Revision Letter

Luis Rojas

ENGW 1101

Professor Young

5/5/15

The Good, The Bad and The Revision

When revising my essay, I attempt to make a checklist of what the professor has written all over the painful three or four pages written. There is not a single thing to complain about though, everything written on those pages are simply placed specifically to

help the writer, in this case me, improve in the near future. It helps greatly because not many of us are gifted with having a dominant right side of the brain. Furthermore, I have a dominant left sided brain, meaning is simple, I love mathematics and hate writing. I personally find fun in trying to figure out what is the derivative of a certain polynomial expression as oppose to writing a two page paper. Fair enough, with the professor’s notes throughout the paper and telling the student what he or she should fix, it makes it a thousand times easier. The thing I like about writing essays for Professor Young is that she gives us many chances to revise our essays. My tennis coach in high school once told me “Make mistakes… That’s how you learn what not to do”, obviously the mistakes will never be done on purpose, but it taught me not to be afraid to ask questions and make the mistakes.

The Party Is Over

Luis Rojas

ENGW 1101

Professor Young

4/16/15

The Party Is Over

Rutgers, by far, is considered one of the top schools in New Jersey. Students graduate from Rutgers and they are looked at as if they graduated from the best university in the world. However, one also has to remind his or her self that no university is perfect and that this isn't the first time Rutgers is the center of attention in the media's eyes. Now, one must stop and ask, what could have possibly happened that caused Rutgers to ban fraternity and sorority parties throughout campus?

Given that this isn’t Rutger’s first rodeo, it isn’t easy to just overlook the fact that this is a tremendous decision on the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affair’s part. According to Bill Kutz, owner of Peter’s Liquors, “… the university can do whatever it wants, but these kids are still going to party” (Coleman). With the information that is given, everyone can conclude that nothing is going to stop these students from partying outside of campus. Most of these fraternities have their own houses in which they can party all they want in. one can assume that the university knows this and while they hope their rules will help it seems as if all the University of Rutgers is trying to accomplish is get their hands clean from all the incidents occurring inside of the campus. The simple question keeps recurring, what could have possibly happened that cause Rutgers to ban fraternity and sorority parties throughout campus? Well, the slow process of the party ban started after a series of alcohol related issues on campus. starting back in 2014, a girl named Caitlyn Kovacs, A 19 year old who attended Rutgers University at the time, died from alcohol poisoning at a fraternity party September of that year. It does not take a genius to understand that the banning of fraternity and sorority parties can highly prevent anymore deaths due to alcohol inside the campus, but also keep in mind that by banning parties on campus, there will be an increase in parties outside the campus and also and increase in deaths. “Fraternities and sororities will be permitted to hold their end-of-the-year "formals" and other events arranged at off-campus facilities where third-party vendors serve alcohol” (Heyboer). It is nice to know that the university still wants its students to be happy by not canceling their end-of-year formals, but at the same time, knowing that a third party vendor will be giving out alcohol is not so much reassuring as much as frightening. 

To illustrate, when parents take toys, or now-a-days phones, from their kids, those kids for the most part attempt to find some type of way of using the toy or phone. Fraternities and sororities will do the same thing to go around the campus’s rules. According to nj.com, students of Rutgers, gathered at the university’s student center to discuss the “social probation” and it came to mind that the party ban would affect the graduating seniors in the sense that they would not be able to have their farewell gatherings. What the Greek organizations should have done after the social probation was passed was tone it down for a while until all the tragic events prior to the ban had been forgotten. In November 2014, a fraternity was shut down due to a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon was taken to the hospital after heavy drinking. It was also found that the member was drinking while underage (Kingkade). All that is left to do for these fraternities and sororities is attempt to cope with the ban and learn how to party without having to risk the lives of anyone.

What could have possibly happened that caused Rutgers to ban fraternity and sorority parties throughout campus? Simple, a lot of college students that do not know how to control themselves and do not understand the definition of “enough”. Most of these students go to these fraternity and sorority parties and in order to impress other members, they start drinking and continue drinking beyond what their limit is. While yes, the party ban will reduce the deaths and drinking throughout campus, it will raise such rates off-campus by a lot. By now, everyone can see that the party ban was just there waiting to happen. There is enough evidence that supports the ban and won’t be reversed any time soon. Seems like the party is over for the Scarlet Knights. The concern now is, how long until something tragic happens outside campus and Rutgers University is inevitably the center of attention once again?

Works Cited

Coleman, Vernal. "Reaction to Rutgers Frat Party Ban Mixed among Neighborhood Residents." NJ.com. N.p., 9 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/ 2015/04/liquor_store_sales_remain_brisk_following_rutgers.html>.

Heyboer, Kelly. "Rutgers University Bans Fraternity and Sorority Parties." NJ.com. N.p., 06 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nj.com/education/2015/04/ partys_over_at_rutgers_university_bans_fraternity.html>.

Kingkade, Tyler. "Rutgers Bans Fraternity Parties Following Alcohol-Related Problems." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 6 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/06/rutgers-fraternity-parties_n_7014072.html>.

