PLN #5: A Single Lucid Moment (Rewrite)

“A Single Lucid Moment,” by Robert W. Soderstrom describes what life is like in Papau New Guinea and shows the deep love and care that villagers from the small village can have towards others across the globe.  As Robert and his wife, Kerry volunteered as Peace Corps volunteers in New Guinea, they were welcomed by the villagers that lived there and although weren’t as nearly as fortunate as Americans, lived a carefree life.  They had no knowledge or information about the “outside world” at all; they only knew about the world that they lived in, which is nothing like a world with many more problems.  One day, when they were telling stories, Robert passed around a picture of his hometown, Chicago, with two homeless men on the street.  The villagers were shocked and all wanted to rally to help these two men out of their misfortune.  They were so interested in the topic of homelessness that they went into action to see what they could do, and even tried to contact the U.S. government. They really wanted to make a difference even though they had never heard about this problem before.  The article says, “In their simple lives, it was impossible to comprehend that humanity was host to such an injustice.”  They genuinely wanted to help these people as much as they could, so they offered to make homes for them in their country.  Even though in the end they couldn’t help the two homeless men, they still continued to work on projects to help the less fortunate people in the world, even though they are some of the least fortunate people.  The villagers of New Guinea were very caring people who were caring to potentially anyone and helped whoever needed help with an issue of their own.  The personality and kindness of these people show that America can act caring towards everyone and if the countries of the world don't only care about themselves, then the world might actually be able to live in peace.

I think that the piece “A Single Lucid Moment” (by Robert Soderstrom) effectively shows the loving care that the villagers from Papau New Guinea show towards homeless Americans.  It was amazing to me that the villagers had such confidence that they could make things right for the two homeless Americans that they saw in a picture when they hadn’t ever heard of the concept “homelessness,” let alone knew of their backgrounds.  Many people outside of their country or village would think that such a small group of people couldn’t make an impact on such an important topic, but the villagers were extremely confident in their thoughts and had no question about not being able to make an impact.  This is very inspiring to me because I have always heard that a single person can make an impact, but not many people listen to that advice very well.  The people in the village didn’t think twice about trying to make an impact even though many people probably doubted that they could make any difference.  Even though they didn’t realize this, the villagers were probably just as less fortunate as the homeless people in the photograph, but they still wanted to help.  This is inspiring to me because they never gave up, so another question I had was what kind of other projects did the villagers work on, since they wanted to help in other ways instead of giving up?  I think that it is very interesting that different cultures don’t know about some of the concepts that we grow up with in America.

PLN #4: High School, Only Shorter

“High School, Only Shorter,” by Sue Shellenbarger, portrays ideas about how graduating from high school in three years instead of four is extremely helpful to some kids and how they are motivated to move far in life.  There were examples of many kids’ experiences with graduating early and they said that it was well worth it and in some cases it has already paid off.  Many of them said that it is good to graduate early because that one extra year is an advantage; “If I get out a year early, that's a year extra of pay, and that's a year earlier of retirement. That's a whole year of my time that I can do whatever I want.” Other students who graduated early said that college was the best experience of their lives and it was good that they got to go early.

I think that the article “High School, Only Shorter,” by Sue Shellenbarger, is very motivational in telling students that what you do with your education is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make.  Reading this makes me want to work hard in school and maybe even graduate early because of all the great things I can do and all the advantages I would get from it.  This makes me think that college is going to be a wonderful experience and now I can’t wait to go! This piece is influential to me because it emphasizes even more than I have already been told how important college and education in general is.  All high-schoolers should read this article because it will hopefully lead them to realize how much you can do with your life if you lead a good education.

PLN #3: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

“Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr describes how using the internet modern day is slowing down peoples’ brains and not requiring them think as much as they used to, resulting in being less effective readers and learners.  Today, when people need to find research, all it takes is a few clicks and they get right to their destination without having to read barely anything, whereas only a few decades ago people would sit for hours looking through books for what they needed.  Since people don’t spend very much time reading actual literature nowadays, it is hard for people to focus on articles or stories more than a few paragraphs long without losing interest or getting distracted.  Also, when people are researching on the internet and looking for something specific, they tend to skim the articles and pick out the information they need, rather than read the whole article and absorb the whole thing.  In order to be effective in learning, people need to start taking responsibility for their own learning rather than having the internet do it for them.

          I think that the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr shows very effectively that modern day technology can be incredible and very productive, but unfortunately, like most great things, it also has cons.  For someone like me (and most teenagers/adults, for that matter) who uses the internet and online resources on a daily basis, this is upsetting because I don’t want to think that all the wonderful things that I get out of the internet can also have a negative effect on my learning.  As much as I love the internet, I also find it upsetting that many people who grew up reading books are not reading at all anymore, and there aren’t just a few.  Many have even confessed to not reading books at all anymore.  It is very interesting for me to think about the concept that people don’t grow up automatically learning how to read and speak; they need to be taught.  If generations to come just grow up reading things off the internet and never actually learn how to interpret literature on their own, they might never get the education that they need.  It is also very interesting to me to think that even if you are an older person who grew up reading but today barely reads ever, your brain can still change and adapt to the life that you are living, so your education about reading could go away if it is not exercised enough.  Although these could be scary thoughts, we can overcome them by reading more the traditional way and trying to learn for ourselves (rather than having the internet do it for us) so that we can make the most out of our learning.

PLN #2: A Single Lucid Moment

    “A Single Lucid Moment,” by Robert W. Soderstrom describes what life is like in Papau New Guinea and shows the deep love and care that villagers from the small village can have towards others across the globe.  As Robert and his wife, Kerry volunteered as Peace Corps volunteers in New Guinea, they were welcomed by the villagers that lived there and although weren’t as nearly as fortunate as Americans, lived a carefree life.  One day, when they were telling stories, Robert passed around a picture of his hometown, Chicago, with two homeless men on the street.  The villagers were shocked and all wanted to rally to help these two men out of their misfortune.  They were so interested in the topic of homelessness that they went into action to see what they could do, and even tried to contact the U.S. government.  Even though in the end they couldn’t help the two homeless men, they still continued to work on projects to help the less fortunate people in the world, even though they are some of the least fortunate people.

    I think that the piece “A Single Lucid Moment” (by Robert Soderstrom) effectively shows the loving care that the villagers from Papau New Guinea show towards homeless Americans.  It was amazing to me that the villagers had such confidence that they could make things right for the two homeless Americans that they saw in a picture when they hadn’t ever heard of the concept “homelessness,” let alone knew of their backgrounds.  Many people outside of their country or village would think that such a small group of people couldn’t make an impact on such an important topic, but the villagers were extremely confident in their thoughts and had no question about not being able to make an impact.  This is very inspiring to me because I have always heard that a single person can make an impact, but not many people listen to that advice very well.  The people in the village didn’t think twice about trying to make an impact even though many people probably doubted that they could make any difference.  Even though they didn’t realize this, the villagers were probably just as less fortunate as the homeless people in the photograph, but they still wanted to help.  This is inspiring to me because they never gave up, so another question I had was what kind of other projects did the villagers work on, since they wanted to help in other ways instead of giving up?  I think that it is very interesting that different cultures don’t know about some of the concepts that we grow up with in America.