this stubbornness only contributes to his rashness.
     On top of being stubborn, Eragon is also rash. During his journey for "revenge," he comes across a bottle with a symbol that is the same as that of his enemy's. Without being causious, he simply smells the content of the bottle before pouring a drop on he finger. "Lying on the ground was a metal flask with a leather strap just long wnough to hang off someone's shoulder. A silver insignia Eragon recognized as the Ra'zac's symbl was wought on it...(etc)," (166). Even though eragon had enough common sense to not dronk something he found that belongs to his enemies, his rashness to discover the unknown had him pour a drop of the liquid onto his finger. In a sense, his rashness had him prioritize his desire to find the use of the content by testing it out right then and there rather than returning back to camp to ask Brom, who obviously knew a lot more about the world than Eragon, about it
     In the beginning, Eragon was depending on those around him for support and the feeling of security. He becomes pained when his uncle dies, "Everything was insubstantial except for Garrow's face. Tears flooded Eragon's cheeks. He stood there, shoulders shaking, but did not cry out. Mother, aunt, uncle - he had lost them all. The weight of his grief was crashing, a monstrous force that left him tottering. [...] Frustrated and terrified, he turned his tear-dampened face toward the heavens and shouted, 'What god would do this? Show yourself!...He didn't deserve this!'" (90-91). When he finds that his uncle has also passed away, Eragon feels abandoned and is overwhelmed by sadness due to the loss another loved one from his family. He is unable to immediately accept the reality that the person who raised him was dead. This pain causes him to desire revenge but he is uncertain about his ability, "Am I strong enough for this?" (93). Eragon questions his own ability to achieve revenge for his uncle. Although he is still vulnerable due to the news of the death, he feared that he would be unable to defeat his opponents when he left his hometown.

Book Review: Eragon Part 2

     Eragon, the first of three books in the same yet-to-be-completed series by Christopher Paolini, is a fictional novel following the adventure of Eragon and Saphira in a world of mythical creatures - dragons, elves, dwarves, etc - and magic. His journey begins when a polished blue stone suddenly crashes in front of him, disrupting his hunt in The Spine, an expansion of feared mountains surrounding his village and extending up and down the west coast of the land. Not long after, Eragon discovers that what he had always assumed to be a stone was actually an egg when a blue dragon, later named Saphira, hatches from it. A series of events follow and causes Eragon the necessity to leave his hometown. Over the course of the novel, Eragon displays may characteristics.
    Eragon has a strong sense of responsibility. Even before he begins his adventure, he dutifully hunts in the Spine, an expansion of mountains surrounding his village feared by many, for food so that his family can survive through the winter, "The deer had led him deep into the Spine, a range of untamed mountains that extend up and down the land of Alagaesia. Strange tales and men often came from those mountains, usually boding ill. Despite that, Eragon did not fear the Spine - he was the only human near Carvahall who dared track game into its craggy recesses. [...] If he did not fell the doe, he would be forced to return home empty-handed. His family needed the meat for the rapidly approaching winter and could not afford to buy it in Carvahall," (6-7). Although Eragon's family's inability to obtain meat from Carvahall plays a part in the necessity for Eragon to hunt in the Spine for meat, it does not cloud the fact that he is willing to hunt in those mountains even though many others whould avoid them due to fear. Eragon's courage stems from his family's reliance on him to hunt so that food can be provided to last throughout the winter. The tales that others tell about the Spine mountains does not suppress his sense of duty.

Book Review: Eragon Part 1

     Eragon, the first of three books in the same yet-to-be-completed series by Christopher Paolini, is a fictional novel following the adventure of Eragon and Saphira in a world of mythical creatures - dragons, elves, dwarves, etc - and magic. His journey begins when a polished blue stone suddenly crashes in front of him, disrupting his hunt in The Spine, an expansion of feared mountains surrounding his village and extending up and down the west coast of the land. Not long after, Eragon discovers that what he had always assumed to be a stone was actually an egg when a blue dragon, later named Saphira, hatches from it. A series of events follow and causes Eragon the necessity to leave his hometown. Over the course of the novel, Eragon changes from an indecisive entity ignorant of the world outside The Spine to a dependable individual strong enough to stand on his own against his obstacles.
     In the beginning, Eragon was depending on those around him for support and the feeling of security. He becomes pained when his uncle dies, "Everything was insubstantial except for Garrow's face. Tears flooded Eragon's cheeks. He stood there, shoulders shaking, but did not cry out. Mother, aunt, uncle - he had lost them all. The weight of his grief was crashing, a monstrous force that left him tottering. [...] Frustrated and terrified, he turned his tear-dampened face toward the heavens and shouted, 'What god would do this? Show yourself!...He didn't deserve this!'" (90-91). When he finds that his uncle has also passed away, Eragon feels abandoned and is overwhelmed by sadness due to the loss another loved one from his family. He is unable to immediately accept the reality that the person who raised him was dead. This pain causes him to desire revenge but he is uncertain about his ability, "Am I strong enough for this?" (93). Eragon questions his own ability to achieve revenge for his uncle. Although he is still vulnerable due to the news of the death, he feared that he would be unable to defeat his opponents when he left his hometown.

Family History Connections

     One connecting theme I identified from within at least three of our family's histories was struggle. Because of that struggle, many individuals or families has to exert effort to sustain something important to them.
     In Alex's post, he tells the story of how his family had to struggle to overcome death and hardships in surviving in the United States:
     In Peter's post, he describes how his father had to escape China:

It was impossible for his father to escape anyway, at the end; his father asked one of his best friends brought them away as far as he can because he feared that his family would get involved into it. Thus, my uncle follower his two brothers, from China, then shipping to Macau, to Hongkong, and lastly took airplane to United States. However, after he was going to United States, the government considered him as illegal immigration and did not give him any identity at all.

This proves that in order to escape suffering, Peter's father chose to leave China and went to America, even though it meant entering illegally.
     Therefore, in the end, many family histories tell the stories of some kind of suffering and what the indivdiual or family did or had to do to construct a solution.

My grandmother died and had left behind the building where my family lived and there was dispute because the building was also under the name of my Uncle Victor and he wanted to sell it it in order to split the money among the family. At the same time, the family began to split up...My Uncle eventually sold the building and me and my family only had three days to pack up and move out...We had no where to go...All three of my sisters still attended school in San Francisco so they had to catch both BART and MUNI to get to school. The cost of transportation, food, and rent became extremely high and my father was forced to find a second job. He entered his job at three in the afternoon where he worked as front runner and server at a restaurant in San Francisco. When he finished at the restaurant he proceeded to the Trans American Building where he worked as a janitor from eleven in the night to six in the morning.

Because of the conflict caused by his grandmother's death, Alex and his family had to face the problem of instability. However, in the end, his family was able to overcome this crisis and live happily in a new home.
     In David's post, he talks about how communism led by Mao in China caused his great-grandfather to die in prison and to have all of his families' wealth stolen from them:

During [Mao's] rule, one of his terrible actions is that he ordered the imperial army to arrest all of the wealthy people, in which one of them was my great grandfather, and placed them in jail to rot. The jails had horrible living conditions and eventually, my great grandfather died of starvation because the food there was unbearable. The family wealth was never returned and the family had basically dropped from the elite class to the poor class within a few years.

This indicates that David's family had to somehow overcome their loss, in both finance and love, and restart a new life without everything they once had.