Is Everyone Really Free and Equal?

Luis Rojas

ENGW1101

Professor Young

2/12/15

Is Everyone Really Free and Equal?

The concept of freedom is the ability to make choices of your own without having to worry about anyone telling you differently. What that pretty much means is that freedom allows for one to be his or herself whenever he or she wants to be. Equality, on the other hand, is the idea that everyone has a chance, or shot at what he or she wants, needs or is trying to achieve. Pie and Sibonia from James McBride’s The Good Lord Bird are perfect examples of equality because shows two different sides to a story. They are the perfect characters for which one as a reader can compare and contrast. 

Freedom and equality are words that are thrown around a lot in today’s society and most people do not fully comprehend what those words really entails. While the idea of freedom is thought of as for all people at all times, in reality to protect the people’s rights, some freedoms are monitored to help maintain laws. Pie is a mulatto girl who works at the whorehouse that Onion visits. She has some rights, but she also has restriction since she is not fully white.  Despite her prestige in her “field” she is still black so the laws of the time cause her to lose rights. America is thought to be “the land of the free,”  and while there’s a high level of freedom of speech, protest and religion, there are many regulations to protect those involved in and around. Sure, some people might not agree with every law there is, but those laws are set in order to keep society in a stable position. ! No one group is legally penalized nor restricted more than another. The rights of the people are many, but to have those rights the laws and restrictions must be nearly equal.

All people, race and gender being totally equal, deserving the same rights, same chances is, for the most part, a new concept. While equality is growing, it has not been fully reached. There is still a need for groups such as feminist, racial, and religious, since there is still a fight between the majority and the minority. The American society may have made it past slavery and oppression in the general sense and has given rights that may seem equal to all, but it is not balanced. Equality focuses on everyone, not just women or not just a specific ethnicity, those are just parts of the body that people use to segregate each other. 

Equality is bridging those gaps and realizing that people are people. Feminists work towards balancing society on a gender basis, while most acts are based towards women, it is not about making women more powerful than men, it is about making them equal. Equal pay, equal job opportunities, equally viewed. Race is socially constructed, it technically does not exist scientifically and yet humans manage to use this concept as a way to classify and rank each other. Sibonia is a black slave owned by the same people who run the whorehouse in which Pie works but she is treated the worst because she is black and “feebleminded”. Sibonia was dark, while Pie was mulatto, due to the ideas at the time, this made Pie more favorable. It is in human nature to find structure and create a hierarchy making equality a constant fight. 

In the book, The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, Pie seems to have a lot more opportunities than Sibonia due to the fact that Pie actually has a job inside and is able to come and go as she pleases. Pie’s every move isn’t watched, she is given the benefit of the doubt and her owners have some levels of trust in her, unlike Sibonia. Pie is allowed to go into town, and lives in the house instead of being locked in the back with all the other slaves. She has her own room and bedding, and she can leave and do about her business with little to no care. When a person thinks of freedom, he or she thinks of going wherever he or she wants and be carefree. 

James McBride’s The Good Lord Bird shows that while Pie seems to be the most free, it is really Sibonia who has the most freedoms. Sibonia can say whatever she wants because no one will take her seriously, given that everyone assumes she’s crazy. Sibonia was seen by Onion yelling things like “Pretty, pretty, yeller, yeller!” and “Knee-deep, knee-deep, goin’ ‘round, goin’ ‘round.” (McBride, 160). People take mental freedom for granted because it is not seen nor felt, it is something one just does. Pie lacks of mental freedom because if Pie says something that her master does not agree with, her job could be in jeopardy.

Freedom of mind and speech are the most important because they help you clear your mind and may have a huge impact in how people can react to certain situations. Sibonia’s freedom of mind and speech come into play when she starts saying that she’s going to start a rebellion. No one takes her seriously simply because everyone in the pin assumes she’s crazy. Sibonia acts “normal” around the people she wants to, she picks and chooses her state of normality. Sibonia is mostly calm around her sister Libby. She speaks as if she had no troubles and remains collected. She is more aware of what is going on than most people, for example, when she is talking about Onion to her sister, she says “This child is troubled” (McBride, 162). She understands that Onion is different.

Mankind wants to have both freedom and equality but no one really seems to put the work into actually making it happen. Pride and old habits get in the way of moving forward and breaking into a brighter future. Society easily misunderstands the concept of freedom and the idea of being equal. The average person ignores the injustices that happen around them, the abundance of racial slurs and incidents of sexual harassments that go on in everyday life are not noticed because they are viewed as social norms. The time period in which James McBride wrote the book The Good Lord Bird was before the Civil War in which slavery and racism were at an all time high. Sibonia and Pie’s lives were ran by the rules and regulations of the white people, yet they still had their certain freedoms. While freedom exists on a certain level people must realize to actually be “free”, they must give in in certain places. Equality on the other hand must be learned over time, and we must enforce the idea of social equality.

Works Cited

McBride, James. The Good Lord Bird. New York: River Head books, 2013. Print.